Chickens are fully functional now. They work just like v0.8 except with the improved feature of having physics. They are really fun to chase around and it's funny when they fall off cliffs.
Theire pathfinding does not use any of Unity's built in navmeshing so they rely on rudimentary wall and cliff collision. That makes them smart enough to navigate tight corridors and thin bridges but they can't find their way out of a maze. They also occasionally suicide if physics and luck line up.
2022-01-11 05:46:37 +0000 UTC
View Post
I wanted to have a sort of last big piece to add to the trailer so there is more content to showcase. I decided on having chickens put into the game. This led to a huge mod API addition:
Till recently, Viva's modding API supported only bipedal characters (2 legged humanoids for people). I couldn't add horses or other animals because their skeletons were wildly different. A code addition was necessary to allow for these different skeleton creatures. And now it's complete! It is now possi...
2022-01-06 04:09:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
Delayed due to New Years. Happy New Year's by the way!
Stay tuned!
2022-01-05 03:37:44 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hope you had a Merry Christmas. The past few days I worked on a few things.
The map is now complete and is expanded on the other 2 corners. Some textures also received facelifts.
It features more of a canyon feel.
Textures on the ground also blend nicer, like the old map.
2021-12-30 00:35:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
I'm finishing up the base gameplay loop for the next game update. The issue is that the main gameplay loop, which is the main activity of the core game of Viva; the gathering of resources and, bringing them back and using them in some form like cooking, is partially complete. It needs more features so it feels like there is a main thing to do in the game (outside of taking care of your character).
I don't have anything to show today except for the advancements in the map. The past few d...
2021-12-24 08:01:45 +0000 UTC
View Post
Gameplay changes
- Added hugging (VR and keyboard)
- Fixed cooking putting stuff in bag while cooking
- Improved pickup animation and robustness
- Added more emotion curves to remaining animations
- Jiggle bones can now be interacted with your hand in VR (tails, hair, etc. if the character has any)
- Optimized ground sampling
- Improved physics to armature pinning
- Fixed bug with VR opening menu after giving command
- Fixed ch...
2021-12-20 03:25:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
Bigbug patch #3 will be ready this late Saturday PST. At the same time of release, Senko will be the first official downloadable mod for v0.9. Will be availble in the Discord. I'll post a link when it's ready. I had to temporarily disable the custom mods channel because some entries were outdated.
Anyways she does everything the usual characters do:
She will NOT be part of the release of ...
2021-12-17 09:27:26 +0000 UTC
View Post
The last big bugpatch #3 will be ready to drop this week! Also, for the Supporter tier of patrons, we will have the first exclusive Beta test run for Viva on the Oculus Quest later this month. There may be some catch 22's in the Quest implementation. No info on it yet.
Anyways here are some of the new fixes and improvements so far for the coming update:
Custom characters can now have custom thumbnails. So they don't have to be the character t posing. Example:
2021-12-13 05:31:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
After the last big bugpatch, keyboard and VR feels a lot better. However there are still a few kinks to get rid of. As well as some bugs with the character.
One problem where a character can get infinitely stuck is when picking stuff up. Currently the character will bend over to pick up something on the floor. If it comes back upright without the item, then it will try again. However, there are no checks for how many failures are allowed. This can lead to an infinite bend over loop:
...
2021-12-08 06:32:37 +0000 UTC
View Post
v0.9.08 Changelog:
- Fixed creation tab saying Item creation instead of Character creation
- Fixed UI not returning to character selection screen
- Added better Character creation tab
- flour can now physically fall out of the container (mortar, bowl) if tipped over
- Characters holding spillable containers now keep those items held upright whenever possible
- Optimized animation curve parameter sampling
- Improved hand grabbing accuracy
2021-12-04 08:01:56 +0000 UTC
View Post
Big bugpatch #2 will drop this week and it comes with the following improvements:
VR cooking will be included. It features everything the NPC can do meaning you can bake a pastry from start to finish.
Physics were reworked for stability yet again (physics are a tough nut to crack with animated ragdolls). The biggest offender was keyboard mode because when you wanted to grab something, the...
2021-11-30 06:44:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
I just released another patch, smaller than the last one but with goodies nevertherless.
It includes some bugfixes and feature improvements including eliminating the stuttering while in VR and some character movements.
Also, I added support for jiggle bones for object creation so you can now create characters and indicate what bones will jiggle. Here is an example:
2021-11-24 08:18:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Phew. Ok. Viva v0.9.06 is out with the following fixes:
- Player ragdolls are far less wobbly now.
- VR now launches BY DEFAULT. Will switch to keyboard if it fails. Should help people not getting VR working.
- Characters can now bake entire recipes (mixing flour, putting in oven, etc.)
- Onsen reception clerk is functional now.
- Improved ragdoll physics stability.
- VR handling is far more robust.
- Fixed sleeping bug wher...
2021-11-20 09:01:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
Big bug and feature patch was delayed 3 days. Mostly related to doing lots of testing. Once I finish the testing it will be released as usual and we will resume regular development posts.
Not much to talk about today other than lots of backend code digestion.
Stay tuned!
