Terminal Status

Realistic reference for Concuss.

Realistic reference for Intravenous.

Realistic reference for Lacerae Shun.

Realistic reference for Viscera.

Concuss, Viscera, Lacerae, and Intravenous have all had their references updated to reflect the newer piloting suit design.

These images have also been uploaded to the website.

Website update: the Art Direction page now has a neat gallery section, complete with filters for references, concept art, and illustrations ✨

Crescendo is kind and good and probably a secret angel, and everyone should throw love and attention at her. By the way.

I have learned the supreme joy of making games with music. Because I can stop the song with a sudden halt when my protagonist has screwed something up, to intensify the comedic beats. And it's really funny no matter how many times I do it.

Once I have an entire soundtrack I will be unstoppable.

it has been done....

What if I just... quietly put up an update to Nothing Like You with music and minor writing changes... without having figured out the complicated menu stuff that's kicking my ass?

In a perfect world I'd also put a demo up, but I don't know if I'll have enough background art... not to mention finalized mech designs, which are necessary for the CGs.

That's not even getting into music, SFXs, & some of the specialized menus I want... so yea, that's more likely a 2027 goal.

Goals for 2026:
- update "Nothing Like You" (soon!)
- make at least 1 new sidegame
- finalize all designs
- draw sprites for at least 2 (if not more) characters
- finish current draft of Terminal Status script
- jump into new (hopefully the final) script revision

All this for adaptive title screens and a meta joke (it will be worth it. Probably)

Work on the update for "Nothing Like You" has been slow going due to difficulties understanding screens (along with stumbling into several new gamedev projects along the way), but studying has been happening and hopefully results will come soon 💪

I'm letting myself do some beginner baby coding for a bit (regular scripting stuff, refreshing myself of basic python commands) in hopes that it will get me confident enough to start studying new stuff again. Here's hoping 🤞

The good news: I'm working on coding!

The bad news: my studying of styles and screens is Not going well. My brain explodes.

...is currently undecided. It might be synched to the wrist bracers on the school uniforms, be some sort of medical bracelet-esque accessory (likely tube-ish in appearance), or be built into a person like a brain chip or implant (leaning into cyberpunk).

Let's see where the design process ends!

Getting a flash in the tube is normally a small ping, a little visual blip and possibly a sound.

Messages can take the form of video (hologram), audio, or text (hologram). All of this data is stored as digital records. Meanwhile the actual device...

This motion (pinching your "tube" between your fingers and then squeezing along the line of it) is what people do to send outgoing messages, moving their fingers through the air to push their data down the tube line. A small holographic display accompanies it, confirming the action.

Illustration of someone pinching a tube of blood with their fingers and squeezing along the length of the tube, forcing the collected blood out.

To send outgoing messages, you have to "strip the tube;" when you receive them, a message will "flash in the tube."

These phrases are of course derived from medical care, specifically from blood. For example, stripping blood is done to prevent clotting from occurring within an exit tube.

A little world building:

Terminal Status's equivalent of a phone is simply a "tube," which is an electronic communication device with a tactile, holographic basis (AKA: motion activated commands, and uses holograms).

Like most tech, tubes have specific phrases and slang attached to them.

So surely this new song is me redeeming myself and writing a song for her with no rap in it, right? Except, wait, these cadences... this rhythm... No, it can't be...

I accidentally wrote Post-Op another character song, but thought I might have lucked out with it. Her initial one was partially rap, which quite doesn't suit her character well

(it probably happened because she's the one I relate to most, so my own genre preferences shone through).

However, the Gnosia sidegame is going to have incomplete character histories. You won't get to explore how everyone feels about each other and why.

The mainline game tells a story, and let's you get to know everyone. The sidegame likely won't be as fun without it. So my efforts won't be wasted.

I keep worrying about how the Gnosia AU sidegame is going to end up more interesting than Terminal Status itself, but I think that's just something I need to accept.

I'm putting a supernatural death game up against a romantic drama, gaps in intrigue comes with the territory.

good creative ideas are always infuriating because they inevitably mean more work

The good news is I've started scripting out the Gnosia AU game, and found ways to make the tutorial a thousand times more entertaining and effective.

The bad news is it's going to require me to draw SO many CGs.

A map of the H1PP0-Craft Space academy. A rough sketch of the ship has several sections highlighted and labelled, some with extra notes. Command center is at the front. Loading dock and UMA storage are front middle, with an opening for Umas to enter. Lower decks have Defense Force Quarters (directly below loading dock); Fuel storage, engine room, etc (middle bottom); Student wing (dorm rooms) and staff housing (back of ship). Back of the ship (upper decks) have the offices, hospital, and recreation. Cafeteria starts in the middle of the ship, but technically extends up several stories. Outer edges of the ships are almost entirely classrooms. Piloting wing is closer to the front of the ship, while the medical wing is closer to the back. There are also gyms, training rooms, storage areas, etc running through the inner areas of the ship.

Concept for the ship layout. I had to look up navy carrier maps for a sense of how something of this scale exists, but there's still plenty of artistic liberties being had.

Most of this will never be touched on during the game, but to create a convincing setting I want to think it all through.

Crudely colored version of one of the earlier sketches. The spacecraft is grey with purple shadows, floating through space dotted with stars. There are some windows, and entry point, and a few places where the text "H1PP0" has been emblazoned upon the ship.

First coloring attempt: I do not know how lighting works in space, and I can't help but feel this looks more like a chunky flip phone than a spacecraft.

Still, we are going places. We are learning.

Four sketches of an oximeter-based ship at various angles.

My initial sketches are fairly direct 1-to-1 copies, with a few minor adaptations (windows, mostly). I might try to be more creative with future drafts.

But first I want to try adding color and details to see how ship-like I can make them look.

Photo of someone using an oximeter. They stick their finger into the little hole going through it, clamping it on.

Like all the sci-fi tech in Terminal Status, the design is inspired by medical devices.

Specifically, I'll be referencing an oximeter—a cute little gadget made to measure blood oxygen levels.

As Terminal Status takes place on a space academy, designing the ship has always been on the to-do list. Doing so does not come easy to me.

Ailantd has been a huge inspiration to me, and I've long wished to try applying the skills I see her using. Now, I've finally found the necessary vision.

The openings can be the loading dock where UMAs go in and out... 🤔

I've been thinking so long about how to insert an oximeter into my world design, and I just realized... maybe that's what the space academy can be designed after. Maybe the H1PP0-CRAFT is a giant oximeter-shaped ship.