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[Pehesse]

I've spent the last few days in a frantic frenzy, trying to get together a demo to present and see if the whole thing worked correctly. Now that it's done, the pressure is plummeting and the energy is winding down alongside it, but I'll rebound soon enough :-D

What's new this week: well, mostly one new move, and then balancing/integration/testing. I've modified plenty of leftover script for Little Sun's IA to adapt it to Carrion Wind, and it's all mostly working now - the only thing she still doesn't do is her "counter" stance, which is a reaction routine after she's been hit. So for now, it's pretty easy to stunlock her and kick her until the match's end.. but Little Sun had that same issue, and it's been throroughly fixed, so I'm confident Carrion Wind will manage to pull something out of her bag of tricks :-D

Also notable this week: an article about Honey on Siliconera! Many thanks to Chris Priestman! http://www.siliconera.com/2014/11/10/visual-novel-meets-luchador-2d-beat-em-honey-rose-ufe/

There might be some more on the horizon, but I'm waiting for word on that (as a side note: that makes me anxious as hell when I send something and don't get a reply for a few days, but I suppose that's to be expected...)

Lastly, this week saw a colossal mistake and an almost complete site wipe, but thanks to a timely cancel and some backuping, the site was back online barely an hour after disaster struck. Still, excitement!

EDIT:



..and another new thing! Since Honey was featured in Cook, Serve, Delicious: Battle Kitchen edition, I wanted to return the favor by featuring one of their cooks in the audience - and now, it's done, and it's here!

[Alec S.]

I really like this game's concept, and it's looking fantastic.   

[Pehesse]

I really like this game's concept, and it's looking fantastic.   

Thanks a lot! :-D And keep an eye out, there might be stuff soon that'll be more detailed as to what the game's about, so you'll get an even clearer picture! That, and I'm starting to think it's time to do a first trailer, or something... so there's that to look forward to as well!

[Pehesse]

First video preview of the prototype ever, I'm stoked for a great many reasons - but I'll let you watch it without any further ado :-D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEZvthEQQus&feature=youtu.be&a

[Pehesse]

First video preview of the prototype ever, I'm stoked for a great many reasons - but I'll let you watch it without any further ado :-D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEZvthEQQus&feature=youtu.be&a

Many thanks to the Killer Bits for this early preview and comments!

[AlexVsCoding]

Would just like to say that the animation for this project is absolutely insane and the attention to detail (e.g. having the coach running back and forth as you battle) really makes a difference. Definitely keeping an eye on the project (did a cheeky shootout https://twitter.com/alexvscoding/status/535203909976219648)

Best of luck with the game!

[Pehesse]

Would just like to say that the animation for this project is absolutely insane and the attention to detail (e.g. having the coach running back and forth as you battle) really makes a difference. Definitely keeping an eye on the project (did a cheeky shootout https://twitter.com/alexvscoding/status/535203909976219648)

Best of luck with the game!

Woo, thanks a lot for the shoutout :-D I still have a long way to go, because of the animation, but I'm glad it's paying off :-D

[Savick]

Hey Pehesse! I'm doing a hand drawn game now too! You were some of my inspiration for starting and figuring out how to do the project, so thanks.

[Pehesse]

Hey Pehesse! I'm doing a hand drawn game now too! You were some of my inspiration for starting and figuring out how to do the project, so thanks.

Wow, I'm glad to hear that! Also, I'm used to citing inspirations, not being cited as one, so thanks :-D
And a film noir game using a clean black and white approach? Sign me up! That's probably something I'd love to do at some point as well :-D

[Pehesse]

Just in time for Honey's dev first anniversary (I started the devlog here much later, but the actual first files date back to November 24th, 2013 - an eternity ago, right?), Siliconera writes an interview about the project here! http://www.siliconera.com/2014/11/23/school-girl-wrestler-honey-rose-designed-inspire-us-better/
Many thanks to Chris Priestman for this, once again :-)

And for a more complete overview of this year and what's next, you can check here: http://pehesse.tumblr.com/post/103456157173/todays-loot-today-is-actually-the-first-year

[Pehesse]

After a bit of a breather, I'm back with some new news: the latest, and last, Carrion Wind animation is done!



