Inspired by classics like Harvest Moon with deep social sim aspects of a Persona game. Sunnyside is the next chapter in farming sims.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Kickstarter Vs. Backerkit, a guide
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 01:02:47 AM
Hey y'all!
Just a note about being a Kickstarter backer versus pre-ordering on Backerkit:
I'm getting a TON of messages (dm's on Discord and Twitter, emails, etc.) from people who are confused about the two, why they're different, and when people will get to play SunnySide.
We ran our Kickstarter for about a month at the beginning of the year, and it ended on February 5, 2021. Kickstarter members pledged various amounts to the campaign, and each tier pledge came with it's own specific rewards, all the way up to putting your own character in the game. These are Kickstarter Backers.
Once the campaign ended, the project was sent to Backerkit. Backerkit is another 3rd party who often works with Kickstarter to help campaigns fulfill rewards for those who backed. They organize sending out post campaign surveys, track metrics, and generally manage backers. Additionally, they also offer a post Kickstarter pre-order store. This store serves as a way for backers to add items not included in their pledge tier, or for those who missed out on the KickStarter but still want to get access to KS rewards (like the Alpha). If you pre-ordered the game after Feb 52021 and did not back duringthe campaign on Kickstarter, then you are part of the Backerkit pre-orders.
Backerkit pre-orders will get access to the alpha (if you purchased EA, that is) on Feb 14 of 2022. If you would like access to the Alpha in Feb, please log into Backerkit and check your order to make sure it includes EA. Or you can search your email for "Backerkit". You have until January 1 to make changes to your order, but you'll need to email Backerkit to do so.
So, if you think that you should have gotten an Alpha key on December 22 and didn't, please check that you are in fact a Kickstarter Backer and not a Backerkit Pre-order before messaging us. It's not that we don't love you all, but every minute I spend explaining this to someone is a minute I can't spend working on the game.
<3 you all!
-Sydney
December Update - The KickStarter Alpha is HERE!
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 07:46:15 PM
Hello to all our SunnySide friends across the world!
For those of you who haven't been following development on Twitter, Discord, or YouTube, then this update is going to include some pretty exciting announcements for you! You're definitely going to want to read this one! Or, if you like, you can catch up by watching our latest Live Stream.
We like to announce when we add new members to the team, so we can't forget to welcome Conlan (AKA TaterDog) to our team, now working with us as a QA Tester. He did such an incredible job for us as an influencer during the Influencer Alpha, we knew we just had to hire him! Welcome to the team, Conlan! <3
The Influencer Alpha
The Influencer Alpha has been an awesome success, and we want to thank all the Influencers who were involved. They'll be getting access to the last update of the year, and then the Influencer Alpha will end on January 1, 2022 around 12:01 AM EST.
The KickStarter Alpha
Speaking of the last update of the year, this update is for all of you, the KickStarter backers! That's right, the time has finally arrived! If you've missed the announcements elsewhere, Wednesday, December 22 at 6:00 pm PST, we will be sending out all the Alpha keys for KickStarter Backers!
Honestly, we're so thankful to the entire community who found us in the beginning and has supported us for so long. I know I say it every month, but we really couldn't have done with without you.
So, to say thank you, we've decided that ALL BACKERS from $20 Early Bird tier and up will be receiving an Alpha Key. Yup. You read that right. All of them.
We want to make sure this is still fair for all the Backers who backed at the Early Access tiers the first time around, so when the times comes we will be sending you an extra digital key for the full release of SunnySide. This should be sometime around November of 2022, but no promises just yet.
So Alpha players, here's just a little taste of what you can look forward to on Wednesday.
You'll be getting all these updates as well as access to Spring AND Summer seasons. This means that instead of a 28 day loop of Spring, you'll be getting a 56 day loop of Spring and Summer.
