Renfield [Renfield Studios / Granfalloon Games] development thread

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any Demo can play ?

 

[KleptoLizard]

any Demo can play ?

Hopefully I'll have a test client for the overworld map later today.
The project is cut up into pieces because it's so large.
This is for faster compile times between tests.
So there's an overworld project, an AI project, a character creator project, a combat project etc etc.

As the different parts of the game approach readiness I'll put demo clients here for people to mess around with.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Primordial overworld map:

You must be registered to see the links

Please note that this is just to see if it runs on people's systems without crashing or excessive bugginess.
It represents only the first pass of the procedural algorithm.
There's no point in proceeding unless it's stable.

Working on the overworld map. The system I'm writing for procedural landscapes and environments will use a "demi-fractal" algorithm. In other words it will start in broad strokes and work its way down but will allow injection of different seeds during the downward/inward loops.
To the center-right is an image of 256 Skyrims overlaid on Daggerfall, all to scale.
This represents the total walkable space in Renfield.
It's about the size of one of the big 3 areas in DF centered around Daggerfall City, Sentinel and Wayrest.
(this approximation excludes the sea, the mountain ranges in the corners and some of the interior regions of High Rock and Hammerfell)

Ultimately I'd like to capture the essence of the overworld map in Kenshi.
In my humble opinion, it is the finest map of all time with an ideal balance of points of interest and wilderness between.

 

[dusty stu]

Looks pretty ambitious.
Anyone ever advise you to start on small project and build up?

 

[KleptoLizard]

Looks pretty ambitious.
Anyone ever advise you to start on small project and build up?

Oh man, if I had a time machine and could give my former self some advice, that's exactly what I would recommend.
It was outright foolish to try something this large for my first commercial product.
Yet after toughing it out for so long, I've reached the point where I'm confident all these systems will work properly.
Hopefully a modding community will spring up around it since after all the hours of laying the foundation,
there isn't a lot of time left to write out all the quests and dialogue that I'd like.

 

[dusty stu]

Oh man, if I had a time machine and could give my former self some advice, that's exactly what I would recommend.
It was outright foolish to try something this large for my first commercial product.
Yet after toughing it out for so long, I've reached the point where I'm confident all these systems will work properly.
Hopefully a modding community will spring up around it since after all the hours of laying the foundation,
there isn't a lot of time left to write out all the quests and dialogue that I'd like.

Good luck!

Have you seen Yahtzee's Dev Diary Series? It's pratcially a full course in video game development.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Good luck!

Have you seen Yahtzee's Dev Diary Series? It's pratcially a full course in video game development.

I've not.
Big fan of Zero Punctuation, but I've never played any of the games he's released.
I'll check it out.

1/16 & 17 - Working on creatures

 

[desmosome]

This is what you call a passion project. 4 years in the making with barely any support.

I think the first thing people would be wondering with something like this is... what does it offer over something like Skyrim as the base game? There should be more freedom, but the gameplay systems base campaign surely would be less polished than an AAA project.

If I'm understanding correctly, you are mainly creating the basic tools and systems for a moddable game, yes? The actual scenarios and campaign design would ideally be left to the community to make? It seems like an optimistic plan that relies on very high community interest. And if it fails to grab attention, you'd have to create the campaign yourself and do all the writing. At that point, the merits of your writing and campaign design will also be judged.

I wish you the very best though. You must be enjoying the process of making this which is worthwhile in itself. Good luck.

 

[KleptoLizard]

This is what you call a passion project. 4 years in the making with barely any support.

I've seen so many Kickstarter disasters over the years that I felt paying for it myself was the ethical thing to do until I was certain that it was achievable.
Now I really hope that enough people are willing to back it for at least a buck a month to prevent it from going bust altogether.

I think the first thing people would be wondering with something like this is... what does it offer over something like Skyrim as the base game? There should be more freedom, but the gameplay systems base campaign surely would be less polished than an AAA project.

My overall vision is a game that combines the best of the old and new.
The scope and complexity of Daggerfall with the more modern look and feel of Skyrim, along with a friendlier UI.
But there will be 2 core advantages to Renfield over modded Skyrim.

1) Stability.
Modded content will load with a system of thorough null checks and asynchronous processes.
The lack of proper null-checking is the cause of 99% of CTDs with Skyrim.

2) Convenience.
Imagine if you could play a Wabbajack mod collection right out of the box without the addition setup.
Or without all the conflicts.
You simply drop the mod cards into the appropriate folders and the game scans them.

If I'm understanding correctly, you are mainly creating the basic tools and systems for a moddable game, yes? The actual scenarios and campaign design would ideally be left to the community to make? It seems like an optimistic plan that relies on very high community interest. And if it fails to grab attention, you'd have to create the campaign yourself and do all the writing. At that point, the merits of your writing and campaign design will also be judged.

