Sapphire Safari News

Hello explorers! As the development team breathes a sigh of relief at the final build of v016 has been completed the task now turns to me to write this - what will likely be a massive - release post.

So three and a half months of development time, what exactly did we accomplish? The game you all knew as Sapphire Safari has drastically changed. Gone are the small islands, the core loop map building, and the tiny user flow. In its place is a fully-fledged open-world photography game!

[h3]The Island[/h3]
Floating in a currently unannounced area of remote ocean is Sapphire Island, home to a whopping 6 surface-level biomes that the player can (in the entire completed version of the game that is) explore at their leisure. Our focus from now, until our Early Access launch on Steam is the first area—the Plains. Rolling green hills, broken up with a spattering of rocky cairns, home to 9 total species of Monster Girl. The Plains are roughly 1km x .5km in size, offering a decent variety of landscapes and backdrops for photo opportunities.



Some notable areas within the plains are:

The flower fields - primarily this will be a spawn location for Monster Girl known as the Bee (released in a future patch). Flowers dominate this area, offering a very colorful backdrop for photos and the like.



The marshlands - another primary area for a water-based predator known as the Crocodile (released in a future patch). The marsh offers a unique place for plains creatures of all sizes to play in the water and bathe.



The wading pools - tucked away in a corner of the Plains biome is the wading pools, a cool and relaxing place to offer a chance of relaxation for the locals.



With a lot more to discover, the basics for the Plains are all in. Future patches will see content growing out of what we’ve already built, and those looking closely at the environment will be able to spot some “exciting” developments for the game.



[h3]The Locals[/h3]
As mentioned above the first biome will be home to a total of 9 species of Monster Girl, v016 however will only feature 6 with three more coming in future updates.



Fox (medium classification)
A generally sly predator found within the plains biome, they are most active during the night where they use the night as a cover to find their targets.

Snake (medium classification)
A predator known for devouring their Prey found within the plains biome. They are most active during the day when the sun's rays warm their blood making them more active.

Deer (medium classification)
A species found plentiful in the plains biome of Sapphire Island, normally roaming around other deer, they are easy to startle but tend to be less weary of repeated human contact.

Sheep (medium classification)
A unique species, which can be found sporting a large variety of fur designs and colors. They have a herd mentality, sticking close to other sheep to protect themselves from predators.

Bat (small classification)
Found primarily at night feasting on fruits. The bat can be found all over the island, while winged, they cannot sustain flight.

Rabbit (small classification)
A creature of boundless energy, curiosity, and lust. The rabbit can be seen in many varieties across the island.

[h2]The Systems[/h2]
[h3]Photo Submission[/h3]
This is our biggest change from the previous system, now you will need to submit your photos for judging as you fill-up the photo inventory. Just hit “X” at any time you’re within range of a Radio Beacon and the submission process will begin.



Each photo that qualifies for the Species Encyclopedia, Bounties, Main/Side Quests, or Events will be shown with the option to submit that photo once for whatever category it fits into. In some cases you’ll need to decide which result better suits your needs. This system will be expanded upon in the next coming patches with the Encyclopedia (formally known as Monpedia) upgrades.

[h3]Bounties[/h3]
For this patch, the AI is quite limited and won’t offer many opportunities for cataloging their behaviors. So for this patch, we have turned off Monpedia and focused our energy on turning on V1 of the bounty system.



Found within one of the tents in the Campsite is the bounty computer which will offer the player a chance to find and take randomly generated photo quests. These can be submitted via the photo submission tool and the rewards claimed back at the same terminal.



[h3]Tutorials[/h3]
A massively requested feature, we have taken the time to enable our tutorial system in Sapphire Safari. Hitting particular zones or doing things in the game will sometimes pop up tutorials. These can always be reread in the Escape Pause Menu.



[h3]Radio Beacons[/h3]
Radio towers are our new gameplay system. The goal here is to extend a network to allow you to upload photos further and further away from your base Campsite. In future versions unmasking new areas of the map will also unveil activities and unexplored sites of interest you’ll be able to visit.



