Unreal Engine Projekt Melody: A Nut Between Worlds! [v0.5.3.3 Alpha] [Big Bang Studio]

2.30 star(s) 14 Votes

Gibbon333

New Member
Sep 26, 2020
2
13
Any Game Dev can tell you this: Game development is messy and non-linear. It’s full of reworks and updates, and things rarely go as planned. We’ve been open about our process in our blog posts and on our discord. The reality is, making games involves trial and error, and if you’re not failing, you’re probably not pushing hard enough ... or never tried in the first place.

You also can’t just finish one system and move on to the next; they’re all connected in some way and need to be developed together. Look up topics such as cohesion and coupling if you want to know more.

I'm a technical animator at a triple A studio so I'm well aware of how the industry works. Transparency in the development process is good, community outreach is good, I have no criticisms in that regard. But when I go back and read about how players were having trouble with the sandbox mode back when it was released, and read reviews saying people are still experiencing major bugs with it today, that indicates to me there is something wrong with the development process here. You have a major feature which has been in the game for quite some time, still doesn't work, and yet the scope keeps getting increased, introducing massive new environments and combat which also suffer from major problems. I'd be curious what the vertical slice looks like for this game. These aren't issues you can wave away by linking to some article on software engineering.

My suspicion is, leads on this project are bringing down the hammer to introduce more and more features and the rest of the team is in constant crunch trying to make the last request barely function before they are rushed to work on new features. Which would be OK, if you are in the last leg of development before release, but this project has no release date and so I feel there's little reason to be releasing features that seem like they have had a grand total of 1 week of development time before being rushed out. I'll state bluntly, for a team of this size, if it weren't for the association with the Melody IP I think the player base for this project would be a fraction of what it is.
 

Quarcling

Newbie
Mar 3, 2022
44
60
I'm a technical animator at a triple A studio so I'm well aware of how the industry works. Transparency in the development process is good, community outreach is good, I have no criticisms in that regard. But when I go back and read about how players were having trouble with the sandbox mode back when it was released, and read reviews saying people are still experiencing major bugs with it today, that indicates to me there is something wrong with the development process here. You have a major feature which has been in the game for quite some time, still doesn't work, and yet the scope keeps getting increased, introducing massive new environments and combat which also suffer from major problems. I'd be curious what the vertical slice looks like for this game. These aren't issues you can wave away by linking to some article on software engineering.

My suspicion is, leads on this project are bringing down the hammer to introduce more and more features and the rest of the team is in constant crunch trying to make the last request barely function before they are rushed to work on new features. Which would be OK, if you are in the last leg of development before release, but this project has no release date and so I feel there's little reason to be releasing features that seem like they have had a grand total of 1 week of development time before being rushed out. I'll state bluntly, for a team of this size, if it weren't for the association with the Melody IP I think the player base for this project would be a fraction of what it is.
I don´t assume everyone sharing their input here has previous knowledge of game development, so I take the time to share as much knowledge as I have available. If I feel my own opinion is too biased (like yours), I use generalized resources to state my point. That is in no shape or form meant to wave away concerns, its simply to inform and communicate.

Aside of that, you should really keep away from drinking too much of that AAA cool aid xD Its unhealthy.

People in AAA live in a fantasy world that 99% of indies can not afford. In reality a studio like ours survives month to month and we NEED to publish regularly to showcase our progress to active supporters. If that is not to your liking, stop pirating the game until its released and just buy it on steam when its out <3
 

D4n0w4r

Member
May 21, 2020
313
1,040
I don´t assume everyone sharing their input here has previous knowledge of game development, so I take the time to share as much knowledge as I have available. If I feel my own opinion is too biased (like yours), I use generalized resources to state my point. That is in no shape or form meant to wave away concerns, its simply to inform and communicate.

Aside of that, you should really keep away from drinking too much of that AAA cool aid xD Its unhealthy.

People in AAA live in a fantasy world that 99% of indies can not afford. In reality a studio like ours survives month to month and we NEED to publish regularly to showcase our progress to active supporters. If that is not to your liking, stop pirating the game until its released and just buy it on steam when its out <3
I mean hey, I've been working on small video game projects for years, but you blow off my critique as well. I doubt that steam release is coming any time soon at this rate.
 

Unreal 6

Member
Jan 21, 2018
215
93
I mean hey, I've been working on small video game projects for years, but you blow off my critique as well. I doubt that steam release is coming any time soon at this rate.
probobly never gona get finished just liek some other games we seen on 95zone like hth mgi
 
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Quarcling

Newbie
Mar 3, 2022
44
60
I mean hey, I've been working on small video game projects for years, but you blow off my critique as well. I doubt that steam release is coming any time soon at this rate.
I genuinely am interested in every type of feedback, but I also reserve my right to comment on it, explain, expand and acknowledge where required. I think that's the right way to communicate with others.
 

