Project Oni - Prototyping our next title! (Patreon)

This is the moment a lot of us have been waiting for! Doku and I have been spending a lot of time brainstorming our new project and we’re ready to talk to you guys about our prototype plans.

As a heads up, this post will be talking about the not-so-glamorous tech side of the game, so it might get a little boring for some of you.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND ALL OF THIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE! We are way too early in development for any character/mechanic/design to be concrete.

You can read the Google Docs version here with nicer formatting! 

Project Oni

Project Oni is the working title for Tentakero’s next game, a full fledged RPG with a heavy focus on story. The name will likely be changed as soon as we have a solid idea for a final one. We ended up being stuck last time with Project Cappuccino since it was the name that got around and changing it would have hurt our marketing.

Information on Project Oni’s story will come in a future post since this one is meant to mostly talk about mechanics!

Some of you may have seen some of the concept art in this post, but we’re including it here for those that haven’t.

Development of this game will be broken up into 4 phases.

Prototyping - Implementation - Restructuring - Polish

It’s a bit early to determine just how long each of these phases will be, but we’ll iron out some of those details once we prepare the first roadmap. Prototyping is self explanatory, this is where we lay the barebones ground work. Implementation is where the bulk of the dev work will happen. Restructuring is where we go and expand on mechanics or make things more efficient. And Polish is the cherry on top with things such as voice acting.

Cappuccino by comparison had no clear cut development stages. The process was blob like to say the least.

Our Plans for the Prototype Phase!

This game is much more ambitious than Project Cappuccino and we’re going to start with a 7 part prototype of the core mechanics. Some of these mechanics are more difficult than others, while some simpler ones borrow concepts that we’ve already had some experience with. Properly setting up these prototypes will place us on solid footing for the remainder of development, whether we choose to add features or change mechanics.

Prototype 1 - Player Movement - Difficulty: 2/5

In 2018, Unity added a ton of support for isometric tile maps. We plan on using these features to create a 2.5d world for players to explore.

*Unity’s example of isometric tile maps.

The main challenge that we see arising from this is figuring out how to properly adapt Doku’s art style, as well as managing things such as vertical movement. Despite it being 2.5d with a grid, we want it to feel like it’s not. That means we’ll have to get creative with character movement and the world maps so the world feels as free roaming as we want it to.

Prototype 2 - NPC Dialogue & Interaction - Difficulty: 3/5

Dialogue will be similar to Project Cappuccino, but applied to a world where you can approach characters to talk to them.

Prompting dialogue outside of a plot scene will bring up a sims like choice bubble that lets you pick what to talk about and will tie in to systems such as combat, standing and so on. (Please excuse the crappy doodle)

Along with the NPC dialogue system, we’ll be creating an inventory prototype. Passing objects from the world, to the player and even to NPCs will prove to be a bit challenging, but necessary. The inventory will require heavy UI planning since we would like to keep efficient and easy to understand.

Things such as quests and story progression will also be tied into this prototype, so we’ll be doing a bit more planning on that front to make sure we avoid pitfalls like overlapping plot routes.

Prototype 3 - Skill Tree & Exp System - Difficulty 4/5

This system will be vital to supporting some of the other systems that we have planned. We don’t have visuals for it yet so we’ll try to describe things in detail.

Characters in this game will be able to branch out into different “classes”. Most will have 2 class options and a select few might have a secret 3rd class.

This ghostly girl for example, primarily fights with smoke, so her sub classes could be either Poison based or AOE Healing.

In order to handle these subclasses, we’re going to be creating a master skill tree, which will be usable by all characters in the back end, and by the player in the front end. This skill tree will allow the player to unlock portions of it that belong to other characters as they befriend them or raise their affinity with them. (More on this later.)

By setting up a single tree on the development side of things, we’re able to configure enemy abilities, difficulty and so on, without having to create tree after tree after tree. It will hopefully streamline things for us while keeping it engaging for you guys.

The player will be an exception for story reasons and will be able to unlock abilities from nearly every tree. Mixing and matching what you choose and who you befriend will allow for a variety of play styles.

In order to support a skill tree and class branching system such as this, we need an underlying EXP and Stat system. Leveling up in combat will grant the player with both Stat points and Skill Tree points. If you want to play offensively, pump them all into constitution and heavy hitting skills.

Prototype 4 - Combat - Difficulty 5/5

This will likely be the hardest part of the prototyping phase, since it’s the most technical and requires fine tuning.

