3D Gildedguy Puppet & St7 Updates (Patreon)

Hi Patrons,

Here's a quick update on my progress the past 2 weeks.

Story 7 Animatics Done?

I believe the animatic/storyboard for the new animation is now complete enough (65% done). I've found it to be more organic, and more efficient, to leave the rest of the storyboards unknown until it comes time to animate them during actual production. Akin to vacations, instead of planning out every hour of each day in the trip, it's like leaving some "free time" in the schedule to tour & explore.

The green column represents animatic progress. (Note how the ending is left unfinished.)

This means I can leave the story alone for now, and move on to the next phases: Budgeting, Marketing & Recruitment. This kinda stuff may take a few weeks, as there will be a lot of spreadsheets, emails, and contracts to write. Good thing is that I can do this work asynchronously as I continue to draw and do concept art.

Something I am reconsidering for the next Patreon special offer are the keychains - after a few years of shipping out hundreds of them, I've found it to be quite cumbersome to re-calculate effective postage for them. I might be able to fit more art in thinner packages (stickers, trading cards, postcards), at a better cost for you guys, but I want to know your thoughts. 

I'll be putting out a POLL to see what kind of merch you guys are still interested in receiving for animation premieres.

GoldStreamOverlay2.0 Retirement & GoldOverlay3D Release

Switching gears to the coding side, I'll be saying goodbye to my 2D stream overlay and swapping over to the Unity3D one very soon. The new version has gotten to a point in development where live testing & development is needed.

I've spent a couple days packaging up the old overlay, and documenting its functions (see here if you're curious!). I hope to recreate all the old features using the new engine, which will reduce lag and allow for some more spectacular interactions in the future.

As a part of the upgrade, I did a stream modelling a brand new 3D Gildedguy! Well not entirely new, as it's similar to the low-poly model I used for the Vs Oxob trailer. But the difference this time is that I rigged (added virtual armature) to it. This means I can pose and even animate the model anyway I want.

This will be essential for adding a fresh breath of life to the new overlay. I must compete with the V-Tubers somehow.

I am really enjoying playing with the game development tools that Unity provides. My C# proficiency is slowly catching up to my actionscript, and that excites me. As I work on this new overlay, I hope my skills become good enough to tackle another game project in the future. 

The coding work will stay in sandbox mode though, since the main focus is on the 2D animations.

Follow along in the livestreams if you can! The next few broadcasts ought to be spoiler free while I do concept art and overlay development.

That's all I have to report for now, thank you!