Sonuva part XXIV

So the general consensus about the Pinkerton Stage was that it's a little too happy...

Let it be read this day that Mark Marianelli is a man of the people! ... or... the two of his friends that were like, "It's too happy."

I updated the stage a little It's no longer daytime and the walls and floor are a little grittier... It's starting to look more like Goro's Layer now... I'll be working this week on the upper level of the stage which will be the actual clock tower. Next step from there is implementing a lil' stage-finisher action. You think I put those hooks in for the scenery??

Check it out:
http://www.6amcomics.com/sonuva/pinkerton/update/

'The Edgell' is working on a few stages for me as well which (so I'm told) are coming along nicely... I've been shut out from seeing them until their completion, but I'm sure they will be no less than perfection... 'The Keith' is also concepting some ideas... I think... well, if anything, he's writing some sick music tracks, as is DG2P over at Microsong... I got to hear some of it, it's really good. Hopefully we can unveil the track soon. I've commissioned a few others to bust out some tunes as well, we'll see how it all comes together I guess...

S'all I got. Scram!
~ Mark


Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sonuva part XXIII

SON'UVA STILL LIVES!

Yeah, I haven't taken a break from this magnificent piece of gaming to simply do a bunch of parody state ads with photos I didn't even take. I ran into a few snags this week with the production of one of the stages... i.e. It kept coming out like crap. But, trial and error, all is well with the stage and I'm ready to show you how it's coming... complete with the working progress on the HUD system... which will definitely need some work, but I threw it in there to give you the full effect. Don't say I never did anything for you... Which I don't think you've ever said... But I guess that depends on who's reading this...

The stage I've been working on was from a sketch I showed you in a previous post: The Pinkerton Clock Tower... I know, when you look at this, it won't look too much like a clock tower, but there's going to be two levels to this stage. I don't know if any of you ever played Mortal Kombat 3, but there were stages where you could uppercut your opponent and send them flying through the roof and into another stage altogether... well I'm going to give that a whirl with Son'Uva... But no promises, I don't know what kind of development will have to go into that...

You can view the animation here:
http://www.6amcomics.com/sonuva/pinkerton

You'll notice there's some winging hooks in the background... we'll have to see what carnage comes from those... But in the meantime, use your imagination. Smiley Face, Winky Face.

So there you have it. The first background stage to Son'Uva! Hook me up with some feedback...

Tick Tock,
~ Mark


Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sonuva part XXII

Yeah, I really suck at updates lately... I apologize. I spent this weekend working on some illustrations for a buddy of mine... I'd love to post them, but I promised I'd hold off displaying them publicly (They're a surprise!)...

In any case, I was able to take some time tonight to work on Sonuva... which I'm going to be calling Son'Uva in the end... I'm tired of people thinking it's pronounced "Son of a"... Yeah, I understand that's the spelling people use when typing the phrase, but people... people... That spelling is sounded out "Sun - Oove - Ah"... Now I gotta' go and change the spelling to make y'all get it. Sheesh.

Legacy is coming along nicely. I'm finding him to be a pain to animate though... Perhaps a part of me is just tired of character animation at this point... I've done a lot... and this is my first time really animating something of this caliber... I mean, I've animated fighting robots, but their limbs were lines... and the rest of their bodies were circles... not very complicated. I completed Legacy's first special attack... Surprisingly, this is the only fireball in the game... I was a little surprised about that tonight while I was working on it... I mean, generally, almost every character in a fighting game has a fireball... I'll have to be more generic next time around... Yes, that fireball is a demon-looking-thing.

I also finished work on Legacy's uppercut... Say what you will about the "Sho-ryu-ken", the fact this guy is summoning fire from the pits of Hades (which resides within him) makes him much more hardcore than those Inner-Strength, Buddhist, gi-wearing color swaps from the Street Fighter series... Hadoken-kiss it, forealz... Please don't sue me, Capcom.

You can view Legacy's updated animations here:

http://www.6amcomics.com/sonuva/legacy/updateII/

So I'll try and be a little more consistent with the updates, but I make that promise all the time to no avail... just keep checking in.

Tatsumaki-Senpū kyaku!
~ Mark


Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sonuva part XXI

Legacy. He is awesome.

I've been able to do a little bit of work this morning on "Legacy"... whom I still fear I'll have to change the name of... And that will sadden me. People are sue-crazy these days... I'm sure I'll be sued for saying that... I'm getting distracted. I completed two of his attacks.

