MNL Progress Report #94

Hey there, nudies! Sorry for the late post! We've spent the week working on both animation blending and trying to get Anne's new UI assets into the game, but unfortunately hit some snags that required a lot of custom coding on Invertex's part. Those things aren't quite ready to show off yet, so instead, we'll just be showing off some other stuff instead! Like another one of the collectible Amber photos drawn by our amazing artist Anne!

As I mentioned before, there's a photo for each stat in the game. This is the Athletics photo, and the one from last post was Boldness. So that leaves Mentality, Exhibitionism, and Randiness... What could she be doing in those photos, you wonder? Anne's actually finished all of them, including two secret non-stat related photos! But we're going to just save those for you to find in the demo~

We unfortunately couldn't implement the new dialogue boxes in time for this progress report, but I'm also happy to report that Anne's finished the unique faceplates for each character's dialogue box! Here's a few of 'em!

We took some inspiration from Disco Elysium and gave each character a themed background for their portraits. Amber is as free and open as the clear blue sky, Alison's head is full of legal text, The Mayor is ambitious and reaching for the stars, and Freddy is a lot cuter than his demeanor might suggest. I'm really happy with how the visual style for this game is coming together. Anne's doing amazing work!

And not just Anne, either! Did you know that Bear Festival can ALSO animate along with being a proficient 3D modeler?! Remember that capybara from yesterday? Well, look again! It's moving!

Goodbye, capybara! See you again in the demo!

And about that demo. Still no release date yet I'm afraid, and I apologize for how long this has taken. Between our lead developer leaving, our engine switch, and our main artist also having to leave, it certainly hasn't been easy. But Anne joining our team has lit a fire under us and has really helped guide this thing and find new inspiration to make this an even better game. After these UI elements are finished, our animations are properly blended and Anne has wrapped up the last few illustrations needed for the story, we'll have everything we need. In September, we'd like to make a serious push to get this demo out and playable in your hands. I'm not setting a release date for that month, but we're definitely going to try to make it happen. We've almost got all the ingredients in our pot. It's time to start cooking.

IMPORTANT NOTE - Unfortunately, there will not be a new pin up and comic for September. This was my decision, as I wanted Anne to prioritize making art for the game and demo. We had a lot of art to make, both replacing old art that no longer fits the new style along with new art like the photographs. I don't want to make anyone crunch on this team, so I opted to skip the pin up and comic for September. We'll try for next month! Sorry again!

That's all for now, though. See you next week!