The models of Ecchi Sensei are decent, but to be fair, whatever game engine Bluecat claims to be using, to me they look pretty much like all other HS game models. It is very similar to the models used in Solvalley School, Waifu Academy, and Harem Hotel. As a player, I like the humor and dialog, and the sheer variety of characters, but the graphics quality is really not one of the strong suits of this game.
If you want to see what is possible with Illusion models, take a look at Pale Carnations. It is truly unbelievable what the devs have been able to do with the Illusion engine. I am shocked by the high quality of the images every update. Once in a Lifetime, which also uses HS, while not at the level of Pale Carnations, is also a leap above Ecchi Sensei, graphically (and story-wise, honestly).
In fairness, Bluecat's reason to use Playhome, which is the name of the software I keep saying but people continue to forget it because nobody has good memory apparently...
Anyways, the reason he uses Playhome is because he wanted to stand out against, at that time, the deluge of Daz engine and Honey Select generics that were very omnipresent. That and he enjoyed the aesthetic, probably because unmodded HS is very doll like and you need mods to improve the quality. It was purely on a basis of preference and he does not tout that these look any better than skilled people using their own rendering engines, just that at that time it was the one that wasn't popular and made his game stand out more, and he enjoyed how it looked. Plus it may actually be one of the easier things to run with, not sure, can't do this shit myself.
Solvalley is the unmodded, I'm pretty sure at least, and shows that it can be exceedingly plasticky even if ultimately it can be made pleasing by those with he skills to do so. Waifu Academy however has a good number of modifications to its models, to improve the quality by a much finer degree. Which is typically shown off every few years when Irph feels his money train is ending, and he needs to produce something for once to keep everyone hooked :3.
Honey Select has the beenfits of a dense modding community, Playhome is the red headed stepchild of Illusion software and gets no real support or major games made with it-sans Ecchi Sensei. It certainly gives the whole game a unique look overall, but its also a detriment that it has such lacking modding attached to it.
Bluecat has expressed in the past that he will move on to better engines in future projects, because Playhome is probably already becoming or has become dated as it stands. Also with no modding community to speak of, there's very little variance left to work with after this project runs its course I'm sure.
On to other things, yes what I coyly was referring to was Latecomer's explanation a few pages back, that he had some magical solution in mind, to speed the process of the merge up. When they have decided their course of action, I'm certain there will be a proper dev update to reveal everything to patrons. Until then just kinda sittin and twiddlin thumbs, would anyone like to play another round of Skummy's Questions? No? Well too bad it's happening!
This one is a bit of a doosey, but its very simple and those who show up on discord should know it.
What type of animal is Skummy? Bonus if you know the exact breed Skummy is too of that animal.
Yes yes, its not Ecchi related, but I'm having trouble figuring those out right now. However I felt this to be a fun little diversion and those who know me well enjoy should be well aware of the answer, those who aren't might be able to throw in some random shit too I reckon.
That's all from me now, see yins later.
Stay Wholesome, Stay Ecchi!
~Skummy Out