BBUpdate: Concepts, Chords, and Contests!

Well, hey howdy hey, folks!

It's your favorite Patreon Sheriff, Sam, back in town delivering you a packaged update all about what the BBU crew has been up for the past month! We've got lots to cover so grab a seat and something to snack on cause we've got quite a show.

Let's start with a song...

Scrimshaw's song to be exact! Ash got hyperfixated on Scrimshaw's song for a bit and was able to knock out a sizeable chunk of it's accompanying cutscene.

Have a look and listen!

(CLICK ME, PLEASE, ITS MY PURPOSE IN LIFE!!)

Pretty neat, ay? Every time I see one of Ash's boards, I get giddy with excitement! They just keep getting better and better!

If you're curious about the vocals, they are not final. This is actually Daniel Ingram, himself, singing on the track! It really sounds like he had a blast working on the demo. Scrimshaw's song is so catchy!

And speaking of pirates...

Claw Bay Update Time!

We have an upcoming milestone to hit, so the team is entering hyperfocus mode and giving lots of love to BBU's opening chapter and world!

This includes getting TONS of new music and concepts. To start, Jovi's been knocking it out of the park!

A boat!

A bigger boat!

Jovi's concepts for Claw Bay have been taking lots of inspiration from Filipino culture which allows for some truly unique designs that you really never see in other pirate settings. If you're curious about his process, check out this video he did to pitch the boat above!

Dagger props for Claw Bay and Elaine!

Elaine's dagger, fully modeled

The Smugglers' Den, Scrimshaw's Shop (Exterior)!

I really like the idea of Scrimshaw having a cloak with silly goods inside!

Elaine loves to play with fire

That's it for concepts! Back to music we go, albeit not lyrical this time.

Adam is in the spotlight! He's been absolutely knocking it out of the park with the latest tunes, I already have a playlist that I update every time he gives us something new!

Since we last left off, Adam has created a new banger of a track for the Marketplace Exterior where you'll meet merchants like Percy, Moon, Marmalade, and Fresca.

What's special about this track is that it will adapt based on if you're standing next to one of the aforementioned merchants. To do this, Adam gives us unique tracks that we can overlay on the main track which we can fade in/out based on the player's proximity to the given character (Click the hyperlink to see it in action!).

Katie went ahead and made a video with all the song variants, definitely give it a listen! Adaptive music is so fun!

That's only the TIP of the iceberg so let's keep on carrying on!

Next up, Adam has whipped up a fantastic track that you can give a listen to that will play whenever the player is on an island we're calling... The Fort.

As you play through BBU, you'll uncover many secrets and this track is a GREAT example of the vibes we're incorporating to really make you feel like you're on an adventure.

Eventually, Billie will find herself exploring the perilous Volcano island... tread carefully, there are many dangers! Beware, be wary!

Finally, to end off the Adam music, for now, I give you... the sailing theme! This theme will also have a variant to it for things like shark attacks while on the open seas. What? Oh, OH RIGHT! Probably should have mentioned...

Billie's getting a boat

Well, maybe, we haven't decided. Regardless, during the first chapter of the game, you'll get to explore the sea, travel to different islands, and find many valuable treasures along the way!

Lots of inspiration being taken from Wind Waker for this chapter! We thought it would help spice the chapter up to spread things out a bit more, add some sailing and lots of unique islands to discover.

Some islands will be mandatory for story reasons whereas others are entirely optional!

Beware of sharks! They lurk deep in the ocean!

Some animations of Mr. Chompers III (Not his real name, he just a shark)!

We hope to encourage the player to explore Claw Bay to their hearts contents by hiding lore, secret items, and even...

Cosmetics!

As you know, we plan to have many cosmetics in the games including special fur patterns, outfits, weapon skins, etc.

Ash has been working on some unique outfits already since we'll need them for the chapter for the chapter and beyond. Some are based on the characters themselves!

Scrimshaw's outfit!

Elaine's outfit!

What the heck?

Bonus Basile outfit!! Billie is now grumpy and wears pants!

And that's more or less it for Claw Bay, currently! Katie made a video for the team explaining Claw Bay's current direction and it shows off the current WIP block-out for the ever expansive hub. Definitely give it a listen!! The team is actively working super hard on just this chapter so expect LOTS of pirate booty next month!

Oh wait! One more thing!

I found this stuffed into a desk? Kind of weird but thought I'd share!

Well I'd say we've already gone through QUITE a bit, no? Maybe we should take a...

Song break!

This is a Billie song demo and also a bit of a spoiler (kinda) so if you want a totally fresh experience with this one, I recommend not listening!

For those who dare tread forward, just know, this is a banger.

We absolutely LOVE this song, it's SO GOOD! One of our favorites for sure!

