Heya friends! 💜
How has been April for you? I hope it's been good
We got a lot to show you this month, and I'll be doing this devlog in a slightly different way, (y'know, to spice things up a little bit). So any particular feedback about the format is hugely appreciated!
[ DESIGN & STUFF ]
Let's begin!
Now, I could tell you all about the things we designers did this month, like updating the level design or writing EVEN MORE dialogue lines and blah blah blah...
But why do that when sooo much of April's effort were put into developing our main man GIUSTINO!
So buckle your hoverboards, cause we have a lot to say!
So, a little recap for those who missed his story so far: Giustino started as a placeholder NPC back in 2019, where we used him while testing the first iteration of our camera rotation. After being ridiculed into oblivion due to his funny appearance for a period, he gained so much popularity among us (ඞ) that we HAD to include him in the demo, and so we did: he appears as a NPC during Rosetta's secondary quest in Day 2, as a shy gondoliere with a broken arm, waiting for his bread delivery.
Little did Nova (and so the player) know that was a 1000 IQ move by Rosetta to set up Nova and Giustino, because hey love stories are great.
Nonetheless, after the demo release we discussed on whether we should expand the secondary characters' narratives by intertwining them, something that culminated with the creation of a new quest for Rosetta in Day 2, "Food Delivery".
But that didn't have enough space for our boi Giustino, a character so well liked that we even started to meme on our socials.
And then, eureka! We decided to do a complete makeover of the character, from appearance to demeanor to even his quest!
Curious to know more about this new Giustino? Let's check it out then!
First of all, our idea is to have Giustino be present every Day in the game, either chilling around or being completely out of bounds for the player, in order to make him feel like a part of the picture. We're still working on that front, also because we are using this as an excuse to try a couple of new things regarding NPC placement, just like in this gif here.
I'll probably have more to show you next month, but I left some more info in the [ 2D ART & STUFF ] section if you are really curious!
first iteration using old dialogue lines. EXTREMELY WORK IN PROGRESS
Now, for the serious devlog.
What has been said at the start is true, there has been some update to the level design, with one honorable mention. Last month we've shown you our new holo signs, something that we thought could help traversing Venice while also seeming tech and traditional at the same time. Here's the new versions!
Apart from that, we have something else brewing in the pot. Too soon to talk about it tho, so I will ask you to have patience.
[ 2D ART & STUFF ]
Great, time for me to hijack this devlog again to talk about our legend Giustino!
Relax, I'm only joking... Sort of.
Remember when I told you Giustino had a new quest? Well, in a nutshell you'll be helping him finding a job!
And what a better way to do advertise yourself but by hacking away soulless corporate ads?
Seriously tho, huge props to our Art Director Federico for creating such funny ads. There are a couple more different versions around, can't wait to see what you guys think of them!
"POV: You are Gen Z trying to find work in today's society"
Funny and relatable memes on the side, our artistic effort have been also used in A W H O L E L O T of texture recoloring and fixes. As you've seen on previous issues of Nova's Diary, our artstyle is our forte and is present in many aspects of our game, including identifying the levels of the game. You've probably noticed how in-game Santa Marta has a lot of warm colors, completely different from the cold, gray-green combo of Dorsoduro and San Trovaso. Last month we added our last Area, Punta della Dogana, one of the most well-kept zones in the entiriety of Venice, and we showcased it using the same colors as of Santa Marta. Here's how some of the new (and old) places of Venice look now:
"Remember when this place used to be all brown? We do"
[3D ART & STUFF ]
Sadly we don't have much to show for 3D this month, but nonetheless we can showcase you something, like the brand new Leo's Den!
Leo's Den is basically what you would call Leo's Alley during the High Tide, so much as it is placed in the exact same position! It makes an appearance during Day 4.
And another thing that I'll keep mentioning from time to time in our "level design updates" is the introduction of "Tiranti", or guy-wires as you may know them.
These bad boys have been used all over Venice since ever, to bear the weight of crooked buildings and as a primitive anti-seismic tool
How do they work exactly? As far as I can tell, you basically put an iron bar inside a building (I dunno I'm not an architect).
[ PROGRAMMING & STUFF ]
As usual, our programmers have been hard at work smashing bugs left and right, but it does not stop there!
Due to our numerous recent additions to the game both in editor and in code, performance has been kinda fluctuating therefore we also worked on some more optimisations, making sure our game won't eat 100% of your CPU.
Oh and we made a save/load system.
...
"...W-What? PROGRAMMING HAS SOMETHING FOR ONCE?!?!?" - All of you right now
That's right! Now, you may be wondering why such an important feature in User Experience (UX) has been just recently added: Initially we thought of introducing a full-fledged saving/loading system waaay back in 2020. After the demo release, due to the feedback we were receiving about the lenght of the demo and the inability to save we considered the possibility of releasing a patch (something we haven't really felt like doing for just a demo).
But since at the same time we started on working on major parts of the game (namely the vibes rework) that needed the full attention of our programmers, the idea was put on hold.
Until now, at least.
tl,dr: Few programmers, lotta stuff. Prioritisation.
[ SEND-OFFS ]
And that's a wrap for our April Nova's Diary!
As usual, hope you all enjoyed the read about the bizarre things that happen behind the scenes of Venice 2089. Did you like getting to know the background of Giustino? Y'know, It kinda makes me wanna do it every month for every character... I'll look into that.
If you have ANYTHING you wanna say to us, feel free! We'll be seeing you next month!
Now go tell your friends to wishlist the game.
Tell 'em to play the demo too.
Do it for him.
