PURE ONYX March 2023 Progress Update!

Hey guys!

The March Pure Onyx release will be on the 31st!

This release adds the first iteration of the male police enemy, as well as the Bat Bunny's 3x Vioreaper H scene, and Onyx's new status portrait.  We're also working on updating the original Onyx vs Thug H scene, replacing the old legacy rigs, thus allowing for liquid FX and foot meshes to work.

We're working hard on adding visuals for Onyx's Tier 2 gear by the end of the month, plus visuals for the Cat Ears accessory as a bonus :D.

We've also made some major fixes to combat issues that arose after the new turning animation system was added,  such as Onyx occasionally freezing until hit, and enemies walking in place or freezing due to faulty navigation (note they may still walk in place while in bystander mode -- this is a separate issue).

The Charger also has a new ability -- his Roar now triggers a rock fall attack (don't forget Onyx can dodge now).  This type of falling object attack will be used for various other attacks and trap systems.  Expect further improvements to the FX later, as well as an alternate version for when he's in an urban setting.

We've also added updated versions of the Thug's combat animations.  Aside from some clipping fixes, these look the same, but are proof of concept that we can retarget animations from legacy rigs so that we can continue to edit/iterate on them in Maya later.

Beyond the above, there is, as usual, a lot of art progress to discuss, so please read on for more info!

Topics for this Update!

• March Release Details
• Ring Girl Progress
• New Onyx Equipment Visuals
• Onyx Bunny H Scene Preview
• Male Cop Enemy In-Game!
• Shield Cop Sculpt
• Syndicate Girl Pose Concepts
• Motobiker Concept Art
• AI Progress

March Release Details

Tentative Changelog (** indicates items added or being added since the March 21 Inner Circle test release):

• ** Adding Tier 2 equipment visuals for Onyx
• ** Added visuals for Cat Ears accessory
• ** Adding improved movement animations for foot tracking on all enemies
• ** Enemies no longer walk in place when colliding with the top/bottom of map edge during bystander mode.
• ** Enemies no longer lose their watch target after a grapple / H scene ends
• ** Fixed footwork issue where enemies would play WalkBackwards anim when moving forward (and vice versa)
• ** Barrels no longer reject every other quick jab
• ** Fixed a lot of movement animation issues with Crawler/Larva (anim/movement out of sync, etc)
• ** Fixed major shadow artifacts that occurred mostly on butts/abdomen bulges/genitals during H scenes
• ** FemCop/MaleCop spawn in same wave more often (for their combo H scene)
• ** Updated Onyx's new status portrait with braids / belly jewelry 
• ** Added Male Cop portrait
• Added Bat Bunny w/ 3x Vioreaper H scene
• Add first iteration of Police Male enemy (in survival wave missions)
• Added new status portrait for Onyx
• Fixed Onyx freezing / ignoring input issue
• Fixed issue with enemies freezing after standing up
• Fixed walking-in-place navigation issues during combat
• Added first iteration of rock fall ability for Charger
• Fixed Charger's Charge hurtbox, which extended a full meter in front of him.
• Added LOD rig (improved performance) for Splicer Thug during H scenes
• Fixed Bunny Bat 1x Vioreaper scene anims to clean up glitchy leg and other stuff
• Fixed Male Cop's janky shoulder during Onyx w FemCop + MaleCop H Scene
• Fixed pause at end of transition in FemCop w/ 3x Vioreaper H scene
• Added updated versions of Thug combat anims (fixes compatibility issues from legacy rig)
• Fix skin clipping through pants on all the Thug's combat anims

Ring Girl Progress

Demonu and Kame have made a lot of progress on the Ring Girl sculpt!  Kame made a draft of the body and rough outfit sketch.  Demonu has finished up her face and hair mostly, and has done most of the work on the body / outfit, but still has some clothing details to finish up!

New Onyx Equipment Visuals

This will be down to the wire I think, but we're working on getting Onyx's Tier 2 equipment visuals in-game for the end of the month release!  I wish I had more screenshots, but figured you'd rather see it in-game :D.

We're also adding a model for the much anticipated Cat Ears accessory >.> (P.S. they will be bigger than shown here)!