[h3]Sex and Observers[/h3]
Currently, the only way to activate the sex system in Sapphire Safari is to throw the lust bomb into monster girls on the island. To do this, hit “Q” to equip the lust bomb (it looks like a pink ball) and use Mouse 1 to enter aiming mode.



Releasing the button will throw the bomb and instantly activate the sex mode on affected monster girls. Here the new system will be shown, It will take pairings of Futa x Female, Futa x Futa, and Female x Female along with allowing other monster girls to observe the sex happening in front of them. Participants can join and leave as they like, and observers once they are stimulated enough will throw themselves into the orgy happening before them.



The animation loops we are using currently are only a second or two long, and we have more Futa-enabled animations than Female ones, so please keep that in mind. For the best results, you will need to enable a good amount of Futa spawns in your game.

[h3]Day/Night Cycle[/h3]
Sapphire Safari now has a fully functional day and night cycle on the island. The entire process takes 1 real-life hour to go from Dawn to Dusk, however, within the Campsite you will have a tool to help skip to your desired time of day.



Right now, the time has no effect on monster spawns or the events around the island. That will change in future patches.

[h3]Early Narrative Tools[/h3]
There is now a brand new introduction and character selection cutscene, this intro shows the player being dropped off on the island and shows off the new hologram communication device that will feature in Sapphire Safar along with just a smidge of context for the reasons you’re here right now.



Naturally, more narrative is coming, in fact, the entire script for the first biome is 95% done!

[h2]The Fixes[/h2]
There are so many changes and additions to v016 that it would be pointless to list them all, but for those who don’t wanna read the small novel above here is the TLDR.

Additions:

• New island map: Content locked to plains biome.
  
• Fox monster girl added
  
• Sheep monster girl added
  
• Snake monster girl added
  
• Tutorial system added
  
• Holowatch system added
  
• Bounty system added
  
• 80+ general actions added to the plains biome.
  
• Day/Night cycle added
  
• Fog of War added
  
• Map system added
  
• GPS system added
  
• Radio beacon towers added
  
• Climbing system added
  
• Futa physics and growth system added
  
• Stealth system added
  
• Sound and noise systems added
  
• 15+ monster girl reactions added
  
• Hip-bound camera physics system added
  
• Fast travel system added
  
• Save system and respawn system enabled
  

Changes:

• Rebindings menu bugs fixed
  
• Throwing animations and camera control fixed
  
• Player model blurry fov fixed
  
• Camera ads stutter and shift fixed
  
• Photo scoring adjusted
  
• Photo submission v2 added
  
• Doll system v5 added
  
• Re-added player hat to 3rd person camera
  
• Social buttons reconfigured
  
• ADS screen adjusted
  
• Research level and familiarity popups added
  
• Camera autofocus adjusted to fix constant blurriness
  
• Focus finder attached to monster girl head correctly
  

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
A massive patch like v016 won't be without its own issues, Here is a list of currently known bugs that will likely affect some players.

• Player characters have bone alignment issues.
  
• Monster girls will not react to the player, due to their sight tech being turned off for stability.
  
• Monster girls will sometimes unload themselves from the world, they will basically pop out of existence.
  
• The camera focus during sex scenes is hard to control.
  

Both issues will be fixed in the next few patches.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
Man, what a massive patch this ended up being. Going forward we won’t be doing something so ‘intense’ anymore. The strain it put on us, and the wait time all our supporters had to endure was not something we wanted to take on. Since we are getting closer to our eventual Steam Early Access launch the next few patches will throw away the concept of “one a month” Instead we will be launching patches the moment new content is ready. So a lot of them will be small upgrades to things, and some might be the inclusion of one new system.

The results will bring more time to get feedback on the new stuff faster, and you all will get the content on a higher frequency.

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

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy v016. A lot of sleepless nights went into this one. Please be sure to send us your feedback! We are eager to know what everyone thinks!

