The path forward

With the lock script finished, I can now turn my attention to "what's next".

When all this started, it started because I wanted to add new colors of latex. Most of my latex products have been developed on the same 12 colors that I started with back in 2008. Those colors were borrowed from Powers of Creation, at a time when I didn't think I'd ever make my own catsuits.

In addition to the "Series 1" catsuits and their applier kits, ER has 11 color-changing latex attachments.

Some of these are among ER's oldest items... and some are among ER's best selling items even to this day.

One new color of catsuit for "Series 1" would mean that all of these items would need to be updated. That's not a small undertaking.. made more complicated because these "Series 1" items (with the exception of the boots) made use of "dialog" menus.

Click the rainbow

Dialogs are limited to 12 buttons, and conveniently, Series 1 had 12 colors. It worked out pretty well, but as we saw with the "Fetish Doll Hood", once you start adding a few different textureable areas.. things start getting complicated, and it starts becoming awkward to keep the menus looking organized.

Right column is "tints" center column is "textures"

The HUD has changed that. Now I'm not limited to 12 buttons, and of course I can use actual texture samples right on the button, so you can know if "Red" means dark red, or light red before you even press it.

Simpler.. and expandable

Like I say, I'm no longer limited to just 12 buttons per texture-able area. There's a technical limit, of course, there's only so many textures I can store in a script.. but that too can be worked around with the HUD system I'm using now.

The oft asked question came up again a couple of days ago..

How about adding tattoo layers for your catsuits, including full suit plus hoods? or multiple style Hood add on set for catsuits like Open, closed, minimal, cat hoods.

This is something that I've been asked before.. really since the "Tattoo Layer" was released in  2010. The problem is the same today as it was in 2010.. I can't practically offer "free updates" to clothing items. There's no scripted attachment in that set which checks for updates, there's no "proof of purchase" item in there either. (the idea of something like that wouldn't occur to me until years after I'd released the sets). And there's no way I can practically deal with handing out hundreds of free items to anyone who asks.

The workaround solution then, is to sell a "tattoo hood pack" that would be purchased separately. This was one of the product ideas that made me realize I NEEDED lower-prim multi-color item vendors. If I could make several variant designs, I could sell them separately or in small packs, to keep the costs low, and increase ER's product line at the same time.

Making a "Series 1" hood clothing item is easy enough.. and I'll probably put that idea on a "fast track" in the short term future. A unified "total body catsuit" on the tattoo layer.. that's something that will need to wait for Series 2.

• Series 2 •

I was never happy with the "Generic Shiny" effect that features so heavily on so many of my earlier products. Those textures were designed at a time when I was trying to make attachments that would work with other makers' latex clothing. Once I made my own catsuits, I started wanting to make the attachments really 'blend in' with the catsuits.

You've seen how good it can look when I do that. The Plateau Boots, the Jouet Doll.. the new appliers for the catsuits.. the look and feel of the newer items is more finished.. and just better overall.

A while back, I started working on trying to improve my latex base, and thanks to some inspiration from Coyote Seattle's Rubber Skunk project, I was able to really get things looking nice and glossy. You've seen the results of that in the Jouet Doll's skin.

The Series 2 latex base (the base textures that get cut up and modified to make clothing layers) will have some of that look. It is similar to the "Series 1" catsuits, but more complete. The Series 2 Latex attachments will have textures more consistent with the catsuits as well.

But Series 2 presents me with 2 major obstacles.

1. A new selection of colors
2. A new series of attachments

While updating the older items to support the Series 2 textures will be possible, let's face it.. all the Series 1 items could do with a bit of renovation. The series 1 items make heavy use of sculpted prims, and nowadays we can do better. With the new HUD system and the new locking scripts, many of these older products would need to be rebuilt from the ground up.. and if I'm going to do that.. I might as well give them a proper going-over in terms of design and textures as well!

Now, I want to be clear here.. this doesn't mean that the older items will be completely abandoned. Some may get rebuilt, while others may just continue the way they are. I have no immediate plans to stop selling any of the existing latex items.

Similarly, Series 2 items may provide some backwards compatible colors to work with Series 1 items. This is something I'm still trying to sort out in my head, so it's not exactly a final decision either way. 

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So then, what does this all mean? In part, it means that I want to make new colors.. and some of the older items may not always work with all the new colors. (they certainly won't at first!). I am only one person, and ER is a one-woman operation. I have to do things one at a time.

My hope is that the new colors in Series 2 will appeal to a wider number of people. And hopefully this system will allow me to fairly easily add-colors down the line, without needing to rewrite scripts and redesign whole menus.

When can you look forward to seeing these new colors? Hopefully soon. I need to get some basic colors decided on, so I can begin working on Series 2 items... whatever the first ones are likely to be.