Subverse News

Dear Subverse and StudioFOW Fans,

We’re happy to share some good news for you this month. As promised, development did ramp up and we started the year in good form. In fact, the next update for the game will have not 2, not 3, not 4 but all 5 remaining devotion quests going live at the same time!

HUNTRESS
Travel to the over-exploited homeworld of the mawsus which is currently experiencing an ecological disaster of sorts. Help the Huntress take revenge on Hackdivision Corp, led by their nefarious CEO Slobby Nodick. Partake in an underwater battle for the first time in Subverse’s history and save our beloved squidgirl’s planet!

TARON
Taron wants to open up the greatest museum of smutty artifacts in all of Prodigium – the Smithsbonian! Help Taron “extract” some rare sex toys from one of the most closely guarded Imperium vaults in all of the galaxy. Engage in a dogfight with her old squadmates as the fate of the Smithsbonian hangs in the balance!

SOVA
Sova’s on the hunt for one of the rarest forms of liquor in the universe – Rusty Rim’s Cornhole Moonshine! Join her on an epic adventure to track down one of the last few remaining bottles of this deadly concoction from the bowels of Nu Vegas.

ELA
Ela wants to reward all her fans with the greatest masterpiece of her career, and she enlists you to help organize (and participate) in the event! Join her across a nebula-trotting journey as she makes her way towards the infamous Hotel Clitz!

BLYTHE
This quest is just too crazy to even describe, and I don’t want to spoil anything. I will just say LOVERS OF LORE, HERE WE GO

Update 0.9.0 is scheduled for the end of March, so you don’t have to wait too long for all the goodness!

Here’s the specifics of what the team have been working on this month


[h2]ANIMATION[/h2]
[h3]Moneyshot[/h3]
I’m back channeling my inner dommy mommy, and she wants her revenge fuck badly..!

Sometimes ones specialty can help set the reference and pace of the rest of the shots for other animators to assist. So with my aid, they can also find their inner dommy mommies and create a spectacular cinematic for you to witness.



[h3]Manski[/h3]
Working on the 1.0 release cinematics continues on the animation front, lighting, VFX, fluids and even some emergency rendering.



[h3]Massimo Decimo Meridio[/h3]
This past month, I have been working on several cinematics and boss Space Combat animations! A surprise for all of you is ready to be released!
I enjoyed so much every task I have been assigned to and I am ready to pleasure you with a new great piece of animation regarding Taron ;)



[h3]Yagskie[/h3]
For this month, I’m working on some catgirl content! Enjoy this intimate moment with the Captain!



[h3]Mendez[/h3]
Hard at work on polishing up the devotion quest cinematics, so lots of lewd dirty work for you all to enjoy when it’s released. Here’s a little teaser for Ela’s latest shenanigans.




[h2]PROGRAMMING[/h2]
[h3]Hungry JJ[/h3]
Hello,

Since the last post, I have continued developing the remaining devotion quests. I managed to tackle a few combat missions and more interactive sequences. I enjoyed working on these devotion quests and the former as each quest has its own unique environment and gameplay. Usually there is something about each one that catches me off guard story wise that generate creative ways to develop the game. Getting 5 out at once is a big ask, but I’m glad we’re on track.


[h3]Samantha Flowers[/h3]
Hello everyone,

I’m reaching the final stretch of my tasks on the visual novel scenes for the devotion quests! Blythe’s quest has been a very fun creative challenge. Lots of new lighting effects, one in particular is rather psychedelic! Thanks, Dallick!

I also got to fulfill some casting director related tasks this month; it’s always a treat when the VA’s are eager to assist me in fulfilling the smaller side roles that appear throughout these quests. Making sure these bit parts sound great is an important part of the process of making the Mary Celeste crew shine.



[h3]Billy Grande[/h3]
This month my journey through revamping Prodigium’s hundreds of event planets has concluded, and I’ve been working on rebalancing some Grid Combat aspects that needed some extra care.


[h2]ART & MODELING[/h2]
[h3]WTX[/h3]
Though this month I mostly focused on the waifu outfits (which I don’t want to spoil just yet) I also go to set up a couple more cinematic environments, some of which were built earlier in development and needed a few touch up and tweaks before their in-game reveal.




[h3]ErinTheSketchy[/h3]
Hi guys!
So, I've made that cinematic and now Sova is ready to explode. I'm under the desk now, just in case. I think I'll stay here for a while hehe bye now.





See you next month!

Bis bald,
Till Eulenspiegel

Dear Fans,

We enter a new year full of new challenges, and the team is eager and rested to take them on!

[h2]ANIMATION[/h2]

The animation team took some time out this month to do some much-needed promo work. We felt it was healthy for them to have a change of pace and work on something a bit more challenging on a creative level, after the constant grind of DQ scenes. They will return to finish off the remaining cinematics next month, and we anticipate them to complete all work on the game in the summer. There will be some exciting news in the future as we near this date, so please keep an eye on the studio’s discord!

