slaen

Environment work and a new armor set

Making some steady progress this week.  The new armor set is for the town guards.  I wanted to give them something a bit more upscale and professional looking.  The high poly sculpt is almost done and I should be able to start on the low poly in the next few days.  

Also chipping away at the first dungeon area.  The full layout is finished and I started detailing the scene.  I'm trying to sort out how to do the visual fx for the game still.  I was hopi...

What's next?

I think it's time for a lot of polish.  The systems are there, all the building blocks are in place and (mostly) working.  So how about some polish?  I want to get some new armor sets and outfits into the game, more quest variety, add and polish animations, and do a pass on the environment.  The idea is to focus on this beginning area of the game and turn it into a proper vertical slice.  

This week I made the lowpoly for a new armor set and started on the textu...

Version 1.12 Build Notes

I quickly spot checked most of the new content.  There's a good chance that I missed a few things but build 1.12 is ready!!!

Link to the post for $10+ patrons 

Build notes: 

Grapple, Lust, Stun System

This is the first full version of these systems and will be refined over time.  If you have any feedback or ideas on how to improve things ...

Version 1.12 Download

Grab the 1.12 Version Here! 

Next build coming later this week

I've been staring at code and blueprints all week and I am totally fried.  I was hoping to have the build ready earlier but there were a few major bugs with the new grappling system that also ended up breaking a few of the older systems.   I think(hope) I have things relatively stable right now but it put me behind schedule.

The next build will have the new Succubus character, dialogue trees for the characters in town, early game quests, post defeat scene message...

What happened to your hands?

All the heavy lifting for the next build is done and now I'm bug fixing.  There were enough system changes and things I started optimizing that I broke a handful of other stuff in the game.  

Not sure how long this will take but once I get all the big bugs fixed I'll put the build together and upload it.  Wish me luck.  

Since screenshots of spreadsheets are boring...

... here's another picture of the succubus.  

The dialogue trees for all of the important NPCs in town are now done.  So in the next build people won't run into that generic placeholder dialogue text.  

Now I'm in the process of hooking up the scripting for the early game quests.  I revamped the system to be a lot lighter weight and easier to use than the previous actor based system.  The downside is it's a lot of juggling spreadsheets and hooking up scrip...

Just a quick progress update this week

Working through dialogue and quest scripting this week.  I'm terrible at estimating how long dialogue will take to write and it's been going a lot slower than I would like.  I'm going to work through and get everything together for the next build as quickly as I can but it might not be before the end of this month like I had wanted.  I'll keep everyone posted with the usual updates on how things are progressing and we'll see how far I can get.

I'm never sure how much of t...

Yeah that looks about right...

I've been trying to figure out how to tie the lust system in with combat for a while now and while I was working on the succubus I realized that this is probably the best time to rework that system.   

So there's 3 different meters right now.  I have a pretty good idea of how to simplify this but for testing it's easier on me if they're all separate.  The UI will probably be a bit cluttered in this next build as a result.  Each meter will reduce over time on its...

Weekly progress update

Getting close to wrapping up the succubus animations.  Tweaking her AI a bit to make her combat slightly different, this will still be placeholder until I can put more time into it.  I'm trying to make her grapples fit smoothly into the overall flow of combat which is going to take a few iterations to feel right.  

The plan for the succubus is to make her the boss character that the player encounters at the end of the first dungeon.  The assets for the dungeon are co...

Post defeat events brainstorming

As usual chipping away at the Succubus' animation and content still.  

I've also been planning out the systems for what happens after the player has been defeated in combat.  The current idea is that after the player is defeated they'll have the choice to play through the sex scene content and then they'll be given a choice of respawning "in town" or else respawning some time later in that same location.  

If the player respawns in that same locatio...

How are there this many animations?!

Version 1.11 is open to all patrons!

Still doing succubus animations.  The above screenshot is the WIP of her basic grapple animation.  This upcoming version of the grapple system will be triggered when the player is stunned by her range attack.  While the player is stunned she walk towards them, then enter into the base grapple, the stance shown above.  ...

More animations, grappling system rework, and writing!

The next build is shaping up to be a big one.  The plan is to have the succubus fully ready and working in game, to use her as a proper demonstration of the grappling systems, and to have the early game quests implemented and flesh out the player experience.  

Still working on the succubus' animations.  Her base functionality animations are in engine and ready to go.  Stuff like running, melee swing, throwing, etc.  I'll be starting on her scene animations tonig...

Succubus Animation Work

Working on the succubus animations this week.  I've been experimenting with dynamics in the engine before this and so far I'm not really happy with the results.  With the succubus I'm going to try hand animating some of the secondary motions on her and see if that gives a more consistent result and hopefully looks better.  I'm really excited to get her into the game.  

I've also been working on the trailer when I have extra time.  One thing I had no idea where t...

Succubus Rigging

I've been working on her rig most of the week.  There's still a few controls to implement but most of the weighting is done.  Hopefully I'll be able to start on her animations in the next few days.  

