Hello everyone!

As usual, we have quite a bit of artwork progress to show off this month.  The next Pure Onyx release will also be posted in the next few hours!  The $10 crowd may want to pass on it as there isn't a lot added beyond last week's release, but it does contain some fixes, and even more enemies added to the new AI system.  

For those that haven't played the mid month release however, it's a pretty substantial update, and includes FemCop's version of the Vioreaper H scene, as well a save system that I'll discuss below.

Topics for this Update!

• May Release Details
• Save System!
• Syndicate Girl Sculpt Complete!
• Mr. Black Sculpt Complete (Almost)!
• Mr. Black Concept Art
• Labs Stage Design - Skywalk / Lab Interior
• Labs Stage Design - Caverns

May Release Details  

Changelog (** indicates items added or being added since the May 22 Inner Circle patched test release):

Important Fixes/Changes

• ** Returning to Hub now restores player Lives
• Added character progress auto-save system
• Game will auto-save when entering World Map and upon entering a Stage
• Game will auto-save when selecting Quit to Main Menu / Exit Game during World Map

H Scenes

• Added FemCop w/ Vioreaper H scene to the gallery
• Added outro segment to Onyx w/ Vioreaper scene

Animations

• ** Heart SFX no longer play when Heart FX are disabled in Options
• ** Heart SFX playback now cancels when Onyx escapes a grapple
• Fixed Onyx's glitchy deflated butt during the last segments of Onyx w/ Thug + Chain Splicer H scene
• Added SFX for Vioreaper H scene and the reworked H scenes
• Added SFX for Looter combat animations and Onyx's StandUp animation

Combat

• ** Returned armor damage to FemCop after mid-month release broke it
• Grapple difficulty balanced to be similar across keyboard, analog and d-pad hardware.

Enemies

• ** Added Splicer Runt and Vioreaper to new AI ability manager system
• Added Chain Splicer to the new AI ability manager system
• Fixed series of navigation hanging issues for enemies
• Larva once again consistently hit Onyx with their leap attack.
• Charger no longer slides along ground when he's stunned while moving.
• Fixed issue where Larva SFX would freak out, consuming all the audio channels and stopping BGM playback.
• It's no longer possible for enemies to idle outside of the playable part of the map where they can't be hit
• Fixed Thug knockdown time not scaling with Wave #.

Physics

• Fixed rare but serious physics issue that can cause the player to be stuck hovering over an object they should slide off of

Stage

• Completed map event overhaul
• Liquid particles/clothing particles will no longer improperly float/pool in the air after colliding with objects.
• Stage SFX will now pause when the game pauses, and resume when it is unpaused.

UI

• Fixed text outline on Controls images for legibility
• Added Continue menu item to main menu, shown when at least one valid save game is available
• Added popup when New Game is selected to warn of possibility of auto-saves being overwritten (only shows when such saves exist)
• Added save result popup to bottom left corner to show whether game has been saved successfully
• Added extra message to pause menu's Quit window letting player know whether progress will be saved or not
• Fixed gamepad icon set being always initialized with default (xbox) one, instead of current gamepad-dependent
• Added version stamp to top of screen so that we can immediately tell what build footage is from (for bug tracking purposes)

Save System!

A save system has been one of the most requested features for Pure Onyx recently, and though I think it's still too early to really merit it, APL has implemented it :D.  The final save system will contain manual save slots, but APL has implemented the autosave portion of it.

One caveat is that saves will only work for the current game version.  This was a compromise we made to prevent creating extra work for us while core systems are still heavily under construction.

Also, beginning a new game will overwrite your old character data after the first save.  Gallery progression is still saved separately and persists between versions, so no worries about losing that.

Syndicate Girl Sculpt Complete!

Demonu has completed Syndicate Girl's sculpt!  

The majority of the work involved was completing her outfit, which now has great details.  He did however create a stunning four extra variants for her hair -- you can check them out above (they are color coded)!  Let us know which ones you like best :D.

Mr. Black Sculpt Complete (Almost)!

I'm super pleased with Kame and Limbo's progress on Mr. Black, the shady shopkeeper!  A lot of his details were in flux and Kame did great work with solidifying the design in this sculpt.  Limbo also did a great job with the colors, going through at least 3 different full takes on how to approach him.

I mention that he's not quite complete, as Kame still has to sculpt his third arm that lives on his back.  

Mr. Black Concept Art

Though we have the chosen design above, I've prepared some of Limbo's concept art to show some of the many designs he's worked on recently during Kame's sculpting process :D.

Labs Stage Design - Skywalk

Work has continued on the Labs stage design!

Xxoom has been working on the sky portion of the Skywalk background.  I felt adding parallax cloud layers would make the space look bigger by adding depth, and I think it's coming out great :D.  The megastructure buildings that were shown previously will be added back in now that the new sky is nearly completed.

Kame has begun working on the 3D stuff for the labs interior, and Limbo is in the process of constructing test maps from his concepts and doing block coloring palettes for the foreground tiles.  Check out the gallery for an example of one of his maps!

Labs Stage Design - Caverns

Limbo has most of the concepts for the Caverns section of the Labs stage complete!  I've posted a few new examples in the gallery of this post!  

I have the flow for this section figured out now.  After descending the lift from the Labs, a large cavernous excavation site is followed by a platforming section involving winding paths and jumps.  

If the player fails this challenge they end up in the water map shown above, where they have to deal with tentacles and other biomonsters.  Starting with this map, Xxoom has begun painting the first of a few backgrounds that are necessary for this area.  

If the player passes the platforming challenge, they are rewarded by passing through the crystal cavern section where high value loot containers await.  After this, both branches merge for a section beginning the spider caverns, ultimately culminating with the Spider Boss' nest.