January Billie Bust Up-date

Hi everyone!

Here's that promised update!

PRODUCTION UPDATE

So lets talk about progress, recently we spoke about finishing Chapter 1 and moving onto Chapter 2. We're currently working on both, polishing Chapter 1 (Cat pirate chapter) and adding playable content to Chapter 2.  After some questions on discord regarding our project plan and method for tackling chapters, I wrote a little update for everyone regarding peoples roles and what they are working on currently!

So we have a project plan and planner who has made sure that everyone on the team is always working on something and that no one is blocking someone else. So usually a couple of us are ahead whilst others follow behind our path and polish things once they are finalised. (Feel free to skip this wall of text to the pictures)

I (Katie) am currently working on 3D environment models as that is one of the main risks to the project as we have a lot of unique assets to make. I am also working on level design, so I’m blocking out levels for Chapter 2, testing the gameplay, adjusting mechanics etc. Along with just directing everyone else on the team. All game design documents for each level were already planned over a year ago, so each level has a layout and plan, but these naturally change in practice and I may adjust some old ideas I had.

James is currently working alongside me, he does have every programming task planned for the entire game, but sometimes I may need a few tweaks or want to adjust some ideas. But we work somewhat hand in hand if that makes sense.

Ash is currently working on storyboards and scripts for Chapter 2. The prologue and Chapter 1s storyboards are complete. They need to make a couple of small adjustments to Chapter 1 but our main focus is Chapter 2 as the milestone for that is due in 11 days.

Luke has finished all non gameplay specific animations. So idle animations, dialogue animations, things that won’t need to change. Now he’s working on animations that ARE gameplay specific. Since Chapter 1s gameplay has been approved he is working on Elaine's boss fight animations, as we now know this gameplay isn’t going to see any major changes. This week he’s going to be doing a cutscene as a test to make sure the workflow for implementing cutscenes from Maya to Unreal Engine is solid. We want to identify any risks in the pipeline early.

Adam has done all the environmental music for the Prologue and Chapter 1 and is currently working on Chapter 2! 

Daniel is currently working on Chapter 4’s lyrical songs,  he has just finished the lyrics for song 10, a Fantoccio and Billie duet! He only has 3 major songs after this one. Once he’s finished we can see how the game is playing pacing wise and see if we need songs elsewhere ( I don't want the player getting songs every 5 seconds or every 2 hours, needs to have a good balance throughout). If the pacing is good we will use the time to add diegetic music. Like having the cat pirates sing a sea shanty or have a barbershop quartet singing in Dutch's park.

Jovi is currently working alongside Michael and I to ensure that everyone has the concept art they need for the 3D models. He has done rough concepts for the entire game, but now he’s getting more in detail with each asset and redlining any WIP work. We are bringing on someone new to help assist with concept art also, as we noticed a potential risk in the pipeline that could eventually slow down asset production. 

We have identified a few risks during production for cinematic cutscenes, one being that there are more cutscenes than we originally planned for. Thankfully we set aside a contingency budget that affords us another cinematic animator. This also still leaves us with a decent contingency pot left if any other issues were to arise. We are currently doing some paid animation tests with people to find a good fit for the role

We are now looking ahead to get a sound effects artist and particle effects artists started on the finished chapters as these are predicted to be quite large tasks, so we want to reduce our risk there. Don’t want to finish the final chapters then find out we have 12 months of sound effects to do and every other team member is finished

So when you receive playable ALPHA builds you'll find that most assets are not in place yet, I don't want to commit to replacing the block outs YET, and the cutscenes are still storyboards. However we may start recording scripts with the actors soon (exciting!), there is still a chance of there being scratch audio. 

ANYWAY LETS GET TO THE FUN STUFF

So as mentioned above, Luke is currently working on Elaine's song, animating the sequences needed for it. 

Elaine's song requires the player to follow Elaine around without being caught

Elaine can kick over bookcases and objects you may be standing on. She may not know you're there, but she will "coincidently" know where you are. 

You may have noticed, Elaine's eyes have seen a rework! It took a bit to get used to them,  but I think it's a large improvement! Elaine's model is one of the oldest models in the game now, so she deserved a little make over 

VS

Elaine HATES books

After this Luke will be working on a cinematic cutscene as test, here's a sneak peak of the thumbnails above! Yes its Fanto time!

CHAPTER 2 

Lets talk more about Chapter 2! Chances with Wolves, Ash is working on thumbnails for this chapter

 The show isn't over yet! Billie tries to leave early, but Dutch can't have his SPECIAL GUEST sneaking off

Billie bumps into Basile

Here we see Dutch scolding one of his workers! But I'm sure nothing bad will happen 

We also have some lovely assets from Michael and Jovi!

Security station! No funny business here 

 Pretty planter and sofa! 

 A lovely tree for the park with a paint over by Jovi as we adjust the leafs a bit 

 Dutch's grand old Hotel, the Razzle Dazzle! 

Some concepts for Dutchs buildings  

The floating system that keeps Dutch's hotel in the sky! 

Next we have some rough concepts for Dutchs boss battle

Testing Dutch's rig to see how well it works on all 4's

MUSIC

Lets take a look at some of the music Adam has been making for the level,  all very Jazzy and fun!

First we have the main hub, very Disneyland-esque I think! Makes me super happy to listen to it 

LEVEL DESIGN

Doesn't really need a whole segment but look pretty lasers! :) 

I have some more footage regarding the AI of this level but that will be for the next update! 

MISC

Some dialogue from Arthur! Only a bit, but he makes me think of Nathan Drake a bit, which makes sense

A little concept frame for a segment from Chapter 1! We rewrote this segment for pacing reasons

Ash has started making little comics in their free time talking about our experiences with game dev

THATS IT FOR THIS MONTHS UPDATE! WE WILL BE BACK FOR MORE SOON, I'M JUST STRESSED FROM REWRITING THIS TWICE NOW, KICKSTARTER KEEPS DELETING THE IMAGES AND GIFS

THANKS EVERYONE, STAY AWESOME

-KATIE