Hello Sweepy Heads!
We're back with another Clean Sweep Devlog! If this is your first time here and you don't know what Clean Sweep is, let us tell you!
Clean Sweep is a comedic 3D character action RPG where everyone in Cleanland is a personification of a real world cleaning product! As the Town Janitor you'll befriend the residents of Cleanland and team up with them to fight germs!
This month's devlog is brought to you by Renee!
Progress
Programming
The Programming team was busy making a build to test our new combat!
This build includes germs encounters that pop up throughout the day that will give you rewards and FXP! (You can run away from these encounters, but that wouldn't be very janitor-y of you). When you need to deal with an encounter, the new Phone App called "Party" lets you pre-set 4 groupings of characters to quickly bring into combat (Shown as a sneak peek in the last devlog). Items can also be selected from the phone before combat, and during combat you can now hold 5 whole items.
What else is new in the combat build:
Combat is now a state that can be toggled on and off while you're in the world.
Ranged attacks follow your camera instead of your movement, but you can still use your movement.
Issues with snapping to the nearest germ have been fixed.
Dodging now turns into sprinting and you can also buffer dodges.
Players heal over time, unless you level up.
A bunch of inputs that were getting eaten by the controller have been fixed.
UI/UX got some botox.
A lot of bugs have been fixed.
Nelson did a "f**k ton" of refactoring.
Animation
We're doing facial animation! Characters' faces will change to reflect their emotions. Yes, this does increase scope, but it seems pretty significant for a game about emotions. These facial animations will be achieved using ~blend shapes~.
In addition to this… addition, we're going back in time to revamp older animations that could use some TLC. With animations getting redone, that means that we can make changes to the character models without worrying about screwing with existing animation work. Which leads me to…
Art
We've heard from a few sweepyheads that it's hard to tell which cleaning product some of the characters represent. With that in mind, a number of character models are getting design alterations, and a few are getting total redesigns! They'll be more dripped out than ever before. Who knows, we may even ask your opinions on them… Maybe.
Also, the devlog image was made! We hope Felicity's hopeful musing fills you with joy as you settle into the new year and keep chippin' away at those resolutions. Unfortunately while recording the speedpaint, Jess' PC, known as Deborah (or Debby if you're on close terms), decided to blue screen for the first time ever, so the speedpaint is now lost media. But at least we have the image itself in these trying times.
Audio
In the world of audio, Eric completed the Market and Plaza daytime themes, meaning that we now have custom variations of the overworld theme for each outdoor map! Now imagine how awesome it'll be when we make all of Cleanland one map without loading screens and the music seamlessly changes…
Writing
We're writing! (Who would've guessed?) We went back to our quest outlines, revised them with fresh eyes, and started bringing them to life! Vinny is getting more content along with two characters who have yet to grace Cleanland with their presence.
In addition to quest writing, there has been some quest implementation. While implementation isn't the most glamorous part of game development, getting to see ideas come to life is very satisfying. Unless it ends up being bad. Then it's satisfying when you finally make it good.
We've also been developing how emotion-summoned germ portals impact people and the environment. Writing team puts a lot of thought into worldbuilding, but when it comes down to something being fun or making logical sense, fun is going to win. (One of our design pillars is "goofy"!) What I'm saying is don't expect The Similarian, but do expect to see some new "animals" in the near future.
Production
We discussed the animation revamp for a few weeks before coming to the conclusion that the work would be worth it. Don't you want to see Cain's goofy smile? I know I do!
We'll soon be starting internal playtesting for the big combat changes, so tune into next month's devlog to find out how it goes! If you have your own thoughts on how to improve Clean Sweep, fill out this form! We truly want to hear your (constructive) feedback.
We're looking for a 3D modeler to work on environments! If you or anyone you know is interested, use this form to submit an application. If that doesn't sound like you, we have a number of other positions listed in the form that might just be the perfect fit.
To end the progress update I'd like to thank Alice Winter for her incredible feedback on our demo and for bearing with us while we put together the combat build.
Dev Corner
This month's Dev Corner question comes from Jillian, one of our voice actors!
"What is the devs favourite aspect of the game?"
Jess: The characters! I'm not biased I promise. It's not like I made them all or something… BUT writing wise, they're full of personality and very fun to interact with! :P
Nelson: The combat. I spent way too much time getting it working (I love you Gameplay Ability System <3). Also I am very excited to start implementing and showing off the movesets for characters that aren't currently playable >:)
Renee: The friends we made along the way. And the characters.
Patrick: I love the characters! Excited to help bring them to life with the new animations.
If there's something you're gleaming to ask the Clean Sweep devs, join our Discord linked below and submit a question!
Assoapciate of the Month
I am very pleased to introduce our Assoapciate of the month: Kseniia!
Introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Kseniia! I’m a 3D artist on Clean Sweep, mostly working on interior assets like furniture and decor. I’m pretty detail-oriented and enjoy polishing things until they feel solid and believable in-game. Outside of Clean Sweep, I’m a full-time software engineer, and I make art, play video games, and do pilates in my free time.
If you were a janitor, what would you clean with?
I would use a robo vacuum. It does most of the cleaning, so I'd only need to handle the corners and hard-to-reach spots.
What Clean Sweep food item do you want to eat?
I would eat Contaminut Shrimp. I like crunchy foods in general, but the coconut shrimp looks extra delicious.
If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?
I'd be a nectarine because it's cheerful and refreshing.
Thank You
Thank you for reading this edition of the Clean Sweep Devlog! You can find devlog updates on our Steam page or on itch.io. If you want to follow along with our game, check us out on our socials below.