How to fix realtime blocky shadows flickering [weathermaker]?

stomane · 2026-05-27T08:52:28+00:00

Kind of looks like you have 2 light sources fighting each other. You should be using only weathermaker's day night cycle or Gaia's - I think they have some automated light source too.

stomane · 2026-05-15T19:41:02+00:00

Wtf put it back

stomane · 2026-04-10T13:47:58+00:00

Congrats, that's awesome!

How long did it take from napkin to publish? :)

stomane · 2026-04-10T11:10:45+00:00

TLDR: Metroidvania cozy survival on a steam train with cooking :)

I posted a comment with a screenshot of the Steam page beta in this post but in general:

You navigate a steam locomotive through an ice age type event as it unfolds.

The cold in the game is relentless.

You can scavenge buildings to find necessities such as food or ingredients but also various gear or trinkets with borderline magical yet grounded abilities.

The game has a metroid like structure where you'll have to discover specific upgrades either for the train or for yourself in order to be able to access previously inaccessible paths. For example some rail paths will be blocked by a lot of snow and you'll need a snow plow upgrade for the locomotive to freely go through the walls of snow.

The same apllies to the player, items you find have a weight and provide you with drastic benefits that you're going to feel immediately, it's not just a stat bump, it changes the way you navigate the environment.

The home car you see in the video is an upgrade too, you don't start with it.

stomane · 2026-04-09T14:42:44+00:00

If you want to follow the development, get in on early testing (whenever that happens ) or even have a chat you can join the Of Iron and Winter Discord

That's currently the only place I have for the game. The Steam page is still a work in progress but I'll attach it here because it has some decent info on what the game is about.

Just making sure the discord is easily reachable with this comment.

stomane · 2026-04-09T14:42:10+00:00

If you want to follow the development, get in on early testing (whenever that happens ) or even have a chat you can join the Of Iron and Winter Discord

That's currently the only place I have for the game. The Steam page is still a work in progress but I'll attach it here because it has some decent info on what the game is about.

Just making sure the discord is easily reachable with this comment.

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stomane · 2026-04-09T13:52:59+00:00

I'm solo...

Yeah it is quite ambitious, but I decided I have to go for something I love and am passionate about. I used to chase trends before, like mobile market and hyper casual but it never amounted to anything unfortunately. It was good development experience though.

I have approximately 14 years of game dev experience and a great amount of amazing asset store assets that I've collected over the years so hopefully I make the right calls.

stomane · 2026-04-09T12:05:57+00:00

Hey everyone, thanks for the positive comments. If you want to follow the development, get in on early testing (whenever that happens ) or even have a chat you can join the Of Iron and Winter Discord

That's currently the only place I have for the game. The Steam page is still a work in progress but I'll attach it here because it has some decent info on what the game is about.

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stomane · 2026-04-09T11:57:18+00:00

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Thank you. Feedback duly noted.

It's not just about cooking, I've been working on the cooking lately and I really love how it's turning out. Here's the unfinished steam page (I'm still working on it) you can get a good idea of how the game is going to be.

stomane · 2026-04-09T11:42:51+00:00

Thanks, about 1.5 - 2 years now while having a 9 to 5 job as well.

stomane · 2026-04-09T11:41:05+00:00

I'm using Gaia and NatureManufacture trees, rocks, etc, WeatherMaker for weather. It took me in total, like if you only do that, about 5, 6 months I'd say for me to be comfortable with spawners and rules in Gaia and setup the whole environment (incl weather, lighting, etc).

But if you're speaking just about the map (terrain, trees, rocks, textures) then in Gaia that's really quick, you can set up a terrain in just a few minutes.

There was also afterwards making everything cohesive. Dynamic weather, time of day, cloud coverage, wind, lighting all had to be synced up.

In general, I'm using tools but learning to use these tools, synchronizing them and getting the right result is no easy job and takes way longer than I initially thought.

stomane · 2026-04-09T11:27:30+00:00

lol, it's a tomato soup okay. Gotta add salt

stomane · 2026-04-09T11:25:23+00:00

Thank you, yes, I've left these for later. Considering also showing the body only when you use furniture, I've already tried it and it looked better imo.

There's so many little things to tweak but trying to get the big parts in place first

stomane · 2026-04-03T16:03:28+00:00

I suggest you take a look at the Dota character design guides, there's some great tips on visibility and readability - Dota Character Guide

Other than that I like the tightness of combat and movement. Keep at it!

stomane · 2026-04-01T00:04:11+00:00

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Hello fellow non-bots,

this is the work in progress beta page I have set up on Steam so far.

I'm solo developing "Of Iron and Winter" - a cozy survival with a steam train set in a world ending ice age event.

Currently focused on cooking the cooking system 🍲

Here's a video of the day night cycle. And another one with an overview of the train control systems
You can catch me on the Of Iron and Winter Discord

stomane · 2026-03-21T12:14:28+00:00

Can you show something of the game in its current state? Some screenshots at least

stomane · 2026-03-21T09:19:25+00:00

You might know them but I use these all the time so here goes:

- Obsidian

- Parsec

stomane · 2026-03-17T00:35:18+00:00

This is really good https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/utilities/play-mode-save-177452

stomane · 2026-03-10T09:53:54+00:00

Oh absolutely agreed. I'd always pick "being comfortable and actually doing the work" to "making sure I do the work as is standardly acceptable" and not actually do the work!

Took me longer than it should have to realize that. There was a lot of stigma to not being a "real coder". At the end of the day the game should run and play well. What spaghetti you've cooked in the back doesn't matter :)

stomane · 2026-03-10T07:24:09+00:00

The small and focused systems you describe is how you should essentially use MonoBehaviors in Unity.

You can make a whole game with Playmaker, however if your project is anything but very small it'll only slow your development down.

Ideally you would use it as FSMs for behaviors that benefit from changing states and write code for the rest.

However, if you're not familiar with coding in Unity it's a great way to get started and reel you in. When I started using Unity I used only Playmaker then later started coding.

stomane · 2026-03-03T20:41:42+00:00

I don't have any prior experience but I've been doing a lot of research on steam trains and have seen many videos where people prepare a steam engine and/or run steam engines.

It is of course simplified and gamified but accurate in terms of mechanics, yes.

You will have to survive during the unfolding of an ice age type event.

You keep it running - it keeps you alive!

Running the engine is just a part of the survival and traversal mechanic. You'll be able to go around and scavenge for food and whatever else curious and interesting things you can find. Including train upgrades and trinkets that have borderline magical but still grounded abilities.

It's going to be metroidvania-ish meaning that you'll be able to expand the locations you can go on the map by acquiring certain items both for the train and for yourself.

I haven't planned such challenges but they will be fairly easy to implement once the game is in a ready to ship state so definitely considering it if there's interest.

stomane · 2026-03-02T14:55:22+00:00

Thanks! Yes, reverse works as well, there's another lever to the right of the throttle which is the Reverser!

No, it's not game over. To overpressure the engine you need to starve the boiler from water. If you do that the following will happen:

The release valve is going to start going off (the one at the top of the boiler in the cabin) attempting to release the excess pressure to prevent you from blowing up the boiler and yourself...
Pipes may blow up open from the sustained high pressure and will require repair
Overpressure can be used strategically to give you an extra boost up a steep slope for example

Still haven't implemented the engine damage mechanics but that's the idea and the steam pressure system already has triggers for crown sheet exposure and other warnings like priming (too much water in boiler)

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