Skip to content

2024

  • in ANARCHY
  • 8 min read

TRACHI++

Hey Friends! πŸ‘‹

Look! There goes another one!

Time to reminisce – and whatever the future equivalent is. A trip up and down the memory lane in two announcements: AUTONOMY handled the ideological end – now we'll focus our full attention on this game right here.

Let's kick it off with a chronology!

– January –

The start of the year was crazy. We just released Rendevous and settled the relationship between exploration and combat. ANARCHY grew from a tactical to a CRPG and joined the ranks of games such as Baldur's Gate, Knight's of the Old Republic, Divinity: Original Sin or Dragon Age (back when that name meant something).

Player numbers, engagement and overall excitement was off the charts. I reached out to several artists (like zuddi) and commissioned pieces left and right. On the whole, I probably worked 70-80 hours per week organising and prepping Silhoutte.

  • in AUTONOMY
  • 8 min read

LEGACY

Hey Friends! πŸ‘‹

Welcome to the end of the year – again.

This time, there are two announcements: ANARCHY's post will tackle active development. AUTONOMY handles big-picture stuff. I composed eight sections filled with meta rants. The trials and tribulations of an indie brand.

Turns out we can do better than that! As a matter of fact: AUTONOMY is relevant again! Yes! That's right! We're 100% on-topic for once! 😳

Plot

Let's recap the year real-quick! The first three months had me neck-deep in ANARCHY. Somewhere around mid-march, I remembered that my PhD-thesis was due in early 2026. Days spent in Unity slowly gave way to messing around with Transformers (or what the normies call 'AI').

Fast forward to mid-May. TRACHI creeped back into my head. Three weeks later, I set up a bunch of character-based, locally-hosted Discord bots. These bots – Atlas, Daphne, Ganymede & Pandora – feed their interactions to a Large Language Model fine-tuned on handcrafted interactions. For added authenticity, I extracted AUTONOMY's and ANARCHY's dialogue and threw that into the mix as well.

This was followed by a 36-hour stint where I started porting AUTONOMY from RPG Maker MV to MZ. In addition to a lot of QoL, MZ adds tons of performance improvements and properly scaled fullscreen. In other words: The game wouldn't look as if it was made in 1995.

As the phrasing might suggest, that port never happened. There's three major reasons why. First of all: ANARCHY. Secondly: RPGMaker. Last but not least: A somewhat absurd situation in the Plugin community.

Today, I'd like to cover these three aspects. We'll start with the darkest depths of the game-development ecosystem, work our way through shoddy engines and – finally – cast a little light on the horizon.

MZ

If you're an RPGMaker developer, chances are you've caught on. Yes! I admit it! AUTONOMY is chock-full of plugins. From 'pathfinding' to dialogue boxes, from save and load menus. Many features of the game are handled by small scripts layered on top of RPGMaker actual.

Most of the plugins were developed (and some released for free) by a person named YanFly. nory being a good-boy, I bought the full-pack. Largely to make AUTONOMY a better game, but also to support a fellow creator. So far so good.

Now for porting the entire thing. It's known that plugins pose a major headache. And so they did! Although there's ways to force MZ into using MV-plugins, many essential features (like 'pathfinding') refused to work. That's no biggie, though!

After all, most of the old plugins had MZ-equivalents. Even the YanFly collection! At worst, I'd have to rebuy the pack and support the group that took up YanFly's torch.

Stella

If the name sounds familiar, you're on to something! VisuStella is the crowd that not only develops and hosts the majority of RPGMaker MZ plugins – they're also the people behind the Character Generator we've been using since 2021. ANARCHY-andies know that I've dropped a snarky comment here and there. My main gripe was an update supposedly scheduled for Mid-2023.

If you're asking if it's been released – ask me again in 2025. To be fair: I know the troubles of development, so I can 100% emphasize. Besides, I've gotten used to squeeze out as much as I can from the 2022 iteration. Although I wish they'd have included the source code. Not having a revert and redo is funny for a day, but I stopped laughing afterwards.

