January Devlog

Hello again! 

This month has been fairly productive, so I'm excited to share what I've been working on behind the scenes. Enjoy the following jumbo update! 

The Blind Date Game Updates:

I didn't have time to work on the Blind Date Game much last month, but I've pretty much been constantly busy with gamedev progress this month. Unfortunately, the next beta won't be ready in time for me to post it this month as I still have a lot of work to do. Fortunately, the most difficult parts are done, so most of the upcoming beta should come together fairly quickly. 

The main features I want to talk about are the new character model, UI updates, and upcoming modding changes.

New Character Model:

(Ignore the outfit + hair test textures, haha)

This is the current updated base model for the game! I was never really happy with my handmade 3D model for the original so I've reworked her completely. The new model uses a VRoid character as a basis, which should also make asset creation much much easier for outfits and hairstyles. 

This is bonus good news for those of you interested in mod creation! VRoid is an extremely easy to use program so it should take most of the frustration out of mod creation. You'll still need to fiddle around with Blender and Godot a little bit, but I plan to make an updated modding guide for this next update which should make that process a bit smoother.

Some extra bonuses of the new character model is that she's now far more expressive. That means facial expressions are much easier to add (and mod) and lipsync has been added to the dialogue system! 

(Here's an early look at the lipsync system)
(also fangs)

I've also created a fairly simple bit of head-tracking code to the new model so that she can automatically look directly at the camera. This was a bit of a headache to add, but when I go to add in more date environments, she should automatically make eye contact with you instead of looking out into the distance even if the camera is moved. 

UI Updates:

(VERY WIP)

This is my current development focus, so expect major changes from this current example, but I'm looking to make the game feel a lot nicer with some updated menus. This includes remodeling the character creator, which is currently in a very WIP status. 

The four main areas of focus for the UI update are the main menu, the character creator, the date selection menu, and various date UI elements. I'm no UI expert, so if you have any ideas of your own, I'd love to hear them! 

Modding Changes:

If you looked into modding before, you might remember that the original method required you to mirror my internal filepaths for any mods you wanted to add. With the updated mod system, that's no longer a concern. You can put your files anywhere you want and as long as you have a .JSON file listing the required assets, the program knows where everything is!

The system is set up this way to support "drag n' drop" mods. So, in the below example I've created a mod folder in the "Mods/Clothes" folder titled "Test". Within "Mods/Clothes/Test", I've created the following .JSON text file:

This .JSON contains all of the necessary information and location of the assets needed for the outfit I created to work in the game. 

Notice that all of the "Resources" are listed within a folder called "user://Mods/Clothes/Test" - with my mod set up like this, anyone can simply drop the "Test" folder and expect my mod to work without any changes needed. That's why I call them "drag n' drop" mods! 

So, when the game goes to load mods, it will scan the "Clothes" folder for mods. It should then find the "Test" mod and its .JSON instructions. The game will then make a listing for "Cute" girls titled "Test Mod" with the associated resources. 

In game, you should then see something like this:

If you can load your mod in the character creator, then your mod works and it should now even work with the random character generator!

Another benefit of this updated modding system is that it's significantly faster than the old one. Instead of scouring folder within folder to create a dictionary, it just searches folders containing your mods, saving a ton of time.

I'm also planning to add support for custom date questions, date environments, date events (i.e. modded minigames), and Godot singleton nodes to allow for advanced mods that can do pretty much anything you want. 

This may sound like a lot, but I expect it all to be ready for the next beta. In the meantime, I hope you're all brushing up on your VRoid designing! 

Other Projects & Final Thoughts: 

I've been quietly working away on AutoVN (my automatic visual novel tool) and some experiments for Date a Mink 3D. For AutoVN, I've been working on adding the extra components that I intend to use for the program along with polishing some of the existing code. If I dedicate some time to this project, it should be finished fairly efficiently, but it's currently a low priority for me in favor of getting the next The Blind Date Game beta out.

Date a Mink 3D is currently in very experimental tooling phases. I've been working out many of the separate systems that I'll need for the final game before I go to put anything together. I managed to set up a very basic VR test using my previous VN tests recently, which has proved to me that VR + desktop support is an achievable goal for this project. You can view that here: 

Anyhow, thanks for reading my monthly ramble! I've been sharing a lot of my progress over on Discord, so if you're looking for the latest updates; swing by and and say hi! (link)

I'm very excited for this year. I'm expecting to put out a bunch of fun projects for you all to play around with. I hope you'll all continue to support me through 2022!