BIOASSHARD UPDATE 11/20/2024
3 hours ago
Hello everyone!
Time for a new report.
I’m trying to progress on all the characters at once, because we’d like to have them finished first, so we can totally focus on just making the game instead of having to go back and forth.
And this is why, the reports are being so sparse lately, because it’s taking too much time to get this done and there’s nothing really fancy to show or talk about . Not even mentioning the countless problems I’ve been facing lately with the correctives… We do really want to give you the highest quality possible but it’s proving to be a very time-consuming task. We want to know your opinion about it, so please answer this small poll below and tell us:
"What do you value most?"
-Option 1 - Better looking character (with better rigs, corrective shapes, better deformations, better shaders BUT slower aka requires a lot more time to make them)
-Option 2 - Worse looking character (simpler rigs, no corrective shapes, uglier deformations, average shaders BUT faster aka requires almost 1/6 the time required to make a better looking one) – This is similar to Julia’s look in the Arena
(The options are explained in here, because this much text cannot be written in the poll options below)
Apart from this, I wanted to take some time to answer some asked question in previous comments, but in here, because I think it can answer more people that may have similar questions. So, let’s get to it:
Q – It was mentioned in the last update that the designs for the new characters is complete? If you've already modeled and implemented the unique rigs, I'm guessing that mostly leaves this monotonous aspect for them; but that should be a little better if the outfits are designed for their body frames, right?
A – Yeah, the design is complete and they have the basic rig. In order to make the next process which is to generate all the corrective shapes for deformation, a better, expanded and more compatible rig with UE5 has to be made. And yeah, every outfit is designed specifically for the character it’s done for, I mean, even if they basically share the basic rig structure, all the proportions and sizes are different, making the outfits unique for the character they have been designed for.
Q – If you guys are going the route of having entirely separate rigs for each character, bravo! That means characters can have different body types, differences in animation (not drastic but small things, like different idle poses, less/more hip sway when walking/running) maybe even different heights? It's probably a nightmare for the animating I know BUT... a really petite female type would be AMAZING
A – Even if the rigs and their hierarchy are pretty similar between characters and even if UE5 allows to share rig between different characters with same hierarchy but different proportions/sizes, we have to go the other route with different rig for every character, since this allows us to use some specifics for animating like bones scaling when necessary. This is something that, if you share a rig for characters with different sizes, it’s impossible to use because the scale in animations it’s automatically “retargeted” back to 1 when imported in the Engine. There is this one petit female character that hasn’t been introduced yet…
Q – Seeing light in the screens is a nice change of pace; would love to have some daytime levels!
A – There will be daytime levels in the game since the story unfolds across more than one day.
Q – Since this is new to the full game and we haven't seen it 'in action' yet though, I have to ask, will the accessory clothing - the chest/hip holsters, stockings, everything not part of the actual outfit: Will these stay on the character when the clothing is destroyed? Would (please? lol) it be possible to have a toggle option for the extra clothing to be destroyable/non-destroyable?
A – Well, that’s the idea, yes. To allow the player to decide what to keep and what to destroy when receiving damage. Obviously here I’m talking about that extra clothing not the main one. The main one you can have it or you can set it to “– None –“, but the moment you have it ON, it will be destroyed through getting damaged.
Q - What can we expect with releases / versions of the full game? Will you make updates with new content / bug fixes over time as like the Arena? Or will the game be released as full when finished?
A – Similar to the Arena, the game will be released in chapters, to make it better for everyone. For us to deliver faster and for you to play it sooner. The ideal would be to need no versions between chapters, but well, that’s like impossible, because there’s always something that needs to be fixed in-between them.
Q - How soon can we look forward to either? For what it's worth, I'd personally prefer a similar approach like with the Arena. You guys could get to work in smaller, more manageable blocks and we get the new stuff as it's ready. It's a win-win. Also, if say for example when the 1.0 version is done, if you guys wanted to make + add and charge a little for extra 'dlc' clothing stuff, I'd be happy to pay an extra few bucks here and there for more options.
A – The timespan is always a hard question to ask because one never knows what can really happen when working on something new.
I’d say it should be similar or close to the one between Arena releases. Right now, it may seem stuck, because we’re working on some slow stuff like getting all the characters up and ready for the game, which is pretty time-consuming. But once that’s done, things should really speed up as it would be to put into use all the mechanics we’ve been working through the Arena. The only new things would be: juicy animations, new puzzle types and story related stuff (sequences/CGs).
The idea for adding extra stuff when it’s finished, it’s something that looks pretty good and something to look forward to when the game is finished.
Q – Maybe you could at least implement a Card-Code that gives the Option to remove the Panties as well?
A – Even if I joked about Julia needing something to feel safe in the battlefield -in the video-, the reality is that how the AI system is implemented, there really IS a necessity for Julia to have at least that one piece on, so the enemies can behave like expected instead of bugging out being in place until they “detect” (some internal processes that take into account the current state of the equipped clothes) they can grab her.
Q – And what I couldn’t get from the Video, can you get rid of the Straps and Weapon-holders as well?
A – Yeah, you can select “– None –“ as an option to get rid of them.
I hope this clarified some things for you all .
Also, please don’t forget to vote and leave your comments/suggestions below.
And now, it’s time to get back to work!
Much love everyone
Until next time.
-Meguido
Better looking character
92%
Worse looking character
8%
50 votes total · 30 days left