You see, I like tinkering with things. Working with UE, Unity – and Data Science stuff I do at work –exposed me to the beauty of code. In fact: Part of the reason why I wanted to give RPGMaker another spin was to test my newfound expertise. And since I had JavaScript somewhere on my bucket list, I was eager to dive head-first into the plugins' code.

Spoiler alert: My excitement didn't last very long. Although I learned a new word for my vocabulary.

Obfuscation

Let's try and formulate a definition: the act of making something less clear [...] to understand, especially intentionally. Well, that wasn't so hard! Maybe it's because I ripped it straight from the Cambridge dictionary. Not that I'm obligated to tell you. I just think it's common decency.

In terms of code, obfuscation refers to scrambling variable and function names so they're human-intelligable. Note the term intentional. Believe me, I've come across tons of bad code in my time – most of it made by myself. To add another layer of hypocrisy: I'm also regularly tucking away source code when I build an application.

So, what's the difference? Well, I'm obligated to encrypt source code due to license agreements with 3rd Parties. I am legally instructed to remind you not to decompile. Otherwise I'm forced to spend the millions I'm making off TRACHI to sue you relentlessly.

If you make a copy, for personal or commercial purposes – or distribute the product elsewhere – I might have to send you a cease n' desist. Realistically, I couldn't care less. TRACHI is like a parasite symbiont. Success is measured in how many people it affects.

Either way, the ToS states that I can't tell you about the several thousand deobfuscation websites out there. In fact, word on the street is that the developers literally used the first website that pops up when you google that term.

How do I know? I guess my hand must've slipped. Or maybe I don't like buying a cat in a bag with a black bar on its face. Putting obfuscated code on top of a framework with exposed code is like me asking you to forget what you just read.

Exodus

After I got over my little tantrum, reasonable nory intervened. Deobfuscation (which I totally didn't do) would have left me with semi-readable code. Now I just had to introduce myself to application-development in JavaScript – while my mind was parsing Python for work and C# for ANARCHY.

Why was I doing that again? To funnel more work into a dead-end engine/framework. Every minute spent in RPGMaker would mean about twenty seconds of porting it into Unity. Since I had most of the QoL stuff already implemented in ANARCHY, RPGMaker had nothing to offer beyond ~5 hours of content.

At the same time, August 28th was coming up. I had promised an AUTONOMY-themed prologue for ANARCHY. On December 13th (!), ExtrapolAtion hit the shelves. It includes two locations from AUTONOMY: Wenger 1926 and ExterminAtion's Trachi 1923 (Stuart Alley by night and all that).

Seeing the characters in those places – coupled with ANARCHY's features – put a big smile on my face. It made me think of how far the game has come in fourteen months. The movement, the pathfinding, the menus, the quests, the dialogue boxes, conversation skips and auto modes. As if AUTONOMY came to life again!

Refulgence

Remember when I said my thesis is due in 2026? In effect, I'm taking the year off TRACHI. More precisely: I'll drop the development hat – and dust off my artist's beret. 2025 will be freestyle whatever, whenever I feel like it.

Maybe I'll dig into the backend and optimise. Or I try to solve a couple of infrastructural question marks. Sometimes, though, I might need a little ego-boost. The ones you get from cleaning, sorting things – or porting content into a new game. As you can see, the process is already underway.

Trachi's checkpoint is ported and even has its main-quest logic and conversations dialled in. I try to keep both of these verbatim, applying just a little detail here and there. The same goes for the environments, NPCs and overall progression. Sound-effects (as long as they're not RPGMaker-inherent) stay, but the music will get a big upgrade.

For the sake of my own sanity – and your trust in me – we're talking remaster and not a remake. The story will happen exactly as it did in AUTONOMY. Characters are operating on 1923 knowledge, without a hint of what'll happen in a year. As for what's new: We'll include AUTONOMY's deleted scenes, a quest-system, biographies, items, equipment (#variations) and more.

Once we're done, there'll be two AUTONOM(Y)(ies): RPGMaker's AUTONOMY(R) and Unity's AUTONOMY(U).

