when's the next update, been awhile i think
Howdy! Here’s what’s up:
We’re conducting another poll right now, it will be the final one before the update. I also wanted to make a poll about Katya’s transformation path, but I want to think more about how it will all work, I mean all NPC transformations in general - not just Katya (More about this later).
Now, while the poll is the final one before the update, there will still be (hopefully one) progress report in which I’ll tease the second repeatable pole H-event and explain how it will work.
This turned out to be a rather big update and while there’s already enough content to upload it, I just don’t want to split it into parts (again), for two main reasons:
- We already said what will be in it and we want to stay true to our word;
- It’s supposed to be a “big” update.
You seemed to like our last couple of updates, which were on a smaller side and I don’t mind releasing them occasionally to show both the progress we’ve made and to make the wait more bearable. But there’s got to be “big” updates (like the upcoming one) too. because they're simply both more enjoyable to play and to upload for us as devs.
I mean, usually when we publish an update we feel this “rush”, like we accomplished something and I eagerly check your comments to see what you think about our work. And our last couple of updates didn’t do that for us, we uploaded them because we felt that we had to, not because we wanted to.
The upcoming version is already feeling like something we can proudly release, but I’d like to work on it more. In the future, however, we’d like to combine both strategies - have big and small updates, because they both have their own upsides and downsides.
That said, we’re still working - Moana is coding in the “red Kira” scene I teased in my last update and other interactions I’ve written (there’s over a 100 pages of varied text for Shwift/Polina alone). And I’m still drawing both minor things (new T-shirt for Kira that has to work with all breast sizes) and major ones (“mini-poses” for the repeatable pole H-event to make it more varied, randomized and interesting).
While I’d like to finish it all in peace, I can feel the pressure building up - so we may just crunch what’s left and rush the release a little bit.
In this report I’d like to cover “Npc transformations” on Katya’s example and the colossal work Moana did behind the scenes.
Let’s start with Moana and the next part is written by her.
Note: I’ve got no idea what the heck is happening in that dev room of hers, but it sure looks like the npcs are having a lot of fun!
Note: Note: The link below will take you to a short video preview Moana made, I couldn’t find an option to just make it play directly in the middle of the post, but you don’t have to download it in order to watch it.
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The video shows both the problem and the implementation of changes in the way Kira's bust is called. It might not seem drastic, but in practice it involved rearranging the way it works entirely.
There were a few reasons to do it:
First - is to get rid of that annoying occasional "glitching" that was driving me insane.
Second reason - is that as the game progressed it became apparent that Kira’s bust needed to be more flexible in terms of its positioning (right, mid-right, center,...). The change was required in order to portray the images properly - certain bust elements, like tails for example, or to assist storytelling ("carry" pose, "covered" pose, etc.).
Why did we do it in this update and not later? It’s because in this update we added a new bust feature ("carry" pose) and it only seemed logical to add it to the renewed bust system, to avoid hardcoding it now and later doing the same work all over again.
How it used to work:
Step1: Call Kira's bust
Step2: Call Kira's facial expression
- Dialogue text
Step3: Delete Kira's bust entirely
This type of coding was deeply flawed, but I didn't realize it in the beginning, because at first Kira's bust consisted of a humble ONE picture.
Since then it grew to the “not so humble” 44 layers with dozens of pictures on each one - calling it on screen seamlessly became a serious issue.
How it works now:
Step1: Check what pose Kira has (carry, cover, normal, etc.)
Step2: Call transparent Kira's bust
Step3: Check for positioning (side, center, etc.)
Step4: Position Kira's bust
Step5: Make bust visible in correct location
Step6: Call transparent Kira's facial expression
Step7: Check for positioning
Step8: Position facial expression
Step9: Make the facial expression visible in correct location
- Dialogue text
Step10: Delete Kira's bust entirely
With this change we will avoid loading issues that caused "glitching".
The only problem left (shown on video) is to recode dialogues to not delete Kira's bust whilst she is having consecutive dialogue boxes so it would not "double load".
