momoirosoftware

Hey Sacb0y, whats the status of "The Couch" and why are you doing this "Naomi 3D" Thing?

Added 2018-10-29 13:01:01 +0000 UTC

The status of the couch is we're caught up in working on story content! After hiring the new writer we worked on a profile for Naomi and the player, but I figured that would be enough to get everyone on the same page but it wasn't. So this month was basically a lot of feedback on writing and dialogue trying to help the writer understand the tone and such I envisioned.

And now that progress has been made on that front there's still editing and more fixes. But that won't take a month like the last stuff. I have my own edits to make, then there's passing it around to the editors I have.

Normally in all the game project I've worked on the writing is usually done long before any art and stuff exists, and here we're kind of doing the opposite. Everything has been Art and programming first on this project with only a concept to carry it really.

I'm sorry for the lack of a major content update in the build this month, but things ended up being planned this way so I can better prepare for future patron content delivery. Let me explain...

Wait, so where's the Naomi Hug animation thats been previewed?

Still coming along, but earlier this month when I realized that the writing likely wouldn't be completed to my standards by the end of the month. There was a combination of problems, I thought "If I finish the scene animation but there's no writing, then that means MiNT can't properly implement the dialogue, and all I'd have for people is maybe a video of the animation cause a build wouldn't be viable.

And then I realized another thing, the reality is content for The Couch is actually quite slow and tedious. Every new scene requires a whole new rig, and a whole new set up process that takes days or weeks to set up. When I started The Couch I knew this, but at the time I anticipated 2D puppet animation would be a popular client demand considering most hentai games are 2D and it's considered more affordable.

In one way I was right, but it turns out 3D art is in MUCH higher demand. So for like a year The Couch is my only project with puppet animation like this. And that means I'm less acclimated to it than my other work Painting and 3D art. There's just no efficiency, and I'm doing my best to find efficient solutions to getting this done.

Ok, so why is Naomi 3D a thing?

Simple, most of my client work is 3D now, and I have a lot of skills I've developed and I'm developing, I have Shaders & models made, and animation experience I can take advantage of. I have a very very efficient workflow for this content. And I have very optimized models.

But there's one key difference, see for the couch I have to make new rigs and animate for this single scene to get as much content as I can from it. Thats what The Couch is. I love these animations, but still, they're very limited in a lot of ways.

Doing a 3D project, I only need to set up the model once, and I have everything I need from then on barring some adjustments. I can bring you guys content more frequently even if it's just an animation. And I can bring you that animation in real-time, all the time, not just a video. And I can still deliver that content over the web, and over android too.

So thats what I set out to do this month.

Instead of working on the new scene for The Couch I opted to get the Naomi 3D project off the ground and get you guys some nice animated content from that.

And here's the thing, this content for a long time will generally not be tied to a specific story or scenario beyond the Apartment setting. I can generally release this content independently in different builds. Not as one with all these major interconnected features. At least not yet.

These will be one off animations, and in some case may have mild interactivity like speed control. You can basically expect animations similar to the Branda Animations posted before. Though with a mood more like The Couch, and you'll have the option to freely control the camera yourself and possibly have PoV features too.

And what does this mean for The Couch?

This is complementary to The Couch, I'm 100% committed to The Couch because that game represents my vision for everything I want to do going forward. But I still need to make sure you guys get content so your support is properly rewarded. I genuinely hate feeling like I'm not giving enough, which I've felt these past few months (some people say I'm fine but still). The Naomi 3D project is intended to be a remedy for that.

And while obviously working on Naomi 3D stuff takes away time from The Couch, my criteria for Naomi 3D development time is based on what I project can be released for The Couch that month. If I feel like I'm coming up short, I may do a little Naomi 3D just to compensate a bit. Maybe just a short loop, maybe a bit more.

But this is by no means a primary focus at least until The Couch is complete.