If you haven't heard the news, Unity Software has recently announced that they will be implementing a per-installation fee to either developers or distributors after January 1st, 2024. This change in licensing prices was also executed with a changed to their Terms of Service which aims to enforce their pricing changes on Unity games launched in the past, and those that are currently in-dev. While I have no issue with Unity Software wanting to generate more revenue in their streams, I do have an issue with the manner in which they have aimed to achieve this. With a per-installation fee of the Unity Runtime, this means that I, or possibly Steam, will be charged every time a Unity game is installed on a new machine. And there has been some discussion that it will be every re-installation as well. Unity has not exactly walked this back, and any attempt to get them to elaborate on this has yielded more questions. Additionally, in order for Unity Software to determine the number of installations on a per-user/per-device instance, they will have to make tracking software of some kind an embedded part of the Unity Engine. They have also stated that developers will have no visibility into exactly how many installs Unity is tracking on their end. Meaning no website where developers can login to monitor the number of installs that are currently live. In order to offset the coming changes and to encourage users to genuinely consider if they went to spend the money on the game I have gone ahead and raised the prices on all Blind Alien Productions end products to around 60 USD. While it was my hope for BAP to keep it's titles in the 10 - 20 USD range, the coming changes to Unity's pricing plans have forced me to anticipate 2 possible scenarios : 1 ) Users installing one of our games on multiple devices means we will charged for each install on each device. 2 ) Unity miscalculating the number of tracked installs and sending a bill that is too high and not refunding the studio till a month or two later. While I and other developers have enjoyed years of working with Unity, this move specifically and the manner in which it was executed has burned up a lot of trust. And if Unity Software actually moves forward with this pricing model these changes will be required to ensure that enough revenue is generated to cover the cost of multiple installs per user and miscalculations of fees. It should be noted that future BAP games will be launched on a different engine in order to return to lower priced titles for our players.

[ 2023-09-14 00:58:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Pirates of Frontier's Reach is an arcade flight combat game set in the Frontier's Reach Universe. A universe where humanity has taken it's first steps into the stars and begun to establish colonies across hundreds of worlds from the most habitable to the most hostile. Players will assume the role of a fighter pilot serving in the privateer fleet of the Republic of the Frontier Worlds where human's from every culture and tongue have come to seek opportunity and an escape from the overbearing authority of the Sol Confederacy of Planets.



The Gameplay of Pirates of Frontier's Reach will see the player skip the long trips between locations and drop right into the action. Taking on Sorties players can test their loadouts against a swarm of enemies of a single type. While on Patrols players can pilot their starfighter around areas filled with obstacles and secrets where barnstorming will be the only way to get the prize. And Campaign missions will keep the story moving forward and unlock new and interesting starfighters and weapons for the player to use.



The Starfighters of Frontier's Reach are old and rugged but more than a fit for the jobs they fill out in the frontier worlds.



Pilots Serving in the Privateer Fleet will have the ability to fit different weapon systems to their starfighters to meet the needs of each mission they take on.



Outfit Your Starfighter and tweak performance parameters within various ranges to achieve the desired performance you want out of a starfighter.



Fly From the Cockpit or Third Person Perspective and experience a difference in both the game difficulty and immersive value. The choice is yours!

The Future of Pirates of Frontier's Reach is one in which I will use the automation tools I've crafted over the past few months and plan to refine in order to deliver weekly story driven content for the community to engage with.

The Multiplayer of Pirates of Frontier's Reach is currently not being planned at all but the future is a crazy place so things may change.


Blind Alien Productions is a small team made up of the following people.

Scarlett Toney aka Soliloquis - Co-Founder, CEO, and Lead Unity Developer.

Tucker Wolf aka SaburewolfJR - Co-Founder, Character Artist, and Lead Unreal Developer.

Alberto Vazquez aka DarksithKnight - Co-Founder, Lead Level Designer, and Prop Modeler.

Bharat Mallula aka ROG242 - Business Consultant, UX and UI Designer, Art and Design Consultant.

Zachary Gray aka the New Guy - Systems and Gameplay Programmer.

While the roles here are the most prominent, the team as whole shares a lot responsibilities across the board. As such, most everyone touches on or provides feedback on just about every aspect of the game.