Heyo Photographers! You’ve been very patient with us as we have been building the next big patch for Sapphire Safari, and the day has finally arrived! Version 027 is ready, and it is STUFFED with new and exciting content. I want to extend a massive thank you to all of our community for jumping into the Beta Branch of Sapphire Safari and helping us find and squash a lot of bugs with the new systems and creatures. With your help, we fully expect this patch to go off without a hitch!
Sapphire Safari has a birthday coming up on September 26th! It has been four years since we released our first playable build for our die-hard supporters. The game has undergone massive changes since then, and we are super pleased with how it has grown! As a show of thanks, we will be running events and sales during the month of September, so now is a perfect time to jump in and explore what the game has to offer.
If you’ve been keeping up with the beta patches, you might already know of the three new species on Sapphire Island. All creatures are fully voiced, they all have unique conditions about them, and they all have associated 100% achievements as well.
Lustra - Otter (small classification) voiced by: @JCalistahhh
Found cavorting around moving sources of water, streams and rivers. Lustra is a happy and generally jovial creature, known for sticking close with her kind and teaming up to take down larger predators if they happen to enter her territory. Their creativity is unique among the natives found on the island, generally finding quick solutions to problems due to their high adaptability and creativity.
If unprovoked, it is possible to close the distance, allowing for interactions, as their curiosity for humankind seems to overrule their sense of danger for the unknown. It should be noted, however, that there have been several reports of the creature outright demanding that researchers rub their foreheads, prompted by their aggressive head bashing.
Salatonie - Axolotl (tiny classification) voiced by: @SLNebula
The Mexican water dog is not something researchers expected to find on Sapphire Island, as its base class of species is rarely found in the wild outside of this environment. However, you can almost always expect to see this creature during the frequent storms and rain showers. Perhaps they are harder to find during other weather events, but their identifying feature is the long, fin-like tail that reaches high into the air as it catches the rain that falls.
The Salatonie’s position in the ecosystem is not yet clear, since it can be seen mingling with the other species during the moments it explores the landscape. The infrequent sightings have made any sort of approach difficult, but this researcher expects a similar behavior pattern of curiosity if enough time is spent with the creature.
Sultray - Moth (medium classification) voiced by: @SultryLampVA
After the heat of the day ends, the Sultray appear. Seeking out food sources around the island along with the ejactulate of other island natives. It is noted that the creature is believed to store the ejaculate as a means to sustain itself during the long day periods. This interesting behavior seems to be the source of her growth that has allowed this species of insect to increase its body size, allowing for more potential mates and further growth.
It is highly possible that if not discovered today, the Sultray would have continued to grow its classification to meet the demands of much larger creatures. A possible study should be conducted into the methods it uses to enlarge itself, and the time it has taken to be the size it is. The creature itself does appear willing to reproduce even with Humans, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find people willing to participate.
A big focus for v027 was the overhaul on Photographer interactions, movements, and player feedback. To do this we are using ALS Community locomotion tools, with a big customization injection for adding in unique elements to Sapphire Safari. Photographers can now mantle up environments, climb ropes, balance on planks and wood, run and lean, and ragdoll when needed.
Cliff barriers are also no longer a thing, so you can throw yourself off them willy-nilly!
Intimacy options with the natives have gotten a huge boost in v027! Now you have access to clothing options, a first-person view mode during sex, an updated camera movement system, and the ability to take photos during sex! However, player included sex photography, which excludes those photos from scoring eligibility; however, you will be able to save them to your Memories folder for viewing later.
Adding to this, we had a HUGE overhaul on the IK system we previously released. We have been tweaking for months each and every animation in the Monsutra, along with making upgrades to sockets and joints to make the experience as nice as possible. We do plan additional upgrades, but these will be corrections to the animations themselves.
Cum fluids also got overhauled in order to build up to leaving stains and effects on characters who happen to be hit with ejaculations. Both male and female particles happen, and stains can be left on props and the environment.
Finally, the Skip button now forwards the animation right up until the climax of the scene; previously, it would simply fade to black. This should let you witness all the money shots you want!
Sapphire Island has received a bunch of new upgrades and micro-biome changes. There is now a hidden Underground Garden microbiome and an autumn-themed forestry area. Both regions should add some diversity for your photography endeavors!
Adding to that each and every radio beacon now has a climbing puzzle associated with it, along with a brand new climbing challenge achievement!
Weather has also been upgraded, now rain will happen for longer periods of time, and you’ll get a forecast for the next upcoming weather condition. These do have a variable length to them, but this will help with the Salatonie hunts you’ll be embarking on!
A lot of fixes and changes have gone into Sapphire over the last few months of work. But here are some highlights.
Nine new achievements have been added to Sapphire Safari; these include a lot of gameplay achievements, along with three dedicated to the new creature Monpedia completion.
Stealth has been overhauled, allowing photographers to be behind creatures and remain hidden. As long as you do not move, you won’t grow the alert state of creatures unaware of you.
Saving and submitting photos will no longer cause massive FPS spikes and frame drops! We have rejiggified the saving systems for moving the photos around on your system, leaving the game with a flawless and uninterrupted UX for saving. It is a massive improvement over the old one.
In order to help ease confusion, users were having over “how to submit photos,” so we have renamed the Gallery and “Save to Gallery” buttons to My Memories. Hopefully, this helps.
Systems have been built to help address the issue with creatures not being identified by the camera. We still have some remaining conditions to fix here, specifically around creatures doing sexy time, but it should work 100% of the time during normal gameplay conditions, and about 80% of the time during sex acts. Work will continue on it to make it perfect.
Additional UX has been added to the game to help players understand shots that will never be included in scoring. Like environmental shots, or photographs with the player/rival inside. These now appear with a light blue border.
You can now enable or disable Sprint, Crouch, and Aiming hold toggles in the gameplay options menu.
There are a bunch of other fixes as well. Be sure to read the changelog below for more details.
Now that we have added all the commitments we have made to our community, we will be moving our attention to two major systems. The first is the Lifestyle Director, the second is the Shop and Camera Upgrade system.
The Lifestyle Director is the last massive overhaul the game will need, and we fully expect it to take several months to complete. This means that the very fundamentals of Sapphire Safari will be changing. Creatures will now roam the island with direction and purpose. You will be able to track particular creatures and watch them complete their tasks for the day. You’ll witness species flocking together in their nests and interacting with each other in the safety of numbers. And most importantly, creatures will react to conditions of the island, weather, day/night cycles, etc.
The Shop and Camera Upgrade system is our answer to players experiencing the game however they want. With the shop, you’ll purchase camera upgrades (and other things later), which you’ll need to slot into the upgrade section of the camera itself. Upgrades will have their own shapes and sizes, and it will be your job to place them into the grid as best you can. You won’t have enough space for everything, but you’ll be able to make the camera perform however you like! This mechanic is similar to inventory tetris like you might have experienced in Diablo 2. There is a lot more to the shop and such that we will build on, but that is the immediate focus.
Both of these upcoming features will be accessible via the Beta Branch, so be sure to check them out when released. Community feedback for our betas has been very valuable.
I hope you all enjoy the new release! I am excited to hear everyone's feedback!
Creatures
Adult Content
Gameplay Systems
Environment Upgrades
General Fixes and Updates
Good luck and have fun!