Thamus

New Member
May 18, 2017
3
1
After the cut scene meeting System32, if you accidentally go the wrong way, which you have a 50% chance of doing since there aren't any mission markers, you break the game. Melody approaches the trash and talks about the limited edition thing and it reverts to the Follow Melody, but there isn't the Corrupted there anymore, so you're stuck.
 
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megalol

Engaged Member
Modder
Game Compressor
Apr 3, 2017
2,234
9,858

We've got something big coming your way today (and no its not just the massive sky and lighting update that also is big but you know ...) and that's the Sandbox V3 update. It features a metric shit ton of new characters, over 90 animations poses, a dynamic audio system for moans and much more. The current state of the Sandbox is deemed "Alpha" so it has most of the base systems ready, but still missing a few such as the orgasm system and contextual call-outs (voiced). Additionally a lot of the animations currently still need a bit of manual adjustment using the sandbox slider controls to look good.

The biggest point of the new sandbox update was that we wanted to enable you to play as anyone and that means you can take your player for a ride or if you want you can switch into the riders position. Or you play scenes without the player and Silica gets to ride Melody's Feeldo :3 Free Cam was also finally added so press C and jump out of first person to take a peek and fine-tune your animation pose to your liking using the sandbox controls!

Without further ado, lets take a look at how things work:
  • Open the Sandbox in any Exploration Section using the TAB key.
  • As with all UI Elements in our game, ensure you get used to toggle mouse cursors visibility using ALT regularly.
  • Opening the Sandbox will put you into “Free Cam” mode. You can switch between the Free Cam and the Player by pressing C.
  • Using the Sandbox UI, select an Animation.
  • Then Drag and Drop whoever you want to play with / as into the open Slots on the right hand of the Sandbox UI
  • Continue by pressing the small green flower or the hide UI icon, which will hide the Sandbox UI
    • Any of the Sandbox UI elements can individually be hidden, so you could only have the animation selection UI open, while the Character and Role slots UI stays hidden. Really nice to select through multiple animations with maximum screen space available.
  • After the UI is hidden that's the best time to start finding a good place to set your scene preview down. The animation is still static and will start animating the moment you hit F.
  • Try hitting F a bunch of times, you can see that you can pick up the animation and place it down repeatedly, so if you don't like the place you put it down, just pick it up and move it again.
  • While moving around you can rotate the animation using Q and E.
  • After you place your animation you should spend some time getting used to the sandbox sliders on the left side of the top bar of the gameplay HUD.
    • Speed increases or decreases the characters motion speed
    • Scale increases or decreases the characters motion scale
    • Offset helps with moving characters' hips into different distances to their partners genitals. This often is useful to fix awkward start positions and slightly broken IK motions.
    • Squash is a very unique type of slider. It takes the base motion and curves it more or less. So you can pump it up and down straight, or you rotate your character's hips while moving in one or the other direction. Go play around with it and be surprised by how much expression you can achieve by simply changing how one's hips move ;)
  • When you are happy with the settings for your animation and how the characters move, you can toggle different camera modes using C, 1 and 2 keys.
  • If you are in Free Cam mode, which you can toggle via pressing C, you can also TILT and ZOOM your camera. Tilt is done by holding the right mouse button down and dragging left or right. Zoom is done by using the mouse scroll wheel up and down.
  • Lastly: You can HIDE all UI elements by toggling H. The first toggle needs one extra activation of the button but then it will just work reliably.
Outside of the sandbox update, which is the main focus of this release, we worked on many small bugfixes and improvements across the board. From character navigation to ensuring the tutorial enemies don´t die, open doors that allow you to easier explore the world after completing the available story progression, performance improvements for the UI and sections of VLT ...

KNOWN ISSUES
Exploration

  • Some areas of the world lack collision, so be careful when exploring or you just might drop to your death.
Sex Gameplay
  • Uncensored Version currently has a bug where the uncensored settings need to manually be reapplied once per game start. So simply start your game, escape, settings and toggle the uncensored state. Hotfix for this should be available within the next week!
Sandbox
  • You can still rotate characters using Q & E
  • No Lovense support in Sandbox (yet)
  • The start position of many animations needs manual fine tuning using the sliders to look good
  • Orgasm isn't working (yet)
  • Camera view sometimes feels very weird, moves awkwardly
P.S. Plz don't ping me in case of possible dead links coz it's working on moment of posting and I have no ability/intention to reupload in case of files deletion by game developer. Also I didn't tested this release so use it on own risk.
 
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Paitryn

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2017
1,551
2,135
If that is not to your liking, stop pirating the game until its released and just buy it on steam when its out <3
I don't come here just to pirate games, I support some too. I'm here because of the community of like minded individuals and quick access to a plethora of games to choose from.

But if you're on this team and not spouting bullshit then it should probably be worth reading that everyone stopped giving a shit about the development progress since 7.0 and still pass that version around. Also if your on the dev team do your team a favor and read the thread but don't speak. Whether it's AAA or indie the number one flaw of any team is reading the comment section and getting defensive. You only hurt your project more by saying anything aside from thanks for the feedback or some very basic info.