Additionally, we have a little something special for all the KickStarter Alpha players:
From December 22 to December 27, the whole team will be going dark and taking a much needed break. To celebrate the seasonal festivities during this time, there will be a temporary graphical overhaul to the SunnySide map that includes snow, decorations, and lots of Holiday vibes. Everything else (crops, seasonal progression, quests, etc) will behave as normal, but with a fun seasonal overlay. Enjoy it while it lasts, because it's going away on Monday the 27th and won't be seen again until the full release of the game. Updates and bug fixes will resume after we return to work on the 27th.
RainyBugs
Now, the Alpha isn't technically a test (we've got Conlan for QA now) but you're definitely going to run into some bugs. If that happens, we have a handy reporting site that will be sent to you with your Alpha email, so keep an eye out for that!
Publisher Updates
Y'all. We finally did it. We officially signed a publisher. All the documents are in order, the money is coming in, and the whole team will be operating full time starting on the first. This is a huge accomplishment for RainyGames, and we are super excited to share all the details with you in the new year, so be on the lookout for more information then.
Closing Pre-Orders
With a signed publisher comes the closing of pre-orders. We always promised we would give a couple weeks notice before officially closing up the Backerkit, so here it is:
Backerkit Pre-Orders will be ending on January 1, 2022. Please plan accordingly. If you would like to pre-order and haven't yet, here is a handy link for you:
If you aren't part of the KickStarter Alpha and want to get in on the action, the BackerKit Alpha for all those who pre-order with Early Access will begin on February 14, 2022.
All Alpha access will be through Steam on PC, regardless of what platform you've selected for your full copy.
Characters
The last of the romanceables for SunnySide have finally been announced!
Ryozo Hara
The local research center run by the University went mostly unused until Ryozo started making inquiries into facilities he could use to further his research in botany and entomology. Ryozo cares deeply for the planet and it's longevity, so he has dedicated his life to protecting it in his own special way: by creating eco friendly weed and pest management systems that protect biodiversity. He is incredibly passionate and sometimes a bit narrowly focused on his goals, often driven by a very intense moral compass. He's talkative, albeit a bit awkward, and can often be found around the forests collecting samples or volunteering his time to organizations in the city. He loves milkbread, reading, and spending time outside. He is, of course, romanceable.
Yukio Yamaguchi
She is a true extrovert, always bouncing around and looking for ways to use up her energy. Yukio is not a native to SunnySide, and only moved to town about 12 years ago when she married into the family that owns and operates the local post office. Though the marriage didn't quite work out, she still has to work with her ex husband, Hideyo, on a daily basis.. and it doesn't always go so well. Yukio is direct and honest, loves video games and hanging out with friends, and is always down for some junk food. She is, of course, romanceable.
Hideyo Yamaguchi
Hideyo's family has a long history in SunnySide, but he didn't actually grow up there himself. He moved to town when his grandparents, long time family owners of the SunnySide Postal office since the town was first established during the Edo Period, sadly passed away. Hideyo's mother had left SunnySide when she was young and had no interest in continuing the family post, so she left it to her son. Hideyo is a very serious person, and believes that anything worth doing is worth doing right. He loves a good debate, is a meticulous groomer, and wants nothing more than to be respected for his ideas and opinions. Hideyo is charismatic, loves fresh strawberries in the spring, and his prized possession is a gold watch his father gave him when he graduated university. He is, of course, romanceable.
And that's it!
Say hello to SunnySide's full Main Cast!
More Holiday Fun
Our incredible Key Artist (Liz) and Composer (Matt) came together this Holiday season to put something special together for y'all. Enjoy!
Thank You!
That's it! Keep an eye on your mailboxes for your Alpha key, and be sure to follow the instructions carefully!
I know I say this every month, but we could never properly express how much we appreciate each and every person who has and continues to support us. There have been some roller coasters over the last year, and the fact that you all continued to believe in us and trust us really means the world. Hopefully things will level out in 2022 now that we have a publisher backing us, but there are bound to still be issues. Thanks to you all, however, we can go into 2022 with our heads held high and ready for anything, because we know that our fans have our backs!
