Unreal Engine Onhold The Green Bang [Development Thread]

[TheExordick]

Hello everybody,

i'm starting this thread to narrate the development of my game: The Green Bang, and use it as a devlog to keep track of the development.

About the game:
This game comes as a spiritual successor to "A Goblin's Tale" a title that i loved but which was unfortunately abandoned by the its developer. I really liked the idea and the mood of the game so much that i decided to develop a similar (very similar?) storyline but with a twist: i decided to develop in Unreal Engine (started in UE4 and transitioned into UE5).
So you can imagine, the story is about a little ugly green goblin that needs to make his way through the village women until he becomes the king of the village. The main idea is the same as "A Goblin's Tale": the goblin sperm is highly addictive and women that comes into contact with it repeatedly (through ingestion or sex) will become sex slaves unable to oppose the goblin's will and orders.
The game will be articulated as a third person adventure game with mild rpg elements. I don't plan to implement a character level system and stats as i think it would be too large of a scope for my timeframe.
There is no plan to make an Open World game, but the world will be divided in different zones that can be explored back and forth.
I plan to make the main quest quite straight forward as we all know there is no time or brain energy to run around looking for the right thing to do in this kind of games. Maybe there will be time and energy for some more intricate secondary quests.

About me:
I am a solo developer, with limited time for my hobbies (one of which is game development), i started developing inUnreal Engine 4 back in 2018 and made many different prototypes, but never made a fully fledged game. Before game development i practiced 3d modeling and rendering for around 10 years (as a hobby as well) but mainly on architectural and automotive projects (3ds Max). I'm not scared of programming due to my engineering degree and have great passion for videogame.

State of the project:
As of now the project is steadily going forward, the first level has taken its shape. It is a simple starting zone with dirt road to guide the player on the path to take.



The MC himself: the well known green goblin coming from Daz marketplace (with interactive license of course). Probable in game name: Lugd (does it feel goblin enough?)



The currently implemented game mechanics are:
- movement with IK foot placement
- Quest system with quest journal to never miss any content
- inventory system with equipment, weapons, potions and quest items
- save/load system
- Dialogue system with dialogue trees, dialogues can trigger quests and scenes
- Simple NPCs AI that can roam around, talk to MC and simple sex loop animations (currently 4 animations: missionary, doggy and 2x blowjobs)
- Simple Enemy AI and damage system

What is the very next step:
As of now, I need to simplify the skeletal mesh of the goblin and the female NPCs. As they come from Daz to Blender via the Daz plugin the skeleton used is quite complex and create some difficulties in the game engine.
I am currently working to re rig the models to simplify the skeleton and make it very similar to the Unreal Engine Mannequin in order to easily retarget simple animations from the UE marketplace. Obviously the Sex animations will need to be made from scratch but they are just some simple loops.
This is taking a bit longer than i expected as i'm a bit of a noob in blender, once i figure out how to properly rig the genitals of the MC it will be a piece of cake to finish all the models.

The Quest:
The game starts in the West Fields (original name of course) were you need to find shelter and rest.
Currently there is a quest with 4 objectives implemented, it can be completed in less than a minute of gameplay and it plays the first encounter with the first female villager (name TBD) which you can save from the menace of a feral wolf.

The idea of the main quest is to build some form of trust with the local women in order to infiltrate inside the Village and begin your fuckfest.
I plan to have some standard quest mechanics: kill, fetch, talk to (you know the drill).

The nest steps:
From a gameplay mechanic point of view the only things missing are:
- satisfying form of cumshot at the end of the sex scenes.
- sex scene to be unlocked based on the woman corruption level.
- satisfying combat mechanics.
- different types of enemies.
- PREGNANCY (of course a game with goblins without pregnancy is useless)

Regarding the game zones/levels the main zones of interest will be:
- the village
- the main family house (as per the original story featuring: the mother and the two daughters)
- the castle (where the Queen and Princess live)

The secondary zones will be:
- The East Forrest
- The North Region
- The South Swamps
- The Castle Dungeons (future BDSM?)

The secondary zones will be the areas where the kill and fetch quests will most likely take place. I plan to make some random and additional encounters in such areas but we will see how it goes along the way.

I think that's all for now.
Here's an additional screenshot with a fully equipped goblin as a sample. Some NSFW examples will come in the future updates. Stay tuned.

PS: sorry for grammar.

 

[TheExordick]

Ok, very nice. After a couple of days of trial and error i finally re-rigged the first two characters.
As expected, it was just a matter of better understanding how the tools work.

