RegulusNSFW
patreon
A first look, and rundown of NEOS: Illuminated City.
🕑 Added 2023-12-09 06:53:36 +0000 UTCHey everyone! I hope you all enjoyed v0.5 (Titas, and Tanya)! With that build wrapped up, we are moving right onto our Catgirl, and the Neon City. Just before we get into that, I want to just bring up something involving the polls. Normally on the first week of a new build I would open a poll for people to vote on the next character. This isn't exactly the case anymore, as the alien is the final ally and will be the next build regardless. Due to this, the poll will involve something else. The team will be discussing the contents, and I will likely put the poll up in a couple weeks or so. The poll may involve either types of scenes/positions for an Hscene, or potentially something else.
Just as a quick recap for anyone new, or if they missed previous posts. The ally featured, and unlocked from Neos is the new catgirl.
With that covered, let's talk about Neos. While the aesthetic isn't quite complete, the base idea is here. Lets get into the rundown, shall we?
Ideally there will be more variation in billboards, and few more colors, but beneath the player will be a smog with lights simulating aerial traffic within. You will be weaving within this dense city's architecture to reach your goal.
What is your goal? Well let's cover the setting. The illuminated city is under a cyber attack of sorts by a particular AI, who has been infected by a virus. This AI is well known throughout the city, and with the help of your new cat friend, you are out to quell this threat.
Who/What is the AI? It's our first female boss.
First question many of you will likely be asking: "do we fukk?"
In this build the Hcontent will be focused on the catgirl, but we mayyy have more plans for this boss. An idea we want to push forward with this boss is something along the lines of cleansing the virus, and she will become the AI interface for your hub ship, and possibly give instance support (much like Rob64 did in Star Fox). She likely won't have as much Hcontent as the main ally roster, but we do want to give her some if we go ahead with this.
We will dive more into this boss in a later week, but for now I will jump back into the layout for the rest of the level.
You will come across these rails after the first section. The city's tram systems have turned against you as well, and will have rail cars cruising by and shooting at you.
Shortly after, the boss will taunt you on a large display. Only to have the building detonate from the inside. Flying out from the explosions will be the catgirl. I will go more into details for her in a later post as well.
You will fly over the ruins of the building into a tram-way.
You will be faced with more Trams on rails here, but with somewhat limited space to maneuver.
Upon exiting the tram-way, you are faced with the game's 2nd instance of route split.
By default the rail will bring you left here. The catgirl will ask you to clear the way for her (On the right will be a closed entry way). By shooting open the way, you will be following her into the passage on the right. There will be some give/take depending on the route you choose.
By going right, you will gain affinity for the catgirl, and be put through instances to gain further affinity, and potentially give you an advantage against the boss.
Going left will likely give a bit of Aether affinity, but will also yield many more enemies. This means it will be easier to get a higher score if you go left. (Likely to be more relevant when function for gold medals is implemented).
I'll start with the left route.
After going through a small, more open segment you are faced with a tramway in your path
Forced to duck beneath this tramway, you dip into the smog
While in here, there will likely be a few enemies to play with visibility, but ultimately this section will be very brief.
After emerging from the smoke, you will be facing off with the boss of the stage.
------
Now on the 2nd route:
Entering this way is going to put you through an area that sports wires/cables as obstacles. While the wires are not in yet, I will explain the point of them.
As mentioned, there won't be many enemies on this route. It will mostly be a dodging game, however you CAN shoot these wires. You will be instructed to only shoot wires of a certain color. Shooting the right color will result in affinity with the catgirl, and potentially a debuff of sorts on the boss. Shooting the wrong wires will likely result in a small explosion, or shock to the player, causing damage.
There isn't too much to show on this route, as the wires and such will be implemented in the "mechanics" week.
After this section, you will fight the same boss as the left route.
Overall it's seeming like this will technically be the longest level so far.
That should pretty much do it for the base layout of the level. There will still be work done on some of the aesthetic side of things, but next week is going to be dedicated to implementing the enemies.
This is where I will follow up that next week's post will NOT be on Friday. Unfortunately I will only have a few days to get the enemies in, and I will need to do the weekly progress update on Tuesday. Due to some personal life reasons, I am going to be away for a week. We will be working to ensure we meet the weekly quota around this, however.
With that said, I think I will wrap up here, and I'll catch you all on Tuesday with a breakdown on some of the enemies! Thanks everyone!
-Regulus
Comments
Regulus
Ya, it's likely it will start as something along the latter. (Something to temporarily buff your thrust meter for boosting/abilities), but there will also be room to add more as things come up.
Deekin
I think it'd be cool if, once we get the AI, she could have a "help" animation should those tentacle grabber machines (the ones that grab the heroines and can latch on your ship) latch onto yours to make up for how the player doesn't have their own animation in such a case.
L30
Being able to purge the virus from the AI and have her become our hub ship AI sounds like an excellent idea to me. Even if she will not have as much content as the main cast, she's still cute. Not to mention the possibility of having our own version of ROB64 to provide support containers. Although, I'll admit I'm curious what other potential items the supply container would contain if the AI is given the ability to provide instance support. Healing supplies are an obvious option considering those are already in game. I could see the Laser upgrade item being viable as well as a temporary damage boost such as double damage for X amount of time. Pix already gives us an explosive option, so smart bombs may not be the best fit. Wing repairs wouldn't fit either as I haven't noticed any wing destruction. A Booster upgrade item that temporarily makes using the boost gauge more efficient and use less fuel boosting and using abilities and/or recharge faster could work though. Either way, looking forward to Neos and our new fluffy companion.
Lunatic 0verlord
Cute catgirl :3
