Necrolepsy
Boy, "Last Delay" didn't age well!
Unfortunately, because I'd like an extra 2 weeks to bug test, apparently Valve is getting sick of me delaying the game finally, as I had to ask them via a request to delay the game an extra two weeks to October 11th. Hopefully, that does get through, and I sure hope it will, because I REALLY don't want this game to have bugs, small or large.
Luckily, since everyone else is done with their work (more or less), it's up to me to fill in the gaps and make sure this game works and is setting sail. I will ask that you be patient with me, as this is my first time taking such a giant leap, especially mostly by myself, so there may be some things I can't fix immediately, but hopefully we can make sure this game has a clean launch, clean promotion, and tons of engagement!
Believe me when I say this, while I'm more concerned about Necrolepsy being bug free, I'm 100% most concerned about it being fun, and I think this game is a hoot, and many of you will Have a total blast playing it! Hope to see you October 11th, in the mean time, there's plenty to fix and fix it I will!
NEW TRAILER and release whoas
So what does that mean now for Necrolepsy? Is it coming out September 27th? I sure as hell hope so. But I still have to finish up some art and minor graphical updates. As well, one of the artists is done with their work. I'm waiting on the other to complete his stuff. But the stuff that's necessary are bosses (which are all animated already, it's just clean up), cutscenes, a few more stage props (mainly the extra stages) and THAT'S ABOUT IT.
Programming is again, 100% done, all that's left is bug fixing and it sure as hell will be bugfixed.
So expect some more news soon, as we go forward with this coming out!
Last Delay, September 27th
So as you may have saw from the last update, Necrolepsy's programming is basically done, it's the art that's the main issue, and right now the art is progressing, but it's been slow due to me not being an artist, I'm a programmer. Why do you think the programming is done first? Regardless, it's all art, and most of the more complex animations are complete, but there's a few things to get into with that. The other animators are doing their best and HOPEFULLY will get their animations done in time for a deadline.
If you didn't know, Necrolepsy, while being sprite animated, still has a traditional process of using roughs and proper timing unlike sprites. There's not a lot that's "copy pasted" between them, it's primarily traditional turned into sprite art, akin to Earthworm Jim if I were to make a comparison.
I may have a third artist that will join the fray, we'll see, I still need to properly talk and arrange meetings with them. But hey, this delay puts it around Halloween! Pretty fitting, if I do say so myself.
I hope to see you all there!
Current Affairs: June 18th
Programming
So first thing's first, the coding is done! That's right, every single thing in the game that is coded is implemented and works. Everything that's important is 100% done, but there are some things that will need bug fixing. That means the majority of the game's progress is art related, so let me answer some things with that.
Art
So with art: NONE of the artists are done, this includes myself and the two animators I hired for production. They are both working very hard and I'm trying to work as hard as them, but I didn't go to art school, so some things are a bit harder for me to make. This means the game will be delayed again at some point, but I will make sure that this delay will become the VERY LAST DELAY because I am getting sick of working on this game. Not in the sense that I don't like the game anymore, far from it, but more so the stuff that I'm working on has nothing to do with what I'm actually experienced in (programming, game design) and it's art stuff. I'm maintaining what I can but holy cow do I complain every day about it, wouldn't trade it for the world though.
Next with art: The majority of it has been redone, and I've invented a few things that have helped with making it easier to be detailed. I've made randomly generating tiles and I've also made some things that have helped tremendously with making textures stay interesting. I'm very hell bent on making sure people look at this game and say "hey this is pretty great" as a hook, but I'm sure the gameplay will keep you going.
Trailer
I know I promised a trailer for June, and I feel like crap for not delivering on that, but there's been some reasons for it, mainly the art not being done and I can't bring myself to show the game off again yet. I want to work more on the art and make sure more things are in the game first.
Music and Sound
The composer for the game has decided to get an upgrade, and for free, within his spare time, he's been making remasters of the game's soundtrack with more modern keyboards and sounds. You can expect some extremely high quality music now to keep you entertained, so expect that for the trailer to have too.
Sound effects have been mostly made, there's just a few to finish up to keep the game interesting and fresh. Most of the gameplay sounds are slapped in there and sound fantastic, you'll get a kick out of how the game sounds.
Any Other Notes:
There has been some slow production due to a lot of personal things that have gone on that I won't go into detail about. Lots of tears shed since I was able to work full time on this game. Most of it is over now, but I'm doing what I can to keep myself active and get the game out.
Current Update - May 16th
Basically, almost all the coding is done. I like how I keep saying this but most of the bugs the game had have been patched out and functionality with everything should be working. Figured out how to get cloud saving and achievements working among other things and making sure this game *feels* complete. I mean, it should, but yeah. Been trying to push the beta testers to play through the game now since there's tons more enemies and the game is overall harder, so there's been testing going on there to make the game pretty long lasting.
