NZC: progress report
Hi Noxcrew community
After a few weeks with our noses to the grindstone, project ‘Nice Zoomy Cats’ has taken its next big step towards completion and has finally been fully converted to Bedrock!
Projects usually jump between being developed in Java and Bedrock throughout the process as we balance the need for 3rd party tools like world edit to build with, with the need to test mechanics and entities, but with this final big conversion, it means that everything we do from now on is pretty much finalised until we can get in to test it!
It’s a big step in a project’s development and the starting point for the final push! Now it’s just a case of getting everything in and hooked up ready for full team testing.
Speaking of hooking up, Miluteen has been hard at it with Avondale finalising the tutorial section of NZC. While tutorials are always a massively important part of any experience, we’re being particularly meticulous with this one. NZC introduces a lot of exciting features in a relatively short space of time. We want to make absolutely sure that you guys can get the full experience without slowing down the pace (We don’t want another 5 minutes Terra Swoop Force slide show for this one)
The boys have also been setting up our new quest system, where players will be able to tackle different types of quests, not just sticking to one style or objective. It’s a very different system than we’ve ever used before, and a lot of work has been put into it, so I’m looking forward to seeing all of the boys’ hard work pay off!
Stuart might not have been sorting out the missions, but he’s certainly not been idle. He’s been working on the superb set of monsters created by our ever-talented art team that haunt the land of NZC. Using the 1.16 updates, he’s vastly improved our entities’ hitbox system. This means players will have better feedback but will also have to be more precise when interacting with the ghastly creatures and friendly allies of the world.
He’s also been laying down traps and plotting out all of the major boss battles throughout the world, making sure they’re balanced so they won’t immediately destroy any unlucky player that gets too close but are still pretty nasty. (That boy’s an evil genius I swear)
On the subject of the art team, they’ve done a fantastic job with the textures. (no surprises there) Working in sync with the build team they’ve really captured the spirit of a run down dystopian city, in the vein of Blade Runner or Raccoon City. The animations they’ve developed, not just for the mobs of NZC but also the weapons, items and traps of the world are also top draw. I can’t wait for you all to see them in action, they’re going to be brilliant! (Yes even the generators)
Oli’s seen squirrelled away, finding time between uni work to turn all our delightful voices into some genuinely terrifying sound effects for the monsters of NZC (Never thought my voice could be so scary!)
He’s also been working alongside Andrej to get the not horrifying people on NZC voiced, edited and placed within the world. Hopefully, this should give you some respite from the ‘terror’ with some friendly faces in the crowd. He’s also been working on weapon sounds and general ambience to make the world feel alive and not just a housing pen of horrors!
Finally, we know the end of a project is getting close because Skyao has started to design the map’s amazing key art! There’s a bit of a debate going on about layout, the time of day and jazz hands, but the initial sketches really tell the story of NZC, and I think it’s on course to be one of the most evocative keyarts she’s ever made… If we can sort out the jazz hands issue (I promise you I’m not joking about that)
There’ve also been some funny bloopers during the development process, it’s always fun to push things too far and see what happens
And that’s your lot!
‘Nice Zoomy Cats’ has come a long way in the last few weeks and we’re all super excited to get testing and see how it all turns out! Then we can start thinking about about the next big project, but that’s for another time
Until next time, stay safe!
Noctis