Burps are definitely a planned feature. āPassing gasā as well. Probably by Alpha 1.0, even. Sweating can probably be done with particles, likely during the low stamina animation or trying to move with a high weight penalty, but itāll probably be a little before itās added. Messy eating probably isnāt too difficult for a basic implementation but donāt expect too much and itāll be while most likely before thatās added.
All of these will be toggleable as usual for anyone who isnāt into it.
Hello again to everyone whoās still around. The title may sound a little like bad news, but I promise you, this is great news for the project and Iām sure youāll be excited as well.
An Apology
I would first like to apologize for my recent absence. As some of you may know, I have really severe depression and PTSD. Around last time I posted, I tried taking steps towards recovery, but it went wrong very quickly and I had a really severe panic attack that felt like I was having an actual heart attack and was about to die. I couldnāt eat at all for days after that and spent weeks barely able to eat due to worsened PTSD. Lost a lot of weight from that. I also had really severe hallucinations one night to the point that I had to take a sleeping pill and wait until I fell asleep with the lights on.
There was a badly timed drama on the forum when I was starting to recover and even though just interacting with anyone at the time triggered my PTSD and made me feel nauseous to the point of throwing up, it was a real chance at changing the forum for the better, so I decided to participate. Staff took their typical pro-AI stance as usual, unfortunately, so while there were some tiny wins there for artistsā rights, nothing of real importance happened. This isnāt a drama post, however, so please keep conversations about that to Forum > Site Feedback, not my project page.
Anyways, that really screwed over my mental health for even longer. I didnāt realize how bad it would get and just thinking of the forum at all gave me really bad anxiety and fear for quite a while after. It still isnāt quite gone but I can at least handle this.
It took me quite a while to recover but my weight is back up even higher than before and my depression has gone from considering suicide weekly back when I last posted to only sometimes feeling a little down and lonely. My PTSD has worsened in some ways and gotten better in others so overall itās about the same.
The Good News
I didnāt just spend that entire time sitting around doing nothing. Well, a lot of it was spent sitting around doing nothing. Canāt really recover mentally if youāre forcing yourself to work through really severe PTSD and depression after all. Thatās how I ended up at that point.
However, I did get work done. Ironically, I would say this somehow ended up being even more productive than if I hadnāt had a severe panic attack.
I decided to pick up a side project as a bit of a break. Faehna is hell. I have a lot of experience in programming. I would bet $100 of my nonexistent money (I genuinely donāt even have $100 at the moment) that Faehna is the absolute most complex and painful project on this entire website. This is the sort of game you have a whole large team working on with a budget of millions of dollars. The fact that I am somehow over halfway to a small demo as a solo developer is an incredible achievement, honestly.
As I was saying, the side project. Iāve spent so long on Faehna at this point that programming a regular game with a reasonable amount of content honestly doesnāt even feel like Iām working. Itās incredibly easy. You donāt have to deal with a thousand different scenarios of users disconnecting from a server at inconvenient times or trying to synchronize data without allowing cheating every time you want anything done.
For this forum, this āside projectā is huge. For me, itās pretty much just a break.
Me and two other developers are working on what I will refer to as MGR. MGR is essentially a Stardew Valley type game where you inherit a farm and befriend monster girls who help you around your farm or generate resources such as milk. During this, you progress through both the main story and character stories for all of your monster girls. You get to fatten up all the monster girls, date them, marry them, and more. Weāre pretty far in already and progress is going really quickly with everyoneās skills.
Iāve recruited both other developers to work with me on Faehna after the first release of MGR. From working with them, I can tell they will be a huge help to the game. They are both exceptionally skilled despite being new to game development.
Plans for the Future
I will be working primarily on MGR while I recover until its first release. Working on Faehna before Iāve fully recovered, especially without anyone supporting me, would probably lead to my condition getting worse again.
Upon MGRās first release, I will shift to working on Faehna primarily and MGR as needed. After the first release, most of the content is writing and art, and I am not the writer for that game, so I will have lots of extra time for Faehna.
MGRās first release is also when I am joined by the other two developers. I will be writing proper documentation for all of the code in Faehna and simplifying it to make it easier for my āprogrammer in trainingā to understand and learn how it all works. Even though I will be working on two projects, with an extra programmer to help out, it should be much easier and faster to get things done.
I do still have PTSD and writing these posts is honestly one of the worst parts of development for my mental health (probably wonāt be eating for the rest of today and part of tomorrow because of this) so after MGR, one of my coworkers will probably start posting in my place. Not much will change there, just a different writer making these posts.
