The Undead Darlings Initiative, or Something!

Greetings, website travelers!

So we've had a bout of silence post-Kickstarter, which isn't all that unusual for KS projects, but is scarcely perceived as a good thing. Take this project, for example (note our attempt to find a "safe/neutral" site to link to). No comments on their project from us, we totally understand both sides of the story and it's their baby. Our reason for bringing it up is because seeing the news stories surrounding it served as a bit of an eye-opener for our actions as well. Our inactions, rather. Part of this post will serve as a summary for what followers may already know, but we'll get into the forward-looking statements and all that jazz toward the end. Long story short, Undead Darlings ~no cure for love~ is still moving forward! Read on, please!

 

What's been going on since the Kickstarter fell short?
Number-crunching and apologies, mainly. Without the funding, we'd been seeking ways to bring in revenue, but in the end that money wasn't even enough for us to pay our own rent. That said, we've sought help from outside investors who see the potential in our vision and are willing to assist us toward completing a "vertical slice" of the game for a re-reveal.

"What is a vertical slice?" you may be asking yourself. "It's a focused sample of all the game's separate mechanics; a demo, in a way." you may respond to yourself. In other words, a proof of concept for the game with the stylistic elements finalized (music, art, battle mechanics, etc.).

Our goal with the vertical slice is to showcase one dungeon area, along with all relevent event scenes, battle system, and attack animations. This will give folks a chance to see one little part of the game, while letting them experience what the game can offer as a whole (sans voice acting, most likely). We realized that backers weren't quite sure what to expect from the game as a whole, so this is an attempt to bring in both visual novel fans who enjoy the concept, and RPG fans who want to make sure that the game has fun and engaging RPG elements.

 

Do you have a timeline? When can the vertical slice be expected?
This is the challenging aspect of development when you cannot pay people to work full-time on your project, even if the full-time demand is temporary. We are currently engaging with our amazing and talented team of indies to solidify their milestones and ultimate deadlines. When engaging them about this, we're using the below "subject-to-change" timeline that represents an ideal for a February-ish ("late Q1," in corporate speak) vertical slice. Some of these may be completed faster or slower than others, and may need to be shifted based on the indie's availability. Expect an updated one in the near future!

Regarding the vertical slice, it cannot be completed until the separate aspects of programming are all complete. The timeline is building in a lot of QA and debugging time, so the actual completion of the base code is planned to be before the end dates estimated above. Event programming can technically begin anytime and only requires the relevent events to be programmed for the vertical slice stage, but the entire script and sub-event script needs to be completed first!

 

Any new visuals to share?
Most of the art we've received since the KS campaign would be spoiler-ific in nature, so we actually can't share those images…

As for things like battle animations, 3D objects, enemies, wall and floor textures (which are being completely revisited based on KS feedback!), these roles are being contracted out or rescheduled as we type this and will conform to a more fitting, highly stylized visual aesthetic. Our goal is to fill the dungeons in with a lot of neat, cute, and creepy things to look at!

We've mentioned it before, but all the glitz and glam visual stuff was "saved for later on" in development. Instead, we chose to build the engine and the framework for the game first. This ended up with us running low on funds and not having too much for outsiders to look at! Live and learn, we guess. We'll be sure to post all the things as we receive them, because it's important to show every step of progress!

 

Is there anything I can do to help?
Well, bless your heart! I do declare! Just reading this is helping us!

If you feel like there is something you can do, leave us a comment or send us an email. The roles have been filled, save for one or two that are up in the air, but spreading the word and helping us connect with more and more people who would enjoy the zany/creepy/cute concept is key to Undead Darlings becoming a success. Let's innovating!