The Elder Scrolls series splits along the fault line of Arena/Daggerfall vs MW/OBV/SKY.
Two very different design philosophies for each era.
What I'll do it start with a grand scale procedural system until it has sufficient replay value.
Then I'll focus on more hand-written quests centered on the more highly trafficked locations.
While the complete script of one of the later games would be quite long, I don't think anyone still playing Skyrim is doing it for the quest writing.
Anyone still messing around in the game after all this time has talked to the Graybeards enough.

I wish you the very best though. You must be enjoying the process of making this which is worthwhile in itself. Good luck.

Enjoying it? Sometimes. But it's hard to keep going when so few are paying attention.
I appreciate people even stopping by to comment.

 

[desmosome]

I've seen so many Kickstarter disasters over the years that I felt paying for it myself was the ethical thing to do until I was certain that it was achievable.
Now I really hope that enough people are willing to back it for at least a buck a month to prevent it from going bust altogether.



My overall vision is a game that combines the best of the old and new.
The scope and complexity of Daggerfall with the more modern look and feel of Skyrim, along with a friendlier UI.
But there will be 2 core advantages to Renfield over modded Skyrim.

1) Stability.
Modded content will load with a system of thorough null checks and asynchronous processes.
The lack of proper null-checking is the cause of 99% of CTDs with Skyrim.

2) Convenience.
Imagine if you could play a Wabbajack mod collection right out of the box without the addition setup.
Or without all the conflicts.
You simply drop the mod cards into the appropriate folders and the game scans them.



The Elder Scrolls series splits along the fault line of Arena/Daggerfall vs MW/OBV/SKY.
Two very different design philosophies for each era.
What I'll do it start with a grand scale procedural system until it has sufficient replay value.
Then I'll focus on more hand-written quests centered on the more highly trafficked locations.
While the complete script of one of the later games would be quite long, I don't think anyone still playing Skyrim is doing it for the quest writing.
Anyone still messing around in the game after all this time has talked to the Graybeards enough.



Enjoying it? Sometimes. But it's hard to keep going when so few are paying attention.
I appreciate people even stopping by to comment.

It's a crapshoot, but there is always a chance. Hopefully, enough people take notice once you put out a playable release.

https://f95zone.to/threads/total-seduction-v2-4-mike-velesk.1503/
https://f95zone.to/threads/warlock-of-lust-v2-9-mike-velesk.21687/

This dev basically made his own engine, and he is doing quite well. I haven't played his games extensively, but I'm thinking there must be at least some amount people who subbed because they respect his boldness and vision.

 

[KleptoLizard]

1/19 - Hopefully finishing up the new overworld today.
1/20 - Previous map solution is unworkable. Teleportation / fast travel is working. Spending the day refactoring.
1/21 - Editing audio files. Setting up a custom audio solution for the H-scenes. Finishing first pass of new map solution.
1/22 - Finished labeling the overworld location beacons.
Finished basic timing system for H-audio.
Worked on dynamic H-text generation.
More work on processing audio files.

 

[KleptoLizard]

1/23 - Editing audio files. This might take a while since I have hours of moaning to process into clips.
1/24 - More audio editing.
1/25 - Exporting audio for the H-sequencer demo.
1/26 - More audio exporting. Localizing text for H-sequencer into other languages.
1/27 - Post-export audio editing and volume balancing. Gathering and sorting visual and audio effects for magic spells.

 

[KleptoLizard]

New Overworld Test Client
Fixed various issues, a great deal of refactoring.
Now has fast travel.

You must be registered to see the links

1/28 - Fixing various issues with the map. Expanding functionality of card saving system.
1/29 - Tweaking animations for the H-demo. More terrain bug fixing. Practicing Cangjie keyboard input for quicker Chinese localization.
1/30 - More overworld work. Fixing procedural animation issues.
1/31 - Sorting and editing sound files for H-demo.
Tomorrow on the 1st we'll be streaming on

You must be registered to see the links

2/2 - Still editing the sound files. 144 left.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Today I rendered a warrior who is unsteady in heels and a ballroom gown.
Clothes like shirts and pants are easy to get working.
The dress needs to rescale at runtime to avoid clipping.

2/3 - Finishing the sound file editing. Slight refactoring of audio sequencer code.
2/4 - Sound editing taking longer than projected.
2/5 - Finally wrapped up sound files. Audio editing is one of the worst asset management-related tasks. It requires your ears for the quality and content, requires your eyes to study the peaks. No listening to an audiobook in the background to ease the boredom.
2/6 - Tweaking IK targets for H-animations.
2/7 - Finishing animation tweaking. Practicing 2D art techniques including gif creation.

