Sapphire Safari News

Hello explorers! Welcome back to another chunky update for your favorite photography furry game Sapphire Safari! We have a massive update for you this time, and a little heads up. We ran outta time building it - curse you leap year! So we naturally have some issues here that will be fixed in v013.

Okay enough bunnyfluffin’ around, let’s go!

[h2]The Sandbox Experience[/h2]
Our focus this month revolved around two key elements, the first is what the player does in the world aka the sandbox, and how the player moves around the world. Starting with the sandbox, the goal of Sapphire Safari is to engage the player into doing “peeping tom” type actions. This includes sneaking up on Monster Girls as they go about their activities, so we can “document” those things.

We have the systems in place for photography and for documentation, now we just need the tagging and things to peep on. So we took the “follower and commands” system and simply put them in the world, tied into the needs of Monster Girls. Now they will walk around, find a sex spot, do the nasty with themselves or others, and when the need is met they move on.



It is really awesome to finally have it in place now! And it works very nicely. On top of this, you can place your own sex spots for the AI to wander over to and use. Just use the “follower commands” options from the Watch Menu.

However, in the process of moving all the systems over to the new tagging system, we broke submissions and scoring of photographs. Whoops! You can still save the photos you take via the gallery system however you will have a hard time finding anything to add to the Monpedia in this build. We will get it fixed though, just wanted to get a patch out over spending more time cooking.

One other note, we have implemented the first pass on the “stealth” of our game. So if you want to get close to Monster Girls you will need to hide in bushes or around rocks/trees. All Monster Girls will flee the moment they spot you. Tweaks will be made in the next patch.

[h2]New Animations[/h2]
In an effort to get us one step closer to the final vibe and feel of the game, we have implemented a bunch of new animations to help fill everything out in the game world. Here is the breakdown, it is worth pointing out that these are the first pass, and we will likely touch them all up again next patch.



Monster Girls:

• Temp Female x Female Missionary Animation
  

Player:

• New Sprint, Walk, and Crouch Animations to fix excessive Head Movements
  
• New Arm animations for holding the Camera
  
• New Arm animations for interacting with the Watch Menu
  

There is a lot of missing polish with these animations, we don’t have an ADS animation yet nor does the movement match the SFX. These will be fixed going forward.

These are the major features, but as always be sure to check out the changelog below for all the sticky details!



Changelog v012
New:

• Added dialogues to the retirement flow.
  
• Added notification on the taken photo if the photo is suitable for monpedia submission.
  
• Prepared a new dialogue system.
  
• AI should respond to familiarity. So if familiarity is full they will not flee.
  
• Moving our AI to the state tree took a little bit to get used to the new setup. Rewrites have been done to roaming and fleeing behavior.
  
• Added doll hotspots to the world.
  
• Implemented new locomotion animations to remove first-person head movement.
  
• Move photos save system, gallery, and monpedia to gameplay tags.
  
• AI now have a chance to pick a new location directly after moving so they don't just move, stop, and repeat.
  
• Fleeing AI no longer takes the shortest path to flee but may panic and choose a sub-optimal path.
  
• AI should stop and idle for a random time after moving instead of a preset time.
  
• Reworked doll system to be Smart Object compatible. Characters can now enter and exit doll hotspots at will.
  
• Doll system is no longer follower based. Players can now throw lure locations into the world that attract creatures to get frisky.
  
• Moved doll system to gameplayTag setup.
  
• Changed watch menu animations and menu location.
  
• Changed monster spawn method. Characters should spawn faster, and not spawn right beside or behind the player. Also should eliminate the setup step on map load causing an initial hitch.
  
• Characters have some allowance to spawn in front of players now so they are not always hidden at the side of the path. Characters fill fade in when spawned instead of popping.
  

Fixed:

• Changed water shader to fix the floating water bug on Moana Tropic.
  
• Adjusted tree collisions for Nippy Wallow to stop floating characters.
  
• Fixed player hiding in bushes. Made more bushes act as stealth spots.
  
• AI should no longer get stuck looping surprised or tripping.
  

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

Again, sorry for introducing a break to the main gameplay loop. If only we didn’t commit to the monthly patch schedule! Aw well, enjoy the new changes!

Cheers,
Kinky

​Hello everyone! Just a quick post today, I wanted to invite you all to join our open Developer Meeting for Sapphire Safari on the 15th of February at 5 pm CET (Central European Time). The event will happen on our Discord channel.

​

Just follow this URL to be taken to the events page, and you'll get the starting time in your local timezone along with getting a notification when the event itself starts. https://discord.gg/sefHSwgF?event=1073751182029373530

The development team meets twice a month to discuss the ongoing development of the game and to talk about future plans and content, we just wanted to try to involve our audience this time around.

We hope to see you all there!
Kinky

Welcome explorers! With another month behind us, we are finally getting Sapphire Safari closer to our imagined game, how exciting! This month we had a focus on fixing a lot of the feedback that was building up over the last couple of releases. A great way to clean up before 2023 really starts.

[h2]Camera camera camera![/h2]
A big piece of feedback was around our control scheme for camera functions, like zoom, focus, etc. The issue was that having a manual focus required, well, buttons. The previous system allowed us to move a line along a pathway so naturally, a scroll wheel made the most sense. What resulted was a very confusing and time-consuming way to get nice photos. To fix this we took the opportunity to swap over to the cine camera system within Unreal Engine 5.1, which looks a lot nicer but comes with an implementation cost.



