What is KISS?

It's right there in the first sentence. It's a digital version of paper dolls where you can move items of clothing onto a figure.

See I just think of the tradesmen/women acronym KISS aka keep it simple stupid

That is what I thought it stood for.

Yes, I actually read your Journal before commenting -- and I remember seeing this KISS thing back in the day (yeah, I'm old).

The original KISS seems to have gone to its reward about five years or so ago (one source says 2013, another says 2004 * shrug *), but I did find this, for what it's worth: Otaku World: Kiss.

I really cannot imagine Big Red in Gene Simmons makeup.
I understand that particular KISS is not where you went with that, but on seeing the header, that's what I thought....

I distinctly remember those things from my early online days. They've largely been supplanted by Flash-driven equivalents these days, to the best of my knowledge.

Which is going to be an issue as Flash officially goes end-of-life in 2020.

Still have some of those old files knocking about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisekae_Set_System

The format still exists, near as I can tell, but I'm not sure the software runs on modern OSes...

As I mentioned below, based on http://www.otakuworld.com/kiss/ there hasn't been much added there since 2012, and their viewers list goes up to Windows 7 but has reports of not necessarily working on Windows 8.

The folks behind Girl Genius had a paper doll app a few years ago.

http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/Gi.....Paper_Doll_App

I suppose the trick would be to find a modern application that can produce the paper doll effect. I know a good layer-handling program would be enough, but didn't KISS have the various pieces visible off to one side first?

How it was done depended on the file. While the layout of a doll on one side with a selection of clothing choices on the other was common it was also common to have a selection of presets with only one outfit each. Some sets, (designed for the more function rich viewers), were even set up as games where you needed to figure out a series of actions to unlock outfits, (or more often, the lack of one).

I've seen people do it in the last few years but have no idea how, or who for that matter.

KISS and viewers do still exist, although dev support is spotty at best and you are probably going to be stuck with a viewer that was last updated five or more years ago.

It was also common to implement the same thing in flash. Right now I don't know of any turnkey solutions, but it should be able to make a KISS-like game on a number of platforms, (such as HTML5).

Haven't thought of the KISS program in years. I think I still have files somewhere on some old HDD from Win 98 or something.

I remember that stuff, yes.

There's still a GnomeKiSS for Linux using the Gnome desktop environment; it hasn't been updated since 2006, but I just ran that version and had it working here. The old Otakuworld 'Big Kiss Page' at http://www.otakuworld.com/kiss/ hasn't had anything new added since 2012, but it does list viewers that should work on at least Windows 7 (and reports that one didn't work on Windows 8).

So the format isn't dead, but it is a bit on the moribund side. I don't know that there's any specific replacement, either; the format itself had several upgrades to add better colour support and scripting over time.

I tried the latest ve4rsion in Win10, and it seems to work all right.

Hmm, actually, there's a DeviantArt group for it:

https://www.deviantart.com/kissclub

Comments there suggest that yeah, the format is pretty close to dead and while the 'cel doll' thing still exists it's going into custom apps rather than using the old format.

I like the idea of a Big Red paper doll... Just as long as her outfits aren't Mother Hubbards , long-johns, and empty herring barrels.

Big Red in skimpy 1970's leather rocker ware. And, as a action figure?...

Of course, someone is going to make a 3d printed version of this, then post the results here. Then the rioting will begin.