I made the first (of the new rigs) sex animation: the start for a simple missonary pose. Here's a simple gif of the animation.
All feedbacks are welcome.



As of now the female mesh has no morph target to manipulate/animate. They will come further down the road and the animations will be updated. This shouldn't take long as the core animation is already in place and the addition of morph target should be straight forward process.

Models in Blender has no hair since they are managed directly inside Unreal Engine.

Next steps:
- re-rig the other two characters that are already ready and all the props that are currently missing (clothes and equipments) as they need to share the same Skeleton/Armature.
- remake the few animations that i already made (6 or 7 in total of which 2 full animations and 4 simple animation loops)

In the meanwhile, have a nice day.
Until next time!

 

[TheExordick]

Small update, without any pics unfortunately.

I finished to re-rig the character that i already had in place and their outfits. On the outfits i still need to make some adjustements as there is some clipping of the skin underneath.

Then, i improved the movement system for the goblin main character with an 8-direction movement system. Right now it's just missing the turn in place animation and the IK foot placement which needs to be rebuild (but it will be a breeze thanks to UE5 control rig).
I rebuilt the combat system to be more robust and reliable, it just needs a few abilities and animations to be fully functional.

On the animation side, having a simplified rig with respect to the one that comes with Daz characters, i am now able to properly retarget mixamo and marketplace animations and the results are pretty pretty good.
I'm now working on the skeleton compatibility since the characters all have the same rig/hierarchy but with different sizes, so the meshes get streched if i apply the same animations to the different characters. I will still need to properly retarget the animation for each skeletal mesh, but the animation blueprint will be shared. This will simplify the logic and the connected systems by a fair amount.

I know this isn't an exciting update, but i don't want to cut corners on the fundational gameplay mechanics, otherwise the game will be a pile of crap with sex on top. I want to build at least a decent gameplay experience without bugs (or the least possible amount).

Don't worry, the lewd content will come (pun intended).

As of now, i still need to make a few animations and rebuild the animation logic for the NPCs. At that point i will continue with the development, which means it will be time to create the new levels and maps.

Since i'm working alone i decided to build the desired assets as the need arise, even though i have a planning with most of the desired features already laid out. This will ensure that i can progress linearly between the quests and the assets.

In the meantime have a nice time. I hope to come back with spicy news in the next weeks.

 

[HDev3D]

Love to see the work in progresses!

 

[TheExordick]

Love to see the work in progresses!

Thank you sir. In the next few days i will present the latest small progress.

 

[TheExordick]

So, where are we now:

apparently having two stupid AI interacting with each other is way more complicated that interaction between player and AI. Those AI are really stupid. Anyway at this point their simple interaction should be fine. I say should because sometimes i still get some weird behavior between AIs that needs to be fixed.

From a non functional point of view i'm getting a bit of clipping between the girl's mesh and clothing. While this isn't a game breaker i will surely fix it, because it is just a metter of slight differences in the rest pose between the skin armature and the clothing armature.
Once i understand which and how many outfits each girl/woman/character will have than i will fix this in batch once and for all.



The quest mechanic is progressing nicely, it is working and i'm adding quests as a trace for the needed activities: basically i add a quest and then complete all the things related so that quest can be played/completed. This will ensures that i don't desperse my energy and gives continuity to the story and development.

So, i started to work on the second map: The Village. This should be the place where the MC spends the majority of the time.
Right now is still pretty empty but you can get an idea:
- the central plaza with the well will have a marketplace where some NPC/shop interaction will take place and some side quests will take place.
- the main house: elevated on the north east of the city. This is where the MC will stay permanently after the short introduction

As the game development progresses the village will be populated by NPCs and buildings as needed. Right now the buildings will be mainly placeholders and will be refined. I'm currently trying to understand how to properly texture the assets in Substance Painter as i never used it before.

You can see at the north edge of the map the castle walls: that will be the entrance tho the castle map where the Queen and Princess will be

I still need to come up with a village name though, so i'm open for suggestions.





The next steps:
- enrich the village level with the placeholders so it feels more pleasant and alive.
- create the inside of the main family house.

Once the house will be done i think there will be the need for a Day/Night cycle mechanic. Otherwise, how would you disturb the sleeping beatuies?
With such mechanic i will need to make a choice:
- having the day and night pass on their own and automatically?
- having triggers to jump between day times and night times? (as in RPGM for example)

The second option is easier to implement from a gameplay point of view and i think it will give the player the time to explore and fuck around without pressure but it may be perceived as a break in the gameplay immersion.

In any case i would like to avoid as much as possible to have events that occour at specific times. I prefer to give the player the freedom to follow the path and quests they prefere without roadblocks or the need to skip time which is useless from a gameplay point of view.

