Fellow Character Enthusiasts,
it's been a long time since the last update, but version 3.2 certainly was worth the wait imo. It's a huge content update addind lots of wanted stuff and there's a big announcement at the end, so keep on reading. Let's dive in with the updates first though:
Added Weapons:
- Blaster
- Lasergun
- Double-Sword
- Great Hammer
- Knight Shield
- Futuristic Shield
Added Clothing & Headwears:
- New Bottoms (Hakama)
- Added Swordmaster Outfit
- Added Wing Helmet
- Added Sci-Fi Shirt
- Added Sci-Fi Armor
- Added Sci-Fi Helmet
Hair & Head Changes & Add-Ons:
- Reworked all sprite and bust hair colorings (hair, bangs & facial hair)
- Added two new facial hairs
- Added a new bangs style
- Added a new head style
- And the weapon mode got deactivated for now - read further for more infos about that.
The Future of 8D Character Creator
Low and I started 8D around a year ago cause we wanted to provide game developers (hobby or not) with high quality graphics and 8 directions to use for their projects. We started with 39 different animations, most of them with 8 directions available and all of them with 7 frames! After a short while we added the option for our RPG Maker users to export the animations using only 3 frames. But this wasn't enough. To make 8D available for everyone, we introduced the template creator, allowing you to export the animations in any format you like - suitable for every game engine there is!
We published so far 36 updates, with this being update 37. So we gave you new content and new stuff to play with more than every other week...FOR FREE. So after a really good run, we need to change something. This will be the last update of 8D...
in its current form.
The New 8D
This is the last update for the web tech based version of 8D. There are multiple reasons for this step:
We are hitting limit after limit with each update, for example the number of animations / frames can fit onto a spritesheet
We can't easily add new animations
Adding new stuff takes a lot of time and adjusting on Lows side
We kinds reached the maximum amount of layers we can add
8D gets slower with each update and the export takes a long time
Things like the weapon mode are really hard to handle with the current tech base
So with those things out of the way, lets talk about the future!
8D will be rewritten from the ground up in Godot. There will be a "legacy" part included, providing access to everything within the current version of 8D, but in a way faster way with a lot more options.
On the other hand, in the little more distant future, we will move to a new animations system that will allow for way more animations that can be easily added & finally the ability to add stuff on your own / edit stuff!
What about the current customers of 8D? Well, you will receive the new 8D app for free + access to the legacy part of it with the way faster and more powerful editing options. So if you plan on buying 8D there's no need to hesitate, cause you will gain access on launch day... immediately... for free! The expanded 8D version will be unlockable within the software most likely and you need to own 8D to do so, which will stay at the current pricepoint.
If you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to ask in here, on our Discord or send me an email at [email protected].
Rewriting 8D from scratch won't be done within a week, but we start next week and keep you posted on our Discord! I plan on releasing the legacy part as an early access by September 2024 - maybe our community members will receive a sneak peak before that ;)
Thanks for your time and enjoy version 3.2 until we take character creators to a new level AGAIN!
- cub3 (Florian)