It is time for an announcement.

I am the head admin of the Indie Game Utopia Discord server and we're hosting our first game jam over there!

The IGU Summer Jam starts on June 21 and will last for two weeks. The gimmick is that your color palette will be limited to the colors of a Pride flag of your choosing. (different shades are allowed as long as the colors can still be recognised as those from the flag that the participant picked)

The prizes:
1. A special "Game Jam Winner" role in the Discord server to let everyone know that you won the jam.
2. An itch.io key for a game of the winner's choosing.
3. The winner will have their game covered by Indie Hive.

Link to the itch.io page: https://itch.io/jam/igusummerjam

Link to the server: https://discord.gg/ZyYt49B

Greetings,
​-Bas

I know it's been a while.

This post is mainly for those who follow my Twitter account or are in the official The Outbreak Story Discord server. I haven't been posting much about the game lately, and I haven't been that active on social media in general, and I figured I'd explain what's up and where I've been during all of this time.

First of all, I want to say something to those of you who might be worried about the state of the game's development. Please don't be. The game's development is very much ongoing and I have been making progress, but a lot of that is stuff I don't want to show because it would spoil the story. I know what I want the game to be, how I want the plot to go and what I want the ending to be. I am confident that I'll be able to finish the game either before the end of this year, or if not, early next year.
I know that people might want something more concrete, like a release date, but I don't like to give people expectations and then potentially letting them down.


But why have I been inactive on social media?

The short answer?
Depression. I have always been open about my struggles with mental health, so this might not come as much of a surprise.


More than that, though, I've just been kind of... burnt out on social media (Twitter in particular) at the moment? The whole climate can be... tiring at times. For me, anyways, but a lot of people in online spaces that I hang out in express frustration with being on Twitter and their feelings on the matter are similar to mine, so I know this isn't just me.
A lot of people on Twitter (and I know this isn't exclusive to Twitter but I think Twitter is one of the worse platforms in this regard) seem to just have to have an opinion on everything, even if they don't know what they're talking about, just to have an opinion on the matter.
And people have to be RIGHT all the time, which is something I find to be rather annoying as someone who would rather try to actually solve the world's problems.

At a certain point, it just doesn't feel productive to follow all this discourse.


Aside from that, I've also had some IRL issues to deal with. My cat, Casper, disappeared a few weeks ago. He was only gone for a few days and he was fine when I found him, but it was a horrible situation. I didn't sleep at all during the first night.
I don't know what I'd do if he died.
I mean, it's a risk, since I live in a suburban area and there's a busy road right next to my house. There's a lot of cars.

But he's back, and I'm making sure to cherish all the time I get to experience with him!

Love you, Casper!

That aside, a few of my close online friends have also been dealing with their own mental health issues. I've been giving them emotional support to the best of my ability.

I have also been dealing with a particularly frustrating situation in a Discord server where I'm a moderator. A person in that server who several other people had issues with had to be banned after, when confronted about it by the server owner (who is also one of my close friends) he tried to emotionally blackmail the server owner. This person has since been constantly bothering us to unban him, and since that didn't work, he has started to bother third parties about it and trying to get them to bother us about it instead of doing it himself.
This has been pretty exhausting to deal with, not just for me, but also the server owner (who already has his own mental health issues) and the other moderator.

The whole issue has been going on for more than a month, by the way. Just putting things into perspective here because I don't think the short summary I gave of the situation really conveys what an exhausting experience it has been.

So, yeah, plenty of stuff has happened.


Moving on from that, here's some gif's!

The first gif is of Noah, James, Marie, Alexia and Shelby fighting the Antlion, a powerful boss. It has the ability to regenerate itself, making it hard to do any real damage to it.
​(check the original tweet here)

On to the next gif...

After the party manages to deal with the healing factor and damage the boss, it starts shooting out giant lasers.
​(check the original tweet here)

And here's a still image.
​(check the original tweet here)

I have made some graphical upgrades to existing areas as well.
Here's the town of Seafort.
(check the original tweet here)

And, finally, here's some light-hearted dialogue. The party is visiting Alexia's grandmother, who lives in a little cottage in the forest, and Noah is preparing to knock on the door.
​(check the original tweet here)

That's it for now, as far as the progress update goes.

I would love to promise that I'll be updating consistently from now on, but if you're a long-time follower, you probably already know that I'm not good at that.

​Even putting aside the fact that I struggle with mental health issues, I'm just not that great at sticking to a schedule.

I'm trying, really, but improving at this sort of thing takes time.


If you've made it this far and are reading this, thanks a lot! Please consider following me on Twitter (@BasMakesGames) or checking out the demo for the game on Itch.io or GameJolt. If you would like to get in touch, become a tester or get notified whenever I post something about the game including progress updates, join the Discord.

Greetings, and stay safe!
​-Bas

I've been thinking about something.

Before we start, I should lay my cards on the table. I'm an atheist. I was raised in a Christian household, but I became an atheist around the age of 16. Perhaps earlier. Don't remember when exactly, but that's beside the point.

The point is... sometimes, when I openly say that I'm an atheist... I get these weird looks. The atmosphere becomes cold and tense, things get awkward, and sometimes the conversation just ends altogether.
And it makes me wonder... do people think it's somehow rude to be an atheist and express it openly?

And do those people have a point?


