News Update: Cyberia Progress and Status

So today we wanted to go into a bit of detail on how progress on the Cyberia Update has been, as well as a bunch of fun developments we've had as of late. One of the biggest issues Cyber Rift we've been dealing with is the way we originally implemented dialogue. Since we had been using a tool called Naninovel we realized it had been conflicting with our main tool for gameplay. Though we were able to resolve most of the issues, it has created this awkward combo of gameplay and UI that's really started to become more trouble than what it's worth. So for the past few weeks while our artist has been working on the new Elsie rework, we've been taking a look at potentially removing the issue entirely.

Elsie had a huge rework and we'll be doing an in-depth preview for Cyber Owl tier patrons soon!

After a lot of research on our Adventure Creator tool for gameplay, we had been trying to figure out if it were possible to change the dialogue system that's built in to match what we had been doing in Naninovel. Technically speaking the concept is simple, it's just having a character below the dialogue the box that is able to have pieces of it switched on the fly. The only issue is being able to access the pieces that need to be switched, and to be honest Naninovel was actually really good for this aspect. Once things started making sense, we had been testing controlling the pieces through Adventure Creator directly, and we had a bit of a breakthrough. Fast forward a bit and we've finally figured out how to properly remove Naninovel from the game, however this will require all the new sprites to be done in the new format. The good thing is Everie had already been fixed, and Elsie is currently being made in the new format. However, since both the Player character and Fae are still made the old way, it doesn't make sense to convert their older models since they weren't made correctly. We've posted videos of the new method on our Discord, but we wanted to discuss it properly on our main page.

This is a toggle between the new 9 different eye types for Everie. We're hoping this will feel a lot more expressive compared to the old version.

So the way new format works is we've created a method of switching between the various faces as animations rather than still images. Though it looks exactly the same, it's actually a major development since it'll allow for much more modular conversations. One big aspect is that because they're animations we can now properly add movement to the characters. For now this will most likely just be blinking, but we're hoping to include much more lively aspects to the characters as well. Another great benefit is the ability to properly switch between clothes on the models, and potentially even allow for a nude toggle in our menu options as a sort of cheat code. We've been struggling with Naninovel for a long time, and being able to trim the fat off the game will make everything run a lot smoother and will help us make the game feel a hell of a lot better in the long run.

With the new animation system we can switch between all character expressions/poses much faster and easier

Writing wise the update has expanded massively. Currently we're aiming for around 50 pages of dialogue, which is about 2-3 times the size of the initial game. Admittedly this update has been taking a bit longer than we wanted, so we're really trying to improve every aspect of the game while we're waiting for stuff to get completed. We'll be updating the current build one more time to a stable version which will include a ton of extra dialogue using the new dialogue system. Once all the new character sprites have been implemented we'll be converting all the old scenes to the new format. This is gonna be rough, but the benefits mean we'll be able to add a scene replay system for every conversation in the game. We're very confident now with where the game's heading and we think you guys are gonna be pretty happy with the update once it's complete. No specific ETA on the update yet, but we'll be showing off more very soon. 

The landing area is one of three backgrounds for the update but it's actually more than double the size of any of our previous ones to work with the new panning tech

We're also going to be updating the Newgrounds/Public versions the stable version once the Cyberia update has released. We wanted to create a staggered release schedule for at least all of Chapter 1, and let people experience new stuff with the option to see more if they subscribe. If all goes according to plan we might have something playable next month with unfinished art, but we want to make sure you guys are well informed before that. We still have a lot of work to do but we think this update is gonna be a pretty dramatic improvement overall. That's it for today, and we'll be adding a character preview for Elsie for our Cyber Owl tier patrons in the next few days.