Sneak Peek #24: Refreshed

Hey, it's been a little while since I've done one of these!

I shared one of the revised CGs in the last game status update, and I thought I'd give a look at that entire early game sequence, plus a few others. The gallery has each new CG on its own followed by a side-by-side comparison to the original image.

One thing that's now super obvious to me is that I've grown a lot since I first started making the game a few years ago. I think the entire opening will have a new, more polished vibe—which means I'll need to remake a few other CGs so it's not too jarring. Namely Riley's intros.

Below I talk a little about the choices made. Let's get into it!

This is like the fourth time I've shared a version of this CG, but now it's final for real. Since I made the first CG, I learned about how camera lenses work—or in this case, how they're simulated in Daz 3D.

I'm also changing up the way I postprocess so that the CGs have a more consistent look. I have a vibrant, blue-heavy color preset that I'm using for the background. That preset makes skin look super orange, so the characters in the foreground use a different, more bronze-y preset. I think combining them instead of swapping between willy nilly is striking the balance I've been looking for.

I remember being SO frustrated making this image the first time. Connor just looked off to me, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I was also trying to edit it to look like the scene took place in late afternoon light, but it just ended up a little washed out with pink undertones.

This is one of the few images I did entirely different. That was for two reasons. First, it's really annoying trying to try to pull up a shirt when the asset doesn't come with morphs to do that. Second, I love how Connor looks in his new jeans, and I wanted an excuse to show them off 😉

I always disliked Connor's expressions in this and the following few CGs. I spent way too much time trying to get them looking how I wanted before I settled for "good enough." Now that I know how to pose the model, frame him, and light him, it wasn't nearly so frustrating to do.

I established a semi-goofy horny face for Connor when creating the Leo hookup scenes, and I've carried it through the game ever since. The first version of this CG was the first time I tried to make a focused, gooning expression for Connor. The furrowed brow/biting lip thing doesn't fit the character and kind of looks bad. I like goofy better.

I also learned how to make Connor's O face! The shocked look is out, the eyes closed enjoyment is in. 

One thing I struggle with is getting the penis asset I use to look realistically semi-flaccid. I think I did pretty will this go round.

Lastly we've got the image when Connor remembers jacking off to an explicit video of a TV star he grew up watching. This is another where I fixed up the camera lens, and I worked on getting the blue glow of the monitor to hit him a bit more naturally.

That's what I got for you today! I think things are coming along nicely 🙂