stencilbits
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Monthly Update: Technological Singularity Edition
🕑 Added 2019-05-29 18:21:45 +0000 UTCStraight to the business!
* Skipping this months Patron payments as 0.3 is not yet out...
* 0.3 planned release date for $10 tier folks: June 15-16 (weekend)
* Patreon posts with semi-spoilerific 0.3 renders, starting on June 2 and continuing until all backlogged renders are out or 0.3 has been released (whichever happens first).
Since the last update, I have been sidetracked by the tech changes I have been mentioning and things got quickly out of control in a good way. While updating 0.3 related code and scripting I started to expand the pretty basic 2D-animations and eventually created a basic prototype with 3D-characters and interactive interactions (one of my demos I linked some time ago showed a simple 3D-scene inside Ren'Py). So instead of eventually having pre-rendered movies, it would be possible to animate characters in a (limited) 3D-scene. Instead of rendering a static image or movie files from Blender, I could export the real scene, poses, hi-quality baked textures and animations with a single click.
Needless to my tests push Ren'Py to its limits and more testing will be needed to determine if the whole thing is feasible in normal use. I don't want to change the engine as that would be a lot of extra work at this point. Naturally, there will be static fallback images for people with slow or otherwise problematic computers. Other issues like model licensing costs (licenses for interactive use can cost a lot more) might also affect how practical this whole thing will be.
Demo video about this whole unholy 3D-system incoming at some point after 0.3 is out. I'll first wade through some good animation tutorials some friendly people have been pointing out to me so that the characters don't move like uncanny mannequins in a cheap school play.
Comments
Offcuts, as it is, with a simple system and a relatively low proportion of renders to text, is already one of the best adult visual novels. The main strengths are good funny writing and original art. I feel that the technical changes you plan to try are unnecessary, it would only change Offcuts into something else than what it is now and slow down adding new content that fans really want. I believe the overwhelming majority of fans would appreciate adding stories for other girls and keeping everything else as it is. I understand that you are not dependent on Patreon income, you can do whatever you want with your game, and as a developer you want to try new challenges. But I think that completing Offcuts within a reasonable time without major technical changes would bring you much more popularity. And you could postpone the new challenges for some new project after completing Offcuts.
Poke-Ladd
so close
Dark Rooster
I hope the animation tutorials are of use. I still watch the 12 principles of animation videos every time I start a new animation just to refresh the fundementals. Whenever I have a problem with the way one of my animation looks I can almost always track it back to not applying one of those principles properly. I very much look forward to seeing everything come together. Or everyone cum together... :)
Quinfax
Sounds like your having a blast messing with this tech. good to hear. Can't wait to see how it pans out. Excelsior