Cheers,
Kinky

Hello explorers! Man, what a month, our projections had put us releasing v016 much earlier in August than we initially believed. The TLDR is that we are still working on implementing the overhaul of the sex system we are introducing. The reason is a lot of code debt, meaning we have revised the system too many times, it needed to be cleaned out of the game before it caused issues in the future.

We are close. Really close. I would not want you all to wait any longer without any updates from us regarding the progress.

Those of you on our Discord might have already seen more on this system, but it is something we are quite proud of. We had a huge task ahead of us, making an open-world game that captures the feeling of exploration without relying on combat systems to fill the gaps. We have a couple of methods we are building for Sapphire Safari.

[h2]Activating Radio Towers[/h2]
Yeah, this is a take from early Far Cry games, the system is great for our needs, so we have unashamedly taken cues from it. As you explore Sapphire Island your ability to upload photos are limited by the radio beacon coverage you’ve activated. Turning on a tower means climbing a natural formation of Rock and Tree, mixed with a quickly erected man-made support structure. The tools you’ll need to scale these towers will come from the shop after some progress has been made on your research level. For version 016 you’ll just be able to climb and activate them as we have yet to build the shop system out.


Also unveiling the map, showing off all the unexplored POIs in the new region. Progress!


[h2]Narrative Tools and Loot[/h2]
The narrative for Sapphire Safari is broken down into two areas. Main Quests and Loot Crates. Quests are easy, you follow a breadcrumb system looking for clues on the whereabouts of the original science team that has gone missing. The quests are the present, the story is relayed with a mixture of in-person conversations and hologram phone calls.


The second narrative option is the Loot Crates, these give the player a couple of things, currency, some give costumes for the players, but all will give the player an audio log, that once all collected tell the story of how each member of the science team ended up lost in the first place. We are working with a very highly regarded author to create the full narrative experience in Sapphire Safari and our goal is to have everything voiced. Here is a sample of one of the audio logs.

• Sarah (matter of fact): So, this particular site I have been investigating paints a more interesting picture of the natives. As I guessed before, they have a language. From my personal observations, I believe I have discovered their word for 'dick'. They repeat it over and over near this rock.
  
• Sarah (curious): I wonder what significance this site has in their culture? And since they have culture, how does the culture differentiate from species to species? Do the other species on the island have sites of religious significance too? Do they all speak the same language, or are there distinct dialects among different groups?
  
• Sarah (sheepish): ...Yeah, sorry. I tend to ramble a bit. I just have so many questions.
  
• (A sound of Sarah fumbling with the recorder. There is a noticeable thud in the audio as she catches it before it hits the ground.)
  
• Sarah (shocked): Shit, nearly dropped the recorder!
  
• (Several cries from the bunbuns as they run away)
  
• Sarah (annoyed): God damn it, I spooked them! Why do I have to be so damn clumsy?!
  
• Sarah (defeated): Oh well... Guess I can come back later.
  

The loot and 95% of the narrative will come in a later patch for the game. But v016 will have a new “temp” intro that will show off some of the new dialogue tech the game has.

[h2]Spawning Systems and Stealth[/h2]
The new system for monster spawning is finally inside Sapphire Safari, monster girls are spread out across the plains with Prey being far more regular than Predators. The girls are far more attentive to their surroundings, but also their AI has been softened to allow more of a chance to react to them. The new Stealth system also reinforces this, running around, and generally making noise will get them to stop what they are doing and search for the sound. If they visually spot you, they do a reaction and then move away from you. In the full version, you can follow them if you like as they shouldn’t disappear from view unless you leave the area they are in. Crouching will not alert any girls around you unless you step on a branch or something of the like.


[h2]Sex System Overhaul[/h2]
Our white whale it turns out is this blasted sex system. We had a lot of issues getting our (on paper) amazing system off the ground without issues. It either worked and was not that appealing, or it was appealing and didn’t fit into the system we wanted. The new one is a little more focused on what we want to achieve while also being much easier to build amazing sex animations for.


