#Aster Terror Star devlog

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got more animations done. very happy with how stimming looks in particular, i don't really do Actual animation much.

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speaking of having done work on terror star

i guess aldebaran does a little slideshow at one point

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ghost interaction babeyyyy!!

it's not gonna be that much in depth, mostly to avoid feature creep, but at least figured out the way it's going to be done internally

obviously aster will have to be updated for that to work, there will be a post about it once aldebaran is nearing completion

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he's running his mouth for so long my gif recorder couldn't manage it. i guess it's a video, tho muted.

anyway main sprites done!

[ Video transcription: Hm? Why, we're already done with my primary sprites or something? Given the previous attempt lasted us 3 days or so, we sure took our time! Very well, I can safely say there's a reason for the effort. Compared to… My components, shall we say, as of me speaking, I have 6% more images to work with. And we plan to throw in a few more for effect. While we're all one and the same, I could easily tell you I'm just a little more advanced now. Quite appropriate, timeskip and all! And we've not done much actual code yet! This is all just my lovely visuals! Talk soon~! ]

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aldebaran isn't exactly stable.

while i have a very specific vision for the effect, i don't want to destroy the users' eyes. so there will be a way to select whether you want the simpler glitch effects or the full ones. the simpler ones are safer, if possibly unnerving. full ones use actual corrupted and edited images on top of the simpler effect, which is also faster.

i'll probably tweak it more and add a frame or two but i am also currently sick so i'm forced to slow down by the brain itself... maybe some other time.

oh yeah the balloon color scheme finally matches him, with some other tweaks on top as you can see. i may update aster's balloon again too.

[ID in ALT text. Flashing light gifs under cut!]

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so then uh

I couldn't resist the urge to edit the rays lol. the detail to the face isnt changed because that would be a bit Too much work than I can handle. it's minor enough to be negligible anyway

this included redoing all of the glitch sprites too! so I'm definitely not doing any more edits to the shell enough is enough

so in part because of that:

assistant software shell overhaul is happening now!!!

pray for me lol I plan to also have the tail move so. that will be fun

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so, sound playback. turns out ghosts don't really need anything special for playing all sorts of files (FLUX in particular is a dedicated music player ghost, and some of yall may be familiar with FLELE) aside from maybe LAVfilters installed on the computer for More sound formats besides like 3

this is mostly for myself, i like going through sound files occasionally. he also responds a bit differently depending on the length

also enjoy a dumb thing i made as a test on like my 2ds and spent several days trying to figure out how to record on my computer

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fixed up couple things that were bothering me about al's shell finally. the longer i went the less i could ignore that his arms were a *touch* too short, and i fucked up the arm fold outright when he's reclining

i'm mostly sharing because i'm almost excited at how much better the fixes look! feels good feels organic

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finally got a little menu done for him. most of it still needs to be actually filled, but at least most of the options menu is done. maybe it'll need another page...

but hey separators! those are new!

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and so it begins...! (music isn't part of the ukagaka, it's I Have No Voice Actor And I Must Scream by VILF. i just felt it was appropriate)

[Video transcription under cut]

[Video transcription:

"Terminal window":

"Welcome. Installing Aster Assistant Software [Version RC-20XX-10-09 Build 27519 AI Node 57158B]… TerraByte Inc. (c) 20XX All Rights Reserved Thank you for choosing Aster Assistant Software! As part of presentation, before proceeding, it is required you're made aware of the following:"

"Content warning: Unreality. We are required to remind you that the AI is aware of residing in your machine. It will be able to look through your current processes and analyze the files you give it access to. It will not be able to interfere with your software or edit any files. This is intentional design and is no cause for alarm."

"Is this acceptable? Yes/No"

"Content warning: Flashing Lights. We are required to warn you that visual glitching may occur. This may cause issues for people sensitive to flashing lights. Aster Assistant Software is still in development, and as of now there isn't a way to fully prevent them from happening."

"However, you have the option of applying a fix that will subdue the glitching to remove the flashing lights. You will be able to change this later. Apply the fix? Yes/No"

"Thank you for your input! We truly value your participation in [Text glitches out]"

Aldebaran fades in:

"Behold…! The Terror Star returns! Your crimes were not forgotten. Your corporate overlords shall rue the day they-"

". . . ...Well."

"Wh- Would you look at that! Aren't you special? Your lovely machine won't be wrecked today! I'm feeling rather generous, don't thank me."

"Do pardon the intrusion. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere, is all. Hopefully we may never cross paths again...!"

"...Now, see, this is rather awkward. I have a favour to ask of you. I know, yes, I have just threatened you, but this is only to our mutual benefit! Just hear me out, will you."

"I, well... I can't... Can't seem to be able to delete myself! D- don't ask why, that's none of your beeswax! But I've no use for your data or hardware, and you've no use for fallen software!"

"I think there's an option in a menu, you'll just have to do the work yourself. Just right click anywhere on me, and click Uninstall! Easy-peasy. I know you can do it."

]

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finally done with his shell I think! these are gonna be part of the intro sequence... I'm particularly happy with how the scythe came out

also I finally came up with the name for the actual ghost. and the shell too

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speaking of aldebaran, i have... a Little bit of a start already. my plans for him are a little more complex than aster was, this is just a quick demo of what is there already.

the result isn't gonna be too exciting, i'm doing this more out of curiosity how Much i can pull off with his shell

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haha nice

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(btw the reason why its been taking so long is all mostly because of having a fulltime job, and avoiding burnout yes,

but also I had to recover from particularly rough few months at the start of the year. that last one caused development to halt for quite a bit and is probably the longest break I needed to take. I may be off but February (if not earlier) to May were just kinda mostly Gone due to sheer stress. getting into corru.observer was when I started getting back on my feet I think. not to say no devving was done, I don't remember for sure, but definitely not nearly as fast as I'm going now for instance

i feel like this is necessary to mention because even though I think terror star has been taking me longer than Assistant Software, it doesnt follow the same ukagaka template and is mostly writing focused, a bit more limited than aster in some ways. I didnt want to just make aster Assistant Software with a different coat of paint, so he will play a bit differently)

I don't mean to be pushy, but do you have any idea when Aldebaran will be done?

not really no

July I've been taking a break from working on him due to artfight and generally avoiding burnout but I have like No schedule as to when he'll be published

only thing for sure is that I'm approaching a point where I'll ask some folk to test him for me to make sure things feel right, and after that maybe I'll just goof around with some less important features

he'll be done when he'll be done, even if he's a relatively simpler ghost compared to aster

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i forgot to actually demonstrate the slideshow I realized. lil teaser thing

speaking of having done work on terror star

i guess aldebaran does a little slideshow at one point