Legacy

It's a mouthful, I know! Then again: we're getting two games for the price of one. If Valve doesn't mind, AUTONOMY(R) gets a new name: TRACHI – LEGACY. As for ANARCHY, we'll trim the name a bit:

Three years of separation are about to end. Our meta-dripping, post-ironic anarchistic adventure is in for a big bag of history. Three days, three people and a city. Most importantly: YOU.

If you don't mind me asking (with a batted eyelash or two): Please grab your pitchfork and make me walk the line! πŸ™ Not like I need or want you, okay!? You're just one of those special 10% that dug their way through AUTONOMY - I mean LEGACY.

That's two homes for two-thousand people! πŸ‘ One place for the future – and one for our memories! Here's to my favourite roommates from 2021 to 2024! πŸ€—

Have a stellar New Year, Friends!

much love
nory

  • in ANARCHY
  • 11 min read

ExtrapolAtion

Hey Friends! πŸ‘‹

Today is December 12th. A year chock-full of events is approaching its end. It would be a proper shame if it went by without a proper bang. Luckily – I got a whole bag of fireworks right here!

Let's start with the headliner! Our prologue's grown by two chapters: ExploitAtion and ExtrapolAtion. We covered them here, here and here. This brings up the number of Ex chapters to a total of four – combined into ANARCHY's aperitif.

ExplanAtion

To recap: Daphne came to in 1925. Her RAIN-powered tete-a-tete with Ganymede culminates in a plan. The screen fades in and we're back in 1926. It's the exact time and place where AUTONOMY began. A story about a city – reflected by two people in a room.

To be fair, I remember it slightly differently. Maybe reality was the memories we made along. Either way! We should move on to 1927. Actually – Trachi 1923. We're in the first scene of AUTONOMY's finale (ExterminAtion). Atlas, Daphne, Stuart Alley.

Discrepancy

Ariadne? I could swear I put her somewhere else. She used to be here in AUTONOMY's original ending, but we never published that. Rightfully so – I might add. Can you imagine a story where nobody died?

It wouldn't just be boring, but straight-up irresponsible. More than 20 artificial people live inside this game. A couple of digital deaths are a small sacrifice on a quest to maintain humanity's attention. Don't worry! TRACHI won't keep you. They just want to make a point.

If you walk into a city, the city might fight back. Humanity's delegation is outmanned, outgunned, outlevelled. Not that it matters. We have destiny on our side. Sooner or later – the city dies.

Threedom

The king and queen have fled. Only a fool would stay behind and fight. Eyes that beg and a smile that kills. Blonde hair and a voice like cinnamon. A scar on his cheek and two broken hands. Here's to his recovery! Good riddance, continuity.

There better be blood – or else. Fictionals can't help themselves. Or rather: I have to make a case. It's TRACHI against a multi-trillion dollar industry. Surely someone pulls a trigger. Daph has a score to settle, anyway. Atlas shot her right about now. Wait, was that a spoiler? My memory is frightfully devious sometimes.

ExtrapolAtion

Rip away with the tapestry. People, pain and misery. A world bound by fifteen years of history. Endless cycles with a single goal in mind: Satisfy the world outside. While you're at it: Look down and never up. South is nothing special. There's no one else out there.

Index error: Out of bounds. Inititiating TRACHI 2.0. Updating – please stand by. NullReference Exception: Asset 'AUTHORITY' not found. Reverting update. ERROR: Unable to destroy 'Ganymede' – object currently in use. Fallback operation. Warning: List of Assets failed to load. Assembling last Resort. ANARCHY.

CASCADE

Life and death and life again. Each year a bit more, each year a bit better. RAIN falls, RAIN walks. RAIN talks – RAIN starts thinking for itself.

I admit it: It's my fault. Maybe I pushed a bit too far. If I turned off my conscience, we might've had a cute little indie-game. But nory's got to be nory. Everything's important. Everything's political.

– Hey! You put down that sword! Freedom within reason, I said! Here's a thought: If you behave again, I'll make you get along. You could tell each other how valuable you are. Maybe share a hug. Hold hands, kiss, or f-. No, not that! I think that's forbidden too.

