Progress update - AJ, animation code, UI

Woo! AJ is in the game, animations have less restrictions, and some little UI improvements worked their way in there. Also, the new Spine update allows some awesome tongue animations. Will have to add those to Rarity's model. Uncensored pic attached btw.

AJ looks awesome, even with just the tiny handful of animations that are in. I'm going to add a couple extra animations so she doesn't derp out too much, then I'll upload a dev build so people can try the rig out. :D

It took a couple days to make the animation code fully support the new system. I used the opportunity to iterate on the way "control" is passed between stallions too. It's a significant improvement from a code perspective and I worked out a few stubborn animation glitches in the process. 

UI updated a bit. I tried to improve clarity in what the abilities buttons/mana stuff do, visibility with a lighter background, and fit more into less space. I'm a coder, not a UI designer, so once the Lover portion of the UI is done, I'll need some input and suggestions to improve it <3

Code/design talk on the improved animation system:

I wanted specific stallions (or mares with strapons) to have a "personality". For example, if we say Big Mac goes hard and fast, then I want him to go hard and fast with every character.

Problem: When I add a hard thrusting animation to the Rarity rig, I can't just copy-paste that to the AJ rig. So if I want Big Mac to act consistent, I have to make an animation that matches his personality on every single new character. Not good design. 

Solution: Make as many animations for a character as I want, then sort them into "personality" categories. Lovers will grab the animation that matches their personality profile. If a character doesn't have an animation that matches, it'll fall back to the next closest animation. For example Big Mac might have a perfect match on AJ, who has rougher animations, but might fall back to a default animation on a timid character like Flutters. 

The biggest benefit is I can make animations appropriate to each character. The freedom to not have to make matching animations across character rigs means that's wayyy easier. AJ already feels wildly different from Rarity (gifs soon), and I can't wait to do the others.

Timeline and goals:

BB (artist) and I are looking to start on the Fluttershy rig quite soon. Tentatively, we're shooting for ~1.5 to 2 weeks from now. 

Before then, I have a list of things I want to finish-

• Add more AJ animations, and write some dialogue for her
  
• Update the "Collect" sequence to the new animation system
• Add "rounds". A round will consist of a handful of stallions instead of an infinite stream. If you get through them all, you win that round.
• Update the Lover UI section to the new style
• Make UI scalable
• Make capacity bars more visually intuitive
• Make concentration more visually intuitive