Phase 1(a) Patreon release

I'm still working on getting a way to release on Itch earlier or exclusively for patrons, but we're not there yet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QmWhF_hEWrKjEpWFNeEWLsPBZd0-Ger0/view?usp=sharing

Phase 1a Updates (Functionality and mechanics)

• Character creation now uses preset species traits to generate player stats
• Player stats have been moved to Game Instance to keep them standardised across levels
• Animation system has been streamlined and player character now does sex animations instead of proxy model
• Enemies have now got additional stats for future updates
• New status items added with spawn chance
• Dialog system improved and now includes conversation trees
• Dungeon has been physically increased in size to make it less claustrophobic
• Dungeon now has a roof and upgraded meshes
• Rocks can now be aimed
• Basic inventory added, with hotbar UI and hotkeys
• New animation set - Capture while crouching
• Slightly better fluids

Bugfixes

• Character alignment in animations sorted
• When captured while crouching, the player would spawn into the animation at about waist height
• Collecting items had trigger issues when not near an item to collect
• Item system was generating NONE items
• Some plants would explode when the game starts (was detecting the scenery and identifying it as a rock)
• Dungeon navigation stopped working
• Dungeon entrance had a bad collision mesh
• Player has been given more rocks
• Player would sometimes get released from animations into the floor
• Esc while in the pause menu would open a second pause menu
• All sex ended with player and wolf dying, regardless of actual outcome
• Thrown rocks would not alert wolves

Character Creation & stats

This has been a big one and has carried over into the item system as well. In an effort to get the game systems working in a way that aids future expansion, I've been trying to move away from having to build a blueprint for everything. So for example, it shouldn't matter if you're a squirrel or a tiger, the player functionality is the same. Having a specific blueprint for each just means if one thing needs updated, it would need done on every player blueprint which increases the chance of something being missed.

The solution was to build base stat and species data tables for the game to reference. A squirrel might jump higher than a badger. The data now reflects that and will build the player character from it. When new species get added, it will generate stats based on the species traits.

Moving the stats to the game instance was a huge job, meaning everywhere stats were got or updated had to be changed to use the new location for them. It's probably done now though, and means there's no need to keep a local and game version of stats running alongside each other. It also means that in situations where the player no longer controls the character, the player stats can still be found.

Animation & Rocks

When I started building the game, the first issue I had was removing control from the player when captured, and getting the models to align correctly. My solution was to use hidden player models attached to enemies in the correct location. You get captured, the player is hidden and the proxy appears to do the animation.

That worked for then, but it had big issues. Mostly while the player was hidden, a lot of player info was also unavailable. It also mean stuff like blinking and attaching fluid emission points didn't work. Now the player does the animations, it all works. This was another major change with a lot of things needing updated, so I also took the opportunity to streamline how some of it works. Players won't see anything, but a lot of spaghetti code has been tidied away.

The next big thing is a new animation set. Previously, it didn't matter how a wolf caught you, it would always default to the same animation. Now the game detects if you are facing towards or away from the enemy, and if you are crouched or not. Most of those situations still revert back to the old sex set, but if you are crouching while facing the enemy, you will get the new one. What is it? Well, you'll have to find out!

Finally, throwing rocks now has a target location and some aiming ability.  They are meant to be used for distracting the wolves to clear a path for yourself, but in a pinch you can also take down a wolf with them.

Items

A new item system was added. There's a previous post detailing the ins and outs of it. The main takeaway is that you now have an inventory, so items aren't used instantly any more. This also meant a hotbar was added to track how many of each item you have. This will eventually get expanded into a full inventory later on. Items now spawn in certain spots, and have a percentage chance to be any of the current items. Some are 50% chance, others are 1% chance. The rarer it is, the better.

Dialog

The new dialog system runs on conversation trees. Some conversations can branch off down various paths and it has extra flexibility, so it can be used to trigger specific animations, giving items or setting off new gameplay options. The current state is the base but it is ready for the extra features to go in on top and it is designed with these in mind.

Enemies

Enemies have also been moved to datatables in preparation for building them as persistant characters at the start of the game. Once this is fully implemented, you'll be able to meet all the wolves around town prior to starting the event, and any damage they sustain throughout the game will remain. Other enemies will be procedural, but the wolves are constant.

They've also been given extra stats for things due to be added in later phases, such as aggression and sexuality. The final thing wolves now have is blood. Throwing a rock at someone is going to have some kind of effect.

Dungeon

The dungeon has had some wall meshes improved, a roof added and the whole thing scaled up a bit to give slightly more room. It's still the sci-fi theme, and proper meshes and theming should go in during phase 2 to make it match the game aesthetic. The scifi was because it lets me do fairly simple meshes with lighting, while better themed ones need more work and detail.

Conclusion

That rounds off 2 weeks of work. There's a few things that didn't make it in to this sprint. I want to redo the current basic wolf sex, and there's a new mechanic for recovering stamina and health. I've got the process built, it's just missing the animations.

Phase 1b is based around Characters, and Phase 1c is Gameplay.

The plan for the next 3 weeks is stuff like basic clothing, fur, a couple of UI tweaks, altering wolf awareness so they need visibility for a second or two before alerting, a new enemy type, female enemies for the current species and hopefully an animation gallery, so once you've found different animation sequences, you can view them in the gallery.

The aim is to split each phase into 3 week sprints: Mechanics | Characters | Gameplay.

By this timetable, each phase should take roughly just over 2 months to complete. With the aim to get the sprints done:

Phase 1b - 12th Nov

Phase 1c / Phase completed - Dec 3rd

This is of course assuming I can remain working on it full time. If you're reading this, then you've already helped materially towards this project. The only thing I can possibly ask for is your feedback. Where am I going wrong with this? Where am I going right?

Failing that, the game has a photomode. The more places the screenshots and videos get shared, the more visibility it will get and hopefully more chance of actually going fulltime with this kind of stuff insted of worrying about why I can't get job interviews and how I'm going to cover bills and food for the next week.

Fun stuff.