This is a copy of our v023 release post for early adopters over on Itch, GOG, and JAST.
Welcome Photographers! Version 023 is a girthy girthy boy, and there is a tremendous amount to go over in this patch. So I won’t tease you any longer…
NOTE: v023 of Sapphire Safari will require a new save file to function correctly. You will not be able to load previous saves. Too many new things were added and we won’t be able to troubleshoot complications from using older versions.
I am honored to show you all what we have built over the past two months, we originally suspected the new content would change or shift how the game came together, but it has been a smooth transition into adding quests and narrative functions. We are super excited to build more after we launch on Steam.
Introduction
When you start a save inside Sapphire Safari you are now greeted with a nice introduction cinematic and quest line. The cinematic itself will likely go under a lot more polish changes and fixes since we are doing something the rest of the game likely won’t see much of. The quest introduces 6 characters. Frida, Jamie, Oscar, Chaddington, Sarah, and Murphy. These characters comprise the Photography and Expedition Teams that traveled to Sapphire Island to document and unearth its discoveries. Each character has a voice actor, and they have all done an amazing job bringing the characters to life!
- Chaddington - Gianni Matragrano - https://x.com/getgianni https://x.com/WetGianni
- Sarah - Baku Satsu - https://x.com/bakusatsuho
- Murphy - Existential Angst - https://x.com/AngstyExistence
- Frida - KumBomb - https://x.com/KumBomb
- Oscar - HiJenx - https://x.com/HiJenxVO
- Jamie - Mimi Hung - https://x.com/MimiHung_VO
Basic Photography Tutorial
The first of our guided tutorial experiences in Sapphire Safari, this skippable tutorial has your rival (the character you do not select at character selection) explain the very basics of handling your Camera, Controls, and Operations.
Campsite Activation
Part of the new introduction forces the player to activate the Campsite Radio Beacon before they can continue to play the game, I know a lot of players lost track of this core function of Sapphire Safari so now you cannot avoid it.
Expedition Logs
The first Expedition team made up of Chaddington, Sarah, and Murphy left a series of Expedition Logs strewn around Sapphire Island. These logs are audio recordings of the findings and discoveries the team has made within the 4 weeks they are left alone on the island. In total the full game will have players hunting about 100 of these spread across the entire playspace, but for the Steam launch, there are only 19 available to find. Future patches will open the “Collectables” tab inside the Guide Book to track the completion of these logs and offer the ability to replay the audio.
Additional controls will be coming in a future patch for skipping, pausing, restarting, etc along with getting the full UI built for the tool. For now, you’ll have to put up with the temp UI.
Perfect Photo
A brand new addition to the scoring mechanics of Sapphire Safari. The core of this is that photos taken will be scored on their contents, generally, you will not score higher than a “B” ranking. However, with Perfect Photos you will now be able to elevate that score to much higher levels. All it takes is a little patience, as the ability to take these photos is set to a limited time window based on what the Creature is doing. Position yourself correctly and wait for the perfect moment to strike. You’ll be scoring big in no time!
Audio Soundscape
All creatures and Characters (Photographers included) now have their full audio vocal libraries turned on. You will wander around Sapphire Island and be able to hear all the sounds the wildlife has to offer! Your chosen Photographer will react to things, speak on the photos they take, moan, and grunt to fall damage (and other things).
Bugs and Fixes
The Mysterious Tablet bug that was plaguing everyone on lower-end hardware has now been fixed. It was related to how view distance was handled in the game with the Unreal Engine Niagara system. We also fixed a very obscure bug about a blinding white box appearing on the map randomly, this was caused due to an artifact inside the fluid system we use for ejaculation. And Creatures should no longer spawn in giant clumps of fluff at the borders of the map! Hurrah! A lot of other bugs were squashed as well, check the changelog for more details.
And now that v023 is out we can mark off two of the Roadmap items for Phase One of our release schedule! Check out the updated Roadmap here.
So many new things were added to the game this patch, and a lot of them will still be tweaking as we come closer to launching on Steam. The next step in our progress is to make a demo available for the public to experience the game, we will be participating in the February Steam Nextfest, so expect that to drop around that time.
