End of Year Update!

It's the end of the year and it's time for another update! It's been over a year since the Kickstarter and things are starting to pick up speed. I can't wait to show you everything that's been going on. We should hopefully have some fun announcements next year to share with you, we've been very busy planning but I've been enjoying the process.

First update, we have a trello! You can now actively watch us update and work on the game. I've spoken more in depth about this over on our discord, but our previous builds have focused on showing off polished segments of gameplay and I'm worried I've set an expectation to both our backers/patreons (and myself) to keep that quality up for each new playable build, but with the current plan, it simply isn't possible anymore. It's more efficient to build the games infrastructure, block out and plan, else it's harder to fix bugs or gameplay issues. So here's the deal, we will be making more frequent builds from now on, but the updates will be much smaller in scope. The trello should give you an idea of what to expect in upcoming builds. For example, right now you should expect to see the Broom Brolley mechanic in the next update, and the reworked Oscar mechanics by early February. I hope this transparency in our development helps, and we may get more focused feedback on new features. New songs will be still featured in the builds, but they will not come with gameplay (yet).

So now that's out of the way…let's get to some actual content!

Chances with Wolves

Dutch's level planning is going well! Each mission is slowly coming to life with concept art and fun ways to use Billies newly unlocked invisibility mechanic. We also have some very fun plans for the soundtrack, stay tuned!

These are Dutch’s personal guard and security force for the park. They patrol around looking for perps, if they spot Billie they will run after her and hit her with their baton, causing one point of damage on impact. Due to their keen sense of smell they are able to detect Billie if she gets too close, even invisible. This will be shown to the player in the form of a circular decal around them, so the player knows to avoid this sphere of effect even when invisible.

Let's Sing!

We've scoped out the first song for Dutch, these ideas may change with Daniels feedback! Let's take a look see at what we have planned. Inspiration comes from Monkey Island, PaRappa the Rapper and Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge

• Inside of Dutch’s special club on his floating resort, on the stage during his live show. It’s night time outside.
• It’s been almost 24 hours  since Billie returned from Claw Bay.  Chapter 2 in the story,
• A singing “battle” between Dutch and Billie. A mix between dialogue trees to select the next set of lyrics and quick time events.
• Dutch will sing a line of dialogue, Billie must respond with the correct lyric from a list of dialogue options. If she picks the wrong one Dutch will inch towards her more and push her closer to the edge of the stage. If she falls off the side she will fail. Between these segments is a repetitive chorus number with quick time events.

Goals

• Dutch sings an introduction song
• Billie becomes stuck on stage by accident and is forced to sing

Gameplay Overview

• A duet between Dutch and Billie
• The player must last until the end of the song without being caught by security, the song has a defined length with no looping segments.
• Each time Dutch starts singing Billie is given 3 sets of responding lyrics in the form of dialogue options to pick from. One is correct, two are wrong. The song will not loop or pause to let Billie decide. A timer will be shown on screen so the player knows when their part is coming up. (Accessibility options: have a looping segment to allow the player to pick without time limits, sing the full song and autoplay like a cutscene)
• If a player does not pick an option Billie will not respond at all, or stutter. Dutch will inch towards Billie and push her closer to his security guards
• Using context clues the player must figure out which rhyming lyric would make the most sense in response to Dutch’s song.

Example:

We could both be pirates on the sea…..Mops galore you’d better keep it clean!

Responses

1. “Watch out now my little friend cuz Sharksperes looking mean!” (correct)
2. “Watch out now my little friend that chicken is looking supreme!!” (incorrect)
3. “Listen up now my little friend, I’m feeling pretty keen!” (incorrect)

The player can figure out which lyrics are wrong, if it doesn’t rhyme or make no sense in the context of the song

• If the player picks the wrong option Dutch will continue singing but inch closer towards her on the stage, pushing her closer to the security guards.
• If the player picks the correct option Dutch will continue singing in place
• After a few rounds of lyrics it will move to the chorus. Billie will face quick time events. As Dutch dances Billie must match his moves in time to the beat via quick time events. Different buttons will appear

