Why, yes, programming an elephant IS hard. Making its eyes blue is a lot easier, but I'm not doing that.

I also had to make sure it's a robot elephant, specifically, because this is a robot circus, and it's unethical to use real elephants.

Concept art time!

Early on, Tiel had a backpack because in the fic she was originally created for, she was going on an adventure along with Rick. That's why I was kinda attached to her.

Possible default protagonists, Charlie (guy with hat) and Bonnie (girl with dress). Using a similar palette, because I can.

I would alter the faces, but I like appeal, and without the pixel-noses, they'd look like chibis at that size.

Despite anything resembling better judgment, and this not going into any demos, I decided to implement a swinging mechanic.

I got it working. You can control the swing (loosely), and can stretch and retract the arm. It even adds a bit of momentum.

First you draw parts, then program a rig for animation.

I need to work on the "What does this guy actually do" part.

Well, I was looking through some old files, and found some cool stuff.

Strangely enough, of all the games I've made .exes of, this is the one that STILL works on my current computer. And sometimes, I realize I made some poor decisions in game design with this one.

This should help speed up the process.

...no guarantees, but until I have an official level-select menu, this'll do.

As a writer, you learn to just make stuff up. As a science-fiction writer, you justify the stuff you just make up.

"Derma" is related to "skin", and "myo" is related to "myoelectric prosthesis".

I figured out an easier way to program arranging angles on a rig.

It involves choosing which body part to move, then using the mouse to calculate an angle.

Namely, angle= point_direction(x, y, mouse_x, mouse_y).