Poll results - F3 stays, for now at least :)
Howdy,
Thank you for your participation in the poll! I really appreciate that you took the time to vote and share your opinion - it means a lot to me. Also, geez - so many PMs and even some comments! I was not expecting that much feedback. I know that some of you will be heartily disappointed, but I hope you’ll understand the collective decision. This text is quite long for a simple poll result, but I want to publicly address some of the concerns and questions that were raised in private conversations - so you can all see my point of view.
But first, the results:
Raised issues
In private conversations and PMs, I received some concerns and questions, so I’ll try to address them here:
I like the more lean look – Okay, not a problem! The new version will have extra “negative sliders” here and there. ;) Just wait for the new version.
The F4 faces are much better – It’s debatable, but I personally agree. I’ve already added some extra customization options to the F3 faces. You want bigger lips? No problem. The nose was not to your liking? Geez, it’s like five sliders now. Wait for the new version! :)
The F4 is a super new framework that would boost the game – Partially true. In some aspects, it would make things easier, but because there is so much stuff that is not working as expected, it would actually slow me down a lot. There are some bugs that I just won’t be able to fix because I don’t have that specific skill set yet. I particularly hate the “broken butt” issue (see the SFW photo below).
F4 has horns and glasses, and that’s important to me – I will add both of these options in the future. I want her to be more like a monster girl/succubus, RLY. I was able to add glasses in my previous game by customizing the model, and it should be quite the same this time around.
F3 makeups are meh – Agree. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make them better without external help, but I will try at some point. More resources = I could hire someone to make better makeups.
F4 outfits are better – It’s a bummer, I know. Some of them were the hottest assets I’ve ever seen in my life, and I play a lot of NSFW games. ;) But I will add extra outfits for F3 when I have the budget to buy them-there are quite a lot of assets made by Xandra that I currently don’t have. If I have more resources in the future, I could even buy some custom-made assets.
So, to put it shortly-the only real issue I won’t be able to fix with money is if you don’t like the faces as much. Everything else is fixable!
A weight off my shoulders
This poll was quite stressful for me. I wanted you to choose the future, even if it’s the harder and more demanding path. When I wrote about F4, I tried to be honest on one hand, while on the other, putting things mildly so I wouldn’t scare you away. I needed to show the bugs and issues; otherwise, you would have spammed me with bug reports and complaints after the release! But I also wanted to show the potential of F4 because I really believed in it.
Now that I know we are staying with F3, I can be a little more relaxed and just write more openly about my feelings and thoughts.
Unreal Engine Metahuman skeleton is not that great for NSFW
Now, a little secret: NSFW game developers need the backside to be a little more “out than in,” so the important parts of the character are well-visible even when standing. The Metahuman skeleton isn’t designed with that in mind; it’s more anatomically correct. That is great for realistic games, but let’s face it: we don’t need realistic hips. We can go Nicki Minaj (no, I don’t listen to her music; it’s just the “bigger than average” proportions. I learned about her against my will >.<”).
Also, because F4 uses the Metahuman skeleton instead of the standard UE5 mannequin skeleton, a lot of animations are not compatible and require retargeting. It’s “not a big deal” until you actually have to do it!
The concept of growing the game with model fixes is super time-consuming and buggy
The current state of the F4 model was not perfect, to say the least. Each update would break something and require a fix - sometimes it’s small stuff like a different name or changes to a datatable; sometimes it’s something that takes hours to fix, like material issues.
When materials change, I have to test them on Android, Linux, Windows, and Windows DX-11. Full compilations take about 4–5 hours. That’s a lot of time for a passion project that I’m not even earning money on yet - yeah I’m spending all money on assets and hardware.
Technical: How “Power” was calculated
First of all, I took current access into account. For example, some people are marked as “Free Level” by Patreon, but it’s only because some of you subscribe and then unsubscribe instantly. I understand that behavior - we all have to count our money, especially in these hard times! :D
Also, most people on the free level who voted were supporters at some point. With this in mind, I decided to weight votes the following way:
1 point - Free Level
2 points - $3 Level
3 points - $5 Level
5 points - $10 Level
But to be honest, the formula doesn’t matter that much because the levels’ votes mostly canceled each other out (the Mastermind level being the only real exception). So even if I set it to 1, 15, 30, and 60, it wouldn’t have changed the final winner.
Plan for the future
I want to release the new updated V1.420 version with the old model, some outfit kinks, and more customization options as soon as possible!
Thank you
Like always thank you from bottom of my heart,
DomJOIDev