PURE ONYX January 2023 Progress Update!

Hey again everyone!

As usual you can expect the new Pure Onyx release at the end of the month!

This one has a much awaited feature from our programmer, AltairPL.  The first implementation of his visual equipment system adds visual changes to Onyx when her equipment is removed or destroyed!  Also of note, we've added the finished quality loops for Onyx's 3x Vioreaper scene, as well as the first version of FemCop's 3x Vioreaper scene.  The spider cavern map will also be in this release!

We have a bunch of progress on character design and artwork to show off as usual too!  See below for all the details!  

Topics for this Update!

• January Release Details
• Neon Design & Sculpt WIP!
• Announcer / Ring Girl Concept
• Syndicate Girl Clothing Damage
• Visual Equipment System!
• Spider #1 Concepts
• Spider #2 Concepts
• Labs Stage Design - Spider Caverns
• Junkyard Stage Design - Wraxe's Warehouse

January Release Details

Tentative Changelog (** indicates items added or being added since the January 24 Inner Circle test release):

• ** Added early version of FemCop w/ 3x Vioreaper H scene
• ** Added Spider Cavern map and associated test mission to the world map
• ** Added post H scene liquid FX compatibility to the visual equipment system
• ** Added more liquid FX meshes for compatibility with nude / jacket-less Onyx
• ** Turn animations no longer eat enemies' attack windup animations
• ** Enemy footwork code rewritten to play nicer with turning system; fixes most remaining visual issues.
• ** Enemies no longer slide along ground when turning to walk out of idle.
• ** Wraxe no longer skips his turning animation after some attacks.
• ** Turning no longer interrupts Wraxe's summon ability.
• ** Fixed issue where environment damage would enable turning system on actors that spawned with turning disabled
• Greatly improved + added physics to Onyx w/ 3x Vioreaper H scene loops
• Fixed issue with two of the Vioreapers swapping positions mid Onyx w/ 3x Vioreaper scene
• Added missing SFX to outro of Onyx and FemCop's 1x Vioreaper H scene outro.
• Added first iteration of visual equipment system; compatible with adult content filtering.
• Equipping/unequipping gear now adds/removes the model to/from Onyx.
• Clothing damage from H scenes is now persistent.
• Onyx can repair destroyed equipment at shops.  Currently combat does not damage equipment -- only specific H scene events.
• Inventory is disabled during H scenes or when player is K.O. (this will be improved in the future).
• First Aid Kits can no longer be used when at full health.
• Fixed health calculation issue that caused Reatomizer to incorrectly heal all HP.
• Animation events that are skipped via the Skip Animation or Skip Scene functions may now still be calculated as if they were witnessed in real time.  Currently only enabled for clothing damage events in H scenes.

Neon Design & Sculpt WIP!

Kame, Demonu and I have progressed with Neon's design!  

The first step after her head sculpt has been to settle on a human body shape and scale for her mechanical legs (the legs shown here are just a rough approximation -- they aren't representative of the final legs).  

Now that this is complete, I can take the body shape and make orthographic sketches so that Limbo will have a template to draw her outfit designs (including her mechanical part variants) in a way that Kame and Demonu can easily sculpt from all angles!

Announcer / Ring Girl Concept

Xxoom and I struggled quite a lot with this one, but we've got a solid design for the Announcer / Ring Girl NPC for Semi's boss fight done :D.  

We spent a long time experimenting with colors, and things didn't really click until we added more complexity to her hair and added the cat mask, giving her a connection to the Bunny Girls found in the same stage.

Syndicate Girl Clothing Damage

Demonu was able to finish Syndicate Girl's clothing damage sculpt!  This one took, no joke, about a dozen attempts to get the perfect design for the pants damage.  It's safe to say though that Demonu is getting really good with the style :D.  Hopefully it comes out ok once rigged ^-^;;. 

Visual Equipment System!

AltairPL has completed enough of the visual equipment system that he's been able to implement the first iteration of it in-game!  

As mentioned above, this system changes the visuals of Onyx's model when her equipment state changes. This includes removing her gear entirely if you so choose (shoes stay on still until we update rigs to handle the height difference that would occur from going barefoot).  

Certain H scenes will also cause persistent damage to her gear, which must be repaired at the shop.  Later we will add combat damage to equipment, as well as additional visual states similar to the damage effect we've been showing for FemCop and Syndicate Girl.

While the functionality is there, we've yet to add the models for Onyx's higher tier equipment, so right now she's still limited to her default outfit. 

You can check the system out early in the January 24th $10 tier release!

Spider #1 Concepts

Limbo's primary work this month has revolved around finalizing the concepts for the  spider enemies!  As mentioned in an earlier update, we're currently planning two regular spider-type enemies, with the first being a weaver.  This enemy specializes in web attacks and navigating vertically via web strands.   

Spider #2 Concepts

The second spider-type enemy is a biomonster that is adept at surprising its prey by concealing itself underneath the ground, similar to trapdoor spiders.  Unlike the first spider, this one fights primarily on the ground.  When it's not jumping, at least ^-^;;.

Both of the above enemy types are known to tunnel and spawn from dens that the player can collapse.   

Labs Stage Design - Spider Caverns

I've finally completed the first version of the spider caverns map!  I had been wanting to get to this ever since I finished the new PC build, and was only able to get my AI setup up and running a few weeks ago.  

If you recall, this was the first map that I wanted to try our new AI workflow on (using Zydaline's mockup as a starting point).  It took a few days of experimenting, but the new system is able to generate map chunks in just a few percent of the time it took on my old PC. What took 2.5+ minutes previously now takes under 8 seconds, making AI experimentation and the actual generative workflow I spoke about in earlier updates wayyy less of a chore.  Processing this map still took two days of work, but thankfully waiting around for the generations to finish wasn't part of it.

This version doesn't contain the background or foreground layers yet -- that has to be done in another pass.  But this one is functional :D.

Junkyard Stage Design - Wraxe's Warehouse

Limbo and Zydaline have progressed more on the Junkyard stage, this time with Wraxe's warehouse map!  Limbo extended his concept from a while back to better fit the necessary playing area for a boss map, and Zydaline has done an amazing job with the mock-up!  

The next step is a rough in-game test so that we can ensure scale feels ok, and then we will move on to replacing some of the early renders of different elements with more complete art.