Restitched: Recapped! | May 2024 (Patreon)

Are you ready for another month of development updates from the Restitched team? Well, you're in the right place!

This month covers multiple areas of development toward the game. However, we've chosen to redact some of our latest work to keep an element of surprise... but, there are still plenty of goodies to gawk at - so let's dive in!

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Soundtrack Preview Reels

Restitched's soundtrack is coming along nicely, and we tend to share 30-second snippets of it on trixel+ and social media. We've put together a playlist of YouTube reels so that you can check out some of our public music previews!

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Project Applications

We've restructured our application process. This now means that the form to apply for certain development roles is now closed, as we've had an influx of applicants to sort through.

We want to do a better job at sending acceptance and rejection emails, and the best way to streamline this process is to only open the forms when we're actively looking for new developers.

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New Members

On that note, we've also invited several new Coders to the dev team this month! We're excited to welcome the following folks as Trial Devs on Restitched:

• Louis

• Jake

• Joel

• Gabriel

• Chris

We've also added a new team member to our Discord Moderation team. You may know them as "Tevlev"!

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Props to Ornaments Feature

One of our favorite innovative features in Restitched is the ability to turn almost any 'Prop' into a freely-placeable 'Ornament' at the press of a button. You can see that feature in action in our latest promo video!

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We're always knee-deep in code, and this month was no different. We've made a myriad of commits to the game this month, and have even opened a couple of new branches for work-in-progress and experimental features!

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Trigger Zones

A super important part of level editing is being able to see the detection radius for certain logic and gameplay items. In this case, we knew we needed a zone for the placeable Camera item. While we can already see visual spheres in the Unity editor for a trigger, this is unfortunately not a feature that can be put into games.

Our solution was to create a special script called 'TriggerVisualizer'. It spawns a sphere mesh and resizes it to match the same value on the invisible trigger radius in Unity. This mesh, combined with a custom-built shader, has allowed us to show the trigger range and shape for anything we add the script to in Unity!

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Hiding via Script/Tags

When creating the trigger visuals, we ran into an issue. It was always visible, even in gameplay and when the object wasn't selected. This is not ideal, because we want it to only show up when you've selected the thing it is part of (or when the settings for it are open).

To fix this, our newest Coder, Jake, was tasked with creating a fix that allows us to tag objects as hidden in gameplay, or hidden until selected in the editor. This created a few issues, as the game wasn't quite set up to handle this transaction.

Luckily, the incredible Restitched dev team always finds a solution!

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Adding Physics Sounds

Our other new Coder, Joel, has been busy expanding the game's sound effects system to support physics interactions! We're all impressed with how much audio adds to the experience, and are hyped about continuing this feature!

Currently, impact sounds for various object types (metal, glass, fabric, rock, wood, etc.) is supported. Joel is also working to add pitch variation depending on the object size/weight, as well as rolling, sliding, and more.

(sadly, we can't include a video... but the sounds are there. we promise.)

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Cameras

Our wonderful camera tech (cinemachine) has allowed us to smoothly transition between multiple camera states. So, whenever you enter a trigger zone, leave it, or cross to another, you'll get a seamless and smooth transition between them!

We've also added script support for cameras, so that we can (hopefully soon) link them up to in-game Settings Panels and control things like tilt, zoom, field of view, angle, etc.

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Slope Testing

Before we get anyone's hopes up, this is not a feature that is being developed. This is just a very cool side effect of us using 3D physics support for the player!

We've discovered that manually rotating brushed materials in the Unity editor will also rotate their colliders. Out of curiosity, we dropped Stuffy into the scene and were surprised to see that it's possible to walk up and down slopes!

As much as we'd LOVE to have this as a feature, it would mean expanding the material brushing (or Props) system to support 3D colliders. We'd also need to change all edit tools to work with it. There are loads of edge cases, too. For instance, having Props fall on a slope would be awkward due to them not moving in 3D (so they'd stick and appear to float, rather than slide down as you'd expect).

It would be far too much work and outside of our scope... but it's super cool, so we're sharing it with you!

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Stamping Tech

Stamping is one of the oldest features in the game. It dates back to 2020 when development began! Our original method served its purpose, but we've outgrown it. As we've discussed before, we're looking to expand our Stamping system so that placement is more accurate, performance is (potentially) better, and so we can add new features like normal and metallic textures, painting, etc.

A piece of open-source code caught our eye, and so we've tried it out in-game this month. As you can see, the frog Stamp is being projected onto surfaces. You can probably tell that it's not wrapping around meshes, and is stretching instead. This is not ideal, as we don't want to project images - we want to wrap them!

We've found another add-on from the Unity Asset Store. We're in the early stages of setting up support for it, but it seems to do everything we need! Even more fitting, one of the original Coders (Louis) from 2021 has rejoined the team this month and they've worked on Stamps before!

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Fixing Collision Tools

Josh was able to fix a broken level editor tool and setting this month! The Collision Tool and collision toggle in Settings Panels were not working. It seems that support started for this feature, but was caught up in the transition to 3D Physics many months ago and was never finished.

