Hello explorers! Welcome to another patch day for Sapphire Safari. Version 020 is about stealth, and getting proper feedback for sneaking around the island. Let’s get into it.
Stealth and UX As hinted in the last two dev blogs we have been working on getting the UX and UI for stealth feedback working and feeling solid. The way monsters react to you needed to be completely reworked to make the system we will be launching today which is why it took us a little longer than expected to get everything together.
Here is the breakdown of how it all functions:
Monsters will now react to the player as they enter their awareness radius.
The closer you get to a monster the faster they will be made aware of you.
Crouching, sprinting, being spotted, and entering hiding areas will all affect the speed at which they will be made aware.
Walking over a noise maker (stepping on a branch, etc) will immediately alert all surrounding monsters.
Once the monster’s awareness meter is full, they enter a searching state, and will attempt to visually locate the threat they feels exists.
If the player enters the eyesight of the monster after they start searching the alert meter will begin to fill very quickly.
Once the alert meter is full the monster will react with a loud shock, this will alert monsters within earshot to your presence.
This UI of the awareness/alerted states will not show up within photos you take, so no need to worry about their presentation affecting your photo scores. Here are some other tips you should know about.
Entering bushes will “hide” you from any monster girl becoming aware of you.
Monsters will revert to a normal state if you remain hidden for long enough.
While there are only vocal recordings for the Rabbit creature, alerting any species will alert surrounding monster girls.
Currently thrown tools do not create sounds monsters react to, this will change in future patches.
Photo Submission We overhauled the submission UI for photos, allowing for a cleaner breakdown of the photo submission process. Simply choose which monster girl you want to submit for and it will show off what photo categories are currently applicable. We will be adding a whole lot more categories in the future, so this should help keep it all user-friendly and clean.
DirectX 12 Default There has recently been a Unreal Engine 5 update making DX12 performance a lot nicer, on modern machines we are looking at roughly 20 frames increase by using DX12 as a renderer. So as of v020 Sapphire Safari is using DX12 as the default rendering solution. Meaning if you have an older system you will need to launch the game with one of the included .bat files which is included in the main directory for the game installation. Please use either DX11 or Vulkan.
Changed species behavior to match the Stealth system
Set DirectX 12 as the default RHI
Added improved Photo Submission UI
Improved Camera Shutter delay time for photo tagging consistency
Overhauled island water systems
Improved shadow-based performance
Fixed Hoereno wool patterns loading issues
Fixed Hoereno wool colors
Fixed Hoereno penis texture loading issues
Added Nest/Burrows environment to Plains
Added environmental narrative props to Plains
Added new Guidebook UI elements
Various UI cleanup
That’s all for now! Be sure to enjoy the new update! I will leave you all with some lovely cuddle photos I was able to take with the new stealth system in play.
Hello explorers! Welcome to another Sapphire Safari patch! With Christmas right around the corner, we crushed hard to ensure this build was in your hands sooner, rather than later. Let’s dive into what's new!
A new Focus
As I explained in the previous Sapphire Documents issue, we have changed how players control their trusty camera and created a few new QOL tools to help snap the perfect photo.
First though, a disclaimer. You can no longer take several photos within a quick amount of time.
What does that mean? Well, as developers we have an ideal way we want our players to interface with Sapphire Safari, our goal is to have players focus on stealth, making them more into peeping toms. The world needs to react around the player's presence and make it difficult to take photos, unless they are hidden and out of sight. So the first push toward that ideal comes in the form of a Photo Frame Buffer. This is a set time that the camera needs to process the last photo taken. Currently in v019 players can take two photos quickly before the camera needs to charge. In later builds we might reduce it further, once the player has an option to upgrade the camera capabilities.
These two icons on the bottom of the screen show how many photos you can take, they independently recharge, and the UI will hide itself after.
Next, we have removed the delayed focus in favor of manually selecting a target to focus on, this can be done with the Q button. To make this a viable feature we also added grey boxes around the heads of NPC within the viable scoring distance, this way you can visualize just what Monster Girls the photo will count for.
Lastly, we have added two additional features using an analysis mechanic. A full map tracking system and a photo comparison mechanic. To use both, simply select the target using the focus pull button “Q” and hold down the Analyze button.