-DC



[h2]PROGRAMMING[/h2]
[h3]Hungry JJ[/h3]
Hello,

Recently, I have been focusing on Sova’s final combat mission and Taron’s adventure sequence. Sova’s combat mission will have a unique enemy type to interact with and Taron’s sequence will showcase the environment more than the previous clickable sequences have.



[h3]Samantha Flowers[/h3]
Hello everyone,

As usual, it has been a busy month for me, but even more so than usual! As I steadily apply the SFX for the cinematics that roll in, I’ve also been working on polishing the visual novel segments of the upcoming devotion quests as much as I can. Small details, like making sure the characters' eyelines are pointed at one another, can go a long way!

Also, because I’ve wanted each devotion quest to feel more personal/unique to each character, I’ve still been carefully selecting new music tracks that would speak well to each storyline. By the end of it, I imagine the jukebox is going to look quite full…

Another interesting task, I got to write some fun new dialogue for my favorite nikith, Taron! (Milly, I apologize in advance!) You’ll all hear it once you complete her “heist”!

…Last but not least, SOVA HAS 14 MINUTES WORTH OF SPOKEN DIALOGUE FOR HER DQ!?





[h3]Billy Grande[/h3]

Wishing a Happy New Year to all, full of Subverse! Besides working out the combat mechanics for the upcoming Devotion Quests, I’m continuing my spaceship trip through the Nebulas, visiting the Event Planets and assessing what our crew could do to assist.



[h2]ART & MODELING[/h2]
[h3]WTX[/h3]

Starting off the new year by modelling yet another waifu outfit, this time using Taron as a base model.



[h3]ErinTheSketchy[/h3]

Hi everyone, happy new year!
This was another creative month, working on graphics, storytelling material and more. A lot of things are happening behind the scenes and, let me tell you, the team is all fired up!
Here is a glimpse of what's coming soon.



[h3]Tibor[/h3]
Hello, this is Tibor.

The last few months was a gradual intensifying and isolated work - isolated, as not in prison for creating obscene adult material for innocent computer users, but isolation from a task allocation viewpoint - the tasks are mainly related to the C++ source base.

• Performed work that relates to users' experience, execution time, module loading, event management, video compression and many other more, relatively low level tasks.
  
• Work on a massive game-play improvement by finalizing and integrating the Devotion Meter.
  
• Added a new, well tested, industry standard event management library to decouple currently interconnected modules and fix several very problematic reference hell originated problems.
  
• Fixing issues from the codebase that create bottlenecks both at development and runtime.
  
• Ongoing work on scalability and extendibility that required further fixes. That means we shall have the ability to release free add-ons such as clothes, language packs, etc. following release 1.0.
  
• Restructure the whole code base and refactor our Software Bus implementation, so all the above can happen in more efficient manner.
  
• Fixing bugs.
  
• Finally rolling out a frontend & backend system (Streemster) that will allow us to serve our less fortunate German, South Korean, etc. users who are unable to obtain Subverse via any other commercial channel.
  

We are entering the final phase of the software development and project. The work ahead of us is exciting and professionally fulfilling. Thanks again very much for your support that makes it possible we can deliver this project.

In the meantime, you can still buy or send as a gift the game for the reduced Early Access price. The final, 1.0 version of Subverse will be a greatly improved gaming experience and a transformed game compared to the current form. The price of 1.0 will be a lot higher. Early Access buyers will have access to that improved game too, by default. .

More info, design and technical content will be at my blog more frequently as we are entering the final phase of the project.

Take care all and talk soon!

Tibor


See you next month!

Bis bald,
Till Eulenspiegel

Dear Fans,

We hope you’ve had a great holiday season! Here’s what the team has been working on this past month.

[h2]ANIMATION[/h2]
[h3]Moneyshot[/h3]
I am finally crafting my magnum opus.
I will need to be left alone in my basement and only resurface once it is complete.

Send no help.



[h3]Manski[/h3]
I’ve been primarily working on re-lighting some upcoming sex scenes but I can’t show spoilers, so my screenshots may be boring. My tasks have also been about adding visual effects, fluids and other details to help the remaining clips come alive. Lastly, I’ve also been tweaking animations, fixing clipping and animating lipsync.



[h3]Massimo Decimo Meridio[/h3]
Well, first of all, you must know that I am REALLY excited to compile this DevDiary!
I’ve been working no stop on Cinematics BUUUUT (guys it’s BUT - not BUTT) I found some extra time to delight you with a couple of new Pandora animations including a character that for sure will drive all of you crazy ;)
Im keeping the mystery, like always, yes, because I am bastard inside XD
but I’ll give you some tips, I hope you’ll find them useful…

- Everything I write has reason to be written, so read carefully and between the lines, even if it looks empty xD -

In the first picture, all I can tell you, and it’s already a lot, is that… Yeah… There are tentacles and wings…



[h3]Yagskie[/h3]
Finally done animating some bonus extra stuff with Killi! Here are some of the screenshots. And most of all, Happy Holidays everyone!



