Friday Post #53

Howdy howdy friends! Like I mentioned in a previous post, my time and schedule have well and truly been thrown off and outta wack. Babies do that to you, so, yeah future warning for anyone going to do that whole “raising a human” thing. Time goes bye-bye. I want to keep you all informed about our developments, what new things we are working on, and such, but I won’t commit too much to a schedule. That is just impossible for me. So I will say that every time I find a free moment, expect a blog post about our wheelings and dealings.
Just know that we are a small team with a lot of projects being worked on, and for the next couple of months, I have combined the forces of our devs to make some quick projects. So if the development blogs here seem a little lacking or your favorite game isn’t featured it is simply because the team is working on tech for that game by building another title. Okay, let's go!
Under Contract
This is the major next release that we are focusing on, the internal development of this game has been going smoothly, and currently, we are on version 1.7.0 as an internal build with weekly sprints and build reviews. Our goal, for the time being, is to get a demo polished and ready with examples of our future mechanics and content within the game. 
We have also made the pivot to move over to 3D character assets and Gem assets, this is going to take a little bit to get everything ready but the process is starting to turn out really nice. Here is the breakdown of current content production for the public demo release in a month or so:

Narrative: 95%
Backgrounds: 70%
Cutscene mechanics: 80%
Gameplay mechanics: 70%
Gameplay assets: 90%
Character (3D) assets: 30%
Music: 90%
Sound Effects: 40%
This week's sprint was focused on an overhaul of the in-game powerups and currency system. Originally we wanted the player to go from level to level collecting or grinding out money to spend on upgrades for their powers, but the longer we played the less exciting the system became. Now we are opting for a semi-exploration system coupled with a new “mana” gem to power the new weapon. 
Along with this, we are experimenting with a system for having a companion follow you around and offer assistance in the puzzles and combat, previously we had two buttons allowing for two types of powerups to be used, but our testing proved that to be a little too overwhelming for most players to remember. Now we will have our “Blaster” weapon on the “A” button and the companion ability on the “B” button. For the time being the blaster is another way of destroying blocks on your side of the board, while the companion ability has yet to be decided. We are considering making it affect either the player's board, the enemy's board, or the game space in general.

Elewder
This week we are looking to finish up the Bathhouse area of the game, however, we have run into an issue with how our music system is currently built. So for each area, we have exploration music which is a somewhat calm tune for navigating around the level, then when the player enters combat more instruments are layered on top, like drums, guitar, bass guitar, choir singers, etc. The issue is coming from when new rooms are loading in, there can be a slight period of time when the command comes down to layer the music that it layers it twice or its off-beat or something of that nature. Trying to diagnose the issue is taking a bit longer, and since it is music it is affecting the entire project.
In terms of new content for the game, we have recently finished the music tracks for the Menagerie-themed levels, and with that will start building out the levels and creating the combat abilities for the 5 new minions within that area. Following that we have just the succubus area left for music and theme, then the foundation of the game will be in place, and our focus can move over to building a tone of items and narrative content/unlocks.
Tower Girls
All aboard the hype train! Choo choo! Yeah, this game is radical A F. We are having an absolute blast building the game and all her mechanics together, it is by far the fastest implementation of a game mechanic and systems I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. Let me elaborate…cos you know, I like doing that.
First, in this game, we are designing her to be done quickly but also be challenging and replayable. Also making new content drops (if people really like the game) is easy to add. The core of it is a simple tower defense where you place unique female fighters to act as towers, while you scan the landscape for props to build the walls and the maze the enemies will need to progress through before they can reach their goal.
Zambies drop coins, you use coins in the shop to hire fighters, upgrade your weapons, purchase tools, and purchase props from the world to build your defenses. You can purchase any of the environment props to build your walls, you can rotate, flip and stack the props however you like. In the full version the game will combine the health of the props added to the bottom prop, and as damage is applied props from the top will be destroyed.

Currently, the zombies just bash into anything blocking their path but we are designing an elaborate pathing system that will diverge as you block it up, meaning you can change the flow of zambies by placing props and building walls. Then you stack your Tower Girls in that path, on top of, behind, and in front of the walls you place.

Currently, our art staff is focused on Under Contract models (since we have our upcoming Kickstarter) but we do have a few characters already created for the game. The first one we can show is the Tower Girl known as Gamer Girl.
She will be using a Rocket Launcher as her main weapon, I hope you’ll have enough ammo to feed her since her APM is obviously super high. Anyways Tower Girls is coming along at a great pace, we will hopefully have something for everyone to play like an MVP sometime in early April this year.
Wet Nightmares
This will be a quick one, our focus right now is all on the porting process. We are moving Wet Nightmares from VNMaker to Renpy and the process is quite involved. Demonheart Studios has spent a very long time polishing and refining the aesthetics, vibe, and feel of the game and our porting process right now is strictly functionality. Getting it exactly to 1:1 will take a little bit of time, but I am happy to report that we are about 75% done with the porting process for Chapter 1. I hope to have a more detailed report for you soon!
And damn, that was a long post. But hey, this Friday we will have something very special for our $10 tier, a nice little tease for the upcoming Date Night game. The Friday Lewds will continue going forward so keep your subscription hot, and your pants off!
Be sure to check that out when it drops!