2023: New Year, New Crisis

Greetings! I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday season, and a happy new year as well. 2022 was the year I finally decided to start working on this project after half a decade of brainstorming and preparation, and I've found more support for the project than I ever could have imagined in such a short time. Thanks to the support from all of you, I'll be able to spend even more time on development in 2023.

Updates:

Since devlog #1 I've been hard at work fixing up backend jank and making sure the foundation is laid proper, which means I haven't had much to show off in the way of gameplay or art. However, this backend work is starting to pay off, as I'm now in the process of developing the first real attack in the game: Slicing Dash

Slicing dash is a mid-range gap closer, and one of the first attacks Velle learns. You may remember that I used a temporary, placeholder attack animation in Devlog #1 in order to test the hitbox system, but even the code for that particular attack was pretty jank, so I've been spending a lot of time the past few months turning code that looked like this:

into code that looks like this:

Basically, I'm going to need all of my abilities to all inherit and share similar traits so that I can implement new actions and skills without having to code them from scratch every time. To do this, I've created a generic action component, and each action in the game is a child of that generic component. This lets me easily specify things like whether or not a move can be canceled, how many hitboxes there should be and where, and all sorts of important information.

This system will handle almost every action in the game, from jumping to ledge-grabbing to combos and limits and weapon switching. Everything short of running and pausing, essentially.

Originally, I wanted Devlog #2 to be environment art and combat, but I think it's just going to be combat for now. I'm still fleshing out environment art though, it's not something I've forgotten about. I'm still pretty new to level design, so I've been taking time to research and figure out what sort of workflow is right for me.   Speaking of Devlog #2, I'd like to have it out sometime in the next few months, covering combat and story. I'd also like to include environment art, but that's a subject that could honestly fill an entire video on its own, so I might end up doing that instead.

My goal for Devlog #2 is to have enough attacks for one ground combo and one air combo, as well as parrying, fully integrated into the game. I think I can achieve this by march, assuming it's the only thing I work on for a while.

New Stuff:

Also, in case you've missed it, I've created a couple new characters named Penelope and Xedd:

They're both Penelope. And they're both Xedd. It's complicated, you'll see. What's important is that they'll most likely end up being the first boss I program for the game, and they're going to be hard.

Additionally, I've started working on the model for the main antagonist, J'tonne. 

While his body is relatively simple in shape, his teeth are going to require a pretty densely layered rig.
Luckily, this is going pretty well so far, and I haven't run into any major speedbumps.

I also have a few more attack animations already in the works for Velle, but at this point there isn't really enough to show off just yet.

With that being said, let's talk goals:

What to expect in 2023?

You've all shown so much support and excitement for my game this past year, and I'm eternally grateful for that. I'm so unbelievably excited to kick development into high gear thanks to all you wonderful patrons who are helping make this game a reality. 

In 2023, I'd like to release at least 4 dev logs, and I'd like to have a movement/platforming demo out for patrons.

I have these few humble goals for 2023, and one more very aspirational goal as well. It's a long shot, but I think with a lot of hard work and dedication, I can achieve it, with your help.

This year, if I get enough patrons, I'd like to work on Blood Crisis full-time. Over the course of 2022, I spent an average of about 5-10 hours a week on Blood Crisis. With all the support I've gained over the past few months, I can start to bump that number up even more, and, if we can hit $1500/month, that will cover almost all of my rent/utilities, which would allow me to start working on the game full time. 

It's a long shot, but with a few Really Good dev logs, and a pinch of luck from the youtube algorithm, I think It's doable.

I'm really excited to continue development with y'all and show off more of what I've been working on. If you're excited and want to see more behind-the-scenes development, be sure to check out my stream over at https://www.twitch.tv/bloodcrisisdev
I stream every Thursday at 7pm EST, and talk development, art, and game design.

Once again, thank you so much to every single patron who's pledged to this humble little project of mine. It means the world to me, and I can't wait to see what 2023 has in store.