- DME Status, what happened, why and whats next - 13 November 2019
Hello Everyone, This might be a long post so I will conclude everything in short here itself: 1. DesktopMascotEngine project is not dead, however, this project turned more ambitious than I initially thought or planned for (I am a one man army, no team here) and unfortunately its early access sales itself couldn't cover much of our/my working costs. 2. By November 2018 end, I had fallen to pressure of our hype and feeling the need to ship large updates asap, succumbed to it and fall into months of procrastination. By December 2018 I started losing motivation to work on it and within a few months, I stopped game development all together. What followed up were a series of lazy months doing nothing. 3. A month or so back, started working on a small side-game for christmas to raise my motivation again and get back in form. I hope to resume development on DME after release of this game as I h…
- Regarding state of Windows 7/8 compatibility and Feature Requests - 19 January 2019
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2Fac773ee21739cb47a900e6e15e6cf3f234c4bd43.jpg Hey fellas, We were supposed to release a content update around/before Christmas but due to family commitments and being ill since New Year delayed a lot of stuff. Since then, I have been committed to diagnose, research and fix DME' backward compatibility with Windows 7 and Windows 8 as my priority issue. I am happy to confirm that I have finally found a way to make DME work for Windows 7 and 8 again, like our very early builds. The compatibility broke due to how our newer render engine works, and to make it work on Windows 7 and 8, we had to compromise a bit and find a middle ground between older and newer render engine. It took time and effort, but it finally worked without much performance sacrifice. Due to this new change, we will need to add some more extra setti…
- Demi AI now released, some small fixes and new trailer video - 9 December 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F0fc634bd4155c3d1dc7debc0b0632163448716f4.gif I think were half a week late from the promised release of Demi AI update. Last week we had a critical bug so we had to delay the patch release till now. This new build includes DEMI, a conversational AI powered by Neural Networks (Machine Learning). Currently it is available for use for all users on Windows 10* and only requires a mic. Its free to use. We trained our data using 3rd party conversations and reddit**. Due to the nature of dynamic conversations and a self-thinking AI, DEMI might sometimes reply rudely or might even abuse (thx reddit), so please use it with self-discretion. We will be improving it more and more in coming days and adding support for older Windows versions too. We are also expecting to release a patch update to fix broken support for Window…
- Meet DEMI, a AI-Friend on your Desktop to talk - 28 November 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F57b60befde4f93576bcc4f7506304735638893af.png We are finally reaching that stage of hype folks. This should be a good chance to show off one of our biggest features we had planned since DME's concept stage. Its a AI Conversation bot, right on your desktop and interfaced using your voice (and replies back using gibberish/actual voice of its own). This is not a static or pre-defined chatbot but a full fledged Neural Network trained AI (Machine Learning). https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F844d60354abb31c2a30f5b65f45122991da252e2.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2Fd7235b1684f75ec5e11ae1e5ba1e5655d6d80bc4.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F008541c1fe3a2b93fea024b569d77f9869037091.png We h…
- The Late Halloween Update (v11.19.2018) - 19 November 2018
Howdy folks. This large content update was supposed to be released during Halloween, but was delayed more and more due to small little things we kept adding and felt to release it as one big update. This change log includes changes from our recent update released on 8th November 2018 too (which was a partial update of v11.19.2018) New Characters ================== We have added 2 new 3D characters (Mana Witch and Akasha Succubus), along with quite a lot of user submissions in 2D Workshop. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2Ff42a6db7fd233a61a2903f138d0445cc8b92b2a3.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F076aea42aa70af3ad8313c572346881275f9616e.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2Fb9a76df83e5ef71b6dc6e78b53bd37dd93ff3bd3.png https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommu…
- 2D Characters, New Interface and more stablity - 9 November 2018
As you might have already noticed we recently updated Desktop Mascot Engine and you can now load the 2D workshop contents that you are subscribed to. Also, some of you might be confused with where are the settings or the interface. Unless you've noticed we've added a small toggle button for showing and hiding the interface at the bottom right of the screen. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F414c7211a7c77b7209321b87595f0e72a4a7a0a8.png We redesigned the interface inspired by Sword Art Online's UI. The settings are pretty much self-explanatory, you can select a character you want to load either 3D or 2D (3D one at a time, 2D you can click and load multiple at once), open up the Workshop tool, alter settings, head to discussions board for Help or Exit. We also added the tab to load 2D characters. You need to subscribe to some 2D characters from the…
- [Living Environments] Too Spooky For Halloween ? - 20 October 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F7b4236083072dd39dd3a4d9e372525b52cad513f.gif Halloween is approaching and were hard at work preparing a big content update for Halloween. 2D Character System, New Settings Storage (with steam cloud), New Main Interface (UI) Design and our new preview DLC of Living Environments, which will be our hand-created and curated set of "Living and Interactive Wallpapers". Well we call them wallpapers here to make it easier to understand, but what we have envisioned and tried our hands at, we plan to create and release highly interactive "environments" which will replace your wallpapers. That, at a nickle of performance cost. The above preview is one of the "environments" we are creating for Halloween. We are trying to release a batch of multiple environments for halloween theme. We understand some of these might be too s…
- Venom. Watched it. Liked it. Created Venom Desktop. - 6 October 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F81501d380fba0171d2988b50c4de5f7f969d9250.gif Nothing much, don't trust reviews and critics. The movie is fun and enjoyable. Not endorsements or affiliations with them, just excited and wanted to say that. Also, found the movie's logo transition a perfect test for our "Living Environments". - Loops - Has transparency (currently 95%) so your original wallpaper is also see through - Supports Sound effects/click interaction Thinking to perhaps release it as well along with the Halloween demo/special we are trying to finish in time.