This will compare the current animation the NPC is doing and the Variant to the photos already submitted in the Monpedia for the General and Variant tabs. Mating will come later, but the icon has been added all the same.
Next, the NPC can be tracked for a limited time. A new icon is added to the Compass and the Map function.
Directed for higher Frames
The last big feature added to the game is the spawn director, for more details on how this works be sure to read the Sapphire Documents Issue 013, but the basic gist is that instead of a map-wide spawning system with nearly 100 simultaneous NPCs roaming and using system resources for pathfinding and needs, we now spawn the NPC’s directly around the player as the needs are met. The player won’t be able to see the seams of the system which is nice but it should drastically improve system resource use and make the world feel way more alive.
Other Extras
A few more things to note:
New nests were added for the Rabbit, Sheep, Deer, Bat, Wolf, and Fox species. The use cases for these are still being tweaked so expect some odd behaviours around them.
Malous spawn puzzle foundation added to the plains region. More on this later, but you might see and hear some interesting things around the plains at night.
NPC sensitivity tweaks for the upcoming stealth overhaul patch, the girls just react a lot faster to sounds you make. Just keep that in mind for this patch.
Running is now a toggle instead of a hold, this is for our controller users out there. No more claw hold.
Hello explorers! Welcome to another phat build of Sapphire Safari! Version 018 took us WAY longer than we ever could anticipate, reasons I'll go into later in the post. The highlights? We have a metric assload of new general animations, thousands of interactable points for monster girls, new AI systems, new photo goals, and tracking systems. I kid you not, this patch was a huge labor of love, and now it is time to share it all with you!
Every Mon a Goal
The biggest feedback our players have given us is directly related to the input and feedback systems related to goal tracking and overall completion. It was always our goal to make this immediately visible to players, and now we are very close to that goal.
The Guide Book is the new way to interact with all completion-related goals, in this patch we focused entirely on the Monpedia experience. This means we have a system for making discoveries of Monster Girls, tracking the photos you have taken of them, and learning more about their biographies and habits.
Finding discoveries is easy, simply use your camera and collect proof! Anything undiscovered is listed in the Monpedia as a silhouette so be sure to cat…SNAP them all!
Each species will also have its own full tracking goal to complete. 9 photos for the General Tab and all their Variations of fur/skin/scale colors are now goals the player can view and submit for.
The General category of the Monpedia was our first overhaul for the patch. Within it, players will need to submit the best-scored photo possible for each type of behavior for every species of Monster Girl. The behaviors added in this patch are the following:
Eating: Photos of the target eating and drinking things found in the world.
Sleeping: Photo of the target sleeping (currently WIP).
Grooming: Photo of the target bathing, or grooming.
Socializing: Photo of the target talking/laughing (currently WIP).
Exercising: Photo of the target stretching, swimming, lifting, running.
Relaxing: Photo of the target sunbathing, laying against an object, sitting in the sun.
Playing: Photo of the target dancing, playing tag, and splashing water.
Curiosity: Photo of the target in a curious state.
Tool Use: Photo of the target using things either the player dropped or environmental (currently missing and WIP).
We also put together the Variation category as well, within this section players are tasked with taking the best-scored photo showing off the unique patterns and colors of each species! Depending on the species, some may have more varieties than others.
Depending on the photo taken, along with what species of Monster Girl is visible a single photo can now be used for several photo slots. It is up to the player to decide on where the photo is best used for maximum effect!
To achieve all this, it took a huge amount of work, first the AI system was completely overhauled, and the AI now is given a job to do and it does it. The previous system of an NPC having needs and hunger was just not sustainable. Couple this with a new spawning system in a future patch and the player will be discovering new and exciting things around every corner and behind every rock!
Optimizations and Appealing Aesthetics
The largest improvement we have made to date for the look of Sapphire Safari is within this patch. Previously our game had a baked lighting model, with zero shadows. It seemed okay on the surface but our new build in v018 has a fully dynamic shadow and lighting system! In my honest opinion, the lighting adds a whole new level of detail to Sapphire, the sun and moon both illuminate the world and cast shadows over the map. Also, because the new system might be a little intense for lower-end systems, turning off shadows now actually turns it off, improving performance by a considerable amount.
