Freyr

Corporate Command introduces the Freyr-class gunship, a new player ship with a swivel-mount device slot for Rasiermesser weapons. Click the image above for a larger view.

The Manticore

The upcoming expansion, Corporate Command, lets you fly a Manticore-class heavy gunship. The sheet above describes its capabilities. Click the image for a larger view.

UAS Ships

When I started Transcendence many years ago, my 3D modelling skills were, to put it kindly, limited. I've improved somewhat since then and often go back and redesign some of my earlier ships. Playtesting has also revealed game-balance problems on several ships, early ones in particular. For the upcoming 1.2 release I've redesigned and rebalanced some of the UAS ships used by outlaws. The image above shows some new and old designs to scale (the bar on the lower-right is marked in meters).

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Corporate Command

In about two months, if all goes according to plan, I will release Corporate Command, the first paid expansion for Transcendence. This new expansion focuses on the Corporate Hierarchy and includes dozens of new features:

• Three new player ship classes, including Makayev's famous Manticore class
• New missions for the Corporate Hierarchy, including a few with Kate Morgental
• Several new star systems and three new enemy sovereigns
• And of course, lots of new armor, weapons, and treasures

In the coming weeks I'll talk more about Corporate Command and preview some of its features, but today I want to show off the teaser image above. The image depicts a Manticore heavy gunship flying along side Makayev's Svarog-class cruiser. Though not nearly as elegant as Rasiermesser's Corporate Cruiser, the Svarog can match it in firepower. It carries an array of heavy guns, including the giant Mark VII howitzer.

2012

I started Kronosaur Productions approximately 5,840 waking hours ago and I'd like to recount what I've been doing in all that time. 2012 was a year of investment: I invested time, energy, and money into three projects that will (if they pay off) end up being the foundation of the company.

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Transcendence 1.1

I am happy to direct you all to the download button for Transcendence 1.1, the latest stable release of our favorite Nethack-meets-Star-Control-space-RPG.

I've spend the time since 1.0 working on two main things in Transcendence: First, I've made dozens of major improvements to the modding system (more on that later), and second, I've developed and deployed the Multiverse, an online system for players to share game epitaphs and rank themselves by high score.

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Adventures in the Transcendence Universe

Constraints set you free. Creating a mod for Transcendence is not easy: there are bugs, quirks, and limitations in the modding system, of course, but probably the biggest difficulty is coming up with ideas to implement. The core engine allows you to create your own universe, with its own characters, sovereign, worlds, and starships. But who has time to invent all that?

In this article I want to talk about adventures that you can create in the canonical Transcendence universe. Most of the ideas here use existing sovereigns and settings, and all are compatible with Domina & Oracus. By using the existing assets of the core universe you are free to spend your creating energy to invent engaging storylines and compelling characters. Constraints set you free.

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The Future of Anacreon

I admit it. Anacreon hasn't gotten much love from me lately. With most of my free-time devoted to Transcendence, I've let Anacreon stagnate—the last release was almost seven years ago. But now that my full-time job is creating games, I have no excuse for not re-invigorating my oldest game.

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The Future of Transcendence

When I started Transcendence my only goal was to create a fun little single-player game, but as the community grew and more and more mods showed up I realized that we're creating something bigger. Collectively we're creating the Transcendence Multiverse, a family of games and game extensions, all bound by a common engine, built out of components like Legos, and set in an expanding and diverse milieu filled with warring civilizations, mighty starships, and wondrous items.

Introducing Kronosaur Productions

What was the golden age of computer games? Was it the 16-bit 80s of NetHack, Infocom, and Ultima? Was it the 90s decade of Wolfenstein, WarCraft, and SimCity? Or was it the 2000s, dominated by Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Wii and World of Warcraft? I find it hard to choose; every decade seems to bring more astonishing games.

My bet is this decade will end up being the golden age, with MMOs, mobile games, casual games, and reinvigorated indie games all surfing off each other and competing for our attention.

If so, then this is probably the worst time for me to start a game company.

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