- 2D Workshop is now Live - 4 October 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2Fee9ad9dc4cf8ff218a9f81a1093b250dd9c14c54.png A new build update has just been pushed to Steam which includes the 2D Workshop Submission tool. The workshop tool can be accessed by clicking the "Workshop" button in the Main Interface or by accessing the "WorkshopTool/workshop.exe" build file in DME's steam folder. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F42c4b6c4916c87d0a7621e1f0d737a0a917fcc3d.png Eff has also published a basic guide on how to use the Workshop tool here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1529777138 Currently, the workshop tool only includes Submission for 2D characters. Our 2D Character Engine is also ready and will be released in 2 days time, we are testing the "Subscribe/Download" part of the workshop with it. Its built keeping Shimeji's i…
- Current state of [DME], inactivity last month, upcoming updates and Halloween - 29 September 2018
Hey everyone https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F05b72a9308ac4f737806ecae3a13f588fb2a5839.gif It has been quite a while since we last did a announcement or update, I believe almost 2 months ? Sorry about that, we had a situation at hand. My other-half of the team (eff) met a small accident and was on rest for initial 2 weeks. We actually had the Workshop's UI completed around June end. While he was recovering, I tried to work alone on DME but couldn't focus properly, which led to almost a month's procrastination. That and the new Ryzen machine we build just in July itself to train the AI's conversation system (Machine Learning), ended up crashing. Whole HDD crashed. I won't lie, but these 2 incidents back to back almost made me lose focus and passion to keep working on DME. I just couldn't put my mind to do it alone. By the time eff recovered, we…
- Patch v7.9.2018 - Performance Improvement, New Rendering System and QOL changes - 9 July 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2Fccc742940b302c47a1515f8c88cf817b7504f807.png Official Patch notes for the new update being pushed out today. We have not written a DevLog for it right now as we will be pushing out a series of updates each 2-days or so this coming week, so will write a DevLog explaining them all in details over the coming weekend. -------------------- Meanwhile, you can read more about the CPU Usage/Performance and discuss on the same here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/821060/discussions/0/1727575977591835296/ -------------------- The update addresses the Performance and huge CPU usage issue. -New Rendering System -Huge Performance and Quality Improvements -Main Interface is now borderless with a X/Quit button (to hide it in system tray) -Settings Menu layout has been improved a bit more -Some settings has been changed to matc…
- Patch v7.2.2018 - Motion Animation Update (Settings, Tweaks, Improvements) - 1 July 2018
Official Patch notes for the new update pushed today. Includes one of our major features "Motion Animation", details of which can be found in our earlier DevLog here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/821060/announcements/detail/3079781698507886315 -Added Motion Animation setting (can be enabled from settings to allow mascot characters to move in their PlayArea as per their animation) -Added Mute Audio setting -Fixed a resolution bug with Ultra Wide Screens, now interface auto-sets the aspect ratio to 16:9 if its bigger than that (important for UWD) -Removed RTVoice Pro which was being used for the AI-Assistant's welcome message at start of the app. RTVoicePro was making some unknown network service calls (found to be harmless, but removed as a precaution) -Changed Maximum possible Mascot Character Size to 3 (from 2) -Mascot Character's rotation and position auto-resets when in Motion An…
- Patch v6.19.2018 - Content Update (Settings, Features, Charas) - 19 June 2018
Official Patch notes for the new update pushed today. You can find more details about its contents in our previous announcement here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/821060/announcements/detail/3079781698507886315 - Enabled Settings Menu - Added System Tray Icon - Minimize/Close Interface to System Tray (also hides icon from taskbar) - Interface can be closed to system tray using the quit/exit ("X") button in interface or by Right Clicking on the Mascot Character - Double clicking tray icon opens the interface - Added Balloon Notifications (would be used in future for AI Assistant too) - 4 new characters (Yukio, EM208, Cronus, Mob98) - Fixed texture problems with other Anime charas (eyes/outlines) - Increased maximum possible Mascot size - Fixed bug with playing Guitar Sound (during Guitar Animation) - AI Voice now uses last available TTS Voice in your OS (for AI Assistant) - Added new…
- DevLog #4 - Settings, New Features and Upcoming stuff - 19 June 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2Fa9a3a8a7b012af0e3004a1a8f6ea48ccffbec03e.png Okay, so first of all, sorry for almost a month delay for this update. Initially this update was supposed to be released 2 weeks back but unexpected delays and some real-life problems caused this delay. However, this delay gave us more time to try our hands on some more experimental features, fix some bugs on them and bringing one of our most crucial features near release - Animation Motion (see below). Lets get straight to what the new v6.19.2018 update includes Settings ---------------------- Settings are finally available. Most of the settings are self-explanatory with tooltip messages to show what each setting does, but feel free to ask in community discussions if you are confused about any setting or want any particular setting added. There are a few settings mis…