The Map and UI have received another push, this time to make it more readable and to combine the aesthetics into one design direction. The map is one of the bigger fixes, it now sits within a scaled window, and the same stylings are applied to the system.
One of the biggest unavoidable Frame Rate drops for Sapphire was the use of the camera, entering the viewfinder or ADS (aiming down sight) used to have a blurring effect applied to the outside of the reticle. We have since dropped the system in favor of a nice blur texture, the improvement in framerate is significant. Along with the removal of the viewfinder camera casting on the hip of the player, this patch will see massive FPS improvements across all systems.
Save File Versioning
Alas, we come to one of the downsides to focusing on new updates like this. It means that we have outdated all existing progress and photo submissions for Sapphire Safari. In order to make sure that as we patch going forward we will be introducing a mandatory save file wipe per patch. Basically, you will need to start a fresh save for each update we have, once we have all the mechanics in place we will make sure saves are perfect moving forward.
Having said that, the game will automatically archive all the photos you’ve taken on a previous build, so they won't be usable in the game, but you will still have those photos on your computers.
We have also taken steps to add in config file versioning as well, this means if our system is using a new config setup, and the local copy on a customer's PC does not match, it will reset the local version. This is to stop things like rebindings being wonky, or any system settings getting overhauled and causing issues. You will need to set up any unique configurations again, however, you will be warned in the game when it happens.
Widescreen and Ultra-Widescreen Support
Some of our more hardcore audience have expressed the desire to have their excessive monitor real estate supported within Sapphire Safari, so we have added a bunch of fixes and settings tools to support massive monitor resolutions, including UI framing and FOV sliders.
added final names and descriptions for monster species
added species discovery experience
replaced scoring stamps in monpedia
added completion percentage tracking to the guidebook and monpedia
Camera Systems
replaced viewfinder ui for higher performance system
removed camera screen from hip camera model for higher performance
added new gameplay tag system for better photo response
added variation stamp to photo discovery
added grey stamp for lower par scored new photo discovery
added landscape focus call to auto focus system
removed photo output scaling options due to the possibility of overloading vram
limited photo output to fixed resolutions only (1280x720, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160)
AI and Behaviors
replaced monster needs system with smart object priority system to reduce roaming ai
added 2500 smart object animation points to the plains
added simple nighttime behavior and sleeping schedule
added simple socializing system behavior
replaced npc and player identification behavior
Map and Levels
fixed map break for bridges
fixed map break for hotspring
improved volcano placement
fixed despawning zone on plains
swapped duplicate beacon icon for power icon
changed display text on particular notifications
Systems and Tech
added dynamic time-based lighting and shadows
added time of day information to save file for better resume functionality
removed transparency from tab menus
map menu added to hologram aesthetic
map fow texture replaced
tab menus placement fixed for better readability
added system menu options for disabling shadows for performance increase
fixed head bone alignment on player models for head swivel
added map reset on resolution change
fixed softlock on climbing animation interaction
added save file compatibility system with photo archiving
added config file compatibility system for settings
removed the analytic capture system (thank you for the reports, minimum specs have been found due to the data supplied)
added system setting wizard to systems options
removed dynamic resolution settings due to issues with map discovery
created optimizations for integrated graphics systems
removed depreciated keybindings
added working fov slider for widescreen and ultra-widescreen systems
added hud width restrictions for widescreens and ultra-widescreen systems
corrected missing embellishments for widescreens and ultra-widescreen systems
Future Focus
With this massive step out of the way, what do future patches look like for Sapphire Safari? Well, the very next patch we will be doing will focus on the Camera Scoring system. This means we will now be able to check every single creature in a photo, score each creature individually, and create a new user flow for submitting photos with multiple species within.
Camera Scoring update > Spawner overhaul update > Sex and Intimacy update > Research Level rewards > Narrative update (perhaps)
We aim to make the next couple of patches much faster than what the Monpedia General patch took, but who knows what we will run into.
Ability to support your Creator by contributing – one-time or recurring.
Means to reaching out to the Creator directly via Instant Messenger.
Subscribe
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through this website. Continue to use this website as normal if you agree to the use of cookies. View our Privacy Policy for the details. By choosing "I Accept", you consent to our use of cookies.