Along with the cine camera, we also added autofocus. All you need to do is watch the monster girl through the viewfinder and the focus will automatically be pulled, it leads to some amazing shots. Though right now it's a little wonky with how it works along with the presentation of it all.



We also swapped over the main POV camera to cine as well, so it might feel a little different to move around the world. It is something we will be tweaking in the future.

[h2]AI overhauled once again[/h2]
We have finally finished our move over to State Tree based AI for Sapphire. Currently, the AI has a primary focus of fleeing from the player once spotted based on sight, however, scattered around the game world are special Smart Objects the AI can occupy based on their needs. So if a character is thirsty, they will seek out Smart Objects that can add more thirst to their needs. This system will extend to sexual actions (like say a plant Smart Object for cunnilingus). Still in its infancy but the start of a great system for sure.



There have been quite a few other features added to this build, stuff like physics being reenabled, spawning tweaks, and such. Overall this should not change your enjoyment of the game.

Changelog v011

• Camera swap from game cam to cine cam
  
• Added camera autofocus
  
• Moved camera and character tagging from Named Tags to Hierarchal GameplayTags
  
• Moved to state tree based AI
  
• Adjusted AI Spawns
  
• Implemented new AI interaction system (Smart Objects): Shower, Hot spring Lounging, Closed Sitting, Drink ground water ( 2 versions)
  
• Adjusted character physics to combat physics sleep/freezing
  
• Fixed physics being disabled on characters
  
• Simplified spawn region blocker search. This should reduce the initial map load time
  
• Simplified AI material randomization. Should reduce spawn hitching
  

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

In the next build we will be back to 100% dev speed so expect some exciting things!

Cheers,
Kinky

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!

[h2]Camera output and Focus control[/h2]
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.

[h2]AI and Roaming[/h2]
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.

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

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

Cheers,
Kinky

Merry Christmas explorers! We have a very festive update for you all, just in time for the holidays, our gift to everyone for a fantastic year of development.

Where to start though? We have a lot to go through, so how about the content that took us the longest to build?

[h2]Judging and Score[/h2]
The first version of our photo scoring system took a long time to get right, we had a lot to build to ensure players were making lovely photos and rewarding players playing well. We do this by measuring visibility, how much of the girl is seen, and focus or clarity. Next, we look at the framing of the subject in the photo, are they following the 2/3 rule or center framing? Finally, we add in bonuses for the nudity visible and additional points for photos submitted to the monpedia.



After a score is given for a photo a letter number is assigned to the photo, this will help players determine how well received a photo is.

[h2]Processing Photos[/h2]
With the new 5.1 Unreal Engine upgrade, we managed to get a starting version of our ideal photo process system in place. Previously it was saving to the HDD a massive photo that would actually pause the game to process all the effects on the photo, if you have a slower hard drive in your PC this can sometimes take a second or two PER PHOTO. Unacceptable, it also pushed a full notification on the desktop about a screenshot being taken, also unacceptable. Our new system builds the photos in the engine much much faster and eliminates the need for post-processing burden on the CPU. The next step is building far more lens effects into the system so we do not need to rely on the cinematic system (as it's quite heavy).



Not only that we now have a much more pretty animation for snapping photos! A new UI for the camera is coming soon as well, so this whole focus should feel and play really nicely within the next few updates.

[h2]Nippy Wallows Island and new Monsters[/h2]
The big new content update for v010 is the snow biome island called Nippy Wallows! This is the first version of the map, so things feel a little simple right now, but we have massive plans for the space!



“An almost impossible snowscape formed around a slow-moving glacier, the depth of which has yet to be confirmed. The landmass is the host to several undocumented species of monsters seemingly unaffected by their extreme isolation.”

We also have two new Monster Girls to photograph!



From left to right:

Snubuns: A natural evolution of the Bunny Monster found on another island. Snubuns have evolved extra thick padding around its body to insulate them from the cold and natural tufts of fur stop snow from reaching their torso while it moves around.
Rubee: It is not unusual to see these creatures gathered together attempting to shelter one another from the cold and likely predators. Its personality is quite skittish with all attempts at interaction ending in failure. Occasionally you’ll see a variation with a bright red nose.

These two girls are exclusive to Nippy Wallow!

[h2]Research Level[/h2]
The last massive addition to the game which is just a little buggy right now is our Research Level mechanic. Within this new system, playing the game, getting photos judged, applying new content to the monpedia, everything increases your Research Level. Growing to new levels unlocks new content!



For the sake of showcase, in order to unlock the new island Nippy Wallow and the two new girls Rubee and Snubuns you need to level up your Research Level to level 2.

Changelog v010

• Added new island Nippy Wallow
  
• Added Rubee monster girl on Nippy Wallow
  
• Added Snubuns monster girl on Nippy Wallow
  
• Added v1 Photo scoring system
  
• Added v1 Retirement Level system
  
• Added additional props to Moana Tropic
  
• Updated Depart screen on boat menu
  
• Heavily optimized photo-saving system
  

We didn’t manage to finish our AI system overhaul this patch, and the state we had it in at the end of the development time (if we wanted to launch before Christmas that is) broke the whole game. So the next build should be a nice update as well.



We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, our team is going to take a nice break and come back super fresh for 2023! We hope you join us!

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

Cheers,
Kinky