Ren'Py Abandoned Lab Rats 2 [v0.51.1] [Vren]

[Diconica]

When you start any software development, alone or with a team, there is one question that must come in priority, at the very beginning of the project :

what are the abilities I (or my team) own and for which ones do I need help

All other things are pure technical problems and a matter of will. If this question is not considered and answered you will finish in the long list of the hiatus/abandonned projects.

If you think about what I said that's actually covered in it.
When you do a cost benefit analysis you take that into account.
Example: If you have no developers familiar with the engine then you it would take time for them to learn it. You do that with all the tools you need and what you want to produce.
If no one on the team has a skill you think you need would you out source it, hire someone else or would it be more prudent to drop what is making the requirement.

 

[Evangelion-01]

If you think about what I said that's actually covered in it.
When you do a cost benefit analysis you take that into account.
Example: If you have no developers familiar with the engine then you it would take time for them to learn it. You do that with all the tools you need and what you want to produce.
If no one on the team has a skill you think you need would you out source it, hire someone else or would it be more prudent to drop what is making the requirement.

...or you make an entire game as a learning experience like Lab Rats 2 is.
Vren was pretty obvious and transparent at the beginning of this project that this was mainly planned to teach him the ins and outs about RenPy and test himself how far he could get.

He might find himself cornered enough at one point to actually switch engines... but wether he'll do so with Lab Rats 3 or remake Lab Rats 2 in that engine is anyones gues.. maybe even Vrens

 

[Choyz]

is there any way to edit the random randint like before v.0.5 ?
like i can edit the random range in ver.0.49.1, but now it seems it got change...

 

[Diconica]

is there any way to edit the random randint like before v.0.5 ?
like i can edit the random range in ver.0.49.1, but now it seems it got change...

Sure they are in different files is all now. Use notepad++ and you can have it search all the files in a directory for the stuff you are looking for.

 

[HootieMcBoob]

I haven't been following the game closely. I see talks about porting to live3d or unity or maybe not?
Is there a page/postnr i should start reading?

 

[Phoexist]

I haven't been following the game closely. I see talks about porting to live3d or unity or maybe not?
Is there a page/postnr i should start reading?

That's all just internet gossip while people are waiting around. The dev hasn't given any indication of changing engines. The Live2D stuff is just a tool that the dev is trying to incorporate to make the layered images easier to create, but seems to have hit a snag.

 

[bloodbus]

I haven't been following the game closely. I see talks about porting to live3d or unity or maybe not?
Is there a page/postnr i should start reading?

The character art is shifting to Live2d. Unity is just a conversation that's gone on too long - 99.99% chance it's not happening. You can join the mod's discord. Vren is a member and we have a channel to see updates from him on the game

 

[Daedolon]

So the live2d models will be completely new or will he reuse the models from before the update but with some animations using live2d?

 

[Choyz]

Sure they are in different files is all now. Use notepad++ and you can have it search all the files in a directory for the stuff you are looking for.

well before 05. version, i can set minimum value of stats for random spawn women....
i already adventuring my time on the file, and something that look like it just changing the minimum default stats Only for the stripper, and i can't find the rest...

 

[Drussler]

I have written a translation for the game. Just do not get the TL included in the screens file.
Write in works, but the game does not show it in the menu!
Can someone please write me this translation in the screens file?

 

[bloodbus]

So the live2d models will be completely new or will he reuse the models from before the update but with some animations using live2d?

It seems like they're new models. Go back a few pages - Someone posted screenshots of them

 

[boobthief]

...
Skipping the legal ones, why invest time and effort into something I cannot profit from while someone, to a degree, gets paid for my work. Not when you can just write the code for it yourself, call it SerumMaker and do with it whatever you want.

Wow that is a bad take on licensing and the developer community! A lot of developers are happy to help others and give back! Things like Stack Overflow exist because people enjoy helping others, remembering that they were also helped by others.

The 'profit' in contributing to Lab Rats 2 is that, if you are able, you can help to make the game you want to play. It's not really more complicated than that.

 

[Diconica]

It seems like they're new models. Go back a few pages - Someone posted screenshots of them

It just adds animation to the images he already generated.
Live2D you input the images you have. It creates a mesh where the images is broken up over a number of surfaces. This way they can scale/distort different parts of it at different amounts.

So you will have the same images so many don't like. Just with added movement to them.
There are a number of tutorials on youtube showing how to setup the models.
It's a nightmare amount of work and the more articles of clothing the worse it is.

 

[Diconica]

well before 05. version, i can set minimum value of stats for random spawn women....
i already adventuring my time on the file, and something that look like it just changing the minimum default stats Only for the stripper, and i can't find the rest...

I used to develop this https://f95zone.to/threads/lab-rats-2-mod-diconica.108097/
I stopped because I got sick of people's shit. I swore I wouldn't help others any more with this.
So I won't give you everything.

There are several ways the women are generated.
There are pure random generated.
There are one's that are generated using templates.
There are pre-generated women.
Then there are main characters.

It uses a random chance to select between if it is creating a purely random character or not.
I edited that section to remove the pre-generated it doesn't prevent the main-characters.
None of the pregen templates are worth a shit.

