Hello explorers! Welcome to our first documents post in 2023! We all made it! Woo! At the start of the year, we wanted to focus primarily on some of the core feedback we have been receiving in our later updates to the game. That is photography's ease of use and monster artificial intelligence.

Let us begin!

Camera output and Focus control

By far our biggest update to the camera system in Sapphire Safari so far, we originally started our journey with a screenshot tool, then we made that system internal, and now we have integrated the cinematic unreal engine camera into the system for far better quality photos. It also means we can actually have proper camera mechanics rather than our previously faked system. The big one is focus… just look at these old and new versions of roughly the same photo!

Here is the old camera and focus system:

Here is the new camera and focus system:

The new focus though is really good, you simply point your crosshair at a creature, and the game will then automatically focus perfectly. Goodbye holding alt and scrolling the mouse wheel, you will not be missed.

Just don’t look at the broken arms, that is a rig problem. We will fix it.

AI and Roaming

The major focus for January was moving the current AI over to the state tree. We have been talking about this for a while but getting it done this month was very important. First, it meant redoing a lot of the tagging system so the game can see things clearly when photos are taken, then we built what we are calling a Smart Object.

Smart Objects are our way to limit the AI focus so we do not spiral outta control with unique interactive elements. So if we wanted girls to shower in a waterfall, we do not need to add 30 instances of girls showering in a waterfall to all the AI types in the game. Instead, the waterfall itself is a Smart Object, that fills a need that the AI of our monster girls has. In this case: the need to bathe. A monster girl with a low number on the bathe need would seek out smart objects that increase the number, once they visually spot it, they walk over, interact, and the Smart Object takes over. Controlling how long, what they do, what animations are played etc.

That leaves the roaming AI. Now it basically acts as a need system and an elaborate filtering mechanism. So Monkii monsters are the only ones who can climb trees, which is in itself a filter that comes from the Roaming AI, the other big task for this AI is the fleeing mechanic. We needed something really robust that can tie into familiarity, depending on your level the AI needs to react differently, and now with State Tree Roaming AI we can achieve that. Limiting visibility, changing reaction speeds, and removing whole states as the player grows his levels.

We hope to have something fleshed out for the January release, but only time will tell.

And that is it for now! We hope you enjoyed a little sneak preview of our upcoming build!

Cheers,
Kinky