Hey everyone 👋
I wanted to share a more complete development update today that covers the last few versions of NeonStrip and gives a clearer picture of where the project is heading. A lot of work has gone into the foundation systems recently, so rather than just focusing on a single week, this post highlights progress across multiple builds.
These updates represent some of the most important structural work done on the game so far.
🔧 Core Systems & Gameplay Foundations
Contextual Dialogue & Action Systems
The biggest ongoing focus has been the Contextual Dialogue System, including:
Action Cue mechanics
Action Proposal & Approval Systems
Conversation camera logic
Action-based NPC reactions
This system ties together dialogue, animations, facial expressions, camera behaviour, and NPC logic. It’s been a monster to implement, but it’s now largely in place and being refined. A lot of recent progress may look “quiet” from the outside, but this system is the backbone for much richer interactions going forward.
🎮 Major Features Added (Across Recent Builds)
📱 Cellphone System
A new in-game cellphone foundation was added, including:
Pull-out phone interaction
Dedicated camera focus
Mouse/hand cursor control
Interactive UI elements
This system will be expanded in future builds.
🚗 World & Area Expansion
Car Dealership added (future vehicle purchasing)
Multiple bridge model updates
Area lighting and exposure improvements
Better environmental transitions during sun/moon cycles
Camera & Movement Improvements
Conversation Camera with cinematic & dynamic angles
Action Camera system added
Player auto-move support for interactions
👤 Characters & Customization
A new female character has been added
New female hairstyles (including bob styles)
New braided hairstyles for both male & female characters
Fitness outfit replacement for female NPCs
Continued character material and visual polish
🎶 Audio & UI Systems
📻 In-Game Radio
Radio system added
3 radio stations currently available
🖥 UI Overhaul
New UI design pass
Unified Graphics, AI, Audio, and Controls into one Options window
New loading screen artwork
Improved in-game UI elements (wanted level, radio icon, etc.)
🤖 AI & Performance Work
New LLM model (Llama-Instruct-3B-abliterated) added for better performance
AI settings now exposed (experimental)
Dynamic Resolution Scaling (DRS) tweaks
Eye shader refinements
Performance optimizations across systems
⚠️ Note: AI settings are still experimental. Changing them may break features and require resetting to defaults.
💡 Lighting & Rendering
Re-implemented HTrace Global Illumination
Added Ambient Occlusion
Reduced overexposed daytime lighting
Improved night visibility during darker phases
These changes significantly improve visual quality without sacrificing performance.
🧪 Known Issues & Work in Progress
Some systems are still actively being worked on:
In-game settings menu issues.
Save system fixes
Camera spinning issue in first-person conversations - Fixed
These are already on my radar and will be addressed in upcoming builds.
I'm currently working on NPC behaviour routines. NPC are now able to go to the showers and take a shower. I'll be adding more to these routines and breathing more life into the world.
🚀 What’s Next
The contextual action and dialogue systems are nearing completion, and once fully stabilized, I’ll be doing a much deeper breakdown of how they work internally. A new test build is also planned to come out soon, alongside a larger development update towards the end of the month.
As always, thank you for your continued support — especially through these heavy foundation phases. The systems being built now are what will allow NeonStrip to really open up in terms of depth, interaction, and replayability.
More soon. 💜
— Blast