Basically, it flows like this: Monster gets horny enough to start masturbating > creatures around get curious and begin to watch/masturbate themselves > one of the observers joins in and plaps away > others also join in (up to five participants) > as they orgasm they leave.



Previously we would have attempted to make transition animations and try to make the task of adding another monster to the mix look natural, now we just puff some smoke and choose one of the animations that match the sizes of participants and the number of participants. Version 016 will only go as high as threesomes though, we will have like 20ish animations for the system that are simple loops. These will be expanded on later.

[h2]Bugs and Fixes[/h2]
Naturally, there were a lot of old bugs and such we have fixed since moving over to v016 and half the team has a bit more time to focus on fixing these things. Stuff like, blurry characters in the locomotion, the camera being blurry when you’re not focusing on monster girls, girls disappearing, etc.

We also had a bit of time to work on UI presentation and giving the player better throwing animations, along with a camera hip holster and such.


[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
We are still working very hard on all of this, it is a massive sweeping patch, that changes just about everything about Sapphire Safari. It is worth pointing out now, that version 016 will have some things missing until we get to focus on those systems again. The major one is the Monpedia, in its place, will be a system we are calling bounties. Monpedia will be back, we just need more time to correctly implement the system along with a testing environment to make sure there are no unexpected behaviors.

As a final treat, I have included the next official collection of screenshots we will be using after v016 drops. I hope you all enjoy the sneak peek of what we have going on!



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

Wassup explorers! Welcome to another Sapphire Documents Issue! Today we are talking all about the progress our team has made, along with a long-requested feature!

[h2]The angle of the dangle[/h2]
Yes, you’ve guessed it, the team has created flaccid penis assets for our models. We have been putting off this long-requested feature for a while, as it was never essential. With the open-world rework, we decided “why not” and threw in the tech needed to arouse and unarouse?



The mobs will determine when they grow, normally when they enter sex poses, but we could have a system that shows how toey a monster girl is by the size of their erection. I mean. That just makes sense…

The full erection sizes won’t change as it will make our sex system complicated, however, we have a nice way to randomize the flaccid penis size. The system will spawn a dong size between our largest and smallest possible sizes. They all grow to the same length, but it will offer a nice diverse selection of futaness.



And yes, physics is a thing…



Speaking of physics, the first pass for our new models for physics is up and running, here is a look at our lovely fox, with her floppy ears and bouncy assets.



[h2]Dialogue and Holocalls[/h2]
On the back of an open-world move, we had to develop our own conversation system. There will be about 6-8 human NPCs and some more intelligent monster girls you can converse with in the game so building a system that allows for unique conversations is important. Couple this with our dynamic facial animation system we have quite a nice system in place. We can configure close-ups or wide shots, over-the-shoulder shots, etc depending on the dialogue used and how many participants in the conversation there are.

Two examples here are talking to NPCs in person and taking a Holocall (our version of a phone call).



[h2]Sapphire Island gets more tweaks[/h2]
Surprising no one we continue to build upon the island to get it ready for her launch in v016. Here are some money shots to keep you all excited!



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

Hope you all enjoyed this brief look at what we’ve been working on! More to come soon!

Hello explorers! Progress continues along smoothly as we grow closer and closer to releasing v016 of Sapphire Safari. Let’s break down what's been made since we last spoke!

[h2]Wool, Scale, and Tail[/h2]
Three new species of Monster Girl! Yes, you read that correctly. Three new Species will be findable in the next build of Sapphire Safari. We have the cunning Fox, the trusting Lamb, and the seductive Snake. These three will find a home in our Plains Biome which is easily accessible from the very beginning of the game.


They join the cast for the biome consisting of the curious Bunny, the skittish Deer, and the nocturnal Bat.

[h2]Sapphire Island details[/h2]
To go along with the new cast of monsters we have a vastly more detailed island to discover and explore! As I mentioned previously we are focused only on the Plains Biome for the next couple of patches, so while the surrounding areas will get some detailing (so your photos don’t look like doodoo) they will not be accessible.


