Netherworld News

[h3]Hey Netherholics![/h3]

How are you? Spring entered the room with blossoms, and so did us with OSOM news!

LET’S OPEN THE NOSTRILS! (eyes recommended too)




YES.

YES-YES-YES. After months of negotiations, we’re happy to announce that WE SIGNED A PUBLISHING DEAL WITH SELECTAPLAY!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

For those who don’t know them (yet), SelectaPlay is the video games publishing branch of SelectaVisión, a Spanish video publishing company with a huuuge catalog of anime and live-action feature films, TV shows, and movies.

[h3]“Okay, cool!! …What does that mean?”[/h3]
Thanks to this agreement, SelectaPlay will bring us all their support and necessary resources for:

• NetherWorld’s digital and physical publishing for Nintendo Switch and PC;
  
  
• Marketing and PR support before, during and after release;
  
  
• Kickstarter rewards management (production and shipment).
  

Not bad, huh? Oh, and one more thing:

[h3]WE HAVE AN ESTIMATED RELEASE DATE![/h3]
As you may know, NetherWorld’s development will finish this year. Our intention was to release it at the end of 2024, but both the team and SelectaPlay agreed that to ensure an ideal release campaign (+ great localization, decent QA, physical edition production, etc.) the best option for the game was to move the launch date to 2025.

What hurts us the most is the delay of the release date, and we’d like to apologize for that. After all this rollercoaster of emotions called Indie Dev Life, you’ve kept showing us your support and patience, and we’re working to make this game worth the wait. Thank you

Visiting SelectaPlay’s headquarters a couple days ago!

Can’t wait to show you some of the stuff we’ve started planning with them, heheheheheheMUAHAHAHA...

Meanwhile, you can follow SelectaPlay on any of their official community channels!

• Twitter Spain
• Twitter International
• IG
• YT

2) Same Losers, New Look

Maybe you noticed a little detail in the announcement video... Nope, there are no hidden Illuminati signs (this time), but we couldn’t make such a great announcement without suiting up! Here’s our brand new logo as Hungry Pixel!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

3) Wait... Not the same losers!

OK we lied, that logo is not the only new face in town:

David Lleida has joined the team as Unity Developer to help us with the last steps of the game. He’s now focused on the remaining cinematics and ensuring everything works fine. Welcome!!

4) From Backer To NPC

As you may remember from our last update, we started the process to fulfill the long-awaited Kickstarter "Dark Soul" backer tier reward: Making their own NetherWorld NPC.

Well, we finished Phase 2 and… Here are the HD dialogue portraits!!

Wanna see the pixel art animations too? We're considering showing them in next updates or waiting until you see them ingame.

5) Scenarios

Having support on cinematics has given us the chance to keep improving details of the biggest urban areas like Gazhova and Pinksburg, such as:

• Elevator system:
  
  Why wasting money in regular elevators having an amazing manhole covers system in Gazhova’s Sewers?
  [video]https://i.imgur.com/7C4Jwgg.mp4[/video]
  
  Also, we added a manhole cover “caller” in case you get trapped in the stinky underground, as well as the possibility of calling it from the upper level.
  [video]https://i.imgur.com/LaiJM6b.mp4[/video]
  
  
• First Church Throne Room:
  
  Who sat there?
  
  
  
• Tick Joe urban entrances:
  
  We’ve placed most of the tick mounds in the cities, both with distinctive elements. We used little pipes instead of dirt mounds in Gazhova because, you know… it’s kinda hard digging in a 100% metal city.
  [video]https://i.imgur.com/MXfbk4M.mp4[/video]
  Tick mound models from Gazhova (left) and Pinksburg (right).

6) Minigames

Last update we talked about bars and Tick Joe stuff, but what about new hanky-panky stuff?

As always, our amazing artist Alex has been doing some research to find inspiration for all the specific kinks and positions listed in the game design documents. Sorry, mate.
The irony of searching NSFW content to work.