I still have much to do before the match is complete, such as adding audience members, rework hit effects, and generally tweak and balance the AI (a bit too meek for now - compared to Little Sun who was too annoying at first, I took it too far in the opposite side it seems).

Still, I'm glad that milestone is reached, and I'll even move the project completion bar a bit further to celebrate - I should probably wait until the match is really done, but.. the animation was really the biggest task :-D So there, 40%!

[Pehesse]

New this week: audience members! I've been filling these seats with characters, some random, some plot important, and some hailing from far away shores, since they're guest stars from other games! We now have the cook from Cook, Serve and Delicious, but also Hibari from Spirit Huntress, and the dancing cubanoids from VisionEck.

Most of the signs and panels are also reputation dependant - if you manage to go in the match with enough popularity, some of these will be replaced by stuff cheering Honey on for a change, as you can see below:

[SunWuKong]

This looks just fantastic! So much great work in your game!

WELL DONE!

-Tim

[eblomquist]

Very impressive if you pull this off - creating a fighting game cannot be easy. Good luck!

[Pehesse]

Thanks a lot to you both!

The fight segment is indeed quite tough to make, but it's not a fighting game - it's a lot closer to a beat'em all, mechanics wise, and the overall game is more of a VN/life simulator. For more info about it all I highly recommend the Killer Bits first look video, as they cover both aspects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEZvthEQQus&feature=youtu.be&a, and Siliconera's interview for more detailed info about the whole thing: http://www.siliconera.com/2014/11/23/school-girl-wrestler-honey-rose-designed-inspire-us-better/

In other news, I'm adding even more guests from NeoGAF's indie thread! I still have a couple more to go, but here are the latests: the Scrolr from Psyscrolr, and Evie Blake from Nether Mind!

[Pehesse]

Done with guests for a while! Here's how the audience looks like now!



In no particular order and in addition to the game/plot NPCs, you can find, all straight from NeoGAF's indie thread:

-the cook from Cook, Serve, Delicious,
-the dancing Cubanoids from VizionEck
-Hibari from Spirit Huntress
-the Shaman from Ancestory
-the Scrolr from Psyscrolr
-John Dudebro as himself
-Xerena Idyal (I'm not sure of the game's title...? sorry!)
-Leo and Annie from Skulldive

That's it for now since that's already a pretty big crowd, but if I find other suitable openings in the game, I'll try to fit in more guests! Dare I contact the devs of personal favs of mine, like Shantae, Manny, Glottis or Raz to ask for permission to do the same thing? I'd love to, but... let's leave that for later for now :-D

[Pehesse]

Here's a gif showcasing most of the audience in movement this time!



Among the latest changes: I've reworked Carrion Wind's IA to be more aggressive. She's (very) slightly faster overall, and has counter reaction moves, the probability of which depending on the amount of health she's missing, and the difficulty mode you're playing on. In harder modes, that means you should expect that duck lunge more often, and coming out way faster, too. Overall it makes for a more nervous fight, and I believe it's not possible anymore to stunlock her with endless kicks, or triple standing combos. Playing defensive works really well against her, though, so there's that!

I've also fixed several graphics issues with the impact hits and directional hits, and with her shadow during special displacement cases (where her animation has her moving a step back for instance, but the actual logic box doesn't move).

Overall, the current state of the match is getting close to where I'd like it to be, so I'm moving on to something else for a while! I'll come back to it later with fresher eyes, as I did with Little Sun's the first time around, but for now, it's back to the VN segment.

[Tuba]

This keeps getting better and better

[JustRadek]

Cool concept, and very good idea on the background cameos -- perfect for a fighting game stage!

[Pehesse]

This keeps getting better and better

Cool concept, and very good idea on the background cameos -- perfect for a fighting game stage!

Thanks a lot to you both :-D