Happy Monday Everyone!
On September 15th 2023, Unity Enterprises announced a new Runtime Fee Policy for use of its Unity Engine. If a developer has 200,000 lifetime installs and $200,000 in earnings, Unity Enterprises would charge that developer for each download of their game. This created a public relations firestorm. Publishers, Investors, Shareholders, Developers, Internet Personalities and Supporters all demanded change.
One week later on September 22nd, Unity Enterprises announced an update to their Runtime Fee Policy. In short, the changes to the policy were. The new Runtime Fee Policy would not be retroactive and would only apply to developers who earned over 1 million USD and have over 1 million game downloads. Here is the link to the updated Unity Pricing https://unity.com/pricing-updates.
Where does this leave Lok:Rebirth? To begin, Lok:Rebirth was never applicable to the original Runtime Fee Policy. We are still well below the 200,000 installs and income threshold. Work will continue as normal. Lok:Rebirth does not have the resources or time to move away from the Unity Engine. We have to set our sights on making the best game possible.
However, Unity has demonstrated itself as a monetization first company. While the updates to the Runtime Fee Policy have been encouraging. The lack of response and accountability from the CEO of Unity Enterprises calls the updates into question. The unfortunate reality is that we have no power in creating meaningful change.
As long as Unity allows us, we will continue to work. This has been a stark reminder to support your favorite Games, People, and Teams that make your entertainment possible. Thank you for all the support and patience you have given us. We will keep you up to date with any changes to the Unity situation.
The entire Lok:Rebirth team has been busy throughout the month of September. All of our animators have been working hard on getting their work done for build 0.1.8.0. You can enjoy their NSFW teasers over on the patron only side!
We hope you love this awesome waterfall animation by Lead Animator Pikant! The Waterfall background posed an interesting problem of having our 2D characters appear partially submerged in water. We began by trying to use a 3D water shader. Unfortunately this failed since there was no way to allow our 2D characters and environment to lay between the 3D water.
Next we explored using a post processing volume. We quickly dismissed this option since it can only apply to the entire screen, making it impossible to only half submerge a character. While it was a failure in this instance, post processing volume could make it possible to add Underwater Area’s to Lok:Rebirth. Is this something you’d like to see in the future?
Finally we found our solution using Sprite Masking within Spine. Spine is the software we use to Rig and Animate the Characters for Lok:Rebirth. To explain the process in the most simple terms. Sprite Masking is when you take a mask image and you set it to either reveal or hide the rig behind it. For our purposes we use a mask image of water and choose to have that image hide the parts of the rig behind it.
Here’s a WIP of how Sprite Masking looks within the Waterfall background.
Lastly for today, here’s a look at some more Concept Tents from our Artist Compound! Filling out the Village will be a priority after we complete build 0.1.8.0.
Cenvir Tent 
Kantir Tent
Communal Tent 
Shaman Concept 
Storage Tent 
Warmaster Tent
Thank you all for the support! Until next time. Peace and Stay Strong