So once again, thank you for your continued support!
As for what's ahead of us, once we release the KickStarter Alpha, there will be a couple updates, but mostly we will begin working towards the Backerkit Alpha to be released in February. I'll still continue giving monthly updates next year, but they're going to be a lot smaller moving forward, mostly to allow us more time for game development. If you want to stay up to date, your best bet will be joining our Discord and following us on Twitter, if you haven't already. We're up to about 3,600 people on Discord, and it continues to be the best way to follow RainyGames and SunnySide. We post lots of sneak peeks over there (and special ones for KickStarter backers), stream live development, run contests, and even ask for suggestions from the community. If you join, just remember to message me (FemChefSR1) with your KickStarter backer # (if you backed at one of those tiers) so I can give you your Backer Tier Role. If you pre-ordered on Backerkit, just send me your proof of purchase via DM, and I'll get you set up with your Backerkit role (new and shiny!).
That's it from me. As always, thank you, and don't forget to comment below! We love hearing your feedback and answering questions, so don't be shy!
Cheers!
-Sydney-
October + November Update
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Nov 16, 2021 at 09:42:28 AM
Hello to all our SunnySide friends across the world!
The last two months have been crazy y'all. If you haven't been following us on Twitter or Discord, I'll do my best to catch you up. Firstly, obviously, apologies for no update in October. We got a bit tunnel visioned to releasing the Influencer Alpha, and the KS Update ended up taking a bit of a backseat.
Live Streams
A few weeks ago, we kicked off the Influencer Alpha with our first live stream in awhile. We decided to move livestreams to YouTube from Twitch, as it has been a more successful platform for us in the past. If you missed the stream, here is a handy link:
We will be holding another LiveStream on Sunday, November 21 6:00pm GMT. We'll be wrapping up the Influencer Alpha (don't worry, the keys given to influencers will be active until the end of the year, so they're free to keep making videos, and we will likely still push updates), as well as making a few announcements (about KickStarter Beta ^_^ ) and showing off updates to the game thus far. We hope to see you there!
Overall, the alpha has been a huge success. We were able spread the word about SunnySide while also collecting valuable information about gameplay and mechanics, and we really love and appreciate all the influencers who took part. We still have another round of people to add, so we're not quite done yet, but we're really happy with how everything has gone so far.
In case you missed them, here are some videos that have been put together by the fans:
Not to mention all the Twitch streamers who have been playing over the last weeks. We love and appreciate you all.
Steam
We finally have a Steam page, y'all!! If you haven't gone over and wishlisted SunnySide on Steam yet, please do! It really helps us out!
Additionally, please also follow our Steam Community. It's super easy, and you can engage as much or as little as you want. No need to join other applications, either!
The day our Steam page went live, we also got picked up by IGN, and they posted the SunnySide trailer on their YouTube. Honestly one of the coolest moments of production for all of us here at RainyGames.
Game Updates
As we've been watching various Influencers play SunnySide over the last few weeks, we've been making constant updates, adjustments, fixes, and have continued to add more content. The biggest addition so far has been a cutscene and objectives system (which is finally working), as well as some new foraged items, new plants, and a new shop (Kazuki!). For more detailed gameplay updates, definitely check out all the influencers who have been covering SunnySide over the past few weeks.
Oh, and we also finally fixed those silly pink trees. They're now proper sakura trees.
New Characters
Here are all the characters that have been released since the last update. Kaori has had to slow down a bit on concepts as we moved through the Alpha, but she'll be getting back to it shortly. Only a few more left!
Yumma Shibata
The oldest of the romanceable men, Yumma is the owner/ operator of SunnySide's Grain Mill, which has been passed down through his family for generations. A gregarious, dedicated small town man, Yumma's been determined to honor his family's legacy since they day he took over the business, but that loyalty didn't come without costs. Yumma is a bit of a jokester, is well loved by everyone in town, collects records, enjoys the smell of fresh baked bread, and is... of course... romanceable.
