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Skoops

Concept Artist

Taiwan

Joined on 6/11/20

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Skoops's News

Posted by Skoops - October 26th, 2023


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MY GOODNESS. MY GOSH. JEEPERS CREEPERS.

It finally happened. My days and years of counting single digit hundos is at an end, as I now enter a new era of counting 4-digit numbers. I ain't never had this many people follow me anydangwhere, so to me, this is a big deal and I'm very happy. I'm glad Newgrounds is the place I first got the Quite Sizeable Thou. I know there are people out there with hundreds of thous, sometimes whole-hog mil'yuns out on those algorithm-based netzones, but each one I got here feels like I really had to earn it, ya know? These are higher quality, premium follows. Real grade-A stuff.


Big thanks to alls y'alls for liking my stuff, promoting it, saying nice stuff and such. This was a big year where I started taking game dev on my own time a lot more seriously, and I'm hoping that's gonna pan out to something I can do more of consistently. I have a lot of hopes and plans for Waha, and getting those done faster is gonna depend on me keeping up my momentum. Sooooo, no time for laurel-resting! I'm finishing up my Witchtober prompts this month and I'll be participating in the Sweet Sixteen Comic Contest, so keep a look out for that. Will a 2nd Thou come my way one of these days? I'm shootin' fer it!


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Posted by Skoops - September 14th, 2023


ALLO ALLO AGAIN!

So in case you missed it, Waha's Robot Daze did pretty well! At the time of writing this, we're near 8k views after just a couple weeks, we were featured at one of the best games of August, and we freakin' won Robot Day, baybeee! Wooo! Big thanks to everyone who played the game and said nice things; it's been a pretty great project so far and we're not even close to done with it; more on that in a bit.


We've added an ARCADE MODE to Robot Daze, which is 50 puzzle rounds, back to back. If you want to just get to the action, that's the option to choose. It starts easy, but it ends more difficult than anything in the main story campaign towards the end, so even if you've played before, new challenges await you! Check em out why don't ya.


Nine Hundo: Getted

Normally I'd make a post just for this, but thanks to the game, I've hit the More Sizeable Nine Hundo in followers! Yowza! Hachi Machi! Now that's what I call a lot (nine) of hundos! Thanks to everyone that's stuck with me this year. I didn't post as much as last year, but there's still time, with all those october drawing challenges coming up.


About Unity and the future of Waha Games

On a more serious note, I think it's worth talking about recent news regarding Unity's sudden and extremely unpopular decision to begin charging what they're calling a "runtime fee" to developers that cross a certain threshold of revenue and installs. We're not making any money from Robot Daze and we're not anywhere near meeting the 200k threshold on installs (though it seems that a WebGL game getting loaded in-browser does in fact count as one). This decision, if it isn't reversed, will affect midsize studios most, which we are not. That said, when a company expresses its desire to use bait and switch tactics to rob its userbase, using metrics that I'm not sure they can even legally collect or can be reasonably verified, it doesn't matter if we're the ones getting boned this time. The fact of the matter is that Unity is a shady company run by bad people. They're partnered with a major spyware developer, their CEO is the same guy responsible for dragging EA down into the microtransaction muck, and as a member of the Taiwanese game dev scene, it's especially problematic for me how often and how zealously Unity carries water for the Chinese government at our expense. There was no goodwill or trust there to begin with, and now that they're showing how far they'll go to cheat their users, they've gained a negative trust. I trust that if we continue to use this engine, they will get around to holding our projects hostage and scamming us, too. It might not be today or tomorrow, but they're going to do it.


For all of my professional life, I've had no choice but to use Unity since it is (or was) the engine of choice for indie studios for well over a decade now. As a consequence, it's what we're most familiar with, and that's why Robot Daze was made using it. Not because it was the best engine, just because it's the one we knew best. We built the game with the intention of using the framework to make more games, and so this puts us in a bit of a conundrum. It might be wise for us to port everything to Godot, (something easier said than done) sooner rather than later, so that we don't have to worry about some company swooping in and literally making it too risky to try selling one of our games someday. I don't have anything solid to report yet, but it's something we're talking about. There are over 200 animations in Robot Daze that I'm pretty sure need to be redone by hand, but if it will wash our hands of Unity once and for all, I'm willing to do it. This does mean that our plans for Part 2 might be delayed, though. Nobody's been banging my door down asking when it'll be out, but I might have made it sound like it was gonna be easier to make than part 1, and now I've got no idea. Sorry about that.


Hopefully the next update will have better news. Til then!


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Posted by Skoops - August 26th, 2023


OH GOODNESS

It's here! On Robot Day, no less! The first installment of this two-parter can be played RIGHT THE HECK NOW.


Here's a peek, but it's better to just go ahead and play it, yeah?

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This is the biggest undertaking I've done on Newgrounds so far, but I have a feeling the next one's gonna be biggerer and betterer; lots of stuff to add, things to do. But for now, I'm gonna sleep! It's 5AM here and I've just pulled my 3rd all-nighter in two weeks.


