Sapphire Documents Issue 001
Hello explorers! Welcome to our new development blog for Sapphire Safari called “Sapphire Documents”. Why the dumb name? Well the last post had a lot of confusion around it, fans were thinking there was a release tucked away in the development blog, naturally, this is something I want to avoid going forward, so whenever you see a news post called “Sapphire Documents XXX” you know its just news about our ongoing development timeline.
Ezpz.
[h2]Doll System Updates[/h2]
The system will be ready for the September 1st release of v005 so let's do a little more elaboration on this for you. We have a big post planned sometime in September to go into way more details, this is more of a sneak peek! I have whipped our primary developer into making something to show off, here is what he wrote.
Blastertoad -
Hey, this is Blastertoad the primary dev on Sapphire Safari. Henley asked me to put together a dev post for you all so here it is.
The highlight feature coming in the September update is the doll system. We researched this system a couple of months ago and want it to be a mainstay of our games moving forward. The switch to UE5 has made some of the animation set we are doing easier but also means we had to re-write the system from scratch to get it in Sapphire.
I could tell you how cool it is, and why we are using it, but I don't have the time as I need to get this patch out to you all. So instead here is the basic sales pitch to you customers.
The doll system lets you have interactive sex scenes. Not just set position, control thrust speed, repeat. No, what we have is far better. While you are pounding or standing in the bushes as a futa pounds in your place, you can move the characters, directing their arm to their groin to start masturbating, lift or spread their legs, and grab their head so they can stare at you in the bushes.
Yeah, sure you have seen this with IK. But it is usually jank, like turbo jank. The doll system’s movements are made up of artist-authored poses. So when you drag a character's arm, from their groin to their breast, then up to their mouth, you are not just IK positioning their wrist but directing them as they move their hand in a much more natural way. Think of it as the difference of posing an action figure verse guiding a person. Other than looking great this also drastically simplifies input allowing full controller support.
Now some of you are already sold. Great, I like those easy-to-please people. Makes my job a hell of a lot easier. But for those of you who are thinking “well that just sounds like it adds limits”, well you’re not wrong. However to make sure we have as few limits as possible we are making huge pose libraries to cover as much range of motion as we can. For example, the first pose we will have in-game, missionary, is made up of over 40 individual poses that are blended so you can position head, hips, arms, and legs in a wide range of motion smoothly. This is just for the female character in the scene. And I still need to request 2 more poses to complete that set, CumminHam I will @ you later.
So in this first release, you will be able to get all 3 of the current in-game monster girls and put them into a missionary pose and push and prod them around. Right now it is just the posing, but in future updates, we will have snapping hotspots like masturbating, groping, finger sucking, etc. Make sure to @Henely on the discord with all your special requests. Ha, that's what you get for making me write a dev log. Anyway, I have to get back to work to finish this patch.
Thanks, Blaster, sassy as always.
Anyways on top of the Doll System will be some facial animations and three speeds of penetration which push and affects all the bones on the model set to receive. Also hey Richard, guess he got tired of Demon pussy and wanted something more fluffy.
[h2]The Jungle of the Sapphire Islands[/h2]
A lot has happened with the first map in Sapphire Safari. The version available in va004 did a great job, but we saw some very interesting side effects. The map was flat, and it was also difficult to navigate without landmarks. The second version of the map which will be available in v005 has fixed a few of the issues we were having, namely with sight lines.
But let's talk about the third version of the jungle map.
This is the “blocked out” version of the map, within it, you’ll start to see our exploration mechanics which we are calling “tool gates” along with the first attempt at making better landmarks for identifying regions of the map. We have built this map with what's called course “loops” if anyone has played Monster Hunter before you have a good idea of how this works, but you can move around without being pressured and pushed into locations.
First the landmarks
01: The Waterfall
Here we have a waterfall that will follow the logic that video game waterfalls should have. You can walk inside. Not sure what we will do with the cave inside just yet, something special for sure.
