Hello everyone, it's time for another update on the inglorious world of AW Development!
So a lot has been going on, so I'll try to take some time to run through everything... First, before I forget, the Bullseye Job mod has been updated to fix a bug I caused while writing the job modding guide. Basically, the days you work don't align with scheduled work hours. You can get it from the AW website on the mods page (or you could just flip the reversed true and false in the mod itself...)
This week has been mostly focused on those lingering fixes/improvements, like fixing the Besty errors introduced while fixing other bugs... hehe. I finished a refactor on the Omni System, with several stability improvements, added some more built-in data validation, did some work on avatars, and expanded the alcohol setup to allow declining alcohol levels with time, nausea, and even alcohol poisoning if you hit the Spermov Vodka a little too hard.
Besty, on the other hand, has been refactoring the scheduling system to utilize the new time system. Also, I've been assured that he hasn't been under the influence of the above beverage while doing this, so it should be more reliable. :D
On to those avatars I mentioned earlier... I started experimenting with a new method of setting avatars in the game. This was mostly prompted by the complex way that animated gif avatars interact with everything, but also with the need for large quantities of art needed if using hand-drawn avatars, even when using tricks to combine different facial features and hair. With the challenge of getting an artist capable and willing to do such work, there's even more reason to look into an alternative.
Here are some examples of the proposed avatars, utilizing the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. SVG images are essentially a text file, with sets of mathematical instructions to draw shapes of specified colors, as well as the ability to support bit maps and text. Developed by W3C, they are displayed by your browser as images. There are some advantages to the format, namely the small size, scalable nature, and compatibility with html and css.
What really makes them great for our purposes, however, is that they can be 'built' entirely programmatically using JavaScript. In our case, we would use a reference library of numerous "parts", and put them together into one SVG image. different heads, noses, mouths, ears, eyes, eyebrows, hair, etc. that can all be specified individually, based on the NPC character's data and some randomization. It's also quite easy to add compatible 'pieces' to expand the range of potential features and accessories.
Furthermore, each element can be animated and transformed individually, or together, on the fly using the AnimeJS. This adds the potential for not only simple breathing animation to make them more lifelike, but also the ability to change facial expressions as well. While advanced animation is not planned, having the ability to add it later (especially if someone is willing to work on animations) is great. Being programmatic in nature, this sort of animation work is surprisingly thrifty in terms of file size.
Finally, it's a boon to variation. The simpler appearance lends itself to making individual portraits more unique, and the ease of combining shapes in different ways makes a large amount of variation possible. While the data hasn't been specified in the game's code yet (only a basic set and code for proof of concept at this point), the initial library for males alone would have over 400 quadrillion potential variations, without including color. That's 400 with 15 more zeros behind it. :D
Let me know what you think in the comments, on discord, or via email! I will probably do a poll a little later once I have something to better demonstrate the concept, but your feedback is important to help aim my efforts!
Initially, I wanted to talk a little about the recent Patreon mischief, but it's getting late and I really think that subject deserves its own post in a couple days. For now, I'll say goodnight.
Stay pervy, internet ;)
ThaumX
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| "Our business is fulfilling your business." |
tried the free build and something with male pictures bugged out and was annoying, but i see a lot is planned but i fear it might be overly ambitious, it looked really good though the things that were finished so i wish you best of luck.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it's a known issue with the gif injection. We were trying to switch things up a bit to enable the standard animated portraits inside the movable interaction window, but that attempt didn't work. (check out this very post for info on what we're trying instead.)
DeleteI also admit AW is ambitious, but I think that it's only fair to point out we've been living up to that ambition thus far. We have a solid framework now making it easy to implement content, and we're nearing the transition to a primarily content-focused development period. AW happens to be the most complex twine game in existence, I suppose it's always porn that's pushing the boundaries :)