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Sneak Peek #22: New Connor, Round 2
🕑 Added 2023-04-29 20:29:06 +0000 UTCAll right, guys, me again! This time I'm doing a Sneak Peek of the revised Connor model, as promised in the last game status update.
Before I get to that, the results for the Bonus Gallery poll: Marco's threesome will be with Connor's brother, Fane, and NC17's brother, Trevor! With 50% of the vote, they were the clear favorites. That gallery will be coming tomorrow.
Back to the Sneak Peek! To recap - I'm creating a new Connor model since the current one is very rough due to my inexperience when I made him. As a result of that inexperience, CGs featuring him are very tough to light, pose, and frame, which is part of the reason creating the game CGs takes so much longer than making Patreon galleries.
I shared a first draft of the new model a month ago in Sneak Peek #21, which garnered some great feedback that I used to make this revision. I'll discuss the specifics of what I changed below.
Like that last Sneak Peek post, this is serving as both a preview and an open forum for feedback. I very much value your comments - both positive and critical. New Connor ultimately can't fit everyone's tastes, but I do want him to feel like Connor, and having outside perspectives helps me do that.
My focus this time is showing Connor how you'll see him in game - as sprites and in CGs. That way we can all get a good feel of what he'll be like when playing. I did a series of test renders to get a bunch of different angles we can use to judge him. The attached gallery has bigger images of just the New Connor renders for you to browse.
Before I start, my usual caveat - none of this art is final, nor is the model itself. With that said, let's begin!
Face Revision
One common comment I received after showing the earlier model is that he looked way too old to be 18-year-old Connor. As we'll see in these face comparisons, that criticism was 100% correct. Here's the initial version (left) and new version side by side.
The aim for the face revision was to not just make Connor more youthful, but to bring back some of his charm via adding some "imperfections."
For the youthfulness, I did the following:
- The face/head is comprised of a series of head "morphs" from different characters that other artists sculpted. I dialed down one of the faces I used and dialed in a little bit of Connor's original face.
- The original head had HD details turned way up, and the details weren't necessarily sculpted for a younger character. Those details were turned off.
- Sharp cheekbones + slightly sunken cheeks add age. I made his cheeks fuller and lessened the cheekbones to scrub off a few years.
- A sharp, square jaw also reads older. I rounded it off a little bit.
- The darker, fuller upper lashes made his eyes appear a little heavier. Doing sparser lashes opened up his eyes more.
I like my guys to be "imperfect" to add character and realism. I was missing some of OG Connor's imperfections and other features, so I added the following:
- I gave him freckles to echo the moles he had on his prior model.
- Original Connor's lips were very focus-pulling because of how full and pink they are. I didn't go very pink here, but I did give him a fuller, sort of pouty lower lip as a feature point.
- It's not apparent in every image, but I made the bridge of his nose slightly crooked to add asymmetry.
- Lastly, there was something about original Connor's ears that I think made him cuter and more approachable. Inspired by actor Jonathan Bailey's ears, I changed up the shape and have them stick out now.
Body Revision
Something that also aged up the previous version was his body - it was very ropey, very lean, and too defined muscularly. Here are some full body renders showing his revised body from several angles, with my design notes below.
On the Twink to Twunk scale, my intention for Connor was always to be more Twunk than Twink. You can see this is some CGs where I dialed up his abs/other muscles to simulate body tension, usually when he's cumming.
So I wanted to stay with that direction to capture my original vision, but I absolutely agreed with the criticisms about his body going way too far in that Twunk direction.
The primary changes I made:
- I figured out how to reverse the abs that were sculpted into the base body morph I used. His torso is now similarly muscled to OG Connor's, just with more realistic definition.
- Much like the face, I had HD body details cranked all the way to max, which is what gave him that ropey look. Those details were turned off.
- I widened his torso slightly, and then added a little extra bulk to alleviate the too skinny feeling while still keeping him slender.
- I worked on the pecs/shoulders/traps/arms to match original Connor's as far as placement and size goes. You'll see this clearer in CG comparisons below.
- Lastly, I adjusted his neck length by using a virtual tape measure to measure out the right proportions. There's one comparison below that really shows the difference.
Expression Tests
Like the last preview, I did a series of sprites to give an idea of what his expressions might look like. Here they are next to OG Connor's expressions. Since the faces are different, the exact same expression didn't necessarily translate, so for most of these I dialed in different expressions that were similar to the current ones.