Kaida Amaya
The only daughter of shrine caretakers in the City, Kaida left home to take on the responsibility of her own shrine here in SunnySide, much to the disappointment of her mother. She's been in SunnySide for about 3 years now, and while she is friendly with the residents, she's also very quiet and observant. The people of SunnySide still aren't quite sure if she can be trusted with their ancient Kami just yet. Kaida hates lots of noise, loves chocolate cake, and can often be found working at the Shrine, in the SunnySide bathes, or people watching around town. She is romanceable.
Melody Barrett
Originally hailing from London, Melody moved to Japan on a whim with her boyfriend about 10 years ago. Many life lessons, a break up, lots of hard work, citizenship, and one beautician certification later, Melody finally landed in SunnySide 8 years ago and never looked back. She loves good gossip, fashion trends, and perfecting her art as a hair stylist. She misses the food back home sometimes, but could never leave the friends she's made. She is, of course, romanceable.
Hina Nakamura
Hina was born and raised in SunnySide, but spend most of her 20's making a name for herself as a famous chef all across Japan. She and her husband decided to settle down in her hometown when Sebastian was born, and she opened a small restaurant. The family was happy and successful for a time, but as Hina got older, her health started taking a turn for the worse. Sebastian left college to come home and help keep the restaurant alive a couple years ago, but Hina's pride constantly gets in the way of full retirement. You'll often find her in the cafe, (still working) or wandering around town trying to find something to do with her new found free time. Hina is strong willed, a hard worker, and loves the simple pleasures in life. She's not really interested in replacing Sebastian's father, but she's also a bit terrified of being alone forever.
Thank You!
That's it for now! Continue keeping an eye on your favorite content creators for updates to the game, and also stay updated on our Twitter and in Discord! I've been doing a lot of SunnySide gamplay streams in the Discord, so if you want to check out the progress on SunnySide so far, that's another great resource.
As always, a big huge sunny thank you to everyone who has supported us so far, and a bunch of hugs and kisses (with your permission, of course) for those who continue to do so. We're incredibly thankful for all of our influencers and fans, and we keep plugging away at this for you. Knowing that we're doing a great job and that y'all are pleased with our work always lights a fire to keep us working strong, and we love you all for it. <3 It is because of all of you that we continue to be inspired by this project, and we continue to count on you all moving forward! Your impressions, feedback, perspectives, and ideas mean the world to us, so please don't hesitate to comment and let us know what you think!
And don't forget to join the Discord, if you haven't already. The application is incredibly simple to learn, friendly to PC and mobile, and full of just over 3,500 people talking about and loving on SunnySide! We tend to post sneak peeks over there, stream live development, run contests, and even ask for suggestions from the community. If you join, just remember to message me (FemChefSR1) with your KickStarter backer # (if you backed at one of those tiers) so I can give you your Backer Tier Role.
That's it from me! Thank you again, and please don't hesitate to comment below! We love interacting with you all! <3
Cheers!
-Shay-
September Update
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Oct 01, 2021 at 12:47:52 AM
Hello to all our SunnySide friends across the world!
Well, another month, another update!
This month was fraught with a lot more hurdles than we were expecting: a couple illnesses, a surprise national election, finishing up a Bachelor's Degree, and the surprising difficulty of shipping computer parts to Ireland...
More than anything this month, we were forced to face some really hard decisions: do we power through and work our butts off, or do we extend the timeline and focus on self care. With the continued support from you all, our amazing community, we were confident that we could slow down and focus on taking care of everyone's well-being. Knowing y'all have our backs and care about us really goes a long way towards relieving stress when wrenches keep getting thrown in our proverbial tires.
With all that said, let's get on to some updates!
The Influencer Alpha
We know it's the one thing everyone really wants to know about, so let's get it out of the way.
