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May 2019 Progress Update!
🕑 Added 2019-05-01 19:31:32 +0000 UTCHey guys!
I'll be posting the next test release of Pure Onyx tomorrow evening at the latest! I apologize for the delays -- we admittedly bit off too much for one release, and Mr. Kittyhawk and I have had to work nonstop the past few weeks to get things where they need to be.
In addition to the release, we've been hard at work on art and animations, so for now check out the progress we've made this past month :D.
Topics for this Update!
- Pure Onyx Release Coming Tomorrow!
- Onyx Animation Progress
- Pure Onyx User Interface Concepts
- Onyx Promotional Artwork
- Vioreaper Nest Map
- Junkyard Level!
- Updated Onyx Jump / K.O Artwork
- Wraxe Boss Artwork
- "Mixfix" Animation Blending Technique
Onyx Animation Progress
We worked on Onyx's Idle and Walk animations earlier this month. I'm really happy with how they're turning out -- let us know what you think so far. I had hoped Walk would go easier since it's our second time around on it, but it was as frustrating as before because Spine doesn't have soft IK to keep the knees from popping. I've pretty much got it down to a science though now, and I think this is already a solid improvement over our old animation.
Onyx Promotional Painting WIP
I've been looking for an artist to do some high quality promotional art for Pure Onyx, but in the meantime I figured I would test myself and try to get the hang of a high quality soft shaded style. This has been a fun project but it's definitely a stretch of my painting skills and required that I improve in a number of areas. I'd like to do more practice paintings when possible, which I'll share here if they turn out nice :D. I'll be sure to post the full version of this once it's complete!
Pure Onyx User Interface Concepts
While Mr. Kittyhawk was coding this month, I created some concepts for the user interface! One of our favorites is the loading / utility screen concept shown above, which would feature animated sequences utilizing some shader magic on the sprites. Check out the full size versions of the UI concepts here, and please let us know what you think:
Vioreaper Nest Map!
We finally have some results to show on the Vioreaper nest level we've been talking about!
There was some interest in how the character sprites would look in it with the finished processing I figured I'd show it off and get some feedback :D -- especially since I usually don't showcase environments. We're still experimenting with some techniques to make the goop a little less realistic and more stylized.
Below is a full size version (zoom!), slightly compressed (still 17 MB). There's also a 2nd grading test I did to show more extreme lighting situations on Onyx. The uncompressed versions are in the attachment folder.
Fair warning, this isn't in-engine yet -- this is a composite made from the assets that'll go into Unity, but it's mainly a reference for the processing and FX pipeline since we still have some work to do on it to get it looking this shiny in game.
Let us know what you think!
Junkyard Level!
In addition to the Vioreaper nest, Ubercharge has finished the first map of the junkyard level! I think it may be my favorite environment to date. This one has four parallax layers, so it should look great in motion.For the next map in this level, we're looking at doing a vista with a graveyard of giant mechs poking out of the fog in the background. Check out the high res screens here:
New Onyx Jump / K.O. Artwork
TK and I have made a lot of progress with breaking down the move set poses for Spine, but I've only got the art for Jump and K.O. updated enough to show off. Let me know what you think! (P.S. dat old Jump face x_x)
Wraxe Boss Artwork
Check out the progress Limbo's been cranking out for the boss!
I still have to go through and do some final anatomy / scaling edits -- of which you can preview in the Idle pose image below (there was some talk in the Inner Circle post about making him even bigger, which I think I agree with after seeing this again :D).
- Idle Pose Scale Test
- Jump Slash and Beckon
- Slash 1 and Back Stance
- Dash Attack
- Attack Anticipation
- Downed
"Mixfix" Animation Blending Technique
Spine's automated animation blending (called mixing) was never intended for complex characters with multiple poses (largely because Spine wasn't intended for that). The result is lots of glitchy warping when transitions happen. It's in fact happening in the old release with the Splicer animations, and it's not pretty. One major success this week is the development of a technique I call "mixfixing", which should allow us the flexibility to dramatically clean up these transitions. The technique basically pre-deforms images so that they better match the skeleton when the image set changes occur. This is the magic bullet we needed, as now we can manually fix (most) issues on any animation transition that can occur.
For it to make sense, I made a simple test showing off a rough version of it cleaning up Onyx's completely mangled jacket during a transition. Excuse the WIP animations from early this week / exploding face :D (there's a fix for that too).
Comments
I think Jamie's talking about the ones where you get like 3 uses per continue -- the big area of effect skills that clear the screen. We're looking at integrating a resource like Stamina for regular specials attacks.
Robert Dant
for the record, that old style in which you spend one pip of your own health to execute a move is absolutely NIGHTMARISH
Cammay
Looks and sounds great so far :) Always looking forward to reading the progress reports :)
I like the idea of them but not how they were implemented in the retro games. They stopped doing it after the first Streets of Rage I believe. I think we could come up with some modernized ideas that would be more dynamic and interesting.
Jamie C.
interesting I like I am interested. Are special abilities gonna be a thing, in Fight and rage there are super powered moves you can do to take down a large group or even do heavy damage to bosses will there be something like this in PO.?
Verdonator
My god, this all looks amazing! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Ws9JSCwh0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Ws9JSCwh0</a>
MangoFishSocks
On the backburner while Pure Onyx secures some financial support, like has been said every single monthly update since Pure Onyx's development.
Freeko Suave
So, Malice and the Machine?
Craldo
I really like the way you wrote the review this month. Feels like you´re back at loving what you´re doing. I missed that the past months where the review felt more clinical and not emotional ;)
Animations should look better and better over time because we can add additional art where transitions don't work so well. That, combined with the mixfix thing, should give us really good results. The test release will have an infinite wave mode that gets increasingly difficult. The H system is functional, enemies have real AI now, and combat has been recoded from the ground up to be physics-based.
Jacob Larson
Your painting looks phenomenal!!
Subjectivity
Looks good! I hope the animation transitions can all be smoothed out. You're always pushing these programs further than they were intended to go! How much can we expect to see in the test release? Will it be a full level, and with or without H content?
