Greetings! It's time for another monthly report!
Apologies to Facebook viewers who find this report late. For making a post in favor of stopping animal testing after the explosive reveal of what is being done to beagles regarding infected sandflies, Facebook slapped the Broken Hammer account with a 3 day ban. Apparently, Zuckerberg likes cutting out the vocal cords of beagles before stuffing their heads into bags for the flies to devour so they can't hear their screams...
As animal lovers ourselves, it sickened us and we couldn't stay silent. We are appalled and furious about this kind of experimentation. Even more so that Facebook deems talking about it as a violation of their community. Suffice to say, we are going to be migrating from Facebook for sure now. Look for an update when we make the move.
For those that want the video report, please click below!
The month of October was actually incredibly productive. Not only did we release Dust and Air on itch, we had the art team firing on all cylinders to begin production on Gwynevere's arc: A Raven's Prayer. In total: Two character models got done, one concepted, one more reconcepted, and a major background that applies to all the story arcs got finished.
The first character model that finished it's journey from concept to completion is the last crew member of William's crew: Fergus Forsyth
Gus has been teased before over the years but he doesn't appear in the Cathedral story arc so he was put on the backburner till this day.
He's a major supporting character that will appear in all the story arcs and serves as the current main engineer on board William's airship.
He's a colorful fellow who stands out wherever he goes. His model was initially concepted by Georgy, then saw some additional concepts by Bayu.
We're quite happy to see Georgy finish up what he started with Gus. He also started some major work on Powder. On the left is a small sample of his reconcepting work. More can be seen on the video.
For a girl who only makes one appearance in the Cathedral arc, she is definitely one of our most concepted characters. She started as a joke character and then just took on a life of her own as story development progressed.
For her final model, Powder is going to be another aspect entirely due to her inability to talk. To better resolve her character, we're going to do something we never anticipated to do for Dust and Air. An idea Georgy came up with which is absolutely brilliant for her character.
To put it simply, for her model we will be attempting to make her the most articulated model in the game. Her speech and mannerisms will come through her body language instead of lips. It is a lot of rigging but, we are going to attempt it since it solves a lot of issues regarding her character for the future.
There will be more art teasers on the video segment of the other character that was finished and the background. We do want to definitely touch on music since it coming back into the spotlight.
Due to Sean's work schedule, we'll be handing the reins over to Gimmen to get the ball rolling on Raven's Prayer. We're hoping Sean will be able to jump back in later as his music has become iconic with Dust and Air. For now, it is in good hands with Gimmen which we had a music meeting with during the month of October.
To which, we're happy to say, he's already started development on new music for Raven's Prayer. This will be an all new theme for the story and for the Fjordlands. We will be reusing some basic ship music from the Cathedral story. However, the rest of the story will be a new theme that will fit with the environment.
We may, or may not, post some samples in the months ahead. This will be entirely up to Gimmen.
Lastly, we'd like to note there will be a small content drop coming for the Cathedral Arc. It is just something we wanted to get in before we get the android port going. The drop is going to add some addition bonus scenes to the story that follows the heroines between the scenes with William. If all works out as planned, they'll be accessible via the Gallery.
We've got Michael working on resolving the coding side of that. The scenes should drop sometime in November before the December sales if all works out.
Speaking of sales, be sure to check out Dust and Air on Itch if you'd like a DRM free version of the story. You can find it here: https://brokenhammergames.itch.io/all-is-fair-in-dust-and-air
So far we've learned a lot since releasing on itch in October. Especially what people look for when finding Dust and Air. Something which Steam wasn't telling us. Specifically that the "romance" tag is extremely popular when it comes to our game. Which we wouldn't have realized had it not been for itch providing great analytics.
Overall, we're looking forward to future platforms more and more. When Raven's Prayer gets ready to release, we will have a better idea of how to market it. Which is something we're actively still considering as we test various ways to add her story arc. Hopefully, we'll have a decision by the end of the year. Tyrano has been good to us regarding updates to the engine so, we're hopeful they'll help us reach the best option for the project and for you, the players.
Alright, that's it for October! Onward into November! See you in the skies!!
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