New song, Barnaby concepts, and tons of new characters! (Billie Bust Up-date Time!) (Patreon)

Hey Howdy Hey!

Sam here! Wowzer, our last big update was almost two months ago but, I assure you, it’s for good reason! Sit back, grab a drink, and get comfy… it’s time for a big ol’ Billie Bust Up-date ✨

ONE MORE OSCAR ANIMATION 🦊

Picking up right where we left off, we were showing off some cute new animation for Oscar, here’s one last one:

The goodest boy makes a friend

MORE GRIM GRINNING GOATS CONCEPTS 🦉

Okay, back to Barnaby! We have lots more concept art for our favorite ghost owl’s chapter of the game, check it out!

Cake fodder enemy concept (normal/zombified forms)

Chocolate éclair snake fodder enemy concept (normal/zombified forms)

Beyond some enemy concepts, here’s some more area concepts and vegetation studies for outside environments, all for the mission “Weekend at Barnaby’s”.

Studies for some plants and rocks around Barnaby’s graveyard

Mausoleum area in the graveyard

Those bugs are kind, you should hug them and be friends

Concepts for the mini-boss arena (for the mini-boss concept from our last update!)

A FEW MORE CHASE SONG CONCEPTS

Last update, we showed some concepts for Barnaby’s chase song! We’re actually moving onto his song next so look forward to that! Here’s some stuff that Ash did in preparation for it, thumbnails for the starting cutscene and drawing of Billie RUNNING FOR HER LIFE!!!!

RUN!!!!!!

CHANCES WITH WOLVES 🐺

We’ve been putting a lot of love into Dutch’s chapter lately, getting many new characters ready to try stopping Billie as she causes trouble throughout the hotel.

First off, meet Dutch’s guard dogs. They operate as general security guards throughout the hotel. They’re a mixed breed.

Guard dog & Billie height reference

Tag yourself, I’m the that one

And if that’s not enough fire power, Dutch has his special Chow Chow Crew to keep an eye on bigger events and areas.

Look at em, they wouldn’t hurt a fly

Until the glasses come on…

Here’s a redline for their model!

Lookin’ sharp!

Beyond guards tasked with capturing and stopping Billie, here’s some characters who don’t have it out for the goat!

We’ve previously shown off race tracks for one of the areas at Dutch’s hotel and we’ve finally gotten the rideable bird mount for that area modeled and rigged! Who’s excited to do some musically-based platforming races?

Bah bah bah bah

Oh, oh, oh and everyone’s favorite chameleon lad, Hayes!! They’re completely ready to go, modeled, rigged, and textured!

Look at them go! They’re doin the dance!

Some expressions for Hayes

Height reference

Meet some more of the guests staying at Dutch’s hotel, animals of all kinds are welcome here! From the smallest mouse to the biggest elephant!

Katie’s MSPaint doodle of a snake that got stuck across a gap

Lazy river, anyone?

And finally, we discussed it a lot and Katie was finally sold on adding a camera for photo taking in the game! Jovi did a wonderful concept for it as it will be a physical item in the game that you get via a mission in Dutch’s chapter (though that may likely change).

Isn’t it lovely? Can’t wait to take some silly pictures!

DUTCH’S RAZZLE DAZZLE DREAM HOTEL 💰

Welcome everyone and congratulations for being exactly where you wanna be! 🎵

That’s right! We’ve received the demo for Dutch’s song and we’ve been super eager to get it playable as soon as we can, it’s so addicting to listen to!

You can even check out the HEAVY WIP prototype we’ve been working on as well in which the player has to stay in the spotlight and dance to the beat with quick time events (an old scrapped idea from Fantoccio).

Gif of the HEAVY WIP prototype

In game, Billie has been mistaken for a guest performer while sneaking around backstage and, to avoid getting caught, must improvise keeping up with Dutch’s performance!

Daniel plans to get an actual big band to record on Dutch’s song to get that “authentic sound” and really help it all come together.

Below are some concepts for the song’s gameplay and characters:

Dances inspired by popular dance moves across music history!

Dutch is so hip with the kids, CHECK IT!

Nevermind…

In the song, Dutch has back-up singers/dancers helping the song’s excitement really pop so of course we had to go about designing them! They’re a pack of quadruplet African Wild Dog flapper sisters!

Look how pretty!!

One of them is married to our favorite grumpus, Basile!

Height reference

Model WIP

A redline of their head

And rigged! I promise they won’t dance like this in the final LMAO

And finally, here’s some thumbnails that Ash did for the beginning of the song! Missing a few scenes but we’re working on them!

THE LOST CITY… OF MAGIC!? 🌆

We’ve been working on an area that we’ve never really talked about before! Wonder how it fits into the game… let’s ponder together, shall we?

Looks kinda old…

Billie…?

THE PROLOGUE - COMPLETE! ✅

No foolin’! Billie Bust Up’s Prologue is complete! Not yet ready to give out to those supporting at the appropriate tiers but hopefully soon you’ll have something completely new to try out.