Then you have another issue. Once it creates a random character it will put a personality template on top of that.
That will affect stuff as well. So you will need to edit all those to your liking.

Files you want to look at.
game/helper_functions/random_generation_functions.rpy
game/character_related/Person.rpy
game/personality_types/ (look at all of them)

 

[bloodbus]

It just adds animation to the images he already generated.
Live2D you input the images you have. It creates a mesh where the images is broken up over a number of surfaces. This way they can scale/distort different parts of it at different amounts.

So you will have the same images so many don't like. Just with added movement to them.
There are a number of tutorials on youtube showing how to setup the models.
It's a nightmare amount of work and the more articles of clothing the worse it is.

Idk they didn't seem like the same models. They're new poses at least. I knew the live2d stuff is just distorted images

 

[Diconica]

Idk they didn't seem like the same models. They're new poses at least. I knew the live2d stuff is just distorted images

If he is using new models and generating new images and using live2D he is a complete moron.
It would be 1,000 times faster to setup the animation in the 3D renderer and just have it generate all the images.
If he is doing what you are suggesting he would be setting up new models for all new poses with all the different clothing
Then repeating all that multiple times for each article of clothing.
It would be beyond fucking dumb.

 

[bloodbus]

If he is using new models and generating new images and using live2D he is a complete moron.
It would be 1,000 times faster to setup the animation in the 3D renderer and just have it generate all the images.
If he is doing what you are suggesting he would be setting up new models for all new poses with all the different clothing
Then repeating all that multiple times for each article of clothing.
It would be beyond fucking dumb.

I agree but less aggressively lol. I think he's setting himself up for a lot of work. I also think the concept of LR2 would be better executed in a 3d engine, but I can understand him not wanting to learn 3d animation plus a new engine. I guess live2d was worth exploring but the results are pretty terrible from what I saw here. I'd prefer him to just go back to no live2d because the art never bothered me. By the way, this seems to be what Live2d LR2 is, that's all I've seen from the demos

 

[Diconica]

I agree but less aggressively lol. I think he's setting himself up for a lot of work. I also think the concept of LR2 would be better executed in a 3d engine, but I can understand him not wanting to learn 3d animation plus a new engine. I guess live2d was worth exploring but the results are pretty terrible from what I saw here. I'd prefer him to just go back to no live2d because the art never bothered me. By the way, this seems to be what Live2d LR2 is, that's all I've seen from the demos

He doesn't need to learn a new engine. The renderer he currently uses would do just fine.
Live2D doesn't do anything special. It just produces more 2D images from the images you provided it after you do a hell of a lot of work. In short it spits out 2D images or videos. Those are what you add to your game.
The image quality is less than the original.
What I explained above was a lot shorter than the actual amount of work. There is a Skeletal system used with live2D also.

If he just used his current system he already has a skeletal system built in. He just needs to set the poses and tell it to generate the steps between the key frames and then tell it to render that.

He already is posing the character for the poses he wants. Then rendering the images for each item.
So we are only talking a small amount of work vs using live2D. The quality can be a lot better.

This would all still be renderer rather than 3D.
So he has no need to learn a 3D engine or new tools or any of that. He would be better of using the tools he already does use and just drop the live2D entirely and do it the right way.

I've seen the tech demo nothing special about them and lived2D offers nothing that couldn't be done better using the other tools and easier.

 

[Daedolon]

It just adds animation to the images he already generated.
Live2D you input the images you have. It creates a mesh where the images is broken up over a number of surfaces. This way they can scale/distort different parts of it at different amounts.

So you will have the same images so many don't like. Just with added movement to them.
There are a number of tutorials on youtube showing how to setup the models.
It's a nightmare amount of work and the more articles of clothing the worse it is.

From the preview, lighting seems to have changed. But I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the current preview, as some others said, they look like plastic if not dead. But it's a work in progress so it might be better later on.

I agree but less aggressively lol. I think he's setting himself up for a lot of work. I also think the concept of LR2 would be better executed in a 3d engine, but I can understand him not wanting to learn 3d animation plus a new engine. I guess live2d was worth exploring but the results are pretty terrible from what I saw here. I'd prefer him to just go back to no live2d because the art never bothered me. By the way, this seems to be what Live2d LR2 is, that's all I've seen from the demos

Yup, that's why I moved my own second game to Unity with proper 3D. Handling clothing layers in 2D is a HUGE pain in the ass. Moreover, if done properly, 3D animating can also be simplified using IK allowing the players to move the body parts himself during sex which adds a lot to the animations.

 

[Diconica]

From the preview, lighting seems to have changed. But I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the current preview, as some others said, they look like plastic if not dead. But it's a work in progress so it might be better later on.

The lighting:
While light was obviously used to render it initially. The lighting from what I remember is messed with in the 2D renpy engine when the images are put together. This is done to try and account for day time change. But because the shadows are built into the 2D image it makes it look messed up.

If he wanted to do this right he should have rendered to a 2D contour/height image. In short it shows the height of the body in relation to surrounding body. Then he could have looked at the slope and used it to mimic light and shadow change across the day.
Just think of it light a terrain map use for a human body images.