What's left for art? Basically easy but time consuming stuff. I've hired a second artist as I said before who's been working on 3 of the other bosses. Right now I have to finish up 6 of them, technically 7 given alternative forms, but otherwise it's those guys. First animator's finishing up the rest of the enemies, and I have to finish up another enemy. Backgrounds have been worked on and tons of changes have been made there. Three Levels need some finishing touches and one level needs their tile set made but overall, the game's getting nearly done when it comes to art, which is what's preventing it from being really close to release. LOL I should rotoscope sprites next time, at least that's easier.
There's been some production issues on my end, I have to upgrade my computer prematurely (was hoping profits from this game would do that first, whoops) and finally got a SSD after years of waiting, quite a difficult process to get windows installed on it, but I did, even though like 5% things still don't work on it, it's working.
So basically, the majority of the game is still art, but it's much further along. I'm going to be finishing up many areas art wise and patch up lots of stuff music and audio wise and we should be good. My composer wants to do a different take on the soundtrack but haven't heard much from the first impression he gave. Anyway, see ya next time, I'm going to have a trailer before June so get excited, cause it's gonna get weird.
OKAY COOL, ECONOMIC DELAY TO JULY 12TH
Don't forget, the game is launching at a discount of 8 dollars, so be sure to grab it when you can!
Second Delay, Reasons Why
So firstly, the bad is that the game's solely delayed due to art. Most of the bugs in the game have been fixed up and now it's a matter of adding the proper art styles and fixing some of the last areas and bonus areas. That, however, is the easy part.
Second are the bosses and enemies. There's only a few enemies left that need to be finished, and they are thankfully almost done. Bosses however, is a different story entirely. There are some finished bosses but for the most part, they've been absent in media and stuff because I need to fix them up. I did hire a second animator to help out with the bosses, leaving me to do the others, so that's a small weight lifted off my shoulders. I did find an easier way to do nice stuff like shading for the bosses, so I've been taking advantage of it to help speed up the process of creating sprites for the bosses.
Thirdly, Lira still needs her sprites finished up. Some things like the bounce in her run animation need to be improved, along with certain animations that need to be finished soon. She's top priority to finish since I've gotten a good chunk of bosses animated. When she's done, I'm making a new trailer and finishing up the rest of the bosses.
Lastly, the programming things I need to finish are almost all extra stuff like getting achievements working, unlockables and sound effects. For the most part, programming Necrolepsy has been the easier part since I'm a software developer primarily, artist second. I've been modifying some gameplay to make the game more engaging, like adding hit sparks, nearly tripling the enemy count and making the game overall more difficult.
I've also recently had a family tragedy that has unfortunately impeded progress further. I'm hoping that we don't have any more like this because this one hurt really badly. In any case, this is the date I'm firing for and I'm committing to what I have, so should their be any more problems (which there SHOULDN'T be), they will be with updates instead of delays.
Screenshot Updates! Finishing Touches and Possible Second Delay!
So with that said, things that are left for the game are tons of other art things to get a hold of, most of them are animations which, I'm not a fan of. I did however come across some extra money due to tax breaks, which I can use to further pay for the secondary artist's support. I've learned my lesson here, and I'm making sure that the secondary artist becomes the full time artist next time. Ugh. Regardless, most of the finishing touches have to do with art, sound. and bug fixes. Many beta testers so far has said the game is fun and great to replay, which is definitely important in this game. By the way, it's on steam finally, and comes with 27 achievements! I'm going to see if I can add more but we'll see!
Now with that said, I don't know how possible I'll be able to maximize out this game and figure out a proper schedule. You'll once again have to forgive me, as I've also had some family troubles come up (No! It's not about moving out!) among other personal issues that have unfortunately put me behind on this game. I'm going to do my very best and see how far I get when it's a week before release; at that point, you'll know if the game is delayed once more or not.
Unfortunate Delay
Because of this, I've been working non-stop to improve the graphics... until DMCV came out, but that's irrelevant, the point is even if it didn't come out, the game would have to be delayed because I haven't been able to improve the programming portions of the game due to the massive amount of art (and art related programming). So Necrolepsy is delayed and I'm planning on a May 3rd release.
Here are some of the new graphics as of right now, I'm trying to finish up a lot of them: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/346567285638561793/553063997360832513/NECROLEPSY_FLASHING_AND_SPARKING.gif
This one is adding hit flashes and sparks to enemies, to show better context on hitting enemies.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/346567285638561793/553823134944591887/unknown.png
Newer art here, still need to replace the pillars, bricks and sunset.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/346567285638561793/552700892672032770/unknown.png
New cave flooring system, water and rocks still need to be replaced.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/346567285638561793/552682259988217858/unknown.png
Current dungeons area, textures are randomly generated here.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/346567285638561793/552052955873017884/necrolepsy_new_art.gif
Current mansion area, still need to replace a few things.
Coming Up Within A Month!
"But, I hardly see anything new! There's no new trailer and screenshots!" In due time, this will be fixed, because this is still a mostly one man project.
"Is a delay possible?" That is a possibility, yes, because again, mostly one man project. However, I think I'll definitely be able to get it ready for release by then.
This is just an announcement to help you all remember that "Oh yeah, Necrolepsy exists and is possibly coming out soon!" So keep that in mind! There should be a new trailer by about Saturday, Mar 2nd!