The alpha (and the whole timeline, really) have had to be pushed back a bit for a whole number of reasons, most of which revolve around the fact that we're still learning our workflow as a studio. I could make lots of excuses, but what it boils down to is just understanding how long it takes to implement various features, specifically mechanics and physical assets. Because we want to make a lot of our own assets and not rely too heavily on assets purchased from asset stores, this means that adding something as simple as a chair to the game takes at least 5 different people working on it. It's a bit crazy, tbh, how complicated everything can get, and it all ends up boiling down to the same thing: making video games is hard, y'all. We know it's a common thing to hear in game development, but we don't want it to be an excuse. We're still plugging away, changes are still happening, just at a slower pace than we had anticipated.
All of the influencers who expressed interest in being involved with the alpha have been contacted, and another email is going out to them today or tomorrow about the timeline and how we would like to proceed. There has been a lot of anticipation about it, and we are trying really hard to control "the hype" and create expectations that are actually attainable. So, worry not, it's still happening, just a little more "behind the scenes" right now. The most we can say at the moment is that it's coming soon, and keep your eyes peeled for announcements from your favorite influencers.
One of the biggest things we were waiting for in order to implement the Influencer Alpha was getting SunnySide on Steam. this was necessary as the easiest means of sending out game codes to all the Influencers, as well as streamlining the QA process for us. We're happy to say that we've finally finished all the approvals for Steam, and right now are just waiting on a couple more assets before we hit that "Go Live" button.
Publishers
We're still working on this. Talks are happening and there has been progress, but unfortunately we can't say anything more than that just yet.
Music
Matt has been focusing on mastering the current tracks recently so that they are clean and crisp for the Alpha. This means no new music just yet, but lots of improvements to the old ones.
Gameplay Mechanics and World Building
The Map
We have been going really hard on the new map, doing our best to capture the Japanese countryside feels. Lots of research is happening on a daily basis, and we're constantly getting closer. We don't want to give away too much just yet, so pictures will be a bit limited.
Fair warning, some of these images were taken in the engine on the highest settings with ray tracing and all that jazz. Some were taken with the camera in game with highest settings, and the last one is a simple screen capture - (you can tell because you can see the HUD). We want to give realistic expectations about the graphics of the game, while still showing how incredibly beautiful it can be.
Shop Interiors
4 Shop have now been added to the map: Sako's, Gabe's, Hiro's, and Kazuki's. Their interiors have all been modeled as well, and are in the process of being textured and placed.
Ren's work had to be put on pause while he dealt with things at his day job, but Lily has still been putting out animal art work. We don't want to show off all of it, but here are some sneaks:
Merino Sheep
Pink Pig
Pause Menu
Seems like a really simple and obvious thing for a game to need, but up to this point, SunnySide didn't have much of a menu system. But that's all changed now!
The old map we were on had a mini map, but the way it worked was bogging down the entire system and just absolutely tanking performance. It was a plugin that we had purchased, but Rainy realized that he could do better on his own. It took a ton more time than was expected, but man was it worth it.
Rainy's put a lot of effort into updating the cooking UI, and it's finally at a place we're happy with. The UI for the grill have been drastically upgraded, we've added a new cooking device - a Cutting Board - and implemented a CookBook app on the phone.
We had a new addition to the programming team last month, which took a huge weight off Rainy's shoulders as the only programmer on our team. His first task was tackling the animal AI in SunnySide, helping them figure out where to go and when, as well as implementing some more complex petting mechanics. They're so stinking cute.
While Kai was busy figuring out how to keep animals from spinning around like a record, Rainy was implementing a new "To-Do List" app mechanic. This is a mechanic that will allow players to pin recipes and building blueprints to their phone (with an option for them to also appear on your HUD) that will make resource collection and shopping a million times easier.
Now that Allan has moved on from the Character Creator (for now at least) he's been working on new character models as well as updating some of the old ones. Last month Gabe got an update, and this month it's Kat!
