Every Tuesday a team member will present you his/her favorite of the week among your creations on the Steam workshop.
This week is Blockbuster's choice.
In these dark times of doubt and decadence, after helplessly witnessing eldritch abductions of catapults and finding himself stuck against the ground whilst dismounting his steed, the pious knight on his way back from an arduous fight against a merciless code might allow himself a break on this small medieval tavern.
He vaguely listens to the epic sagas about wars and godforsaken machines. He drinks to the health of heroes who save their villages, of bumbling prisoners and old mad scientists. He sometimes sees, far in the distance, the passing of young leprechauns, seeking glory and adventure. Of strong orc builders ready to change the very face of the world. Or maybe a cute pony chased by a gigantic smelly troll. He likes to stay here until dusk, a glass of hydromel in his hand, rocked by the soothing tones of the troubadour, giving rhythm to the —sometimes erratic— to and fro of the barkeeper amidst his tables…
Of course, it isn’t our game universe and yet… It all has a strange taste of déjà vu.
Hi everybody, I am super happy to present you today the first After Beat article, in which I will dissect the music of the game.
Let’s start with a question that almost nobody asks itself except me: is there a leitmotiv in the game?
Well, since not everyone is necessarily a specialist in music, we will first define what a leitmotiv is. Let’s take the Oxford dictionary definition, which is very clear:
«Leitmotiv: A recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation».
So, did I use a leitmotiv in Stellar Overload? Yes, and even several, for factions, characters, etc. But today we will just focus on the most important: the leitmotiv of our character.
It consists of a short melody of 8 notes (just because 8 is my favorite number, that's it...) that we will be able to hear for the first time in the main menu of the game, towards the very end (At 03.42 precisely). Concentrate on your left ear and spot it played by a kind of "electronic flute":
This little melodic figure, which stumbles but always arrives higher, is there to represent the difficult task of our hero. All this is also perceived visually by taking a glance at the score and the way it is composed:
Following the curve drawn by the course of the notes, one sees well the stumbling side but which always goes up higher.
And I hid this leitmotiv in many important places of the adventure, either related to the scenario, or related to particular gameplay situations. For example, here in the cinematic intro of the game, played at the Glockenspiel, the first time we see our character asleep (at 0.30 precisely):
The rebels are an important part of the formation of our character, thus the music of their camp on Merx also contains this theme sometimes (at 0.16 for example, in a little more serious tone than before):
It is also present but modified in victorious jingles, or even in the captured music of an enemy building, where the victory of our character mingles with that of the rebels (at 0.15 precisely):
The last example, more subtle and emotional, when we find our brother in the lab, here with the figure engrained on the piano to bring back a little tenderness in a place yet conducive to combat (from 0.37):
Let’s finish with a really hidden detail. If several jingles obviously use the leitmotiv, it is much more hidden in the « medium » jingle, when you get a recipe kind of reward. In the excerpt that follows, you can hear the jingle at its normal speed then slowed down strongly, clearly revealing the melody:
https://soundcloud.com/cubicaldrift/jingle-medium
There are other examples of the presence of this melody in other musics of the game, or even in some trailers, but I let you find them by yourself now. I hope you enjoyed this little article, next time we will talk about the music of Merx!
See you soon, Keep on rocking!
Favorite of the week #3!
You've got talent and we want to highlight it!
Every Tuesday a team member will present you his/her favorite of the week among your creations on the Steam workshop.
This week is Squick's choice, here is what he has to say.
"You know how much I like all pink things, glitter dust, unicorns and torture devices! Well, I couldn't miss my favorite fluffy Fluttershy!
Behold, naughty ones, for the power of Love is upon you! You will be defeated with kindness and tolerance!
Let’s start with a cool news, the whole Sound Selection that was given along with the game on Steam is now available on Youtube, here.
https://youtu.be/yaM8klGIK88
Of course, it’s only a small selection of tracks, which doesn’t include all the variations or other musics, making it a bit easier to listen to.
But I also wanted to announce the arrival of a series of articles about the music of StellarOverload, series called After Beat.
In these articles, I will dissect a bit the musical or sound processes that I use in Stellar Overload. The first one will arrive soon, I hope you like it!
Wonder B
Version 0.8.7.1 (Fix EA3), first corrective update : crashs & other bugs
We fixed a lot of bugs found those last few days since the Early Access Update 3 is out!
