Support for anthro (furry) characters and character modding are finally here

This weekend's Patreon release (v0.7.8) brings official support for anthro (furry) characters and loading character mods. This is a major step forward for the possibilities it creates. And, as usual, in a few months it will become available in the free version here on itch.io. 

For now, the character modding support is Windows only (the Android version also supports it, but it needs some sort of mechanism to allow loading mod files from a different drive location, since the game folder is not end user accessible - something which I need to look into; it will be something for the future, when a number of mods are available). 

I still need to create a detailed how-to guide for any prospective mod creators (but an overview is available below).

Anthro character support

• Before anything else - this doesn't mean the game will change focus and become exclusively anthro oriented. Anthro content is just another option catering to the players' various preferences. If it's not your thing, there are and will continue to be lots of other features developed that are relevant to you. Like with everything else, it's not being forced on you, and you can delete any included characters built around it, and simply not see it at all.
• Three new body types / classes have been added: Anthro bear class, Anthro horse class, Anthro hound class (they are under the Body type menu in the character editor). Please note that the new anthro body types use resources that are more graphics heavy than the default body type
• More anthro / furry body types  will be constantly added over the next releases (aiming for a new body type per release)
• Anthro character body types also include multiple available customizations (think e.g. hair style, color and materials, various clothes and wearables, although not to the extent of the pre-existing default body types), allowing you to create quite a bit of variation from a single class
• This is early days, so more features and customization options will be added in time

What does modding support mean for me as a player right now?

• Well, right now - not much, until someone creates the first mod
• The community is quite small, but I'm hopeful that in time people interested in creating character mods will pick it up
• Once mod creators start sharing their work, you will be able to download the mods and place them in the game folder, inside the .mods/characters/ folder. Each mod will act as a character class / body type (that's where it would show up), and can include multiple customizations (e.g. wearables, hairs, materials, colors) that are available and changeable through the editor. You can create and save multiple different characters from each mod

IF YOU WANT TO BECOME A MOD CREATOR:

• You need some decent experience working with Blender (especially around armatures and 3d modelling, and also materials management), and know what a .json file is and how the structure goes
• I'm happy to assist you with documentation and clarifications concerning the steps needed to integrate your model in the game - but I won't be able to teach you e.g. how to use Blender or understand/edit .json files
• The expectation is that you will share your character mod(s) freely with the community, to download and add to their game
• If you aren't currently a Patron and you need the latest game version I'm happy to fast forward you once your creation is ready to test. For the future, I'm also happy to keep dedicated mod creators on the latest game version as a thank you for their work, and for contributing to the community and the game
• Very important: any content you create / bring into the game needs to be legal. E.g. I won't be allowing any sort of underage or underage-looking content

So how do I actually create a mod?

Well, these are the rough steps, so you get a generic picture:

• I will be supplying you with the necessary file(s) to use as reference (e.g. .blend files containing the skeleton and all current body parts, .json template file, etc.)
• Pick a character you want to import (either your own work if you're comfortable sharing it, or something you find online e.g. on Sketchfab, case in which please make sure to respect their authors' work and check for an appropriate license). Character should be humanoid (two arms, two legs, should fit regular human movement - e.g. knees and elbows should bend the usual way, body parts should be in the usual spots, etc.)
• Import the model in Blender
• Clean it up, scale, position and change it to be as close to overlapping the default body as possible. Remove its original skeleton, vertex groups, weight painting, etc.
• Retarget the body to the provided game skeleton. Copy the weights from the default game body, clean / adjust them as necessary
• Extract the textures for the body and eyes (these will need to be exposed to the in game character editor), optionally other textures as well. Remove the eyes and body texture associations from the model
• Split up the body into the following components / meshes: head, upper body, hands, lower body, feet, eyes, teeth, tongue and optionally: hair, mouth (the mouth mesh can be included with the teeth, but can also be separate to help with weight painting), tail, wings, other clothing
• Optional step: create morphs (shapes) for breathing, expressions and user adjustable morphs
• Export your character as .gltf
• Duplicate and edit the template .json file to define various properties needed for each body part (sources, textures, etc.) - these are needed by the game
• End up with the mod package consisting of the .json file and a folder containing the .gltf, .bin and texture files. These need to be placed under .mods/characters/ and are read automatically by the game (except .jsons starting with _ )

NOTES: Right now there are no checks and guardrails to prevent issues caused by incorrect data in mods. The game will crash in most such situations. Also, removing a mod and trying to load a character based on that mod will result in a crash.

I will try to keep mods compatible across various game versions, but it's not a guarantee. Some mods might need updating to keep being compatible with future game versions. But this is a bridge we'll cross when we get there.