- Sorry for delay in Update, IRL mess - 10 June 2018
Hey guys, really sorry for such a delay in our scheduled updates. Originally we were meant to release the settings update in 3-4 days after our last update and then workshop update within next 7 days, but as you can see it has been more than 14 days since our last update with nothing pushed yet. We have the settings and minor quality update already done, pending for some final checkups and pushing out but have not been able to finish it due to some IRL mess we have gotten due to some government form filing. Sorry for the delay and we will start pushing out the content updates regularly in 2-3 days again. PS: Governments are a bi*ch and charging penalty without notice for not filing tax returns when you don't have a tax liability, is broad-light theft. $2000 penalty for just focusing on our work and forgetting to file/report monthly returns that we don't have any tax liability ːsteamsalt…
- Patch v5.26.2018 - Content Update (Animations, Features, Charas) - 26 May 2018
Official Patch notes for the new update pushed today. You can find more details about its contents in our previous announcement here - https://steamcommunity.com/games/821060/announcements/detail/1653264049362038208 - New Animation System - New StateMachine/Transitions - New Animations (40+) - 4 New Mascots (Shiro, Rolly, Mob99, Kurisa) - Mecha Mascot removed due to not working with new animation system - Interface/Menu* - Mascot Selection Screen (in Interface) - Build/Version number shown in Interface - SteamSDK features added (over/screenshots**) - Localization Translations Added*** - Experimental Features Added (AI-Assistant Voice Response, Mascot Voice Expression, Interactive Animation)**** *Some menu options are disabled till we finish them up, specially settings as we are finishing SteamCloud integration for settings. Expect a hot patch to enable them within a day or two. **Steam…
- DevLog #3 - Big Update tomorrow, New Features and Mascot Charas - 23 May 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2Fa9a3a8a7b012af0e3004a1a8f6ea48ccffbec03e.png One of our first major Content Update is finally ready for release. Although initially due for release on past Sunday/Monday, it took its sweet time and is now planned to be released this coming Thursday/Friday (24-25 May 2018). By taking this extra time, we were able to add some more features and content other than what we initially planned, including a few experimental features like Voice Expressions and Voice Response (for the AI Assistant). We will include full list of changes in the official Patch Notes, but here are a few major things coming up. Interface/Main Menu -------------------------------------- Its not fully ready yet with some options disabled, but it will be included in the update and those options will be enabled via small daily patches. A few settin…
- Hot Patch v5.12.2018 (Multi Display Fix) - 12 May 2018
We just released a Patch to address the bug with Multi Displays and the Mascot not showing. The Bug's discussion can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/821060/discussions/0/2828702372996913036/
- Hot Patch v5.11.2018 + Things were working on - 11 May 2018
This is a minor Day1 hot patch which addresses some minor problems and suggestions which were reported in EarlyAccess Day 1 launch build. It also includes some QOL improvements. -Default taskbar icon changed -Changed initial splash screen -Removed initial configuration options dialog -Default interface resolution is native resolution (for future settings interface) -Default spawn/launch position for the Mascot Character is BottomRight of screen -Default Mascot PlayArea changed from 480x640 to 640x480 -Improved center positioning for the Mascot Character -Added Instructions popup at every initial launch (instructions.txt file till the interface is ready) Also find below our Idea Board with rough ideas of what we are currently working on for the next update. We will not list them, so lets see who all can figure out the surprises. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/image…
- [DesktopMascotEngine] is Live on Steam Now, Sneak Peak of Updates for this weekend - 9 May 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32662029%2F019d09bb341f552e6919dfad04fe0005cfcf7262.gif Sneak Peak preview of the Custom Character and new Animation Engine were working on right now Okay folks, the wait is over. Were now live in Early Access phase on Steam and hopefully it goes well. We got showered with praises to whoever we showed our sneak peaks and previews to, so hope Early Access users like it too. As some might have noticed, there are a few new characters currently missing in the latest build thats live/available on Steam. It is intentional as we have rolled them back to implement the new Animation Engine we had been working this week and the past one rigorously. Were just doing a few more tests and optimizations and the new characters will be restored tomorrow or day after max. Thanks to the new Animation Engine and the Dynamic State Machine, thi…
