Dark Matter Weekly Upate

Welcome, all, to the first weekly update.


In the upcoming weeks, we will keep you all up to date on the development of our current project, Dark Matter, and what has been done on a week-to-week basis.


Firstly, if any of you out there reading this are animators or know any that are looking for work, please contact us. We need an animator for Dark Matter’s story 2D cut-scenes, which average between 10-30 seconds each. There are roughly 6 of these. We have had all sorts of problems with previous people interested backing out or being fully booked until towards the end of the year, so any help would be appreciated.


Secondly, we recently decided to take out one of our story-related planets and replace it with something else. If any of you have seen the story progression, on the main scripts, you will have noted Death Bringers – a story planet within Galaxy #2 of the game. It wasn’t quite fitting, no matter how matter how many times we reworked it, and is now being replaced by a planet with the story title of Transcendence Alliance.


Now for this week’s game progression:


Lee:

Lee worked heavily on the planet story Dragonknights (more on this in next week’s update).

The Dark Matter lore and history book was started, to ensure everything is in line.

Test-played Dark Matter and discovered an audio glitch as well as a
couple of difficult sections.


Edgar:

Received and incorporated lines from Chase, Gianni and Craig into the
game (Nova, Phoenix and the Warden). Great work, guys!

Rewrote Alex’s character to Max, someone who was to join in Death Bringers but was suited better to replacing Alex’s character. 98% of the lines remain, but there have been a couple of tweaks. Nexus part 1 and 2 have been edited to reflect this.

The script for Chimera has been edited to incorporate Max. No other character’s lines change.

The story for the Black Wolf Pirate planet has been radically rewritten and now includes a main plot point for Lione and another for Nova and the game’s story.

Mapping Final Gear’s city more, in-game.

Week conclusion :

So although
it may not seem like that much, we have now settled on a meeting each week to let you guys know what’s going on with Dark Matter. Our production should now pick up even more.

Thanks for reading!

- Leejanes123 and EdgarD.

Onybreakers Weekly Update 002 – Thursday 11^th April, 2013.

We’ve seen two more people join Onyxbreakers, this week. Christian K. Bauer and Adam Miller have shown mass enthusiasm with the Dark Matter project which has led to some test plays, glitch fixing and map making.

Voice actors and animators. That’s really what we need to sort out beyond the game’s interior. We have many great voices for the game already, but we’re still lacking with particularly the females. Meanwhile, we’re still hunting for
an animator for the game’s 2D cutscenes. If anyone, ANYONE knows of
anyone who could help in this department, please do contact us. A
couple of the ones looked at recently have been http://portfolio.boogatech.com
and http://tiffa.deviantart.com/
.
One of the big talks, this week, has been about the main character’s (Nova’s) armour. Our original portrait artist, Redeyereaper, gave him armour somewhat too similar to Commander Shepherd’s from the Mass Effect series. Serves us
right for not specifying the design, really! But now we want to change it. We’ve tried changing the colour scheme and doing things with it, courtesy of Polyrhythm, but what we really need is to change the entire thing. Everything. New armour. So anyone that can help on this would be fantastic. Lee has spoken to an artist who may be able to design something, but she has no skill in Photoshop or digital art programs. Watch this space for more, from her, but for now, any help on this would be appreciated.

And now the final part. Lee’s laptop was broken for a good while, but now that it’s fixed, he’s been working rigorously on the Onyxbreaker’s website. With our recent activity, there has been a surge of visits and likes to our Facebook
page, so online it looks like things are going well!

Now for this week’s game progression:

Lee:

• Worked heavily on the Onyxbreaker’s website.
  
• The Dark Matter lore and history book has been developed much
  more.
  
• Wrote more of Dragonknights for the game, as detailed below.
  
• Recruited Christian K. Bauer and Adam Miller to the team.
  
• Sent out audition lines for several of the game’s characters.
  

Edgar:

• Smoothed out many of the game’s glitches.
  
• Touched up a lot of the Nexus part 1 stuff so instructions were
  clearer in running, equipping Hudokai and where to go next.
  
• Rewrote Black Wolf Pirates radically and has been writing up the
  script.
  
• Developed more of Final Gear in-game.
  

Week conclusion :

It’s been a productive week!
Everything’s been flowing smoothly. We did promise a Dragonknights
update, but with so much going on, you’ll have to wait until next time!
- Leejanes 123 and EdgarD.

Roll up, roll up! Update time!


What with our two newcomers doing so many test runs and glitch reporting of Dark Matter, we figured it was about time to give them some tasks to see if they can utilize their skills at mapping for the game. We will have the results, next week.


