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Sapphire Safari News

Sapphire Documents Issue 003

Welcome back explorers to another Sapphire Documents! Let’s go over what we’ve been working on so far, considering we have spent a whole lot of time on optimization for v008 we want to do allllll content. All good, all content, all the time. Yeah!

[h2]The Humans of Sapphire Safari[/h2]
We have hinted in the past, our game will feature a dual main character system. Choosing one will make the non-selected, the rival, and an NPC in the game. The October patch will include the first passes at these characters. The female is named Jamie and the male is called Oscar.

The female on the left is our company mascot Frida who will be taking on the role of the Professor on the island. Her model needed some slight updates to match the style of the game over the current model in the game.



Regarding our plans for customizations, hairstyles and outfits are the major focus for that. Both of which will be items you find in your explorations on the islands. We will talk more about the other options later once we have something more concrete in place.

[h2]The Island Updates[/h2]
What October patch wouldn’t be complete without something a little spooky. The natural design of Sapphire Safari was always intended to go down the path of a day and night version of each map, each version would keep the same unlocks - so if you found a camera upgrade on the day map, it will be already found on the night version, however day and night cycles have different objectives, and Monster Girl spawns. The upcoming build will include the depart menu on the boat which will allow the player to make a selection on what time of day they wish to explore.



Obviously, we are still tweaking things, we will likely manufacture some light sources, like flowers that illuminate the surrounding areas, glow bugs, etc.

Prop-wise, we were not super happy with the current tree look, as it is not super ideal for a jungle to look like normal trees. So our goal moving forward will be to move to a more unique-looking area.



The above diagram showcases what we are aiming to do, the canopy leaves are as designed but we needed to go back to the drawing board for the trunks of the trees.



As you can see by the model sizes this is more in line with what we are aiming for. We will likely change the base of the trees to be easier to navigate around, but mixing in some of the understory props we have built now along with the ground floor fauna will very likely hit the jungle experience.

[h2]The Other Stuff[/h2]
Naturally, we have more in store for the v008 build, new Monster Girls, new intimacy mechanics, and other things. I will go over those once we have more details about how it all works. For now, check out a friend's game featuring our lovely Bunbun as a special guest. She is hidden quite well in the game, so best of luck trying to find her!

https://twitter.com/kinkyfridays/status/1576937900922785792

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526900/Sapphire_Safari/?curator_clanid=36878805

Much love,
Kinky

Rawrs & Rustles

This is a copy of our v007 release post for early adopters over on Itch.


Welcome explorers! Welcome to our new build! v007 is here, and we have a license to thrill, so let's just jump into it without delay.

We originally started building 007 to include our partner tech for the Doll system, but due to customer feedback, we were pushing more towards building a vastly more optimized game. So we went back to the drawing board and looked deeply into what was drawing so many system resources. Long story short, the new lumin lighting tech in Unreal Engine 5 is fantastic, but, it means customers on smaller and older systems and specifically those without a dedicated graphics card. So remade our island, swapped to an older lighting model (saved about 20-30 fps), created a LOD (level of detail) system using imposters (fake trees at massive distances), and decreased the number of times a monster girl checks to see if they’ve seen the player. We also have auto detections for system settings on first use.

This should make the game run way better on all systems, and hopefully, make the game run way better on GPU-less systems. Time will tell thought!

We did also get time to add a bunch of really good stuff! New jungle assets, ground foliage, and tree leaves. We created a whole new UI system for the player's hologram watch (goldeneye anyone?), along with overhauling the doll systems and flow.



The UI is now all tied into the player watch, which will allow you to interact with your current photos taken in a session and then save them to your favorites gallery. If you leave a session without saving the photos will be removed. Don’t worry, you’ll be reminded before you leave.



The new Doll system has a new UI and an overhauled bone system. Limbs now snap into place and follow the ground better. Along with a new controls scheme and camera controls!



The new map is also blocked out and is currently in testing. There are a lot of blocked-off areas but the current explorable area is nice and large. Enjoy the map for now, as a lot of it might change in terms of looks and foliage within the coming patches.



And that is about it, lots behind the scenes which should hopefully fix a lot of issues for a lot of our fans.

Changelog v007

  • Missionary doll frames updated to new tech requirements.
  • Additional in-between frames were added to Missionary leg and arm poses.
  • Doll Value snapping: Poses can be snapped to predefined points.
  • Doll input rework: Changed input flow and camera control to make the doll system easier to use.
  • Doll slot auto assign: If only one valid slot for a character automatically selects it, this fixes the perceived double input bug from the previous patch.
  • Doll input smoothing added: Light lag to imply weight when dragging limbs.
  • Lighting overhaul: Switching engine lighting version to attempt wider hardware support.
  • Additional Renderer support: Added DX12 launch option.
  • Changed engine performance target and antialiasing modes to attempt wider hardware support.
  • Custom foliage assets to improve visuals and flesh out jungle theming.
  • In-game watch menu added.
  • Fixed waterfall shader not being affected by camera distance blur.
  • Additional Renderer support: Added Vulkan launch option.
  • Fix hardware detection on the first startup.
  • Add basic photo management functions. Saving and deleting photos from the gallery.
  • Foliage performance: Implemented LODs and imposters for trees.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526900/Sapphire_Safari/?curator_clanid=36878805

Looking forward to your feedback!

