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Status Update 004: Open World Tech, Story Mission 001, Milestone Adjustments

Image: WIP Blockout for the Story Mission 001 area.

Enough development has happened that I thought it was time for another status update! We've been hard at work designing and implementing the mechanics that Manhattan depends on to become an open world hub for missions and activities.

I. Why One Hubworld: First, I wanted to communicate a design change: Instead of having the story take place in multiple, smaller portions of cities, MA will now take place in one h...

Reward Upgrades for Majors

From now on, Majors will have access to a special form each month that lets them submit ideas and topics for the monthly NSFW bonus illustration. In the future, these will occasionally be allowed for the Monthly Illusts as well. Ideas from these are selected and then put on a poll soon after, which Majors can also vote on.

Please note that I won't draw furry, gore, anything illegal, or anything too ambitious (don't want to take time away from MA development), so please refrain from submitting ...

Status Update 003: Manhattan Blockout

WIP on the Manhattan open world area! This map will be expanded later. Manhattan serves as the sandbox area for open world missions. Levels are streamed in chunks so there's no loading screens between sections. Below is an annotated map, it's about 2.2 KM wide and takes about 4:30 to run from one side to the other.

Loading Screen Illustration by Kane!

Loading screen illustration by Kane! Illustration loading screens will be implemented in a future build once there's enough art from the random selection algorithm to choose from.

March Captain+ Reward Illustrations Sent!

Check your mailbox, Captains! The NSFW version of the above illustration, and a secret bonus illustration (preview below) has been sent to your inboxes!

Lieutenants+ also get a high resolution version of the above illustration.

If you somehow didn't get your reward, please send me a message.

Community Spotlight [Feb 2018]

(above fanart by @eb on discord)

Here's fanart by @eb and @Sld4751 on discord. Thank you so much!! <3

Fanart by @eb:

Fanart by Sld4751:

I also wanted to thank Krystallize and 2018-02-28 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

March Captain+ Reward Illustration WIP

Cropped WIP of one of the two reward illustrations for Captains and up! Captains+ will get the nsfw version of this and another (lewder) bonus illustration! 

Poll: HScene Release Policy

Some people don't realize this, but when a game is made the development order of missions and assets don't necessarily occur chronologically, and HScenes are no exception. Right now some of the hscenes are being created without any missions and events to connect them together yet. How do you guys think I should handle the release of these?

HScene Preview: AM_H_004

Preview for a WIP hscene in progress! No idea where it fits into the story yet. Camera switching functionality has also been added for this scene, will be a staple feature in future scenes, and will eventually be rolled back into the demo hscene. 

Longer, 1080p60 version of above preview has been sent to Lieutenants and above.

Dev Deep Dive 01: Designing and Programming Moves

Once the basic locomotion mechanics such as running and jumping are implemented, the most important mechanic for an action game is the system behind Moves. In most cases, moves in Mahou Arms are attacks, but parts of the same system are also used for Stagger, Stun, and Dodge* animations. I’m going to be writing about creating the Moves system - from the technical spec to initial implementations, to the discoveries in the early prototype stage, and finally, the ‘final’ implementation and at...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Captains and above should also have received a NSFW version of the above illustration in their inbox! Happy Valentine's Day!

Build 0.0.284 Live!: Transformation System (WIP) (Bleeding)

Bleeding build 0.0.284 is now live for Lieutenants and above! As this is a bleeding-edge build, please use the patcher to update your version to it by clicking the gear and changing the channel to bleeding.

This build releases the transformation system out into the wild, marking a major step towards completing the first milestone. The transformation system has a whole new chain of moves and a couple of art assets so i...

Valentine's Day Bonus Illustration WIP

WIP for a Valentine's Day bonus illustration! As usual, Captains will get a NSFW version.

Dragoon Model

Public Build 0.0.256 & 0.0.257 live!

Builds 0.0.256 (censored) and 0.0.257 (uncensored) are now available via the launcher! The standalone version of the censored build will also be up in a couple hours. 

The transformation system hasn't made its way into this build yet as there are still things to fix.

Here are the changes / fixes for this build compared to the previous bleeding build (0.0.215):

• major polish pass on all combat animations (...
  2018-02-03 18:18:25 +0000 UTC View Post

February Captain+ Reward Illustrations Sent!

Check your mailbox, Captains! The NSFW version of the above illustration, and a secret bonus illustration (preview below, 3 variations) has been sent to your inboxes!

Lieutenants+ also get a high resolution version of the above illustration. 

If you somehow didn't get your reward, please send me a message.

P.S.: Sorry about the mistak...

February Captain+ Reward Illustration WIP

Cropped WIP of one of the two reward illustrations for Captains and up! Captains+ will get the uncensored version of this and another (lewder) bonus illustration!

Preview: Transformation System

Preview for the upcoming Transformation System! Works similar to DmC (reboot)'s combat style system. Also shown in this video is a major animation polish pass over all the existing attacks.

There are some bugs to iron out, so Transformation won't make it in February's Public build, but the animation polish will make it in.

Also a minor Status Update: the next Public build is almost ready, I expect it to go up between the 1st and ...