The next big work-in-progress piece to share is the dialogue system. It’s a bit difficult to place and do appropriately. In a lot of games, dialogue happens in between stage segments, but the story will sometimes need to play out while the action is going. The problem with this is that sometimes there will be UI elements like scoring, collectibles, and other things that also need to be displayed to the user. So there’s still some placement consideration that needs to happen here before it moves onward. There’s also a lot of different ways to communicate who is talking. I like the usage of 3D portraits focused on their facial expressions, but it becomes quite hard when they are trying to run/jump/dash, and you’re trying to realistically show their facial expressions while they are trying to platform.

Otherwise: We’ve got a title for the game! Or at least something better than the working title. From Project Koto to “Koto the Runner”. We’ve got a story now surrounding our main character, Koto, and her cat! Yes, a cat! It should’ve been a crow really, but cats are good too.

~Chaos