Onyx Bunny H Scene Preview

We've made a lot of progress on Onyx's bunny H scene!  

This one has the most effort up front required of any of the scenes thus far since it works in tow with the visual equipment system to add an outfit for Onyx that will then be used in conjunction with a rigged prop.  This method will be used in the future for things like tentacle scenes, and should go smoother with this one under our belt.

I've included some WIP preview images of the outfit for the scene along with poses that will be used in loops.  Note that in the included images, that rigged prop I mentioned isn't present -- she will have additional support straps securing her to match the concept art from last month.  Some of the rigging will also be cleaned up more -- right now there are some wonky parts around her thighs especially.

Male Cop Enemy In-Game!

As of the mid-month release, we've added the first iteration of the Male Cop enemy to the game!  For the end of month release, the FemCop + Male Cop H scene for Onyx will be available in-game as opposed to just living in the gallery.

He's still pretty basic, with just his attack combo currently, as his grab attacks still need the code framework for combat grappling, but we will be adding more soon once we get a chance to knock out his VFX for things such as his electric baton buff and projectile attack.

One thing we spent a while on was adding a unique movement pattern for him, but ended up realizing it worked much better for the upcoming Shield Cop enemy.  We'll discuss that more below!

Anyways, expect custom SFX and VFX for him soon!

Shield Cop Sculpt

Kame has completed the Shield Cop enemy sculpt!

This enemy has been a long time coming, with Limbo's original concept (before he was slated to have the shield) for him dating back to 2019.

As discussed in our last preview of him, he'll function a bit differently from normal enemies, in that attacking him from the front will damage his shield.  The color of the energy barrier will transition as it becomes damaged and the shield eventually breaks.  Alternatively, Onyx can maneuver around him to hit him from behind.

We're working on a unique movement pattern that involves him locking onto Onyx's depth position and following her on that axis as he advances.  If Onyx attempts to dodge through him he will bat her away.  This makes them feel like a moving wall condensing the player's combat space, and requiring them to use aerial maneuvers to get behind them, or to use ranged weapons or consumables that attack over their shields.

Syndicate Girl Pose Concepts

Limbo has a bunch of combat pose concepts for Syndicate Girl to share!

We're still nailing down her attacks, but generally she will behave sort of like an enemy version of Malise.  One unique attack as an enemy will be her ability to slide and fire above her as an anti-air attack.  While mobile, we'll need to refrain from giving her too many acrobatic abilities I think (at least aerial), as that's more the domain of the Assassin and FemCop, and may make her overpowered when combined with her ranged weapons.

Motobiker Concept Art

Limbo has completed the concept art for the Splicer Motobiker!  At first we were unsure as to whether we would use a unique model for this guy, or if it'd just be one of the other Splicer models on a bike, but figured a unique character would be best and give us the most flexibility.

I also think Limbo's character design works great with the bike designs he did a while back, shown again above!

AI Progress

We've made further progress with our AI capabilities this month!

You can see above an example of line art drawn by Xxoom (one of our concept artists) featuring our lovely Neon ^-^, and three variations that were colored and shaded entirely by AI while retaining Xxoom's line art and composition.  What's more, the coloring/shading style used is extremely close to Xxoom's actual style.

This was achieved through the use of two new extensions for Stable Diffusion that a lot of our AI R&D focused on this month:  ControlNet and LoRAs (Low-Rank Adaptation networks).

In short, ControlNet allows for much greater control of depth, shape, and form in an AI generation, while LoRA networks allow for fast training of styles and concepts using a relatively small sample size.  In the above case, Xxoom allowed us to make a XoomBot (TM) using their illustrations to speed up concept work.  Some other valuable use cases we've tested (and that I'll probably show results of next month):

• Generating alternate outfit ideas and color schemes from an existing concept.  Example: Taking a finished concept of Neon's dress/armor and generating dozens of alternate ideas that we can then use to improve our design or make a new outfit from.
• Style transfer or relighting existing art, especially environments with lots of clean lines or man-made details -- something not possible till now.  Example: making our existing 3D rendered Sewers/Slums maps look more like stylized paintings.
• Streamlining art direction.  Example: Limbo does a design but I had something else in mind -- I can give him a visual example by generating something similar with AI.