This is a monstrous task considering the amount of dialogue we already have in game, so I'm planning to keep it as is for now,
and I intend to gradually change all existing consecutive dialogues with each “technical” update.
Other changes:
- Added 3 new layers for a new “carry” pose
- Rearranged layers to allow facial expressions to change without reloading the whole bust
- Recoded all bust pics to appear transparent
- Added an appear/disappear logic for bust pics
- Integrated positioning logic in bust, expression and appear/disappear calls
Thank you for your time! I hope I've managed to explain what the issue was and what I did to resolve it!
That’s all Moana wanted to say and now we’re back to me, Mulan.
From what I understood, she fixed the dialogue art glitch, but it requires more work to be resolved completely - which is something she’ll do gradually.
As for me, above you can see my new versions of Katya’s dorm outfit and I want you to pick which one you prefer via a poll.
I wanted to make her dorm outfit seem “casual”, and I also want her to wear that precise top. Because the print on her t-shirt will change on one of the branches in the upcoming update, and we will add the exact same t-shirt to Kira (it’s important for the plot).
Apart from that, blue jeans just don’t look good with her black leotard and if the first option wins (the only one without that t-shirt) - she’ll change into the second one at a certain point (on a certain path).
Now I wanna talk about her overall “path” and my ideas in regards to the npc transformations
(Minor and vague spoilers ahead)
Regardless of what path Katya is on, there will be a threat of her losing her job. I mean, we plan to add an “AUG’s shop assistant” job for Kira and if Kira does a poor job (like bestowing fake breasts on all customers instead of doing what they want) - Katya’s position will be threatened.
And here’s where a little trivia about the USSR comes into play - getting fired is akin to being branded for life. You’d simply lose any prospects of acquiring any “good” job in the future. So, naturally, Soviet people did absolutely everything they could (based on their own personal morals) in order to avoid this.
As you can imagine, I want this “do anything to keep your job” part to be in our game, and Kira will have to either rectify her “mistakes” or let Katya resolve it by herself.
I’m bringing this up because this is a good example of how any transformation path can work perfectly fine with any character. If Katya becomes a Bimbo or a mindless Cow - she’ll get herself in this position all by herself and the same choice will be presented to you (help her or nah).
(Minor and vague spoilers end here)
Hopefully, this eases any worries some of you might have in regards to the plot. I absolutely can make every potential transformation path be consistent with the rest of the game, and I promise that I won’t just “half ass” it.
With that in mind, here’s the issue with my whole idea of community picked npc transformations - if Cow transformation wins once, it will most likely win every time.
That’s what happened in the past and that’s what might happen here as well, I imagine. It’s just that if the majority of players like the same thing, they’ll most likely always pick the same thing.
There’s nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that I don’t think I can write 5 different cow transformations, at least not as good as one.
Which is why I’d rather do one cow transformation that has a higher quality, instead of trying to write 5 slightly different cows and dividing all cow content between them.
This means that if Katya’s “transformation path” poll will result in the “cow” option winning - polls for other transformable npcs won’t have cow options in them. This fact changes things, because now that you know it, maybe you’d rather see Nadya or Liuda as a cow? There can only be one, after all.
So, here’s what I think we should do - before conducting any npc transformation polls, I should make a big and detailed post with all npcs that can be transformed, and with all potential transformation options. That way, you’ll be able to make a better decision and the whole voting process will be more fair, in my opinion.
What do you think about this all? Is it fair? Do you have any other ideas? I really want to know what you think and nothing is written in stone yet. At this point we’re just discussing how to make this idea work in the best way possible.
That’s all I wanted to say today! We’re busy at work and while this update definitely took more time than we’d like, it’s coming along together rather nicely.
After the update will be out, we’ll start working on Moana’s quest and the next female NPC overhaul polls will happen then as well (Olga is the next one, btw).
Here’s the current poll we’re running, in case you missed the notification:
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Thank you all for your patience and support! The end is near!
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