Hey everyone! Your usual fox girl back once again to talk about the usual progress on all things Foxxy Games related. First off, happy October everyone! Its that month of spooks! Pretty cool ay? October is my favorite month of the year just for Halloween alone, so do try and have a good month of spoops everyone! Oh? Whats that? Oh yeah, the blogpost! Alright! Lets go ahead and take a look at everything thats going on, and after we talk about the current tasks, we'll discuss what's going on with each project, just to give a minor status update on everything.
Art Calendar
Commissions/Patreon
So as you know, I've been having issues getting Comms and Patreon set up for a bit of time now due to my current situation, and I've been stuck at a single point for quite some time now. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you see it, I will be delaying this indefinitely until further notice. There are two reasons for this.
I am currently incapable of accepting commissions due to my hitch.
I actually, might not even need this right now. It might actually be possible that, instead, I might be able to purchase the software I need without doing commissions. This is because I have made the decision to go to college. Yes, college, the thing I said I wouldn't be doing! More can be read about this later, after the Projects section, so if your interested, go read there.
I am kind of disappointed that I am incapable of doing this, but at the same time, I think it actually will be beneficial. More time for my projects, and more time to focus on my college work. Not to mention with being a student, I can get the software I need for dirt cheap. I think this could really, really be beneficial for me. Until a point when I can (and if) I decide to do commissions, I will be hiding the Commissions page from the website.
Outpost MA-14
Outpost MA-14 is going pretty smoothly. A good amount of models have been worked on and I am fairly proud of how they are turning out. There's still more modeling work that needs doing, especially upstairs, but its looking really nice so far with the current progress! I'm hoping that by the 16th I will have all of the models done in a basic form. I actually even began some of the programming for the lights, intractable, and even some basic physics for some objects! Again, nothing unfortunately is in a presentable stage just yet, but next update, your getting a peek at it. Hopefully you'll like what you will see. You can actually read up more about this later in the Projects Section if your interested.
Project Rise Previsualization Test
A lot of my focus has been taken away from this task, but I fixed up some of the animations. I'm getting the basic video project file created as of right now, and so far half of it is in a basic form, presentable. There's more I need to do though, so it'll have to be likely have some more work done before its fully finished. I will be gathering the test audience and setting a due date for the final animation, as well as making this my highest priority once all of the animation is complete in a basic form.
The Sewers
The Sewers have not actually begun work just yet, however I wanted to bring this up, as likely The Sewers likely wont actually begin work until both Outpost MA-14 and the Project Rise Previs Test are done. At the minimum, I want those completed before I touch the production side of The Sewers, however, I will mention some things. Including the fact that, unfortunately, I am going to be having to scrap a lot of previous work. It just working with the old design, so I am going to be scrapping the current version, and using a brand new version. Yes, a lot of models are going to be scrapped and progress is going to be reverted, but I promise, once Outpost MA-14 and the Project Rise Previs are done, this will become my number 1 priority, besides general project management.
Foxa's Character Model
This is a similar story to The Sewers, in that this hasn't began work just yet, and won't until, at the minimum, the completion of both Outpost MA-14 and Project Rise's Previsualization Test. While this is something I'm very much excited to work on, I know I really should focus on what is currently most important, my mainline projects. Hence, those will be my #1 Priority. However, I will say that her design has been almost finalized, and its just getting logo work and some small design work which needs finishing before she's ready to begin her creation.
Currently I am anticipating that her model will not take long to work on. I expect her initial modeling phase will take only a day, and her full modeling phase to take 2-3 days. From there, for her Textures, Materials, and Fur effects, I expect them to only take around 2 days. After that, I will begin the process of creating her rig and rigging her. This is something I cant exactly estimate, as I am not all to experienced with rigging, but I am hoping it will only take around 2-3 days maximum. Maybe I'm wrong about that though, maybe it'll only take a day, maybe even less, or maybe even more, who knows, lets just hope for the best. After that comes the Unreal Engine 4 Importing, Materials, Effects, and fixing up. Just getting it looking nice in the renderer, which should take only 1 or 2 days. From there, the last phase just revolves around polishing, creating a demo scene, posing her, and creating the renders, which should just take a day. In total, that's somewhere from 8 to 11 days, and this is with me splitting my focus. On her own, she likely would be done somewhere from 4-6 days, though with The Sewers, she isn't going to be my only focus, so she'll need to be patient.
In the case that by the 16th of this month Outpost MA-14 and the Previs aren't done, then I will simply start work on her in November instead of October. I'm pretty much expecting this, so this is perfectly fine for me to be honest. However, assuming the Outpost and Previs are complete by the end of the month, if The Sewers aren't in a good state (laid out in UE4 and have a good base to develop from) then I will not work on her until The Sewers are completely finished. If somehow, in the worst case scenario, either Outpost MA-14 or the Previs are NOT complete by the end of this month, then I will delay Foxa's model, as well as the Chibi Foxa Model and Base Teletubby Model until the beginning of 2024, once I go off my holiday break. This may mean a slight delay with the beginning of the prototyping work for Project White Sapphire, as well as my vehicle models, which would have their work be delayed from January, to either Late February, or Early March. I did consider an idea on potentially working on the two simultaneously, however, I believe it would be much better in the future for me to focus on one task at a time. Future goals and art calendar years will hopefully reflect this.
