#cosmic-corsair

[tapiov]

7DRL 2023

It’s upon us once again. I originally didn’t have a huge inspiration, but here we go yet again.

During the past year I’ve made little experiments with Elder Circle codebase and created a 3d renderer for it. The basic idea is to take the existing tileset and slap it onto procedurally generated simple shapes like boxes, planes and billboards. I use Three.js library for the WebGL rendering, an old familiar I used already back in 2014 7DRL challenge for Golem Quest.

I first developed it with first-person view and while it’s interesting and another type of game might be lurking in there, I don’t think the basic roguelike gameplay works super well in that perspective. Recently I got an idea to try an “isometric” camera which allows me have the gameplay work similarly (e.g. click to move), while still allowing me to play with the 3d gimmick.

So yesterday I started working on a new 7drl, where the idea is that you are a space pirate and you execute heists on different space ships. On top of the 3d renderer (which was partially done before the challenge, but has needed a lot of changes already), I’ve started gathering art for a more sci-fi themed tileset, and blocked out a very basic draft level generator of two spaceships meeting in space for our pirate to board the other through a short spacewalk.

I have also implemented basic ranged combat (which will probably be the major gameplay feature for this year). I already had ranged combat in 2015′s Beware the Space Bears (that used probably the first incarnation of this “engine”), but it was stripped from the code for 2016, and is/will now be a complete rewrite as well as hopefully less awkward UX-wise.

It’s super tempting to play with all the graphical gimmicks a 3d renderer allows, but now that I have the basics working, I hope to first reach some form of gameplay completeness (no great ambitions here really), and then just leisurely tweak visuals the rest of the time. Fingers crossed.

[mello-bee]

“Mysterious strangers were seen to come and go in many worlds” – fables about the Stars by Adrian Specer Smith 

Cosmic Corsairs

The Cosmic Corsairs is a sub-faction of The Nameless. They follow the Path of The Trailblaze even after the fall of Akivili.

After the fall of their Aeon, a group of Loyal Nameless attempted to continue THEIR Legacy. However, due to the spread of the Cancer Of All Worlds (stellarons) the star rails that the Express runs on deteriorated. The Express fell into despair and crashed onto an unnamed planet, causing the Nameless to abandon it.

But The Nameless were known for their perseverance; Although they didn't try to fix The Astral Express due to the false belief that it was powered by their Aeon’s heart, they decided to build a new vessel (The Ship), one unbound by the silver rails Akivili had once built, that can Trailblaze further than their forefathers had once did while being lead by the Aeon

The Corsairs’ goal is to reach the unreachable and help those in need on the way. Although their ideals are similar to their current Express counterparts, they are given a bad reputation as “Uncivilised Pirates" due to their unwillingness to submit to authority, and unlawful methods of achieving their plans.

The current cruisers of the ship are either new recruits, or long descendants of the original Nameless, either way they're determined to follow the path to its end. 

KNOWN MEMBERS:

"not much of a talker..."

NAME: Caspian

ORIGINS: the son of the original voyagers, was given the captain's coat after the previous one stepped down due to his diligence and trailblazing spirit

PATH: The trailblaze

WEAPON: Cutlass sword

"such an annoying and crass bird..!"

NAME: Varun

ORIGINS: unknown, some say similar looking birds were seen accompanying previous captains since the day the ship was created, but Caspian claims that he had never seen him before the day he got assigned captain, and that the previous captain's pet parrot looked and acted completely different

ABILITIES: is known to read Caspian's thoughts out loud, in an unintelligible pirate dialect. its important to note that not every thought he voices is Caspian's, and that he also has his own unfiltered line of thinking

"Those eyes.."

NAME: karina

Origins: A Sigonian. came to the ship to look for someone, lost hope. that's all she's willing to tell you

PATH: allegedly, The Trailblaze

WEAPON: duel gun

OTHER MEMBERS...LOADING...LOADING... FAILED TO LOAD.

looks like you'll have to fill the space with your own ocs! if you'd like to join? :P

to make a Cosmic Crosairs oc you have to:

tag it as "Cosmic Cosairs"

tag me in the post! (optional)

yes im aware i misspelled corsair in the reference sheets, i apologize for that!!

[evilhorse]

Phoenix #2

[circeius-invidioso]

I do not get why the Red Corsairs are not a popular choice.

Like.

Like here is the elevator pitch for the warband and then we can come to some justified conclusion.

What isn't there to love?