Additionally, Models have now been made for Kazuki, Lucy, and very soon: Sebastian
New Characters
Even more exciting, generally we reserve character announcements for our live streams, but we've postponed livestreams for that last two months in favor of focusing on development. We didn't want to force everyone to wait, so we've been announcing new character designs in our Discord Server all month. If you're not in there, yet... it's really the best place to get up to the minute updates on SunnySide Development.
Allen Ritz
The last of out citizen characters, Allen Ritz is a former competitive runner who can often be found hiking and running around SunnySide and the surrounding countryside. He and Josh are great friends, he loves a good burger, is American, and romanceable.
Anahita Watanabe
This is Anahita. She is the daughter of Shadi, a Persian woman who sought refuge in Japan during a time of political upheaval in her home country; and Sota, SunnySide's very dedicated gardener. Anahita is highly intelligent and works as a research assistant at the local university's research station in SunnySide. She love puzzles, is very honest, hates small talk, and always seems to forget where she left her labcoat. Yes, she is romanceable.
Parsa Watanabe
Say hello to Parsa! He is Anahita's younger brother and works at his parents' garden center. Parsa is a talented martial artist who is training hard and saving up to teach his unique fighting style in his own martial arts dojo some day. He knows he's not nearly ready to be a sensei yet, so he's in no rush. He's just taking it one day at a time until he reaches his goals. He's super friendly, loves dance music, and is romanceable.
Stephanie Obeng
This is Stephanie! She is Fuyukaze's younger sister, a former soccer (American Football/Futbol) player, and is pursuing a business degree at the local university. She recently picked up knife throwing as a hobby, loves going on long runs through the park, and absolutely loves a good challenge. She is also romanceable.
Mayumi Okada
Say hello to Mayumi! She is the town's lead physician, has lived in SunnySide for about 6 of her 38 years and likes to do yoga in the park every morning. She is a strong willed woman, likes chocolate, practical jokes, has a cat named Hepburn who lives at the clinic. She is also romanceable.
Hanako Ishikawa
This is Hanako, the youngest granddaughter of Kazuki and Chiyo. She is a medical student working at Mayumi's clinic, grew up in the city, and doesn't quite like living in SunnySide as much as the rest of the residents. She's easily bored, likes trying new things, and generally has her nose buried in her cell phone. Screenname: Hanakoala. She is romanceable.
Blake Ortiz
Blake actually hasn't been announced on Discord yet, so y'all are the first to hear about her. Her concept isn't quite finished yet, but here's a taste.
She's the same age as Hanako, and the two have been friends ever since Hanako stayed with Blake on a study abroad trip when they were both in high school. A California native, Blake moved to Japan a few years ago to chase a medical degree, and is now serving out her residency with Hanako under Mayumi's watchful eye. Blake is kind and soft spoken, loves Mexican Soap Operas, growing succulents, and Geo-caching in her spare time. Blake is also romanceable.
Thank You!
That's it for this month! Continue keeping an eye on your favorite content creators for updates about the Influencer Alpha, and also stay updated on our Twitter and Discord as we may be doing a live stream to launch the Influencer Alpha in a week or two.
Thank you so much to everyone for your continued support. It's really easy to get bogged down by the stress of putting out an excellent product on time, and knowing that everyone cares so much about our well being is so motivating and heart warming. We're constantly talking about how lucky we are to have such an incredible and supportive community, and we're so excited to get this game in your hands!
And as always, a big huge sunny thank you to everyone who has supported us so far, and a bunch of hugs and kisses (with your permission, of course) for those who continue to do so. If not for y'all, there is no way we would have made it over all the hurdles this month, and it's because of all of you that we continue to be inspired by this project, and we are really counting on you all moving forward! Your impressions, feedback, perspectives, and ideas mean the world to us, so please don't hesitate to comment and let us know what you think!