We also fixed most of the crashes on the electricity. However, on existing universes or in case you have any problem, use the /sanitize command.
We also understood you: here are the new cables colors!
Story saves from the EA2 are not compatible anymore. Only saves in creative or custom mode are working.
We created a saves file called "StellarOverloadEA3".
You will need to manually move your EA2 saves in this new file.
Old EA2 file: %APPDATA%\..\Local\StellarOverloadEA2\Saved\Saves\Universes
New EA3 file: %APPDATA%\..\Local\StellarOverloadEA3\Saved\Saves\Universes
In creative mode, you can teleport yourself with those shortcuts: CTRL+0, CTRL+1,... CTRL+9 to go on different planets.
We are more than happy to present the new update (0.8.7.0) of Stellar Overload!
Find below the list of the main new features available in this update.
Electricity
A brand-new feature has been added to the game: electricity!
In this very first version, you can have fun with switches, cables, batteries, doors, lasers, NOT gates and AND gates.
To be more specific, we chose to separate logic and power supply. You have to handle both systems at the same time:
- Be sure supply power to your items with batteries and powercables (otherwise they may not function that well)
- Control your items with switches through logical cables
You can have more information in game pressing F1 (or TAB), we added a specific part in the codex for the electricity.
Motorail
https://youtu.be/JIKK1zXwygA
A new type of vehicle is coming: a motor on a rail. We decided to call it "Motorail"!
To function, it has to be connected to a battery and to at least one switch…
Those two elements (motorail and electricity) can seem pretty trivial but it actually multiply the creative potential of the game. We cannot wait to see what you’ll do with it!
The HookBlade
https://youtu.be/3qiOOtc-WN0
It’s been a while since you have been asking us to add melee weapons. There you are: there is a blade in the game!
At the same time, we added a functionality to it: the grapple. The grapple allows the player to have more mobility.
You will find the Hookblade in the inventory in the creative mode (use the new “weapon” filter).
In story mode, you’ll find it during your adventure.
For now, the grapple only functions on walls. But we are planning on improving its uses and making it possible to target enemies.
Novo Ares
An update = a new planet. This time, we progressed pretty well on the Novo Ares planet.
Novo Ares is a very specific planet: very arid in the surface and tropical at the bottom of its canyons.
Syntonized Stellarium Lab
Here is the true dungeon of Merx : the Syntonized Stellarium Lab.
Robots took over an ancient human lab where humans did some research on Stellarium. Stellarium is a material about which we do not know much. We have to take back this lab!
Do not look for the old fortress, we erased it from the game.
Other interesting functions
- Share universes on Steam Workshop
Did you create a big dungeon? You can now share it worldwide! Everything happens on the universe loading screen.
- Hunger
You asked for it, it finally is in game. Some items now restore hunger, others restore life.
- Difficulty levels
When creating a game (or loading it), you can now configure several difficulty options (such as make enemies easier to kill, activate hunger…)
- Block physics
It is still at an experimental level so it is not activated by default. However, you can test it by activating it in the game creation window.
All that is only a part of the main new features of this version. You can find all the latest novelties in details in the updated release note here.
Note for all AZERTY players: you have to reconfigure your keyboard. You will find a new button, in the top right-hand corner of the option window to settle all the shortcuts into AZERTY.
As usual, do not hesitate to tell us what you think on our forum or on social networks. We gladly read all of your remarks.
But above all: have fun!
What is this place?
Here's a brand new music track from the game, but...For which place?
https://soundcloud.com/cubicaldrift/nmtuzjr8cco9
Help! I need somebody, Help!
As the famous band from Tellus said ( what was their name again? Oh yes, The Cubeatles!), everybody might need some help. Especially while discovering all the construction features in Stellar Overload!
Don't worry, "today all your troubles seem so far away"*.
For aspiring builders, "here comes the sun"*! A contextual help is coming so you'll soon get to know how to use the construction tools whenever you need to.
https://youtu.be/EsnYr38zGdc
What a "Revolution"*!!!
Now you shall have no excuses not to build your beautiful "Yellow Submarine"*!
PS: for seasoned builders, "we won't let you down"* you will be able to turn off the contextual help through the options window.
*Any resemblance to real and actual songs is purely coincidental.
