eromancer
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Inner Circle Update for January 31 2018!
🕑 Added 2018-02-01 00:42:59 +0000 UTCHey again!
So, now that the loose ends are all tied up, here is the more fleshed out update I wanted to post a few days ago :D…. and it got really big. Check below for the link to our little cutscene demonstration video. This little project pushed us to learn, implement, and calibrate a lot of techniques and features we’ve been working toward. Where practical, you can expect to see these throughout all the future artwork, especially now that a lot of the heavy lifting has been accomplished. Check below for more details on each, as well as some news regarding our crowdfunding, and a report from APL on the battle test release!
Issues with Imgur
We’ve all been having some issues with Imgur recently, so if you can’t view any of the linked images try refreshing the browser window or viewing them in an incognito window, and definitely let me know if issues continue. Something else I wanted to point out is it compresses images on mobile to hell and back, so kill the “m.” before the address if it redirects you to its mobile site. I like that it allows me to post albums with captions (something I can’t do hosting images directly via Google Drive), so if anyone has ideas for alternatives I’m all ears :D.
Expanding the Crowdfunding Campaign to Enty
If you recall back around October we had some issues with Patreon. We’re not sure what direction they are going to go with their tolerance for adult content, but if that bump in the road was any indication it’s not going to become a smoother ride for adult projects anytime soon. Don't worry, we don’t plan on going anywhere, but in the event Patreon backs off from hosting adult projects we will obviously still need funding. Therefore, we’ve decided to establish a campaign on Enty, a Japanese crowdfunding site with virtually the same model as Patreon. The key difference is it is largely designed for adult content projects. They have created an English side to the site (which still has some Japanese UI elements, but they seem to be working on it), and after discussing it with their staff we shouldn’t have issues receiving funds from them. In addition, I’ve hired a translator to help manage a Japanese version of the campaign, and I’m making it my next immediate goal to get that page rolling. Not only will this provide as a safety net for us, but it will allow us to expand our audience in a way we haven’t been able to before. I’ll be sure to post more about it in the monthly update!
AltairPL’s Post-Battle-Test-Release Report
Any release, even as small as the recent Battle Test is very stressful - last minute fixes, the strange feeling that something important is missing, fear that something goes horribly wrong, etc. Well, the Battle Test release was no different, but thankfully everything went relatively smooth, and only two major problems were found.
The first one is related to incompatibility of RPG Maker's full-screen mode with our 16:9 aspect ratio modifications... I tried to find a way to somehow overcome this, but it's one of those vanilla RM things that is pretty much impossible to fix and the only workaround results in sub-par quality... still better than the alternative for some. A fun fact is that absolutely everyone testing the game so far has completely missed it, so it's good to know that such a problem exists.
The second problem is basically caused by some missing additional action condition checking, which results in some weird behavior like a character acting even though it's already dead, or character being revived via item/skill used moments after getting killed. This one is also related to how healing items are used in what is still vanilla RM code for item/skill use, which I should probably check and fix as well. This was actually a known problem, but notes about it were made in my notes file, as opposed to in-line code comments, and it was done before I started working on URGE, so it got buried deep under a lot of other notes. Still no progress on that, but it's not critical, so I decided not to interrupt my current task and leave it for the next Battle Test.
Soft Body Dynamics Simulation!
Something kind of subtle you may have noticed in the cutscene demonstration is Malise’s skin deformation. This is my first test of simulated soft body dynamics, a technique meant for exactly this purpose. Previously, when something interacts with a character it would simply clip through their skin instead of squeeze it. We had a few cases in the old artwork where we manually sculpted fixes, but ultimately simulation yields quicker and (in complex scenarios) better results. For this, I’ve learned the basics of Maya nCloth, a tool that is primarily a cloth simulator but doubles for soft body dynamics when you “pressurize” the target object. The above image is a simple example of the preset I created for the purpose of simulating interaction wit dem jiggly bits. Here is a video I made showing it in realtime. Note that it’s a lot slower on a more complex figure like a body, so practical simulations usually take a minute or two.
Wetness Maps and Improved Liquid Simulation
This cutscene demonstration is the first example we’ve done of a fully processed scenario with liquids. It contains the results of two liquid simulation passes, a dry pass, and pass created using Ubercharge’s texture-based wetness mapping technique. These passes are composited via masking in post. While the masking is manual, this process works in such a way that we can apply our edits to future renders in different lighting scenarios with no (or few) manual corrections required—something that absolutely could not be done with hand painted liquids. The downside is the liquid takes a long-ass time to render without noise, and multiple passes multiplies the render time. Eventually I will need to update my custom render manager code to work with the new rendering engine so I can automate the rendering process.
