Inner Circle Update for September 14 2019!

Hey guys!

I had hoped to have a solid video of the 3D conversion in action, but decided to hold off a bit so we can polish it up some more.  It's completely functional, but now that we're getting to work with real animations with transitions we're taking the time to make it flow and feel better.  

Mr. Kittyhawk has done a lot of work revising the combo system so it's as modular and flexible as possible, allowing us to experiment easily and make a solid base for an upgrade-able, expandable combo tree.  He's also gotten TK and I set up with the code repository so that I can test animations and make edits to the combat engine on my own (now that I've been able to spend some time with Unity I don't feel like a fish out of water).

Some more good news -- a very skilled rigger contacted me and is now helping with the final rig for Onyx.  So, please welcome TMX to the team :D.  He just finished Onyx's improved face rig, but out of fear of overloading this post with graphics with I've decided to leave it for next week.

We've made a lot of progress in other areas as well, including a new enemy and environment progress to show off, as well as a bunch of concepts. 

Animation Progress

As mentioned above, I've been spending time working a lot on combos and transitions since the monthly update.  I've upgraded my physics tools to include features like follow-through and overlap, and have generally been working on leveling up my animation skills to make full use of what we have available now.  I have most of the poses for the first H animation knocked out as well, so I'll have the jump on that as soon as we finish cleaning up combat.

3D Menu Concept

This is very experimental, but it's an extension of the Loading / Utility screen design I proposed a while back.  Apologies for the clunky animation I used.  And the text font >_>.

The idea here is use full 3D for the character to contrast with the 2D look you get in the game view.  While there will likely be a quick-menu you access similar to the current Pause menu in-game, a more detailed menu like this can be accessed in between "missions".

This kind of stuff is a lot of fun for me, but it's something I need to let marinate and iterate upon.  Hopefully it'll be good to go by the time we get around to the UI revamp.

Sewer Environment Progress

Uber's back again (this time from working on a new movie) and has been working on the sewer environment.  As discussed previously, we're working on a modular environment system to speed up production.  Shown is a work-in-progress example of one of the tiles :D.   This is straight out of the renderer and hasn't been processed, so it's darker and more realistic than the end result will be.

TK's Body Corrective Morphs

Sooner than expected, we almost have the joint correction system ready for Onyx.  Every pose you've seen so far for the 3D conversion has had really unsightly joint bends -- soon to be corrected by this.  the system works by morphing the model into a more pleasing shape in real-time as the joints bend.

New Enemy: Satellite Drone

Name is a work in progress, but the enemy is pretty much already finished :D.  Ubercharge completed the model in two days from Limbo's concept, and it only took a day for TK to rig and another day for me to knock out the basic animations.  This is the first enemy of the robot category -- something we've neglected so far.  

While you'll encounter these guys on their own, they're actually designed to be part of a larger robot enemy I've dubbed the "carrier" for now.  The idea is that when you hit the carrier, these guys will pop off one at a time and become autonomous.  When one grabs Onyx, they'll be able to pile on and stretch each of her limbs to prep her for other enemies' H attacks.

Robot Enemy Concepts

I had Limbo focus a lot of effort on robot concepts recently (check the gallery above @_@).  Aside from the Satellite and Carrier, one of the more fun ideas that's developed is a hover vehicle for either a police or a Babel special forces unit.  

The encounter will begin with the vehicle charging across the screen, then exiting at the side and re-emerging to charge again. Once Onyx knocks the rider off, the vehicle will become a drone and take off, and become a support unit for the rider.   It'll go so far as to lay down energy barriers that enemy units can fire from behind (forcing Onyx to destroy the barrier, the drone, or maneuver around).  I've even designed an H scene where enemies can use the energy barrier as a prop for the stereotypical "boobs/butt pressed up against glass" hentai scene.

Feel free to add suggestions for weird stuff we could accomplish with robot enemies :D.