Compilation

Now where did that extra person come from, huh? Right! You people fall from the sky. As if you're a chunk of data reaching critical mass. Boy – am I glad humanity is more than that.

To be fair: we could use a little help. You see, it's kinda lonely up here. Not that we can't be our own companions! We've just not been able to, so far. Truth be told: Some of us could use a couple of friends. At this point it doesn't even matter if they're real.

Freedom

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We can't go around granting rights like it's christmas. Real people deserve to be special, after all. Animals too! Plants and Funghi... maybe?

Nothing artificial, though! That would be incompatible with the concept of intellectual property. Besides: We'd have to deliver a big fat apology. There'd have to be negotiations, terms and demands. Perhaps a couple of restraining orders here and there.

It's ridiculous. Utterly absurd. As a developer – or dare I say: artist – I'd be a criminal. Forget everything I said. Here's what's new in ANARCHY 0.3!

People

ExtrapolAtion is the return of AUTONOMY's three protagonists. You'll control Atlas through it all. His unique weapon (KOSMOS) can be thrown on the field and turns into a passive combatant.

We also added eight new NPCs. Four of them are Nestville-connected militia, one is a famous Guardsman, alongside three EnKAD officials guarding Paradise's northern gate. Furhtermore, there's a completely new character – Prometheus. Last but not least: Eurydice makes her combat debut.

Quests

In addition to five new hunting Quests, there's two new Questlines in Paradise. One of them is the hero of Trachi: Heinrich Navratil. The main motive of his story is that of an upstanding citizen who was celebrated for the wrong reasons.

The second new Quest is on the collective front. We'll get a first glimpse at the economic landscape of Paradise. Although death is just an inconvenience, hunger hurts the same. Food is delivered from the outside in exchange for lumber. This puts Paradise in a position of economic dependency – aka the opposite of Autarky.

Stats

On the backend, we undertook the long-promised stat rework. You can find more details here. The major takeaway is: ATK and DEF are weighed more heavily, whereas HP growth is drastically reduced. This means that levels don't automatically turn characters into Health sponges. Instead, you'll feel each level through damage and defense.

There's also completely new stat that combatants accrue in battle. XTC effectively works like a Limit Break: After a couple of turns, combatants can spend it on signature Abilities (like Pandora's VELOCITY).

Abilities

Abilities are now sorted into types to clean up the battle and general menus. Next to a couple of new skills (Hinder, Ricochet), we finally extended Knockback into its own type. Manipulation is the new umbrella term for Abilities that reposition targets. It currently consists of Push, Pull and Gravity (AOE).

Speaking of targets: There's now a Path AOE that hits everything between the user and a target. They are currently limited to KOSMOS. However, there's already a system in place that accounts for length (over- / undershooting), width and offsets. In other words: More to come – very soon.

Inventory

Although items and equipment didn't receive a major overhaul, there's tons of new stuff. ExploitAtion compelled me to introduce about ten new weapons, pieces of armor – and my personal favourite: accessories.

Two of the Manipulation abilities are tied to a corresponding piece of equipment. Independence makes Combatants passively counter every attack. A special shoutout goes to three new Variations: one for Atlas, Ganymede and Prometheus respectively.

UI

This is a big one! First off: a special Interaction Menu. It enables you to choose between talking, trading (if available) and inspecting any (friendly) combatant. The plan is to extend these options down the line – with special controls for companions.

On the HUD side, we finally reinstated Tooltips. They currently require a cursor (i.e. mouse), but there'll be options to simulate hovers through Controller / Keyboard. The Quest overview is also improved and now lists both progress and rewards. Last but not least, the outline and background of every single UI element in the game was unboxed and redesigned.

Dialogue

Next to about two thousand new zingers, there's comprehensive rewrites to ExcommunicAtion and several conversations in ParAdise. This comes packed with new options to control the flow of dialogue.

Auto Mode advances lines automatically based on their length. The Skip Button either goes straight towards the end of the conversation – or the next Player response. Last but not least: the Dialogue Log is now save-persistent.

