Big Animation Progress & Updates (Story 8 + Gala 2024?)

Hi Patrons,

Here's a quick update on Story 8 and what I've been up to the past couple weeks.

Chunks of Animation Done

I'm happy to report that we've finished the 2D animation for part A, and a good dozen scenes for part B. These aren't simple scenes either, as a lot of Chapter 6 is dense with drawings to do. Scene by scene we are filling up the production spreadsheet with sweet green squares! We do have a few portions of the chapter bottlenecked by some 3D work that needs to be done, so we'll be focusing on the 2D character animation for now.

Itchy

An aside as a content-creator: I have an itchy feeling (not on my skin or anything) that I want to release another trailer, work-in-progress hots, and just more things for you guys to see, but that would pull me away from the production grind. 

It has been over a year since Story 7 came out, and I really don't want to make my viewers and Patrons wait too long between projects. I'm sure the completion of "Gildedguy vs Violet" was a nice appetizer for 2023, but I'm really anxious/excited to put out Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar. There's so much footage sitting on the hard drive, begging to be polished up and shipped out, but the episode is still bein' cooked!

I must remain steadfast and make sure the wait is worth it to you guys, who have been very patient! 

Kero Merch Update

Kero's been hard at work with new keychain designs, for both the Etsy Shop and Story 8 (Snow Knight & Dragon designs will be limited time exclusives).

Hoping to get these printed and in stock by the end of the year!

Gala Plans 2024

As mentioned in the previous update, I've dusted off the GildedGala multiplayer project and have made some preliminary plans for hosting another one in 2024, to celebrate Story 8's premiere. I had some fun with the stream brainstorming more ideas to make GildedGala a miniature "MMORPG" experience, lasting multiple days instead of for only one evening. 

Making the Lore feel Real 

This project has been part of my vision for creating a live hub for Gildedguy (& further Hyun's Dojo) community where animations and characters feel more canon and concrete. 

Imagine visiting the Rock Hard Colosseum where Andre's hammer rests, or getting handed a quest from Lilian to go collect flowers for Gildedguy, or battling the local wildlife (evil bees and pigs) for stylish gear.

Meaningful interactions like these would do wonders for immersion and storytelling, and I'm a big fan of those.

The GildedGala 2024 will allow me to test out some core features of light MMORPG's, including:

• An expanded map that feels like an RPG overworld
• More persistent player accounts and inventories
• World-roaming NPC's and monsters that drop loot
• Basic multiplayer combat (teaming up against mobs) and levelling
• More customizations like armor, weapons, and status items

It's all pretty ambitious, but the technical feasibility of it is absolutely possible for me now. I've been researching and watching many tutorials about multiplayer design, and I absolutely want to try my hand at making something truly immersive, and living, for our art community.

Again, this would be a temporary app that I would host for just a few days, before taking down. If it proves to be stable, maybe it'll stay online in a sort of "beta-testing" state for longer.

Either way, GildedGala 2024 will be a necessary step for making something even greater in the future!

Sorry that this post has been light on pictures and GIF's. The animation progress we've made has big spoilers that I want to save for the premiere. 

Again, thank you all for the patience and support so far, and let me know if you ever have any questions!~