Fortunately, progress was made toward fixing these features, and things are behaving more as we expect them to!

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Our team of 3D Artists has contributed a few new models to the game this month. These range from Props to Hardware, and they're all very nice! Let's take a look...

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Spikes

One of the many spike variations to come! This model was created by Santiago and turned out just perfect after collaboration and team feedback. The process started with some online photos as references, after which Santiago and Halston brainstormed some ideas:

We've decided on a one-layer-thick Hardware object for the default spikes. With the feedback in mind, here's what we came up with:

The spikes look great, but we want them to be versatile as much as possible. So, we've toned down the distressed effect and made the tips of the spikes a bit more obvious from a distance by highlighting them with a brighter shade of grey:

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New Props

Cade has also been working his usual magic on the Props we've requested, which include things like the Picnic Basket, Speaker - Small, Speaker - Tall, Pyramid, Security Camera, and more. Santiago has also made a super handy 'Mounted Spotlight' model!

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Launcher / Trampoline

The game features a Hardware object known as 'Trampoline'. We want this to be a versatile, but self-contained way to propel the player. It needs to be generic enough to fit in various level styles but also stylized enough to live up to its name.

Evan has created a model exploring this idea. We've decided not to go with this style, as it's not quite what we're looking for - however, it's definitely worthy of sharing!

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Optimizing

We've gone through multiple level backgrounds this month and reduced the number of shadows casting, adjusted shadow quality, and turned off several unnecessary light sources. By reducing the objects and graphics quality in backgrounds, we were able to slightly boost performance and make the game more consistent and stable.

Our goal in this process is to not reduce the artistic vision of the environment. Instead, we're sacrificing certain areas that have a negligible difference with lighting turned off. We've also crunch-compressed textures to reduce the game's file size and load times.

Ultimately, you'll never notice these changes. Backgrounds are always secondary to the gameplay area and we sometimes get a little carried away with the detail in them!

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Synthwave Cacti

The remake of our Synthwave background is still underway. Carter has recently added small neon cacti to the scene!

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Distorted Window UV

One of our backgrounds has a distorted window texture! We were able to catch it this month while polishing and optimizing. The issue has been forwarded to the modeler who made the scene, and we hope to get it patched up soon.

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One of our favorite aspects of development is seeing so many awesome assets get imported! Seeing new Props and art assets breathes so much life into the game, and opens up the potential for self-expression in levels.

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Importing Props

Featured: Picnic Basket, Spray Paint Can, Security Camera, Ship Anchor, Guitar, Fountain, Fine China Plate

Featured: Speaker - Tall, Speaker - Short

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Particles and Effects

We loveeee a particle or two. That's why we've put a bit of time aside to import even more fancy placeable effects this month. From embers, dripping water, electricity, fire, and more!

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Collectibles

Pickups are things you can collect, and they need to draw your attention. There's nothing more satisfying than picking up a shiny, floating, rotating object... right?

We've added new particle effects to our Gift pickups! Now they're truly irresistible.

Ozy pitched some feedback asking if we could add light sources to Gifts. This is a small performance concern, but we've done our best to optimize it. If it becomes a problem it's easy to remove, but gift pickups are meant to be few and far between - so we don't think it will cause too much trouble!

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Light Sources

Remember the Mounted Spotlight we mentioned earlier? It was imported to the game, complete with full lighting support. We already have so many ideas on how we could use this in our levels!

Santiago has also shown just how easy it is to edit the emissive texture on the object, which will eventually allow us to tint the glow of the light to match the color the creator sets it to.

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Trigger Zone Shader

We've shown the trigger zone for objects earlier in this post, but did you know it uses a custom shader effect? We've used a form of MultiPass Distortion to create a bubble that glows at the edges of any surface it impacts. This way, you'll always know what its touching and how deep it extends in the scene.

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Building Materials

A new batch of Building Materials were imported this month using textures from our backlog. We have an extremely generous amount of these in the game already, but what's a few more... right?

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Fan Particles

The placeholder fan particles have been replaced with a proper version! This new wind effect now stays a consistent size, whereas before it would change based on the camera distance. We find it to be much more realistic. It's little changes like these that really improve the feel of the game!

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Death Poof Effect

When Stuffy dies, we intend to explode them into a cloud of stuffing. Not because we're deranged, but because it just makes sense. So, this month we made sure Stuffy goes out with a bang!

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Bugs are a permanent fixture of any project and the bane of our team's existence. This month was no different in terms of new bugs... though, we've squashed several of them already!

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Brushing Colliders

In a slightly older build of the game from Steam, our Animator Luke reported a strange new issue with brushing and intersecting Building Materials across multiple layers. As shown, a strange slope collider is created despite only using the square shape.

We tried to reproduce this in our more up-to-date branch of the game, and couldn't. We suspect this bug was fixed with a recent edit to the way material colliders are generated!

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Not Hiding

Certain level editor icons and objects are meant to hide when you drop Stuffy in to the level or start it in Play Mode. For whatever reason, a recent change to the game temporarily broke this and caused hidden things to show up at all times.

Our new coder Jake was quick to fix this!

