Red Finale: Wrapping up!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 04, 2021 at 03:39:16 AM

Hey all! Akabaka here with another update! 

All of the art, music, and writing for Red has been completed, and all that's left is for me to put it all together and playtest!  Originally, I was worried that Red would be light on content because of the combat-heavy nature of the zone, but a surprising amount of art and scenes emerged from the collective efforts of the team, including an all new type of battle!

Red progress is a little tricky to discuss because the entire premise of the final level is a spoiler, but we sure have a lot show!

The upcoming Red END should be about as long as the blue update, perhaps slightly shorter since it involves far less wandering around.  Will be keeping my ear to the ground about how ya'll fare against the combat, since this is an easy place for players to get skill-locked out of finishing the game, and I'd like for these fights to ultimately be surmountable with practice and time. 

Speaking of, it comes with a brand new combat track, masterfully crafted by our very own Yuzu! It goes hard.  There isn't a good way to embed music files on Kickstarter updates, so instead, here is a picture of the song.

Hell yeah.  That's the stuff.

The next build will include all this and: 

• Red Level 2

• Red hangout 2 

• Red finale

• A short post-credits scene with some more big reveals

Also, quick reminder that I added credits into the game!  I used the names that you pledged to this Kickstarter with, but if you'd like a different name to be used in the credits, message me and let me know!

That's all for now.  Stay tuned, the next update will be the release of the Red End! 

-Akabaka

MAJOR UPDATE: Blue Story Complete, Now available in closed beta for Windows!
almost 3 years ago – Sat, May 08, 2021 at 11:26:21 AM

 Important polls and info below!

Hey all!  I have some good news!

Blue End: Now Available!

Excited to say that the blue arc is now 100% complete and available to play for those with closed beta access.  It's time to escape the Sinking Schoolgrounds! The final blue demo is available from the Demos button on the main menu.  It includes: 

• Level Two  

• The second hangout

• The Grand Finale level

• A short post-credits scene with some big reveals 

And it all clocks in at a whopping 2 hour experience as a proper send-off to our adorkable Blue Mark, Quentin.

Normally, I'd show more of the visuals from the build, but it's all very spoiler-heavy this time around so I'm saving the surprises for the game! 

The files have been added to the same Beta Access folder as last time, message me here, on discord, on twitter, or at my email [email protected] if you have trouble finding that folder again and you have purchased beta access!

The Windows build is completed, with the Mac on the way (MacOS requires a 3-step approval process and +$100/yr so it takes a little bit longer). Linux is behind that, waiting on a Linux cross-build compatible laptop at the moment.  In the meantime, if you have closed beta access, please let me know what type of computer you have so I can get a good idea of how many of you can't play the Windows version using the poll here. 

Also, I added credits into the game!  I used the names that you pledged to this Kickstarter with, but if you'd like a different name to be used in the credits, message me and let me know!

Coming up next, is the Red End, where we return to the Rage Cage for our final bout!  Red will be coming speedily, and as always, we'll keep y'all posted with regular updates on progress. Check out the discord for yuzukimasu's WIPs, because there's 4 all-new battle tracks on the way!

That's all for now, please enjoy Blue End!  As always, be vigilant with bug reports so I can iron them out while we're still in beta, and take care of yourself.

-Akabaka

Grand finales to both Red and Blue arcs coming!!
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 04, 2021 at 10:17:28 PM

Hey all! Akabaka here!

I'm back to relative normalcy after multiple losses in the family mentioned in the last update, and am finishing Blue and Red arcs now.  

Much of the content, being 'end-game' content for each character, is VERY spoiler-ish, so I can't show as many images of progress as I usually do without giving away endings or major plot points, but I am about 100% done with the art for Quentin's (Blue) Level 2, her hangout, and am mostly done with the art for her finale level.  Her level 2 is also ready for internal playtesting!  Red is a little behind that, with the art being about halfway done, and her levels are about to be implemented.  