02: The Forest Floor
This will eventually be a super dense forest floor, filled with vines and ancient trees.
03: The Grasslands
Eventually, this space will be the major drinking and refreshment area for Monsters living on Jungle Island.
04: The Caves Below
Hidden below Jungle Island is a vast network of caves and sprawling crystal caverns. How deep will you venture below?
05: Hidden Beachfront
What’s better than a private beach just for you and a few selected Monster Girls?
Now a little more on the “Tool Gates”. Think of these as locked doors that require exploration of other maps and locations before you can pass. Let’s break down what we have so far.
Interaction 01: Ziplines
Just an example of it right now, a zipline will allow players access to areas directly across chasms and difficult terrain. The tool needed to access these points is a “zipline bar”.
Interaction 02: Dense Walls
These areas are gated with things like thick vines, thorns, rubble, etc. The tool we are looking to use here is a machete or some sort of burning tool like a flare/dynamite. We are not 100% sure about this just yet.
Interaction 03: Squish Points
Accessing these areas is toolless but will require the player to squeeze through a tight area, however finding these will be on the player to spot and use.
Interaction 04: Dark Areas
Entrances to caves and dark areas will require first crawling and then a headlamp to illuminate the path forward.
[h2]Monster Variations[/h2]
Not sure if this will make it into v005 but we have started working on Monster Girl variations as another way to give more photo targets without increasing our overall art budget for the game. Check out the Bunbuns with a few different flavors.
Hopefully, all Monster Girls will get the same treatment, and if a Monster Girl appears on a different biome map (Bunbuns in the Snow Map for example) they will get a few model changes like a more dense fur.
[h2]Main Menu Modifications[/h2]
Lastly, for this week's Document Post, we have the additional updates for the Main Menu. Obviously, it is still a work in progress, but we will likely have gender selection active in v005. More updates to come with this soon!
Anyways that’s all for this week, come Friday we will be entering into the internal testing phase for the build, which includes the Doll System and the new Main Menu. If we do not have any major issues expect it to drop on September 1st.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526900/Sapphire_Safari/
Cheers!
Kinky
Ezpz.
[h2]Doll System Updates[/h2]
The system will be ready for the September 1st release of v005 so let's do a little more elaboration on this for you. We have a big post planned sometime in September to go into way more details, this is more of a sneak peek! I have whipped our primary developer into making something to show off, here is what he wrote.
Blastertoad -
Hey, this is Blastertoad the primary dev on Sapphire Safari. Henley asked me to put together a dev post for you all so here it is.
The highlight feature coming in the September update is the doll system. We researched this system a couple of months ago and want it to be a mainstay of our games moving forward. The switch to UE5 has made some of the animation set we are doing easier but also means we had to re-write the system from scratch to get it in Sapphire.
I could tell you how cool it is, and why we are using it, but I don't have the time as I need to get this patch out to you all. So instead here is the basic sales pitch to you customers.
The doll system lets you have interactive sex scenes. Not just set position, control thrust speed, repeat. No, what we have is far better. While you are pounding or standing in the bushes as a futa pounds in your place, you can move the characters, directing their arm to their groin to start masturbating, lift or spread their legs, and grab their head so they can stare at you in the bushes.
Yeah, sure you have seen this with IK. But it is usually jank, like turbo jank. The doll system’s movements are made up of artist-authored poses. So when you drag a character's arm, from their groin to their breast, then up to their mouth, you are not just IK positioning their wrist but directing them as they move their hand in a much more natural way. Think of it as the difference of posing an action figure verse guiding a person. Other than looking great this also drastically simplifies input allowing full controller support.