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Phasing Through

One of the oldest, most annoying bugs in the game has returned for what feels like the millionth billionth time. Certain collider shapes are being marked as a trigger whenever we reimport the Props or Hardware datasets. This means anytime we add new objects to the game and import them to the Craftbook, the game starts disabling the collision on random objects.

Because it doesn't remove collision on everything, it was tricky to track down why it happens to some objects and not others. Luckily, we were able to put this bug into its final resting place at last... or so we hope...

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Respawning

The ability to respawn at the first checkpoint in the level is already working! We've not properly implemented checkpoint activation beyond the entry point of a level, so we didn't quite think it would be working already. This was a pleasant surprise!

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Climbing

Ozy has made some overhauling tweaks to the way climbing works in the game. To make it more reliable and easier to work with, it's been turned into its own "movement state".

We've also added the ability to climb on slanted surfaces. The speed shown is not final, and we'll be making even more tweaks and changes with time!

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Quicksand Sinking

Josh has started to wrap up his work on the Quicksand hazard. Stuffy can now sink after being in contact with the material for too long.

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Pickup Effects and Score System

New visual effects were added to pickups. We'll need to continue refining these, but having the option to assign particles upon collection is already a huge step in the right direction!

We've also been working to add a working score system, so that anything you collect is tracked on a per-player basis, counted in the UI, and can be tallied up at the end of a level. More on that later!

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Enemies and Damage

Joseph has been doing more work on enemies. They now follow Stuffy when you're within range, and hurt you on contact. After a couple of hits with the enemy you'll die, so be careful in your approach!

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Player Score HUD

Jake and Halsto have been working on player score indicators. While Jake has been coding the backend for this feature, Halston has whipped up a design to be shown during gameplay.

It reflects the score you've collected, and how many lives you have left, along with your Steam username and a photo of your Stuffy.

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Particle Icons

New particle icons were added to the Hardware chapter. This finally allows us to see what they look like before placing them! A black background was chosen to make sure they stand out regardless of your Craftbook's color choice.

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Music Icons

A batch of new music icons were imported this month as well. These are part of a mini project for our team of 2D Artists! We're excited to see what else they create, and really enjoy putting a face to the lovely music of Restitched.

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UI Color Choices

A range of new Craftbook color choices have been added, covering most areas of the color spectrum. Which colors are you most looking forward to, and do you already see your favorite choice?

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Props Categories

Things can get a bit crowded in our placeholder chapter categories. Instead of cramming all of our tech and toys into the "Household" category, we've added two new sections dedicated just for them!

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Our composer is on fire! Not literally, but in terms of all the stellar sounds he's been producing recently. It's always a delight to hear the latest creations and include them in our gameplay!

This month saw the addition of one new song and one updated one. These are "Dirge of the Damned" and "Reckoning".

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Style-A-Stuffy Contest Concept (Update)

2D Artist Daniel has taken inspiration from a Style-A-Stuffy contest winner, and has created a new color scheme to make these cosmetic pieces even more versatile.

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Player HUD UI Concepts

Our Graphic Designer Halston has created several new player score concepts for the UI this month. After many rounds of team voting, we've narrowed it down to these final contenders. In the end, we settled on the middle and final rows.

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Accessibility Ideas

Daniel has created a couple of mockups for accessibility settings for those who are visually impaired! At the moment, these are just ideas being pitched. Creating a feature to allow this would be something new and complex for us. Because of that, many accessibility features are often a focus toward the end stages of the project.

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We're finally wrapping up our work on the game's first cutscene, which also doubles as footage for our upcoming second trailer. It's inspiring and rewarding to see the work and talent of many developers forming together into one unified vision!

This is a clip we've teased before, but Luke has given it some extra polish this month with dust effects, new lighting, and more:

One of the later clips in this cutscene has been polished as well. Halston offered some feedback on the animation and environment:

Based on the feedback, Luke has refined the clip to look better than ever... and we're still not quite done with it yet! We can't wait to share the full thing with you!

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Your favorite plush captain is steadily sailing toward the end of his first adventure. With only a few pages left in the comic, our artists are working on sketches for the next pages. Here's a sneak peek:

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We usually answer community questions from our Discord server, but this month we've done things a little differently.

Check out our huge Q&A thread on Twitter (X) for loads of official replies to interesting questions!

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Social Media Trend

An indie game trend has been making the rounds on Twitter this month. Developers are posting their upcoming game, alongside other games and media it's inspired by! So, naturally, we felt the need to jump in and show our appreciation for all of the wonderful things that inspire our team.

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Team Votes

We've had a few team votes this month, which is a very handy way to get all of our developers on the same page and see which features should be added or changed! We often use this system to decide between two close choices, such as textures, UI, concepts, and more.

Here are some of our voting requests from this month:

Contest Concept Recolor

Music Icons

Spike Types

Thin or Thick

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By: Luke

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By: Jake

"Got a chance to have a play around with the editor today while I was working on some performance optimisations. Nice to see how featureful it is already!"

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By: Halston

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By: Trixel Creative

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Thanks for checking in to another month of development updates! We'll see you again next time!

What did you find most interesting this month? Let us know!