A note about this demo: you may notice the vocals flip-flop a bit between singers, the first demo singer wasn't available to do any pick-ups so Daniel had to get someone else to handle it in the mean time. Just so it's stated, these vocals are NOT final and will be changed for the final game.

Oh joy, we sure do love torturing our characters for amusement!

It's okay, you can trust us! Billie is totally safe! <3

Anyways, speaking of being grumpy and wearing pants, it's time for a...

Chances with Wolves Update!

Chapter two of the game has also been getting a little bit of love here and there. Especially a unique feature of the chapter, the bird mounts!

We've shown them off before but they're finally animated, in the game, and playable! Still a little rough around the edges but she works!

Luke is SO GOOD, really happy he's finally animating!!

All the bird animations with textures ON

Look at that bird go! Katie's been especially excited about them, they've always wanted mounts in some form for BBU! 

If anyone needs a refresher for how they'll be utilized, they will be apart of optional bird races that you can participate in once you unlock the second chapter! Our goal is to make them as fun to play as possible.

When it comes to these races, we're mashing a bunch of ideas together to essentially create platforming races! It's going to be lots of fun figuring out how to best make the tracks and make sure the player is having a blast!

Moving on, we have...

Another mount!

You may remember our friendly little bat fellas. Well, they're animated! Not yet playable but we'll get to that as soon as we begin fully focusing on the second chapter of the game.

NYOOM~

Bat Animations!

Personally, I'm very eager to see the bat in action when it's programmed! I have lots of ideas to make using the bat really fun!

Can you believe we've gone this long and haven't once mentioned...

Dutch

Don't worry, he's alive and well! In fact, more alive then ever, you could even say he's animated!!

Ash did tons of concepts for Dutch's various idles and Luke did an AWESOME job bringing him to life. It's really inspiring to see everything slowly come together!

Let's start by taking a look at Ash's concepts for the idles.

Since Dutch literally has everything he wants, when Billie uses her decoy spell on him, he will become entranced by little snacks and tea.

Had enough yet? Oh, who am I kidding? One can never have enough of Dutch.

Onto Luke's animations!

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a business wolf~

Well... I hate to break it to you but... I have no more Dutch to show you. However, as a token of my gratitude for your support, you may have one (1) goodest chameleon!

When Billie uses magic decoy on Hayes, their biggest desire will be a seat. They work so hard, they deserve it! Even if it's all an illusion...

And you know what, have another!

They got the zoomies

And to appease the hardcore Basile fans. Here is surveillance footage of the maintenance man at work.

Basile seems to have it all together but for Hayes... things seem strained. It's hard being pushed around afterall, especially when you're small. Which reminds me... 

Fantoccio is small

Well, it's true. Smaller then Billie and she's a pygmy goat.

Speaking of Fantoccio! He's finally got strings on him and is ready to perform!

Ash did some amazing idles as always and Luke absolutely nailed it. Just like with Dutch, let's start with Ash's concepts.

Now for Luke's animations!

The many faces of Fantoccio

Sometimes Fanto walks, he may not like it but he'll do it

All of the idles in one!

And that more or less brings us to the end. Well not the END end but... ya know... the end!

Like when you DIE...

Grim Grinning Goats Update!

That one was a stretch. 

Not many updates for Barnaby BUT we do have a little treat for you. Wanna hear Barnaby's boss fight song? Well, a snippet of it anyway.

Beware, spoilers ahead! 

For this song, the team decided we wanted to go in a more psychedelic and trippy direction. As soon as I heard the track, my brain was flooded with ideas!

It's really cool that Daniel has been able to do such a great job with differentiating all the songs. They're all so unique in sound but fitting of each character!

Ash got so excited, they immediately doodled some concepts out for the fight, check it out!

Barnaby's chapter is going to be so unique, I hope we can give you lots of surprises!

With that, let's move on to some more...

Miscellaneous Stuff

This is the part where I throw a bunch of stuff at you. Enjoy!

Z!

New sticker WIP!

Okay so maybe it wasn't a LOT of misc. stuff but I had no where else to put it!

To cap us off, gonna throw this in here but, against our will, Barnaby forced us to open a...

Pumpkin Carving Contest

We recently dropped a video starring Barnaby himself opening the flood gates to compete for various prizes, including a plushie!

If you're interested, you can participate by carving your own pumpkin with a BBU character. There are a few more rules beyond that so please check our website for more details on participation.

If you can't get a pumpkin, never fear! We have a secondary creative contest occurring on our Discord server as well with the same prizes so come join the fun! The more the merrier!

Contest ends on Halloween, October 31st 2022.

OKAY! And that's it for now!! Thank you all so much for your support, I can't wait to show you what the team is cooking up behind the scenes!

Our update is gonna be great!

Cheers,

-Sam ⭐