A Tradeoff
Added 2018-10-30 20:22:50 +0000 UTCEdit: We have a winner. Things will continue as usual.
Original post:
I've been thinking about buying a motion capture rig so that I can record better animations (longer sex loops, more positions, and a bunch of new poses for events). Unfortunately, they're very expensive, and I can't justify it with the amount of money that's currently coming in.
I've given this some thought, and decided to put it to a vote.
If "Buy the Rig" wins, I will buy a motion capture system and begin the process of recording a library of new sex and non-sex animations. I will also raise prices to $10/month for Brothel Owners and $15/month for Diplomats starting in December.
Note that this change will also trigger the next stretch goal, which means that 0.19 will be the gender overhaul, adding options for futanari characters, gender changing, male slaves, female PC's, and more.
If "Stay the Course" wins, I will keep the existing prices, but motion capture won't be done, and the gender overhaul will happen several months from now (based on current trends).
Comments
Good thing with Kinect is that these are readily available, and even universities do work with them for research purposes.
Tollcoyote
2018-11-19 21:06:40 +0000 UTCThe plan was to get one that uses Vive trackers. Xbox Kinect tracking is awesome, but a lot of these poses have to have two actors in close proximity, and occlusion ruins its data.
StationmasterDev
2018-11-05 15:37:41 +0000 UTCMay I ask what kind of rig you intend to buy that is supposed to be so expensive? Because when we learned animating and rigging in university, the setup we used was a Xbox kinect, greenscreen and PC. Those are relativly cheap to buy and set up, and we had good results with them.
NightlinerSGS
2018-11-05 11:54:05 +0000 UTCI'm not sure how helpful this is but, have you considered Asking someone like MIke24 from lovers labs or Here on Patron for use of their animations?. Mikes24 is very talented his animations are usually smooth and fluid. He makes animations for many games using blender and may be able to convert some of his many great animations for use in unity. Just a suggestion if the mocap thing is delayed.
OldToothlessBasterd
2018-11-04 02:09:24 +0000 UTCi say buy the mo cap it can be useful not just for stationmaster but any other projects you do later on and the improved animations and build quality will bring more people to support you although since your considering this id say to try to use this time to potentially add the option of a first person view for certain rooms like the brothel or your own quarters. another tip is mo cap can be a bit awkward when you first start so if you haven't used it before please don't rush for the animations take your time to get good quality animations even if that means redoing them 10 times i went to university for game design and they had us using motion capture it takes time and practice. that being said you've done good so far keep up the good work and don't worry too much about improvements taking time to get done properly its worth the wait on our end for the quality and care you put into it.
2eyedjack
2018-11-02 19:29:40 +0000 UTCThat seems likely. I've been thinking of offering them to other developers for commercial use as well. Going into this, I was disappointed at the level of licensable animations for sex, and a package like this would have helped me a lot.
StationmasterDev
2018-11-02 14:46:42 +0000 UTCI totally support your idea and will pay your price. Is it possible, that you will share the fbx-files with the animation to your patron for private use?
Darkdragon
2018-11-02 11:38:09 +0000 UTCGuys whats wrong with you? We have space RTS combined with brothel simulator and slave training. And all of this in 3D! On the site where simple text RPGs produce $3-5k per month! (though I haven't anything against it) I think $5 increase is a good tradeoff for a better animation and faster pace of game features implementation.
TagAshen
2018-10-31 16:53:28 +0000 UTCModels are easy. My wife and I are consenting adults. Cleanup is something I can do. Animation less so.
StationmasterDev
2018-10-31 04:45:23 +0000 UTCDid you include the model/s in the cost, as well as mocap animation clean up? I voted to get it only because it's an investment; for Stationmaster and any future projects.
Kin
2018-10-31 04:25:14 +0000 UTCI ran the numbers, and buying a motion capture rig is actually cheaper than hiring someone to do a full animation update (with 5s loops and 5 new positions). And that's not including things like event-specific actions, which will become feasible if I can do proper animation in-house.
StationmasterDev
2018-10-30 21:24:41 +0000 UTCI think it's not a good call. There are so many ways to improve the animations than doing them in house.
Necroscourge
2018-10-30 21:21:13 +0000 UTCI appreciate the discussion. I think this is a good time for two main reasons: First, the gender overhaul will be much better with more animation variety and quality. Second: there is a limit to how long this game will be in development. Eventually, it's going to reach 1.0 and I'm going to start working on a sequel. My approximate timeline for that is six months to a year from now. This isn't exactly the home stretch, but it's approaching, and I think it's time to start thinking about what the final product will look like.
StationmasterDev
2018-10-30 21:09:25 +0000 UTCI never Commented before. But Seriously guys. Did you even think when Voting? The DEV is awesome but its Ridiculous to buy this Rig at this moment in Development. DEV should get some things from the regular Stretch goals done wihout Stress or something. I think this step is a little bit too much at this moment.
Marry Weather
2018-10-30 20:54:35 +0000 UTC