And don't forget to join the Discord, if you haven't already. The application is incredibly simple to learn, friendly to PC and mobile, and full of nearly 3,000 people all chatting and loving on SunnySide! Almost 3000! We tend to post sneak peeks over there, stream live development, run contests, and even ask for suggestions from the community. If you join, just remember to message me (FemChefSR1) with your backer # so I can give you your Backer Tier Role.
That's it from me! Thank you again, and please don't hesitate to comment below! We love interacting with you all! <3
Cheers!
-Shay-
August Update
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 02:50:14 AM
Hello to all our SunnySide friends across the world!
We decided this month that we won't be having a live stream, choosing instead to allow the influencers to show off what has been added to SunnySide over the last months.
In case y'all missed the updates I posted to the community section of our YouTube or the Discord, we have had some delays due to the slow speed of setting up the legal end of running a business, and it's very important to us that our Steam Page be set up before we release what we are now calling our "Influencer Alpha" (previously known as the Streamer Demo). Because the Steam Page relies on a lot of this legal business stuff, we were forced to postpone the release of the Influencer Alpha to September. This means, however, that it may end up having more content, which is always better for everyone!
Continuing with the "business stuff" we've once again had a couple more additions to the team! We have added a new artist who will be helping us with Key Art that will be used in advertising SunnySide, as well as another generalist who will be focusing on helping Rainy with the programming end of things (some much needed assistance). Once again, here is an updated list of the team so far:
Producer/ Narrative Director: Sydney Stockdale (Fem/Shay)
Composer: Matt Thompson
Systems Designer/ Lead Writer: Kitty Hart
Lead Artist: Kaori Mitsuse
Character Modeler: Allan Mitsuse
Game Generalist- Models/Animation: Ken Heslip
Game Generalist- Models/Textures: René Simard (Ren)
Game Generalist- Programming/ Level Design: Kiril Kostadinov (Kai)
Key Artist: Elizabeth Steele (Liz)
Animal Concept Artist: Emily Eiswert (Lily)
Volunteer Linguist: Dante
Volunteer Modeler: Cherry
Nextly, we finally have a new website! D3stiny has been hard at work helping us design something new, so go check it out and marvel at his interwebs genius. ^_^ All of the current team are also now reflected on the website! <3 Check it all out a RainyGames.co.uk
We also had an art contest over on Discord during the month of July, and the winners were just announced a few days ago. The winning pieces of art will be featured around SunnySide, so pop into the Discord if you want to know what art to look out for in the future. A big congratulations to all our winners, and specially to JenTonic, a talented artist and tattoo artist who took first place. If you loved her art as much of the rest of the SunnySide community did, you can find her on her website: JenTonic.de
Publishers
This process is turning out to be long and tedious. We don't have any good news yet, but we are still in talks with some folks, just in case anyone has been worrying about this.
Music
Matt has been working on our battle tracks, and while we can't share anything on them yet, we just wanted to let you know that progress is still being made, and they are killer.
Gameplay Mechanics and World Building
A(nother) New Map
A few updates ago, we showed off a new map we had made for the demo that would be sent to Publishers. Originally, that was the sole intention of the map - a demo map - , but we got a little excited about it and thought we wanted to use if for the full game. After some time using it and showing it to everyone, we realized that the map we created was simply too large for the kind of game we wanted to write, and didn't quite fit with the Japanese landscape where the game's setting would take place. So, we reevaluated, did a ton more research, created some new heightmaps, and I tried my hand at Unreal's landscape sculpting tools. Honestly, we're pretty happy with the results.
From this point we just need to add the buildings back and add some roads, which shouldn't take too long. But this is the final map remake, we promise.
Shop Interiors
For anyone who watched DoctorDDub's video, you may have noticed some complaints about the shops being empty, so I just want to take a moment to reassure everyone that this is in no way permanent. As lovers of detail, we do have big plans for all the shop interiors... it's just going to take some time.
Here is a sneak peek at some progress though:
Credit to Ken for doing an incredible job.