I rewired our Houdini procedural network for liquid simulation for easier navigation, and in just the past day Ubercharge improved the ease of use and results yielded by the bubble-izer. He also added control nodes allowing for me to change all useful variables from one spot.
Composing Cutscenes in Adobe Premiere
By now you probably know our cutscenes take 2D images and emulate moving them in 3D space to make them more interesting. Up till now I’ve been doing this entirely via code, actually programming coordinates and zooms by hand with no preview. If you remember a while back I did a test where I reconstructed a portion of the Ven cutscene from v0.05 in Adobe Premiere to see if it could work as a solution for composing new cutscenes (see the ‘Story Cutscenes in Adobe Premiere’ section in this update). It worked great, and this cutscene demonstration is the first chance I’ve gotten to try composing from scratch in Premiere. I found that it speeds up the process something like tenfold, and allows me to try things I couldn’t have done previously since I can see what I’m doing in realtime.
Something you haven’t seen thus far in our cutscenes is smooth camera movement, something Premiere (and any decent 2D animation or video editing software) accomplishes by adding curves to zooming/panning/transitions. As this demonstration makes use of it, it’s worth noting AltairPL has since added it to RPG Maker (and will do so in our new engine). Not only do we plan on using it in this way, but we will be able to add curved movements/fades to pretty much anything, which once calibrated should make things look a whole lot more professional. Below you’ll find the details of his work on that!
AltairPL’s Bezier Curve Implementation
The stuff that took me most of the time since the monthly update was also the most fun and fulfilling task in a long time. Even though it was in a very early prototype stage, Ero decided to add it to the list of things I did since December monthly update. The Bezier curve algorithm now been implemented for some practical application, so I can go into the details.
If you ever used some more or less advanced image editing software, especially vector graphics, you probably are familiar with Bézier curves. It's a very handy tool for drawing, but it may also be used for other things, like in our case, 2D animations and stuff. At the moment, pretty much all effects and 2D animations in-game, like slide in/out, appear/disappear, etc., are using linear transformations. This means a moving element in an animation moves with the constant speed, like two pixels per frame. It causes the game to look sometimes very stiff/static/mechanical. Utilizing curves will give us the ability to break that monotony and to make various effects much better/nicer and even easier on the eyes... see below for few examples.
The beginning of Bézier curves implementation was a major pain in the butt, since I forgot a lot about the much-needed math, but after few initial problems, the rest was kinda fun. For some weird reason, every little thing added to this code, no matter how small, brought me a lot of joy and sense of fulfillment. Progress looked like this:
- started with simple numerical value representation of simple curves with 3-4 control points
- added simple curve visualization
- curves handling was extended and pretty much unlimited number of control points is now supported
- added more and more settings to curve visualization, including animated preview of curve values in time, which is very useful considering how we want to utilize those curves.
With this update in mind, I've prepared simple in-game turn indicator animation showing difference between linear and curve-based movement, which you can see here. After that I've started and pretty much finished implementing curve support to vanilla RM pictures used during events. I was pretty sure I won't be able to pull it off before the IC update, but I'm pretty sure we can now achieve in the game what Ero did in his event video.
Another nice thing about all that is that I will be able to simplify some parts of the code significantly with only slight performance cost, but with much easier transition of some effects to non-linearity when needed. Most likely doing this will be my next step.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Processing
I’m really glad to have this feature in our workflow for character art. If you check out the cutscene demonstration, the realistically modeled light glares and bloom are a facet of this new capability. As I mentioned in the monthly update, this is something Uber is doing for new maps as well. He spent a day teaching me the basics of the procedural program he’s using, and I’ve been using it since. Due to the scripted nature of cutscenes it’s simpler to utilize there (and probably in menus), but portraits are a bit tougher. Until I came up with a solution for doing so, it wasn’t possible to use this feature on any graphics with transparency because it won’t render on transparent pixels. The solution isn’t as simple for portraits. I have an idea about how it can be done, but it would require new code, so I haven’t bugged APL about it yet.
