Progress update- Poses (Patreon)

We're getting kinda technical but making some very nice progress ^^

Read these posts uncensored on subscribestar btw.

Also there's a stream starting in 30 minutes!

To new patrons: We’re in the middle of an absurdly-long update cycle. Here’s the summary and how to access content.

What's being worked on?

Pose swapping

It's finally time to flesh out how things swap between different states. This includes basic things like a toy being used in different ways, and exciting things like putting characters into different poses. I've been slightly dreading this but it's not actually that bad. It's just a little complex and mind-bending when looking at the code. 

But basically you wanna have a thing. That thing needs information to display.

Okay but now you want to put that thing into a different position or situation. Now it's gonna display differently, but it's the same thing. So we want to share some information, but change other parts.

Let's look at a real example when it comes to swapping a character's pose.

But the thing is, an NPC isn't just a single object. Twilight here is actually dozens of body parts, all created separately. Each of those parts needs to know how to handle the new pose too.

Then the code needs to figure out which pieces of visual information are shared, and which are changing. We only swap out the parts that change. That's what I've been working on. 

I've been doing it for the sake of p*netration code (since starting p*netration is swapping a toy's "pose")... but it's also what will allow entirely new character poses.

Changing poses would also mean having to make a completely new set of animations and assets of course, so we'll be careful with that. Can't be exploding the scope of this game before it's released.

P*netration basics, UX

Speaking of p*netration! The interactions are working more and more. You can now fully engage and disengage a toy with the mouse, including leaving the toy inside the character. The basic concepts -- holding an item, leaving an item in an orifice -- are now much more fleshed out as mechanics.

Interactions are happening! Instead of just working on a single feature, I'm working on features interfacing, starting and stopping, etc. I might be failing to make this sound interesting but it's very exciting for me, cause it's the next steps toward.

Personal lessons

In chronological order, here are some of the lessons I've learned making this game:

Don't make things without planning them out. Don't over-plan yourself into paralysis. Don't build inflexible code you can't reuse later. Don't be obsessed with flexibility to the point that you never actually make the one thing you were trying to make. Don't use slow, inefficient design patterns - resources are limited. Don't obsess over performance before the code is even written - computers are fast as fuck. 

Don't be lazy. Don't burn yourself out. Non-productivity isn't the same as laziness. Productivity is only a band-aid for unhappiness, not a cure.

What annoys me is that my solution to one problem is usually the cause of my next problem. Maybe this is just the nature of learning a skill. I'm not gonna try to make a life lesson out of this. I just hope this helps provide some context to others who might be going through the same things.

When is release? Dunno yet, but my Trello has the release checklist.

... and that's all for now!

Yep. Also, I'm moving to Europe to be with my partner. Yay! Gonna be working on the game full-time until then, and take a break the week of the move. 

You guys are still supporting me. I don't fully understand, probably never will, but fucking THANK YOU. Game development like this requires persistence and somehow, despite the absurd premise of all of this, we're making it happen.

<3