Past, Present, Future

Past

In 2020, as lockdowns took hold, I decided to purchase my first VR headset. Like others intrigued by erotic hypnosis who found themselves in possession of a VR headset, my initial search for content left me empty-handed. Both erotic hypnosis and VR are niche and costly, leading me to believe there was little incentive for creators. Despite being new to both virtual reality and hypnosis I found myself disappointed.  The one exception was Shibby's "My Sweet Boy". Wow did that leave an impression. From that point on I learned all I could about the art of erotic hypnosis and eagerly awaited more VR content that never materialized.

Fast forward to December 2022, boredom led me to impulsively pick up Unreal Engine. I focused on Blueprints, its visual scripting language, and spent all my free time studying it.  By the end of the month I felt comfortable enough to start my first project.

Considering the void of erotic hypnosis VR content I settled on HypgnosisVR.  I hoped to have fun making something that my subs and I could enjoy.

On January 1, 2023, a year to date, I began developing the proof of concept. My initial goal was simple: a hypnotic spiral responding to audio cues. By the end of January, I had crafted an early version of Space Ribbons, recorded Snap Test, and hooked it up to the spiral. Feedback from friends was very positive.

It was at this point I began to consider a different future for the game.  Everyone is looking for hypnotic VR content so should I make the game available publicly?  I guess that means I should make my audios 4A so more people can enjoy them.  Would other audio creators be interested in working with me?  I certainly would love to work with the most talented creators out there.  Would Shibby be interested?  However, if I wanted to attract the attention of others I would first need to polish the game to truly show the game’s potential.

Over the next 4-5 months, I built the other three spirals, wrote and recorded scripts, and tied them all together. Come May, I felt confident enough to open the official Discord server and invite others for a playtest via Reddit. The level of interest was greater than expected, providing me with valuable feedback for bug fixes, feature enhancements, and future content.

With the game now in a stable state, I decided to launch a Patreon to garner support for its ongoing development.  At this point HypgnosisVR had become an expensive hobby for me.

Over the next six months the game saw the addition of numerous audios, including contributions from Dragontize, along with new features and quality-of-life improvements. Behind the scenes, I experimented with various ideas, even if not all of them made it into the final game.

Present

From the outset I've grappled with the constraints of the project and lately I’ve found myself rethinking the game's design. The bulk of my development time revolves around hooking up new audios to spirals. For those unfamiliar, I create fully keyframed animations for each audio/spiral combination, a tedious process demanding 1-2 weeks of work for a single audio across the four spirals. Initially, I found satisfaction in the results, well-timed animations crucial for captivating hypnotic visuals, and feedback was consistently positive. However, it has gradually become a drain on my motivation. Syncing visual effects with audio leaves me little time for all other aspects of the game’s development. Often I feel the need to prioritize adding new audio content, enduring hours of tedious work with minimal personal satisfaction.

Given these challenges, I've scrutinized the current state of the game as well as my workflow.

• I've long desired additional spirals but hesitated due to the increased workload—a single new spiral would add roughly 25% more work for hooking up audios to spirals.
• I'm exploring the option of outsourcing hooking up audios so as to lighten my workload.
• I need to make hooking audios faster as the time commitment hampers development in other areas of the game.
• I want to introduce features incompatible with the current Unreal Engine version.
• I want to redesign the UI, including gamepad functionality.
• I want to collaborate with many more audio creators.

Future

Amidst these considerations, I've drawn a few conclusions.

Firstly, my skill set needs improvement. Much like in December 2022, I'm diving into new aspects of Unreal Engine, focusing on learning C++. While Blueprints have served me well, the combination of both will open up new possibilities. I'm also planning formal learning in UI design, particle effects, performance improvements, cinematics, and anything else that I feel might improve the game.

I’m looking to completely reorganize the project. While not noticeable to players, it has grown bloated and unwieldy for me as a developer. I aim to clean it up for a smoother workflow, saving me time going forward.

Additionally, I plan to upgrade the game to the latest version of Unreal Engine. Past attempts have been unsuccessful, leading me to rebuild the project from scratch. While a step back, it offers a chance to reorganize, improve performance, and add new features I otherwise could not. This will also allow me to produce the game’s infrastructure with C++ code. Once the base game has been built I hope to port all existing content over to the new game.

A fresh approach to spiral design is a top priority of mine. One of my largest priorities for the new version of the game are spirals that don’t require meticulously keyframed animations.  My current thinking on how to go about this is a bit difficult to describe but in effect would make new spirals compatible with all previously added audios while new audios would only need to be hooked up a single time rather than to each individual spiral.

Now, let's discuss the limitations. Manual keyframing results in better-looking spirals, allowing for better-timed and more diverse animations. The new system will prioritize simpler spirals initially, like Space Ribbons and Mandala. On special occasions I may use the same methodology I do now so as to get better results.

In summary, the upcoming months will be dedicated to skill enhancement, game redesign, and experimenting with a faster audio and spiral animation system that will allow me to output content at a significantly faster pace. This means in the short term there'll be a break in adding new audio content.

Given these changes, the DLC system is shelved. I appreciate everyone who participated in the experiment, and for those who purchased DLC, I'll be issuing refunds. As such, I am releasing a final update for the current version of the game which makes "Brainwashing Fractionation" and "Obedience is Pleasure" by Dragontize free for all to enjoy.

Thank you for participating in HypgnosisVR's first year of development.