Let's start with an experience that I had not long ago. I won't name names, because I don't want to call out anyone and I'm also currently on good terms with these people. I also want to point out that this matter has already been resolved long before I wrote this. I like these people and the intent here isn't to vaguepost about them.
The purpose of this isn't to criticise these people, but to reflect on this conversation, because I think it's a good example of what I'm talking about.
Sooo, I was talking with some people online. I think it was 3 people. I don't remember what we were talking about, other than the fact that it wasn't about religion, but one of them said something about their faith in God and the other two chimed in, sharing similar sentiments. And then the conversation became about their personal relationship with God and their religion.
And I said that I don't think God is real, and asked a question about their relationship with their deity.

And then I was asked to take the conversation somewhere else. Keep in mind, I wasn't trying to argue, or start a big debate, or attack people for their beliefs. I was just stating that I didn't think God was real and asked a question. Just stating an opinion.

And this isn't the first time I've experienced this. As I said before, it's a rather common occurrence, one that I've gotten used to.

The question is... why?
And do the people who respond to me like this have a point?

I get that some atheists can be condescending and rude to religious people. I've seen it happen, and it sucks. As much as I think it's good to criticise religious beliefs, and point out that a lot of religious scripture contains some stuff that's really beyond the pale (a lot of God's behavior in the Old Testament being an example) it's important to treat people with compassion. Not all religious people are like the Westboro Baptist Church. As long as they're kind to us and aren't using their God as a justification to treat others badly or deny them equal rights, we should be kind to them and give them the benefit of the doubt.

That said, a lot of atheists understand this and do treat religious people with compassion. I do my best to treat other people with kindness. And so do the atheists I'm friends with.

Just expressing a lack of belief in God isn't an attack, though. I would be attacking the other person if I said something along the lines of "God doesn't exist. And you're stupid for believing that he does", but I don't.
As I said before, I don't like to personally attack other people like that.


Anyways...

Is it rude to be openly atheist?
The short answer: No.
The long answer: No, but if it was, it's just as rude for religious people to constantly talk about their religion and expecting me to fine with it. If it's rude for me to state that I don't think God is real, it's just as rude for religious people to pray around me, talk about Jesus dying for my sins, or his blessings and all that stuff. And I don't complain about them doing it.
Respecting each other's beliefs goes both ways.

Doesn't it?
​


That's all I have to say.
If you're still reading, thanks, I appreciate it. And I hope you have a good day.

Greetings,

-Bas

Let me guess what your password is.

Does it have your name in it?
Or your age? Or the year you were born?
Or is it the name of your favorite band, celebrity or TV show?

I know that this topic has been discussed to death and that people who are much smarter than me have already said the things I'm about to say. But I think this is more important than ever, and I think we have to keep having this conversation, especially today, especially in a world where computers and the internet play such a large role in our lives.
And especially since, despite all that and despite the fact that this has been discussed so often, the list of the most commonly used passwords still includes such things as "password", "abc123" and "123456".
Also, a close friend of mine had their account compromised a while back, due to a scam. That's what compelled me to write about this in the first place.

Don't use passwords that are easy to guess, like the ones I mentioned above. Any hacker who knows what they're doing is going to try these passwords out. And if I wanted to log into your account, I would try those out (and maybe try out some slight variations like adding a number at the end) before I'd even bother trying to brute-force my way in.

Don't just use a random word from the dictionary. All I would have to do, if I wanted to get into your account, is to use one of those password cracking tools that do this stuff automatically and hook it up to a dictionary.

​And don't use a short password. It should be at least 10 characters long, preferably longer, anything shorter than that just isn't safe.



Also, here's 3 other tips.

1: Use two-factor authentication.
This one is quite important and I suggest setting it up as soon as possible if you have a mobile phone and haven't set it up already. If someone tries to log into your account, even if they use the correct password, a notification (which will usually contain some kind of code) will be sent to your phone and you will have to verify that it's actually you who's trying to log into your account. Of course, there are ways that this can be breached, but it's good to have an additional layer of security.
I will admit that it took me way too long to get this set up for my main accounts.
I mean, it's kind of a pain in the ass sometimes, but you really should get this set up as soon as possible.

2. Don't use the same password for the e-mail address that's connected to your account.
This one is also important. If someone wants to steal your account, one of the first things they'll try to do once they've gotten access is to try and change the e-mail address and password that's connected to the account. And if the site or the app that you're using is made by people who know what they're doing, an e-mail will be sent to your e-mail address which you will have to open, and you'll have to click some link or enter some code to verify the changes.
The hacker will have to get into your e-mail account. And, since plenty of people use the same password everywhere, the hacker is going to try logging in with the same password that worked for the other account.

3 Don't use the same password in multiple places.
I suppose this one is more or less an extension of the previous point. If a hacker has gotten access to one of your accounts, it stands to reason that they're going to try the password that worked for that account to try to get into your other accounts.



That's all!

If you've made it this far and are reading this, thanks a lot!

​Greetings, and stay safe!
​-Bas

I swear, this is not an April Fools post!

With that said...
I know it's been a while since I've shared any progress on The Outbreak Story. The reason for that isn't that no progress is being made - quite a lot of progress has been made over the past month - but that I'm working on a lot of story content. Stuff that I don't want to spoil before the game comes out.

I finally added lasers into the game, though. And I'm really happy with it!
(check the original tweet here)

And I also added an effect for when the laser disappears!
​(check the original tweet here)