Development Update 8.21.2026
Version 0.37.0a Development
Hello everyone!
Development on the next NeonStrip update continues. This week, most of my development time has been focused on expanding the new Body Shape System, adapting existing clothing to support it, and beginning to integrate body variation throughout the game world.
I've also continued expanding the Cover System and have started early development on a future Weather System.
Body Shape Variations
The Body Shape System has been the primary focus of development this week.
The goal is to introduce much more physical variety among characters instead of having most NPCs share essentially the same body proportions.
• Continued developing and refining different body shape variations.
• Began integrating the Body Shape System into the main game world.
• Existing clothing is being adjusted to properly conform to the new body shapes.
• Body shape changes are designed to affect the character and their equipped clothing together.
• Continued testing of different body proportions to ensure they work properly during normal gameplay.
There is still more clothing to adapt and plenty of testing ahead, but the system is progressing well.
NPC Body Shape Generation
NPCs are also being integrated into the new system.
Rather than manually assigning every NPC the same handful of body types, NPCs will be able to generate with different body shapes when they are created.
• NPCs can generate with different body shape variations.
• Body shapes will use different probabilities rather than being distributed equally.
• Some body types will be relatively common, while others will be uncommon or rare.
• This should create more natural physical variation across the NPC population.
The goal is for walking through NeonStrip to feel less like you're encountering variations of the same character model and more like you're encountering an actual population of different people.
Clothing Compatibility
Adding different bodies also means the clothing system needs to accommodate them.
A significant part of this week's work has involved going back through existing clothing and adapting it to the new body shapes.
• Existing outfits are being updated to morph alongside different body shapes.
• Continued testing clothing fit across different proportions.
• Working to prevent clipping and other visual problems caused by larger body differences.
This portion of the system will continue to receive attention as more clothing and body variations are tested.
Player & NPC Cover System
Work on the Cover System has also continued alongside character development.
• Continued populating the game world with additional cover locations.
• Added and adjusted existing cover points throughout the map.
• Continued tweaking cover placement to better fit the surrounding environment.
• Ongoing improvements for both NPC and Player use of the Cover System.
This will continue to expand as more areas of the world are reviewed.
Early Weather System Development
I've also started some very early work on a Weather System for NeonStrip.
This system is still in the beginning stages of development, and weather is not currently planned for this month's update.
I'm experimenting with the foundation now so that weather can potentially be introduced in a future update, possibly as part of the following month's development.
The eventual goal is to give the island changing environmental conditions rather than having the world remain under the same weather conditions all the time.
There is still a lot of development and testing required before this system is ready for release, so I'll have more to share about it later.
Additional Improvements
• Continued adjustments and fixes throughout the game world.
• Continued Body Shape System testing and integration.
• Continued clothing compatibility work.
• Continued Cover System expansion and refinement.
• Additional NPC and gameplay tweaks.
Development on Version 0.37.0a is continuing to move forward.
Body shapes have turned into a fairly substantial addition because the system affects not only the characters themselves, but clothing, NPC generation, and how character variation is handled throughout the game.
There's still plenty of work ahead, but I'm happy with the progress being made.
Thank you as always for continuing to support NeonStrip and its development!
— Blast