Hi everyone,
Another month of development has passed, which means it’s time for a new Dev Report. I should mention right away that this one will be shorter than usual, since I spent almost the entire month working on long-term tasks and ran into a few problems along the way. But more on that below.
TEP Locations (100%)
I managed to fully complete the level construction and detailing for the new TEP locations. Their visual style will be similar to the previous TEP rooms in order to preserve the right atmosphere and overall mood.
Most of the environment is covered in biomass, and the locations will also include a few secrets for players who like to explore carefully.
Unexpected Problem with new Animator
As I mentioned in the previous Dev Report, I started working with a new animator and ran into some issues when importing the animations into Unreal Engine.
The first two animations from him turned out fairly well, although I still had to spend a few hours fixing various issues inside the engine. But the next animation set dropped me straight into a pit of frustration.
For some reason, all six animations I received looked very poor once imported into Unreal Engine. After several days of trying to sort out the correct import/export workflow with the animator, we made almost no real progress. In Blender, the animations worked fine, but in UE everything kept breaking apart.
I then spent nearly a week trying to fix those animations on my own, but the results were still far from satisfying. And once I realized that the animations were also missing morph targets for facial animation, I finally gave up and decided to create the entire set from scratch by myself.
For now, I’ve put the collaboration with this animator on pause.
As for the other animator I’ve been working with — the one handling SFW animations, but very, very slowly — I’m still technically cooperating with him for the moment. However, I’m also considering ending that collaboration, since it’s almost impossible to plan anything properly with such an unstable schedule.
Cutscenes and Animations (40%)
Since the animations I received were not usable, I decided to handle the cutscene animations myself.
Of course, this is much slower than simply receiving finished animations and adding them into the game, and my version may not reach the same level of quality in some aspects. But on the other hand, I can at least rely on them being functional and can better estimate when the work will actually be done.
At the moment, I’ve completed four NSFW animations for two cutscenes, as well as one SFW animation for a regular cutscene. There is still more than half of the work left, but progress is being made.
Assets for a New Location
Alongside the work on the TEP update, I also created new assets for the next location in the main storyline. This area will stand out quite strongly compared to the others and should give off a very distinct atmosphere and overall vibe.
Next month, I’ll continue working on the remaining animations and cutscenes, writing new lore notes, and creating a gallery system specifically for TEP, since the one used for the main storyline doesn’t work in this line.
Thank you for your patience and continued support.
— Kodman