i took a random potion in hytale...
now vibing as @SlushyWater52 :3
pigeon, 6-7, and counter-bones: how a birb helped me innovate on new animation tech wit a ded meme for rpg in hytale...
i love how rpg can build unique experiences right down to the model your player uses and so as a plushie modder, i was able to achieve infinite morphing wit help from @_Lexem_ but all the emotes were borked :< but seeing dis post from simon gave me a new hope!
as usual, all roads lead to @IkarinoKuni, since i only discovered the new animation tech thanks to TWO different requests from the fish king himself: "make 6-7"... and after seeing it fail on plushies, "fix 6-7 for plushies".
i looked towards the humble pigeon for the secret to obscure morph modelling and its shoulderless structure showed me how you can omit bones above your nesting for a player's morph. animations like emotes only respect the bones which exist in the player so this gave me the control i needed to conditionally override animations in hytale.
the new tech is as follows: find rarely used hytale player bones like shoulder and hijack them as designated "counter bones", then adjust bones in the same nesting where pivots are close to the counter bone pivots. simply *counteract* each adjustment you made for the adjusted bone... on your counter bone. ensure the counter bones only exist on hytale's player model, not your unique rpg morph model.
here in my example, the shoulder is rotated behind me to *counteract* the swing forwards i must force on the plushie's arm to properly position its lil nub hands which have no shoulders... i had to counteract on each axis of rotation but the result is an emote shared and perfected for both human and plushie alike. <3
My goal with Chapter I was to make it clear that we're fully embracing RPG elements, not shying away from them. Now, as I said before, it's also important to work on the basics: better crafting, progression, and everything around them that makes a good game. A lot is going to change; I don't say this lightly. I'm not afraid of it all. The game loop we have today serves early access quite well, but it won't be the one we have in the future. The world will be the main character, thanks to world gen v2.
That being said, I had a great time working on and playing Chapter I myself, but I'm not blind to the fact that the old world gen, progression, and crafting feel very dated. Our vision for Hytale is much grander than what it is today, and given how well Chapter I went, I truly believe we have the team, community, and support to get there.
Another goal was to see how our production would hold up. This is a brand new team, rebuilt from the ground up just a few months ago, so we needed to learn where to hire and how to adjust our planning. Chapter I was a great first chapter to learn from, and the results were incredible. More than 80% of our hires in the past few months were from the modding community!
While the team is busy with the cozy stuff, I'm personally working on revamping weapon and armor itemization by adding affixes and ways for players to improve their crafted and looted items. As simple as it sounds, it's another transformative change, because it lets us add reward vectors across the entire game. The first version will look basic at first glance, but it will grow over time, with affixes like "minion damage" that work with future minion runes, and much more, to create a wide variety of builds. I've been a big ARPG player since the late 90s, so you can expect to see a lot of inspiration.
Cheers all, see you soon.
Simon
the simple pigeon of @Hytale has hands, but curiously they are NOT the wings. i must rethink all the things.