[h2]Day and Night[/h2]
Within the game currently is a working day/night cycle that will affect the behavior of the wildlife, events, and other assorted time-sensitive things.


[h2]Exploring with a Map[/h2]
Navigating around Sapphire Island is going to be an exciting adventure, we will be breaking the world down the world into small sections that need to be uncovered by finding radio beacons to extend the map and wireless submission capacity you’ll need in the field.


Once a map is uncovered the GPS tool can be used to help with navigating to the points yet to be uncovered or for finding a path to a specific point. These can be done in batches of three markings and auto-remove when you arrive at the destination.


[h2]AI Optimizations[/h2]
Here we can’t show much right now as it's a major focus for reducing the calling and references the game makes for AI state. This should drastically improve how quickly monster girls react to things and how smoothly the game processes information. In the near future we will do a deep-dive on how things will be behaving in the next patch so please be patient for more information there.

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

Okay, that is it for now. We hope you enjoyed this issue of our dev blog. Stay tuned for more! Remember, v016 is scheduled for early August and so far we look to be on time for the release.

First up, a little advanced warning for all of our dedicated players out there. Version 016, the next build for Sapphire Safari will be delayed for an extra month. The simple reason is that v016 is a super large patch for the game, and we need more time to work out everything before we put it in the hands of our community. The current ETA for v016 is in Early August.

With that outta the way, let's show off what we are doing.

v016 is the biggest we have made! The reason for the massive update is simple, we are moving to a fully open-world game. What exactly does that mean? The simple answer? It means a new map, new systems, a new user experience, new menu systems, and new locomotion.

[h2]Sapphire Island[/h2]
Previously we wanted small islands, each with its own biome. Now that system is pressed into one mega island, with 6 (so far) biomes. The island is being built to support a casual exploration system. It is still early days in terms of prop design and such, however, we are finalizing the final shape of the island itself along with the borders for the biomes.


For the next several patches we will be focused on the beach landing area, along with the new biome “The Plains”.


Within the plains, we will put in three of our existing Monster Girls, the Bunny (Bunbuns), the Deer (Rubii), and the Bat (Echo).


Along with three new creatures. These include:

• A Sheep - This sheep will have a standard version and a chubby version. Along with various configurations of wool and colors.
  
• A Lizard - Scalies rejoice! The lizard is going to be our first cold-blooded animal.
  
• A Fox - The predator creature for the Plains, the fox is a human-sized Monster Girl. Her personality will be sly and feisty, looking for easy prey around the area.
  

[h2]Events, Quests, and the Map UX[/h2]
The first major reason for the delay is creating a robust sandbox experience. The key to this is making a map tool for the player to set up their goals, track what's been done, and travel around the map quickly. Here are some examples of the objectives we have planned.

• Explore - The map is covered in a fog that unveils as the player finds campsites, once activated, the camps uncover the events, points of interest, hidden item completion values, and allow the player to upload photos from that region.
  
• Static Events - Until the player completes the event (by submitting photos documenting the unique event) there will be a note on the map saying something in the vicinity has yet to be discovered. These normally take place at points of interest. An example of this would be that Bats at night use this tree as a party spot. Visiting the same POI during any other time period would not have the event active.
  
• Vista Sites - Take vista shots of Sapphire Island by matching your photo to another, matching the time of day, direction, etc.
  
• Hidden Containers - These are chests left behind by the first exploration team on the island, within are cosmetics, attachments, “fun” tools, audio logs for narrative elements, camera upgrades, etc. These containers will be hidden under rocks, high in trees, inside rivers, and under bushes. So keep your eyes open for them.
  

Without a fantastic tool for this, it would be hard for the player to make their own objectives. How much we can add of the above to v016 is hard to say, but those are our plans.

[h2]UX and Flow changes[/h2]
To better support a system where the player “never retires” back to the boat, several flow changes are already implemented. The first is the photo submission process. Our previous design had the player going back to the boat, submitting their photos for the monpedia, and having their top 10 photos count towards the total Research Level progression.

