AzuPong - First classroom 3D modeled, experience system and more

Hey all,

I figured I should probably post an update since it's been a few days now. I've been working a lot and preparing for a big 3D modeling competition in the city I'm going to be attending in May, so I haven't had as much time to work on the game. But I have gotten some more things done since last time.👍😎👍

Firstly, there is now an experience system. So how it works is, when you win pong matches, you gain EXP. And certain bosses/stages of the game will only open to the player once you reach a specific level, so you'll have to farm pong matches until you get there. If you lose matches, there should maybe be some form of punishment to incentivize the player, but I don't like the idea of losing your level. So I'll probably go with just losing money instead.

I guess the biggest thing to mention is the isometric classroom BG I made - this is Class 2, where you will first spawn in after the tutorial. I 3D modeled it using Maya since that's what I've been learning in college and tried to match the style up to the background art from Azumanga Puzzle Bobble as best as I could:

I had a lot of fun making it, especially Tomo's makeshift gaming lair in the middle of class - complete with minifridge. The story there is that Nyamo defends Tomo by telling Yukari she needs a PlayStation to focus (even though she's completely facing away from the board)

For the time being, the player is just a Yotsuba head that slides around the play area. I programmed it so that when you approach the camera, your character gets bigger and faster, and when you're further away, it gets smaller and slower. The E key lets you interact with characters and objects and stuff.

You can talk to Sakaki, Osaka, Chiyo and Yomi, and they all have their own custom lines and will play a pong battle with you if you want. Tomo is skipping class right now and Kagura and Kaori will show up later in the game. When you go to your seat (main anime character's seat - back left), Yukari will appear and the next scene will start. But I haven't gotten to writing that part yet. Yomi will complain about Tomo's gaming setup, Sakaki tells you a bit about the game's storyline and Chiyo just gives you some tips for playing pong.

I spent a little bit making this "remastered" version with Arnold lighting (this is before I made the curtains, that's why they're missing). But after rendering it and putting it in the game, I realized I didn't like it. It might just be me but the lighting in this version just makes it look too AI generated or something and I don't think it matches up with the style of the game.. but I don't know. Let me know what you think in the replies.

Another thing I made and then temporarily removed, was this character select screen before the tutorial. You can choose from the two gametesting characters, Bubbles the OG and Yotsuba, and then 4 more random pictures I had saved on my computer. I temporarily removed it because I don't know if I like these characters or if I'll just let the player choose from one of the 6 main girls, just in the summer uniforms since the NPCs are using the winter ones. So yea, this is still something I'm deciding on.

Also, there are a couple new members of the AzuPong crew, besides me and Yuresko. Now there is Yarik, who is Yuresko's friend and a music composer. So he'll be composing some original songs for the main menu and pong matches, which will be very cool. And then there's Colby, aka Azurious. Colby is my good friend from high school, who writes books and is involved in the PDL (Pokemon Draft League). He is serving as a development advisor, so basically he game tests and gives advice on things to change and implement and stuff. He is also planned to have his own boss battle in the game.

Anyways, I guess that's all for now, please take care 😊

- Grafko