Inner Circle Update for September 29 2019!

Hey again guys!

Here's the second part of the update I mentioned a couple days ago :D.  I showed a lot of our animation progress with the move list, but we've made gotten a lot of other stuff done in the past couple weeks. 

I made the pic above while working on materials to ensure all the characters are cohesive, and figured it'd be neat to show off all our presentable characters so far in one image.  I've done a lot of work improving the shaders over the past month, so hopefully you'll like it.  I still have 3 other completed enemy models to do materials for.  

I know things are dragging while we catch up with the programming and 3D conversion, so hopefully this restores some hope that once things are moving again a lot of content will come quickly.

Mission Mode Details

We've been working a lot on the gameplay mechanics for Pure Onyx's "Mission Mode", and I'm posting some of the notes to give you a better idea of how it plays.  The mode should extend the playability of PO far beyond that of a beat 'em up with just a standard Arcade Mode that you would go through a couple of times and are done with.  Best of all, the mode largely uses assets we will need for Arcade Mode anyways, meaning the bang for the buck in terms of development effort is very worthwhile.

The mode will revolve around a hub area with an equipment/item shop, stash, and a location to upgrade Onyx's combo tree and passive skills,  It will feature a rogue-lite RPG progression system similar to games like Dead Cells or Rogue Legacy.  Onyx can move to dynamically generated stages called missions in locales around New Babylon, which play like a unique Arcade Mode stage.  Onyx can find equipment from enemies, and acquire rewards for completing missions based on performance.  

Mission Mode play-throughs begin on Day 1, and time passes while Onyx is in missions or moving between missions / the hub.  Available missions change over time, and a day/night cycle, along with a dynamic map generation system, keeps areas you've been to previously fresh.  As time passes, enemies level up and become more powerful, requiring you to upgrade Onyx strategically.  As Onyx struggles against H attacks and overcomes environment hazards, her Exhaustion will slowly build up, requiring her to return to the hub and rest.  Becoming fully exhausted ends the mission in a sloppy, wet, messy failure with penalties, but taking the risk to push further is advantageous due to a reward multiplier that increases as Onyx completes missions without resting.

When Onyx uses up all her lives, you're presented with a Continue screen similar to retro beat 'em ups, along with a special H scene based on your progression.  Choosing not to continue restarts Mission Mode, but Onyx retains certain aspects of the progress from previous play-throughs, thus enabling her to push further, survive for more days, and for you to unlock more content.   Continuing allows you to continue your current play-through, but requires resources that could otherwise be used to upgrade Onyx for future play-throughs.  

Content unlocked in Mission Mode will affect Arcade Mode and Gallery Mode. 

Check out the full details in the document linked below :D.  

• Mission Mode Notes 

Splicer Boss Model

This guy has taken an ass ton of work to get right, and I think we're about 90% done with his high poly models.  His boots, helmet, and some accessories still need work, and some pieces need broken down further for the additional color zones, but I think he's a good recreation of our 2D vision.  I'm excited to get a test rig on him to see him posed :D.

Charger Model

The Charger has turned out WAY cooler than I thought he would.  The improved shading techniques I've been experimenting with really shine here I think, and the added detail looks more cohesive with the backgrounds.  It also responds a lot better to environment lighting now.

Updated Onyx Body and Face Rig

We're on the verge of having Onyx's updated body and face rig ready to go.  The benefits of this include:

• Joint corrections for much improved hip, shoulder, knee, and elbow bends
• Low poly body and clothes models (important for performance) 
• Better spine control and hair rig controls
• A rigged tongue and far better mouth shape control
• More eye shape control points, can now also widen, irises/pupils can change size, 
• Scaled Onyx rig to real world units

I really want us to get that done before we dump a bunch of work into H animations since having her scale right in Unity is important for interacting with other characters.  Also without the joint corrections a lot of the leg bends for H animations look like garbage.

Low Poly Models

TK put a lot of work into making the low poly versions of Onyx's clothes this week. We've been able to do testing with high poly stuff till now but definitely didn't want to make a release with it due to performance concerns. I've just finished getting the materials looking presentable, and am quite happy with the results.  

I'd also like to give a shout out to QuestionablyInsane, our Inner Circle member who did the low poly braids model :D.