[h3]Mendez[/h3]
Having finished up Taron’s devotion cinematic, I’ve been getting set up for some exciting new tasks. Before that gets off the ground though, I’ve moved to start up on Ela’s devotion cinematic, which has some interesting stylistic hooks that I’m looking forward to working with.

Looking forward to being able to talk more. I think you’re all going to like it.



[h2]PROGRAMMING[/h2]
[h3]Hungry JJ[/h3]
Hello,

After the recent update, I got started working on the next set of devotion quests. We are shooting for 3 devotion quest in the next release but depending on how things progress we will release another 2 characters again. So far, the flow of the devotion quest has been configured and I am now currently working on Taron’s space combat mission.



[h3]Samantha Flowers[/h3]
Hello everyone,

Though the holidays are quickly moving upon us, we remain vigilant and busy on these devotion quests! I’ve been re-recording the SFW portions of Sova’s quest (the original files were from 2020 and absolutely not up to current par), as well as working on creating hundreds of new VO events in FMOD, spanning across 3 different devotion quests. It’s important I build the necessary sound libraries very early on in the development of any given quest, so that other team members can reference them and build upon their own tasks that require them. This also gives us more time to make changes and to solve potential problems, such as a mission feeling too long or too short in a test run.

Also, not to be overlooked, more cinematic SFX design! A little bit of space ship flybys, a little bit of sex, all very Subverse.





[h3]Billy Grande[/h3]

Once again, you will find me working on the boss fight mechanics for the upcoming Devotion Quests, as well as the concepts for the interactive sequence sections in them.



[h2]ART & MODELING[/h2]
[h3]WTX[/h3]
This month I’ve been busy on few different tasks, helping out the team with specific model tweaks and refinements, as well as doing some material and texture work that'll come in handy in the future.

I also go to revisit this fancy hotel room that I’ve put together no too long ago and make it, well… considerably less fancy.




[h3]ErinTheSketchy[/h3]
Setting the pace for the upcoming content, already working on one slideshow cinematic -which is too early to show- and various graphics.




See you next month!

Bis bald,
Till Eulenspiegel

DEVOTION QUEST – KILLI
If your devotion level is high enough, you can talk to Killi onboard the Mary Celeste’s bar and initiate her devotion quest.
DEVOTION QUEST – FORTUNE
If your devotion level is high enough, you can talk to Fortune onboard the Mary Celeste’s bridge and initiate her devotion quest.

• Updated Killi’s equipable “Crimson Cuntbeards Patch” stats. Now increases damage and mobility but reduces armor.
  

• Fixed issue where Killi’s equipable “Crimson Cuntbeards Patch” could cause her primary attack to not work.
  

• Devotion Quest dialogue sections currently are listed under Sidequest with the Intro/Outro tags when replaying archives from the Captain’s Quarters.
  
• VFX Poison sometimes lingers after the unit who had it is destroyed in Grid Combat.
  
• Some instances of speech bubble VO still playing during the end mission screen.
  
• Not all anomalies in Navigation update visually after a specific event takes place. WIP.
  
• Clipping issues during dialogue sections for some newly introduced characters in Fortune’s release.
  
• Some characters' animation pose transitions are not in place yet during dialogue sections for this release.
  
• If multiple enemies are stunned, when it is their turn, the arrow above their head still renders even after their turn has passed in Grid Combat.
  
• Visual bug, when a mantic reaches max level of 40 a white icon will appear the first time you enter the lab, as if there were more levels but goes away after selecting another mantic.
  
• Mission log filter inconsistency if you filter out finished missions, then filter out on Nebula’s, the filtered Finished missions will be in the list again.
  
• Waifus active, passive and ultimate icons do not always render in the same order from Locker room to selection screen.
  
• Visual bug, unlockable abilities/passives not showing up or showing as locked in the Laboratory or Selection screen after the character has reached required level (some known characters Napholeon & Chodestool passed level 30).
  
• Character upgrades based on level are not fully implemented for all characters.
  
• Imperium’s Shocktrooper Purify status remains on character after Shocktrooper is killed.
  
• Visual bug, if a unit has shield and armor and receives damage while the preview damage animation is happening on the health bars, there’s a chance it will show shield or armor remaining on the bar when there is not after the attack (In most cases remaining shield but in the character info it will show zero shield as intended).
  
• Alt-Tabbing potentially can cause the game to crash, especially during areas of the game where high loads take place.
  