Cheers,
Kinky

Sapphire Documents Issue 002

Welcome back, explorers! Today we have more development content to break down! Also keep in mind this post will be a little lightweight as our focus at the moment also includes fixing loading issues that lower-end PCs and integrated graphics hardware have running Sapphire Safari.

Let’s talk Tech!
This might have been obvious from our Main Menu designs, the tech level for the game is just a little bit futuristic. Meaning we have our sights set on holographic displays and such for delivering the user information.

As such the player will have a smartwatch of the future as their official tool and companion! As a demonstration here is the very first look at the in-game menu tied into the watch.



The eventual goal is to make all communications, interactions, information, directions, inventory, etc be done via this menu. We are making it controller friendly (hence the radial menu) and this will also allow things like conversations and phone calls to happen while the player is moving around. What do you think?

In the Jungle…
Starting in September we have officially brought another team member onto the main development staff for Sapphire Safari, his only focus is to build custom-made environment assets to use in the game. Up until now, we have been basically mixing existing assets together, while the look is… nice? It was not exactly optimal for what we needed.



The work already is amazing and fits our light pastel-like color scheme perfectly! The game has just been elevated to a brand new level!



We are still hard at work for the Jungle map as well, here is a sneak peek at another waterfall area.



Hope you enjoyed a little update!

Cheers,
Kinky

Fluffy Followers

This is a copy of our v005 release post for early adopters over on Itch.


Hello explorers! Welcome to version 005 of Sapphire Safari! This patch was focused on two things. The first was our development team responding to feedback from our customers and followers have given. The second was to build the Doll System into the game. How did we do? Let’s find out!

[h2]Menus Galore![/h2]
The biggest feedback we received was about the lack of game settings, so a big focus was ensuring we nailed it on v005. Now we have built a full 3d menu experience, complete with concepts for visualizations, along with a functioning Gallery and Settings menu.

The Gallery
Here you’ll find all the photos you’ve taken in Sapphire Safari, eventually, we will have a very detailed system for filtering and managing your photos. However, in v005, we will only allow players to view a full-sized photo and delete photos from in-game. You can access the full photos via the shortcut in the game directory still.



The Settings
Here you’ll be able to tweak your game experience, resolution, keybindings, and much more. We have a special “game” tab just for setting up how large your photos will be and how much Futa content you be exposed to. You can turn Futa off completely or, make it all about the dong. Your choice.



We will expand this menu to include a lot of our other features and such, but for now, you can get a good idea of where we want to take this game just from the basic menu layout. So have fun exploring that!

[h2]Furries on their Backs![/h2]
Introducing the first integration of our Doll System! Right now the system is quite lightweight, but give us a few more patches and this feature will be BURSTING with lewd and customizable content. For now, the keybindings menu does not contain the buttons needed to access the Doll System, so please read below for the keybindings.

Let’s break it down. First, find yourself a tasty Monster Girl and get close enough to interact with her using the “F” key. You can have up to three followers at once!



Second, find a nice spot to lay her down on her back (since we only have missionary in the game right now). You do this by pressing the “TAB” key which will spawn a hologram of the position and orientation the Furry of choice will eventually take up. Press Mouse 1 to lock it in, this will bring you to the Doll Menu.



Third, within this menu, you can use the mouse to spin the camera, and the mouse wheel to zoom closer. Hitting the “E” key will allow you to choose the follower you want to assume the position on the ground. Hit the “Enter” button twice to confirm.



Lastly, with your chosen Furry on her back being patient you will now be able to rub your mouse cursor over her and move her limbs however you like.



In the future partners will be added to this scene allowing for a full spectrum of sexual content from 1 on 1 love making to dirty cum coated orgies. Just have to take it one step at a time.

[h2]Girls of all Colors![/h2]
You might have noticed a few different colored Monster Girls in our photos above because now they all have about 5 different variations they can spawn in! There are some that are really rare and very difficult to find. Eventually snapping photos of each type will be part of the Monpedia but for now, just enjoy the different flavors of Monster!



[h2]Linux Build[/h2]
We also managed to get Linux working for Sapphire Safari this build! Users will have to make sure to mark it as executable in the properties tab of the .SH file. There might be a few oddities like the viewfinder in the camera flickering, but it should work fine!

Changelog version 005:

Additions
  • Main menu level added
  • Settings options added
  • Photography quality settings added
  • Futa visibility functions added
  • Gallery functions added
  • Temporary Monpedia added
  • Temporary Quests menu added
  • Temporary Gender Selection menu added
  • Landscape tweaks to demo map
  • AI Follower behavior added
  • Doll system added - Early preview
  • Random monster color variations
  • Linux SKU created
Optimisations and Fixes
  • Minor lighting and sky color and cloud cover changes
  • AI Execution flow changes
  • Perception Sight overhaul fixed - drastically reduces GPU lag
  • Material Search Iterations reduced to 20 - potential performance improvement
  • Navigation mesh change from full dynamic to Modifier only - potential performance improvement


Hope you all enjoy the new patch! I will make another post once we have discussed our plans for the Month of September!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526900/Sapphire_Safari/

Cheers,
Kinky

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.

​​
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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