Astra - Monthly Update (January 2022) (Patreon)

Hello Patrons,

It's the first update of the new year!!!!!!! This month was more relaxed as a lot of the team took 1-2 weeks off for December end / January beginning. That being said, we got some phat news to share so let's get started. :^)

Please note there are medium spoilers (artwork and locations that are main path specific but may reveal certain game content; writing titles revealing game events).

WRITING

We've spent most of January doing some storyboard adjustments based on feedback received and also some continuity issues that were identified. Those are fixed now and we've progressed forward with some scenes. Yes, we did target the romance ones because episode 3 was a story arc and we needed to write some flirty content!!

On another note, we are currently in talks with a prospecting writer. If they work out, it should speed up this process a bit! We are super picky when it comes to writers since our expectation is extremely high, stay tuned to see if they make it!

CHARACTER ART

It's not Iris for once! :P Here we have the lovely Luna being a bit of a flirt. We got one CG done this month as Sunimu was busy polishing Live2D assets (more info on this below!). Going into February, we should probably see 3-4 CG's as his work scope is zoned in for the upcoming month!

BACKGROUND ART

Background was a bit light this month with two. One of them being a planet side docking bay while the other being a space station docking bay. We should see a BG ramp up as we go forward into the next month!

ANIMATION

All the Live2D work is officially done!!!! That means the character models, sprite rigging, animation poses and expressions are all complete. Sunimu was helping polish some of the animation morphs and clean up some inconsistencies with shadowing. This section is now officially closed unless we have very specific net new requests like a new outfit, expression/pose requirement...etc. This is a major milestone for us since Live2D is a massive undertaking of work and it is finally finished.

Character Cheat Sheet for expressions and poses:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LEgaT3FSASQ8hsi64IqFUUGEWyxUghTn/view?usp=sharing

What this also means is that you guys won't be in read-only versions much longer! We should have the non-voiced versions coming in hot after everything is all wired into Unity and our scene designers can get to work.

PROGRAMMING

With all the Live2D work done and the fact that we will be moving from read-only to non-voiced versions, we have hired a Unity Developer to get started on the backend work. Currently on their plate is to get all the Live2D work implemented, a visual indication for timed choices, and lay the ground work for a slick, sci-fi GUI. Very exciting stuffs!

AUDIO

One of the missions for episode 4 requires the need to be sneaky but in a less metal-gear style music like our other track is. This one needed to be more subtle / incognito and I feel like Eric captured that vibe! This is the rough WIP and we should be sharing the full version along with its alternative variant in the upcoming week.

That's the update for this month! Lots of backend stuff is now in the pipeline so exciting times are inbound!

Thank you for your continued support. <3

- Dishu