One of our first major Content Update is finally ready for release. Although initially due for release on past Sunday/Monday, it took its sweet time and is now planned to be released this coming Thursday/Friday (24-25 May 2018).
By taking this extra time, we were able to add some more features and content other than what we initially planned, including a few experimental features like Voice Expressions and Voice Response (for the AI Assistant).
We will include full list of changes in the official Patch Notes, but here are a few major things coming up.
Interface/Main Menu
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Its not fully ready yet with some options disabled, but it will be included in the update and those options will be enabled via small daily patches. A few settings are also disabled as we integrate cloud-based setting storage (Steam Cloud).
We have integrated the initial instructions within the Interface and also added a Mascot Character selection screen.
Moving forward, we would separate the interactions to a more interactive learning/quick tutorial and would like to Localize them (because lots of text). Till then, we will use this text based approach to include instructions, recent changelog and other messages.
PS: Workshop option in Interface is currently disabled as we will be integrating Steam Workshop this weekend and releasing it in another update over the weekend or next week early. We need some more time to properly integrate it.
Mascot Character Selection
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We have kept the Mascot Selection screen quite simple for now. We wanted to take a functional approach to first version of our interface rather than focusing on Design or UX.
Moving forward we would like to make the Mascot Selection screen more detailed and interactive with things like filtering mascots based on category, search, tags, and including additional information for each Mascot.
We have categorized the Mascot Characters into 3 levels:
Gold Level (Custom/Rare Animations, interactions and voice responses and expressions)
Silver Level (Normal Animations and Voice Expressions)
Standard Level (Normal Animations)
In coming days, we will add icons and color codes to the Mascot Cards to better differentiate between each type and to let users know what features each Mascot supports.
In near future, we would like to make the Mascot Cards animated too.
New Mascot Characters
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4 new characters have been added, including our very first community submission - Fursona Roly. In addition, we have decided to remove the old Mecha Mascot Character due to very limited availability of Animations and it not integrating with our new animation system.
We will most probably add 2-3 more characters again next week when we release Steam Workshop patch. Let us know what kind of new charas you would like to see via comments below or Community Discussions.
We plan to add atleast 2 characters each week or two weeks. Initially we will try to add 3-4 characters at every major update and quality patch and bring the default characters available to near 50.
The current goal we have is to have 50 total characters, with atleast 10 Gold Level characters.
After that we will keep adding curated content from workshop directly to the game, our own custom characters and above all those, you will still be able to use your own custom models (soon) or stream workshop content.
New Animation System and State Machine
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As promised, the star of the update is here. The All New Animation system with 40+ new animations, which will be cross compatible with almost all human-body (shaped) characters and allow a much diverse Mascot Interaction.
The new Animation System will be available for use to all Gold and Silver level Mascot Characters, with only exceptions to oddly-shaped and non-human characters (animals, plants, creatures, etc.).
The New Animation System will also be available Custom Models feature, allowing you to just supply/use a custom model and [DME] will automatically hook our Animation System to your model(s).
Along with it comes our new State Machine which is the brain of the Animation System, controlling how animations change and the overall flow of the Mascot's behavior.
The State Machine will be developed and improved overtime but we are pretty happy with its first version (v1). It provides some good interactions and responses with the Mascot Character.
Experimental Features
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We have decided to add a few experimental feature previews to this update, mainly the Voice Expressions and Voice Response (for AI-Assistant).
Currently you will find the following characters make voice expression sounds at certain times (Kurisa, Akasuki, Kiyoshi, Brightfury).
The AI-Assistant also uses our Voice Response engine to welcome you to [DME] and gives a very small sneak peak of how Mascot Engine will have a future of mixed voice expressions and responses.
We will be adding more voice expressions and support for more characters overtime.
Moving forward, we hope to hire our own Voice Artists to get some custom Voice Overs for expressions and responses, this will allow us have unique character-specific voices and tones.
Feedback and suggestions are welcomed for Experimental Features.
Please use the following Steam Community Discussion:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/821060/discussions/0/2828702373010628098/