 

[TheExordick]

Small update for the weekend.
I'm currently working on the interior of the main Family house where the mother and two daughters live. This will also be the MC shelter once he build enough "trust" to be accepted in the village.

following the two screenshot of the Ground Floor with the kitchen and living room:



and the 1st floor with the bedrooms



this is still a WIP since i want to make some color changes to the forniture of the different bedrooms to help distinguish them.
There isn't much inside the house at the moment as it just needs the barebone to become functional at this stage.

I'm planning to keep baked lighting inside the house since i think it will give the best results.

This is how it currently looks when seen from the character perspective.



Maybe the color composition is leaning a bit too much toward the warm side. I tried to give some cool tones using a cold light coming from the windows but it seems to be a bit too weak.
I will investigate further this topic.

In the meantime, as always, have a nice time! see ya!

 

[xorcist]

Looking forward to. "A Goblin's Tale" is a must.
More birthing scenes would be appreciated since that's the theme of the game. Breastfeeding also.

Great job with the scenes and the models.

 

[TheExordick]

Thanks for the support guys.

More birthing scenes would be appreciated since that's the theme of the game. Breastfeeding also.

I will see what can be done. Maybe we can discuss this matter further in the future so i will be able to generate good lewd material. (considering that i want to make it all animated and not staic renders)

As of now i'm going on populating the quests and make sure the required characters spawn at the right time and place. It's quite a long work, especially when there is the need for different AIs to interact in simple ways between them.
I also need to plan out properly the quests: main ones and side quests so i can implement them properly and avoid loosing connections between the quests.

 

[Woodland Nomad]

Jumping over here and showing some love since you dropped in on mine. Looking forward to playing this. It looks great so far.

 

[TheExordick]

Jumping over here and showing some love since you dropped in on mine. Looking forward to playing this. It looks great so far.

Thank you very much for the support.

Unfortunately i had a lot going on at work these last weeks so i've been basicaly on a stand by.
i just improved my knowledge regarding the hair groom physics in Unreal Engine as i would really like to give the characters some decent hair that do not clip through the bodies.
This however will need a lot of work and tweaks and, as it isn't a core feature, may be put to the side in favor to simplier systems.

I hope to come back with some good news in the near future.
Until next time. Have a nice time!

 

[TheExordick]

Ok, well, some time has passed and i was able to work a bit on the project.

i'm currently building the village and i think it will require a lot of work. Since it is basically the most lived level/enviroment of the game (with the house of course) it will need some back and forth iteration to reach it's full potential.

Right now there are:

- a blacksmith (obviously every village in a fantasy medieval timeframe needs a strong and sexy blacksmith). The idea is of course to have the double role for the NPC and be a vendor as well for new armors and weapons



- a little church! Did someone say nuns? No village can be corrupted if there isn't a proper spiritual guide.



- some simple houses for the secondary NPC and sidequests



I still need to build an Inn/tavern because otherwise how do you fuck the travelers? The main family house exteriors and the central marketplace where you can find other vendors.
Then the basics of the Village (which still needs a proper name) will be done and i will just need to place all those little props that give the enviroment a ton of life and warmth.

I know, i know, i still don't have updates on the characters and on the lewd part, but as i wrote at the beginning i don't want to put up a pile of crap with sex on top of it.
Also characters, in general, general need a lot of work and optimization in blender and in unreal, so i don't want to do a lot of work and find myself in the position to redo it constantly. I experiment with one or two characters and then when the mechanics will be functioning properly i will add more and more characters.

As a sidenote i just discovered that i'm really an awful writer. My dialogs are fuckin' lame. I guess i just need to work on my skills.

As you may have understood by now this won't be an open world game: each environment will be a separate level and since there isn't much going on the transition between them should be pretty fast and smooth.

As always i'm open for feedback and comments.

Until next time. Have a nice time.

 

[TheExordick]

Here we go with a new update regarding the progress of the village construction. I think the village is basically ready to be populated with the NPCs (main ones and secodnaries).

i redid the castle wall as i didn't like the previous one. This one is simplier, more accurate from an hystorical point of view (nobody cares though) and blends better with the style of the game.



Here we have the main Family House. It is a 2 story house and as you can see the material of the ground floor is bugged and render darker than intended. I will fix it today as it annoys me a lot.



The Marketplace is set, ready to sell you "something"



Here is also the Inn, for which i need to find a proper signboard as i did for the blacksmith.



Then i added some small details around the village to fill some spaces. As of now the following buildings and spaces are not part of the gameplay at the moment, and will become part of it IF there will be time to do so.

