Sketchbook #001 - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Heyo, hope you've been well! Just a quick post this time!

So I have a sketchbook (two, actually) that I use for, well, sketching. There's something about having a physical medium to write on that I prefer over using a computer. I always liked making little sketches, doodles, and diagrams, especially when I had nothing else to do in school.

Anyway, I bring you the start of sketchbook posts! For this one, please take a gander at some of the planning sketches I made for the various Chapter 1 operations...

WARNING: DEMO SPOILERS!

Turn back if you haven't played the demo yet and don't want to be spoiled on the operations!

Kobold MediTech cannot be held responsible for any emotional damage resulting from the ignorance of this warning.

1-1

The first operation was at some point called "Impelled Procedure". How strange. Like, a dishwasher impeller?

Fur was a consideration. Would I add some sort of "you have to shave the fur off first" mechanic? I dropped that idea pretty quickly, mostly because it seemed like a lot of work for not a lot of gameplay payoff.

You can also see I considered starting off in the arm to 'lower the stakes' a bit. Hello, outright plagiarism. However, this was before I came up with the idea for the Prologue. After the Prologue came to fruition, I was more comfortable adding the chest cavity bit to 1-1.

1-2 and 1-3 (1-4?)

Hopefully you can actually read this image...

You can see I planned out what visual assets I needed, especially for 1-2. Look at all those organ parts!

Figuring out what to include in 1-2 was tricky, since it's the first time cybernetics are introduced. The original idea of what to include inside the part is redacted here. I deemed it too complicated for such an early mission. (Expect to see it show up later, however~)

You can also see a "Metal Seams" object treatable by torching that I cut.

The general idea behind 1-4 (which was originally 1-3) stayed mostly intact. The biggest change was that, originally, you'd be introduced to free camera movement. I deemed that too complicated to include so early, and thus it was also cut (for later).

At the bottom, you can see an early idea for how to handle the HP of synthetic parts. The bars shown play with the idea of "permanent" damage. For example, if you mess up, you might take 50 "repairable" damage, but also 50 "permanent" damage, which would reduce the part's "max HP." This was all done under the context that COND was repairable at-will with Nanites, unlike how it currently is with NAILs.

Also shown is an idea of a "Miss Limit".

For next time

Is there anything in particular you'd like to see next? More level sketches? UI designs? Sprite designs? Let me know if you'd like! :>