momoirosoftware

Monthly Update: Possible animator hire, new build this month, then on to Unity 6

Added 2024-05-07 11:03:49 +0000 UTC

Hey peeps, sorry this is a bit late, I got a bit burnt out before sitting down to make the post. So, I'm kinda already in break mode.

Small Change of Plans

So, I said originally, I would be doing animation this month, and while I did some, I ended up largely shifting to planning. Thats because an animator I've been wanting to hire opened up, and Oddmore has been so amazing with outfit items that I really wish I could have that pace with animations.

While it might be a bit of a financial struggle with offloading the writing, outfit items, and now animation but I can lean on the publisher Critical Bliss a bit more.

But to get this person onboard properly, I needed to organize things better. And make sure they had proper guidance on what's needed. Additionally, they need to be trained in blender.

But they're talented all the same.

So, I spent the second half of last month planning their on-boarding. Along with doing some much-needed planning for the blowjob animations. I wanted to get some of those completed, but there's SO MANY animations needed it's better to just let someone handle it.

Should everything go fine, they'll be joining at the end of the month, but on the off-chance things don't work out I will be hunting for a dedicated animator.

This month

This month I had a few goals:

A new build
Fixes for soft locks and some other issues
A new sex sim position added
The First Night animations will be implemented
Outfit items added in the dress up only release included + some items that were missed and some more panties.
An android build (Maybe)

But... I'm now reconsidering...Because....

The Big Reimport

Unity 6 is now in preview, this is similar to a "tech stream" of the past. I've used those versions before it's usually not bad.

I'm looking to get the big project reimport over with, and the preview is where that's gonna happen. If things go well the work should only take up the month. But if something in the transition becomes more complicated it could take a bit longer. So far, I think most things are minor, but it's entirely possible there's some unforeseen issue.

This is why I'm going to try and get an android build out, just in case things take longer than planned.

But once this transition is done, we'll be on a polish focus for the steam release. No more focusing on content when it comes to me in particular, just focusing on the game.

That said I don't think I've exactly explained what's going to change so here's a bit of bullet points

Updated lighting and time of day system, resulting in smooth time of day transitions instead of the current sudden finnicky changes. This should allow reducing the "blink" transitions, instead just showing the time-of-day change. The sky will also look different, having dynamic clouds while still looking stylized. Additionally, during pose mode and sex sim, having the ability to gradually change the time.
Updated lighting and shaders with APV, allowing Naomi to be better lit in scenes. But this also requires shader updates. SSGI would no longer be needed but will still be an option in a different form.
STP support which should allow for sharper image with resolution scaling, producing sharper results on android and lower end devices.
In theory performance improvements across the board due to various unity features like GPU occlusion culling.
Ability to begin utilizing VFX Graph for a range of new effects and features, possibly replacing things like cum effects and a lot more.
Other changes I'm forgetting
Overall expect a big visual and performance upgrade. And on the back end for me, some major workflow improvements (for example APV i mentioned bakes in mere seconds making updating easy).

But to support these things, requires many internal changes, changes to how systems work, shaders, etc. It's going to take a good deal of doing beyond the normal upgrade. I've done some testing, so things should be fine but also remember I'm doing the full reimport along with it.

Effectively trying to rebuild the project from a new project instead of simply upgrading. Attempting to make a cleaner project for the long term. This task alone is its own undertaking.

So again, about this month...

Honestly, I want to get this build out asap to get this work underway asap.

TBH I want to just skip the build and do it now, but last release was 2 months ago, and if I start this it could be another 2 months until the next release. Meaning longer waits for some soft locks and other issues.

Plus there's a high potential that I end up redoing some work, as I said earlier there's going to be a lot of lighting changes. If I implement the cinematics for First Night I could have to redo the often per camera post processing and lighting. And If I decide to upgrade the Cinemachine Asset (Used for camera motion and cuts) it could be even worse.

So, I'm thinking maybe I should narrow my goals and just deliver bug fixes to help things be more playable. And then deliver an android release for those who have to wait. I think that would yield the maximum benefit and allow me to start the transition ASAP so the project can move forward.

The build release just being:

Bug fixes for soft locks and other playability issues (the broken flashlight was one people have messaged me about a lot)
New outfit items from the dress up release + new ones
Android Release (unless it proves to be massively time consuming)

And that's it, no new animation content for now. Bug fixes, new items, android release.

Then once the big reimport is done, then focus on adding any new content, and polish. And This period will have more frequent builds.

Let me know what you think, lately I feel like content is less an issue for some as the various smaller issues making playing difficult.

Do keep in mind even if the content is not getting added, and I'm personally working on the game side content is still being made. Either by oddmore or others.