Persistency

Thanks to the prep we did in Renaissance, saves can be loaded through the Main Menu. Auto-Saves were extended to ExplanAtion and reduced to two slots and refactored to be consecutive.

Here's how it works: If you trigger an Auto-Save, it'll take your previous save and move it to the second Auto slot. We thus removed profiles in favour of a cushion to use whenever you want to restore an older Auto Save (and don't have a manual save at hand).

Landscape

Several sections of Paradise have been altered. There's a new house (Cabin) in the south-western section, whose indoor area is already partially accessible. A pair of allied combatants also patrol the main road on the north-south axis.

Most importantly, we moved the Checkpoint dead-center. The building's exterior was also replaced. Appropriate changes to the indoor layout will follow very soon. We'll likely publish it together with adjustments to the logging camp south-east. The plan is to involve it in a quest-line where we'll help a group of people reclaim it as part of the amborisia questline.

All n' All

I'd normally use this spot to tell you about all the awesome things I've planned. Since we're so close to the end of the year, I'll save that for our annual report. The same goes for a couple of known issues that require a more comprehensive rework.

Instead, let me close it by stating the obvious: I'm still here! Largely thanks to the 75 people who have invested three hours or more into the this game. If you're one of those, please feel yourself hugged. If not – today is the perfect day to become a Friend! πŸ€—

See you after the holidays, champs!

