This game has been in pre-production since around October of 2017. It's 2019 and I'm still hard at work on assets for a free demo build. This is where working alone gets you. I wanted to get this done by Christmas, but hey work is hard.
But good news! For one, I finally have a job now! I'm a custodian at the Blue Chip Casino Hotel & Spa in Michigan City Indiana and I've been working there since last month. It's a well paying job with benefits and a union, so I am covered like gravy on mashed potatoes. Steady income is good income. But that ain't stopping me from making this game.
Also, while I haven't had the time with this new job or my sleep schedule to get to work on modelling environments, I have made a 'buncha textures and have even made new characters and have gotten to work on more sprite sheets.
These are just a few of the texture tiles I've made
But good news! For one, I finally have a job now! I'm a custodian at the Blue Chip Casino Hotel & Spa in Michigan City Indiana and I've been working there since last month. It's a well paying job with benefits and a union, so I am covered like gravy on mashed potatoes. Steady income is good income. But that ain't stopping me from making this game.
Also, while I haven't had the time with this new job or my sleep schedule to get to work on modelling environments, I have made a 'buncha textures and have even made new characters and have gotten to work on more sprite sheets.
These are just a few of the texture tiles I've made
Most of these are edits of assets I made for my Mega Man Legends fan-animation from years ago, (it has not aged well) or edits of images of a dirty nasty old tattered bed I once had, all edited and mirrored and shrunken and pixelated down to look like those elaborate textures you would see in a Saturn or PS1 game. Or a blurry texture from the N64 days since there will be graphical modes to choose from for that nostalgic feel minus the aspect ratio. They may look trippy, but they all serve their purpose.
also, I made a handful more characters! First up, here's the shop keep, Shop Keep... I haven't thought of a name to give him yet.
also, I made a handful more characters! First up, here's the shop keep, Shop Keep... I haven't thought of a name to give him yet.
His outfit is inspired by a Dreams Come True concert. Not to mention fantasy RPGs from the 90's. You'll see him and his look-alike brothers in every town and city in this game. Sort of a Nurse Joy thing going on.
Up next here's Space Sheriff Tex Moghadam!
Up next here's Space Sheriff Tex Moghadam!
A Yemeni-American cowboy patrolling space traffic making sure that people can travel safely and that Bezique's army doesn't infiltrate the Archangel turf. Instead of a pistol, he has his trusty traditional Jambeya at his waist which he dances with at family gatherings, uses in battle like the highly trained assassin he is, and to prepare meals on the starry trails. He spends his off duty time hanging out at space bars, chatting with colleagues and enjoying some home brewed coffee. While inadvertently enchanting everybody with his good looks and gentlemanly charm. But there's only one woman on his mind, and she quite fancies him too.
Cyber Division Hawk's Eye, Karun Acharya.
Cyber Division Hawk's Eye, Karun Acharya.
An Indian goth girl and a very tight college buddy of Raziya, she's a wild livewire of enthusiasm and a force of personality that refuses to let anything stop her from being an Archangel. She used to patrol alongside Raziya in her division of the Archangels, but she lost her lower legs and right hand in a brutal fire fight and was taken off the force. But luckily her tinkering skills and computer genius lead to her crafting her own holographic computer in her hand, which along with her cybernetic prosthetic legs give her mobility. She is one of the absolute best in the Cyber division. She uses her hacking abilities to offset Bezique's troops in space, and figure out the electronic security Bezique's guardians have set up in their fortresses so Raziya can beat them and collect the elemental gems she needs. She also guides Raziya through her missions via occasional voice and video messages over her helmet and earpiece.
With Karun there, I wanted to create a character that will serve a similar role to Roll Casket in Mega Man Legends, with a personality similar to Ed from Cowboy Beebop but without the childish tendencies and more coherency. I just thought that basically making her a cyborg cyber-goth would be rad as fuck, and making her Indian rather than caucasian would make her different from most goth characters. As the stereotype is that they're pale and miserable and usually white, when there's goths of every color and nationality and race, and I've known goths for most of my life. Most of them are some of the liveliest, loveliest and coolest people you could ever talk to. And they don't loathe everything. Most goths I've met are more than capable of happiness and are very personable.