You want me to turn into an infomencial and make a top 3 reasons why the Red Corsairs are great?

Cause I can.

And I will.

The Diverse Working Enviroment

Here in the Red Corsairs we might have started as Ultramarines but the barrier for entry is on the floor. So anyone can join.

You are Night Lord with a bad rep and no ship.

Buckle up we got you covered.

You are a Fallen and have 20 Dark Angels all up in yo business? Trying to shoot down the boss babe you are?

Fear not, or in our case. Know no Fear. We are strapped and don't get clapped.

You are a traitor that likes their Legion but sadly you got in our way?

Tough luck buddy, you will join or die and your geene seed will join our cause. Nothing personal battle brother. Just business as usual.

Everyone is welcome as long as they follow Huron's guidelines and don't aggitate the topless sweaty Khorne worshipping Ultramarines in the basement.

Sustainability

Unlike the corrupt Imperium of man and the corpse Emperor our leader is powered by miracles (which is trully a miracle how he survived but that on the next section), and we use 0 psyckers to power our crap.

Our carbon footprint is also minimum as we use salvaged goods and don't indulge in toxic industries that destroy worlds.

The Red Corsair base of operation is in the Eye of Terror and from there we expand our scope. A place greatly known for its constant shifts, and horrible conditions but the tan our serfs have are spectacullar from all that cosmic radiation.

Finally we are commited to recycling. As in we take from our victims benefactors and put those stolen goods to some great use. Nothing goes to waste, neither mortal, nor static object. If something is not nailed on the floor we will take it.

In fact we might take the floor too and the nails used to set it in place.

Nothing goes to waste!

Unmatched Leadership

Last, but certainly not least.

The man.

The myth.

The Legend.

Huron Blackheart.

Aka Lufgt Huron.

Aka what would happen if we gave a compressed Guilliman a daemonic familiar and left him to ferment in a warp storm.

Not only the name is so edgy you might cut yourself by saying it out loud. But also it's complex enough that if you say it quickly three times without twisting your tongue theres is a chance furniture might start levitating.

The man has put his Ultramarine brain to use and amased enough influence and power to put the Black Legion to shame.

Huron went from 0 to 100 in no time, he is a self made Warmaster. With no daddy issues or troubles in the world, he goes into battle blasting Alestorm in the voxxcasters.

He does not care.

He probably wears this when he wants to relax.

You think he cares?

He does not care.

He has a biker gang specifically organized to hunt down those who have betrayed him.

They slap those things on their armors not for the usual biker reason

(which fun fact the meaning is, 99% of the bikers are law-abiding, where the 1% are not. That's where the 1% comes from. The more you know 🌈)

no they wear that 1% because that's how high are your chances of escaping from them are.

Is that a bit extreme?

Yes.

You think he cares?

He does not care.

The dude once gathered his buddies and decided...

to you know. Have a casual outing. Nothing too serious, it was a sunday afteral.

So they decided on.

Kidnapping Guilliman.

Which they almost did if not for a Fallen of all people getting in the way.

But still.

The mad lad took Macragge's Honour and went on a joyride/ mini civil war.

Who in the galaxy can turn and say.

Yeah, I stole Macragge's Honour, almost captured my old Primarch. Told a daemon prince they are irrelevant on my way there. Anyway after crushing a fool who thought he could take my crown as king of the space pirates, I went to the home planet of the White Scars and kidnapped and tortured their Chapter Master. What did you do this week? 💅

Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

You tell me I can be an immortal, gorgeous chaos Ultramarine goth boy going on pirate adventures across the galaxy?

Where do I sign up?

I don't need ink for a signature.

I will use my own blood.

[why-i-love-comics]

Harley Quinn #39 - "Quin-Zel: Cosmic Corsair" (2024)

by Erica Henderson

[denofimagination-blog]

"Stars are our allies, and cosmic mysteries are our power."

Corsair Voidscarred Kill Team!

We are a miniature painting studio. If you need painting, converting, sculpting, assembling, LED lights - literally anything regarding the hobby, don’t hesitate - simply contact us via service@denofimagination.com.

[xmenred2022]

Speaking of scott summers I do genuinely believe that part of the reason the xmen movies have yet to adapt the more cosmic/shiar stuff is because that would mean adapting corsair which would mean focusing on Scott’s backstory. And they don’t care enough about Scott to do that.