 

[KleptoLizard]

This game will come with its own original setting and story.
But underneath that, it is intended to be akin to a universal RPG system.
Think of how many paper-and-pencil RPGs run on D20/GURPS/Palladium/Year Zero etc.
Not to mention the flexibility of AD&D itself. (the recent dark clouds gathering over the OGL notwithstanding)

A great opportunity awaits would-be writers who've wanted to create their own setting,
but lacked programming ability to make their own interactive experience, lacked the time to write out a full novel,
or lacked the artistic hand to make sourcebooks which showed the realms they could see in their mind's eye.
I'll be actively working with modders to meet them halfway with tools that make overhauls and original setting mods much more achievable.

Any blend of fantasy and science-fiction is possible.
Any category of "-punk".
Westerns.
Make a Brütal Legend-style surrealist world around a genre of music.
Formulate parody crossover realms between your favorite IPs.
Call of Cthulhu-style investigation adventures involving sanity mechanics.

Renfield's beginnings will be humble, but I envision it being an outlet for anyone who went on a forum saying:
"You know what game they should really make?" "Wouldn't it be great if you had X, Y & Z all in the same game?"
Obviously making these expansive visions will be a lot of work no matter how you approach it.
But even after you filter out people who are purely daydreaming, the lack of a solid framework is the key obstacle.
Barring that, virtually any game you'll ever mod has at least some things that are hard-coded and difficult to work around.

However we're building this game from scratch.
We can allow flexibility in terms of stats, skills, degree of randomness vs determinative mechanics, all combat and other formulae...
Let's divorce ourselves from the limitations that have been placed on us by the industry.




P.S. The hair on this fairy looks terrible. I don't think I'll ever use this particular wig again.

2/8 - Calibrating jiggle physics.
2/9 - Merging subsystems for the H-demo into a single project. Hoping to have the demo ready in the next few days.
2/10 - Last minute tweaking of the H-demo. Going to release it tomorrow whatever state it's in.
2/12 - Adding facial expressions. Fixing long list of issues with sample client.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Dresses like these can have full or partial cloth physics simulations.
However for this render I just introduced a bit of noise to simulate movement.

Speaking of physics simulations...
Someone on Twitch asked me about tentacles.
These are actually really easy. Much easier conventional sex positions.
This is because you are just using a rope physics simulation with IK/FK.
If you want a monster to have sex but its physiology would require new animations, you could just opt to have it use a tentacle.
Essentially what they did in Urotsukidoji.

Cats, dogs, horses, dragons and a few other creatures will be based off highly morphable base models.
All sorts of different breeds of each are possible.



2/13 - Finishing facial expression system. Fixing bug with jiggle physics. Studying Python language.
2/14 - Finishing Python study. We'll be using Ren'Py as a 3rd party program to make quest mods. More fixes for the H-demo.
2/15 - More Python study.
2/16 - More Python study. Rendering.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Some of you might be wondering why I'm studying Python in the middle of everything else.
Let me explain briefly.
Once the H-scene client is cleaned up a bit more users will be able to do animation playback with a few options.
But of course the entire goal of the project is to wrap an adult scene playback core with actual gameplay.

The quickest way to open up possibilities with Renfield's interactivity is to fast track user-created content.
Since Ren'Py seems hands-down the most popular engine for making small scale H-games in visual novel form,
it makes sense to either:

1) Use it as a 3rd party tool to make scenarios.
2) Use it as a template for a custom mod editor we make ourselves.
3) Some mix of 1 & 2.

Therefore I'm going to be spending a while learning the ins and outs of Renpy to understand how
to get experienced visual novel writers to feel at home with RF's modding framework.
The first step will be to link the script exporting feature Renpy has with RF's dialogue system.
You'll be able to give the various needed commands by designating a character that executes them.

This Technical Narrator will be a character that allows you to fit commands into the script itself.
The exported script would look something like this:

Gloucester "Drive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence comes."
TechNarrator "Enter CLARENCE, Enter BRAKENBURY"
Gloucester "Brother, good day; what means this armed guard that waits upon your grace?"
Clarence "His majesty tendering my person's safety, hath appointed..."

You can call the Technical Narrator whatever you want.
Its quotes won't appear as dialogue, so it's different from Ren'Py's normal disembodied narration.
Instead it acts like an escape character in a String literal.
The quote will be parsed and treated like a command.

Syntax for the commands will be based closely on simple Ren'Py functions.
However some of the defines such as characters and custom UI elements might be better handled
with Renfield's character creator and other tools we make ourselves.