But do you know what is incredibly sexy too?
[h3]Adding NetherWorld to your Wishlist and joining this crazy journey![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/672420


[h3]Aaaaand that's it for now! How was it?[/h3]
If you have any questions or insults, please comment below or send us a mail to [email protected].


Thanks so much for your support and see you in the next devblog! :)

Hungry Pixel team

[h3]Hey Netherholics![/h3]

If you didn’t get any presents this Christmas, REEEELAX: Our special Santa has a last 2023 gift for you. LET’S UNWRAP THIS SHIT!!

“Ho-Ho-Hmmm…!”



Almost 100% of them are finished or, at least, with all buildings and assets in place for cinematics and going for a walk.

We’re talking about:

• 10 main/big/medium scenarios
  
  
• ~16 small/interiors
  
  
• and ~6 bars [for now? ( ͡ ° ͜ʖ ͡ °) ]
  

That’s regarding to walkable scenarios playing as Medoo, but it's not all: We’ve also finished the 8th Tick Joe minigame scenario (keep reading)!

Next steps: polishing details + adding illumination and particles.

[No new scenario footage because spoilers, sorry. But wait for the Tick Joe one!]




[h2]2.1) New secondary character: Dimitri[/h2]

A smelly, weirdly charming and quite talkative Industrialist who knows more than what he thinks, but less than what he says.



[h2]2.2) Sketch + HD Portraits[/h2]

NetherWorld has lots of NPCs. We mean, there’s more than 200 NPCs in the game. During these last months our talented artist Alex Fariña has been sketching most of their faces to later make the HD illustration for the dialogue portraits. That’s A LOT of work and certainly not a priority in terms of production right now, so we’ve decided to put them in stand by and prioritize other assets directly related to gameplay and cinematics.

As a small 4 people team we’d like to thank and praise the hard work of our main (and only) artist Alex for everything he’s doing for the game, dammit everything looks amazing!!

Here’s some of the pixel art idles of Gazhova NPCs…



…And here’s Dimitri running from their portrait sketches in our last Halloween video!

[video]https://i.imgur.com/zYx1xcN.mp4[/video]

Oh, and talking about NPCs…



As you may remember from our last update, we started the process to fulfill the long-awaited Kickstarter "Dark Soul" backer tier reward: Making their own NetherWorld NPC. Here’s the current design status:

• Phase 0: Backer survey to gather design ideas for each one [DONE]
  
  
• Phase 1: Pixel art design image + HD face sketch proposals [DONE]
  
  
• Phase 2: Pixel art idle animation + HD color portrait + name & nickname proposals [SENT & WAITING FOR FEEDBACK / APPROVAL]
  

We’ll show you the results once Phase 2 is completed! :)



Our boss programmer Xavi has been working hard on the final boss, which has… several phases lol. Alex has done a great work on the different attack animations too, and they’re nearly finished!



[h2]5.1) Tick Joe explores Pinksburg![/h2]

Here’s a first gameplay of Tick Joe’s Pinksburg scenario:

[video]https://i.imgur.com/Y0A9tZI.mp4[/video]

[h2]5.2) Want a drink?[/h2]

You already knew you'll be able to order a wide range of drinks depending on the bar you visit, and they will be a part of the Drinking Tournament minigame too.



But you didn't knew we'd show you a sneak peek of some of the ~50 pixel art drink designs you’ll get drunk/high/sick with!

They’ll all have an HD illustration image for the ordering UI.



We’ve had very interesting conversations recently, and hope we can give you good news about it soon! ;)



WHAT? 2024!? TOMORROW!!??

[h3]Quick, add NetherWorld to your Wishlist to have a great year![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/672420

We really hope you enjoy these last 2023 moments, and every time you feel 2024 is shitty, remember: The life of the weird jellyfish you see below will be always worse.

[video]https://i.imgur.com/yGLs5nM.mp4[/video]
And avoid cokehead mages, please



[h3]Aaaaand that's it for now! How was it?[/h3]
If you have any questions or insults, please comment below or send us a mail to [email protected].