I spent a good chunk of the morning (i.e. I planned in the shower) figuring out what exactly this fighter's capabilities are... I'm thinking his body will be a portal to Hades or something like that... If you look at the image on the left, you'll see one of his attacks which basically is an open portal with deathly hands reaching out... I thought that'd be pretty cool. Just affirm me... I can't live without acceptance. The tricky thing with this character is his size. Basically ducking for him will be useless, it's not like he can crouch beneath an attack... and if he jumps the same distance as the other characters his head will go off the screen. So really his attacks will have to be more creative and a lot more powerful to make up for his lack of movement. Goro basically had the same issue in Mortal Kombat. Also, the dilemma of size means that the other fighters won't be able to perform their finishers on him, the animations won't sync up... so the options are either create a second finisher for all the characters which would be specific to Legacy... or create one death animation for Legacy which would play whenever he is defeated... which would kinda' suck for me because my only gripe with the original Moral Kombat was that you couldn't finish Goro or Shang Tsung, they just fell over... or had a special death animation... Cop-outs.

Not all Legacy's moves will be power attacks like the one above. I gave him a basic head-butt... er head-ram... cause he has ram-horns... kind of. I may throw in a few generic punches as well. As I mentioned above, all his attacks will have to be standing assaults... but even this quick attack will pack a wallop... he is a mini-boss after all, mini-bosses are tough! ... so... yeah. I don't think there's much commentary needed for a head-butt. He hits the opponent with his head. It hurts.

Anyway, you can view his animations thus far here:

http://www.6amcomics.com/sonuva/legacy/update/

That's all I got for now, I'll keep cranking away at him though and update when I can. He's taking a lot longer than I expected... To be honest, this whole game is taking a lot longer than I expected. How do game developers do it?!

Seriously!
~ Mark


Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sonuva part XX

It has certainly been a long week of little to no progress... emphasis on the "no" part. But not to fear, true progress has been made this day!

Given the recent development of my employment situation, I won't have as much time to devote to working on Sonuva... or anything personally creative for that matter. So in an effort to push this game along, I've decided to scrap the "Leo" character and absorb some of his facial features into "Nark"... this way Nark doesn't look like a complete color swap of "Hunter" (which is what he is). It was kind of a difficult decision to scrap him, especially since he's based off of my dead dog. But I'll still use him in some way down the road. I think I mentioned the idea of add-ons in the last post, it'd be less stressful and would add to the game's replay value. In addition to the scraps, I'll be holding off on "Spider-Priest" as well as a character which Edge concepted named "Maith"... I'm still going to create these characters, but only once the other aspects of the game are close to finished... i.e. Stages, menus, interaction, etc... And there's still some animations I'm yet to finish on some of the already existing fighters.

So what have I done today besides cop out of a bunch of ideas? I began work on a fighter whom I sketched out in an earlier post. I've decided to name him "Legacy" for the time being. No reason really, I just like the name... though odds are it's already been used by Marvel or DC... They take all the good names. Bullies. He's basically a slave to "Sonuva", which is implied by the glowing Sonuva-Soul dangling above his head... Not sure if I want him to be evil in nature... but maybe I do... good people don't have horns. Doesn't matter, though, you still have to fight him to get to Sonuva...

Here's a quick animation of the entire roster to date, you can see Legacy quite clearly amongst the fighters, along with Nark's changes...

http://www.6amcomics.com/sonuva/legacy

So... next steps! Tomorrow I'll be working all day finishing up Legacy's animations... if time permits, I may begin work on one of the stages, I just haven't decided which one yet... Probably the DNA Tree...

Till then my darlings,
~ Mark


Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sonuva XIX

So I haven't been able to finish a ton of work in the way of "Leo"... The Were-Schnauzer who looks like me. However, I have finished up his second attack move. The image to the left gives you a freeze glimpse of the facial transformation going on in the following animation link:

http://www.6amcomics.com/sonuva/leo/update/


I'm hoping to do some gradual work over the next week, with mini-updates such as this one. I apologize for the slowed down production, but it's going to be a busy week. I'll get some work in when I can... In the meantime, I hope you eager beavers can settle for more sketches between animations. I know it's slow, but I'm pretty happy with the progress on this character...

As I've mentioned in previous posts, The Keith has been working on some character designs which I'm planning on using for this game. Next in this lineup is this little bundle of joy:

I'm sure after a brief glimpse of this image your children will be wetting the bed well into their 20's... If there's such thing as a mini-mini-boss, that's probably what he'll be. Here's The Keith's description...

"Spider-priest: I don't know why he worships the spider god, but he does. I'm no one to judge. Spikey jabs, floating jumps, light on his feet, holds people with mechanical legs while he beats them with his arms. He wears a face mask of solid bone, also a weapon. yep, and hes mystic and voodoo-ish. This is the last one for a while. I'm getting carpal tunnel lol."

We will certainly mourn the loss of your wrist, The Keith... It was for a good cause.

