Development Update 3.22.25 (Patreon)

Hello Friends,

Ran into an issue several weeks back that delayed development. I usually try to keep my game engine updated to date. Well, this strategy failed me and broke my project. It took a lot of time to get everything back up and running.

The funny part is that this stumble worked out better in the end. My player movements are a lot better, and I don't have an issue with my first-person player. My project has been significantly reduced, which makes it easier to organize and maintain it. From the main menu to the game, there is no loading screen now.

I was also able to obtain a feature that I've been wanting to have in the game: text-to-speech generation. Before this post, I posted a video that demonstrated this feature. So now, NPCs talk within the game.

Patreon Authentication And Final Title Change

Ok, this is not so great but it had to be done. First of all, I finally got the Patreon Authentication working. You will need a Patreon Membership to play this game. For me this offer minimizes piracy and also allows to give Patreon Members exclusive content through rewards. I'm still Figuring that part out.

The new and final game title change is called "Neon Strip". There just so many games out there and so hard to make a title for a game now without finding out someone has a game title just like it. So I did my research this time and no game or adult game has this game title.

I've done my research on Google and other search engines. I asked a ChatGPT if someone or some company has this title. There is nobody. If someone does copy my game title again. I will not change the title of this game ever again no matter the circumstances.

Environment Changes and Additions.

Alright, so I finally found a solution that has been bothering me. For some reason, night looks great in Unity. It's so easy to set up a night scene in Unity and you get the results you want.

For me, daytime for some reason never looks as good as the night scene. I think I finally got around that. I finally found a way to have better-looking daytime scenes. What did I do? I stop using Unity's Global Illumination. I found one that was better and made the changes needed to work with my game.

This is Unity Global Illumination :

 This is the new Global Illumination:Here are the pictures with the new Global Illumination :

Gameplay Additions

Ok, most of the work I've been doing the last couple of weeks is working on the gameplay.

I got the swimming mechanic working again. Ragdolls are working for NPC and Player models.

Something new I did not have in previous builds. There is now a throwing mechanic. You can't throw everything at the moment but there are items in the map you can throw and most of the time NPC will just take the hit and still be standing but if you hit them right in the head with it.... it hurts.

I'll be adding reactions and sounds to these. The sounds will or what the NPC might yell out might be generated by the Text-to-Speech AI system.

Adult And Dialogue Additions

Ok, for the adult and dialogue additions. I added more commands you can input for the adult system like now you can hug NPC. There are some other ones but I don't give you all the goodies.

I've been playing around with different AI models to find out which one works best and has quality dialogue. I have a new one and it seems to be better at role playing.

I wrote a script that identifies actions when the AI generates dialogue. This system is important because later it will be able to drive NPC animations for example "Jane's eye widen". In the future I want the system to recognize that and play an animation that acts that out.

 Here is a demonstration of entering an action and the dialogue system plays it out.

A feature in the adult system, most players were frustrated in previous builds. Is that you couldn't do anything as a female player? Now the adult system works for the female player.

Not only does it work, but it changes depending on the gender of your partner. If you are a female and you interacting with a male. The male will take the dominant role. If you are a female and you interact with a female NPC, you will take the dominant role. I plan on giving you all the option to switch this around in future. This works also for the male gender. Depending on your sexual orientation, you be able to experience that with in the game now.

 Current Development And Road Map

What I currently working on right now is getting the touch system to work almost completely. In the previous version the touch system is so finicky and almost hard to control. I'm trying to make this better.

It is also one of the hardest features to work on. It might take some time but its going to playable when the next build comes out.

I know I've been saying, I'll be releasing a test build at the end of the month or soon.  I believe though given one more month this game will a fun and playable game at least for testing. So please, wait one more month for the test build.

Thank You,

Blast