Thanks so much for your support and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :D

Hungry Pixel team

[h3]Hey Netherholics![/h3]

We’re back from the hot season almost melt but with tons of great news too, so less BLAH BLAH and more LET’S GO!!






As you may remember from last year, IDD is one of the most important indie game development events in Spain, and last weekend we had the honor to repeat our attendance… physical stand included!



We're dead, but also super happy about all the positive feedback about the game. Thanks so much to everyone who visited our stand, organization, publishers and all the wonderful devs we met!

For those who couldn't come, here's a quick IDD23's recap!

[video]https://i.imgur.com/APYCd6E.mp4[/video]
We were selling exclusive “drunk Medoo” keychains too! Want one? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)




Having a stand at such big event meant preaching how good was being puked by a giant Worm God while watching visitors being kicked by bosses, but also meeting cool publishers that could be interested in the game.

That’s why during the last month we’ve been working on two demos: a stand-visitor one (with bosses and Tick Joe's minigame), and a publisher one (with story content too).

You guys seemed to enjoy (and suffer) the public demo!



Besides discovering new minor bugs in the bosses, we also noted down all your feedback. Inputs like increasing Medoo's visibility in dark scenarios and improving the "You need to reload, dude" visual feedback will be fixed for the final game for sure. Thank you!




There’s a lot to tell but unfortunately less to show (because spoilers). However, here’s everything Alex has been working on these months!

• Pinksburg building interiors: Two-level club, crappy bar.
  
  
• Pinksburg Church final assets, including:
  
  >> A medium scenario with 5 rooms to explore.
  
  A tiny part of Pinksburg Church main hall! (WIP)
  
  
  >> +20 NPC designs, and even a new secondary character! (more info soon)
  
  
• Final scenario: First designs and basic assets placement.
  
  
• New characters HD portrait designs.

As mentioned in the last update, our favorite music duo Rogue Sonics recently sent us brand new sfx for one of the fights people had the chance to try playing the demo at the event, and also a couple of tracks related to NetherWorld’s capital: Pinksburg and Boss #9. Aaargh can’t wait for you to listen to them!!




[h2]5.1) Script[/h2]

First draft of the whole script is at 96% now! Luckily, our script integration system allows us to keep creating cinematics regardless the scene has final dialogues or not, so it’s great for avoiding bottlenecks.

[h2]5.2) 2nd half progress[/h2]

With the 60% of the game fully playable and with no critical bugs, our awesome programmer Dan is going at full throttle with the cinematics of the remaining 40%. Our main goal is to have them ready + a fully playable beta version of NetherWorld for Christmas aprox.

• Bosses: Xavi polished #6 & #9 for the demos, as well as making progresses with the Final Boss.
  
  
• General performance optimization (triggers, AudioPlayer), especially for Nintendo Switch. And yes: we've been running the game in both dock and portable modes!
  
  [video]https://i.imgur.com/gXymf5a.mp4[/video]
  NetherWorld looks great on portable...
  
  ...and on Switch dock too!
  
  
  
• Polishing minor bugs on implemented systems, like:
  
  >> Interactable objects
  
  >> Combat cinematics (No shooting while talking, Medoo!)
  
  >> Inventory UI
  Now you can read item names without going blind!
  
  
  
  
• Cute new detail:
  Every time Medoo dies, the weapon he’s holding will fall off (yes, we love highlighting drama).
  
  [video]https://i.imgur.com/ao8USox.mp4[/video]
  
  
• We also programmed Fisherman’s fishing rod!
  So he can fish… anything we want! (probably everything but fish)
  
  [video]https://i.imgur.com/P7TNFyI.mp4[/video]
  
  
• Made some internal tweaks to sex minigame too.
  Now it better adapts to Medoo’s plot situation (not gonna elaborate on that).
  

In case you didn't know, one of our Kickstarter rewards for "Dark Soul" tier backers and above was called “You as NPC”.

Well, the time has come: In the following weeks, we'll send them a form so they can help us creating their own NPCs for the game!


