Episode 7, Plans for 2023, Holidays

Hey everyone,

last post for this year! 😊

2022:
First of all: thank you very very much for your support in 2022! We achieve a lot of things together and could not have done it without you! 🥰🥰🥰

Like the PoseViewer that became so much more than just checking poses in an empty map to the new workflow for Episodes with Episode 7. Or the new cumshots for both real-time (PoseViewer) and Episodes (EP7).

Also all the character improvements (hair, shaders, eyes, etc.) are definitely worth the invested effort. And of course the more streamlined workflow for story motion-capture is a great time-saver too! And last but not least the new rendering approach in Unreal is simply amazing :)

Definitely all the work invested in 2022 that will help us deliver great stuff in 2023 🥳

Episode 7:
So the Guy-Version is finally done and should be available on the Affect3D Store for download. I adapted the Episode 7 post with the link to the Affect3D product page. If you have the bundle, the download section will automatically be updated the next couple of hourse. So no need to redeem a code again or so. Just that you know.

The interactive version will be delayed until early next year. We are facing a lot of performance and graphics bugs (like the hair completely messed up) and have to fix that of course before we can release it. And with the holidays and baby coming soon, I can´t give an exact release date. 

Also, the time dilation for the slow-motion parts will be removed because that's messing up everything as well. It would work fine if we had a regular cut scene in which you can't go back and forth. But since we can do that with a time-slider, all the logic there is messed up as well. And there is actually no fix for that up to this day. 

The hair, from a performance point of view, is also not really production ready for real-time applications at this time. If you have 1 character on screen, yes. But not with multiple ones with complex hairstyles. We will have to go back to the polygon hair for future games and only use the groom versions for pre-rendered Episodes until technology catches up. 

But most important are the movie versions and they look great! So far the feedback was overwhelmingly great 🥳😊🥰

2023:
I had a meeting with my coder friends today and we made a list of the plans for next year. There is actually quite a lot on the plate, but since we have more streamlined workflows, it should be doable with normal working hours and a much better work/life balance. Fingers crossed 😋

So what are our plans?

1. PoseViewer Content Updates:
We will first add the new female characters and at a later point the guy as well. For the guy, we will not support all animations because we would have to adapt all existing animations and the logic in the code. For example, character switching needs to be reworked. Most likely we will do it like with the climax tags: whenever there is a guy version available, there will be a tag for it so you can instantly see which animation is supported.

I also want to add the animations from EP7 and also add some animations for the guy as well.  And we will release it on Steam at some point. 

2. PoseViewer port to Unreal 5, Android, VR:
Once the content updates are done, we will port the PoseViewer to Unreal Engine 5 with all its cool new (but also performance-demanding) new features. 

We will also do some research about a possible Android and VR version. I would really like to do that 🙂

3. New Episode(s):
I already talked to Marie about new scripts because next year I want to, at least, create Episode 8. Maybe, but I can´t promise, even an Episode 9. Since I plan to make them shorter and with all the new and faster workflow in Unreal, it might be doable. But I won´t promise to deliver 2 Episodes, please keep that in mind. 

4. General Research & Development:
So while I am working on animations & Episodes, my coder friends will also do some general R&D for a couple of things for the next game. Basic things that will have to be super solid for all future production. Like a proper locomotion system, performance optimizations, Tools for streamlining quests/tasks, etc. 

I also want to give you guys a test that we do on the go. Like having the girls run around in an environment, maybe driving a car. 

I will also need help with testing performance for different things. UE5 looks amazing, but the new features are really performance-hungry and we need to find a balance between looks and performance. So testing things will be very important next year. 

5. Better Work/Life Balance:
This year was amazing with all the great achievements, no question about it. But it was also too much work. Too many things came together (also the issues I had with the house) and I can´t wait for at least a couple of days to relax until the baby is coming. 

So next year I will definitely work normal hours but things will therefore also take a bit longer. But right now I simply don´t have enough time for me and my family and that's not how it's supposed to be. 

One thing that definitely works better are 2-week update cycles and better and more realistic planning for things. Because even when I am fast with animations, doesn't mean products will be done when I want them to be done. Because I am relying on other people as well. Which is good, because I can´t and don´t want to do everything myself. But it can also cause delays. So having a bit more buffer for deliveries from other people, will definitely make it less stressful 😉

So once again, thank you so much for your support! When I first started with my Patreon, I never imagined getting that consistent and long-lasting support from so many of you 🥰

Thanks for an amazing 2022 and let's have an even better 2023! 🥰🥳😊🙂

Merry Christmas🎄 and a Happy New Year 🎇🎆🎇 Stay safe and enjoy the Holidays 🥳 

All the very best,
PM & Team