Highly Experimental Experimentation

I normally spend the week between the patron and public release fixing bugs and prototyping new features. This week, in addition to the bug fixing, I decided to do some long term experimentation and look at something that is unlikely to be useful for LR2, but that may be very useful for a future project: Live2D.

Live2D is a program that allows you to morph a 2d image or stack of 2d images. this is most often used to animate a character, showing them blinking, tilting their head, speaking, ect. The core concept is similar to the animation code I'm using for LR2, but it has two critical differences: First, the development environment is a massive improvement over the bare-bones image maps I have been working with so far. Second, it has recently received native Ren'py support. That native support should mean that images can be drawn faster, manipulated more cleanly, and that any bugs with it are someone else problem!

I had hoped to have some .gif's and a demo project to show off at the end of my experimentation, but the development process to actually produce something that looks good is more involved than I was prepared for. I was able to get the entire workflow working, going from a static character image (Lily's default standing posture from LR1) to a Live2D displayable in a new Ren'py project. The displayable had parameters for moving an arm, blinking, and moving her chest, which I could manipulate with an animation designed in Live2D. Considering the dozens of hours I sunk into the LR2 animation system that's a great amount of progress in a limited amount of time!

So what does this actually mean? First, this won't change anything for LR2. The workflow for Live2D is very focused on creating unique, high detail characters. This doesn't mesh at all with the highly variable characters of LR2, or the way they are mixed and matched. I do see a ton of potential in it though, and I will be doing some follow-up experimentation over the next few weeks to see exactly what I can achieve with it. I could imagine starting a project in the future that returned to something closer to LR1 style gameplay - a smaller and more focused cast of characters, with much more time put into animating their character images. The control it gives you over body morphs would also make it ideal for the sort of body transformation content I've been struggling to display in LR2. Bigger butts, bigger boobs, pregnant bellies, and more would all be much easier to achieve in Live2D than they are in the current system.

But that's all in the future, for now there's plenty of work left to be done on Lab Rats 2!