Hello again everyone!

This month’s blog post is going to be another short one, as we are currently very busy finishing up everything for Alpha Demo #2! For this reason, I won’t be addressing any major project updates aside from the date of the demo’s release. However, we do have several new art assets that I’d like to show off, including animations and updated UI elements!

Sprite animation has obviously taken up the majority of my work for the past month and, as such, we are closing in on the final few animation cycles that are needed for the demo. All of the completed character sprite sheets are featured below. The remaining few will be finished this coming week. 

Two minor changes regarding animation have occurred since my last post. First, each character’s weapon now reflects their dominant color, a change that was made following our decision to limit each character to one signature weapon. 

The second is that we have shortened the impact motion, a seemingly simple animation that got a bit out of hand, as you can see by comparing the last four lines of The Drifter’s spritesheet to the others. We may bring back the extra frames in a future update, but for now, the truncated version will work just fine for the demo. 

Aside from animation, we have also made progress on the UI. I’ve recently done an overhaul of both the characters status (wanted poster) and the weapon icon, both of which are also pictured here.

There is one more UI element currently in the works, and it is arguably one of the most important interface elements in the game: The Combat Selection Wheel! This icon will allow the player to choose their actions during combat. Though it is not yet complete, I have uploaded images of the original concept art that Eric provided for the first Alpha Demo, the revised version of the concept art, and my current work-in-progress.

We chose to simplify the design to better fit with the rest of the game’s aesthetic. Thus the icon now takes the form of a revolver chamber and bullets, a fitting choice considering that the majority of the game’s combat revolves around firearms. 

That just about covers the work I’ve completed for this past month. It may seem straightforward when written out in this format but, I assure you, all of these tasks are imperative to the completion of the second Alpha Demo, which will be available here on itch.io starting June 27th! Eric and I sincerely hope you will check it out, and we thank you all for your continued support!