Phew! That was a lot!
But now I want to quickly just do a micro update on the statuses of all my projects, just to let you know whats going on with each of them, and the statuses of them all so you guys can more clearly get an understanding as to the current state of affairs.
Current Project Statuses
So, my current list of projects that are currently in the works (excluding conceptual projects, which are not real projects as of this moment in time) include the following:
Slendytubbies III R: Forest of The Leafless (Project Dead Reeds)
An Unannounced Racing Game (Project White Sapphire)
An Unannounced Animated Music Video (Project Rise)
An Unannounced Development Tool (Project Horizon Line)
The Return To Freddy's 5 Demo (Project Cragmire)
Foxxy Games Previous Projects Video/Videos (Project Archive)
In total, Six (Five if you exclude Project Archive) projects which I am actively working on. This may seem like a lot, and it kind of is, though only four of these are what I consider to be full fledged projects, as The Return To Freddy's 5's Demo is just something I am working on in my (very limited) free time, and Project Archive is just a video showing my previous work off, and that's it. I'll explain more in a bit, but for now, read up on your already familiarly associated projects for general updates, then continue reading after that to get an idea on how the other projects are coming along.
Slendytubbies III R: Forest of The Leafless (Project Dead Reeds)
A good amount of progress has gone into this progress specifically. When it comes to game maps, the Mainland is pretty much complete, besides some small additions and details, as well as some changes I wish to make. Outpost MA-14 is currently decently far along, with the prop layout being made and the plans being put in place. Right now I am modeling the rest of the props and tiles, as well as the exterior. Once this is done, my sole focus will go into improving the textures and materials, and implementing the rest of the functionality, particles/FX, audio, physics, and additional details. Last but not least in the current maps, The Sewers. Currently, they are having some major design changes made to them, meaning as a result, a lot of stuff has been altered and changed, meaning a lot of progress is being reverted, however this is to help improve the environment, and will be for the best.
Now when it comes to gameplay, right now I am planning to have the entire dialogue and basic character AI systems prepared and ready to create the game's Prologue in it's first "Minimum Playable" stage, which I anticipate to be at that first stage by April 17th 2024. Obviously, because its just in it's "Minimum Playable" stage, its not going to be presentable, but, it will be possible to play through the entire prologue. From there, I will work to improve it, and I am expecting it to actually be considered content final (so basically the content is finalized, just needs additional polish, details, and optimization) by the end of the year.
But that's not all, there's something more coming to you. To keep you guys fed with content in the meanwhile, I will be giving you guys a very special treat at some point in the near future, somewhere in the next few months. I won't say a time or date until I have exact confirmation and everything is complete, but lets just say, your gonna get to get a pretty nice peek at the game, and you'll get a small tease at... someone knew... something, new... You'll have to wait a bit for this, but I am anticipating that you guys will love what I have in store.
Besides that, I am also hoping sometime Early-Mid 2024, I will begin to do some more teasers and reveals for some more game content, which will allow you to really get a glimpse at a part of the game which I think a lot of you guys are going to be pretty curious about, and very excited to see more of. A round of teasers will be released showing off this aspect, over the course of 5 weeks. I won't say too much until things are ready, but hopefully you guys will enjoy when the time comes.
Unannounced Racing Game (Project White Sapphire)
Project White Sapphire, out of all projects, has had the least work done on it. Yes, work is being done, but its really been at a snail's pace, since I've been mainly focusing on developing my other projects. Now I have been doing stuff, such as story planning, world design, game design, UI Concept Art, and more, however besides that, not to much has been really done over the past while. I'm really hoping that with the beginning of the prototyping phase things will begin to progress a whole lot quicker, and more of the plans will be ironed out. Besides this unfortunately, I have nothing much to report here.
Unannounced Animated Music Video (Project Rise)
Project Rise's Preproduction is going well. I've been working on the set design, lighting concepts, world design, and of course the Previsualization Test/Storyboard. Things are taking a bit longer then expected when it comes to that last aspect, but when it comes to the other aspects of planning, things are going pretty well. However, I am going to begin taking time away from planning work on the project to focus on the creation of the Previsualization Test in order to get it fully created by the end of this month.
