Another month of complete devotion

Hello friends! Thank you all for being around and supporting MoGi Origins with your presence, suggestions, opinions, feedback and any other way possible. It means more than you can imagine.

This month I managed to finish all of Alice's animations for every outfit she was supposed to have. It was a huge challenge but she is now fully programmed and tested as a playable character. Alice has a new Backdash ability, even on the air. Also she has a Special and a Super move that consumes energy. Alice showed up a few bugs but seemingly everything is now fixed and I'm very pleased with the final result. Her Super move is so cool as it shakes the screen and hits all visible enemies!

Titan worked with me for the second time, since our new arrangement. I'm very proud of the number of things we added and fixed this month. Here's most of the tasks Titan had to deal with, during his 20 days of work. Most notably, Slimegirl Red needed a big update and Succogi is now completed as a boss fight. The work speed was hectic and some details may be missing from the following list, but that's a good chunk of the problems we addressed.

Titan will work on the programming of the game for another 20 days in January. Until then I have to finish the underwear version of Ucogi, and revamp and populate as many levels as possible. The level design is tricky in many ways and every guy we hired to help, found it to be a big chore. I need to familiarize with GameMaker and its kinks, as there are no obvious shortcuts to tile each area. But for me is more time consuming than challenging. For example, just to test each level's parallax scrolling, I have to compile the game every damn time.

My main concern is making the levels interesting (especially if they need backtracking) and work well with all 6 playable characters. Moreover, I need to worry about the pacing of the game, which is tied to the level design. Thankfully I have worked on many plans and drafts, but if something is off, I would need to reconsider and correct it. 

Even thought all the levels exist in the game, many of them were left empty, to be populated by objects that I would design later on. These objects are now completed, many levels have Hostage puzzles (an idea that came to me only a few months ago), some art is updated and even the parallax scrolling has been updated to be both horizontal and vertical. Furthermore, the game due to it's semi-realistic setting, it appears to have many flat levels and it does need more verticality. So, I really need to rework and polish most of the areas.

I wish I could have something tangible to show you, especially after all the hard work we have done in the game, but most probably I won't have something ready, until the early months of 2022. To some of you, this might sound disappointing, but please consider that I'm doing my very best. Not only I came up with a viable production plan that works, but I have also been working non-stop (pretty much since September) in an effort to redeem the whole project. 

During November I only went out 5 times (to get food supplies from a supermarket), and I haven't had any other contact with the outside world. The sheer amount of this month's work is a testament to that. I might take a break during the Christmas vacations, because I'm showing symptoms of burnout, and I do need to clear my head, if not for my health, then for the level design's sake.

 
~Veins

Ucogi and Alice updates

I have been working non stop for the past few months, and that should show from my posts here. I do hope that you can all experience soon all the hard work that has been put into this game.

A lot of progress has been made on my part, and Titan has already started working on the game once more. He will be working for another 20 days during November, as per our agreement. I'm not sure how many things we can finish up, but we will do out very best.

In the last 10 days I completed Alice's run animation. I had to draw her naked and put clothes on top, just like I did with Ucogi. Picking fitting shoes for Alice was a challenge, but I'm glad I got her to run with her bouncing boob in that loose top she wears all the time, without looking like a complete bimbo!

 

Also, I updated Rudy's runcycle. Rudy's weapons are balanced and her roll move has different controls and a shading effect. Her runcycle has been worked over and over the past few years and from what I could find I have worked on it for about 6 times. There's always something that bugged me in that animation, but yes, it's time to let it be..

same frame, different versions

When I don't work, I usually research and think of ways to improve the game. In my Youtube channel I added a couple of Rudy test videos, to check and avoid the mistakes of Castlevania SOTN and Zelda64, where the protagonist runs faster by rolling and backdashing.

The plans for this month is to fix any small bugs we come across. Add Ucogi and Alice if I can manage to finish their sprites. Complete the programming for Red (she needs to be harder as a Boss), Succubus 2 and Stheno. We need to finish Succogi and Succalice as well. And as many cutscenes as possible. And test it all.

 

Then, during December, I got to deal with a few more animations (like Stheno's scene, ending etc) and the final level design, which would be a huge task. And also I got to do the dialogues for over 80 NPCs and many e-panels. And many other things that must escape me right now. We are so close now and everything falls into place nicely!