April 2021 Progress Update!

Hey everyone!

The new release for all tiers will be available before the end of the month!  We're fixing and adding quite a bit beyond the Inner Circle release earlier this month, so we need a few more days to polish it up and test.  

As usual I want to talk (mostly) about work being done that isn't in the releases this month.  We're currently working on four new enemies at once, as well as a Splicer Runt solo H scene, Chain Splicer solo and multi-team H scenes, and a revamped Splicer Thug solo H scene (this one's important so that we can ditch some of our old character rigs that we have to keep around specifically for this scene).  We have a lot of work done on the Chain Splicer H scenes, and are hoping to have them ready in one of the May releases.

Please check out the tentative change log below for details on the upcoming release, and let us know what you think!

Topics for this Update!

• April Test Release Details
• Cinematic Mode Previews
• Dominatrix Model Progress
• Male Cop Model Progress
• FemCop Combat Animations
• Chain Splicer Combat and H Scenes
• Reflection FX System
• Slime Enemy Concepts
• AltairPL's H System Overhaul
  

April Test Release Details

Tentative Changelog (** indicates items added since the April 17 Inner Circle test release):

• ** Adding Chain Splicer enemy for combat testing
• ** Potentially have fixed the issue where enemies slide around after having been knocked down (still testing the fix).
• ** Added a consumable item for cleaning up Onyx >_>
• ** Added ability to clean characters off in Gallery Mode
• ** Characters no longer improperly collide with item pickups 
• ** Improved physics/combat collision masking yields a CPU performance boost.
• ** H scene bystanders should no longer stand on top of each other 
• ** Revamped AI combat zones system.  Instead of constructing AI zones of engagement via code, they now use collider shapes similar to hitboxes.
• ** Enemies now properly use their internal "reaction time" parameter, and now have a "post-nudge wait timer" (causes them to wait to make a decision -- important for difficulty / balancing)
• Added Femcop vs Street Lord Wraxe "Lift" H scene to the gallery.
• Added bodysuit variants of FemCop H scenes to the gallery.
• Added Brum's character/object reflection FX system.
• Added Reflection FX on/off toggle and quality settings to Options menu.
• Splicer Thug + Runt double team scene now adds liquid to Onyx's head zone (it's complete overkill and will be split up later :D)
• Improved FemCop booty/genitals textures
• Improved FemCop's genitals rigging / more fixes to rig in general
• The game no longer lags when enemies spawn.
• Fixed an issue where pressing "skip animation" at the last phase of a scene in Gallery Mode (during fade to black) would instead loop the animation.
• Actors' debug information no longer appears above them in Gallery Mode, and it's been disabled so it can't be accidentally toggled.
• Fixed reversed camera zoom input in Gallery Mode
• Gallery camera zoom speed is now the same as in stage.
• Improved processing for Gallery scene activation/deactivation and handling for stage UI toggling.
• Skeleton swap is now properly concealed behind the white flash when grapple scenes / H scenes begin.
• H animation desync issues have been resolved.
• Runt will no longer face the opposite direction during H scenes (we think; we haven't seen it in testing and APL's revamp should have fixed it)
• It's now possible to play multiple H scenes simultaneously (there are no events set up for this to happen yet, just flexing >_>)
• Animations in H scenes can now loop independently of the main scene (will be very useful for upcoming multi-team scenes).

Cinematic Mode Previews

Below are a couple of full-length preview videos for you to check out of the Cinematic Mode system that we've been establishing requirements for.  It will be an alternate viewing mode which allows you to toggle between cinematic cameras in real-time during H scenes, and will function both in-game and in the gallery.  

 I'm making a handful of these videos manually so we can better learn how to develop the mechanics in the most efficient/flexible way possible.  Let me know what you think!

Cinematic Mode Previews Download 

Dominatrix Model Progress

Some new progress on the dominatrix enemy sculpt to show off!  Not much to say here other than o.o booba.  I did some Unity shading/materials tests earlier this month, but we need to wait till she's complete before going all out on textures and what not.  