Our idea for combat is a mix of turn-based movement, yet not locked onto a grid. Each character will have a set amount of Action Points that can be used per turn. Movement and abilities will cost Action Points to use and the total number of Action Points a character has will be influenced by their speed stat.

This rough mock-up shows an idea for the UI that will hover over a character’s head, or somewhere on the player HUD. The position of the “2” on there may end up being just a small character portrait, or a way of showing status effects such as stun or poison.

The closest game we can think of that may use similar combat is Divinity 2, in which characters were able to do as much in one turn as the allotted points allowed.

The biggest difficulties associated with this prototype include things such as

Enemy AI

Player Memento’s (Remembering where you are so that you can plan where you will move. Essentially a preview and undo function)

Hitboxes/Attacks

Combat States / Dialogue cut ins

You guys can probably see how we would need the other mechanics planned out a bit more before diving into the combat, but now comes some JUICY STUFF!

Prototype 5 - NSFW Scenes - Difficulty 2/5

After Project Cappuccino, this might be one of the things we feel most comfortable with.

Unity has recently added the option to animate sprites using bones and weight painting in 2D!

Third party programs that do stuff like this have existed for a while, but this is the first time it’s been built into Unity. The colored zones designate which bone controls which part of the sprite, and can be freely customized to make smooth looking movements.

We’ll likely be using a mix of this and traditional animation to create interactive NSFW scenes where the player’s stats are used to unlock the next animation.

Example: Serena’s belt bra can only be removed with enough Dex.

Fumbling around with a low stat will lead to the character getting bothered, or to an alternate animation.

There are some details that need to be worked out for this prototype but each character’s scene will be created on a case by case basis, with a limit of 2 to 3 scenes per character throughout the game. (Unless we breeze through them or a character absolutely needs something specific).

These NSFW interactions will be reliant on a stat we’re calling Affinity. It’s essentially the standing from Project Cappuccino and can be earned in many ways. Including but not limited to:

Dialogue outside of combat.

Using the character in combat.

Performing well in NSFW scenes.

Gifting the character items they may like.

Affinity will affect things such as how the character greets you, store discounts if they sell things, and potentially combat bonuses.

Prototype 6 - Character Creation - Difficulty 4/5

Character customization was one of the highest voted choices in an interest poll we held a while back. We’ve kept this in mind and are going to attempt to allow the following things to be selected.

Skin Tone

Hair Style & Color

Eye Style & Color

Chest Size

Genital Choice (Size choice if male)

Aura Color (Plot related!)

We’ll be experimenting with body sliders and see if it’s possible to use those as well for things such as hip width and what not.

Breasts and genitals will be modular, so players will be able to pick a female chest and male penis if desired.

Note: This system WILL likely be getting features pruned if it proves to be too demanding or hinders development of other aspects of the game. We want to give players a ton of flexibility but a lot of these mechanics could exponentially increase the workload if we’re not careful, especially with the NSFW scenes.

That’s not all we have in store for character customization! We’re also going to be messing with changeable / dyeable outfits that can be purchased from NPCs or unlocked by befriending characters.

Prototype 7 - Base Town & Player Home - Difficulty 2/5

Due to plot reasons, the player will end up with a small island that will serve as the team’s base camp. 

This island will have modular “slots” that can have decorations, the player home, or a recruited NPC assigned to them.

Players that prefer efficiency may forego decorating and instead place stations such as Blacksmiths and shops as close together.

The key to developing this aspect of the game are prefabs. Prefabs are essentially objects that are created once and used in various places throughout the game. A blacksmith NPC for example, could be placed in their native plot location, but then that same “object” could be carried over to the island and placed by the player, without adding any additional work other than a few dialogue line changes.

The prefab concept will apply to things such as furniture and decor of the island.

Example: Fancy couch is used in a royal castle, fancy couch can then be bought from an NPC and placed in the player’s home.

Tied to this prototype will be a day/night system, as well as weather that will impact things such as combat and character appearances.

That’s all of the information we have to share at the moment! A lot of these mechanics are still being planned, so we appreciate any and all feedback. We really can’t iterate enough that some stuff may end up getting cut or streamlined as we dive into it.

This post is patron exclusive at the moment and we’ll be making a nicer looking, public facing one when we have things a little more fleshed out.

Once we have a concrete grasp on the story, we’ll be sharing that with you guys too!

We hope you guys are as excited as we are!

-Vanis & Doku