January 2022 Progress Update!

Hey everyone!

It's been a bit of a tumultuous month, but aside from the setback with H scenes we've been pushing along as usual.  We'll have a release on the 30th, which should have the Chain Splicer scene reworks added.  We're now working on the FemCop scenes ^-^.

We have design progress on four enemies to show off from Kame, Demonu, and Limbo , as well as more Bunny Girl combat animation progress from Ryatta :D.

Also, artist Xxoom has joined us to help with additional concept art and background paintings!  Xxoom does fantastic female designs, and did the concept art for the new Muscle Lady Boss (working name) above.  I encourage you to check out Xxoom's pixiv, as many of you would love their NSFW content.  If you like what you see, check Xxoom out on Patreon :D.

Here's the full list of topics for this update!

Topics for this Update!

• January Release Details
• Biomonster Stuff
• Muscle Lady Boss Concepts + Model WIP
• Splicer Brute Model
• Syndicate Girl Model WIP
• Bunny Girl Combat Animations
• Ghoul Low Poly Models
• Crawler Ghoul

January Release Details

Tentative Changelog (since the January 17 test release):

• Adding reworked animations for Onyx + Chain Splicer H scene
• Adding reworked animations for Onyx + Chain Splicer and Runt H scene
• Adding reworked animations for Onyx + Chain Splicer and Thug H scene
• Fixed Charger pushing Onyx beyond map boundary during regular knockdown/standup if he is pinning her in.
• Fixed jittering parallax backgrounds.  Was very noticeable on "distant" backgrounds that nearly matched scroll speed of camera.
• Optimized scenes by disabling unnecessary colliders on graphics objects
• Onyx no longer skips most of the knockdown animation when she's knocked down near the map/screen borders.
• Larva (small worms) can no longer incorrectly be hit by knee attacks
• Larva can no longer be injured during initial ambush/fall state
• Fixed Larva sometimes getting knocked into the air when they should use their squish death
• Fixed regression where Chain Splicer could change direction after winding up / before attacking
• Enemies using the simple death state (Charger) no longer slide to their destination when killed while navigating
• Fixing lighting issue with world map that came with the performance overhaul
• Fixed lighting issue with world map that came with the performance overhaul
• Fixed an issue with Actors (noticable on larva) starting at the incorrect scale when resizing
• Some Z force is added to bump actors out of onyx's way even when she approaches perfectly from the side
• Charger can once again be heard from a distance (added new capability for falloff range per sound FX)
• Achieved smoother camera motion by moving camera tracking target motion off of the physics loop and onto the rendering loop.
• Actors no longer collide with each other while being launched or knocked down
• Actors no longer pop on top of other actors that have deeply collided with them over the course of a single frame

Biomonster Stuff

So, one of the positive things that came out of the interactions with Patreon early this month is that we received direct permission to use some of our biomonsters in H scenes ^-^.  We specifically got permission to use the Larva/Crawlers and Vioreapers.  Based on the guidelines we received, these should also be fine:

• Vorepup
• Corruptor
• Fleshpod
• Tentacles
• Mimic
• Mastermind 
• Slime
• Sewer Monster (Boss) 
• Spider Boss

I need to check with them specifically about the remaining ones I think.  Overall, this is solid as it was one of the things I had been waiting on before working on biomonster H scenes.  As such, we'll probably begin some of these soon after we get the reworked stuff wrapped up.

Muscle Lady Boss Concepts + Model WIP

Some time ago we asked the Discord for suggestions on bosses they'd like to see, and a good one was a muscle lady boss.  We thought this would work great in the Red Light stage, and this month Xxoom did concepts for such a character.  Kame then did the body sculpt, and he and Demonu both worked on the face and hair.  Limbo's been working on outfit details, which we should have ready to show off next month!

BTW, for a name I'm thinking Semira, or Semi (seh-mee) for short -- the fact that she's built like a truck makes it a nice play on words :D.  Named after a mythical Babylonian warrior queen (game's based in New Babylon after all).

Splicer Brute Model

Kame has finished the Splicer Brute high poly model!  Well, the human part >_>.  We've yet to add the face tentacles.  This part requires some planning, especially in the rigging department, but will be great practice for future biomonster rigs such as the mimic and slime enemies.  

Pretty much every new enemy we try to push the boundaries a bit further and improve the pipeline ^-^. 

Syndicate Girl Model WIP

Demonu's been continuing his work on the Syndicate Girl enemy!  He's been trying a bunch of different ideas to get closer to the noir theme that the Syndicate Enforcers have (their male counterparts).  I think this new one is pretty much there, he just has to refine the details now.  

Also, dem pantz.

Bunny Girl Combat Animations

Ryatta has continued his work on the bunny girl combat animations this month ^-^.  He still has some attacks to complete, as well as StandUp and GroundHit animations, but he's getting there :D.

Ghoul Low Poly Models

TK has finished the Ghoul's low poly models!  The difficulty with these has been getting the polycount as low as possible while keeping the segmented armor look.  It's important that these guys perform well since the plan is to have them move in packs.  

The exterior + interior is currently 27k tris, but we will be trimming out the interior where it's not visible to lower the value to the 20k range or less.  When they become damaged, we will swap out entire limbs for just the interior version, so the polycount will never get above that number. 

Crawler Ghoul

Limbo and Kame have finished the design and high poly model for the Crawler Ghoul :D. 

Last month I mentioned a version of the Ghoul that would behave like a "crawler zombie."  Sometimes when a Ghoul is defeated, their lower half will break off and the result is this guy :D.  They will damage Onyx from below, attempting to root her in place with a combat grapple.  Like larva, they can be damaged by stomp (or a few other attacks after the combat overhaul, such as sliding and AoEs).