Changelog v023
New Content
- Added new introduction cinematic with full voice acting and visuals
- Added new character selection portion with full voice acting and animations
- Added credits section to the introduction, credits for Dev Team and Voice Actors
- Added phone call “Facetime” mechanic
- Added introduction quest “Adventure Begins”. This includes new map configurations, character animations, and timing events
- Added Photography Basics guided tutorial with full voice acting and action prompts
- Added main quest “Maintenance”. This includes guided directions for campsite activation and narrative exposition
- Added “End of Content” phone call to signify the end of the Main Narrative content for the patch
- Added Exposition Logs mechanics for opening Boxes
- Added animations and lighting to Hidden Boxes
- Added lighting and SFX effects to Radio Beacons
- Added 19 Exposition Logs in the plains region (4 additional logs coming later inside main quests)
- Added “Loading Screen” transition to the game, currently works post-player capture scenarios
- Added “Perfect Photo” mechanic and tutorial popup, score bigger during key moments inside animations
- Added “Clean State” campsite
- Cluttered up “Dirty State” campsite
- Added Photographer vocals and cues for Positive and Negative Scored Photos
- Added Photographer vocals and cues for Sex Photographs
- Added Photographer vocals and cues for “Interesting” Photographs
- Added Photographer moans and cuming sounds
- Added Photographer idle sounds
- Added Creature full suite of audio reactions and sounds. 20 categories of audio cues were added per species.
- Overhauled Main Map with new Beach Landing area and Rivers
- Added WIP Nests for several Creatures
- Camp teleportation now deletes Camera Temp Storage
- Added Letal Fall Damage states for big jumps
- Added Letal Fall animations
- Added Letal Fall SFX and sound cues
- Heavy falls delete Camera Temp Storage
- Added Notification of Camera Temp Storage deletion
- New Jamie Hair
- New Jamie Eyebrows
- New Frida Hair
- New Frida Clothing
- Added several new standard Smart Object animations
Tweaks
- Corrected compass orientation to match Sun orientation
- Added hard stop to sex acts after Pink Moon Event ends
- Tweaked AI logic during the Pink Moon Event
- Added removal of the spored state from post-coitus NPCs
- Move Rune Stone to the beach landing area
- Tweaked transition for Tutorial Popups
- Tweaked photos and wording on Tutorial Popups
- Tweaked Photo Scoring tech to categorize photos into “General” and “Lewd”. So far it does not affect players, but it will in the future (sorry if you notice scoring oddities during play, it’s a work in progress still)
- Tweaked saving points during the tutorial
- Moved tutorial popup triggers
- Added movement tracking mechanics to match animations to Creature walking speed
- Added “Weather Effects” to the SFX volume slider
- Added Main Menu music to the Music volume slider
- Arranged Futa Spawn Rate system options for clarity
- Changed Futa Spawn Rate default to “High”
- Prey after being toxic-spored now revert to Prey after completing a sex act
- Added more resources to finding Creatures through hitboxes increasing Focus Target acquisition
- Removed locked tags from Creature after a sex act
- Moved the “saving” icon to the left side
- Added additional distance checks to Creature spawning
- Added audio SFX Logic system to eliminate duplicate SFX or overlapping SFX from a single source
- Added audio level normalization to all spoken audio
- Added higher-quality attenuation to all NPC spoken audio
- Reverted Main Menu buttons to the standard version and removed mention of “Tourist Mode”
- Increased Familiarity score requirements for Friendly level
Optimization
- Added pause frames during photo render for texture optimization
- Recreated Sapphire Island using World Partition for increased stability
- Optimized Ragdoll start code
Bug Fixes
- Fixed Mysterious Tablet spawning crash
- Fixed Fluid sim white box brightness bug
- Fixed Animation pop during Smart Object use
- Creatures no longer spawn on map boundaries in clumps
- Eyeball popping fixed on all animations
- Fix photography scoring not identifying Creatures
- Fixed tutorial popup’s being blocked by Predators
- Fixed Pink Moon animation decoupling
- Fixed Music transitions looping Pink Moon Music
- Fixed photo score border colors
- Fixed game freeze on Predator spawn
- Fixed Creature collision with Ragdoll
- Fixed Main Menu map foliage
- Fixed cliff jump area around the large waterfall
- Fixed sex animation eyeball rotation
- Fixed Rudier modeling poses eyeball rotation
- Fixed penis IK for Creatures with less than 5 fingers
- Fixed music override for Campsite fast travel
- Fixed Monsutra enabling sex acts without correct genitals
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526900/Sapphire_Safari/