Community manager's exist for a reason, though a lot of companies keep hiring the wrong people to do PR for them these days. Or I suppose they don't think that their social media expert is a Public Relations employee.
 

Good8fella

Newbie
Jan 23, 2024
50
52
Do I have to download all four files or the latest one 5.3.3 point zip? And I got to wait till tomorrow to download the rest of 5.3.3 mega charges you for extra transfer beyond 5 gigs I don't have that kind of money especially when I'm on a fixed income and the money conversion rate is flippin outrageous instead of me paying $5 the conversion rate I have to pay an extra buck and a half so it'll be 6:00 to $7
 
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circuitarity

Active Member
Jul 3, 2019
597
528
Install the "UE 5.1 Prerequisite" before running the game
You lost me at "install random file with no explanation where you get the file from". Perhaps as an uploader you might know exactly where the file is located but as a guy looking at the whole installation process I have no idea and don't like installing random files without knowing where they are from or how to get them. I keep seeing this game in my feed and this is likely what stops me from downloading it every time (that or the "required patreon account"). I think I'll save the headache and put this on full ignore.
 

.Sirene

Member
Jul 24, 2022
320
666
You lost me at "install random file with no explanation where you get the file from". Perhaps as an uploader you might know exactly where the file is located but as a guy looking at the whole installation process I have no idea and don't like installing random files without knowing where they are from or how to get them. I keep seeing this game in my feed and this is likely what stops me from downloading it every time (that or the "required patreon account"). I think I'll save the headache and put this on full ignore.
Check the MD5 against the official release, if it's a mismatch - then it's modified. If it's not, then it's safe.
 

kekpuker

Member
Sep 21, 2020
193
385
You lost me at "install random file with no explanation where you get the file from". Perhaps as an uploader you might know exactly where the file is located but as a guy looking at the whole installation process I have no idea and don't like installing random files without knowing where they are from or how to get them. I keep seeing this game in my feed and this is likely what stops me from downloading it every time (that or the "required patreon account"). I think I'll save the headache and put this on full ignore.
That "3rd party file" is usually a part of a game. You can usually find it under this path: <GameFolder>\Engine\Extras\Redist\en-us\UEPrereqSetup_x64.exe. But the game should try to install it automatically if you don't have required libraries installed already.
 
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.Sirene

Member
Jul 24, 2022
320
666
That "3rd party file" is usually a part of a game. You can usually find it under this path: <GameFolder>\Engine\Extras\Redist\en-us\UEPrereqSetup_x64.exe. But the game should try to install it automatically if you don't have required libraries installed already.
This and a good chunk of most games include redistributed files, I mean, open any of the games on Steam, check out the file structure - and there is almost guaranteed to be a folder called "redist" in there, along with a bunch of MS based files.

Also, I would like to point out that the other guy was complaining about "installing a file where we have no idea where it came from"

Bruh, we have no idea where the game came from - only that someone shared it. Though, on F95 their vetting process is a little more rigorous than most others, so there is that.
 
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RedAISkye

Active Member
Apr 10, 2017
928
2,111
You lost me at "install random file with no explanation where you get the file from"....
The devs have uploaded it on their discord, and then .
Screenshot.png

...
Also, I would like to point out that the other guy was complaining about "installing a file where we have no idea where it came from"

Bruh, we have no idea where the game came from - only that someone shared it....
Actually, in this case, we do know where the game came from, it came directly from the devs, since it's their MEGA/Pixeldrain account. People simply shared their link.
 

GoKillRe

Newbie
Nov 28, 2017
46
18
After reaching the end, press TAB to enter the gallery mode (I ran back home the same way),
In the story mode, follow the NPC, the road is very dark, the scene is large and it is easy to drop frames,
In the gallery mode, there are some bugs, model penetration, positioning difficulties, and various bad problems,
I personally feel that the H mode is far inferior to the initial version.
 

Quarcling

Newbie
Mar 3, 2022
44
60
The devs have uploaded it on their discord, and then .
This file is outdated. Its been specifically posted to avoid a reupload at the time because it was missing in the build back then. We are currently in engine version 5.3 and are moving to 5.4 soonTM.
 
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Quarcling

Newbie
Mar 3, 2022
44
60
I personally feel that the H mode is far inferior to the initial version.
Honestly think the same but we´re getting there if you compared it to what we had for the past 1.5 years. We upgraded from 2 to 9 characters and from 20 to 90 animations. The procedural hand placement will also at some point allow us to do the hand placement we had in the original demo. And adding a new character takes us near to no time at this point bcs of a unified animation system in the backend. All that wouldnt have been possible with the original demo bcs everything was hardcoded.

Right now its a slightly more polished tech showcase that is being tested for anything that needs QoL updates, technical improvements and so on. Give it some time and most of all give it lots of feedback so things can improve. And support us on patreon if you can :)
 
2.30 star(s) 14 Votes