Unannounced Development Tool (Project Horizon Line)
This is a project I have not yet previously announced, but I will confirm, this is in a mix of Preproduction and Production. Project Horizon Line is intended to be a tool for Unreal Engine 4/5 that is being developed by Foxxy Games. I can't reveal much about this just yet, but a general idea when it comes to the project has already been made, and this tool actually is intended to be used for several Foxxy Games projects, including Slendytubbies III R, Project White Sapphire, and Project Rise. This tool will also eventually be released under the Epic Games Storefront for developers to purchase and use in their own projects.
That's all I will say for now, however I will say one more thing. As of this current moment, this project is not listed on the Projects page of the website. This is currently temporary, and I will be soon adding it to the Projects Page, I just need to do some back end work on the site, and also create a placeholder logo. This should only take a day, but I wanted to let yall know that while yes, this is missing from the website, that is just temporary, and not an error.
The Return To Freddy's 5 Demo (Project Cragmire)
The Return To Freddy's 5 is different compared to the other projects. As in, this project is not really an actual project. Unlike my other projects, this is really just a more for fun project that I'm working on, or at least, making the demo for. As you may or may not know, this project was canned, but I am working on a demo to show what was meant to be. Originally, this demo was just meant to be what I had gotten done, just dumped online in the state it was in for players to mess around with, nothing all too special. However, I wanted to really make this feel like what I was wanting this game to truly be. So, as a result, I decided I wanted to add more to the demo.
Which, you will be able to find out, as well as the progress on the demo, on the game's Gamejolt page. A post will be released either tomorrow, or the day after talking about the progress made on the demo, as well as my updated plans when it comes to the demo's content. If your interested in some 2015 FNAF Nostalgia, then do go check it out, the game might interest you, as it was based off a cancelled 2015 FNAF fan game!
One last thing, similar to Project Horizon Line, this game is not featured on the Projects page of my website. It actually also used to have it's own page, but it was removed during the revamp after the game was formally cancelled. However, despite this being an active project, I am NOT going to feature it on the Projects Page, nor anywhere on my website. The reasoning is that I wish to distance myself away from the The Return To Freddy's community, due to some of the people within the community not being such great people, and me wishing to stay away from that and move on. This is not a mistake, this intentional. I will also be featuring this project on my Project Archive video, despite it having lasted past May 2023. Oh, and speaking of which...
Foxxy Games Previous Projects Video/Videos (Project Archive)
...does this really count as a project? Oh well, either way...
Project Archive! This is just a small micro project I'm doing to archive information on my older projects. If you know about how long I've worked on stuff, and the amount of projects I've had involvement in, then you probably might be confused as to why none of those are mentioned on my website, and especially not my portfolio? Well, the answer is, simply put, a lot of my older work was, well, not really that well optimal. I was very messy, and very scattered with my projects. As a result, I decided when working on my website, to just, not include them. I only included my current active projects, Slendytubbies III R, The Return To Freddy's 5 (which was later removed), Project White Sapphire, and Project Rise.
While I still am going to be keeping my Portfolio mostly clean of any projects prior to May 2023, I would still wish to create a series of videos, showing off each project, as well as one big video showing them all off. My hope with this is both to show what ultimately never came to be. I also will eventually add The Return To Freddy's 5 to it, however, I actually would wish to do that AFTER it's demo is released.
This will take a bit, as I am going to have to do a fair bit of digging for some of these projects, but I am going to try my best to get footage for all of them. I'm hoping to have this done by December 2023.
Alrighty, lets talk about one more thing before we wrap this up...
Life Update
So, you may have noticed earlier I mentioned the idea of college. Originally I never intended to go to college. I planned to jump straight into commission work and indie game development, and either settle as a freelance artist and indie game developer, or as an employee of a game development or animation studio. However, I am wishing to try and change course a little bit. The reason for this, was because I was actually offered what is basically free college. All of my tuition are paid completely free, all of the hardware I will need will be paid for completely for free, and I will also be receiving free software, and since I'm a student, heavy discounts on software products. So I could be receiving some pretty high quality software for my projects, with a huge discount, if not completely free.
I have decided, yes, I am absolutely taking this up. Now, I am uncertain as to when my college will begin, however, I am expecting that yes, this will impact the progress and development of my projects, though I don't anticipate they will take up nearly as much time as High School did, and as a matter of fact, I expect things will go just as smoothly as they did before. However, I felt as though I should bring this up, since it has some pretty good ups and downs that you might find interesting.
Conclusion
Ultimately, a lot is going on, and a lot has happened lately. I'm pretty proud of the progress I've been making, and I'm excited to continue making even more progress over this month. There's a lot coming up, and I can't wait to give you guys what I have in store. I do apologize though for the delays, and I apologize for how long things have been taking. The least I can do is try my hardest to try and speed things up, so I will do my absolute best to do that while not sacrificing quality. Hopefully you guys will get some new content within the near future, I got some really cool stuff cooking for you. However, for now, that's all from me peeps. I'll see you all next time on the 16th! See you guys then! Bye byeeeee!
~Foxa
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