Tex I just created on a whim. I wanted to make a cowboy, and I thought "why not make him middle eastern?" So I made him middle eastern. I chose Yemen because outside of all the death and famine and poverty and that frivolous war Saudi Arabia has with Yemen and other neighboring countries, you don't hear much if anything else about Yemeni people and culture. Or much of anything positive about any middle eastern country in the west outside of some select progressive outlets like AJ+ or NPR maybe. I even asked some random Yemeni people via DMs on Twitter if making a Yemeni cowboy would be okay since y'know. I'm not Yemeni, and they said "why not?" so I went through with it.
The romance Tex and Karun will have will be very much your typical "I like her but how do I say it?" "I like him but when should I say it?" type of romance. Where you know they have a thing for each other, but they're always shy and blushing around each other, too afraid to hold hands or admit their feelings, awkwardly having conversation, that type of shit. Old trope I know, but fuck it I think it's adorable as long as the build up doesn't last too long.
Speaking of Karun and romance, here's her brother. Ramesh Acharya. The Knight Skipper.
With Karun there, I wanted to create a character that will serve a similar role to Roll Casket in Mega Man Legends, with a personality similar to Ed from Cowboy Beebop but without the childish tendencies and more coherency. I just thought that basically making her a cyborg cyber-goth would be rad as fuck, and making her Indian rather than caucasian would make her different from most goth characters. As the stereotype is that they're pale and miserable and usually white, when there's goths of every color and nationality and race, and I've known goths for most of my life. Most of them are some of the liveliest, loveliest and coolest people you could ever talk to. And they don't loathe everything. Most goths I've met are more than capable of happiness and are very personable.
Tex I just created on a whim. I wanted to make a cowboy, and I thought "why not make him middle eastern?" So I made him middle eastern. I chose Yemen because outside of all the death and famine and poverty and that frivolous war Saudi Arabia has with Yemen and other neighboring countries, you don't hear much if anything else about Yemeni people and culture. Or much of anything positive about any middle eastern country in the west outside of some select progressive outlets like AJ+ or NPR maybe. I even asked some random Yemeni people via DMs on Twitter if making a Yemeni cowboy would be okay since y'know. I'm not Yemeni, and they said "why not?" so I went through with it.
The romance Tex and Karun will have will be very much your typical "I like her but how do I say it?" "I like him but when should I say it?" type of romance. Where you know they have a thing for each other, but they're always shy and blushing around each other, too afraid to hold hands or admit their feelings, awkwardly having conversation, that type of shit. Old trope I know, but fuck it I think it's adorable as long as the build up doesn't last too long.
Speaking of Karun and romance, here's her brother. Ramesh Acharya. The Knight Skipper.
A former Archangel, he is now part of a vigilante group called Chronos Templaria that is neither friend, nor foe to the Archangel network, yet also anti-Bezique and they do business with the Archangels on shaky ground. A more radical group than the Archangels, they aren't cops and they don't see themselves as saviors. They travel time and space not to change history and cause any paradoxes, but to investigate the history of their target's actions and politics, who they work for, where it all ties together, and then capture and interrogate, or if the time is right, they try to assassinate who they feel are the true villains regardless of if their actions break any intergalactic laws. They aren't right wing, they aren't left wing, they certainly don't believe any unfounded propaganda or work with any crazy person who thinks they're a whistle blower. They are nihilist to the core on just about everything. All but with one exception. Their main target, the all mighty tyrant and main villain Dwezil Bezique. For abusing his way into power. For having political opponents assassinated. Enslaving millions, and causing the destruction of the planet Ypos-Erets. For these reasons alone is why he is their primary target. The only reason why they were founded is that they believe the Archangels are too corporate and imperfect like a traditional police force.