Meanwhile, Edgar’s been at band camp. This one time, at band camp, Edgar didn’t do any Dark Matter work. Yeah. That’s the punch line. Deal with it. Still, he’s been trying to catch up and will be working rigorously on the game until his next band camp. Give it a week, then.


Now for this week’s game progression:

Lee:

Continued work on the website, updating all the character biographies
and information.

Contacted a potential voice actress for Lione. Get in there! We need a
Lione!

Test-played Dark Matter and discovered a couple of minor audio glitches.


Edgar:

Rewrote a couple of lines for Nexus part 1, with the inclusion of Max and his scythe. Don’t worry, the only dialogue effected is Roke and Max.

Voiced said Roke lines.

Searched, located and incorporated new electronica music for the new Transcendence Alliance story planet.

Aaaaand spent most of the time trying to fix the scan script, so
scanning enemies would bring up their details. After many failed attempts, he
finally did it, just before this update.

Week conclusion :

So, really, nothing in-game has progressed with the story or mapping, but a lot of the engine, audio and story script has been fixed. That’s not bad – sometimes there are weeks like this. Hell, that scan script was a problem for ages. And before we forget… that Dragonknights information update will come soon. Promise.

-
LeeJanes123 and EdgarD.

Lee had a baby!

Okay, so Lee didn't, himself. That would be painful. But he does have a new daughter in the world. So Lee's been sorting out some things back home in regards to this.

Meanwhile, Edgar's been at another band camp and playing catch up with all the other pies he has his thumbs in, such as script work for Crash Bandicoot: Crystal's Wrath and preparing an article for Cheshire Cat Studios. But hey, that doesn't stop the anarchy of Dark Matter, no way.

As you can see, work slowed down for the past couple of weeks. However, things are back on track and Final Gear's planet is fast approaching its end. Once this planet's done and some bits are smoothed out, we'll be preparing for release of Episode 1 of Dark Matter. You read that right. Episode 1. For free! But before we do that, there's that matter of sorting out all of the required voices we're lacking...

Now for this week’s game progression:

Lee:

* Continued work on the website, adding all sorts of new tid bits and layout designs.

* Been in correspondence with Bon Ink, our publisher, to start on advertising plans.

* Sorting out a potential Lione and of course, Max's voice actor.

* Been writing much more of the lore book.

* Writing up our 10 page design document to ensure everything is on track.


Edgar:

* Played several bits of the Biorhythm world to rid a couple more glitches with checkpoints.

* Rallied together some Facebook interest for voice acting for Blake, Malka, Matt and Lione.

* Compiled and sent out lines for these characters to people interested.

* Tiled more of the Final Gear Diamond City to connect a couple of story scenes together.

* Received more lines from Chase for Main and started putting together the first trailer...

Week conclusion :

Things are picking up after a couple of weeks of balancing our lives through several other things. Particularly, the voice acting side of things is going well. The animation side is not, however. We're back to square one with that. All we need is about a minute's worth of animation, all-together and yet it's been surprisingly hard to get anyone interested who doesn't want something like $10 a frame (that's about $250 a second). That's a no go as it's extortionate. We'll keep you guys updated, but like-wise, if you know anyone who can help, please do let us know!

- Leejanes123 and EdgarD.

Onyxbreakers Update 007 – Thursday 25th July, 2013.

Final Gear is almost complete.

It's been a while, but recently, in-game production on the story and progressing the story scenes hadn't been that productive for a while, until this week. So, now on a Dark Matter binge, Edgar's been working like mad to finish the Final Gear story in-game. And now it's done, complete with climactic end. But we'll let you play that in due course. Next up, in-game story wise, is the Reality Council, right at the end of Episode #1. It's that close, guys.

And yet, it's still so far. We still need some voices. Episode one consists of planet stories The Nexus (part 1), Biorhythm, Final Gear and the sort of short end bit, The Reality Council. In this, The Nexus has all voice slots filled. Biorhythm has all bar one, which someone has recently expressed interest for - Grogsam, a talking bear. Although, Budgie's voice actor (a Scottish, street-wise teenager) is taking a worryingly long amount of time with no correspondence. This could mean his spot becomes available in due course. Final Gear still needs its main villain, Adho, a male voice. Also, we still don't have a Kim, one of the main six characters and one of which is introduced on Final Gear (she is the small girl). Then there's the Reality Council, which incorporates some characters from later planets in the game, so there's quite a few still needed, as they're all planetary leaders. In this, the regal-like Mateus (any gender) is needed, the full-armoured Emperor Pikhaul is needed, the flamboyant Francesco is needed, law enforcer and teen Ben is needed (who is an important character throughout the story from there on out) and, of course, the game's main villain... V.Len is needed. Yes, the name is deliberate. If anyone is interested, please do let us know! And, for particular female roles, we will be needing a bat-shit insane scientist and weapons expert Penny Greyback for a planet very soon.