Have fun, youse guys~


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Posted by Skoops - August 3rd, 2023


Yup, I said it.

I wrote a script, we're making a game to fit that script, the goal was to make a roughly 30 minute game, and now there's just too much stuff for it all to fit that time frame. OOPS!


So, that left us with a couple options: We could cut the script down and just have less things happen (NOOOO! NOOO, MY BABY! THAT'S MY BABY!) or we could pick a spot in the middle, make that the end of a "Part 1," polish that up best we can for Robot Day, then drop a Part 2 a little later (YOU'VE CUT MY BABY IN HALF YOU SOLOMON-LOOKIN' JERK but at least it's two full halves...)


So we went with the 2nd option. I'm not sure if we're gonna release them separately or announce an update that merges the parts into one, but regardless, we're discussing ways to make Part 2 cooler, incorporate feedback (if it's good) add some of the features we didn't have time for in Part 1, so we can at least justify to ourselves why we're making it two parts instead of one. This might (might) be how we learn the best way to release more multi-chapter games in relatively short succession. Please speculate wildly amongst yourselves about what I could possibly mean by that.


The art side is kind of in that nuts and bolts phase where the stuff isn't super interesting: UI stuff, tweaking tilesets, that sort of thing. I'm still out there adding portraits every now and then, though, as needed.

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Oh yeah, and a Title Screen. And a title! We're following the naming convention of [thing the game is about] [state of mind], adding "Waha's" to the beginning, and with consideration for our target release date, we settled on "Waha's Robot Daze." ...Get it? Do you get it?

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Well, that's the update about the planning and art side of things, but I've strung y'all along for long enough without talking about the game itself and showing at least a little bit of it.


As hardcore Waha fans all know, one of our heroine's defining characteristics is picking stuff up and putting stuff down. That's all I ever hear people talking about: "when will Waha pick up things next? What kind of picking up can we expect? Talk to us about lifting and setting down of objects-" enough already! We've heard your endless demands, and can confirm that lifting and setting down stuff is key to the game. But how will it work?


The game is split into a few different parts: the primary gameplay will be hybrid platformer and falling block puzzles that take place in standard 7x11 tile rooms. You might be tempted to assume we took inspiration from an old game for old systems that hasn't had a remake or even a real unambiguous spiritual successor since the mid 90s. Which game? Can't say. Even if I knew what you're talking about, which I certainly don't, I wouldn't name it out of fear of a particular company sending pinkertons to my home to throw me in a windowless van and drive me to a black site where I'm never seen again.

...It looks cool though, yeah? The level art, I mean.

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Where we're departing from familiar territory is taking those base mechanics and adding more free-form segments that connect standard levels together. This kind of thing will start out simple, and hopefully add challenges that use the base mechanics in novel ways.

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And, of course, we have characters and dialogue and a plot that other games of this type typically don't. We're at a point now where I think the last teaser I'll write will be using game-ready content, after which point, I won't need to tease it anymore, because it'll be out! That's the plan, anyway - I refuse to jinx it.


Much love, talk to ya reeeeeal soon~


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12

Posted by Skoops - July 13th, 2023


HEY YOUSE GUYS

We're still chugging along! Summertime is always a little hectic, but we've all been chipping away at the stuff that's left to be done. As far as story goes, it's been an easy one to write for so far; the main challenge is keeping it short. As much as I think you could have hours and hours of fun with this thing, I also know most people don't really settle in for long-form media on NG all that often. The good thing is, if you like it, it's not too hard to expand on stuff, at least from a writing perspective. I've gotten my hands on our level editor, and from what I can tell, it wouldn't be too hard to gradually add gameplay content as well.


Environments are getting fleshed out; I tend to spend too long on this type of thing, but I like doing it.

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You're gonna have to play to figure out how she gets from there to here:

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SO ROBOT DAY IS HAPPENING

and it's something we've loosely had in mind from the onset, saying that it'd be cool if we could release during the event if we could. That was before we knew for sure if and when Robot Day would be this year, since it bounces around. Thankfully, it's scheduled for late August, which makes getting this thing done by then a realistic goal. Am I making any promises? I am not. But if we can get it out by then, hoo boy, that'd be something. I'll at least confirm that I'm shooting for it. We're definitely bringing enough robots. Here, have a sneak peek at another one:

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Wowza, I bet that's a pretty cool one. Guess we'll see!


Much love, talk soon~


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Posted by Skoops - June 9th, 2023


Been a while, my lovelies. Did you miss me?

Last time I said I'd share some game assets, and I guess now that Waha's moveset is fully animated and integrated, I can share a few of them. Have some poorly looped screengrabs - hey, it's not a Patreon benefit, I gotta keep quality low so I can undersell and overdeliver. That's clearly my reasoning and not a lame excuse.

