Hello everyone and welcome to the second update blog from the production side of Parasitic. My name is Dylan Levy-Gantt and I will be showcasing our new work from previous weeks of work to highlight out amazing team's ability to make some of the best work I have ever seen produced. I will be going through each department showing off their respective work and how it fits into the overall goal of how quick we want to be moving as a team. Without further ado, let's start with programming.

PROGRAMMING

Above you will find the culmination of all of our programming teammates, Chase O'Connor, Jeremy Casada, and Ryan Dangerfield. To explain all the systems above, there is an indication for where the player can go after you select it, there are specific tiles the player or enemies cannot go through like the trees or barrels, there is a combat system where the enemy hunts you down, and there is a fog of war that only shows what you need to see and disappears when you discover that land. Having this prototype be ready so soon is a great sign that we're moving not only quickly, but correctly. These programming systems all meshing together so well brought a great sense of purpose and morale to the rest of the team and we're glad to be able to show off something so strong.

MODELING

The above assets are from our amazing modeler Brandon Uenaka. Brandon has been tasked with creating the assets that will fill our levels to add to the themes and tone of the environment. This leads us having a solid art style from asset to asset and we're really proud of what Brandon is showing off here. Above you will see war ships, broken or restored, for our medieval level along with the castle walls on the right. Below those two we have our meadow assets with the tree trunk and the flowers. Further below that we have our amazing dock assets. For the dock level, it's actually above the water so we had to make assets that look like they go way deep down into the floor. These assets are amazing and they all snap together for a seamless level. Great stuff.

Next up we have our other amazing modeler Devin Spencer. Devin has been tasked with creating the players and the enemy types so we can also have a seamless art style within that realm as well. Above you will see the main characters we have chosen out as our models. We have finally finished the mage, knight, and archer archetypes while also making some progress on enemies as well.

This is our amazing level 1 larva enemy from Devin. Devin is doing great and totally understands the direction of the art style. These bugs latch onto the user's spine and continuously eats away at the host and eventually completely takes it over as  a new creature. Having the player's be done with modeling is great and we are on a smooth pace from sprint to sprint.

LEVEL DESIGN

For level design we have some really talented people as well. Joseph Warren, Shouyi (Zoe) Yan, and Alexander Johns all come together to make amazing levels that challenge the player and reward exploration. First, let's start with Alexander who made our tutorial level.

This picture may look a little confusing but it's quite simple. The red dots are the outline of the level, leaving only a tight space for minimal room for error to stray from the path. Alexander is a great level designer because he understands what the player is supposed to be taught to be able to attack the whole game thereafter. 

Alexander actually has two levels he was assigned to. The tutorial level and the last level, the docks. This level from Alexander highlights a broken dock surrounding that gives the impression the world around you is falling apart. Having two levels to annotate and block out is quite a challenge and he completed it with ease!

Next up is Joe's level. Joe was given the task of creating an intermediate level that feels like a little town to explore. Joe did great with this because you can clearly see where assets are supposed to go and where the player must maneuver in order to complete the level. 

Last up for level designer is Zoe. Zoe has been tasked with making the beginner level that has a lot of open space and freedom for the player to explore and test mechanics in. You can see that she has already started chipping away at the surrounding environment in an effort to clearly show that there are boundaries for the player. 

ART TEAM

Lastly, I will be showing off our new art assets from the art team because these pieces are absolutely amazing and add to the theme of the game a lot. 

First up is our level 2 enemy the shambler. These art assets are great because this shows that the parasite is actually latched on to the host from the back which is exactly what we had envisioned for the project. These assets coming out quick and high quality means our modelers can seamlessly grab the concept and start making the models. Great stuff here.

Next up is our next enemy on the list, our level 3 enemy the spiker. This concept highlights the terrifying encounter we want the player to feel when they come in contact with it. You can see that the shell of the enemy is now a more grown version of the insect parasite. 

Above is our art style for the UI and abilities! There is a nice common theme between all of the assets that carries throughout the menu system. This purple energy and feel gives an unsettling magic feeling and that is perfect! The ability icons are great as well because they show exactly the point of the ability on the icon. Each one is very unique so it should be easy to tell what ability belongs to who and does what.

Overall great stuff from our teammates and we are making some very solid progress on the momentum of the project. Can't wait to see where we go from here and thank you for reading!

Parasitic Studios