So what exactly does the Prologue being complete MEAN? Well…

• 5-6 fully playable missions
• Adventure, designed and playable!
• Aristotle’s Tutorial
• Scratch dialogue EVERYWHERE
• Tons of new cutscenes

Now it should be noted, we’re still working on various kinks, bugs, soft-locks, etc. This is why we haven’t released it JUST yet but we’re getting there.

It’s been especially exciting because with this milestone having been met, we’ve officially moved out of Pre-Alpha and into Alpha!! After 5 years, what an incredible journey! It’s all thanks to your support, we can’t express our gratitude enough! 🧡

How about I show you some of the stuff packed into the Prologue? Let’s do it!

Opening cutscene to the game! Watch with scratch audio

After the opening cutscene, you walk around Billie’s bedroom and get to experience a bit of her personality by getting her journal and, optionally, interacting with various things around her room.

Quest Markers!

Once you’ve gotten Billie’s journal, Lou and Lily call out to get Billie’s attention. You join up with your friends and escape the village, all without getting caught by the locals in goat shire, to begin a journey to find a troll.

Then it’s onto Adventure! This is where we get our first song of the game, Billie’s I Want song, as you explore and platform through the enchanted forest, full of dangers? Well maybe not so much for Billie…

Poor Lou…

After somehow making it through the enchanted forest without a scratch, Billie moves on to investigate her treehouse as it appears to have been ransacked! While doing so she gathers up a few personal items: her sword, Lily’s telescope, and Lou’s bag.

The trio then tracks the Troll through a part of the forest that seems to have been torn to shreds!

Some concept environment sketches that Jovi did while testing!

The destruction leads them to a floating island but the Troll is nowhere to be seen… oh wait it’s RIGHT BEHIND THEM. Cue the previously released Troll Boss fight!

Billie knocks the Troll down and before it can launch one final deadly attack, the three goat kids are saved by the one and only Aristotle! Who takes the injured goats back to his campsite and heals their injuries and tells stories of the past.

And that’s currently where the Prologue ends! We’re adding some more in during our free time as well but are currently adjusting previously designed missions to be a little more interesting and less repetitive.

This description of the Prologue is certainly missing a LOT and doesn’t quite do justice to the amount of work we’ve put in but I hope it will be worth the wait for when you do get the opportunity to play it! I think the experience is a ton of fun first-hand!

MISC. WORK 🧰

In our spare time, while working on the prologue, we were able to get some more characters completed as well as some basic accessibility options.

To start, look who’s finally getting his groove! Scrimshaw is here!!

Some expressions

A redline on his model

Rigged! Look at him go!

And textured!

Speaking of merchants, we were also able to get Zeb, the Alpaca, completed!

They’re complete!

Baby on board!

Animation ideas for the baby

Look, the baby’s rigged! They can move!

Also, Katie and Ash had a conversation about how Percy’s leg worked and Ash did this, just in case anyone was curious…

In terms of newly-added accessibility options, we’ve added an option to adjust the speed of a song, which can produce some funny results as the vocals are also sped-up/slowed down to accommodate for this. This addition will hopefully make it easier for some folks to get through boss fights if they’re struggling or make it harder, if that’s what you’re wanting!

Additionally, we’ve made it so you can adjust the size of the onscreen UI, if needed. You can add a visual to Oscar’s sniffing mode, and more!

We’ve also added subtitles and the ability to adjust those subtitles! You can added a solid background and adjust it’s opacity, change the color of the text, and the size of the text.

Perhaps one of the coolest additions was the screen reader for anyone who may need on-screen menus read to them. Currently, it’s just a robot voice but in the end, we’d love to get Amber, Billie’s VA, to record everything for the menu!

Also, we’ve added the ability to activate auto-attacking! When switched on, Billie will automatically attack enemies within her range.

Hopefully these new accessibility options will be helpful to those who need it!

There are also some additional miscellaneous works to show as well, including Sing-A-Long mode having finally been added!

In the final, the white dot will be replaced with something more appropriate! I’m thinking of a Fantoccio head that bounces along and has different expressions based on what he’s singing. Might be cute!

And guess what’s back? Co-Op! It’s playable once again! Make sure to let your favorite P2 that when the game releases, you can play together as Billie and Oscar!

They’ve both come such a long way…

BARNABY THE GHOST OWL PLUSH - ONLY 8 MORE DAYS LEFT! 🧸

👉 GET A BARNABY PLUSH OVER ON MAKESHIP 👈

We previously did an update where we announced that we were once again collaborating with Makeship to produce plushies of Barnaby! The production was funded extremely quickly so, IT’S OFFICIAL, Barnaby is getting made!

We’ve extended the production run by 7 days for anyone who needed a little bit more time and wanted a plushie!

Remember, it’s a limited run! Once Barnaby’s campaign ends, THAT’S IT! He’s gone for good so don’t miss out!! Get him while it lasts for only $25.99!

And with that, my lovelies, another update is in the books! Thanks for your patience with us getting all the new stuff to you, we’ve been working hard and are more excited than ever! I hope it was worth the wait!

Thanks again for all the support you’ve been showing throughout our production, it’s been incredibly motivating and you’re the reason we give it our all! Much love everyone! Have a great week/end!

Cheers, folks!

- Sam ⭐