Blue levels take a little much longer to make than any other zone (excluding yellow), since by design it is an exploration-based zone, so I have to prepare and code rooms to be navigated, compared with red that is just straight-forward combat in a couple rooms.  All the same, you should expect the next update to be announcing the release of the complete playable Red and Blue arcs with the builds uploaded to the beta access drive!  

Also, the expected deadline for the game is only a month or two away, and it's pretty clear that the game will not be done by then, largely due to *gestures generally towards 2020*  extenuating circumstances and general unforeseeable catastrophe.  Most of the team lost their jobs and were unemployed for most of the year, and I was personally struck by serious misfortune, especially towards the end.  So the timeline has been shifted, and will most likely need a year to make up for the year that was lost.   Expect frequent updates to twitter/discord and bimonthly updates to Kickstarter  as we continue to make strides  towards completion, and in the meantime, enjoy the progress builds that we'll be rolling out.  

Anyways, here's Quentin in a wetsuit.

Hell yeah.  

Alright, until next time

-Akabaka

Happy New Year! Big progress on completing Red and Blue arcs!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Jan 01, 2021 at 11:49:29 PM

Hey all, Akabaka here, before diving into these updates, I need to quickly share some bad news: 

Right at the end of 2020, I very suddenly lost both my granddad and my dog back-to-back, and I went from easily and regularly working 12-15 hours a day to barely managing 2-5 hours if I manage to get out of bed at all, so my progress has been slower than usual.  

That aside, I had set my sights on finishing Primadonna's and Quentin's stories in their entirety, and that's my next big goal.  Fortunately, quite a lot has been done in that regard! 

Visual Update: Quentin!

Quentin and Primadonna are the only two (besides Leroy, who is being saved for very last) who haven't gotten a visual update since the original demo first came out.  It's high time that they were visually brought up to speed with the rest of the game's art, now that I'm more comfortable drawing clothes, hair, expressions, etc.  The sprites have all been updated and implemented in the game, and should retroactively apply to the original demo AND the upcoming completed arc, which will be released in conjunction with completed red.

If it hasn't been made absolutely clear yet, yes, I am trying to kill you with her cute-ness.

Visual Update: Primadonna!

P also got a nice update that's already been implemented, where I mainly improve her hair, colors, and gave her two modified poses (compared with her original singular pose) 

Her alternate sprites are still awaiting revision (wearing towel, IRL form), and honestly might wait until much later since they're not too critical.  As for now though, this visual update adds 30 updated sprites to the game.

Visual Update: Rage Cage!

The rage cage got a fresh coat of paint as well, and is looking much more hype than ever before.  

Look at that battleback BG art.  Elle also made a slew of monsters for this zone that you'll be seeing soon!  

Speaking of this zone, there's some brand new boss music posted in the discord under #dev-WIPs that will play while you're fighting a particular enemy....

Progress: Red and Blue: Level 2, Hangout 2, and Finale

The next update will include the level 2s, second hangouts, and finale levels for both Quentin and Primadonna, as I'm trying to hoof it to get at least an alpha of the full game done before I switch to Sucker for Love  to keep the lights on.    I estimate this update should add between 2 and 4 hours of gameplay.  Here's a peek at what I've been working on! 

As always, I keep my twitter and discord up-to-date with what I'm working on, or you can just watch for these updates which come out at a pace of once a month or two.  

Stay safe and take care of yourselves,

-Akabaka

MEGA UPDATE: Purple Demo now available!! And a whole lot more has gotten done!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 17, 2020 at 04:49:12 PM

Hey all, Akabaka here with an exciting update: 

The first chapter of the Purple Arc has been finished and is available for download for those with beta access!  For those without it, you can get it here.  For those with access, it's in the same beta access only folder as last time.

NOTE: Due to many new features and GameMaker's major update, there may be new bugs that I didn't catch while doing internal playtests, and so I would wait a little while before streaming playthroughs live, to give time for bug reports to be filed and patched out.   The files have been added to the same Beta Access folder as last time, message me here, on discord, on twitter, or at my email [email protected] if you have trouble finding that folder again and you have purchased beta access!