[azure-infinitum]

SWTOR PvP Season 6, "Great Pirate Hunt," will start with the coming 7.5 update. Future PvP seasons will align with update releases. Rewards for this season include the Cosmic Corsair and Astromarauder Armor sets.

[dccomicsnews]

"Happy New Me", and "Quin-Zel: Cosmic Corsair" Writers: Tini Howard and Erica Henderson Artists: Natacha Bustos and Erica Henderson Colors: Nick Filardi and Erica Henderson Letterers: Steve Wands and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou Review by Kendra Smart Harley Quinn #39 is upon us finally! When last we left our brave heroine, she had not only celebrated her birthday but also renewed her sense of purpose in her pathway towards who Harley Quinn is. Her recent probation has had her doing community service as a teacher, this is a big reason she wants to use her own smarts, her own drive. She wants to help people in her own way and to do that she is willing to bend a few rules in order to achieve helping someone who really needs it. And when last we left Harley, she was feeling a cold breeze indeed. Mr. Freeze had come with an offer. Mr. Ten Below  We begin where we left off, this issue starts off with Mr. Freeze seeking Harley out because he has a serious offer. Having heard she is back in the mix villain wise, he wants to see just how serious a player she is. But Harley has her own offer and the two don’t come to terms but Freeze leaves a warning with Harley, she will regret her decision to not join him. But Harley is serious about helping people in exchange for her services. It doesn’t take long for the right candidate to show themselves. Enter Maxie Zeus, a self proclaimed God who is low on his juice and luck. The officers of GCPD are quick to point out his flaws, this king needs a jester to help him organize his thoughts and Harley has no problem playing jester. Maxie agrees to Harley’s terms of service and his journey is on, as Harley tries to show him where his inner turmoil stems from. But Harley is racking up her roster of landing on the bad side of people: the GCPD, Robin…and she may find herself on bigger radars if she isn’t careful. [gallery columns="5" size="large" ids="189625,189624,189623,189622,189620"] Time For Our Session Tini Howard does a really nice job of making Harley’s wish for her purpose tangible. We get to see her fumble through what it means to achieve her goal. But it is paid off in droves as we get a super tender moment of clarity and understanding between Harley and Zeus. It is really nice to see Harley succeeding in a way that benefits her goals without too many side quests. Not to say there isn’t a build up, it is just nice to enjoy the moments that Tini Howard, Natacha Bustos, Nick Filardi, and Steve Wands establish for us so wonderfully. We also get a galactic bonus story “Quin-Zel: Cosmic Corsair” with story and art by Erica Henderson and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. It features Harley Quinn, space adventurer, stranded on a mining planet. On her way, she soon runs into the inhabitants, but they are stopped by Ivy almost immediately. What follows is a hilarious fight between Harley and the narrator as the story escalates with Harley just wanting to kiss her girlfriend. Erica and Hassan deliver a charming and hilarious short story. Conclusion Harley Quinn #39 sets up a chilling beginning to Harley discovering her way and finding success. What Freeze is up to remains to be seen but the moves he is making may leave Harley with no choice but to join him in his work… Images Provided Courtesy of DC Entertainment. 

[blushingphoenix]

Yes! There's a rift between Scott & Jean, thanks to the Brood, but neither Jean & Scott are not assholes for not seeing eye-to-eye.

Scott is a man who has seen the devastation the Brood cause thanks to their parasitic reproductive process. He has rescued friends/fellow X-Men from being used as incubators. Now he rescued his father Corsair from being used as a Brood incubator.

A man can take only so much before he cracks. Scott reached his limit during the previous Brood encounter, but the Corsair rescue mission cracked him. He's over the Brood, their reproductive cycle, and their existence.

Jean is a woman who was impersonated by a cosmic entity and retains all the memories of what was done. Jean REMEMBERS the planetary genocide that was committed by the Phoenix. The price of that moment was the Shi’ar coming to Earth and annihilating anyone genetically related to Jean.

Jean cannot live with the weight of eradicating a whole race of sentient life because their evolution turned them into parasites. She strives to be better than that because she has no choice thanks to the legacy the Phoenix left her.

Each viewpoint is clear because their respective histories shape how Scott & Jean want to deal with the Brood. 

Now can their relationship survive their difference of opinion?

[tapiov]

Cosmic Corsair - 7DRL 2023

I am declaring success. I got the win condition stuff done on Tuesday (day 4) as well as the ability for enemies to shoot too. I also added a little handmade starting area (first pic below shows the addition to the level generator json to support that, but for the results, you need to try the game!). I also experimented with post-processing effects and later normal mapping, but ended up scrapping those as they did not give enough bang for buck to justify the amount of time needed to tune them and fix them to look nice.