CG Tests
Now we come to the images I think will best help us decide what we like or don't like about the revised model - recreations of existing in-game CGs.
Here I show the Connors side by side. The gallery has the full CGs of just New Connor. Please keep in mind these aren't at all final, and there are things I would probably edit if I was doing a final version.
I also am using a new sweater asset that's more realistic and which I can simulate to drape like real cloth. The original sweater basically had a painted-on texture and in many poses gave Connor a hunchback. Just a pain to work with. I do plan to match the sweater/button-up colors for the final images, but I didn't bother going that granular for these samples.
Changes made: Owen's arms were moved to fit New Connor's body, and Connor's expression was adjusted to mimic the original in a way that fits his face. An unintentional change: The lighting got messed up a little when I was moving things around. Whoops!
Changes made: I adjusted the head and eyes to actually look at Matt. In the original, he's actually looking past Matt at nothing. This made the eye reflection a little awkward, which would be something I'd probably edit in a final image.
Changes made: I angled his torso more towards the camera, and then angled his head a little differently to make him seem a little more nervous. I also messed around with trying to make his dick to look more realistically flaccid, which is a pain to do with this dick asset and which I still haven't mastered.
One other note - I used different render settings for this image, and a noise reduction feature really went to town on it, giving it a sort of smeared and smudged look in places. This is especially evident in the pube area. That's something that would be fixed for the final image.
Changes made: Virtually nothing, just readjusting the hand placement and running the sweater simulation. He slotted into this scene perfectly with the pose copied over exactly.
This last CG is also serving as a preview of the Club Update for those who haven't played the latest dev build.
To set the scene, here Connor is initially a little anxious about being shirtless in public around a bunch of other guys who like guys. But as he's dancing and sees admiring looks, he gets really into it and starts performing for their gaze, including tensing his body to show off what muscles he has.
This CG was created entirely with the original model. I slotted New Connor in after the fact, and like with the Evan CG, virtually nothing needed changed. All that was moved was the placement of his right arm.
Grind'm Test
All the previous images save for the body/face previews were done using image settings created for OG Connor. I wanted to test what a scene would look like that was created just for New Connor.
Since New Connor will first appear in the Grind'm update, I decided to see what he and Jordi would look like in a potential scenario. I should note that while Connor is bottoming in these images, you'll be able to choose your position while playing.
Brother Test
And to round out the CG tests, I took a suggestion from a comment on the last post to put New Connor next to his older brother to see that his brother does, in fact, look older than him.
I decided to be very cheeky for these - I sent the boys to the beach, put them in skimpy swimwear, and oiled 'em up. 'Cause why not?
(For this last image, they thought it would be hilarious to send Matt a pic of them mooning the camera. Won't it be so funny when he sees man ass out of nowhere? Haha, bro, let's do it!)
Anyway, that's what I've got for today! I look forward to reading everyone's opinions - and by the way, feel free to DM me if you'd rather not comment publicly but want to share some feedback 🙂
Comments
Danny Nym
I'll be editing the clothes. I just used the base asset unaltered for these images since I didn't really have time to mess around with the textures when I made them 🙂
John
(PS WOOF at the Grind'M scenes! I am DEFINITELY looking forward to seeing those for sure!)
John
I am very grateful that you took on the critiques, the updated version is miles better at finding that middle ground that was needed! My only other thought that came to mind only when I was looking at the comparisons above was actually the clothing! When the old and new models were compared naked I found it was a really good update and they looked quite young. But then the moment the clothes were on I think the darker colours of the jumper and the rigid white collar actually did a lot to age up the character. The original clothes was "freshman going to college" age, whereas the newer clothes were more "mid-20s intern dressed up for the first day at the office" vibe. This is especially prevalent in the scene comparisons, where Connor kind of looks more like a TA or an undercover cop than a fellow student haha Long story short, maybe Connor needs a fashion makeover haha
Danny Nym
I didn't take it as negative criticism, no worries 🙂 I had some other feedback on the shape as well, so I may look into refining it now that I'm redoing the model.
Chaχudal
I think its mainly just the front facing angles cause it looks great in the profile view angles. The head still looks a little small in the recreated front facing scene with owen and julian as well but i think having his hand there jerking him off helped with separating the size of the glans and his balls so it doesnt look off there. Also please dont take this at negative criticism thats not my intention at all, I know all penises are unique with shape and size. I just figured I'd suggest it since you said you were still adjusting his look and I think that if the glans were a bit fatter near the frenulum and the tip that it would make it look more aesthetically pleasing from the front
Danny Nym
Oh, you're right, it does look a little odd front on. His dick is the same size & shape as the current model - does it look off to you in the game as well? If it doesn't, it could just be the front angle making it look off.
