Screenshots:
Animation sample:
ToDo:
- the collar doesn't actually have a visible attachment point for the leash. I'm hoping to discover that someone has already created a leash-compatible collar. If not, I'll just draw a simple ring onto the standard collar.
- the leash is currently on the wrong layer - it should be BETWEEN the breasts (or at least -- the player should have the option of putting it there)
- the leash is considered part of HER body, so it gets partially hidden during close contact (e.g. when she misses the penis on her way in and then bumps her chin on his pelvis). There are a few crude ways to fix this; I'm still hoping to find an elegant solution.
- I need to demonstrate the "leash convergence" technique. For example -- you can have several thin cords (each one being attached to a nipple or navel piercing) which merge together into a thicker cord, which finally ends up in his hand.
- I need to demonstrate a few alternative attachment options. For example -- the leash can be tied to an on-screen prop, or bolted to the floor, or she can even hold onto it herself.
ToDon't:
- Artwork upgrades.
- I'll explain how the mod works and how to apply leash-physics to custom artwork, but I'm not going to draw anything fancy. Mostly because I'm bad at it.
- The screenshots use a 15-segment Rope. That number is inadequate for the size of the object; you can see many "sharp corners" in the screenshots. It's possible to increase the segment count and thereby improve smoothness. But that takes extra time and so I'm not going to bother.
- Real-time collar adjustment.
- Imagine that you've setup a doggy-style position with the collar facing backwards and the leash pulled taut above her back.
- Now imagine that you shift to a kneeling-fellatio position, and the collar automatically "swivels" around to face forwards.
- Now forget all of that because it's not going to happen. Each collar (and leash) will be a separate costume element. When you want to flip the collar around, you're going to need to click some buttons in the UI.
- You can reduce the number of button-clicks (e.g. via DialogActions) but the physics-simulation stuff just isn't powerful enough to automate the process.
VincentL said:
1) "He" holds it in his hand
His right hand is reserved for head-grabbing. His left hand doesn't really "grasp" but we can just put a handle in the appropriate location and hope that the viewer won't object if it shifts around in his limp hand.
We're using Rope physics, which means that the leash will curve and stretch (pseudo-elastically) based on its length and the distance involved. It
will not actually constrain character movement. If your fantasy scenario involves something like
"left click to tug on the leash and yank her down onto her knees" then I can't help you. If you have a mod which moves his left arm (e.g. DialogActions, or a customized version of SlapHotkey) then the leash's handle
will follow along (e.g. becoming more taut as the arm is pulled back), but the resulting leash tightness doesn't have any
influence or
effect on the girl. The leash also has no impact on breath, it cannot invoke any dialog triggers, etc... it's just a "pretty picture."
The leash can't actually be drawn
completely taut due to limitations of the physics system. Hence, if the characters pull too far apart then the leash will look silly: some sections will still be curved, while others will form a straight line and begin to stretch. If the characters are close together (e.g. "balls deep") then the middle of the leash will droop.
I intend to provide several leashes of different lengths. the player will need to choose one which is appropriate for each gameplay scenario (avoiding excessive tautness or slackness, because neither extreme looks very good).
2) It just hangs loose between her breasts
Easy to do, but it tends to clip into her torso when she leans backwards. We can apply special physics rules to discourage that, as shown in the first screenshot. It gets tricky when Animtools is involved -- anti-clipping physics rules written for a
kneeling scene may look goofy if they're applied to a
suspended-from-the-ceiling bondage scene.
I'll probably opt for the lazy solution: variants. So you might have
"six-foot leather leash (held by him).SWF" and
"two-foot leather leash (not held, kneeling).SWF" and
"two-foot leather leash (not held, suspended).SWF" and so on. We might have 10+ variants. I expect that most people would download the set, try out each one, and then quickly delete most of them -- to reduce clutter.
As for the look, I guess it could be leather (similar to the default collar in the game), or thin metal/chain, though I'm not sure it would be possible to make the latter look good with the game's graphic style.
I've used leather so far because it's easier. I'm not an artist, but I think that you
could get chains to look decent in SDT screenshots. The big problem is
animation.
The leash tends to change its orientation w/r/t the hypothetical "light source" of the scene. When a chain moves from taut (horizontal) to slack (mostly vertical), the viewer will expect its highlights (we might call them
"reflection patterns") to shift around. The mod
can't actually provide dynamic lighting. So it's a question of artistic skill - whether someone can draw static highlights which clearly indicate
"this thing is metal" without seeming fake. I suppose that you could draw some very simple
muted highlights and then use the chains in conjunction with dark backgrounds -- it would be appropriate for a "dungeon" scene.
Anyways - the mod
can definitely handle chains on the "physics" side of things. You'd presumably split the chain into rigid segments of 2-3 links each, but you
could make each chain-link independent if you're willing to pay the FPS cost. The layering (each link is partially "in front of" and partially "behind" each of its neighbors) is technically feasible, although it does require some tedious work in Flash. So, yeah -- if you want dynamic chains then the key challenge is "getting the artwork."
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This stuff (
dynamicHairExtenderV3) isn't available yet; it's slated for release in approximately two weeks. If anyone wants to help out, then
here are some things that I'm looking for:
- identify existing assets that should be targeted for compatibility. If anyone has already made a collar with a metal ring attached, then I want to know about it.
- identify existing assets which should be tested for compatibility. If there are particular costumes, props, etc... which will presumably be popular among users of this mod, then we should test those assets prior to release (and fix any obvious conflicts, of course).
- test volunteers. If you're a leash-play or bondage enthusiast then you've presumably got a few Animtools position files, custom dialogs, prefered costumes and hairstyles, etc... This isn't really my kink, so I mostly just test the physics. But if I send you an early copy of the mod then you can test it against your collection and warn me about any weird interactions or conflicts.
- If you're an artist and you want to create some nice-looking leashes, chains, clips, etc... then let me know. I'll eventually write up a brief tutorial for this stuff, but in the meantime I'd be happy to assemble and animate any custom content that you draw.
- General feedback. For instance, I've drawn the entire leash in "face" view rather than "edge" view because I wanted it to be very obvious in screenshots. I assume that a thinner leash would be more appropriate for actual gameplay. But again - this isn't my kink. Maybe people want highly-visible leashes as a reminder of who's in charge?