This signifies a big moment in Chromatose development, because now every single character is meetable, and their worlds have all been implemented!  The 10-piece puzzle that is Chromatose has come together, and I hope you'll enjoy experiencing the final piece to the cast -- Mercy and her Punishing Panopticon world! 

This leg presented some  time-consuming new challenges because of major new additions to the project, including:

Horde battles, Master Engram battles, Custom Monsters and "Phoenix Lite" battles: 

There are only a couple fights in the Purple demo, but still added several new features to the combat system: 

•  Horde battles now allow for you to fight multiple enemies at once! You can switch between enemies with [Shift].  This feature stumped me for the longest time, but is now implemented! 
• Custom monsters have begun to be implemented, starting with Galvatyr's Crossed Guard! This creatively designed monster has an all-new and totally unique "Red light, Green light" mechanic that looks and feels really cool.  As we go on from this point, keep your eyes peeled for more Custom Monsters!  As of now, there's three more!
•  Master Engrams are like the 'Final bosses' of each characters' worlds, and Purple and Yellow are unique in that you get to meet and fight both of their final bosses at some point within their respective first levels! I don't want to spoil what the fight entails or who it's against, but the new combat mechanic unique to Purple's world is what I'm calling "Phoenix Lite", which will require you to do mid-combat deductions based on evidence you've seen throughout the level!  Oh, and there's a freakin incredible battle theme to go with it, which you can find in the dev-wips folder of the discord! 

Sequence Assets & Gamemaker 2.3

As I mentioned earlier, GameMaker Studio 2 had a MAJOR update that I just pulled the trigger on, and along with some all new features comes some unpredictable bugs.  One of the biggest things that the new update adds that I've already implemented is Sequences, a brand new in-engine Adobe After Effects, basically.  Which lets me do really over-the-top animations in-engine without needing to import frame-by-frame GIGANTIC animation files, like what I was previously using for the in battle effects.  This save a huge amount of space, memory, and loading times.  For now, I've disabled the secondary battle effects (the parts that say Time Up and X cleared, for example) so you will have to rely on the primary effects pictured below.  Fortunately, I designed them to be pretty expressive and small file size, so they will be staying while I sequence-ize those big animations that was causing some people's battle systems to crash via memory.  Speaking of, now that they've been removed, battle loading screens have been reduced from up to 12 seconds down to 4 seconds or less.

Dynamic lighting and sound 

Pretty straightforward.  I used the light and sound system that I implemented for Sucker for Love, that Eldritch Smoochin' simulator that I released a couple months ago, and now lighting looks REALLY GOOD.   I'm probably going to retroactively apply it to old sets because it's pretty drag and drop.  

HELLA CGs 

Seriously, this time there are soooo many backgrounds, CGs, and misc art for this zone alone, since this arc is the most "VN-like" world.    

As development continues, I'm continuing to grow as an artist, which means more CGs as we move forward!  Will also be giving a couple CGs to previous scenes that I wanted art for but wasn't prepared to draw myself, like meeting P and Quentin.

And speaking of those two, I'm updating their portraits now that I've learned more about how hair and clothes work, and I'm really happy with the progress!

It is likely that due to the unique challenges that COVID and this year in general has presented to our small team that the game's release will be closer to Summer 2021 than Spring 2021 as originally expected, but regular updates and builds will continue as usual, which brings me to the exciting update that we're moving on to finish Blue and Red!

The next set of updates will include an additional level, hangout, and finale for each of the demo'd characters that you've met, for a total of 2 levels, 2 hangouts, and 1 finale level for each character, which comprise each color mark's complete "Arc".   Exception to the uncolor characters, Izzy, Lilith, and Isaac, which will generally have mostly hangout scenes.  

That's all for now, please enjoy Purple Demo!  As always, be vigilant with bug reports so I can iron them out while we're still in beta, and take care of yourself.  

Cheers, 

Akabaka