Story

Intro

• Billie is found by Hayes, sneaking around in Dutch’s dressing room and confuses her for tonight's lost and late guest singer
• Billie attempts to remove herself from the situation but Hayes is extremely nervous as the guest singer is quite late and the crowd is getting upset.
• Hayes takes Billie to behind the stage curtain before pushing her onto the main stage.
• Billie stands in front of a large crowd, she nervously starts to sing, trying to think of something to entertain the audience. The audience starts to boo. Dutch starts to sing off screen before joining Billie and the audience starts to cheer. He confronts Billie, knowing she’s not the correct singer, but Billie commits to the lie so he challenges her, as she should know all the lyrics and dance moves to the planned duet

Extro

• As the song ends the crowd starts to clap as Billie takes a bow, enjoying the moment and feeling proud. Dutch looks at Billie and then grins in disbelief. Cut to backstage, Billie thinks she has Dutch fooled with her performance. Dutch admits he still knows that Billie isn’t the singer, but is impressed by her moxie, cunning and ability.
• He tells her to go visit him up in his penthouse before handing her a VIP wristband and leaving her backstage. This will now allow her access to the hotel and club legally.
• Cut to Billie outside the club. She can now roam the area and platform outside around the main tower or the building interior again before meeting Dutch in his penthouse

“60 seconds of gameplay”

BILLIE

That was…surprisingly easy! Heh! This whole thing is gonna be a piece of cake-

HAYES (V.O)

There you are!

BILLIE turns to see HAYES, who is now scurrying from standing in the doorway of the dressing room.

BILLIE

Me? I-I wasn’t, i’m just-

HAYES

We’ve been looking for you everywhere, Miss Rosemary! You’re very very late! My apologies for being so…out of the loop! Mr. Dutch only just now informed me of your part in the performance! I’ve just been so busy!

They seem quite nervous and overwhelmed as they begin to lead BILLIE out.

BILLIE

B-But i’m not…! I can’t perform!

HAYES

Don’t be so modest, now’s not the time for shilly-shally! W-We have to get you on stage! Dutch is waiting for you, the crowd is waiting for you!

They rush BILLIE out of the room and the next thing she knows, she’s pushed onto the stage in front of an impatient crowd. She sits in the spotlight, unsure what to do, microphone in hand, she tries to sing but the words fail to find her. The audience cheers and Billie looks up then hears singing behind her. She looks to see Dutch.

[Song Goes Here]

DUTCH

That was an impressive display, Miss Rosemary!

BILLIE

(an extravagant and obviously fake accent)

Why, thank you, Mr. Dutch! Only the best for your lavish resort! Hoohoohoo! Cheese and wine and all that!

DUTCH seems amused

DUTCH

Now, if ya don’t mind tellin’ me your real name?

BILLIE freezes, and even HAYES seems to have a startled reaction behind her.

BILLIE

M-My real name? You know you my real name!

DUTCH

(he laughs loudly)

I know ya ain’t no two ton walrus! Ya didn’t do your research before ya weaseled on in, did you?

HAYES

Y-You mean to say, this….isn’t Miss Rosemary?

DUTCH

‘Course it ain’t!

HAYES gulps at this mistake.

Environmental Concept Art

Not too much to add here, but here is some more environmental concept art for Dutch's level. These are mostly experimental, and will change and focus down with time as the level design documents take shape

The Final Fight

Not much to say here...yet! But here's a sneak peak at the arena for the final boss fight for Dutch!

Fodder

Each world will feature animal life unique to its environment. Building on the world lore and (hopefully) creating interesting environmental hazards and platforming. These guys are getting knocked out early on in development, their models should be finished by the 5th January! So lets take a look at these guys in more detail

The Crabcano

(Claw Bay, The Goat Escape)

