SHF3 v.31 - Tickling, stimulation, and toy upgrades, part 1 (Patreon)

Links to play here! 

So, tickling. As it turns out, the game wasn't deep enough to really handle decent tickle torture. The problem was that you could start tickling the ponies and... well, that was it. I was planning on just putting in some new toys and clothes this time, but I decided there was no point in releasing new tickling tools without making tickling more interesting. As a side effect, all non-tickling stimulation got upgraded too.

Tickling is technically a little challenging, since you'd want to do it all over the body, not just in one place. SHF isn't designed to make that easy. You'd expect there to be long-term effects from intense tickling, and different ponies to be ticklish in different ways. So these are the problems I focused on.

I recommend glancing through the changelog if you don't read the post itself :3

Since this update got kind of technical, we're starting small for toy features- an electric toothbrush for intense stimulation/tickling on the hooves, nipples, clit, and dick. Bullet vibes can attach to those places as well. 

On the backend, the toothbrush is a proof-of-concept for a new way of rigging non-machine-controlled toys, paving the way for a "hand" toy type in the future. The code for bullet vibes has been massively simplified, setting the groundwork for toys that simply attach/detach without needing mouse-controlled animations.

I wanted to add more of a gameplay arc to tickling though, not just new tools. This took me multiple attempts. I had to keep pulling in feature ideas slated for future updates. 

Attempt 1: Revamping the overstimulation/unconsciousness mechanic. 

Overstimulation no longer causes ponies to pass out. Instead, I tried to ground the model for this in real anatomy. Intense actions now cause the heart rate to increase, which makes the pony breathe faster. If the bodily stress is too much for too long, the heart won't be able to provide enough oxygen to the body, and the pony will pass out. And yes, I see many potential uses for this >:3

A prolonged high heart rate builds an "exhaustion" meter, which weakens the pony's struggling and causes them to fall unconscious when filled. This means that any intense actions can eventually knock them out. Exhaustion hopefully will help add some longer-term variations in how they act in all high-intensity situations.

Attempt 2: Overflow stimulation.

If the pony isn't aroused enough, then stimulation that would otherwise feel pleasurable will instead overflow to tickling or overstimulation. For example, some characters have ticklish nipples or clits, but when they become aroused, stimulation in those body parts turns to pleasure. 

So now there's change over time in how tickling affects them.

Attempt 3: Lots of per-character body variability. 

How fast exhaustion and orgasms build, and how long an average orgasm is varies per character.

Overflow stimulation is set for each pony, and each body part. So each pony has different body parts that are ticklish. If they aren't ticklish, it usually overflows to overstimulation instead. For example, some ponies will hate having their clits played with until they're aroused. 

Variable erogeneity- certain ponies need to be more aroused than others to start feeling pleasure from certain body parts. At high arousal, a few ponies can even feel pleasure from their hooves. 

Variable sensitivity- each body part on each pony has a certain sensitivity score for each kind of stimulation. For example, AJ's hooves are tougher against everything, Flutters' nipples are extra sensitive and more erogenous, the tip of a changeling's dick is extremely ticklish, and Rarity is more sensitive to pain in most body parts. 

The sensitivity differences are mostly fairly small, but combined with the personality mechanics, I'm hoping this makes them feel more alive and unique. If they don't feel noticeable enough, I may have to bump up the values a bit. 

I know y'all will want to see the exact numbers and be able to configure them yourselves. That'll be added as soon as I finish the UI for it! >.<'

Minor improvements-

By popular demand, ropes are now an alternate option for restraints. Right now they're completely silent. Eventually I'll add some quiet rope pulling sounds.

Tears will now well up in a pony's eyes when something intense is happening.

Added new spells for the new features.

This is "part 1" because there's a lot to do still for the tickling/toy features update. More body parts to make interactive and more toy stuff. I hope to have some additional content finished by the end of the month! :3

Changelog

• Added high-powered electric toothbrush. Interacts with hooves, nipples, clit, and dick
• Added new interaction points for bullet vibes- hooves, nipples.
• Added welling tears.
• Added colorable silent rope restraints under Apparel
• Added heart rate. Intense action raises heart rate, which quickens breathing. Heart rate meter turns red if it's contributing to exhaustion.
• Reworked passing out. Overstimulation no longer directly causes passing out. Now, a high heart rate contributes to Exhaustion, which makes the characters' struggling more feeble, and eventually causes them to pass out.
• Added per-character variations in orgasm length, build speed, and exhaustion resistance
• Added per-character, per-body part, per-stimulation type sensitivity variations.
• Added per-character, per-body part variations in how to handle stimulation when not aroused - e.g. tickling or overstimulation, and how erogenous the area is. Some characters have erogenous hooves. 
• Added new spells- Ticklish and Hypersensitive
• Changed visual for active spells- now a set of color-coded boxes will appear next to the character indicating which spells are active. Hovering the mouse over them shows the name of the spell. Clicking opens the spells menu.
• Characters now lose focus their eyes roll back as they pass out.
• Characters blink when changing focus, smoothing out the attention-switching jankiness.
• Characters will occasionally reassess what they're looking at, and switch to the highest-interest item. Hopefully will solve problems of them getting stuck looking at something less interesting.
• "tickle" ability merged with "vibe"
• removed mini overstimulation meter from the stage, replaced it with exhaustion meter
• bullet vibes now attach and detach on click, and can no longer be dragged around
• fixed an issue where struggling animations wouldn't kick in after regaining consciousness
• fixed some bugs with the keep_conscious spell
• fixed some buggy eyelashes
• fixed some bugs in determining orgasm length 
• added internal "intensity" meter. helps determine when to show heart rate, tears
• backend- stored settings will now reset on breaking version changes. Not currently relevant.
• backend- greatly streamlined the process of adding new items to the personality data

Known bugs:

• Minimizing the game will sometimes knock ponies out for some reason. 
• Some of the points to connect toys to aren't lined up very well right now.

I thought you said smaller, faster updates?

While this was faster than normal, I'm still working on hitting the right pace for adding new technical features vs adding content. 

What's next?

UI for configuring body sensitivity.

Adding clothes types to Personality settings

More interaction points. Things like balls, ears, armpits, belly, sides, etc. 

More tits and tit interactions

More characters (stay tuned for news on this)

More toy improvements

More apparel

What about shf:Factory?

Stay tuned! :3

Massive thanks to everyone who keeps me going. I'm super excited for the coming months as Factory kicks into gear. <3