In other news, we also had a chance to speak with Head of Bon Ink Studios, our publisher, Jon Bon (not Jovi). A lot of finer details were finalised and he now has a copy of the current build of the game to play around with. Well. Sort of. It's had a lot of updates already, which will be listed below. I can safely say, Episode 1 of the game will be all of Galaxy #1, now, rather than split into two, but you guys will still be receiving a demo of the game in the next few months, which will be the Nexus (Part 1). Haaaaave fuuuuuuun!

Now for the most recent game progression:

•Lee has written a lot more on the lore book.

•Dunkan and Helen are having their line art drawn up by the wonderful Liz!

•Liz has also drawn and coloured the main character's new armour design, which is a beefed up version of his current design. This will be the final visual look for the character, to take him away from that Mass Effect visual our initial artist gave him.

•Loz has sent over most of Blake's lines and they are sounding superb, so far.

•Manon Jeneret has been cast as Lione! At last! A Lione! Australian! Main female lead!

•William Newsome has been cast as Dunkan the scientist!

•Lucy Ahmed has been cast as Helen the scientist, a good friend of Tom's on Final Gear.

•The Black Wolf Pirate planet script has been completed, ready to be passed on to some of the voice actors, soon (particularly the Warden and Phoenix).

•The Galactic War end of episode #2 script is currently being typed up from the handwritten version. Exciting stuff! This is where everything changes.

•Dark Matter is now on Indie DB for people to check out! Wahay! Lee will handle this.

•The first trailer has now been finished...

Update conclusion :

A lot has been done over the past week or so, as you can see. Voices are being cast and we're hoping for a big push to spruce up episode #1 and get it released as soon as possible. Now... just that matter of animation, again! At this rate, it may just be comic strip images for the main cutscenes...

- Lee and Edgar.

Everyone getting Halloweeny? I like pumpkin pie.

Released, last week, was a game called Dark Matter. Not our Dark Matter, but another game with the same name that wasn't even complete, apparently. With that all being said, our Dark Matter will now have a subtitle 'Hudokai'. So now, it's Dark Matter: Hudokai. No real change and it doesn't change how we refer to the game, really, but it'll differentiate it from the current indie game release.

And the big news, this week? Well, our Dark Matter has a tactics battle script for space combat. It's not a new thing. Disgaea, Advance Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics, they all had that tactics battle style throughout the game and Dark Matter uses that for space fights in space shuttles. All good fun. Except it's been a struggle, since we couldn't fix an error which occurred after a battle was over. I lost my rag with it, since it's been a good while, and spoke to the creator of the script. Shoop, one small payment later and it's patched, finally fixed. It made Edgar inflate like a balloon with happiness. And then he started scaring the normal folk with his helium voice and balloon body, so he had to be sedated.

Meanwhile, the Dark Matter title is being redesigned by a guy called Elvis. Uh-huh-huh.

Now for the most recent game progression:

•Lee has been writing up a guide for the game for all those who may need it...

•Edgar contacted FenixFyreX and two days later, the space tactics battle script works!

•Elvis has been diligently working on a new title, complete with new font and a planet in the background of the prison ship. It's looking good, thus far!

•Edgar has been making hover vehicles for Final Gear's city. Lots of spriting, lots of move-routes, but they look great, so far, and bring the city even more to life.

•Lots of items have been rejigged and sorted out. Cold drinks now heal MP, hot drinks give temporary positive effects, in battle, pills cure health and food does a combination of things.

Update conclusion :

Seems like a small amount, but all of these are big things. The game's all the better for it, too. Currently, we're trying to get some more art done for the game in order to promote it some more as we head towards Episode #1's release at the end of the year.

- Lee and Edgar.

Just to say this project isn't dead... far from it, actually. It's been slow going and episode 1 is very nearly complete. A lot of things in the engine have been smoothed over and sorted, the game looks generally more polished and lots of non-story related stuff has been added in.

We're currently waiting on just one character's voiced lines for episode 1, now, which is the character of Matt, who seems to be a cursed part (as in, no one wants to stick with him for very long and we have to keep recasting).

More details, soon...