Graphical improvements in PAL: Attack of the Nega Maids

Attack of the Nega Maids public and patron releases

This month I'm hoping to have both a public and a patron release for Attack of the Nega Maids, the new expansion pack for Pervert Action: Legacy. The patron release will include some new expansion content (I'm still working out what will be ready) while the public release will basically be an update to the base game of PAL with some bug fixes, cheats and a selection of new or improved graphics.

I wanted to explain the third feature a little more. For a start, in a lot of basic parts of the game I've wanted there to be more images; walking around the house, for example, you should ideally get a picture for every room you enter. I didn't do this in the original for practical reasons, but it's become possible to do that now thanks to my expanded library of 3D assets (that I've got thanks to your support on this campaign!).

I've started out by focusing on images from some of the introductory scenes, as well as fixing a number of the images from the Kimiko sex scene. Since her scene was the first I finished it's also the one that is the most 'outdated' in terms of my ability to bring out the pictures the way they should look.

How I'm improving some graphics

But on to the real issue, this comparison image shows how I've been improving a variety of the images that are already in PAL 1.0.0. You can probably tell that the lighting is clearer; in some of the early pictures in PAL I was still learning how to light things in the Iray rendering system. In the earlier rendering software I used, 3Delight, it was easy to light things but when I made the upgrade to Iray I found that it handles outdoor lighting very easily, but the way to do indoor lighting is just a bit more complicated. Now I have the hang of it so I can create lighting for a scene that looks diffuse, like it's coming off multiple smaller sources and reflecting off walls and such so you don't get the feeling that it's coming from a spotlight or the sun.

The texture settings are also better; you can best tell this by seeing how Kimiko's skin isn't so flat and has more of a natural shine. This was just a matter of experimenting over time with the settings to see what brings things out naturally. Doing this well means that objects (and skin) look more like they're actually made from the stuff they're supposed to be made of.

And then there's the obvious part - there's a new cupboard in the background. Honestly, I wanted the environments to be more complex when I was making PAL from the start, but I just didn't have enough 3D assets to work with. As I said above, since I've been getting consistent support from patrons I've been able to slowly build up a large library of high quality 3D assets, so when I need some background props I can quickly call them up. I would probably still make the environment differently if I was doing it from scratch (I'd just use more advanced, fully built 3D sets rather than throwing together simple ones like this) but I can at least improve some scenes that need to look a little less spartan.

The last point is subtle: the image is a little sharper. This is because I've now taken to rendering everything to 15,000 samples (rather than the default 5,000). This means they take a lot longer to render, which is a pain, but the game gets clearer, less grainy images. In this case that doesn't make much difference - 5k was enough for the original anyway - but with many pictures you can really see how it makes the scene pop and feel more real.

I won't necessarily be going over all of the images again - some of them are fine as they are and others are at least good enough to do the job. Replacing everything would be very time consuming when I should be making new content too. By fixing a lot of the weaker images and the most important images I think I can improve the game overall. Kind of like an HD overhaul.

What do you think? Do you get why I'm doing that now? Go ahead and leave replies in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you!