PURE ONYX July 2023 Progress Update!

Hey everyone!

Heads up to the Inner Circle tier members before we begin -- you've seen the first couple topics in this post earlier this week, but continue on for all the new updates :D.

As usual the next release will be tomorrow!  The main feature is the new gameplay/mission UI, so I have some screens to show as well as some of the new portraits we've been creating for it.  

I know every month I say we have a lot of art progress to show, but it's especially true this month @_@.  In addition to UI and portrait stuff, we have Wraxe's new WIP boss map, as well as the finished Motobiker and Fleshpod Seedling sculpts.  We also have some updates on upcoming H scenes to talk about!

Check out everything below!

Topics for this Update

• July Release Details
• New UI!
• New Portraits
• H Scene Progress
• Motobiker Sculpt!
• Wraxe's Warehouse WIP
• Fleshpod Concepts Pt2
• Fleshpod Seedling Sculpt
• UI/Graphics Options

July Release Details

Tentative Changelog 

• Added intro animations to Onyx + Wraxe Lift H scene
• Fixed animation glitch where Bat Bunny snaps downward during intro segment of Bat Bunny + 2x and 3x Vioreaper scenes
• Added new in-stage gameplay/mission UI
• Added new player/enemy/surveillance disk portraits
• Further updated art for + optimized Onyx's status menu portrait
• Removed most info from left hand side mission UI; can now be toggled via F5 with the Vsync/FPS info
• Fixed color mismatch / fade issues on startup splash screens + improved legibility of some text + optimized sprites
• Issue with French localized machines not parsing animation event for shake correctly should be fixed
• Assigned missing Exp/Score/Money rewards to Bunnies + Male Cop, updated Charger rewards
• Added button in Options to reset options to default
• Added button in Options to reset gallery scene unlocks
• Added "Hide UI During H Scenes" toggle to Options
• Added confirmation window for "Reset Settings To Saved", "Reset Settings To Default", "Reset Bindings To Default", and "Reset All Gallery Unlocks"
• FX no longer appear in front of foreground environment sprites in Basement map
• Added crossfading to Mr. Black's shop animations + rewrote proximity animation trigger script for stability/performance
• Fixed Slide/Dodge draining stamina while god mode is enabled
• Fixed sticky corner in Basement map (Onyx could get hung up when walking against border)
• Removed unintended debug control binding from Options

New UI!

We've actually been doing mock-ups on this for a couple months behind the scenes :D, along with other sections of the game UI.  That said, once the final iteration started coming together early this month I knew I wanted to add it right away.

Here's where we've arrived at, though we have a toned down boss gauge in-game right now until we get to experiment with future UI elements.

We're doing our best to prep it as much as possible for animation in the future, so it took a little longer to keep tidy on all layers and stay organized.

New Portraits

The new UI requires new portraits for Onyx and all the basic enemies @_@.  Xxoom and I have been working hard on these, but still need to do Splicer Thug, Looter, and Blade Bunny.

Not only do we need new art for some characters, but it's taken quite a bit of work to process everything for their various functions.  Here's a look at the versions for the enemy HP gauge! We actually have some improvements since this was made, so you'll likely see those in next month's release.

H Scene Progress

We're making a lot of progress on H scenes, though some of what we finished this month won't be added until next month since I was preoccupied with the UI work x_x.  Here's a list of everything we're working on currently. 

• Replacements for the missing intros (Wraxe finished, working on Thug and Thug + Runt)
• Improvements to transitions for Onyx + Bunnies diIdo scene (may make it into end of month release) 
• Bat Bunny + Vioreaper 1x, 2x, and 3x physics & improvements for when cinematic mode is added (mostly finished)
• Blade Bunny (futa) + Vioreaper scenes 
• Onyx + Semi (muscle girl) scene
• Poses for first Onyx + Brute scene

Motobiker Sculpt!

Kame has finished the Motobiker sculpt! He turned out amazing as usual! Check him out above :D.  

Wraxe's Warehouse WIP

Check above for a complete image of the map in a single image!  

Wraxe's warehouse is actually one of the first maps Limbo did a concept for, and it's finally making its way into the game :D.  We still have a lot of work on it, but I'm excited to show it off at this stage.  

Also pictured: Wraxe working on a mech before his boss battle begins.  Some of you may have noticed Wraxe is pretty easy currently.  He's actually intended to be a stage boss with a more developed move set and much higher aggression.  We had planned on making him a boss in the Junkyard, but we're now heavily gravitating toward making him the first boss of Slums (Junkyard is the second stage).   

Fleshpod Concepts Pt2

Limbo has completed a bunch of orthographic sketches of the Fleshpod variants for the 3D sculptors to use.  I thought they were cool enough to show off here :D.  From top to bottom (working names): 

• Fleshpod Carrier
• Fleshpod V1
• Fleshpod V2
• Fleshpod Seedling

Fleshpod Seedling Sculpt

Demonu has just about finished the first of the above Fleshpod variants -- starting with the Seedling!  This is Demonu's first non-human sculpt for us, as normally he works exclusively on the ladies, but he's picked up on the style very quickly with Kame's help!  

UI/Graphics Options

We're working on adding a bunch of new stuff to the Options menu, including some upcoming graphics and performance settings.  This is by no means an exhaustive list -- just some that are on the horizon.

As of the Inner Circle tier release, we've already added a new "Hide UI During H Scenes" option, as well as a Reset Gallery function and Reset Options to Default function.

Soon we'll be adding Ground Shadow and Self Shadow performance options.  For now they will be simple toggles, but in the future you'll be able to set Ground Shadow to simple sprite shadows instead of costly 3D shadows, and we will likely add quality settings to Self Shadows.  There will also likely be an Environment Lighting setting in the near future that allows for disabling extra environment lights, which are currently quite expensive.

We're also looking at anti-aliasing options, as right now 1080p and lower resolutions could really use it.