September 2019 Progress Update!

Hey guys!  

We're just about back to having the game in playable form, and while it took longer than expected, we're at the point where the 3D conversion is paying off.  Animating is much more efficient process now,  It's also far easier to include alternate clothing models in 3D, so we're raising the priority on an equipment system.  

We hope to have a gameplay video in the next few days that will show the reassembled combat and AI systems.  Once we're there I'll have a better idea of when the next playable version will be.  I'd like it to be soon, but I'd also like gameplay to feel better than where we left off with the 2D characters, and I think we'll meet or exceed that over the next couple of weeks.  At any rate, check out our progress so far below :D.  

Topics for this Update:

• Rigging and Animation Progress
• Equipment and Clothing System
• Unity Animation Exporter for Maya
• Splicer Grenadier Concepts
• Splicer Boss 3D Progress
• Biohound Model
• Attack FX

Rigging and Animation Progress

Aside from working on poses/animations, the majority of our work since the monthly update has centered on animation pipeline for the 3D characters.  Above are some images showing off our progress!  I'll try to explain what we've achieved in the least detail possible :D.

• Animation Exports - It's been a pretty agonizing troubleshooting process but we've now got a solid procedure for getting animations from Maya to Unity with the most functionality and best performance / file size.  We've automated this by making our own exporter program, which I'll talk about later on in the post.
• Face Rig / Expressions now work in Unity
• Saving/Loading Poses and Animations 
• Cross-character animation compatibility -  Animations will play on different characters. We've also verified that our animations will work on future versions of character rigs. 
• Character Instancing - An example of this is that if we have three Splicers in a Maya scene then our tools will recognize which one we are working on, and not apply poses/etc. to all three)
• Stepped Animation - I mentioned in the last update we were looking at introducing stepped animation to bridge the gap between the look of 2D and 3D.  This now works in Unity (shown in the kick animation at the top of this post).

One last thing -- try to keep in mind that Onyx's rig and models are still works in progress.  The final version will have much better joint bends, fewer outline defects, better hair, no ugly shadows on the face, and an improved face rig for better expressions.

Equipment and Clothing System

Something we've talked about since making the switch to 3D is the possibility down the line for alternate visuals to go with the equipment system we'll eventually add.  A couple weeks back TK and Mr. Kittyhawk began working on the rigging system for swapping clothes out for H scenes, and they came to the conclusion that the only way to preserve the possibility of alternate visuals for equipment was to go ahead and lay the groundwork for the system now :D. 

The system will work similar to Skyrim/Fallout's slot system, in that Onyx will have a bunch of slots corresponding to parts of her body.  This allows for a lot of combinations and outfit customization.  Gear however can take up multiple slots, meaning something like a bodysuit wouldn't be compatible with a skirt and shirt.

We weren't expecting to get to this so soon, but Kitsune has hopped back into the fray to help out with the clothing models (the ones pictured here are concepts, but you can see some of her first work in the images at the top of the post).  We're still troubleshooting some rigging details, but with the extra help things are looking good for getting this system working sooner rather than later. 

Unity Animation Exporter for Maya

One of the most important things we've done since the last update is build a custom export tool for Maya.  It cuts down the labor of cleaning and prepping animations from about 15-20 minutes per animation to just a few clicks.   It still has some bugs to work out and features to add, but is fully functional and even works for scenes with multiple characters (H scenes).

Splicer Grenadier Concepts

Limbo and TK have been passing the Splicer boss models between each other, so on his downtime Limbo has been working on concepts for a grenadier / molotov-slinging Splicer enemy.  I wanted this guy to resemble the old MATM Splicers, hence the mask style.  In additional to standard grenades and molotovs, he'll also have gas grenades for inducing some lust-sickness type effects :D.  

Splicer Boss Model Progress

Limbo and TK have been working on the Splicer Boss models a lot this month.  He'll take a little longer to complete, but out of all the enemies I'm most excited to see this guy in 3D.  We're planning on changing his proportions to be a little more tank-like and stylized as in the original concept.

Biohound Model 

Limbo has finished the first version of the Biohound model.  He had originally designed different variations of this guy, but I think a unique idea would be for the front of his body to transform for tentacle based / vore H attacks.  This will be be tougher to achieve however.

The tentacles have to be modeled straight by the way -- they only look like tentacles once they are rigged and animated :D. 

Attack FX

Another great advantage of moving to 3D is that we'll have a much easier time with FX animations.  Mr. Kittyhawk and I spent a day researching options and discovered a great asset pack that matches what we're after.  We attempted to auto generate attack trails but determined manually modeling them into the animations would produce far better looking results.  I intend to start working on these as soon as we get a bit further with animating Onyx's attack combos.