Not a "Dark Soul" backer? Don't worry, we know you have a dark soul anyway, so you can help us too...

[h3]...adding NetherWorld to your Wishlist and joining this crazy journey![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/672420


[h3]Aaaaand that's it for now! How was it?[/h3]
If you have any questions or insults, please comment below or send us a mail to [email protected].


Thanks so much for your support and see you in the next devblog... Or event! ;)

Hungry Pixel team

[h3]Hey Netherholics![/h3]

How are you? Since our last update we’ve been quite low-profile on Twitter and other social media because we’re reaching game content we don’t wanna spoil. However, our quarterly updates are SACRED, so we’ll tell & show you everything we can. LET’S GO!



[h2]1.1) The too-religiously-invested organic cyberpunk capital[/h2]

We’ve spent nearly 2 months crafting Pinksburg, one of the biggest scenarios of the game.
We prefer waiting a bit more to show you Medoo getting lost in it, but most of its weird buildings are ready, so... Check out some of its designs!

Some Pinksburg buildings without neon signs. Quite huge!


We have lots of NPCs too, especially the first designs of The Mofia*: an organization that rules the city in the shadows. What are they up to?

*Any resemblance to other criminal organizations called “Mafia” is pure coincidence. They're mabs, not mobs!


We’re currently working on some interior scenarios like a bar, an office, a two-level club, a hotel suite, Pinksburg Church (a new scenario inside the scenario) and more!

Once we finish the interiors and implement the upper level elevators, we’ll add all the crazy neon signs and light effects everywhere.

[video]https://i.imgur.com/m5Sugl6.mp4[/video]
Alpha light test for an elevator!


[h2]1.2) Back to Gas City![/h2]

Gazhova exterior surface is finished, but there’s still some interiors to finish. We also improved Sewers’ underground level parallax, adding depth and some metal bridges so you can cross toxic acid rivers without harm.

[video]https://i.imgur.com/5TDrmvb.mp4[/video]
Smelly jelly > Skelly jelly

What's next for Gazhova? Implementing the elevator system that connects Surface and Sewers levels (after Pinksburg).




Thanks to Xavi, there’s only one last big boss to make… Yes, you guessed well: The Final Boss!!
After several weeks of design meetings to ensure the most epic and complete fight of the game, we’re glad to announce that Boss #12 is starting production next week! Any guesses?




We found some time to improve our demo for future physical events too (don’t ask how, we don’t even know). Can’t confirm any yet but our intention is to be in 2 events this year!

Preparing this new demo allowed us to fix some unexpected critical bugs like:

• Some Tick Joe’s enemies trapped in walls.
  
  [video]https://i.imgur.com/NUgvZc6.mp4[/video]
  This bug only appeared to Albert in almost every run. However, every time he wanted to film it with the screen recorder, it disappeared. He finally recorded it with the phone to prove he wasn't crazy.
  
  
• Weird object breakability physics in Boss #4 (“Protect the milky creature”).
  
  
• Phase 2 transition errors in Boss #9 (“Blue Fire Armor").

Keeping a low profile in social media (and answering mails a bit later, sorry!) has allowed us to focus on writing at full throttle. The first version of the script is at 80% now, and our goal is to complete it by the end of June.

This way we’ll have all the summer to rewrite, cut filler and polish to achieve the *cheff kiss* level (or trying it at least).




Meanwhile, Rogue Sonics have been on fire composing and producing a couple boss themes (#7 & #9) and the drinking minigame track since January. They recently started with Boss 9 SFX and Pinskburg main theme too. Still on the works, but can’t wait to listen to it!

[video]https://i.imgur.com/q4z0hjv.mp4[/video]




We haven’t stopped sending pitches to publishers we think NetherWorld could fit in their catalog, but for now we haven’t been lucky. However, we truly believe in our project and we’ll fight until last minute to find a partner that can make NetherWorld launch easier and reach as many people as possible.

