PURE ONYX March 2022 Progress Update!

Hey everyone!

I want to start by reminding everybody that we've added a SubscribeStar, and are still working towards our funding goal that will allow us to migrate Pure Onyx and future games over there so that we can manage our own content.  Please consider pledging there if you are able :D.  P.S. We aren't leaving Patreon, so don't worry.

This month we're doing a video update to show off the work we've done on the combat animation overhaul!  Unfortunately Patreon doesn't support an image gallery *and* a video =_=, that'd be bonkers.  So check the attachments for the high res images for this update!

As for the rest of the update, we have more to talk about on the mechanical aspects of the combat overhaul + Onyx's new moves, the initial work on Neon(!) to show off, a new enemy for anyone who hasn't played the mid-month release yet, and some additional progress on Malise's design.   

Check it all out below ^-^

Topics for this Update!

• March Release Details
• Neon Model WIP!
• Combat Overhaul Progress Report 
• Onyx Key Poses 
• Onyx Move Concepts Pt 2
• Splicer Looter Now In-Game
• More Malise Concepts!

March Release Details

Tentative Changelog (** indicates items added or being added since the March 20 Inner Circle test release):

H Scenes

• ** Added remaining Onyx w/ FemCop reworked H scene animations back into the game
• Added remaining Onyx w/ FemCop + MaleCop reworked H scene animations back into the game

Enemies

• ** Looter doesn't stall when trying to grab an item that is picked up by someone else midway through his pickup animation.     
• ** Looter won't try to chase impossible to reach items forever    
• ** Looter always runs onscreen before attempting to steal items
• Splicer Looter enemy added to the game.  They will appear when loot builds up and attempt to steal it off the battlefield.
• Looter is currently set to appear very frequently so that we can get feedback on him.
• Added new bystander AI that allows enemies to disengage (Looter will use the opportunity to escape).

Animations

• ** Further improved Onyx's combat animations (Kick combo, Idle breakout) 
• ** Fixed issue with hands flipping out during Onyx's Idle breakout animation. 
• ** Wraxe no longer slides forward during stun animation 
• ** Added GroundHit animation for Looter.
• ** Improved Looter's Knockdown animation by removing baked-in airtime.
• ** Improved Looter's ItemPickup animation + made item despawn in sync with the animation instead of after. 
• ** Fixed delayed look on Looter's Hit animation.
• Added new Onyx Idle animation + reworked all existing combat animations to utilize it.
• Added secondary idle animation for Onyx.  After a few seconds at idle she will enter a less bouncy animation loop.
• Fixed clipping on Onyx's shirt caused by dynamic physics on her animations
• Added baked physics to Onyx's remaining combat animations where dynamic physics won't work
• Improved crossfade transitions/timing between many of Onyx's combat/movement animations.  Most noticeable during Idle > Walk and vise versa.
• Onyx's collider position now updates dynamically during her Heavy Punch (power attack) animation.  This means enemies attacking her from behind can't hurt her by hitting the location she launched the attack from.

Combat

• ** Player knockout arc once again reaches intended height (instead of slamming Onyx into the ground immediately) 
• ** Stomping worms no longer pushes Onyx away from them

UI

• ** New Runt portrait from the mid-month release now displays properly 
• ** New functionality for blinking / fading in and out UI elements (added to Inventory Full warning)
• Added new Splicer Runt portrait, since old one really represented Looter.

Other / Misc Fixes

• Fixed issue that could mess up wave counter format in some situations when game language is changed
• Using the console to change waves during a boss fight no longer breaks music after the boss fight ends.

Neon Model WIP!

Demonu, our sculptor from Ukraine, has shown he's quite a badass by working in a literal warzone the past couple weeks.

I had actually asked Demonu to start work on Neon before the invasion, as I was concerned our communication may get cut off.  It was just a few days later that the war started, but he pulled through anyways ^-^.

He's done four iterations of her face, and just as many for the hair.  The ones we're showing are nearly complete, though he may add some additional details to the hair.

One potential change we're making to her MATM styling is the addition of accessories to cap her "horns".  We're still working on designs.

Combat Overhaul Progress Report

The video up top pretty well summarizes our progress on overhauling Onyx's existing combat animations :D.  As such, we've just about wrapped up the art part of Phase 1.5 of the overhaul.  Below you'll find our progress on Onyx's new moves, which are part of Phase 2.  

The next thing on the horizon is a new AI backend system from Mr Kittyhawk called the enemy ability manager.  This backend tool will allow us to enable/disable enemy abilities and attacks based on various conditions, meaning we can, for example, prevent enemies from spamming Onyx with attacks while she's knocked down.   We can also add diminishing returns and cooldowns to their skills so that they are less likely to perform the same actions over and over.

We *may* get the first iteration of this out by the end of the month.  If so, it will focus on the Splicer Thugs for now while Mr. Kittyhawk works through integration into other enemies.

Onyx Key Poses

TMX has worked through the key poses for Onyx's upcoming combat animations that we previously showed concepts for in last month's progress update ^-^.  They aren't quite final yet, and many of the face expressions were added by me last minute.  

Expect seeing these become animations + more new poses next month after we nail down more concepts for Onyx's combos!

Onyx Move Concepts Pt 2

Limbo has been working on additional concepts for the remainder of Onyx's combat overhaul skills for Phase 2.  This time he's focused on the multi-directional roll, as well as the standing punch combo and finisher attacks.  I think the basic standing punch combo needs more work still, as it's not quite interesting enough, but we will get there soon!

These may be hard to see in Patreon's glorious 800 px wide images, so I've attached a folder with the high res versions of the images for this post below.

Splicer Looter Now In-Game!

As of the mid-month release, the first iteration of the Splicer Looter enemy is now in the game ^-^.  He's a bit limited in scope currently, but he works very well, especially for an enemy we considered would be a pain in the ass to make function.

For some background, the Looter is an enemy similar to the thieves from Golden Axe (and subsequently, from Dragon's Crown).  When loot drops, he has a chance of appearing, and will promptly grab it out from under the player and attempt to escape with it.  If defeated, he'll drop all the loot he nabbed.

Higher levels of the Looter will, in later iterations, be able to set traps, steal from chests, and may even drop explosives when he is attacked.

More Malise Concepts!

Limbo's pumped out a bunch of concepts for the remaining features of Malise's outfit.  I've wanted to experiment with alternate holster designs as I think the old ones sort of just got in the way.  The simplified look comes with its own problems though, as they can easily stop looking like holsters.  We've even experimented with cross-draw and back concepts :D.