Male Cop Model Progress

We have yet another new sculptor to help Limbo, Ubercharge, and TK out with male characters, biomonsters, and robotic enemies!  Everyone welcome Kame to the team ^-^.

His first project has been the male cop high poly sculpt, which is going great.  Kame's captured the proportions of the concept perfectly and is adapting quickly to the sculpting requirements for our cel-shaded style.  Hopefully we will have him rigged and set up with materials in the next monthly update!

FemCop Combat Animations

TMX has been working on the remainder of FemCop's combat animations since Penapsquat has been wrapped up working on H scene transition animations.  Shown above is the completed primary motion for a long combo chain, a flip kick attack that can knock Onyx out of the air, and her walk cycle (we've taken a few stabs at this, and I'm quite happy with her authoritative feel in this latest one).  I still have to add secondary motion to most of these for hair and jiggles.

As you can see, she's a more advanced enemy than the Thug and Runt.  She'll be aided by a backstep skill, which will give her a strong horizontal movement pattern where she's able to advance and retreat very quickly.

She has a handful of animations left to do still, but at the moment it's looking like either she or the Splicer Looter will be the next enemy added after the Chain Splicer!

Chain Splicer Combat and H Scenes

The Chain Splicer is nearly complete and functional for combat testing!  I still have to add attack FX and SFX, and Mr. Kittyhawk still has some work on AI and hitboxes, but after a whole lot of fixes and getting the chain to behave in Unity his animations are ready to go :D.  With some luck we will have him ready for the release for all tiers before the end of the month.

Reflection FX System

Brum developed a real-time reflections system this month as a follow-up to his water FX system from last month! 

We've designed it to be as flexible as possible so that it can work for any surface.  It supports reflection map textures that allow us to specify where reflections should appear and at what intensity, as well as normal maps for distortion or faux blur.  It's also compatible with the new water FX system!

The effect can be toggled on/off and the quality adjusted within the Options menu.

Slime Enemy Concepts

We've attempted a slime enemy concept a few times now, and Limbo's latest checks all the boxes I was after.  It's both goofy and spooky, and has a lot of character.  

His shapeshifting ability will be the perfect vehicle for unique attacks and scenes.  That same ability makes it a very challenging character to do from a 3D technical perspective, largely because the workflow will differ from what we're used to (a single rig won't do the trick here), but we're up for the challenge!   

AltairPL's H System Overhaul!

APL killed it this month with a major overhaul to our H system that has fixed a lot of the existing issues with it, and made it significantly easier to add new content on our end.  He's given a detailed update for those of you interested in the technical details:

"I started by moving some more permanent in-game stuff related to actors into my custom database, which results in better access to some stuff, better performance in some situations, and lower size and complexity of actor prefabs, which may improve spawning times and such.

I also moved actor animation sets configuration to the database (this is where we assign all non-H animations to characters). The main reason for this was to have all of them in one place, but it also allows for changing more in-depth stuff without the need to edit scripts, and adding a new set is as simple as clicking few times.

A major step was moving H scene configuration from those old animation sets to the database and overhauling flow and structure of the scenes themselves and the coordinator used to play them in game. This one not only solved a lot of issues plaguing us, but also added a lot of new functionality:

• Fixed or at least greatly minimized a chance for actors in sex scene to be slightly shifted horizontally and/or facing wrong direction,
• Fixed problem with sex scene animations being out of sync, which sometimes happened after skipping parts of previous sex scene,
• Added ability for some sex scene actors to use looped animation detached from scene flow/speed - intended for participants waiting their turn, etc.
• Added ability to play more than one sex scene at a time,
• Fixed small issue when some animation/rig changes weren't always occluded by flash/fade effects,
• Fixed potential issue when enemy tries to initiate a scene when no scene is currently available.

I also changed how animations are set-up in-game proper, which almost entirely removed actor spawn lag, which was pretty bad in some cases, especially when running the game from editor.

On top of that, there was a bunch of other changes and fixes to other parts of the project. Our custom game database editor finally got some more love, which resulted in adding many QoL improvements, like ability to make copy of an entry, filtering entries by name, and many, many more."