Do you know any publisher that would be interested in NetherWorld? We're all ears!
If not, you can do something too:

[h3]Add NetherWorld to your Wishlist and be a part of this crazy journey![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/672420


[h3]Aaaaand that's it for now! How was it?[/h3]
If you have any questions or insults, please comment below or send us a mail to [email protected].


Thanks so much for your support and see you in the next devblog! :)

Hungry Pixel team

[h3]Hey Netherholics![/h3]

It’s us, or did February pass faster than January? Anyway, how’s 2023 going?

[h3]THIS HAS BEEN OURS SO FAR:[/h3]



As scheduled in our last update, Boss #10 is finished! There’s still visual stuff and minor bugs to polish, but we’re happy with the results. This time we’ve decided not showing screenshots (sorry! v.v), but for now let’s say it’s… a drug lord. (͠≖ ͜ʖ͠≖)

So… Only 2 bosses ahead now!
In the following months we’ll be discussing Boss #12's design. It’s the final one and we want to make sure it’s EPIC!

Hope we can tell (& show) you more soon without spoilers!




[h2]2.1) Map location[/h2]

Can’t show footage yet, but now you can see your location in the map! It will also change during the story while unlocking the different worms and discovering where the heck they lead to.


[h2]2.2) Minigame rewards[/h2]

Every time you finish a minigame, you’ll obtain items, money or both. Our idea was items to pop up, and money to rain on you or going towards you. Visuals still WIP, but it works!

[video]https://i.imgur.com/WyVMmDD.mp4[/video]
While testing it, we had the great idea of setting a 3k coins reward. 2 minutes later, Medoo was still under the golden shower lol




[h2]3.1) Gas City[/h2]

Gazhova is 95% done, as well as all its NPCs placed! In the following weeks we’ll start building all the in-game cinematics and dialogues, and also making sure everything (quests, minigames, NPCs, main story) works and looks cool.

[video]https://i.imgur.com/BiIx2T0.mp4[/video]
Hanging around at Ikarov's sewer bar! (Visuals not final)


[h2]3.2) Building the Capital![/h2]

While our programmer Dan is focused on Gazhova, this March our artist Alex will be on fire with the last big scenario: Pinksburg. It will be the 8th scenario of the game, and NetherWorld's capital.

How will it look like? Any guesses? Can’t wait to show you concepts and building designs in the coming updates!




In the last 3 months we’ve been a bit less active on Social media (e.g. Twitter) and even slowed down NetherWorld’s development a bit to deal with our Boss #13: Paperwork.

[video]https://i.imgur.com/Mb5yUZf.mp4[/video]

The chance of a publisher agreement or just selling our game as a set up studio has demanded our attention, implying business & economic plans and budgets considering all the possible scenarios.

As a small indie team with very limited resources, we’d like to thank Barcelona Activa for their free assessment in business creation and financial stuff to avoid jail and bankruptcy in the future :')




[h2]5.1) Unblocking Part 1[/h2]

It’s taking more time than expected, but we continue working to make sure the first 60% of the game (main and secondary content) is fully playable without any critical or major bugs. It’s a kinda slow process but we’re getting closer to the finish line!

[video]https://i.imgur.com/BtdZLuw.mp4[/video]


[h2]5.2) Writing Part 2[/h2]

Not gonna lie: Writing a script while handling other necessary tasks is hard, and burnout ghosts are there. However, having all the scenes planned makes us confident and glad about the direction the script is going.

[video]https://i.imgur.com/9dNf3Sl.mp4[/video]


[h2]5.3) WANTED: Publishers[/h2]

We haven’t stopped sending pitches and scheduling meetings. If you know any publishers that may be interested in NetherWorld, make them know!


[h2]5.4) WANTED: You[/h2]
Our sensors detected in your eyes a high amount of WISH to play the game, but... Is it in the LIST? Help us and add it below! (Thanks

https://store.steampowered.com/app/672420

[h3]Aaaaand that's it for now! How was it?[/h3]
If you have any questions or insults, please comment below or send us a mail to [email protected].


Thanks so much for your support and see you in the next devblog! :)

Hungry Pixel team