Final Notes
As I mentioned before, I am not doing too well financially. My Patreon is for all of my work, so if you want to support Faehna, MGR, and most importantly, my belly, please check out the link below. Membership went down quite a bit while I was recovering from that event. Iām aiming to at least get back up to $70 or $80, since money really gets tight for me below there, so please do consider it. Every donation counts for small creators.
Given how much of a grand undertaking this game is AimilsFat, I completely understand if this game takes a while, especially the news you mentioned in your recent post. I also believe the sheer potential alone, will draw in various folks to an extent.
The multiplayer aspect of this game, will definitely amplify the existing difficulty due to the real possibility of say, hackers, griefers n trolls, but thats a given with multiplayer games. Have you considered a singleplayer test playbuild for say patreon members or if need be, a public version so players can check for bugs on your behalf?
The game is generally balanced around groups of 2-5 players, up to 10. Most servers will likely be private (requires a single-use code from the server administrator to create an account) so unless youāre inviting someone who you think will be hacking or trolling, this isnāt a very big issue.
That doesnāt mean I wonāt be adding code to prevent cheating, it just means that most people wonāt have too much of an issue here even if there are bugs.
The game is open source. You can go and download it free. As in, right now, though the repository isnāt currently up to date and it isnāt properly playable and youād have to learn how to build from source. It is freely available and always will be.
The only planned monetization so far is:
Patrons get an official hosted server with maintenance and tech support.
You arenāt required to use an official server. You can host it free on your computer or pay for another provider without any additional fees.
Patrons get the latest build one month early.
If you arenāt a patron, you still have the source code free so if you canāt afford it, youāre still free to compile the game at no additional cost.
Itās less of a āyou have to pay for thisā and more of an āif you have the money then youāll go for the convenient option, but if you canāt afford it, youāre more willing to try the less convenient optionā sort of situation. I am very poor so I can understand not wanting to spend money even if the game ends up being really well made.
Patrons get access to all DLC (technically mods).
Note: DLC will never paywall major features. DLC is planned to primarily be bonus regions with their own separate story, culture, characters, possibly races, and events. Most worlds will probably use default generation, meaning they arenāt in a region at all.
Note 2: A region is a large static map that is manually created and features lots of lore-relevant places and secrets, as well as the content mentioned above.
The first two regions are free and included in the base game by default. I wonāt spoil too much about them, however.
DLC is also open source. The āinconvenient routeā mentioned earlier still applies.
Donations, obviously.
Note: All of the above is subject to change, minus being open source. That will never change.
Iām not really a greedy person, though. Iāve always been poor so I donāt really care for being rich or any of that. Hypothetically, if revenue paid a reasonable salary (like a couple thousand or so), I would start stripping down all the monetization and only ask for donations since all I really need out of this is to pay the bills and be well fed.
This isnāt possible by the way. The game is multiplayer. You either code it to allow multiplayer or you code it to be exclusively singleplayer. This is a decision you make at the very beginning of development. Converting it to a singleplayer game would be very hard.
You can compare it to Minecraft. Even if youāre playing singleplayer in Minecraft, youāre actually running a separate server locally on your computer and connecting to it, it just isnāt open to the public.
Ah, I see I see, so in a sense it is like Minecraft, I never knew how single player really worked in minecraft. Iām also relieved about how the servers will function in regards to the server administrators code for creating accounts. While trolling isnāt an issue, hacking on the other hand, much more likely to occur but, not as big of an issue since unless this game REALLY took off like minecraft or angry birds did, not much to worry about imo.
As for the monetization, 100% understandable as developing a multiplayer fetish game, models alone will eat up a lot of time (seen this plague many game devs trying to add say bigger bellies, boobs, ect.) to their games. The early access for patrons is a good idea to iron out any obvious/easy to replicate bugs and the public one, where the more obscure, harder to find bugs are discovered. Best of luck AimilsFat!
For context, please read this earlier post, either as a reminder or if you havenāt already seen it.
Update on MGR + Sneak Peaks
To start off, I will be completely honest. The Patreonās at $27 a month. I genuinely canāt live when itās that low. Unfortunately, I canāt just get a job like most people. I wasted an entire year of my life trying to get a job but unfortunately, my disabilities (mainly severe PTSD) make that incredibly difficult and I donāt think itās a realistic option for me, especially when my PTSD is even worse than before (see previous post). I genuinely canāt function properly most days due to it and that would make it impossible for me to keep a ārealā job. I feel sick just trying to write this post.
This isnāt just begging for money though. I am doing real honest work on MGR, which I can actually now confirm the official name will just be Monster Girl Ranch. It was more of a code name previously until a new name came but the team seems to have gotten rather attached to the name Monster Girl Ranch and I do think it is quite a good name as well.