Goals for the Monthly Update
Actually finding a translator for the whole Enty thing has thrown me for a loop, so I’m not really sure what we can accomplish in the next week, which is when I’d like to post the monthly update so we can get back to posting them near the beginning of the month. What I will likely try to do is test my theory of rendering portraits from a better perspective, and if it does work out I’ll update the poses and we will release the Battle Test Release with those. Additionally I'd like to try to render Neon's poses so that the initial Enty debut can feature the battle test release with both characters. APL will likely attempt to add smooth movement to the battle UI elements and camera. We also want to run a test with working map event animations in the new art style (basic stuff like the ARIS opening/closing). I wanted to have a playable test map to show some things like this off but APL reminded me we haven’t moved the advanced sprite lighting system from the test environment to the engine yet. So much to do @_@.
Comments
*still waiting for the update today* o.o
Jade Golem
Onyx should be an optional re-skin for Malise. Fell in love with her as soon as I saw her.
IC update... i keep my hopes up for sth special to see *gg* so i guess we get the monthly update again on the 17th. Btw, i've reading old posts and i noticed that you said once you are done with the storyline... did that changed in the process so far?
MangoFishSocks
More content than planned? That sounds exciting. Will the next IC have the test release? The monthly? Or will it be another update after those? Remember to delay if necessary, I think we can wait.
Hey :D yeah -- I will actually be posting another IC update today. The monthly update will be in a couple of days, but the test release will have some more than I had planned in it.
do you know when we get the monthly update?
she still looks sooo good, i still cant imaging how she would look like with your new skills and the new technics... hopefully looking forward to see her in the future >:)
Somnovox
By all means, if you're happy where you are, remain! Just tossing out ideas like nobody's already thought of them. But I figured it was worth mentioning as an option. I'd like to see you able to carry the project to completion and then see what you're going to do after!
Ah forgot there is this WIP version -- has much better eyes and skin, but there are still a lot of improvements I can make now. <a href="https://i.imgur.com/29AMlEm.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.imgur.com/29AMlEm.png</a>
She was actually the first character we attempted revamping in this style :D. I was actually commenting yesterday on how bad her skin is compared to Malise's heh. She'll definitely receive some more attention now that I have a better grasp on materials in the new style. <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/september-update-14196348">https://www.patreon.com/posts/september-update-14196348</a>
I would rly like to see Onyx in this new style and with all your new enhancements. It looks so stunning so far and it gets better and better with every update!
Patreon's a good service and I don't anticipate any issues unless they make more changes. We had issues last year because we were violating some rules that simply weren't being enforced previously. Their fees are very low and they offer much better payment processing than we could provide on our own (Paypal for instance). Even Enty doesn't have the same payment processing options Patreon does.
Somnovox
Oh, here's a suggestion for potentially replacing Patreon, if they pull the plug on you; make your own website and have direct funding. I know it's a hassle, but it would mean 100% of the money would go straight to you(aside from what the credit card companies charge) or you could use Paypal. I think you'd want to set up an LLC if you haven't already... and it shouldn't cost too much for a simple site. I think you can do one with a template. On the site, you can have the same template for delivering specific rewards and all, just like Patreon, but just for your project. That way you don't have to worry as much, I think... about them pulling their support. How would we have a way of communicating with you guys if they did? Since I think here it's similar to youtube where... if they do, you're just totally shut down without warning.
If he executed order 66 who would help him with the game then?!
Jamie C.
:D The force is strong with this update, eromancer execute order 66 :D nice work guys this is exciting.
Timothy McFadden
Samantha Traynor
Not your bussines
Cutscenes look very impressive, also this short scene reminds me how much i am looking forward to the soundtrack! Really sets a great mood and fits the theme perfectly. Also the renders are just superb, Malise looks amazing!
They have it uploaded as hidden/private, so they have to give out the link to us in order for us to even see it. So long as it's not reported Youtube isn't likely to investigate it on their own.
MangoFishSocks
That cutscene looks very slick. YouTube might kill it because of the nudity though, so I suggest posting a mirror on Vimeo or mixtape or something. Also, I think the cum in the images looks a bit too chunky at times. Maybe a smoother liquid, fewer bubbles or some smudging could do the trick? Is it something you can adjust via variables or would it have to be rebuilt from the ground up?
Just an opinion but I think the UI would look much better if the action buttons were of a cooler color (Teal/Ligh blue) instead of the orange that we have.
Timothy Cowher
I'm sorry but the headline pic here looks a bit to much like a barbie getting hit in the face with hot glue. Also her eyes look a bit to dead.
