HELLO DEAR READERS!
it's Reiwa Man here with another issue of 「NIPPON NEWS DAIJOUBU」!
Yesterday it dawned on me that it's been six weeks since issue 7. After I stopped crying I decided I'd try to use my journalistic skills to find out why that was, so I hopped in my Kei Van and headed for Onion Soup HQ. I arrived to what looked like an abandoned building. After several minutes of politely knocking I decided to force open the door using an discarded oden skewer. Once inside I realised it was not abandoned, but that the developers hadn't been outside for what seemed like decades.
Initially they were unresponsive to my prods and pokes, but after tearing open a fresh melon-bread I brought with my as a snack they began to animate much like the undead. Finally, after an hour or so of gentle coaxing and nibbling on Pocky Sweets, Andy had the following surprisingly energetic things to say:
Hey everyone! You might have noticed we've been a little quiet lately. Don't worry—we haven't been carried away by a troublesome yōkai, and we certainly haven't evaporated in the ridiculously hot summer... We've simply been working really hard implementing online play. I really want to make sure it works well and feels great to play, so I've ended up refactoring far more of the game's code than I originally expected. To make online play as responsive as possible, we're implementing a full rollback networking system. In simple terms, every interaction is simulated locally so your inputs feel instant, while the host continuously checks everything and corrects any differences between players. Another surprisingly time-consuming challenge has been synchronising the game's ragdoll physics. Since ragdolls are such a huge part of Nippon Marathon, we want them to behave consistently for everyone online, so it's been well worth the extra effort. Thankfully, we're getting closer and closer to our first beta test! The initial test will let players host or join a four-player multiplayer playground where we'll be stress-testing as many gameplay systems as possible. If you'd like to take part in the closed beta, keep an eye on the Steam news feed—we'll be sharing more details soon. Now that I've essentially become an office-based-hikikomori, I've been spending my days coding and my evenings building a brand-new environment. The next main stage takes place at a coastal Japanese high school. Think classic late-'80s and early-'90s anime—sunlight streaming through dusty classroom windows, sea breezes drifting in from outside, and that nostalgic feeling of waiting by the window as the school day slowly comes to an end. Here are a few screenshots from Unity showing some of the assets I've been creating so far. We're aiming for that iconic retro atmosphere, and I'm really excited with how it's starting to come together." - Andy Madin, Onion Soup Dev |
The classroom assets in their sketched out form, thanks to our DAIJOUBU friend *ふーに* helped us understand which way the doors slide!
The classroom assets have been UV unwrapped and fully textured in Substance Painter, then brought into Unity for indirect light baking and tone mapping.
Well there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth! I gotta say, I'm really looking forward to the beta tests, I can't want to run around a silly playground trying out all the activities with my friends online and I'm really looking forward to the school stage coming to NM2, I think it will be very DAIJOUBU!
Korean Translation Help
We're still on the lookout for Korean translators who would suit the weird humour of Nippon Marathon. If you know any Korean fan translation groups who might be interested in helping with Nippon Marathon 2, please email Andy at andymadin(a)onionsoupinteractive.com
Until next time, stay DAIJOUBU! - Reiwa Man