Now I'm not 100% on how this fighter will function within the game, but I know I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one. There's a few other characters he's concepting, but given how long this game as taken up to this point, I may or may not need to save them for either a Sonuva II or an add-on character set down the road.

Aight. Stay Tuned.

Spider Priest, Spider Priest, does whatever...
~ Mark


Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sonuva part XVIII

Yes... Sketches galore! In the off time, I've been concepting another aspect of the game which I haven't really touched on at this point... The Stages. Some of the more memorable aspects of the classic fighting games involve the scenery, it sets the mood and sometimes adds to the gameplay...

I have my buddy Edgell working on some stages, but whilst I waitith for him..ith... I sketched out some ideas I'd like to use... The first being my own homage to my High School, Pinkerton Academy. This stage is meant to be in the clock tower... but nobody will really know that... I highly doubt there's meat-hooks in the tower, but I'm sure there's chains in there somewhere... right? Eh. I doubt there's anything there except for bats and roaches... and evidently Sonuva warriors. Though, the three windows are below the actual "clock" portion of the tower. The windows, the chains, the meat-hooks, the wooden floors... it all leaves room for such carnage to ensue at the end of a fight...

This next idea is just a recreated version of one of my illustrations from a while back... The ol' DNA tree. Not a ton to say about it other than that I'd like to see what could be done interactively with that ribcage in the background... I'd also like to know what animal that ribcage once belonged to... I hope it's extinct. The Earth needs no more giants. I may want a city in the background... I don't know.

This last concept comes from "Abundant Life"... A Superhero comic I worked on about my college buddies... well, I should say, 'still work on'... but that probably won't happen till' this game is finished. There was an underground lab run by generators powered by 6 soulless men with plugs in their backs... Yeah that probably makes no sense... and that's okay. I always thought it'd be a cool place for a fighting game, and seeing as there's a fighter from the Abundant Life world, it seems appropriate.

That's all I got for now... it's late and I swear I'm getting arthritis from drawing so much over my lifetime... I'm not that old.

My bones!
~ Mark


Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sonuva Part XVII

Again, I find myself scannerless... A cold breeze sweeps over the room as the pages in my sketch pad flip rapidly, almost as if to escape their ringed confinement and reveal themselves to an unsuspecting world of creativity... How I long to grant their wish... My only option... The Samsung Impression. I effortlessly snap a shot from the book's milky white pages and proceed to edit the crude photograph with ease from within the phone's menus...

Can you believe it? I don't even get paid to promote that phone, yet here I am, placing it upon a pedestal for the world to embrace.

This is a Sonuva Blog. I shall now speak on Sonuva.

I've been going over the roster of characters and have decided to scrap "Nephilim"... Not because I don't like him, he's one of my favorites, but I'm finding him to be incredibly difficult to animate. He's basically wearing a body suit... which makes the division of limbs look off when he moves... You know, it's hard to explain, but take my word for it... he won't look right. Not yet at least...

But I've been concepting a replacement for him... I don't have a name for this guy yet, but here goes...

I was telling "The Keith" about my intentions to scrap Nephilim and he was a little disappointed given the fact there wouldn't be any noticeably large characters... a la "Goro" or "Zangiff". So I figured I should probably make a large character... mainly to serve as a sub-boss before you go toe to toe with Sonuva herself... I'll concept some more ideas, but I'm diggin' on this guy quite a bit... He's actually a recreated version of a villain I made up when I was little called "General Fireblood"... Whatever, I was 10, I could get away with cheesy names like that. He was basically a skull with head acne and a huge physique... needless to say, he's not an zit covered skeleton anymore. Though that's pretty awesome...

I'll keep updating on his development, in the meantime there's a few other characters whom both "The Keith" and "The Edge" (not to be mistaken with the U2 guitarist) have been concepting for me which I need to flesh out still... so much to do! On top of that, I have to complete "Leo"... I'm a busy boy.

Whistling while I work,

~ Mark

Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sonuva part XVI

So it's been a while since I've posted anything on Sonuva... I have to apologize for that, I've been busy with a 3 week contract gig which has been occupying most of my time... and wouldn't you know it, I've been going to bed early!

But sadly, this is no excuse for my lack of Sonuva Progress. So I previewed a close up of the next character I was working on... his name is Leo. I haven't done much other than his stance and punch, but here's where I'm at with him... his character is a little different than the usual roster I've been displaying (which I think has been diverse enough to date) in that he's a little lankier and doesn't look like much of a fighter... and that scarf of his is very pretty. So how is "Leo" the name of a fighter? Simple... he's named after my pet Miniature Schnauzer whom I had growing up... still not manly enough? Well, Leo's ability is that he's basically a Were-Schnauzer...

...