Now some of you are already sold. Great, I like those easy-to-please people. Makes my job a hell of a lot easier. But for those of you who are thinking “well that just sounds like it adds limits”, well you’re not wrong. However to make sure we have as few limits as possible we are making huge pose libraries to cover as much range of motion as we can. For example, the first pose we will have in-game, missionary, is made up of over 40 individual poses that are blended so you can position head, hips, arms, and legs in a wide range of motion smoothly. This is just for the female character in the scene. And I still need to request 2 more poses to complete that set, CumminHam I will @ you later.
So in this first release, you will be able to get all 3 of the current in-game monster girls and put them into a missionary pose and push and prod them around. Right now it is just the posing, but in future updates, we will have snapping hotspots like masturbating, groping, finger sucking, etc. Make sure to @Henely on the discord with all your special requests. Ha, that's what you get for making me write a dev log. Anyway, I have to get back to work to finish this patch.
Thanks, Blaster, sassy as always.
Anyways on top of the Doll System will be some facial animations and three speeds of penetration which push and affects all the bones on the model set to receive. Also hey Richard, guess he got tired of Demon pussy and wanted something more fluffy.
[h2]The Jungle of the Sapphire Islands[/h2]
A lot has happened with the first map in Sapphire Safari. The version available in va004 did a great job, but we saw some very interesting side effects. The map was flat, and it was also difficult to navigate without landmarks. The second version of the map which will be available in v005 has fixed a few of the issues we were having, namely with sight lines.
But let's talk about the third version of the jungle map.
This is the “blocked out” version of the map, within it, you’ll start to see our exploration mechanics which we are calling “tool gates” along with the first attempt at making better landmarks for identifying regions of the map. We have built this map with what's called course “loops” if anyone has played Monster Hunter before you have a good idea of how this works, but you can move around without being pressured and pushed into locations.
First the landmarks
01: The Waterfall
Here we have a waterfall that will follow the logic that video game waterfalls should have. You can walk inside. Not sure what we will do with the cave inside just yet, something special for sure.
02: The Forest Floor
This will eventually be a super dense forest floor, filled with vines and ancient trees.
03: The Grasslands
Eventually, this space will be the major drinking and refreshment area for Monsters living on Jungle Island.
04: The Caves Below
Hidden below Jungle Island is a vast network of caves and sprawling crystal caverns. How deep will you venture below?
05: Hidden Beachfront
What’s better than a private beach just for you and a few selected Monster Girls?
Now a little more on the “Tool Gates”. Think of these as locked doors that require exploration of other maps and locations before you can pass. Let’s break down what we have so far.
Interaction 01: Ziplines
Just an example of it right now, a zipline will allow players access to areas directly across chasms and difficult terrain. The tool needed to access these points is a “zipline bar”.
Interaction 02: Dense Walls
These areas are gated with things like thick vines, thorns, rubble, etc. The tool we are looking to use here is a machete or some sort of burning tool like a flare/dynamite. We are not 100% sure about this just yet.
Interaction 03: Squish Points
Accessing these areas is toolless but will require the player to squeeze through a tight area, however finding these will be on the player to spot and use.
Interaction 04: Dark Areas
Entrances to caves and dark areas will require first crawling and then a headlamp to illuminate the path forward.
[h2]Monster Variations[/h2]
Not sure if this will make it into v005 but we have started working on Monster Girl variations as another way to give more photo targets without increasing our overall art budget for the game. Check out the Bunbuns with a few different flavors.
Hopefully, all Monster Girls will get the same treatment, and if a Monster Girl appears on a different biome map (Bunbuns in the Snow Map for example) they will get a few model changes like a more dense fur.
[h2]Main Menu Modifications[/h2]
Lastly, for this week's Document Post, we have the additional updates for the Main Menu. Obviously, it is still a work in progress, but we will likely have gender selection active in v005. More updates to come with this soon!
Anyways that’s all for this week, come Friday we will be entering into the internal testing phase for the build, which includes the Doll System and the new Main Menu. If we do not have any major issues expect it to drop on September 1st.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526900/Sapphire_Safari/
Cheers!
Kinky