Here is the new flow.

1. Players now have a maximum photo capacity. This starts at 10, but items found around the world will increase it. Reaching the capacity stops the player from taking more photos.
2. As a photo is taken, it is scanned, and a score is calculated right there on the spot. The score also is shown on the image, along with a color grade border.



3. Pressing the submit button (this time it is “X”) will enter the submission panel. As long as you’re within wifi range of an activated camp you’ll be free to submit the photos you’ve collected.
4. Here the player will be presented with slots each photo can fill, the player only needs to “replace” the photo with a newer one. If the previous photo has less value the difference is added to the Research Level.



5. The new popups will showcase the changes to the player's progression.



Obviously, it goes without saying, the actual UI and UX are always subject to change, but this is how it is currently and likely how it will be in the next version. The Research Level is how progression will be unlocked for the player, so later biomes will require tools to access, these are awarded with Research Levels. Doing events, submitting photos, exploring, etc will all add to the Research Level.

[h2]Monster Girl scale system overhaul[/h2]
Another system we were only slightly happy with. Some of you might have already noticed how “janky” the current doll system is. The reason for this is simply “math”. Each girl currently is scaled independently to each other, Bunbuns is this high, and the players are this high, so when the two interact using the animations each needs to be “manually” corrected with Inverse Kinematics. It is even more apparent when we take a large Monster Girl like Taiga and pair her with a small Monster Girl like Monkii. It just is a lot of work, prone to being broken, and the results are not as polished as we hoped.

So the answer is a scaling guide. All Monster Girls will now be reworked to fit into special sizes, which means a “Medium” creature will be the same size as other “Mediums”. You likely won’t notice it too much, the results mean all the animations will work better. Everyone wins! Here are the classifications we landed on.

• Enormous - A special class for one or two Monster Girls you won’t see roaming the lands.
  
• Large - Bigger than the player: Taiga, Skully.
  
• Medium - The default size: Player Characters, Most NPC Humans, Rubii, Fox.
  
• Small - Slightly smaller than the player: Monkii, Echo, Bunbuns, Sheep, Lizard.
  
• Tiny - A special class, these creatures will be your Shot Stacks.
  

The current animations we have for sex will mostly be used for the Medium and Small classifications. The Large and Tiny classifications will be getting their own animations.

[h2]Narrative and Dialogue systems[/h2]
With the move to a fully open world and third-person animations, we now need a narrative system to support them. We will mostly be mimicking the great games that came before us, with the major inspiration being Mass Effect. The goal here is to bring in our custom-made Voice and Lipsync system called VLife.



The mixture of the two will let us start building the story of the island, why the player will need to investigate each section, and why everyone seems to be so thirsty!

[h2]Species AI and Monster behaviors[/h2]
The other major goal of v016 is to start building a vastly more dynamic set of generic behaviors for the Monster Girls. These include searching states for investigating noises and sights, better responses to finding the player (other than running away), what they do after seeing sex, etc.

Then we have species-specific behaviors. Examples of this are Monkii taunting the player after finding them, and chasing them around. Bothering them and alerting other Monsters. The sheep girls clumped together and moved around in groups. The predators hunt other Monsters for sexual urges. Getting this right will just take time, testing, and feedback.

[h2]Scoring and Testing environments[/h2]
The last thing v016 will include is more backend tech for making sure our new works can be tested correctly. This means that we need to test all Monster Girl related poses and the tagging associated with them. We can only do this by building environments we can use to test everything correctly. If this can be accomplished you’ll never run into an issue of a pose or animation not giving you the rewards you need.

We will also be coupling this with a scoring overhaul to match the new systems. It means your photos will be graded a lot worse, making those perfect shots all that more important.

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

Okay, so that was a lot. As I mentioned in the intro, we will be using the next two months to build most of what you’ve read above. It will also likely carry over into v017 as well. We can see what we need to do more clearly than ever, and we are glad everything is finally coming together!