EDIT: Sorry, can’t figure out how to make that picture above less huge and obnoxious.

On Wednesday I didn't have much time to develop, but Thursday was quite productive: map variation tuning, new "stat augment" item pick-ups, more weapon variation and general testing. I also added more lighting by slapping point lights to certain emissive tiles as well as bullets. It looked really nice, but the way three.js handles lights, there was quite a bit of shader compilation stutter (whenever there is a different light count on screen, that’s a different shader permutation), I ended up compromising by limiting concurrent world point lights to ~4, though it still gives pretty nice effect.

Anyway, I still got maybe an hour tomorrow morning, but realistically the game is done, and it is playable here:

https://tapio.itch.io/cosmic-corsair

[mello-bee]

caspian —— astral express

more about the Cosmic Corsairs here!

[evilhorse]

But please, please put your clothes on first.

(Phoenix #2)

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

The Fallen

Synopsis

A year after the events of the TV movie, the Doctor finds scientists working to splice human and Time Lord DNA.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Land of Happy Endings

Synopsis

The Eighth Doctor, John and Gillian visit Darbodia where they discover that the inhabitants have been purged of all imagination. Upon discovering that villainous scientist Wargonn has imprisoned the native species, the Doctor and his grandchildren work to foil his schemes.

Propaganda

Really beautiful story as the 8th Doctor DWM comics prepared to end. (@finalpam8000 )

Old Friends

Synopsis

In this swashbuckling instalment, the Doctor and her fam - Ryan, Yaz, and Graham - get caught up in the escapades of infamous rogue Time Lord, the Corsair! Accused of a crime she didn't commit, the Doctor becomes involved in a daring heist with her old friend in order to retrieve something valuable for the Corsair's mysterious benefactor...

This is the Corsair's first ever appearance! Includes a special feature on the history of the Corsair.

Propaganda

Best “canon” appearance of the Corsair, a rogue time lord friend/nemesis and the doctor, filled with fun pirate and heist shenanigans as is befitting the Corsair. Also written by Jody Houser, who plays the Corsair in her best non-canon appearance (Geek and Sundry’s TBD RPG Doctor Who Actual Play) because what’s more iconic than getting hired to write comics and choosing to bring in the very minor one off ‘already canonically dead’ character you played in a live-streamed ttrpg game. Although, don’t let that fool you. This is also a good comic in general. Even if you’ve never heard of the Corsair. (“canon” here meaning officially licensed as Doctor Who doesn’t actually have a canon) (anonymous)

Space in Dimension Relative and Time

Synopsis

The Doctor is the only one who realises that the flow of time in the vortex has been disrupted, but can he uncover the cosmic culprit and put causality back on the right track — before Alice and her fellow TARDIS travellers are de-aged right out of existence?

Propaganda

backwards doctor who comic! also there is a nimon (@lilydvoratrelundar )

Time In Reverse

Synopsis

The First Doctor, John and Gillian arrive on present-day Earth in the middle of a sea. After making it back to the mainland, they realise that time is running backwards and they have arrived at the end of their adventure. The only way for the travellers to be reunited with the TARDIS is to retrace events of which they have no knowledge that will lead them to the story's beginning.

Propaganda

it's the first backwards doctor who comic! it's really cleverly done and interesting (@lilydvoratrelundar )

[why-i-love-comics]

Harley Quinn #39 - "Quin-Zel: Cosmic Corsair" (2024)

by Erica Henderson

[windy-trickster]

Ancestor Archive

LOG #1: THE SONGBIRD LOG #2: THE MARAUDER LOG #3: MAVERICK CIRRUS / THE WINDWALKER LOG #4: THE UNDYING CORSAIR / THE SCRIBE LOG #5: THE VOODOOIST LOG #6: THE HISTORIAN LOG #7: THE THESPIAN LOG #8: THE DOLLMAKER LOG #9: THE SAWBONES LOG #10: THE HELTER-SKELTER LOG #11/#12: THE COSMIC MISSIONARY AND THE HELLRAISER LOG #13: HER DARLING CABARET LOG #14: THE PETTIFOG LOG #15: THE PANTOLOGIST LOG #16: THE PURITY LOG #17: THE NIGHTSHADE LOG #18: THE ENIGMATIC BARONESS