It's been a slow week for Lab Rats 2 development, mostly due nerd sniping myself with Live2D experimentation (The recent Tarkov wipe hasn't been helping my productivity either). I had fooled around with Live2D before as a potential replacement for the old shader system, but I didn't really have a good idea of what the workflow for it would be for a larger project. This time I put a good amount of work in to see what the requirement...
2021-07-13 12:11:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.42.1 is live! Get it here!
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.42.1-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.42.1-Mac
Android: Lab Rats 2 v0.42.1-Android
...
2021-07-08 10:29:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
First up, if you've been trying to download the PC version of v0.42.0 and having problems with Mega I have reuploaded it and replaced the link in the patron release post here. Sorry for the inconvenience, that's the first time I've run into a bug with them!
Now onto the main subject of this post: my plans for v0.43! The focus of the next update cycle will be giving the player the ability to change a girls sta...
2021-07-04 10:31:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.42.0 is live! Get it here!
UPDATE July 4: Mega had a bug that was preventing the PC version from being downloaded. This has been resolved.
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.42.0-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.42.0-Mac
Android: 2021-07-01 10:53:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
My last couple of days have been spent writing new relationship content for both Lily and Jennifer. Previously you haven't been able to start an official relationship with either of these characters, but that will be changing in v0.42. I'm using the same style of story progression I used for Lily's boobjob storyline in v0.41. That means there are a couple of different stages you need to move through, and at each stage you need to meet at least one requirement to convince the girl. There are d...
2021-06-22 07:24:56 +0000 UTC
View Post
It's been a couple of slow days of work for me, a combination of scheduling issues and just feeling low energy, but I've got the new uniform management system fully implemented so I thought I would show it off!
The first major change is that company uniforms are no longer explicitly an overwear, underwear, or full outfit set. When you add a uniform it can be flagged to be part of any category it is suitable for. Setting the departments a uniform is valid for is also now much faster, esp...
2021-06-17 08:40:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
The initial release of v0.41.1 contained a bug that caused crashes during certain sections of dialogue. That bug was addressed in v0.41.2 (which you can get here), and I thought the root cause was interesting enough to talk about, and that my experiences might help some other Ren'py dev out there. I've also been working on some changes to the Uniform management system for your business, which I'll talk ...
2021-06-12 06:38:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
The switch to the new version of Ren'py changed behaviour in some event dialogue.
You can find the updated links on the main page or on the release post here.
This updated version should be fully save compatible. The bug here is relatively interesting, so I'll probably write up a dev log about it tomorrow or the day after.
2021-06-10 11:42:33 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.41.1 is out!
UPDATE: v0.41.2 has replaced .41.1. It includes a crash fix affecting some event dialogue. It should be save compatible.
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.41.2-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.41.2-Mac
Android: 2021-06-08 10:33:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
With the move to the new version of Ren'py and it's native shader support the flat background behind characters was no longer needed (it existed as a hack because the old system couldn't render transparent sections). I had intended to remove the background entirely, but when I experimented with it the character images felt unanchored and floaty in a way I wasn't happy with.
As a potential solution in the patron version I have set the background images to partially transparent and tied t...
2021-06-05 10:01:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.41.0 is live! Get it here!
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.41.0-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.41.0-Mac
Android: Lab Rats 2 v0.41.0-Android
...
2021-06-01 11:18:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
I planned to have this update on my progress out a few days ago, but there has ended up being significantly more writing involved than I had initially anticipated. So instead of a detailed post about it you get a quick recap, then I have to get right to work doing final testing and polish for v0.41, which is being released tomorrow!
I finished work on Lily's new Instapic related content, in which you convince her to get bigger boobs in one of a couple of different ways. Suggesting this ...
2021-05-31 06:10:32 +0000 UTC
View Post
The results of the last poll were clear, with more content for Lily being the clear winner, with more content for Jennifer being a notable 3rd place as well. Since posting that poll (and reading all of the comments, a ton of great ideas in there that I'm keeping in mind going forward!) I've been busy writing that new content. My current focus has been on expanding Lily's InstaPic storyline, as well as expanding the crossover that event line has with Jennifer.
*Spoilers for future conten...
2021-05-21 11:13:27 +0000 UTC
View Post
The transition to a new version of Ren'py and the reimplementation of the animation shaders took significantly less time than I was expecting. That's left me with two weeks of development time before the v0.41 release, and I want to know what areas of the game you would like to see more content added to.
Multiple answers are allowed, so select everything that interests you. If you have your own idea leave a comment, and leave a like on comments you agree with.
2021-05-16 07:04:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
Shortly before the public release of v0.40 I spent a few days experimenting with the native shader support Ren'py 7.4 introduced. I found that native shaders ran significantly faster, and would let me cut out a huge amount of janky, bug prone code.