• Report stating Rekall's passive can cause a softlock if an enemy counters with low health and dies from Rekall’s passive.
  
• Low texture resolution rendering for some users during dialogue sequences throughout the game.
  
• Some users reported odd textures when loading Ela and Taron in PANDORA and Gallery.
  
• Framerate drop can cause Mary Celeste to shoot out of the jump-gate in Navigation.
  
• Bridge projector fails to update the color scheme throughout Mary Celeste consistently.
  
• Physics on dangling pieces such as tentacles or hair (i.e. Huntress or Killi) may clip through the character's body or rapidly vibrate during dialog sequences.
  
• Yellow/White screen flashing artifact during space combat when using the FXAA aliasing method. Most likely due to the lens flare and or high bloom values.
  
• On rare occasions, an unintentional song plays during some areas of the game.
  
• On rare occasions, clicking the ‘Help’ button in the dialogue section of the game can remove the help text but can't be re-enabled until restarting or starting a new scene.
  
• Potential stuttering when playing back cinematics for some systems. Note there is an option to disable 4k videos from the graphics tab under settings. This has improved performance for some users.
  
• Reports of performance issues on some Space Combat random scenario maps.
  
• Animation in You’re Mine Now scene needs finalizing.
  
• Replay icons and navigation icon concepts are a work in progress, inconsistencies are known.
  
• Completion percentage counters in Navigation are a WIP and may have some inconsistencies.
  

• Grid Combat equipables are currently disabled during devotion quest.
  

Dear Fans,

Here are the latest diary entries from the team as we head into a busy holiday season. We are aiming to release the next update with a target of 12th December.


[h2]ANIMATION[/h2]
[h3]Moneyshot[/h3]
What you’re seeing here, apart from naked Killi, is the physics asset for her.

A few particular scenes involved clothing, not shown to avoid spoilers, and they were creating the greatest headache of this year for me. I believe I have mentioned a lot of the time as an animator, you find workarounds when something doesn’t turn out the right way.
Clothing physics needs to settle down for a few moments before render, since they start from their originally modelled position. So in this case she was bent over making the clothing reach high above her. But the clothing needed to rest on her back. With the huge cylinder sticking up in the air, the clothing could safely slide down onto the back and not down to her feet, hiding her treasure.



[h3]Manski[/h3]
This week I'm working on a couple of safe for work cinematics in the distant reaches of the Prodigium Galaxy.



[h3]Massimo Decimo Meridio[/h3]
This last month I’ve been working entirely on Cinematics!
I’ve been switching between Lily, Killy aaaaand Demi, which is giving me a lot of fun while animating her!
I won’t be too detailed about it 😏
I’m not feeling particularly bad anyway 😂 so I’ll let you admire a couple of pics! What’s happening in there? Well, keep your imagination high!




[h3]Yagskie[/h3]
For this month’s diary, I finished animation on Killi’s devotion quest. She and the captain were having fun inside a room full of treasure!



[h3]Mendez[/h3]
This month has seen the start of Taron's devotion quest cinematic begin in full. Once more, I can't share much about it due to potential spoilers but I think it's shaping up to be pretty intense and fun!
Also, pin-up work continues at a steady pace and I've started working on the images for Killi now.




[h2]PROGRAMMING[/h2]
[h3]Hungry JJ[/h3]
Hello,

This past month has been busy with all the new things added to the next devotion quest release. I managed to complete the mini space combat mission discussed in the last post as well as the Grid Combat mission. The Grid Combat mission has a mini faction based on an existing faction which will have some new attacks. Currently I am tackling the last clickable scene for Fortune and there are lots of bright lights!



[h3]Samantha Flowers[/h3]
Hello everyone,

Recently I've been getting to do what I do best, which is collaborate with the VAs on some freshly recorded content. Our beloved Captain, Steve Hamm, has returned to the booth for a very tender scene with the Huntress- a piece of her devotion quest that got revised along the way in development, since we decided the original script wasn't warm enough.

I myself have also just finished recording for Sova’s audiotape content and her devotion cinematic! Time for some 🎵riiiicolaaaaa🎶



[h3]BillyGrande[/h3]
A very productive month for me, as I keep working through the changes in the Event Planets system, as well as giving the enemies not only their skillsets... but a voice as well? Well, at least one of them.




[h2]ART & MODELING[/h2]
[h3]WTX[/h3]
This month I got to work on another outfit concept: the classic virgin-killer sweater. It was quite fun to make and honestly a bit more challenging than I initially thought. In the end I think it turned out great.




[h3]ErinTheSketchy[/h3]
Another creative month for me too. One of my favorite parts is that I keep working on the new outfits, like the one WTX presented the previous month. If you are curious about the background work behind the amazing modeling, here is a part of the direction sheet for the outfit currently in development, and more specifically the color exploration.






See you next month!

Bis bald,
Till Eulenspiegel