Wednesday, August 1, 2012

What's Coming Up at Sinful Needs?

Greetings, Sinners! I just wanted to touch base with you all and let you know what's going on with the store... what's coming in the second half of 2012... and what the hold up is on certain projects you've already heard/seen me chatter about in group chat.

First up, I know that there are still a lot of you wondering when the Sinteract! Genitals are going to be ready. As I've said far too often in the last year, that project has turned into something much larger than I originally planned, but it is still progressing. I have some code work left to do on the scripts, some sculpt (and maybe mesh) work left to do on the genitals themselves, and a fair chunk of animation work for what I have planned for the launch release. Make no mistake, I'm as excited about getting them into the store as anyone else... but more than anything else, I want to make sure that what I deliver on launch day for them is a very solid effort, worthy of the patience and eagerness that you all, my customers, have shown for the project.

Next up is the Eclipse of Innocence line. There are a number of reasons this hasn't quite surfaced yet, some of them related to that dreaded Other Life keeping me busy with this and that, as well as an emerging change in dynamics with the store in general. I will leak a little more information about the vision for EoI to sate curiosity, however. Eclipse of Innocence is intended to fill some holes in the store's offerings for Dark Role Play. In particular, it will launch with some jewelry and piercings. The overall theme for the line is intended to be.... dark, gothic, elegant, and mystical. Beyond jewelry, expect to see some corsets, dark dolly gothic wind up keys, and, eventually, some clothes as well. Think twisted, kinky Alice in Wonderland... and you're probably headed down the right rabbit hole for where Eclipse of Innocence will find its niche.

Perhaps most relevant to the short term are the new Mesh Hooves that I'm working on right now. These have grown from just a pair of sculpted femme hooves to a full blown mesh project that includes some rigged mesh 'boot' leggings. The first version of these (with leather straps & D-rings) are actually quite close to release at this point, though I ran into a bit of a hiccup when setting up the particle chain anchors to line up with the D-Rings on the straps for the rigged mesh leggings. I'm in the process of sorting that out now, and then will be eager to release these. Like some other things, the original plan for these has grown.... and in addition to the Hooves/Boots, expect to see a bare feet (with human toe nails and claws) version coming afterward, as well as a 'pawed' version that will surely appeal to all of our anthro/furry Sinners. Also, I'll be working up from the toes/hooves to create a matching set of Arm Harnesses, a corset, and a chastity belt. Then following on the heels of the strapped set, I'll be getting the Ushimimi set ready... which got a little preview press in some of the pics for the Aphrodite Breasts (you can see these here in my Flickr Photostream for the Aphrodite GuideBook - note the ears, horns, and peak at the tail in addition to the outfit ;) ). Bare feet and paw versions of that set will also surface at some point beyond that... I think there are a number of 'kittehs' in particular that might enjoy the cute, playful bow & bell look. All the better to lure in their next snack ;)

Another important note regarding all movement forward with the store is the future of the A4 HUD: The One HUD package. When I introduced The One HUD back in 2008, it was something that served a powerful purpose for my customers, and helped to make customizing Sinful Needs items as flexible as possible, even if the learning curve seemed a little daunting to some at first. Moving forward, nearly all of the future releases are going to be making use of Baked Textures, which means that the Universal textures included in the current version of The One HUD are going to be less and less useful. That said, I know that many of you still enjoy the convenience of 'One HUD to Rule Them All' when it comes to Sinful Needs items. So while new releases and updates will continue to include A4 Lite HUDs set up specifically for those items, I have plans to improve The One HUD package as well, offering more flexibility to One HUD owners. This will include offering some segmented HUD options, such as a Sinteract! HUD only, or a Dance HUD & AO HUD only, as well as a combination of those three things. The reason for offering these options in that One HUD Package is mostly to allow people to limit their script load, as well as keep things as simple as possible. On the A4 side of The One HUD, it will be getting some tweaking to bring in the new advanced RGB Tinting interface you've seen in the new Lite A4 HUDs, as well as offering options for creating your own texture groups. The package will also be getting a few more goodies added to it beyond the Horns and Fangs already included... to rest assured that I'll do my best to make sure anyone who has purchased the A4 HUD will wind up with enough lagniappe (that's Nawlins-speak for free stuff) to show my thanks for supporting The One HUD during its run.

I could probably ramble on for a while longer, but I'll rein it in and close with one more note. About Skins: I've gotten a variety of questions about my skins, and I'll try to sum up where I'm going with those... when I can make some time to get more skin work done. *chuckles*:

  • There will be unmarked versions of the Ba'al & Lilith skins
  • There will be more colors in those lines as well (marked & unmarked)
  • There are 4 or 5 more skin tones that need to be added to the Legends lines still
  • There will be completely new skins surfacing as well!
  • In one fashion or another, I -DO- plan to support the Petite community with skins
That's it for now! Stay Sinful!