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That's right, Waha has those arms up because she's going to be picking stuff up again! Not the same stuff, not the same way, but picking stuff up she will most certainly do. Now that's a certified Skoops Guaranteeā„¢! Fantastic news for Picking Stuff Up fans.


We've also got some robots. Right now there are 4 variants, which feels like a good amount for now. I'm trying to keep things simple because, between you and me, there's probably gonna be a lot of these lil fellas on screen at certain points.

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Environments are underway, and I've started at the furthest back and working my way forward. Doing it in layers so we can get parallax scrolling, baybeeeee~

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If you can't tell, this one's gonna be a little further from home than Waha's garden this time. What's up with that color scheme? Feels familiar for some reason...


There's more to show, but I'm gonna sit on it for now. I hope next time I can talk more about gameplay, show some of it in action, that kind of thing. We're getting there bit by bit. My goal is to have 90% of the art done before moving on to the dialogue, which is a personal favorite part of the process for me. You're just gonna have to play the game to experience that bit, though!


Much love, talk soon!


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Posted by Skoops - May 11th, 2023


Heyooo~

Still chugging along on character art before proper production swings into full gear. Waha's dialogue portraits are essentially done, though I made more than I originally planned because she's fun to draw. Maybe I'll do even more! I might just do it!

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You know what else is fun to draw? NEW CHARACTER. Sound the New Character Alarm! WEEWOOWEEWOO.

Last time I teased this character, though now she's got a fresh coat of paint and is ready for a proper introduction. This is W4-H4, Waha's counterpart from an alternate dimension where everything is robots. Her portraits are still works in progress, but I consider her design locked-in at this point.

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That's right, we are doing another "visitor from another dimension" story, though this time she's not evil. SOMETHING will be evil, eventually, but that's not important yet. Stay tuned for that.


Speaking of tunes, I'm happy to say we've got our original composer @maldivirdragonwitch back on board for making some more of that music that gave so much life to our last game. I'm pumped.


Next update will likely see some actual gameplay assets. Did I say that last time? Oh good, I didn't. So far, I haven't broken any promises. I'm gonna keep track, so you don't have to! Please don't keep track, is what I'm trying to say.


Take care, much love, talk soon!


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Posted by Skoops - April 26th, 2023


HELLO, MY LOVELIES

I'm about 70% done with Waha's new dialogue portraits, and I've been designing some new characters and adapting one that you guys might recognize when the thing does the thing and is out and you play it and you finally tell me you love me and I tell you I like you as a friend and that makes things kinda difficult to navigate socially.


I wanted to share my linework process I've been using on this project so far because it's been standardized and I'm honestly really liking how it's working out so far. I've always done something midway between western and anime style; maybe I'm still doing that! But my goal is to reference more prominent and historically relevant Newgrounds artists so I have something that really belongs here and feels like a product of this community in particular. Because it is! Waha wouldn't exist if it wasn't for this site. This is my home on the internet! Say it's not, I'll fight you!


Ah yeah, the linework. So I've been using a 3000x3000 canvas in CSP (I typically reduce assets to fit a 1080p screen after completion) and for brushes, I use Marc Brunet's MB Cubebrush (Legendary) for everything line related (It's a free download.)

For my initial pass, I use a 15pt weight on everything. I put a bit of color into the outline, and the brush I use is good for making lines that are sharp but low opacity, so they also take on some of the color of whatever they're outlining.

When the first pass is done I go along the outer edges and major overlapping forms with a 25pt version of the same brush. This works good to pop important stuff forward and let secondary and tertiary details fall back a bit.

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While getting into the groove of this process, I've practiced with a few different ideas and subjects. One of these will be in the game; I wonder which~

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Ok, back to it. Hopefully I've got more properly finished stuff to share next week or so.

Much love, talk soon.


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Posted by Skoops - April 17th, 2023


HEY GUESS WHAT

Ever since making Panpukin Panic for @Stepford 's Mobile Game Jam last year, @Rickropes and I kept kicking around the idea of bringing back Waha for another game. I guess at this point we can say production has begun, as I'll be making assets and periodically sharing updates on the art side of development from now until whenever it's ready. I'm working in a much more relaxed timeframe, so that gives me more room to polish the visuals as best I can.


Here's a peek at the kind of changes to expect in the art direction:

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The only thing I'll say about the game itself at this point is that the vibes are probably going to be similar, but we're planning something pretty different from Panpukin in terms of gameplay. A lot of that is not my department, so I'm not gonna tell tales out of school. Patience!


Talk soon. Love ya,

-Skoops


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Posted by Skoops - December 29th, 2022


Oh me oh my, what's this?

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Youse guys done did it! Hachi machi, ay carumba! Now that's what I call SIZEABLE. Thanks many times, at least 800 times. I am a big happy boy. I will continue to try to make youse guys happy too, maybe a More Sizeable Nine Hundo of them!?!?


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