This past week in Depths of Erendorn saw focused development across multiple departments as the team pushed forward with engine upgrades, visual improvements, and gameplay enhancements. The 3D Modelling team advanced the Vampire Bat into the texturing stage, adding visual depth and character to the creature with bold tones and defined surface detail. On the technical side, the Client team continued upgrading the project to Unreal Engine 5.5.4, laying the groundwork for long-term development efficiency, while the Server team resolved a communication issue in the dungeon lobby and aligned dungeon generation with the broader world topology system for more consistent gameplay logic.
Elsewhere, the Animation team progressed the Vampire Bat’s rig and animation updates to match its new mesh, ensuring fluid and responsive movement, and the Visual Effects team worked on dynamic environmental effects, developing new smoke and wind systems that react more naturally across outdoor settings. As always, join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit for daily updates on Depths of Erendorn. Alternatively, join our Discord for all the latest! - now let’s get into it!
3D Modelling
This week, the 3D Modelling team at Depths of Erendorn progressed to the texturing phase of the newly updated Vampire Bat model. Building on previous sculpting and retopology work, efforts were directed toward creating detailed textures that highlight the creature's menacing presence and anatomical structure. Rich tones and subtle surface variations were applied to enhance the character’s leathery wings, muscular form, and bone-like claws, reinforcing its predatory role within Erendorn’s expanding bestiary. The current work-in-progress already reflects a strong visual identity for the Vampire Bat, which will contribute to more atmospheric and threatening encounters in-game. A preview of the latest progress can be seen below.
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Programming
Client
This week, the Client team at Depths of Erendorn divided its focus between critical bug fixes and ongoing engine upgrades. As part of the project's transition to Unreal Engine 5.5.4, efforts continued on building the new engine from source, preserving essential custom modifications, and updating third-party plugins to ensure compatibility. On the UI side, improvements were made to the dungeon lobby, addressing an issue where player icons would disappear or extend off-screen when more than four players were queued. The layout now adapts by stacking icons vertically, and the widget is now protected from being inadvertently closed by universal UI events. Alongside this, debugging continued on several gameplay-related issues, including combat movement, turn blocking, and animation inconsistencies—contributing further to a smoother, more responsive in-game experience.
Server
The Server team at Depths of Erendorn dedicated last week to expanding the versatility of the ability system and enhancing the game’s debugging capabilities. A major focus was on refactoring abilities so they can be used outside of combat, particularly on items—an extensive shift from the current combat-only functionality. This significant rework lays the foundation for greater flexibility in future gameplay, allowing abilities to be applied across a broader range of scenarios. Additionally, improvements were made to the Combat Area Viewer, including the introduction of a central export function that records active combat data. This means that even if a server crash occurs, developers can now retrospectively examine what combat instances were running at the time—providing valuable context for debugging and helping to identify underlying issues more effectively.
Animation
This week, the Animation team at Depths of Erendorn focused on progressing the Vampire Bat character, with efforts concentrated on adapting its rig and animations to the recently updated mesh. The rigging process involved refining the bone structure and weight painting to ensure accurate deformation and movement. Simultaneously, the team began reworking the character’s existing animations to align with the new rig, improving overall motion quality and responsiveness. These updates mark an important step in preparing the Vampire Bat for integration into the game’s expanding bestiary, ensuring it moves and behaves convincingly within the world of Erendorn.
Visual Effects
This week, the Visual Effects team at Depths of Erendorn focused on developing new environmental effects to enhance the atmosphere of the open world. A major area of exploration involved adapting FluidNinja for use beyond static emitters, allowing for dynamic smoke and wind effects to be deployed more organically throughout outdoor environments. These efforts aim to add movement and life to the world by introducing effects that react more naturally within expansive landscapes, rather than being restricted to fixed points. This shift not only improves visual variety but also paves the way for more immersive and responsive environmental storytelling across Erendorn’s evolving terrain.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of March yet?!
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