Chaχudal
Just my opinion but I think the head of his penis needs to be slightly thicker/wider cause his penis looks disproportionate to his large testicles in the frontal shots especially in full body shot #2
Danny Nym
I'm glad you like him 🙂
Danny Nym
Thank you!
Danny Nym
Thank you!
Danny Nym
Thank you!
Danny Nym
I'm looking forward to making it! Creating those CGs was such a tease for me, I wanted to keep going 😅
Danny Nym
Haha, I'm glad to see some ass love. I *had* to honor one of the scenes of my sexual awakening!
Danny Nym
I'm glad to see such an enthusiastic response! It definitely is a big change, which is why I wanted to run it past everyone here first. I'm very glad I did. I do plan to tweak his ears a little bit, but I'm happy they won you over in the end! I will say the slightly elvish shape was on purpose, but I waffled around a lot between just how much the shape should be dialed in. I think the elfin quality is part of what makes him seem approachable. As for the gray scalp, I don't really know yet how to change it, though I'll continue to try. But it's not really noticeable in the CGs when it's under scene lighting and then run through post-processing. So if I can't fix it, I don't think it'll hamper things too much.
Danny Nym
I'm very glad to read this! All the concerns about the prior model were very valid. I'm glad I decided to open up for feedback instead of just implementing him. I definitely needed the reminder that Connor needed something like his prominent ears before he could step into OG Connor's shoes 🙂
Arkenian
Omg, this is awesome!
Tibor Kasz
Love what you have done to Connor. You've really found the balance to keep his innocent features and being a bit bolder. Great work!
Taken For Pomegranted
Loving the new look! Can't wait to see more.
Seaton
Love it! Keep up the great work!
Paul Fernandes-Gibson
New Connor looks great in the scenes... and of course, always a joy to get a little extra Jordi show... can't wait to see the first Grind'm update!
Lars Vidar
I really like what you have done with the new model adjustments. I was fine with how the "old" new model looked but, after seeing this newer version it's really great. New Connor comes across as "Cute / Adorable" and very sexy. I really like that Ryan Phillippe ass! /wink
Lars Vidar
I like the ears.
E-jay35
Wow, both you and Connor have really come a long way since the first build. Its been a wonderful experience to see the growth of the game. This sneak peek has really showcased the development of your skills over the past year and I have to say, I think I'm finally at a place that I can let go of the old Connor. For the past month I've been a bit on the fence about getting a new Connor, but after seeing this I'm completely on board. I think the new Connor looks fantastic! 😀😀 Seeing the renders of him in some of my favorite scenes has truly helped me accept him as the "Connor" I know and love. I love the addition of the freckles and the extra definition added to his body. ( And don't think I didn't peep that line about him working out a bit in the Dev build 😉) I absolutely love his expressions, they really embody Connor's "innocence" (At this point is he really though...smh...a whole menace, poor Xavier 😘) I only have two criticisms: (1) The dark gray on his scalp from the hair. Its quite distracting, but I believe you said you were looking for a solution for that? (2) His ears. I totally agree with you about the ears adding to his approachability and cuteness, however I feel like the ears on the new model stand out a bit too much. They kind of remind me of elf ears. I think a combination of his old ears and the current ones would be a great middle ground. Its mostly the shape of them that I find distracting, I can't help but zone in on them during certain scenes. Lastly, these Grind'm and Brother Test look amazing. I especially love the first of the Brother renders, they look great next to each other, and on the beach, wearing skimpy swimwear. 🥰🥰 Anyways, I absolutely love this sneak peek, whenever I think I can't be anymore excited for an update, you do something like this a surprise me again. I cannot wait to see the new Connor in the game. Fantastic work Danny! Edit: After looking at it a bit more, I officially love the ears, there adorable. 😂😂 Think I just needed to get use to them.
Omnia
As someone who had a few of the concerns noted with the original version of the new model, I absolutely love how the newest model looks. No notes whatsoever! It achieves what it needs in a polished upgrade, but retains the spirit of the original character pretty perfectly. And I really respect your commitment to giving your characters, especially Connor, these little "imperfections" that make them more human. Too many games in this space essentially focus group their character models into such a state of conventional "perfection" that the characters come off as stiff (the bad kind), alien, and boring. Which is a long way of saying: thank you for Connor's ears
