[DEVlog #11] Cassandra and Project Communication

Kweh!
Mr. MegaloDEV here!

Wow, I feel like the new year just started and yet here we are in February :| . One thing I'd really like to work on is the project's overall communication. Say more about what we are working on, give some insight, etc. So far I feel as though these were kinda done haphazardly as information/results were done and I felt comfortable posting what I wrote.

For now I'm going to try out a bimonthly DEVlog. So one in the middle of the month and one at the end.

Each DEVlog will differ in content and length. As suggested by a patron, I will make an active effort to keep the "top" of each post as spoiler-free as possible. This will be for supporters or followers who just want to "check-in" to get a general sense of the project's progress without potentially being spoiled about upcoming events. For H-CGs, I'm thinking about taking it a step further and just having them appear as post attachments with preview headers. Of course you’ll still be able to find  WIP art on the discord server.

Anyways let's dive into talking about the project.

Cassandra Poll

This was a hard one. Several people commented on how each of the outfits looked great and I couldn't agree more. After an early lead with outfit 3, outfit 1 has come out on top. Like with the previous polls N__u___t had been hard at work with the nude base (catch it in the discord wip-art channel). Work on outfit 1 has already begun and when that is done Cassandra can be integrated into the game.

Once Cassandra is done, work will begin on the next H-CG as decided by this poll.

Artwork Pipeline

We've also been looking around behind the scenes for potential secondary artists to  supplement the existing pipeline with N__u___t. We believe we've found someone and we are actually doing a trial of sorts right now. They'll be producing some promo art for the game you will all see later this month for a certain holiday :).

If all goes well, then as future funding allows we'll be able to nearly double our current art output. This will be great due to the sheer amount of artwork Emma's Path has planned for it.

Maps and Graphics

I feel like I've spent too much time here deliberating different potential routes at this point. Settling on a decision and then reopening the issue multiple times. But I think we've officially settled on how it will work. As previously stated we will continue with our current graphics: FSM as the main tile-set with parallax mapping. How the town map looks like 0.0.11 will be carried over to our other maps and future maps for Act 1. We'll be going through and redoing the placeholder maps giving them more of "playable" air about them.

While progress continues with the current FSM graphics we'll slowly make commissions for custom-made assets. A large chunk of the game will take place in a single region versus an entire continent like in many jrpgs. This opens up several avenues that would otherwise be much harder to accomplish. For instance, each major building in the town can be a single unique asset. This will go a long way towards our goal of giving Emma's world some "soul" so to speak. Players won't be going into jrpg tavern 16 but instead The Golden Barrel.

How long this takes to complete is more or less dependent on funding since the plan is to be working with a studio rather than an individual for these.

Gameplay

One of our main goals this quarter is to get the game combat ready. Things are going to happen in Act 1 and well... combat will be needed. Once we've got that we'll most likely take a look at the campsite area early in the game and add some additional optional and mandatory non-h content there that'll let the player get a better understanding of the Hero Party's relationship with one another.

Project Funding

Overall the trendline is continually in the upwards direction. So once again, I'd just like to thank all past and current supporters. We can't wait to show you all the fruits of that support in future versions!

Just a reminder that every penny goes back into the project. I won't start paying myself until the project is much further along and there is funding for me to start reducing hours at my day job therein increasing the quality hours I can spend working on the game.

Well that does it for this one!
Stay tuned in the next couple of days for a small patch/hotfix for 0.0.11.