Weekly Development Update 9.25.2026
Another productive week for NeonStrip, with development covering the world, AI dialogue, NPC behavior, gameplay systems, combat, and UI.
World Development
Work continued on several areas of the island, including the buildings housing Veloura and Obsidian, the women's and men's clothing stores.
The Player's Starting House also received more attention, including continued development of the jacuzzi and surrounding backyard area.
New Waypoint Indicator System
Following player feedback about difficulty finding package drop-off locations during Random Encounters, a new Waypoint Indicator System has been added.
The indicator shows the direction and distance of the destination, even when it's outside the player's current view.
While initially created for package deliveries, this system will eventually be expanded to help locate mission objectives, vehicles, followers, destinations, and other important locations.
Save/Load & Wardrobe Improvements
The new Save/Load Slot Window is now fully implemented, supporting multiple saves with screenshots and save information, along with the ability to delete individual slots.
Several Wardrobe and Dressing Room issues were also addressed, including player positioning and the body-part camera controls used when viewing clothing.
AI Dialogue Improvements
Two important additions were made to NeonStrip's AI dialogue system.
A new Interrupt button allows players to cancel an NPC response that's taking too long to generate and immediately return to player dialogue.
Players can also now add and select their own compatible LLM models for NeonStrip's local AI dialogue system.
NPC & Character Improvements
A new character, Nia Carter, has been added to NeonStrip, with more development planned for her character and role.
NPC-to-NPC socializing was also improved. Conversations now occur less frequently, use better cooldowns, and will no longer start during inappropriate situations such as combat or death.
The interaction highlight previously displayed around NPCs has also been removed for a cleaner presentation.
Gameplay & Combat
Several additional improvements were made this week:
- Reduced stamina costs for running, jumping, and dodging.
- Added new collectible item and weapon icons.
- Improved the consistency of blood effects from weapon hits.
- Continued improving cinematic character interactions and transitions.
A lot of different systems received attention this week, but custom LLM support is one of the additions I'm particularly happy to have working. Giving players the ability to choose their own compatible local AI model opens up considerably more flexibility for NeonStrip's dialogue system going forward.
More development continues next week. For the full development log, visit our Patreon page.
https://www.patreon.com/F18_Studio/posts/weekly-update-9-170527370
— Blast.