It's been about 3 months since my last devlog, sorry about that; the school's been tough lmao, I've also been working on something big for After Hours. Trust, this devlog was worth the wait

Quick Sum-up

• A new and improved night selection screen!

• Tutorial-Freeroam night?!

• More office stuff

• Brand new animatronic!

A Recap of the Months

A new and improved night selection screen!

So, a lot has changed since the last devlog. As you can tell, I completely redesigned the night selection screen. The original concept wasn't bad, it just looked clunky; this one also looks cleaner. I admit the original version was inspired by Tealerland's selection screen, but it was done so poorly that you couldn't tell. So I just decided to scrap the idea and replace it with something better. Of course, that means the whole scrolling thing the old one did is gone, now replaced with a simple quick fade. I also copied over the "A/D next previous page" from the character description page which I feel makes them more "connected" than before where you'd go from clicking to A/D. Anyways, it's just a lot more cleaner overall. (also epic music plays when you choose a night)

New "night" screens

This is a little "mini" thing, but before each night there's this cool little "DAY #" screen that pops up before the night. I mostly added it so the transition between the selection screen and the night was smoother, but it's also cool and hell too

Tutorial-Freeroam night?! (W.I.P)

Yep, you heard that right! After Hours will contain a "free-roam" section! Used quotations mostly because they're not 100% real free-roams, but it's close enough plus they're super cool to play though. Even though this may be the only free roam in the game and not totally "necessary" I do believe it adds decent amounts of world-building, and these sections will also help to ease out the parts in between nights and gameplay. If you look at the screenshot you can see I added an "inspect" mechanic; this will be used a lot during these sections to not only unlock the character descriptions but also to find lore and unlock certain endings and minigames. If you couldn't tell, the free-roam is not done, whatsoever (this is the "big" thing I mentioned at the beginning of the log) I'll probably be able to go more in-depth about it in June's devlog for it'll probably be done by then. Almost forgot, the free-roam also will be used for lore and introducing new animatronics and characters... wait did I say new charac-

NEW CHARACTER!!!!!

Hey, names Devin Jones; my friends call me DJ.

Sorry, way too hyped about the new character. This was mostly one of the biggest reasons for the free-roam, to introduce DJ to the player; wait, why is DJ important again? I don't wanna spoil anything, but he'll play a big role in the game and story.

More office stuff

As you probably could already tell from the video, the office got another "redesign" touch-up. Mostly the same other than the clock (now with the time being shown on the monitor) But if you take a closer look, you'll probably notice the "Security Handbook" it'll explain the mechanics and what to do and such, practically a phone guy, but in a little notebook form. Throughout the night stuff will also be added and certain notes will pop up depending on what you do during the night! And you may have not noticed from the video, due to it being so subtle, but I've "buffed" the door mechanic. Originally, the door would imminently open as soon as your mouse stopped holding it, but to help the gameplay loop and balancing, the door stays closed for 3 seconds after letting go. It'll help with dealing with multiple threats at once and overall balance

Brand new animatronic!

In the past, I said Ozzy was my favorite redesign... i lied. This has to be my favorite so far. The most obvious difference is that there are no outlines now! Which looking bad, was a terrible choice and just looked shit. You can't tell in the new design, but the endoskeleton is much simpler and cleaner than before; I also experimented with clothes that connect and aren't broken up in parts, which I think turned out great and I'm really proud of! And if you couldn't tell this takes HEAVY inspiration from animatronics like Showbiz, which makes sense since these guys were made around the same time! I would like to show off the new redesigned Whiskers, except uh... I don't have it lmao, right now I've only got sketches and ideas. Similar to the free-roam, I'll probably have it done by June

So, that was a lot... hopefully not too much, and I also hope this made up for the lack. I promise y'all that I'll pick up the slack and I'll go back to doing the monthly devlogs. With that, see you in June, peace.