• Crabcano’s are beings of pure fire magic, aka a fire spirit.
• They live in large family units
• They use rocks to build a body, which is useful protection towards magic eaters.
• They have several rock chimneys (small volcanoes) on their back that help exhaust excess heat.
• They have to exhaust hot air frequently to stop their body from getting exponentially hotter. If they overheat they will explode outwards, damaging anything in its path before dying.
• Since each spout on its back is a different shape and size, each creates a different note. A happy Crabcano may sing to itself whilst happily bouncing.
• Each Crabcano has its own family song/anthem
• They reproduce by fire rock eggs. These were once collected and used to heat buildings, but the eggs were shown to be temperamental, exploding into a fiery blast when hit at high impact. A previous disaster saw an entire city destroyed after an earthquake caused all the rock eggs to explode like tiny bombs across the city.
• These critters live underwater and underground but will sometimes come up to land.
• They are often used in commercial spas or homes to help generate hot water
• They are too hot for most to touch, and need to be transported with magic equipment to avoid injury.
• Has an omnivorous diet, not picky about its food, simply needs energy it can burn inside its core.
• If its fire core runs out of fuel, burns out, or is frozen the Crabcano will die.
• Crabcanos will sometimes spew out lava

AI Behaviour

• This enemy will not chase or attack Billie but serve as an environmental hazard
• This enemy will occasionally start to overheat and exhaust hot air every X seconds. The gush of hot air upwards can then be used with the umbrella or wings to gain great height. The Crabcano will exhaust hot air for Y seconds
• The crabs will not attack you, but can damage you if you touch them when they are expelling hot air or steam. Their shells will turn red to demonstrate this.
• Crabcanos can only be killed if frozen and attacked
• If a Crabcano dies a new one may emerge from the sand below and replace them.
• Crabcanos can come in huge groups, 30+, must not collide with other crabs
• Crabcanos will wander aimlessly in a set square area, occasionally stopping to idle
• Some Crabcanos may have direct pathways and routes that they take

The Barnaboo (Barnabys mansion, Grim Grinning Goats)

• Ghosts will follow Billie when her back is turned to them, intending to stab or harm her from behind.
• If Billie looks at the ghosts they will dance and party together in a static position and will not cause harm to Billie. They can not harm Billie when she is looking at them
• Ghosts can be spoken to like an NPC when they are dancing and passive and talk to Billie.
• If Billie speaks to a ghost they may be able to learn more about parts of Barnabys life. However, each Barnaboo can also lie. The player will never know for sure which stories are true or false, but some may be able to cross reference

Guinpigs (Dutch's resort, Chances with Wolves)

No lore written yet for these little guys, but we need to explain how these rodents continue to live and exist on Dutch's flying resort. Ash wants their ears to function like silly little wings.

Monster Plant (The Enchanted Forest, Prologue)

No official lore or name yet on this guy!

Enokitake Mushroom (The Enchanted Forest, Prologue)

• Enokitake mushrooms exist in herds of about 5-6.
• They have no gender or sex
• They are all consciously aware of one another via the mother shroom.
• The mother shroom is the collective consciousness of all mushroom based species in the enchanted forest. They are important to keeping the ecosystem functioning and the magic flowing.
• The mother shroom grows underground and is said to cover over 5.4 square miles.
• They reproduce by spreading their spores. These spores are highly toxic, sometimes even poisoning the victim, causing small shrooms to grow and take over the hosts body.
• They release spores through slits on their heads. This action releases a small amount of air, creating a gentle humming noise. They sound like villagers in my head and I laugh every time I think about it
• These mushrooms usually have 3-4 heads per body
• Each head has its own sentience but is still conscious of the other heads feelings and thoughts
• They obtain their nutrition from metabolizing non living organic matter
• Their body will not age but can be destroyed or consumed, but their consciousness will remain with the mother shroom.
• They are great in soup, earthy undertones, said to help reduce anxiety. The toxins must be neutralised first by using Phog mucus as a base.

Billie Idles

Billie will be getting some idles soon! Here are some ideas/concepts for them

Wrap it Up!

And that's it for this months update! I hope you have a fantastic New Year. I should hopefully have a new video for you soon. I recorded an hour long talk about our paperwork process, should be fun haha but before you go...

We are working with Makeship to help the charity Doctors without Borders with this exclusive Fantoccio plushie! All money made from this exclusive plushie will be donated to help. Please consider grabbing one to help out! or spread the word. Learn more about the organisation and what they do here 

Much love!

-Katie