Yeah, I didn't expect an inspired reaction... but I'm not in this for you... unless you're willing to pay, in which case I will make him a Were-"Anything you want if it's PG-13 rated"... But nobody's paying me. So I have crazy amounts of freedom. So you're getting a killer Man/Schnauzer. I haven't animated his full transformation... that may take some time... but you'll see bits and pieces of him mutating while he fights and even while he's idle. Odds are the only full Schnauzerness you'll witness will be his finisher... which I'm planning out.

This character was a total last minute idea, and I've been putting a few other characters on hold until he's completed. In the meantime, his updates may be less progressive than most characters, so if these posts get too boring, I'll blog on a few other aspects of the game that are coming along in addition to this character... i.e. Character concepts, stage concepts, etc... I'll be attempting to post more sketches and production media of that nature.

You may view what I do have animated at the following link:

http://www.6amcomics.com/sonuva/leo/

On a side note, I checked Google Analytics today and noticed a huge increase in the amount of people viewing this blog... as well as an increase in regions... i.e. other countries, like Sweden (you rock, Sweden). What I've also noticed is that those views are aimed specifically at these Sonuva updates... so rest assured, if y'all are really taking an interest in this game, then I'll be posting more often on it until you've had your fill of Sonuva'ness. I'm hoping to have this game finished this year... I may have more of a ball park once all the animation/art work is near completion. The main issue will be getting people to help me program it... so hey, if you're interested, you know how to contact me.

(Soft Sound of Schnauzer Howling),
~ Mark


Sonuva by Mark Marianelli is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Phone Scans!

The one real downside to having a job (aside from the potential suck-factor of that job) is that you're working during the peak hours of creativity... which I believe (for the sober man at least) fall between the hours of noon and 5. Because I am working a contract gig which has me up at 5 and in bed by 10, the amount of awesomeness I'm capable of providing all you Marianelites (spell check is having a field day with that one) is incredibly limited.

I also have no access to a scanner at this job, so even if I make a sketch worth showing, it becomes a challenge to show anybody till I get home from work... and by then I don't care about my doodles. So I made a few sketches and I'm anxious to show them... my last resort? The infamous Camera Phone!! Two exclamation points so you know I mean business! <-- only one exclamation point there though.

I'm amazed at the amount of photo-editing capabilities phones have nowadays. I was able to sharpen, raise the contrast and crop this sketch in a matter of minutes... Still looks like crap cause it was taken with a camera phone, but I am obligated by unwritten law to give credit where it is due... and this phone has earned it (Samsung Impression in case you're wondering). Oh, and I drew Robocop... because I like Robocop... He's a robot... and he's a cop. He also shoots bad people and fights other robots. I'd like to see the Derry Police Department pull that last part off. Not to say they won't be ready when the robots revolt... I imagine we'll have lasers by then. And we can always use magnets if we need to... I'm pretty sure those fry circuits... they certainly did a number to those old Crapintosh computers they made us use in middle school to learn how to type... and that makes me confident, because I'm almost positive that the evil robots will be Mac Products... the Windows brand will catch colds to easily... computer colds. Like Independence Day... Jeff Goldblum will still be working for Mac... so I'm sure the MacBots will put his Alien Computer Virus skills to the test... He's dead though when they realize he's an actor.

Speaking of Aliens! What if they invaded Earth and realized everyone was a Vampire?? That would be the most epic battle of all time... why hasn't anybody done a movie about this?! Because I'd sue them for stealing my idea, that's why. Though I think the Aliens would already have some kind of UV Ray-gun to take down Dracula and his minions... but they wouldn't be invading Earth with that kind of technology, they'd have to fly back to their own planet, get the UV Ray-guns, fly BACK to Earth, which will most likely take a very long time, because I'm sure that the Vampires will have disabled their hyperdrive system during the last invasion. So when they get to Earth, the Vampires may have already evolved and no longer be allergic to the sun... Or, maybe they will have gained this ability by drinking Alien blood... Or they'll just wear Hazmat Suits when they do battle against the aliens... either way, the UV Rays will do no good and the Aliens will have to regroup on homebase AGAIN... and before you know it, there will just be this weird Roadrunner/Coyote thing going on and it'll just be goofy. I'd say Vampires win this one... unless the Aliens just decide to blow up Earth... but even then, Vampires are undead... Maybe they could live on Mars... then they could fight the DOOM demons living there... and that would be a much more balanced fight... but I'm sure it's been done before... I get no royalties on that franchise... and by then it'd be like, the 5th sequel in, and those are almost always Direct-to-DVD, and I just don't want any part of that... Nobody wants to see Jean-Claude Van Damme play a Vampire... Or do they?

I GONNA SUCKA YOU BLOOD!
~ Mark