Obviously, you shouldnāt just trust that Iām doing work. Iāve got a couple screenshots and assets from the game to show that itās real and itās getting done quite quickly. You can expect a free demo coming either around Christmas or early next year.
There will be 3 characters available in the demo with 9 stages each. The third character is a harpy, though her design is currently unfinished.
Thank you for taking the time to read through all this. I hope to see you all trying out the MGR demo that is coming soon. It will be linked here when itās out. If you want to support my work so I donāt have to find other ways of funding this project, please come support me on Patreon. Every donation counts, especially to smaller creators. My goal is just $50 a month currently. Even a $7 or $3 subscription is a big help.
Faehna Engine is back in development. Iāve found a decent way to work on the game in a more healthy way and not get terrible burnout from forcing myself to work on the more painful parts of the game too often.
I spend like half the day just thinking about how to improve this game so itās quite difficult to keep me away from it even back when I was really badly burned out. Itās just what I like to do.
I will be primarily working on the more fun bits. Iāve massively cut down on the extra ābloatā in development work for features which were just kind of excessively complex and really didnāt need to be added. The vast majority of the game will be the same. Itās primarily smaller features I didnāt even mention previously that are being removed.
By the way, hereās a little āfun bitā if youāre interested:
If youāre curious what that was, Iām testing the new character controller. Itās very early in development but itās basically a physics-based character which reacts to being hit by objects.
Iām a pretty big fan of physics-based games. Theyāre often very fun and even though they can sometimes be a bit janky, it usually ends up being a funny sort of jank. I didnāt originally plan on having many physics-based features but it sounds like a nice way to make development (and gameplay) more fun.
Big Important Note
Yet again, the planned systems have been changed up massively to be a lot easier to make. The good news is this means it will be far far easier to develop the game. The bad news is that the whole project just got scrapped (as it would be easier to just restart than to fix the old version), but we will be back faster than ever this time, especially because we have a massive overhaul planned of the system that was taking about 90% of development time, meaning we should get it done in maybe 1/10 of the original time.
Every time we fail, we come back more experienced. No matter what, this game will be done. I promise that to all of you.
More Good News
I am now joined by BurntPencil, an artist who Iāve had some very good experiences working with on MGR. He will likely be assisting me with the art and FaeCharm, the character model. Please check out his DeviantArt above and maybe give him a commission if youād like to support us.
Speaking of FaeCharmā¦
A Bit of Bad News
FaeCharm is currently on hold. I am no longer directly working on it as it is one of the main reasons I had severe burnout. It just isnāt what I enjoy doing, though Iām quite good at it at least so I am teaching BurntPencil character modeling to assist with it.
However, we could really use a dedicated character modeler. If you have any skill in character modeling then please consider sending me a message through the forum. We can provide payment if necessary.
About the Patreon
The current Patreon will be shut down in the future. Since I am joined by BurntPencil, we are setting up a Patreon which is a 30-30-40 split with the 40 going back to development costs (such as commissioning sprite artists or paying a 3D modeler as mentioned above). The Plump Pasture Co Patreon will be made public on the day we release any game.
However, I would still recommend checking out the Patreon as I am currently paying all the development costs out of pocket at the moment, including hosting our WIP website, buying asset packs, and more. Any support is appreciated, especially since Iāve had to be off one of my important medications which is very draining for my sanity. Itās a stomach medication so I havenāt been able to eat properly in a few months and lost about 10 lbs. Even just a couple more $7 subscriptions would be enough for me to get back on my medication.
Incomplete List of Planned Changes
Massive QoL improvements.
This also means you no longer have to have the game open twice (one server and one client) in order to play.
Full singleplayer support.
Balance adjustment modes at world creation.
Single mode (1 player)
Couple mode (2-3 players)
Group mode (4+ players)
Note: The player count is only a recommendation.
Servers will be limited to 8 active players but I recommend 4 or less.
Dedicated server support is scrapped.
Having the game primarily aimed at running on a server was because of old plans for the game which have since changed.
To play multiplayer, you simply need to enter into a world and then host multiplayer.
Note: Requires you to port forward on port 17007. I will provide a short tutorial on this when the game releases.
Granular weight gain will be on hold.
Due to technical limitations relating to bone movement, I am not quite sure how to make granular weight gain at the moment, so weight gain will be in stages for the foreseeable future.
Granular just means gradual, as in, rather than being 5 set stages for example, it is a slider of 0 to 1 which includes 0.2, 0.35315, or any other decimal.
So in other words, we are just doing weight stages.
This is also to make the modeling easier since I am no longer working on it.
