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[hybridmink]

*UPDATED January 24, 2017

We have launched on kickstarter! Please check out the trailer and let me know what you think!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hybridmink/project-rudra


*UPDATED DECEMBER 22, 2015

Finally, I'm willing to show off some video of Zetch and Tomoe in action. I'm still not completely familiar with video capture in OBS, but it's good enough for now!





*UPDATED MARCH 9, 2015

A colony on Mars is the center of a digital terraforming experiment. The experiment known as “Project: Rudra” is the size of a small country. Through a localized virtual network, residents can see bustling cities and fantasy landscapes where there is merely dirt and rock. Someone has taken hold of this technology and turned the simulation into a reality. You lead a team of heroes to return the colony back to normal, all while battling their own personal demons.



Project: Rudra is a 2D action/platformer similar to Mega Man Zero or Kirby Superstar, but with multiple playable characters. Each have their own unique playstyle such as rushdown, grappling, shooting, etc. Utilizing the premise of a virtual network, characters have unique movesets that can spawn weapons out of nothing or modify them for a specific situation:



A virtual colony allows for all kinds of different worlds to explore and fight in. Locations range from your typical robot night club to an underwater temple. From feudal Japan to a large scale warship battle in space.

Characters are animated in a hand drawn style. Here's the 4 playable characters:

Zetch


Tomoe


Sypher


Buster



I decided to make this thread to keep track of Rudra's development. While I've actually been drawing concept art and developing ideas for over 8 years, engine and asset development has only recently begun. Character moves, enemies, level concepts, and the overall story is pretty much developed. Though things are constantly changing as ideas are iterated upon or scrapped.

I plan on updating this thread periodically with animations, art, and general status info. Currently I'm filling most of the game's roles including director, producer, animator, and illustrator. I'm working with a programmer and am in talks with multiple composers. Music also plays a major part in the game. Aside from setting the tone of each environment, it also changes depending on the character being used. Since you can switch characters mid-combo, this will make for an ever-changing pace in the combat.



For a more detailed description of how gameplay works, as well as lots of animations, please check out my patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/hybridmink

If you'd like to see how the art has progressed over the years and keep up with anything new, you can take a look at my gallery on deviantart: http://hybridmink.deviantart.com/gallery/26898898/Project-Rudra.

I also post WIP animations and concept art over on my tumblr: http://hybridmink.tumblr.com/

Thanks!

[hybridmink]

Here's a look at the first 2 characters being worked on. Keep in mind that I'm not showing ALL of the animations.

Zetch



Fighting style and abilities: Silat, whip-like threads and fists, network manipulation.
“Can see the threads with his Rudra eye”
Gameplay style: grappling enemies up close or from a distance


Tomoe




Fighting style and abilities: accumulation blades and armor
Gameplay style: claw attacks, combos increase meter and weapon size for bigger attacks or armor mode.

And here's some early Tomoe animations:




Some other Rudra characters include:

[and]

That animation is great!

I'd be interested in knowing more about the process you follow for your art from start to finish? I tend to start all of mine with paper and pencil before moving it to digital and was wondering if you had a similar approach?

[hybridmink]

hey thanks! I do everything digital. I go back and forth between Photoshop and PaintTool SAI. I use photoshop's timeline to sketch out the frames and once I'm pretty happy, I bring it into SAI to create clean lineart. I go back and forth a bit to test things and document the way things like hair and cloth move depending on how fast the animation is. The more I animate, the more I'm able to condense the process to get things done quicker.

[Gatlink]

Your animations are amazing! I think you did the right thing when you decided to keep this style.

The plot is perplexing me though... Are you sure this is terraforming you have in mind? From what I understood of your presentation, it seemed more like Augmented reality (or virtual reality) to me...

[hybridmink]

I had a tough time describing the premise in only a few words. Let me see if I can do a better job...

The entire colony is linked up to a network. There are very few actual buildings or structures inside the colony. Instead, the network displays them in a virtual space. Everyone connected to the system sees and actually feels like these buildings are there. The turning point is when someone manages to use this technology to actually transform the colony itself. What was once a virtual or augmented reality is now completely real.

Needless to say, I will probably need someone to help me make a little more sense of the story.

[hybridmink]

We're hoping to move into combat soon so I started working on attacks for Zetch. Using a 360 controller as a reference, pressing X 1 to 3 times in succession can give you a 3 hit basic combo:

1 time = jab



2 times = jab, straight



3 times = jab, straight, knee



The knee bash knocks the enemy back, so if you want to check an enemy with a couple attacks to get in for a grab, you'd want to avoid hitting X too many times. The knee also hangs for a few frames and can't be cancelled. Generally when a player is surrounded, they are more likely to mash a little bit. This should help get some enemies off, while also teaching the player not to mash too often. Each of the 3 combinations is useful depending on how you want to position the enemy.

Oh and here's Tomoe's crouching animation:

[TunaUppercut]

I like the animations. Tomoe's animation in particular, is well done.

[Xtra Mile]

Wow, great animation. Are you animating by hand or using a program to help out?

[hybridmink]

Thanks guys!

Xtra, I mentioned a couple posts up that I'm using Photoshop and SAI to make these sprites. I'm not sure what kind of animation help you're thinking of, but I'm not using flash tweens or anything like that.

[Raku]

I feel like that second punch takes way too long to wind up.

[hybridmink]

His attacks are supposed to be a little slow. There should be enough hit stun on the jab to land the second punch. I originally had things at 12 fps, but bumped it up to 13. If it seems slow in game, I may go up to 14 or 15.

[hybridmink]

Right now the developers are working on getting the camera situated and collision added to sprites. I'd like to post an early build soon, but I'll wait until he says so. Until then, here's another Zetch animation. The effect on his arm looks weird right now, but it should work once he's fully colored. As always, any feedback is welcome!



Let me know if I'm making too many small updates.

[hybridmink]

Unfortunately some life events will be taking up most of my programmer's time so he has asked to leave the project. He has provided me with all of his work, including the source code. I have no intention of giving up on Rudra, so if you are interested in joining the team, please let me know!

[hybridmink]

Thank you for all of your emails. I've found somebody new to work with and things should get right back on track. In any case, I never stopped working on animations, so here's another one!

[hybridmink]

We have a new build working in Unity and are working on finalizing Zetch's basic movement. I've been working on Zetch getting smacked around like this:



This is just standing light damage. He'll also take similar damage crouching and in the air. Then there's also being knocked backwards to the ground, which will work in all situations.

I've also been trying to settle on a coloring style for characters. After trying to simplify the process as much as possible, I think I've settled on this:



Once I have the colors down, it shouldn't be TOO much work coloring everything else. Let me know if you have any feedback. I hope to have an in-game video within the month if possible. Thanks!

[Caravaggi0]

This has a very king of fighters vibe to the art, approval given.

[c023-DeV]

Big UP for those animation skills! Although I'm not the fan of big eyes, I still have great respect for the animation =D

Wish you all the best!

[hybridmink]

Thanks! I think the big eyes are good for showing facial expressions when zoomed out.

[hybridmink]

Well it's been a while since I updated this thread. Please check out the original post for an updated description and a bunch of new animations for the 4 main characters. Now fully colored!

Currently the programmer I'm working with is developing tools to get sprites working in-game. We're using Unity 5.

I put together a pretty succinct description of how Project: Rudra plays on my Patreon account and it's got plenty of animations to show for it. Please take a look if you're curious: https://www.patreon.com/hybridmink

Most of Zetch and Tomoe's animations have been completed (though not fully colored). We're going to focus on these 2 before moving on to the others. I'm now creating concept art for the basic enemies. Here's some random animations!