Progress Report #72: June 2023

Greeting Voidenizens ｡‿｡

We welcome you to the latest episode of "What's up with VoidBound this week?" Work continues faithfully along, so much so that we might just have an update release just around the corner. Enough speculations though- time for some updates!

Our artist informs us that the concept art has moved to flats and colorization for a lot of the new tilesets that we are making for the Introduction. The bonus is that we will have all this fancy art now for Lab Capsules and Sci-Fi creates to help furnish future maps.

VN Mode Background Lab Sample

Sedated furball in a Box

Additionally, we got some bombastic Sci-Fi Gun designs being given a detailed version so that we can use them on datapads and other areas. Seeing these powerful weapons of war just makes the universe that much more lived in.

On the lore side of things, the Introduction's reimaging is 80 percent done. We're thinking of adding an explosive action point to the end when Vas and Caly get off the Urtu ship. After that, all that is left is Haar's introduction and mending the initial design of his first conversation with Vas and Caly.

Apart from that, we're concepting new story spaces for the Setek, looking to potentially take inspiration from the Normandy in Mass Effect since the layout of that ship has space for all the major characters to have 'their space' where you can meet up with them in between missions!

Finally, our coder has been busy with other facets of the project while he awaits finalized work from the team. Writing Tools are being designed that will give us the function to import what we get from the writers and zoom it right into the engine.

This will help cut down the time it takes for common events, plugins commands, sound effects etc. All of those functions can be written right into the text and then uploaded in to the engine!

And that is it for this last report of the month! Thank you for staying until the end. See you next month!

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

Progress Report #71: June 2023

Greetings Voidcruisers,

How's it going? Here at VoidBound headquarters, work continues at full speed ahead. We've quite the updates dropping this week so lets jump right into it!

Every good story needs good baddies. We're working on new Urtu Elites to fill out the ranks of the Empire. The artist is working on the design from the ground up- well technically from the head down. Additionally, we've got some amazing alien designs to work from and the end result will be featured in the revamped Introduction, including in the new Battle Tutorial.

But!! we did promise you some samples last time so, here are some of them in the works:

Beyond the enemies, we have now finished the newly made maps for the Introduction. The area won't be the size of Henosis, but it will certainly offer players some freedom to move around and even learn some new lore from interactables found on the map, similar to the Vas poster from the Embassy.

Speaking of Vas, her special turret is going from concept to final design! It's giving us additional ideas about what kind of gadgets our favorite troublemaker might bring any party she's invited to.

Check this one out going through the process!

Now for some story updates!

The first draft of the new Introduction has been finished. Now it's the stage where we make sure that everything works well with the maps and the mechanics. Part of this has been making new datapads, computer screens and interactables for players to explore. Each will add a bit more flavor to the world. An example will be a datapad that teases new players about the existence of Henosis, well before they get to set foot on our amazing city-planet.

Work on the Curious Case of the Carnegies has also begun. It's a side quest saga still in the early stages, but this is the very same horror/supernatural adventure that we mentioned last week!

Now, for a word from our coder!

New Event Ideas are being bounced to populate the 5 New maps during the Intro, including the end of it. Every great adventure starts with a Bang. We're going to go for Two Bangs.. whatever that means!

New Puzzles! Who doesn't love puzzles?! ...Please don't answer that. Just to let you know that a new “secret” puzzle is also under testing and we promise that we'll make sure it isn't the irritating kind that makes you want to rip your sanity out.

Additionally, work on specific writing tools for future localization purposes is also underway. Yep, we also indulge ourselves in working on other games now and then ( Kiara The Knight of Icicles ) as it help us get experience down the line in case we ever decide to pursue VoidBound localization in other languages!​​

And that’s all folks for this one! Thank you for sticking with us and see you next week with both the last report and the monthly rewards!

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

Right click and open in a new tab to enlarge

Progress Report #70: June 2023

Salutations folks o/

Another week gone, another progress report written. From new side quests to new environmental elements, we have quite a bit to talk about, so let’s get right into it!

The cover art sketch has now been finalized! With the conceptual phase now behind us, we anticipate rapid completion of the piece with colored flair, and just to not be a tease, we've also attached the sketch piece alongside for your viewing pleasure! Presently, things are being tightened up and cleaned up to make sure the cover pops!

Additionally, introduction scenes are being planned out. This includes new mapping as we will be adding 'tutorial' parts to the first steps of the game. Specific maps for the specific parts are absolutely necessary!

Sometimes, a galactic adventure is about taking some time off of the beaten path. Blackstar, one of our seasoned writers, has been laying out the ground for a spooky adventure that Caly and players can go on. We're digging through the material and taking the time to make sure it blends with a sci-fi adventure while presenting some unique scares for our hero.

Work continues on the intro section of the game with revision focus on the first dialogues between Caly, Vas and Dr. Cava for when Caly gets out of the tube. We realized that Caly doesn't really worry all that much about Earth after she is free and clear. Obviously it is a very dangerous situation, but as part of examining the intro, we want to make sure Caly doesn't have a Phillip J Fry moment from early Futurama.

Finally, new updates from our coder! Every space adventure needs some battlefield/environmental dangers. We're constructing and testing events like hazardous fogs and vents and other deadly threats to make Caly's life a little bit more exciting! ... though we doubt she would see it that way.

And that concludes our offering for this week. Sadly, no eye candy to share this time around, but we're told that our artist will be sending some interesting updates our way in a day or two, so we're very positive we'll make it upto you in the next one!

Till then though, we wish you well and will see you in the next one!

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

Progress Report #69: May 2023

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to our first coverage of VoidBound for the month of June and we're especially giddy for this one as we've made fantastic progress, so sit back and enjoy!

Every amazing game needs a kick-ass cover. We will soon be unveiling our own amazing cover art for VoidBound that will eventually adorn various digital distribution platforms in the future! At this point, the image has been conceived and we have the first concept piece sketched out.

As part of our rebuilding of the game's introduction, we have several new maps sketched out to make the start of the adventure more akin to a mini dungeon with different layouts. This will give the start more personality to help engage players with the universe of VoidBound.

Meanwhile, the writers have started advance work on Clash Station- building up the personality of the friendly Contraxian denizens there who will help out Caly on the first quest that introduces the Station. Spot editing for Clash Station is also a priority to make sure the dialogue is punchy and not snooze inducing wordy.

Additionally, Vas's personality is now under review! The idea is to make sure that her personality is more fleshed out, both for the first time you meet her, and her future stories. She's a tough cookie, wild and unpredictable, but she still has a sweet and tasty side. Just don't tell her we said that.

As we've mentioned before, we're continuing work on the Quest Log. We know that it can be hard if players don't have a direction to continue the story. Fret not though, it remains our highest priority:

Right now, we're testing it out and ironing out any remaining issues and in the near future fully plan to dedicate an entire post to it once we've made significant progress.

Additionally, we are conceptualising the idea of letting some enemies throw objects during combats to add a new spin on some of Caly's foes. After-all, a good enemy is an enemy who learns and adapts!

And that our coverage for this one. Stay tuned thought as tomorrow we plan to release our latest patch 0.5.4c update to our wider support base! Ishan is a text book example of "don't judge a book by its cover", for he holds many a dark secrets behind his friendly demeanor!

Till then however, stay safe and take care!

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team