Hi folks! This week, Nico is here to update you on our progress. Today, we're finally giving you a sneak peek at Paul's work in images, featuring an initial draft of characters that can grow and shrink. Of course, this is just a glimpse, and there's still plenty of work to be done before the final integration into the game.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to pitch the project at the Ailes de Cristal event, which rewards businesses. We were invited as winners of the Pépite 2023 award, allowing us to present the project to an audience of around 900 people in a live-streamed event. It was also a chance to connect with other local projects.

Chloé and I continued working on the game's interface. We brainstormed a new way to present weather choices and discussed how to add more color to the interface. Gradually, I'm incorporating visual changes throughout the game interface (not just in the world editing section), while Chloé is designing new icons.

As usual, this week was packed with meetings. On Monday, we discussed potential future collaborations with several Inria services on an educational serious game project. On Tuesday, we focused on communication and strategized about our outreach. Wednesday saw Jimmy and me presenting VirtualSociety to guests at Inria. Thursday, we met with the HopeValley AI team, a startup project also supported by INRIA, aiming to use serious games for women's health, particularly breast cancer prevention. We share many values and are excited about the prospect of collaboration. Finally, on Friday, I attended a training day with the Lorraine Incubator.

To wrap up, Jimmy improved various parts of the VirtualSociety code to make it more user-friendly, while I made changes to other sections related to the appearance of the game interfaces.

That's it! Thanks for your support, and see you next week!

On the menu: A brand-new tool for walls, improvements to the editor, new visuals, and a character that is nearing completion!

Melissa is focusing on a new theme this time: shops, and more specifically, a lovely little coffee shop ^^ She has started thinking about the different objects to create, the style of the place, decorations, and has produced a beautiful visual that has won us all over! We're eagerly awaiting your opinions and feedback on social media :P

Jimmy has finished the new curved wall creation tool, a much more advanced and permissive system than the previous one, allowing much more freedom in creation and customization! So, everyone, a big "Thank you, Jimmyyy" ^^ I'm looking forward to the same tool for roofs, but one thing at a time :)

On their side, Nico and Chloé worked hand in hand to improve the game world editor. On one hand, Chloé created brand-new icons for the different categories of the editor; they are now much simpler to understand and more visible than before! On the other hand, Nico integrated these new icons into the game and added several features to the editor. (In addition to fixing some bugs, which were obviously unwelcome!)

As for me, I'm progressing on the future character of the game! This character is now much more customizable and deformable than before, thanks to what we call "morph targets." This allows for changing its morphology, facial expressions, and many other things! I'm also integrating the character directly into the game with Unreal Engine, which is not necessarily an easy task, quite time-consuming, and not as simple as I would have wished haha. ^^' But you'll be able to read and understand everything in detail in my next Patreon post about creating such a video game character! ;)

Thanks for taking the time to read this little summary of the week! Have a great end of the week, and until next time!!