I've spent the last week moving LR2 over to the new version of Ren'py and reimplementing the shaders/display code. The move from Ren'py 7.3.5 to 7.4.4 was painless, and most of the time was spent porting over the old shader effects in a way t...
2021-05-15 11:10:50 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.40.1 is Live! Get it Here!
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.40.1-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.40.1-Mac
Android: Lab Rats 2 v0.40.1-Android
...
2021-05-08 09:30:21 +0000 UTC
View Post
tl;dr - The native Ren'py shader support is much faster than the current system used. LR2 v0.41 will move to Ren'py 7.4 to make use of it. v0.40.1, releasing tomorrow, will still be using the old system.
Two days ago I noticed that Ren'py 7.4 included native shader support and decided to spend some time experimenting with it. The goal was to see if the new version would have better results than the current shader implementation running in Lab Rats 2. If I could get the basic functionali...
2021-05-07 09:07:38 +0000 UTC
View Post
A little over a year ago I added the first implementation of Lab Rats 2's "animation" system. I use the word animation lightly, as it's really just a way of warping and distorting sections of a flat image over time. That system was built on experimental 3rd party code, and it required a fair amount of inefficient hacking to get it working. The end result was the ability to use openGL shaders (short programs that run on your GPU and manipulate images) to move and modify character images. At th...
2021-05-05 09:33:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
Turns out Ren'py doesn't include the unittest class in it's android build, despite it being a standard python library. I've manually included the library and built a new android version. You can download it here:
Android: Lab Rats 2 v0.40.0a
2021-05-03 11:33:54 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.40.0 is Live! Get it here!
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.40.0-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.40.0-Mac
Android: Lab Rats 2 v0.40.0a-Android
2021-05-01 11:07:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
A bit of a dull update to give today, but I've been busy writing unit tests and have made good progress through the LR2 code base. As of this moment I've written 89 test cases, which cover the major game classes like Person, MainCharacter, and Clothing. Next up I'm working through the smaller classes, but those should be faster to move through.
Writing these tests isn't particularly exciting, but is has already started to pay off. I've uncovered a number of bugs related to changing stat...
2021-04-23 07:55:58 +0000 UTC
View Post
A major feature of v0.40 will be the inclusion of a unit testing framework. This will reduce the number of bugs that make it out of development, and help prevent bugs from reappearing once fixed. Since most of these improvements and changes will be invisible to the end user I thought I'd detail the what unit testing is, and why it's a useful testing practice.
Let's start with the what. A unit test is a piece code written to test a singular bit of functionality in a more...
2021-04-17 10:15:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
Forgot to fix side effect traits, which meant more crashes for serum sometimes. Here's an updated v0.39.3 that fixes the issue:
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.3-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.3-Mac
Android: 2021-04-13 09:46:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
v0.39.1 had a critical bug causing crashes when serum was given to a girl. This has been corrected in v0.39.2, which you can get here:
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.2-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.2-Mac
Android: 2021-04-11 07:04:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.39.2 is Live! Download it here!
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.2-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.2-Mac
Android: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.2-Android
2021-04-08 10:52:34 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.39.0 is Live! Get it here!
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.0-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.0-Mac
Android: Lab Rats 2 v0.39.0-Android
...
2021-04-01 11:16:42 +0000 UTC
View Post
Last week I detailed a major cleanup of the Lab Rats 2 code, which took the main game file and split it up into organized files and folders. The purpose was to make development faster, and that work is already paying dividends. Since that post I have polished off the last needed additions to the Clarity system, and updated plenty besides.
Clarity is a new resource being introduced into LR2 with the next update. This resource is generated any time your character would be aroused, and is ...
2021-03-30 10:51:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
It's been a little longer since my last dev post than I normally like, so let's fill you in on what I've been working on!
A few days ago I finished the first iteration of the Clarity system. With the core done I wanted to take some time and work on something else. A lot of you had good ideas for tweaks to the system or foresaw potential problems, and I wanted to turn it all over in my head. I decided to spend that time doing every programmers favourite task: refactoring.
For anyon...
2021-03-20 10:56:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
tl;dr - v0.39 will introduce a new resource Clarity, generated by having sex. This resource will be used to unlock serum traits, make serum designs, and unlock business policies.
The gameplay of Lab Rats 2 is based around three main activities: Producing a profit, corrupting girls, and creating new serum designs. In theory each of these gameplay pillars should feed into each other, which encourages the player to do a little of each to make optimal progress forward. The gameplay...
2021-03-12 15:40:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lab Rats 2 v0.38.1 is live! Get it here!
PC: Lab Rats 2 v0.38.1-PC
Mac: Lab Rats 2 v0.38.1-Mac
Android: Lab Rats 2 v0.38.1-Android
...
2021-03-08 12:58:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