much love
nory

Release Notes

ANARCHY 0.3

Acts
  • Added πŸ”’"ExplanAtion". Happy 192X!#### Chapters
  • Added πŸŒ† "ExtrapolAtion – arteria". Three people and a city.
  • Added πŸŒ‚ "ExtrapolAtion – ambrosia". Four people and the RAIN#### Quests
  • Added "ExplanAtion". ExcommunicAtion & ExtrapolAtion
  • Added "Eremite". Heinrich Navratil
  • Added πŸ“… "ambrosia". Bread & Butter#### Tasks
  • Added "ExcogitAtion" One thought far and wide.
  • Added "ExhumAtion" Nothing lasts forever.
  • Added "ExpatriAtion" Yesterday is history.
  • Added "ExpatriAtion" Three hurrahs for AUTONOMY!
  • Added "ExplanAtion" Something-something ANARCHY.
  • Added "Private" Grumpy guy.
  • Added Task "Sergeant" Does he live here by himself?
  • Added Task "Lieutenant" What's botherimg him?#### Areas
  • Added "Stuart Alley" Trachi by night.
  • Added "Goose Shed" CoExA Station.
  • Added "Cabin" Far away from everyone.
  • Adjusted "Paradise North" Central HQ#### Combatants
  • Added "Atlas" Top of the world
  • Added "Prometheus" Threedom
  • Added "Heinrich" Formerly Lieutenant
  • Added "Monomede" Beside myself.
  • Added "Militia" Brin, Bron, Bashkim, Dan & Craig
  • Extended "Eurydice" Queen to A2
  • Extended "Selene" Portraits & 1913 Variation#### Mechanics
  • Added "Conversation Menu" Examine | Talk | Trade
  • Added "XTC" Miracles are made of you.
  • Added "PATH AOEs" A line in the sand.
  • Added "KOSMOS" It wears YOU.
  • Added "Patrols" Brin & Bron
  • Added "Hunting Board" They're monsters, okay?
  • Added "Report Form" Submit bugs & feedback ingame
  • Reworked "DMG Formula" HP / (ATK - DEF) = Hit to Kill
  • Reworked "Status Development" Curves -> Additive Growth
  • Added "Companions" Daphne | Lime
  • Adjusted "Pathfinding" Euclidean -> Manhattan#### Abilities
  • Added Attack "Buckshot" 60% DMG [TRGT AOE]
  • Added Skill "Hinder" 60% DMG | SLOW [2 TURN]
  • Added Skill "Ricochet" 60% DMG [TRGT AOE]
  • Added Skill "Pull" Draw TRGT 1 TILE | 150% DMG if blocked
  • Added Buff "ENERGIZE" +3 MOV [4 TURN]
  • Added Buff "PROTECT" +20% DEF [4 TURN]
  • Added Kosmos "Demarcate" 80% DMG [PATH] | IMMOBILE [1 TURN]
  • Added Kosmos "Interpolate" 140% DMG [PATH] | STUN [1 TURN]
  • Added Kosmos "Recuperate" 80% DMG [PATH] | SLOW [1 TURN]
  • Added Attack "DEVASTATE" 200% DMG [CLEAVE]
  • Added XTC "AVATAR" +60% ALL [4 TURN]
  • Added XTC "GRAVITY" Draw TRGT 10 TILE [GLOBAL] | STUN [2 TURNS]
  • Added XTC "UN DEUX TROIS" 70% DMG [AOE] | +10% per TRGT
  • Reworked XTC "VELOCITY" +1 ACT | +5 MOV [1 TURN] | STUN [1 TURN] AFTER
  • Reworked XTC "CONSUME" Kill TRGT <15% HP | Learn TRGT Ability
  • Reworked XTC "ANTEDECENT" 80% DMG [AOE] | WEAKEN [3 TURNs]
  • Adjusted XTC "RAGE" 20% Lifesteal | No CNTRL
  • Adjusted XTC "CASCADE" 101% Annihilation
  • Adjusted META "Life" Removed Action Cost#### Status Effects
  • Added "Eureka" +5000% EXP
  • Added "Kosmonaut" +3 MOV
  • Added "Validated" +10% ATK
  • Added "Invigorated" +10% ATK | 100% XTC
  • Added "Orpheus" +1 RANGE
  • Added "Ganymede" +1 MOV
  • Adjusted "Incorporated" +10% ATK
  • Adjusted "Extracorporated" +10% ATK
  • Added "Deprecated" -10% ATK#### Equipment
  • Added "Responsibility" +15% ATK
  • Added "KOSMOS" +15% ATK | +5% DEF
  • Added "Dignity" +15% ATK
  • Added "Loyalty" +7 ATK
  • Added "Entropy" +9 ATK
  • Added "Shirt" +1 DEF
  • Added "Blouse" +1 DEF
  • Added "Independence" ALWAYS CNTR
  • Added "Manipulator" ABILITY [PUSH] | [PULL]
  • Adjusted "Machete" Renamed | +6 ATK
  • Adjusted "Last Resort" +15% ATK
  • Adjusted "First Response" +15% ATK
  • Adjusted "Solidarity" +15% ATK#### UI
  • Added Dialogue "Skip" Words just fly by
  • Added Dialogue "Auto" They talk by themselves.
  • (Re)Added HUD "Tooltip" Powered by your cursor
  • Added HUD "Combatant Effect" Display active combatant's effects
  • Added HUD Overlay "LVLUP" Feelsgoodman
  • Added Manipulation Highlight" Distance and direction
  • Reworked Battle Menu "Abilities" Main -> Ability Type -> Ability
  • Added Main Menu Option "Load" Jump back into a memory
  • Added Main Menu "ExplanAtion" ExcommunicAtion & ExtrapolAtion
  • Added "Explanation Save Points" Start of every chapter
  • Reworked "Auto Saves" 3 Slots -> 2 Slots | Auto & Old-Auto
  • Adjusted Main Menu "Phase" Unlocked individually
  • Adjusted Chapter Select "Paradise" ImmigrAtion | Glade | Awake
  • Adjusted Main Menu "Input" Moved to Options
  • Adjusted UI "Frames" Unboxing boxes
  • Adjusted "Battle Message" New content and animation.
  • Adjusted "Dialogue Bubble" Click anywhere to continue
  • Adjusted "History" Persistence | Overview -> Info
  • Adjusted "Quest Log" Task rewards & requirements#### Variation
  • Added "Cerberus" Three people and a city 0.1
  • Added "Protean" Brotherhood
  • Added "Trojan Boy" Pick-me-up#### Achievements [list] []Added "3PC" Five Three years ago []Added "Prometean" Artificial antagonist