Hey peeps sorry for the silence last month, I wanted to make an update but I decided to focus on delivering the builds I wanted to. And BOY WAS IT A CHALLENGE! I had thought the build would come sooner, and that just didn't happen.

Why this build took so long

Remember how a few months ago I did a big UI rework? Remember how I said WebGL was coming back? Remember when I said I'm working on demo? All these things have been horrible.

Shader Variants

This reared it's ugly head again but i've made some good headway. But part of the issue is some tech debt so i'll be trying to fix that this month. But i had like a week or two of 24 hour build times before i could figure out the problem.

I now have some new shader stripping methods and a plan to further reduce shader variants (which should also improve memory usage and performance)

UI

initially I thought the UI was mostly working, it was not, A LOT of issues showed up. My goal was to finish a play through but for a month I couldn't get past the first day. Remaking the UI in a new system was one thing, making sure it works was a whole other.

All those issues are resolved, full playthrough was made, but...

I'm not done with UI yet; the rework looks like ASS. Now that things work improving the look of the UI is MUCH easier than doing so in the past. Solving a range of old UI issues from before things were more developed. Those improvements should hit by end of next month, the planning is done it just needs implementation and it's largely not related to function.

WebGL

On side note for various reasons for this I upgraded to a beta version of unity 6.7 instead of 6.6 this may have caused some problems but eh...

Anyway, the main issue is getting under size constraints. One issue is things like texture sizes the next issue is file sizes. Itch has a restriction of file sizes larger than 200mb, this meant I needed a special addressable setup separate from the content directory stuff. Plus stuff just acts different with WebGL in general. I had issue where for some damn reason Naomi, the player avatar, AND THE CAMERA would just vanish when the apartment scene loaded.

Just baffling shit, and the solution was to make more of the game loaded from addressable, which caused more problems I was solving until this week. The side effect of this is memory usage is MUCH MUCH better, so android benefits a good deal i believe.

Still some small issues tho...

Demo, Dress Up, etc

Another big aspect was setting up a system where i can make a build excluding content without a ton of manual work, that much has been done. The WebGL build has outfit items excluded to keep the sizes down, but this also proves the system works. This will allow me to do A LOT.

So now that the suffering is past let's talk about what's next...

Game Plan

Okay so here's where things are going from here on.

DRESSUP!

This is a free small side project that will have many version's some with new characters some with repeat characters all with different themes. With the ability to:

• Select poses and animation loops in one or multiple environments

• Select various outfit items available

• Grope and adjust speed of animations

• Have a range of tools for taking pictures, setting expressions, adjusting effects, etc.

While there's a WebGL build below it comes in at about 900mb, future releases will be MUCH smaller with more specific content. This is just a test, a benchmark of sorts.

The UI is also very incomplete, lot of issues there.

Expect these to start releasing soon after UI improvements on itch, newgrounds and eventually other sites.

LONG TERM, I intend to self-host these, with a separate funding structure. With the goal of having more freedom.

Our Apartment Demo

I don't know if it will come next month but an Our Apartment demo will come soon. The system to do it is already setup, I just need to do some polish and testing specifically for a demo.

New Content: Our Apartment

I'm sorry there's been so little new content, part of the issue was trying to figure out where the direction of the game is going. Another part is trying to improve workflow so i can focus less on programming an editor bs.

I'm getting a number of things off the ground and I should have something to show next month. Either a continuation of the story (moving into Act 5) and/or a new animation set based on that content.

I did want to demonstrate some new tech I've been working on, but unfortunately I can't access unity right now, I'll probably make a post tomorrow or something.

But in short I saw another devs crazy awesome cum VFX and I decided it was worth another stab over the rope physics stuff. It looks pretty good! I'll show it later, but there's two versions one that's like a screenspace metaballs effect and another thats raymarched.

I haven't put this new method to the test yet "in context" but in the test scene it looks promising. I have some other ideas too...

Another aspect that got a major update is various post process FX.

• Naomi now has a rim light post effect inspired by kingdom hearts CG, it might take a bit more work to get to ideal.

• SSAO is now replaced with a native unity solution

• The "painting" effect is now tied to DoF, meaning it's less painterly where things are focused and more painterly where things are out of focus.

• Cinematic DoF is now a custom solution to reduce flickering.

• Due to using Unity 6.7 DLSS and FSR 1-4 are now supported!

I've also been considering switching from forward to deferred shading so I can add some interesting stuff. We'll see...

Forest Project

Also, sorry forest project didn't get any new images, I've been doing some model updates to prepare for animation. Lira's ears atm are simply not good for animation and need a rework. But this bs with the build took so much time

You will either get more images continuing the comic or something else next month. Depends on how things go. If I finish what I want to finish you'll get the "something else" if not, more renders.

Sorry for being secretive, don't want to give expectations I can't deliver.

Conclusion

Sorry for the quiet, and I'll be gone for a few days I need a break and to play some video games for once.

Next month should be interesting!

~sacb0y

DRESSUP!

Remember this is a test build for testing isolating parts of the game like this, a more polished version will come soon.

Windows

Android

WebGPU
Password: support
If this works or not is a bit random, i have some ideas to improve it. But if it doesn't work try a different browser. In my case it worked best in Brave browser.

Our Apartment

Should be solid and functional, there was a odd white UI issue but it seems to go away, i'll come back to that. Also gropes are a bit borked due to rig changes.

Windows

Android