Amai Stealth Mission Concept Art (Patreon)

I'm not sure whether or not all rivals will have a Befriend/Betray stealth mission. Each mission would require the creation of an entire new environment and multiple NPCs walking around in it, each using new animations and voice acting. It's a "Stretch Goal" - something that would only get into the game *if* we raise enough money during the crowdfunding campaign.

Even though the stealth missions are not 100% guaranteed to get into the game, I still want to plan them out and have the concept art / environment designs ready, so that if we do ever begin working on them, all of the pre-production work is already done, making it easier for development to begin. For that reason, I've requested some concept art of what Amai's Befriend/Betray mission would be like.

I don't want to give away any story spoilers, but short, the mission would involve sneaking into a bakery, reaching the third floor of the bakery, stealing something, and then escaping.

The owners of the bakery have done some unethical things, so I suggested giving the bakery a dark color scheme and "evil-looking" mascot. That's the reasoning for the black exterior, gothic decor, devilish mascot, and the gothic lolita fashion style of the bakery's manager.

The designs you see above for the Manager and Baker are not final; they're excellent designs, but I think that at least one of them - probably the Manager - will need to look more "villainous", since she's a "bad guy" character who is doing some pretty shady things, and needs to look the part. At the least, she'll probably have a more smug attitude / expression in her final design.

In terms of level design, I think that the actual 3D model for this bakery will probably be much more spacious than it appears in this concept art. I wouldn't want the player to feel claustrophobic inside of the building. It would get frustrating if you can't rotate the camera without it bumping into a nearby wall / shelf, and we can avoid that by spacing things out and adding more empty space between things if the player is going to be walking around in those areas.

I'm a little tempted to say that the service area, sweets bar, and candy store should all be on the bottom floor, and that customers shouldn't have access to a stairway. This way, the break room / apartment / manager's office can all be on the 2nd floor, and the manager's office would be on the third floor, so that each floor of the building has a specific designated purpose. I also feel that there needs to be a room somewhere designated as the bathroom, even if it's small.

Overall, though, I think that this is an amazing start to the building's design! I hope that I'll have the budget (or volunteer assistance) to make it become a reality.