🐐 ⚒️ State of Creation Tools

Or more like behind the scenes. Probably a boring read if you don't care about the technical details.

As you know, I want to release the tools that i use to create stuff for GOAT. There is too many good models, and its impossible to animate them all. Not to mention, it would be fun to see animations in the game that i would not animate as frequently(or at all)

Character Creation
Out of the 3, characters are the most complex ones. Animating the model is one part, setting it up to be a GOAT game file is another story. The so called MainAnimator and ExpressionAnimators define what animations should play at which state. (Image 1)Expressions can be tied to a specific animation and intensity, and if multiple animations are assigned,the game selects and play one randomly, giving more dynamic results. Emitters are required to be added to the model, so the SoundPlayer can recognise them and play the correct audio.
Many models support changeable shapekeys, clothing or even skins, some extra components are required to set them up(Image 2)
JawAnimator is also required if we want the game to play random moans based on the select voicepack.
I make my animations in Unity, but its possible to import animations from Blender too(and possibly from other programs that support FBX export)

Scene Creation
The challenge here is to bake the scenes lighting correctly. Realtime lightings can ruin performance, so I avoid using too much. To make a game GOAT compatible though, we need to set up Locations.(Image 3) Locations have multiple types, ranging from on the floor, on an elevated position(such as the side of the bed),or standing. Its also possible to assign enviromental sound effects and animation to the locations, such as creaking bad sound effects.

Voicepack Creation (Image 4)
The easiest to set up, the hard part is to acquire the actual sound files. I usually commission VAs to record various intensity of moans, sometimes I get the from voice packs. After getting the audio and cutting the files, it just need to be assigned for the correct type of moan.

Okay, but how does it gets turned into a game file?

The BundleBuilder (Image 5) creates files from the GameObjects and also puts them in a seperate folder, based on its type. The files should be ready to be played in GOAT(should be)

So, what is the problem then?

Problem 1 - It can be more streamlined. Many components of the setup process is scattered around the model, and not centralised too much. I can use it easily, yeah, but i want to rethink how models should be setup. At Image 6, there is a "sketch" of how the new GOAT Animator should look like. Animations and critical components could be setup more easily this way.
Problem 2 - Some components expose core or rely on components I don't want to share. After the new GOAT Animator is ready, this problems should cease to exists.

What's the plan?

I can't really say when it gets released, but im sure i want to implement the body fluids system first,so future creators can add KUM to their animations. Sooo, it might take a while. Meanwhile, i keep making content, but also look for way to add 3rd party animations into the game.