2021-11-15 10:13:54 +0000 UTC
View Post
I didn't realize I left on so many things turned off when I did the soft launch before I left for vacation. I apologize. Regardless several things are coming in this patch. Aiming for this weekend.
Onsen reception interactions are now enabled (was turned off):
Mortar and pestle coloring as well with labels so you know what is in the mortar and what ingredients you need to continue the rec...
2021-11-09 06:13:56 +0000 UTC
View Post
I just got back from vacation. Originally I was supposed to leave at the end of the month so the release was a few days rushed. I got a good chunk of feedback now that it's public-ish and I will be spending a couple weeks adding support for better VR handling and some interaction stuff. Namely I need to:
- Fix the VR hands being a bit wonky
- Calibration is off sometimes
- Make the new player model look less like Joe Biden
- Headpats regressed by accident
<...
2021-11-04 03:14:38 +0000 UTC
View Post
READ ME DONT BE LAZY
This is a ground up re-implementation of Viva Project (There is no longer "project" in our name) branching off from v0.8. Originally this game was meant to feature only Shinobu (around 2017) but legal and creative decisions lead to implementing character support. Major features like physics and mod support caused issues so late into the game so a full reimplementation was needed. This is that reimplementation. Older features will be added ba...
2021-10-26 01:59:56 +0000 UTC
View Post
No devpost this today! I will be keeping the features under wraps for launch day this Monday PST. Should launch sometime in the evening (US West coast time).
Stay tuned for launch!
2021-10-23 05:08:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
About a week away from launch day! I've been polishing and improving many things.
To start, when creating items, you can now select what kind of material your custom item has. This makes it possible to have transparent parts or double sided materials.
Grabbing items is less springy now as more force is applied now when grabbing things in VR or keyboard mode. Physics joints were improved t...
2021-10-18 05:02:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
Opening sliding door behaviors are back and implemented properly for v0.9. Made with the mod tools as well. It's now possible to have specific animations/logic for doors should you ever want to go crazy.
It also works with any character model. Different height sizes:
Crowd control is a bit dopey ...
2021-10-13 08:58:26 +0000 UTC
View Post
I finished the water features for release but I want to talk first about some improvements and polish I did.
First, heads turning are more realistic and less snappy.
I also added more animations to give the characters more personality namely some more headpat animations and random "ok" and "refuse" animations. So whenever you try a certain task, if they are unable to do it or don't want t...
2021-10-08 08:31:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
I received plenty of good feedback from the last Beta. Thank you! Still need more. I added plenty of important fixes for release. Because I received an abundance of bugs, I have decided to formally and finally push back the release date for Viva for October 30th, 2 extra weeks but still release in this month.
First, the beta features I didn't talk about yet:
The beta featured a new tutorial that teaches you how to use gestures and command characters.
2021-10-03 06:46:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
Code: guacamole
I need to get into the habit of writing changelogs.
Changelog:
+Expanded map (WIP)
+Fixed VR movement doubling up
+Added first phase of tutorial (playable from the main menu. Try it! Keyboard only for now )
+Footstep sounds are back
+Hand calibration is now automatic when you TPOSE in VR SETTINGS. N...
2021-09-29 09:05:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
Sorry for inconvenience. IRL emergency happened...
2021-09-27 06:41:16 +0000 UTC
View Post
I'll be having a formal mod workshop to help people get started with the mod API over on my Twitch this Sunday at 11AM PST. Come join us if you are also interested to see how the game is made.
Next beta also comes out this Sunday.
2021-09-24 22:42:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
Harvest system is fully functional like the old versions now. Of course made with the new mod tools.
v0.9 characters can pick fruit from the different types of plants that automatically grow food over time. Such as peaches:
Wheat:
and strawberries:
2021-09-19 09:06:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
There was something I had to do to fix navigation before properly finishing the harvest system. This was related to the navigation system for the AI.
See, in most unity games, the navigation mesh is baked once for the whole map for the AI to use. Typically this works well for maps that don't change shape (walls, moving floors, etc.). With Viva, because people can now make their own custom items (furniture, walls, etc.), it was necessary to make the navigation system work with these dyna...
2021-09-14 08:40:34 +0000 UTC
View Post
Bags are complete. They work almost identically to v0.8 and can store all sorts of items (except for bags obviously). Made with the mod support API.
First, here is me picking stuff up and putting it into the bag:
It's somewhat difficult to come up with a good key bind set for keyboard mode because I'm fond of being able to control each hand independently with left and right mouse. So at t...
2021-09-10 08:41:35 +0000 UTC
View Post
Bags have made it back in and I have included them into the game via the modding API. The inventory side of things isn't ready to show off but I did finish the item mechanics for it. Here is me wearing the bag:
When you pick it up, you'll be able to give it to someone or just wear if yourself by pressing the mouse/action button.
Here is me giving the bag to klee:
2021-09-05 09:14:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
I need to gather some information for those who recently played v0.9f in VR mode. Please select the best one that described your experience:
Also please comment any other issues you encountered.
v0.9 uses OpenXR, a fancy new better way of handling input for VR devices (no more awful broken SteamVR input). If you used SteamVR Beta (its a launch option in the BETAS tab) and received a message about enabli...
2021-09-01 09:46:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
