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Monday, April 2, 2012

Process Improvements

Started work today on the new clothing system. Maid stuff still isn't done, but I was all gung-ho to try this out that I just couldn't wait. And the good news is...it works.

Unless someone is really interested in the details of the behind the scenes stuff, I won't bore you with that, but basically, the way the system works is you get dressed in a particular set of underwear, clothing, jewelry and accessories, and then head to the closet (currently, I might change it to the dresser, haven't decided yet) and select Set Outfit -> Casual/Work/Exercise/Extra 1/Extra 2. The game then figures out what you're wearing, and stores all of that information. Then you choose Get Dressed, and it asks you which outfit you want to put on (side note: I was originally going to make this a child command, so that it would be Get Dressed -> Casual, but it wouldn't work the way I wanted it to). The game then checks the layout of the outfit and puts it all on.

As a side effect, you also won't see the "You put on the X" messages for each item. They were a little tedious. Oh, and those "Extra 1" and "Extra 2" outfits? I'm trying to make it so that when you set them, you get to name them. So you can set Extra Outfit 1, and then call it your "Clubbing" outfit or whatever you want.

Now, there are a couple of problems with the system right now. For example, the underwear doesn't check if it fits, which is, you know, problematic. But the problems are simply process problems, as opposed to functionality problems: the system works, it just doesn't work 100% right. Yet.

You may notice that the outfit system doesn't give two shits about your shoes, and I can hear you all groaning from here. "Man, we still have to put on shoes manually?! ARGH!" Well, yes...and no. In the next update, you'll notice that the shoes that you buy don't have the Wear command anymore. Instead, when you leave the apartment, you'll get a list of all the shoes you've bought, and the option to choose which ones to put on. Wait, what's that? A simplified process wherein you buy the shoes and choose what you want to wear when you leave the apartment as opposed to manually putting them on? That's like...like...easy!

And it does work, in case you were wondering. I've tested both systems, including what happens if you pick shoes that don't fit (like combat boots when you have Reformed Feet); it tells you that you can't wear those shoes, and then makes you pick again. I also figured that (since Reformed Feet is irrevocable) it would make sense to remove that particular option from the list if you try to put on the shoes and find that you can't, so I need to add that in.

What this all boils down to is, instead of getting up in the morning, going to the bathroom, showering, taking vitamins, putting on makeup, going back to the bedroom, putting on clothes with the Get Dressed command, putting on jewelry, adding accessories, and then heading to the Foyer, picking your shoes and selecting a destination (a total of 13-21 clicks), you get up in the morning, select your outfit, go to the Foyer, select your destination and pick your shoes (a total of 6 clicks).

How's that for a slice of fried gold?

11 comments:

  1. Sounds good, but didn't the game autopick your shoes before anyway? In all my playthroughs before I could just buy a pair of shoes, put it on once and then everytime I would leave the apartment the game would use those shoes.

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  2. Related to what Anon above me said, doesn't that mean that every time I leave my house, I'll have an extra click to say "Yes, I want to keep wearing the same shoes I've been wearing for weeks"

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  3. However, numerous players tend to like spicing up their character and chaning how they dress when doing different things. You wouldn't wear sneakers with an armani suit, would you?

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  4. Six isn't good enough, MAKE IT THREE.

    1. Click [Get ready]. (Clothes, shoes, jewelry, choose pre-selected outfits from a dropdown, ie Get Ready; Bar, or Get Ready; Work.)
    2. Click [Clean]. (Shower, makeup, hair, clean apartment, one time block, ends with you in living room.)
    3. OUT THE DOOR.

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    Replies
    1. Technically, it's 4, with the extra two being movement between rooms, and even your example would be four (because in the living room, you would have to click the south direction to get to the foyer to leave). And lumping ALL the cleaning actions into one doesn't make any sense.

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  5. I like the fact that it used to remember my previous shoe selection. Would it be possible to let it remember your shoe selection the last time you left the apartment and just have a quick dialog box of "You reach for your High Heels" and it has the options of "Perfect!" or, "Let's pick a different pair" to get to the selection option?

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    Replies
    1. That's actually a good medium between remembering the last shoes you wore and letting you choose.

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    2. Yay! I'm helping. :)

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  6. Wow, nice progress report A-Man!! Really looking forward to this next patch, although the timing is simply terrible! I will be in the process of traveling between continents on the 5th, how am I supposed to get this excellent new content the day it is available?! All joking aside, I really am looking forward to the new patch whenever I can DL it.

    ~Loeri

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  7. Uhm... i think the shoes work well as they are...
    maybe you can unequip them automatically as soon as you get back home, so next time you go out, you automatically re-equip them while still be able to equip another pair without having to remove them manually.
    *shrugs*

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