Ramesh and Raziya used to be very passionate lovers. But their differences in their beliefs of justice as well as their loyalty to their respective forces are what put their relationship on hold. Even if they still have feelings for one another, and still cross paths and fight together on occasion. He is still on good speaking terms with his sister though. Just as long as motives between the Chronos Templaria and Archangels aren't brought up.
I wanted to make Ramesh a punk, and Karun a goth just for symbolism of unity in differences. Sort of an equinox of the socially ostracized. For his Knight Skipper form, I based Ramesh's armor off of early 90's tokusatsus and Sirius from Bomberman 64, with some inspiration from The Moonlight Knight from Sailor Moon. His role in the game will basically be like Sirius, except not a secret enemy (sorry to spoil Bomberman 64's completionist ending) and with a romantic sub-plot to the main protagonist Raziya. Not to mention some illuminati and antifa shit goin' on with his motives. (Not that those groups are related. Far from it lol I support antifa when it comes to their goal of exposing and in self defense, punching fascists in their fucking faces by the way as long as they're actual neo-nazis or alt right shitstains or kekistanian condom accidents.)
So with the love situation, I wanna give Raziya several love interests of multiple gender identities. You won't see any sex scenes or anything lewder than a bikini or a kiss, hell pursuing them is totally optional and won't be brought up too often once the scenarios are completed. But you have your choice of making her have an open relationship with any to all of them with most being okay with open spaces, or to stay monogamous to just one partner. And the two biggest ones are Ramesh and Ebmarah since Raziya is gonna be bisexual. I would make her pansexual, but I'll give her a thing for muscles. Like she'll certainly put personality over looks, but I gotta give her more of a type than just alive and pleasant to talk to. Who knows maybe I'll eventually make a pans character when I get a good idea for the general look, sex, race and personality I dunno.
Speaking of Ebmarah, I'm still working on her sprite sheet.
Ramesh and Raziya used to be very passionate lovers. But their differences in their beliefs of justice as well as their loyalty to their respective forces are what put their relationship on hold. Even if they still have feelings for one another, and still cross paths and fight together on occasion. He is still on good speaking terms with his sister though. Just as long as motives between the Chronos Templaria and Archangels aren't brought up.
I wanted to make Ramesh a punk, and Karun a goth just for symbolism of unity in differences. Sort of an equinox of the socially ostracized. For his Knight Skipper form, I based Ramesh's armor off of early 90's tokusatsus and Sirius from Bomberman 64, with some inspiration from The Moonlight Knight from Sailor Moon. His role in the game will basically be like Sirius, except not a secret enemy (sorry to spoil Bomberman 64's completionist ending) and with a romantic sub-plot to the main protagonist Raziya. Not to mention some illuminati and antifa shit goin' on with his motives. (Not that those groups are related. Far from it lol I support antifa when it comes to their goal of exposing and in self defense, punching fascists in their fucking faces by the way as long as they're actual neo-nazis or alt right shitstains or kekistanian condom accidents.)
So with the love situation, I wanna give Raziya several love interests of multiple gender identities. You won't see any sex scenes or anything lewder than a bikini or a kiss, hell pursuing them is totally optional and won't be brought up too often once the scenarios are completed. But you have your choice of making her have an open relationship with any to all of them with most being okay with open spaces, or to stay monogamous to just one partner. And the two biggest ones are Ramesh and Ebmarah since Raziya is gonna be bisexual. I would make her pansexual, but I'll give her a thing for muscles. Like she'll certainly put personality over looks, but I gotta give her more of a type than just alive and pleasant to talk to. Who knows maybe I'll eventually make a pans character when I get a good idea for the general look, sex, race and personality I dunno.
Speaking of Ebmarah, I'm still working on her sprite sheet.