Animals
Ren has currently moved to modeling food (more on that in a minute), but Lily has still be pumping out animal design concepts. Here are some fun ones that are waiting in the pipeline to be modeled:
Silkie Chicken
Brown Alpaca
There are lots others, but we don't want to go giving everything away ;)
Food
So much food. Ren, Ken, and Rainy have put in a lot of time fleshing out the cooking system, including modeling lots of finished food items, programming a stamina and hunger system, and modeling the next cooking station: the cutting board!
Animations
We're also really lucky to have an animator on the team now, and we have absolutely been putting him to work! Nothing has been added to engine yet, but here are some of what Ken's been creating:
Our biggest accomplishment over the last month has been an overhaul of the character model. It's been really important to us that the Character Creator be a fun experience for people of all shapes, colors, identities, and sizes, so we will continue adding more and more to it until we are satisfied. Additions so far are:
A body type slider that ranges from hyper feminine to hyper masculine and everything in between
A larger variety of short, long, and afro hair styles
A selection of skin tones (more will be added)
Face shape, eyebrow shape, eye shape and color, nose size, and mouth size options
As stated, still a ways to go, but it's coming along quite nicely.
Gabriel's Model
As Allan has continued making models, and as we've been able to pay him more for his time, he's only getting better and better. This means, however, that some of the original models made for the SunnySide project aren't quite as good as the newer ones. Because of this, we decided to have Allan go back and make some updates to Gabe. His old model is on the right below, and the new model is on the left:
New Characters
Even better than a new Gabe model is new character concepts! Kaori has been busy helping with the new character creator (designing hair and clothes) so we only have three more characters to share, but they're all Citizens from our KickStarter Campaign!
Kyle Sylvester
First up is Kyle. He's the town mechanic and also runs the town's harbor. He's a bit of a loner with a troubled past, and while he means well... he doesn't always quite make the best decisions. Kyle is romanceable ^_^.
Josh Newcomb
Josh was submitted by a Citizen tier backer who wanted to memorialize a friend of hers who is sadly no longer with us, so creating Josh was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for us all.
In game, Josh owns and operates SunnySide's bar. He's a gentle but free spirit who believes in experiencing everything life has to offer, and his warm smile and open heart make him an excellent bartender and friend. Josh is also a romance option, though he's a picky one.
Ryan Mezacoo
Lastly is Ryan, also known as Mez. He's an adjunct professor of photography at the University. He's been in SunnySide for a few years now, and is actually the one who inspired Lucy to pick up the skill, even gifted her very first camera. No one knows much about him, except that he seems to have a suspicious amount of money for a college professor. Ryan is Ace, and romanceable.
Thank You!
That's all for this month's update. Keep an eye on your favorite content creators in the next month or so for a look at the SunnySide Alpha, Influencer Edition. Once that is out, we will be putting our noses to the grind stone to get the beta out to KS backers ASAP. At our current rate, it is very possible, (and even likely) that things be delayed a bit more, but our whole community has been so supportive that we know you'll understand our motivation to put out a quality product, even if it means taking a little longer to do so. We couldn't do this without you all, so thank you for your continued patience and support.
On that note, a big huge sunny thank you to everyone who has supported us so far, and a bunch of hugs and kisses (with your permission, of course) for those who continue to do so. If not for you guys, there is no way we would have made it this far. It is because of all of you that we continue to be inspired by this project, and we are really counting on you all moving forward! Your impressions, feedback, perspectives, and ideas mean the world to us, so please don't hesitate to comment and let us know what you think!
And don't forget to join the Discord, if you haven't already. The application is incredibly simple to learn, friendly to PC and mobile, and full of over 1500 people all chatting and loving on SunnySide. We tend to post sneak peeks over there, stream live development, run contests, and even ask for suggestions from the community. If you join, just remember to message me (FemChefSR1) with your backer # so I can give you your Backer Tier Role.
That's it from me! Thank you again, and please don't hesitate to comment below! We love interacting with you all! <3
