Back again with another log, though this one’s a bit more of a status update. Life’s been quite busy and I’ve had quite a bit of changes taking place, so I’ll go over the bits of progress first (what you’re really here for) and then touch on the life updates at the end in the (quasi) personal section.
Body Types Done. For real this time.
Well how’s this for déjà vu, lmao. I’ve covered this topic about a million times now, but this time I’m actually, legitimately, fully, completely, 100% DONE with the base character models.
Not a huge amount has changed since the last post, but I did finalize the female average and made a few tweaks across all body types (like bulking up the “average” just a bit more to further distinguish it from “thin”). I’ve composed this elegant GIF below for your viewing pleasure. Honestly, it’s way easier to see the differences here than in the still images from previous weeks, so check it out:
On top of the now game-ready character models, I’ve also created prefabs for the player and NPCs in prep for NPC implementation. These prefabs cover the full setup: skeletal rigs, IK controllers, sprite swapping, outfit functionality, and colliders.
The current plan is to finish the entry pipeline (main menu > new save > character customization > stat screen) before diving into a proper in-game location. NPCs are naturally part of that, so expect to see them making their first appearance soon.
Data Entry Simulator 2025
Now onto the latter half of today’s update – and I won’t lie, it’s pretty damn boring: Metadata.
That’s right. After months of asset grind, scaffolding, and framework design, it’s finally time to build the actual data files for these characters. Every part, every slot, every sprite (over a hundred… per character) now needs its own entry. Awesome… just…… awesome.
Not exactly the kind of ‘reward’ I had in mind for finally reaching the light at the end of the tunnel. But hey, it’s gotta be done, so here’s a COOL and EXCITING screenshot to showcase the absolute thrill ride my workload currently is:
Yes…. yes…. that truly is an image of all time. Truly breathtaking.
So….. yeah, I’m obviously thrilled to be working through this pile of JSONs. Real creative, thought-provoking stuff. Lmao. In reality, it sucks, and I’ve got a hell of a lot more of these to knock out. But I’ll just throw on some Dark Somnium (great channel btw, check him out on YouTube) and grind through as quick as I can.
The flipside? Once these are done (in the next day or so), I can start actually wiring up the character creation screen – getting those sweet UI buttons and fields to do things. After that comes the stat screen (should be fairly quick for v1), and then… the moment I’ve been waiting nine months for: gameplay.
It’s all happening round these parts (well, it will be soon). Just a little bit more foundational purgatory, and then things start getting real cool.
Well, that’s it for the game-related updates today. Not a huge list this time, mostly because of life stuff.
I had to take a week off after the last log because my brother paid me to design a website for his business. That took up a fair bit of time, but the site turned out great, and since it was paid work (always good for a starving artist like myself), I wasn’t too bummed about it.
The second major shake-up this fortnight has been job-related. Until now I’d been juggling three jobs (including game dev), one of which was bartending at an inner-city pub. It was fun for a while, but the late nights were seriously wrecking my routine. Combine that with long hours at my main job, and trying to fit in development on top of all that, and it just became a brutal cycle of non-stop work and fatigue.
And, yeah, a surprise to absolutely nobody: that schedule was super unsustainable. I also feel like, if I actually want to finish and release this game, then consistency is key – which is something I just wasn’t getting. So I’ve dropped the bar job and negotiated a raise at my primary role, along with a modified work schedule. This means more stable dev time and more income, which is basically a win-win all around. I’m feeling pretty good about it, though it won’t kick in for another four weeks.
So yeah, that’s what’s new on the personal side of things. Thanks for reading all that and, hopefully, there will be far more meat and potatoes in next week’s log. See ya then!
(08-09-25) Edit:
So this period of changing over jobs has actually been a rather busy one, and I honestly haven’t been able to work on the game as much as I had hoped. Funnily enough, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel has made it even harder to stick to the gruelling back-to-back dev + night work days, and I’ve been focusing more on surviving the last of this old schedule than anything else.
Because of that, I’ll be skipping this cycle’s dev log – there’s just not enough new progress to warrant a full post. That said, in the limited dev time I had, I managed to wrap up all the metadata files, partially implement the paper-doll system for the inventory/character screen UI, and create the script that parses the JSON and writes to the in-game registry (supporting both vanilla and mod-added parts).
Progress is still happening, just at a slower pace. Once the new schedule is fully in place, expect a lot more to show for the next dev log! Thanks for sticking with me and apologies for the brief hiatus.