Restitched: Recapped! | August 2022

Welcome to another Restitched: Recapped! August turned out to be a pretty productive month and we can't wait to share our plethora of new developments with you... right now!

Committing to the Code

Do not fear - August was a fairly more productive month than July (holiday break!) in terms of commits to the code. In August, we made a total of 156 commits to the code - some of which you can see below!

Constructive Conversations

On August 3rd and 4th, many of the devs came together to discuss more areas of development, such as connectors, how to end a level, “Additional Gameplay Features” and our personal wishlists for new art assets. We're not quite ready to share these discussions with you yet, but you'll see their outcome in due time!

New Developers

Throughout August, we welcomed six trial developers to the team! Say hello to the newest Restitched developers:

• Gabriel Rodrigues (2D Artist) 
• Brennan Timiney (3D Animator) 
• Levana Monroy (2D Artist) 
• Santiago Lopez (2D Artist)

We can't wait to show you what this talented bunch has already created!

Playing Dress-Up

On the 9th of August Halston created a new concept for the Wardrobe section of the game! We've decided to separate the Wardrobe from the rest of the game as this allows for even more feature ideas while also placing emphasis on the customization of Stuffy… a vital element of gameplay!

...Halston also created a concept for 'swatches' on items. Although this concept is very old, we’ve further extended it to be applicable to Props too! Keep your eyes peeled for future exploration of this feature.

Taking Notes...

On August 9th, Halston and Billy discussed the concept of editorial comments/notes for Build Mode! This feature doesn't have a name yet, but they'd be super-handy when creating levels. Thought of some ideas that you can't work on right now? Write a note to yourself! Need to leave instructions for someone editing your level? Write a note for them! Need a checklist? These concepts include a 'checkbox' to tick off comments as you act on them!

Billy also suggested a white color theme for notes (which was later part of a team vote where yellow won).

Note: these images are mock-ups and not in-game footage.

New Models!

From the 12th of August onwards, Kyran, Cade, and Snatxi created several lovely models (including texture variants) for the game! We're feeling quite traversal right now... can you tell? 🤔

...Halston then imported the models into the game so they can be used as Props!

An additional look at some of this month's models:

Fine-Tuning The Bear... Again!

On the 14th of August, Ozy showed progress in making some minor adjustments to the Stuffy model. This included slight head tweaks, UV map texture improvements, and modifying the arm and hands to be more compatible with rigging, clothing, and animations while better fitting our aesthetic.

Though we’ve been meaning to get around to this update for a while, these changes should help avoid clothing clipping into Stuffy’s body and allow for easier animating and a slightly more expressive face!

Pause... Menu Time!

From the 17th of August onwards, Michael and Halston began to implement the game's pause menu! Concepts have been available for months, so we’re very excited to see the UI coming together in-game! You can see the progress below:

Next up, we’ll be visually dressing the UI so it fits our Restitched aesthetic! To get a better idea of our visual goals, you can see our early (July 2021) pause menu concept below:

We're looking for someone to bridge the gap between programming and art! Are you familiar with UI programming and interested in joining the team to help assemble it? Check out our website's 'Join Us' page!

'The Party Box' and 'Challenge Mode' Concepts

On the 18th of August Daniel provided some lovely new concepts for 'The Party Box' and 'Challenge Mode' - which are explained in the images below!

Daniel was tasked with providing a concept for finishing a level. For example, how is it done? What might it look like? How can we be unique, on-brand, and still allow player customization of a level-ending feature?

(These concepts were designed as an onboarding prompt and may contain speculative information and terminology)

We're still a ways off from adding these ideas, but it's always great to explore them for when the time comes!

Lighting Fixtures

On the 20th of August, Daniel discovered some issues regarding lighting under certain conditions. When zooming out with the Build Mode camera, black artifacts would flicker across the level boundary. Michael set himself on the case straight away, with the team discovering that the issue was due to our custom voxel lighting system! 

For those who aren't familiar, voxel lighting is essentially a very complex system that uses a bunch of tiny, invisible cubes around the playable space. The lighting of the background is handled by the engine, whereas the lighting from player-controlled objects is handled by our own lighting solution. Sometimes this can cause issues, as seen below:

...and just like that, our programming wizards have restitched the code!

Cpt. Stuffy Progress

As per usual, on the 22nd of August, Ari shared the test strip for September's Cpt. Stuffy entry! Here's a little glimpse into that test strip...

Slidin' Into Those... Um... Levels?

On the 23rd of August, Brennan began creating the animations for the upcoming sliding mechanic, which was first conceptualized this month as part of an onboarding prompt from Levana! Below you can see the concept art and some keyframes from these animations.

As you can see, we ask ourselves a lot of questions when it comes to adding gameplay. For instance, would sliding give Stuffy a jump or speed advantage? Is there a dust trail from friction? Does Stuffy slide on their belly, feet, or hip?

New Build Mode UI

On August 25th, Halston made what is quite possibly one of the most dramatic proposals to the game: a complete redesign of the user interface for Build Mode!

We’ve heard your feedback from the trailer, and we're continuing to push our unique vision and feel for the game. This new UI opens up the horizontal space during Build Mode and would be able to partially collapse away when not in use. It also adds a section at the top of the screen for quick and concise cursor/tool access - something we had been struggling to find a better solution to!

This is quite ambitious, as many game systems are routed through the original Craftbook’s framework. However, after many rounds of feedback, many hours in-game, and many UX/UI obstacles yet to be tackled, we’ve decided this is the best direction for the game both technically and for players’ “quality of life” experience. As a bonus, it’s all built with a mouse and keyboard in mind... further unlocking the potential of Build Mode!

If you’re a fan of the current Craftbook, fret not! We still have plans for it, as it’s much more suitable for use in level gameplay and the Wardrobe section.

(Please note: these concepts are incomplete and not in-game!)

Michael set himself the task of implementing this new Craftbook design (by rearranging the old one - literally!), the progress of which you can see below:

We're still looking for a UI Programmer to help dress this new layout with visuals and animations. If you're interested, be sure to apply to the dev team!

...And That's August!

Thank you for tuning in to this month's Restitched: Recapped! August has been much more eventful after the brief break we took over June and July. We can't wait to see what September brings (spoiler: more awesome content)!

See you then!