March 2020 Progress Update! (Patreon)

Hey everyone!

We're pushing for a new release in early April that will have a lot of stability fixes -- improvements to the core systems responsible for existing issues as opposed to a patch attacking the symptoms of the remaining bugs.  This release will contain improvements to the Thug H scene as well as things we had to drop or couldn't get to before the February release.

The release will also have a new enemy -- the Splicer Runt :D.  I doubt we'll have the H attacks for him ready yet (they're in the works now), but he's just about functional and is a lot of fun when you see him in-game.  I plan on having an Inner Circle release with him included as early as Friday.

For now, I've got a huge progress update for the $3 tier.  The last few months I've personally been overwhelmed with trying to get things ready for the recent and upcoming releases, and compiling the major progress updates has slipped to the wayside.  As such, we've got a lot of catching up to do for the $3 crowd with regard to showing off progress we've made for future systems and updates.  

Be sure to poke your way through the image gallery above -- there's a ton of stuff in there o.o.  There are also links to higher quality videos throughout the post (apologies Patreon doesn't let us embed videos, or even include them at the top of image gallery posts).

Contents for this Update

• Continue / Game Over H Scene
• New Maya Preview Shaders 
• Low Poly Vioreaper + Combat Animations  (Video) 
• TMX's Low Poly Splicer Looter + Animations
• Ubercharge's Tunnel Map Tile Set 
• TK's Onyx Rig Improvement (Video)    
• TMX's Low Poly Charger + Rig  (Video)
• New Gun Models! 
• APL's Game Database Project 
• Stylized Explosions
• Mission Mode Map Configurations 
• New Combat SFX  (Video) 
• New Biomonster Design from Limbo Limbo!  

Continue / Game Over H Scene

I started on the first game over H scene in January (it actually plays on the Continue screen), which you can see at the top of the post :D.  I'm designing these with the same vibe as retro beat 'em up games' Continue screens, where they always had some sense of peril for the player character as the clock counts down to Game Over.  I'm really excited to get a bit further with this one so it's more obvious what I have in mind here :D.

New Maya Preview Shaders 

You guys have probably seen some images in recent posts that have the above style.

Due to it not always being practical to export WIP animations to Unity, I share and post a lot of previews straight from the Maya viewport.  These don't give the best impression, so I spent a few days creating new shaders that are much more presentable. The result is what you see above and throughout this post :D.   

And no, these won't affect the game style -- they're strictly for a better look for animations before they go to Unity.

Low Poly Vioreaper + Combat Animations  (Video) 

TK finished the low poly Vioreaper and combat animations back in December, and over a couple weeks in January TMX completed the basic set of combat animations.  It was expected that this guy would be the 2nd enemy in-game (post 3D overhaul), but Mr. KH hasn't had a free moment to work on flying enemy AI.  From a poll we did with the IC however, adding these dudes is the most wanted feature so far, so getting him in is definitely a high priority.

I only showed about half of the anims here, and sorry that the GIF is such low FPS :(.  Here's a 60 FPS video of the animations :D.

TMX's Low Poly Splicer Looter + Animations 

As mentioned at the beginning of the post, TMX finished the low poly model / UVing / rig for the Splicer Looter/Runt last month, and we've finished up his basic combat animations.  Here are some GIFs from when they were WIP.  Shown is the walk cycle, run cycle, and a "panic" animation for when he's fleeing from Onyx in terror :D.  

Ubercharge's Tunnel Map Tile Set 

During January and February, Uber revamped the original tunnel map we did for the Slums level into a tile set, meaning we can use the workflow we created on the sewers tile set to make more varied and dynamic maps.  It turned out to be the largest set of map artwork we've done so far, and includes a lot of tiles to add branching paths and even basic door/switch puzzles into the mix.

Be sure to check out the high resolution images up top!

TK's Onyx Rig Improvement Video

TK helped a lot with the world map in January, so I distracted him quite a bit from his rigging work.  He did however redesign all of Onyx's joints and bends using a technique called slide joints, which you can check out in the video here!  This technique enables her joints to slide as they bend, thus preserving volume more realistically (as opposed to crumpling like an empty tube).  To improve them further, he added a layer of corrective morphs.  You've already seen these improvements in action, but perhaps overlooked them -- they were vital to the H animations in the last release.  

TMX's Low Poly Charger + Rig (Video) 

TMX has finished the low poly Charger and rig!   We've made a video showing some of the rig features in action., which you can check out here! 

New Gun Models!

Limbo has completed four new gun models since the last major progress update -- which brings us up to six!  I haven't had time to complete the textures and materials for all of them yet, so I have some catching up to do.  It's looking like we'll have all the temporary weapon assets ready to go for when Mr. KH is ready to start on the code side of things.  We still have to add the animations for both enemies and Onyx though.  

APL's Game Database Project

Along with the RPG framework, the Game Database (GameDB) had been APL's major project since I began on the world map stuff in January (he's now wrapped it up and moved onto helping with the stability fixes).  

GameDB is a system for managing game assets and their connections to the RPG framework data. Inspired by RPG Maker's database system, APL designed GameDB from the ground up as a global solution for a lack of data management tools in Unity.

Perhaps most importantly, APL wrote a full user interface for Unity's editor to interact with the database assets (shown above).  With it, we can add/remove stats, change characters' leveling data and stat curves, easily edit consumables and equipment data, and create/attach effects for said consumables/equipment. The system has been designed as generically as possible, meaning it can be used for any future Unity projects we take on.

Having come together so well, this puts us ahead of where I expected us to be with the RPG systems at this point.

Stylized Explosions

Ubercharge and I spent a few days a while back developing a process for creating anime-styled explosions in Houdini.  They're 3D simulations, but have been rendered to sprite sheets to be utilized by Unity's particle system.  This will make them extremely light-weight performance-wise, but they'll still have dynamic 3D lighting from the environment due to normal maps generated during the rendering process.  Between grenades, police and robot weaponry, and explosive traps/barrels, there are quite a few FX that demand some beautiful booms, and I think these will add a whole lot of character over standard-looking assets.

Mission Mode Map Configurations

I made this diagram for the design document, but I think it's the best visual example so far of how the map system will work in Mission Mode.  It shows some of the different map configurations for the first level of Pure Onyx (The Void Slums), and how certain "missions" may be arranged. This isn't an exhaustive list -- it's entirely designed to show the flexibility of the map system.  

As you can see, between dynamically editing events, reconfiguring maps, and even changing things based on time of day, we can get a lot of mileage out of a single level in terms of making varied missions/tasks (quests) for the RPG system. 

We will likely be able to develop the Mission Mode mechanics just using this level, and since we're nearly done with maps for it we will begin pretty soon.  In other words, PO will have an actual gameplay loop with progression, and start to feel like a game soon :D.

These are important features for making Pure Onyx an extended experience, as opposed to solely an arcade-style beat 'em up that once you beat you're done with.  

New Combat SFX

Now that we're finally producing content, I've been working with sound designer Lewd K for new and improved sound effects.  So far he's created a small library of H scene FX for us, as well as new FX for Onyx's attacks.  You can check some of them out in a video I made here.  Even though these were done in January(?) I still haven't gotten these in-game, but soon!

New Biomonster Design from Limbo Limbo! 

Last but not least we have a new enemy design from Limbo -- this time a humanoid biomonster :D.  The original idea was for this guy to be a more original / stylized design of the Corruptor from MATM, but I think he evolved into something more menacing than that -- maybe even boss potential.  Let us know what you think!