2/25 - Modeling software tutorials
2/28 - Sorry for the updates coming less frequently.
I've been slammed by a lot more work lately.
The project is in a good position at this point but it's been a struggle to find time for it.
As always, let me know if anyone wants more info about the game or about their chosen territory.
3/21 - Alright. The initial glut of additional work has eased a bit. Getting back to daily updates.
3/22 - Tweaking hair models and race presets.
3/23 - Working on spells and spell effects.
3/24 - Patching some data structs, working on some IOStream-based scripts for loading information from all these txt files I've accumulated and parsing it all into something usable.
3/25 - Finishing up the combat formulas
3/26 - Environmental assets. Modular village buildings.
3/27 - Fixing some issues with broken dependencies from yesterday. More environmental work.
3/28 - Refactoring and cleanup
3/29 - Processing spell and activated ability data. 432 individual entries so this'll take a minute.
4/3 - Working on unique NPC data
4/4 - Working on shops and economy
4/5 - Working on armor and clothing
4/10 - Clothing, skin, bodies, hair
4/11 Clothing, jewelry, items. Data entry.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Well the H-client's core functionality is all working. ...and I'm entirely unhappy with it.
The different subsystems have very poor synergy and rhythm with each other.
It reminds me of those MUGEN mods with how jarring the sound and animation can be.
Yet with time and fine tuning it will get much better.

More importantly, I'm nearing the mid-point of a day-job contract which upon
its conclusion should give me the resources I need to start hiring help.
Having more people on the Renfield project will result in a drastic change of progress rate.
I appreciate everyone's patience; we're nearing a point where we'll have something playable both in terms of H-playback and as a proper game.

For a long time it was like playing Starcraft with only one SCV.
If all goes well I'll be able to recruit some talented people I've met over the years doing freelance work in the indie scene.
The project will move faster and I'll feel a lot less burned out.

4/12 & 4/13 - Collecting, sorting and modding Mixamo animations. Practicing animation blending/weighting/masking/layering techniques.
4/14 - Expanding monster race presets and morph targets.
4/17 - Locations, especially ruins
4/18 - Save system & modding framework
4/19 - Weapon models
4/20 - Reconfiguring metadata for asset library
4/21 - Rendering some banner and UI art
4/22 - Graphic design practice and tutorials
4/24 - Coding the Ren'Py file parser
4/25 - Studying C# memory API
4/27 - Installing female beast race morphs. They'd previously been corrupted but have now been repaired.
4/29 - Working on world items, minor terrain features.
5/6 - Over the last week I've fixed various issues with the sound system and voice files, made tweaks to scenes, various other fixes and improvements.
I've also been examining the Mount & Blade: Warband modding system.
The modules are very convenient when installing other people's mods, but actually making mods can be quite convoluted.
5/8 - Typing out a unified namespace for all the various needed data classes, listing all the needed properties.
5/11 - Coding the Renpy parser is going well.

 

[KleptoLizard]

As part of the process of developing a modding kit for Renfield I wanted to take
a fresh look at some of the more successful tools and systems in the industry.
The two main contenders were the Creation Kit used for Skyrim / Fallout 4
and the module system used in Mount & Blade titles, specifically Warband.

What I found played out like a debate between two compsci professors on the
strengths and weaknesses of the coding patterns Composition & Inheritance.

The Creation Kit and the Plugins (ESPs) are a case study in puritanical Inheritance.
A typical bandit encountered in the world is often the result of 10 steps of filtered
"Swiss cheese" selective overwriting and at least one leveled list.
Then the plugins go in sequence overwriting each other allowing for a wide variety
of mods to be blended together but with massive, looming stability / incompatibility implications.

M&B's modules are highly convenient for installing overhauls and switching between them.
Just like an actual mod manager, however the ease of combining smaller mods is lost.
Should you tweak the compiled txt files (which everyone does) you'll run into complications
if another change requires you to recompile the Python scripts.
Furthermore so many values in M&B's scripts are indexes to arrays formed by the txt files.
This is tantamount to a hard-coded spaghetti throwback to the bad old days of BASIC.

Clearly a system can be envisioned that combines the strengths of both these extremes.
However the main weakness that both modding systems have is their lack of null-checking.
Each system could avoid the vast majority of CTDs if the code looked before it leapt.
It's the difference between a mesh not loading but substituting a question mark
as opposed to simply crashing without warning or explanation.

This is especially evident in Skyrim where you could be walking through an area and
some content will attempt to load in a place where the player cannot even see.
Every get() that is replaced with a tryget() in the code will boost the overall stability
tremendously and speed up any debugging processes, making modding much less painful.

5/15 - Progress with the behavior tree system
5/16 - More work on modding tools.
Unlike many in-house mod kits available in recent years which have pop-up/pop-out windows, RF's kit will feature a layout with multiple docked windows which talk to each other.
Now it'll be much simpler and more ergonomic to configure new actors, equipment, factions etc and weave together their relationships via drag-and-drop.

 

[biktori408]

Idea is Good and Nice !
I will add this : Make Female models abit more attractive and alike in Pure Onyx / Alien Quest Eve / Cost of Survival !
Other then that Good Luck !