Stables just beside the Inn, where travellers can park their horse.



The graveyard behind the curch



Some fences and porch near the villager's houses. Maybe i will add a few pigs or hens just to fill them.



Right now the village is missing just the Foliage: grass and trees inside and outside the Village perimeter.

Once the foliage is set, it will be time to expand the quests and populate the village with NPCs and things to do.

Let's go back to work.
Until next time, as always, have a nice time!

 

[massoblivion]

dude, you better delete that trailer from vimeo (and the other one too)

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

or else your vimeo acс will get booted. just like it happened with mine...


good luck to your game!

 

[massoblivion]

thanks for the heads up and ty, you too. that trailer is for my game The Single Goblin , this one is a little different albeit ambitious as well! and this town is looking amazing along with the castle.
i just watched your trailer, I gotta step my game up! great job

sorry, I didn't mean your trailer is bad or anything, it's fine. Vimeo is just not okay with sexual content. my whole account with 1 video got banned with no ability to recover.
all I'm trying to say is: be careful with SFW platforms when promoting your game.
better use porn sites like XVideos for your NSFW trailers and YouTube or Vimeo for SFW trailers.

sorry again if there was a misunderstanding

 

[massoblivion]

I was trying to say that the game in the trailer is for my game and not the game in this thread because I wasn't sure if you thought I was working on this game too or not. I edited my first comment to be more clear. When I complimented The Green Bang before the edit it made it sound like I was being defensive and complimenting my game but hopefully it's cleared up now.

I watched the trailer for your game and I think it looks really good and it's providing me motivation, keep up the good work!

ok, thanks. my bad for mixing up those titles...
I should've addressed my first message to you

anyway, an advice to keep all NSFW things out of SFW platforms is still helpful to all

and thanks for the compliment!

 

[TheExordick]

ok, thanks. my bad for mixing up those titles...
I should've addressed my first message to you

anyway, an advice to keep all NSFW things out of SFW platforms is still helpful to all

Don't worry bro, i'm actually very far away from creating a trailer for my game. But i will take care when the moment will come and avoid NSFW content on SFW platform. I actually thought that vimeo was sort of a mixed platform as there is questionable content on it (i.e. softcore or similiar)

Also given your experience and products if you have any suggestion i will be more than happy to have your feedback.

TheSingleGoblin i told you we were making the same thing

 

[TheExordick]

So, i think the time has come to present the NPCs of our story. At this point i created 5 NPCs that are ment to have quests and as the development progresses i plan to add more people to the story.

This are the ones required for the main quest and the vendors to interact with.
The materials are not final and they may be subjected to changes in the future. I also hope to give them a better (more real) feel and look.

let me introduce to you:

- Mathilda: Head of the Royal Guard, mother of 2. She is loyal to the Queen and would die for her kingdom.



- Helena: older daughter of Mathilda, formidable huntress. Trains to take her mother's place one day.



- Elizabeth, Lizzy for the friends: she's the younger daughter of Mathilda, she's young and inexperienced about almost everything in life. Everybody loves her in the village.



- Isabella: merchant vendor for every food and ingredient that you might need during your journey.



- Olga: the village blacksmith, you don't want to get into a fight with her. Weapon and armor merchant, it's always good to get an upgrade.




The village would really benefit from a sort of crowd system to make it feel more alive, but as of now i think it is not a priority.

At this point i'm basically ready to build the quests in the village and house.
I need to create a few animations for the characters (for example sleep, talk and everyday animations)

Until next time, have a nice time!

 

[ChadtheBeast]

Those NPCs are looking good! Can't wait for the first release to come out!

 

[TheExordick]

Back to the fantastic with another little update on game mechanics:

i implemented a day/night cycle similar to the one present in RPGMaker: the time is always fixed and it advances by "chunks". There are now 4 time frames: morning, afternoon, evening and night.

This is easier to manage with respect to a continuous time running in the background and i feel it gives a more relaxed experience to the player.
Sine most of the quests are going to be time bound i don't want to introduce the idea that you are running out of time and have to wait for another complete day before continuing your quest.
I want the player to be able to take its time and have the possibility to complete (almost) any amount of quests per given time frame. This will, of course, have some limitation as some actions will make the time advance.

Below a representation of the 4 different times of the day in the first area.




Now i need to make the various NPCs spawn and despawn according to the time frame and make the quests possible to complete only within the appropriate time.
This isn't a difficult task but it needs some rework of the core quest system. As of now there are only few initial quests set up so it should be a breeze.

Until next time, have a nice time.