I was also working more on the NPCs in the starting town.  Roughing out characters, personalities, dialogues, and the intro quests.  The goal is to have some of that content ready for the next build.  Then I'll start working on the different outfits for the NPC...

Version 1.11 Release Notes

• Updated the Human on Human animations to replace the old placeholder scene animations
• Goblin girls have a few sounds hooked up - these are very work in progress 
• Added a Human on Minotaur doggy scene if the Human wins in combat per request
• Environment polish
• Character preset Importer / Exporter

The character Import/Export stuff is a workaround since saved games don't work well between versions yet.  The player will be able to cus...

Version 1.11 Release

Grab the 1.11 Version Here! 

Back to regularly scheduled updates...

Okay, I'm back to my work machine and working on finishing up animations.  Those should only take another few days and then I'll start putting the next build together.  My goal is to have the build ready for next Tuesday but it could be a few days before or after all depending on how smoothly things go.

Trying to figure out exactly how to handle armor and clothing sets and how much that should tie into gameplay.  I like in the Fable games how clothing and armor is mostly ...

Quick update - working on animations

Posting a bit earlier than usual this week.  Just a quick note, I'm not going to have access to my work machine for about a week so I'll probably just end up sculpting on a new armor set or something.

This past week I've been cruising through the human on human animations.  There's only 2 more cycles I need to get through and then all of the old placeholder human on human animations will be replaced.  

The plan right now is once I get back to my computer I'll finish...

Blendshapes!

The initial pass on the Succubus' facial expressions is ready to go.  There's a polish pass to make sure they all work well together but this was the heavy lifting part of the process.  

Also chipping away at the old human / human scene animations.  I'm hoping to get those old placeholders replaced with some polished animations for the next build.  

Found a pretty major bug this week too.  It was most likely to happen while running along the edge of a spaw...

Succubus Texturing

Still messing with some of the colors and a few of her shapes.  The hair is still placeholder but it'll end up being a similar color and style on this base version of her.  I'll start on her rig in the next few days.  It should be interesting to figure out the rig for her tail drain attacks.  I'm thinking it'll be a blendshape or two in order to get her tail to open up.  

The plan is to make her the big bad guy in the final shot of the trailer.  I'm thinkin...

Starting work on a trailer

I'm still working on the succubus retopology.  All of those asymmetrical laces on her clothing is taking forever to do cleanly.  The low poly only needs another day or two of full work to finish... I hope.

Now that the proof of concept is complete and relatively stable I'm going to put some time into marketing and promoting Feign.  The idea is to make a quick teaser trailer to showcase the game.  Something that's only 30 to 45 seconds long, hits the high points, and ...

Retopologizing, Player Character Exporter, and Audio Tests

Finished up the succubus sculpt and I've been working on retopologizing her.  That should be done in the next few days and then it'll be time to work on her textures.

I also made an import / export feature for the player's character.  Now instead of making a new character with every new build of the game it should be possible to customize your character and then export that preset to a text file.  That text file can then be imported into ...

Succubus sculpting!

The sculpt is almost done. I finally figured out how I wanted the wings and tail to look.  I'm still not totally sure about the belts on her wrist and ankles.  Those might change a bit more.  Need to finish up the detail pass on her and then start the low poly mesh.  

Oh, and her hair is placeholder for general shape and volume.  I'll do the actual hair card placement when I get her back into Maya and I'm working on the low poly.  

The beginning of th...

Hotfix build!

Grab version 1.10b here 

Looks like I missed some major bugs in that build

HUGE thanks to people that have sent me bug reports!  It's really, really helpful.

So far I got:

• Can't trigger sex with townsfolk.
• Buying / selling items doesn't charge correct prices
• Animations not lining up during scenes 
• NPCs not moving or doing anything even after being attacked
• NPCs disappearing after losing in combat

I'm working on a hotfix build right now.  Sorry, about missing all of thes...

Forgot to mention spot to test player housing in latest build

After entering the town's north gate turn right and there's one of the generic small houses that has a door you can enter.  This should take you to a totally empty interior space. 

 I wanted to give players someplace to mess around with the housing item placement stuff.   Furniture can be purchased from the general goods store near the center of town.  

To enter placement mode from the inventory screen hover over an item and then press 'v' it should c...

Proof of Concept Version 1.10 release notes

That's the proof of concept!  There's nothing major left on the "to do" list as far as big systems or major programming tasks.  Now it's really just a matter of making things and polishing everything going forward.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that has followed and supported the project so far it really means a lot to me.  

Quick Notes:

To any new patrons!!!  The way that Patreon is setup is to charge people on the first of the...

Version 1.10 Release

Grab the build here!!

Fixing bugs and animations

Still on track for a new build this month.  Just going through and fixing some of the major bugs that are popping up.  The last one I tracked down the town NPCs would spawn in and go about their business, then the player would leave town and come back, and the NPCs would just be standing there not moving or reacting to anything.  Turned out the behavior trees weren't always loading in after the first time an NPC would spawn.  

Also going back and fixing up the animat...