Modeling her was a pain in the dick hole. I had started out with a female body template I had made out of Raziya's chibi model for pre-rendering. But the bones wouldn't allow me to keep any changed physical alterations except the torso. So I make brand new bones in a similar CATrig on the same character base. But every time I tried to animate her, her limbs would scatter like some Silent Hill nightmare. So then I saw that I forgot to assign a character walk animation, and it fixed it for the most part, but when I tried to rig these new bones to each individual limb like I did Raziya's body, her torso would jolt up and stick in her head. Or her thighs would jump up. Or her bicep would shrink and go up. So I rigged her whole arms to her whole arms, whole leg to whole leg etc both sides, separated her neck from her torso, and NOW her bones rig to the correct area and she animates somewhat coherently. All I had to do is PAINSTAKINGLY change her foot and knee position frame by frame like I did Raziya. Lickety split.
As for worlds, things like actual environments to walk and jump on and interact with, nameless NPCs and enemies to have battles with are still stuff I got planned in my noggin for the most part. Working on this thing is not easy. But Dwezil Bezique has a lair now! The Blackened Heart Of Ypos-Erets.
As for worlds, things like actual environments to walk and jump on and interact with, nameless NPCs and enemies to have battles with are still stuff I got planned in my noggin for the most part. Working on this thing is not easy. But Dwezil Bezique has a lair now! The Blackened Heart Of Ypos-Erets.
This was originally a delicious piece of jerk chicken I had eaten at this wonderful Jamaican restaurant in Michigan City called Cool Runnings. Ironically, around the corner from the Blue Chip where I now work. (Great bar and grill I highly recommend you go there especially if you love spicy food and soothing Jamaican soda. They even have a food truck in the spring and summer!) My sister took photos of the meal before we ate it, so I had asked my sister to send the photos to me so I can do that photoshop trick in GiMP and turn chicken into explosions. Great old trick. Well one of my attempts made this sinister looking rock. So I had added a bunch of colors and screwed with it some more, mirrored it in spots, pixelated it with the mural effect, and bam! I turned really good chicken into a sinister dried husk of a former planet's core. Most of the black areas are just that char you get on really good jerk chicken.
EDIT: I forgot until just now! I also made another character. Joshikaiju.
EDIT: I forgot until just now! I also made another character. Joshikaiju.
Her real name is Marsala Gutieres Rosita Ito. She is Raziya's half Mexican cousin from her mother's side of the family. A world traveled champion luchador, she helped teach Raziya all of her most brutal submission holds and dives, and she is rarely without her mask. Both because of lucha libre tradition and because she is incredibly shy and insecure about her looks despite looking average if not adorable. Her face and back were scarred brutally in a deathmatch so she's afraid to ever show her face in public again, afraid that she'll scare everyone away and she'll remain single for the rest of her days. She considered joining Raziya in her fight against Bezique in the Archangels, but turned it down to continue to pursue her passion. And that is fulfilling her goal of being the very best wrestler in the galaxy and one day starting a family.
I based her look loosely off of Japanese legend Akira Hokuto, and from old monsters in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. or Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. In fact she was originally my entry in a fan art contest I took part in during one of Shout Factory's old Super Sentai Spectacular streams! I drew it with a shitty Wii U art program called SDKPaint. You may need some different measure of viewing the replay though like the Wayback Machine or something since they hid the video. Dammit why did you have to hide it SF?
I based her look loosely off of Japanese legend Akira Hokuto, and from old monsters in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. or Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. In fact she was originally my entry in a fan art contest I took part in during one of Shout Factory's old Super Sentai Spectacular streams! I drew it with a shitty Wii U art program called SDKPaint. You may need some different measure of viewing the replay though like the Wayback Machine or something since they hid the video. Dammit why did you have to hide it SF?
Ah damn hidden videos. But you can see the horribly rushed and scratchy original here.
Bit of a rush job, but this is my youkai @ShoutFactoryTV. #Kakuranger #SDKPaint #WiiU pic.twitter.com/Ai519dgrHE
— Handlebar-Orion X.ᵠᵘᵃᵈʳᵒᵒⁿ ʷᵉᵉᵇ ʟᴏᴀᴛʜᴇs ғᴀsᴄɪsᴍ (@HandlebarOXD) May 20, 2017
I really have my work cut out for me so wish me luck on getting a playable free demo finished sometime soon, and have yourself a wonderful new year. See you soon!