Progress Update- November (Patreon)

After a difficult month, I’m finally back at full capacity. My workflow has stabilized and progress is happening! Voice chats are no longer a thing during streams, so they’re a lot more focused now. If you’re interested in seeing how I work, tune in for the weekly Thursday streams (okay not this Thursday, cause Thanksgiving) or check out the VODs.

If you missed the streams, VODS are here. ('Videos' tab at the top.)

What’s being worked on?

Blue indicates progress since last time.

Game Object data/structure ~ 95%

I’ve fixed up a lot of temporary testing code into its final form here, now that the game’s structure has solidified. With each piece that gets added, I’m able to use that to build the next piece. I’m continuing to refine and simplify the process of getting data into the game so that features can be added quickly and intuitively.

A major benefit of the current system is that all information can be contained within one object’s data instead of being scattered all over the place.

I’ve also finished making objects inherit each other’s data. This means that I can have a bunch of prototypes that do most of the configuration work. This is where the majority of objects that you see within the game (like characters, body parts, toys etc.) will largely be put together from said prototypes and then tweaked to make them unique.

The old code did this already, in its own way, but it relied on the information from data files to be set up under very specific conditions. The new code lets me create new objects from prototypes whenever I want. This is really important for cloning or customizing new toys, characters, etc., which was almost impossible in the old code.

ECS components/systems ~ 28%

All of the core systems are wayy more solid now, after testing them for a while.

I just finished on the basic fluid storage and transfer, which is exciting, cause the same code is used everywhere that fluid might be stored. Including tanks, inside characters, inside toys, etc. And input/output transfer is possible for everything… meaning there can finally be pipes set to pump fluid in or out, and also individual storage tanks and stuff. I’m trying to set the system up for all planned features, while not spending a bunch of time on new mechanics yet.

It’s been a bit confusing to wrap my head around the new architecture, but it’s finally possible to set up fluid the way I’ve always wanted it to be. I spent a while just figuring the systems out on pen and paper for this. Fluid storage and manipulation are perfect fits for this ECS architecture, because none of the pieces of a complicated fluid setup need to know about the whole system... so the whole system can be as complicated as the player wants it to be.

This plays into getting fluid channels to work- as in, closed pipe systems. Meaning you can essentially route fluid in/out of characters in a long chain, if you set it up right. This isn’t done yet, and it’s a new feature so I’m not spending all my time on it, but it may end up in this update anyway, cause the code already basically supports it.

Exciting. :3

So I was working on body parts before this, but progress on that has been put on hold as I needed to get NPCs spawning and loading in all their basic data first. Currently, they’re running purely on the new code, which is pretty awesome - this means they’re working in the new modular system, so they don’t need any spaghetti code supporting them. I may have to hook up some of the older stuff in order to save time on getting this update out, but it’s great to see them functioning on the new code. NPC animations are loading in and playing in a much more intuitive way now as well.

All of this has been drastically reducing the amount of code that’s involved in most major features, and has made it way more flexible and bug-resistant. That was the point of all this, so it’s really rewarding to see it working well.

Q&A

Do you plan to add filters and such to the pony selection UI? Right now it’s hard to find, for example, male ponies. Yeah, that bothers me too. I’m planning to do UI differently in the future, including the character selection. Filtering might or might not make it into the current version, but it’s definitely coming! It was so simple to look at when there were only six characters >.<

Sleep spell? Good idea! ^^

What about an option to bind spread wings so you can play with them without the character being aroused? I like this. With the new posing code I think this’ll be pretty easy. Dunno about this version, but yes!

What about sense sharing? Like transferring pleasure/pain from one character to another, maybe even some sort of feedback loop that basically drives them near insane. Would that be feasible? Sense sharing is already implemented in the latest buggy version, though you can’t put it into a feedback loop. I like the idea, and it’s very doable given the new code structure. I’m gonna say yes, this’ll make its way into the game, seeing as sense sharing, transfer, storing, etc, are all things actively being worked on.

Will it be possible to add different versions of the same character to different slots? With the new system, this’ll finally be possible. Before, characters were extremely tied to their unique identities, but I don’t think there’s anything stopping this from happening now. Eventually, I want to flesh this idea of cloning characters out more, and play with the selfcest kink in depth. Unless there’s some unforeseen bug with the feature though, a basic version of this’ll probably be in the upcoming update!

… That’s all for now!

Whew, so yeah, it’s been a while since the last post. I’m still working on a good system for getting these together, but the fact that there’s a post at all is thanks to someone helping me write them. Delegating work and supporting the people helping me remains a difficult skill that I need to practice more.

I think I’ve finally grasped the ECS architecture fairly intuitively now. Learning while trying to code this update certainly added a lot of stress to the whole situation. But now, it’s exciting to watch the blocks fall into place after all this time.

Doing my best to get things done for y’all. Thank you so much for sticking with me! <3