Last week our set-piece team have continued working on the props for the world of Erendorn, our Zentragal rework got an update to idle animations and poses, and our VFX team tackled the many abilities players will be able to cast in-game, focusing on the Earthen Dwarf Character Class. As always, join us on Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit for daily updates on Depths of Erendorn - now let’s get into it!
Set Piece Design
Last week, our set design team have continued their work on props that will furnish the dwellings of Erendorn. Although a familiar task for our team at this point, it is never a quiet week with hundreds of props still needed to create the atmosphere we are striving to establish throughout Erendorn's homes and buildings. Last week has seen the team tackle some more decadent props for the world such as a Wooden Stage, a Vase, a Stool, a Birdcage, a Chaise Lounge, a Grate, and Chimney.
.png)
.png)
.png)
Continuing to create these props will ensure the variety we are striving for within the dwellings of Erendorn. As players experience the world the team needs this variety to keep the game world interesting and new to the players. Each building and shop may tell a story about characters within the world and props such as these will aid in that storytelling.
Programming
Client
Last week has been focused on the Clear and Destroy Manager functions used by the various managers to create gameplay in the Depths of Erendorn Client. With the implementation of separate World and Dungeon Sessions the usage of DoE Gameplay Manager classes has been changed to allow Sessions to generate and utilise their own managers. In short, this means the methods we use to clear these managers have needed upgrading and last week has been about meeting those new demands and streamlining the process. Here is a breakdown of the work completed by the Client-side team this week:
- Updated Clear and Destroy methods across all gameplay Managers and Submanagers.
- Automated Managers to always clear before destroying.
- Broke the shared steps to Clear and Destroy into standardised functions to simplify the updating of any manager.
- Added the Movement Manager to the World Session.
- Inventory Messages are now received by the client and processed correctly.
- Equipment Display now correctly updates when Equip/Unequipping items happens.
- Entities joining a settlement are now placed at the spawn locations.
Server
Last week, the server team focused on adding in a new mechanic, allowing heals to use a player's critical chance to potentially critical heal! This involved quite a bit of rejigging under the hood, and a new effect block that actually creates an add stat effect block inside itself from scratch. It was quite a complex task, but everything is working as intended now. Hopefully, this provides an interesting alternate build path for more supportive players to help their team. Additionally, we noticed that some of the larger setpieces were not fitting in the randomly generated dungeons, so we tweaked how they find space to fit themselves in the dungeon, giving them a little more leeway to squeeze in. Also, a bug was discovered to do with AI not quite ending their turns correctly, even with last week's fix. Finally, Lionmen no longer crash the server by roaring! Here is some of the other work the Server team has done last week:
- Fixed the ability to equip/unequip items. This mechanic hasn't been looked at since our previous Gameserver code.
- Fixed Item Stats Info.
- Added Connect/Disconnect Events on the server.
- Added Spawn Locations to the Zone Navigation Data.
- Reduced the leave timer in the settlement to 5 seconds.
Environment Art
After the completion of the new rock formations in the last development log, the environment team has turned their focus to a new point of interest; a castle ruin area. The reference images below will help our artist create a new block out for this ruined area. Taking references like these our artists will be able to block out the new area while adding realistic features seen in our own world. These new assets will be created in a modular kit so they are usable in many different situations and also makes creating multiple castles and ruins in the world of Erendorn much less complex. Over the coming weeks, we will see the creation of these ruins and their placement in the world. Exciting things to come!
Animation
Our animation team has been continuing their work on the new Zentragal model, focusing this week on getting the idle poses and animation transferred onto the high poly model. The team started by updating poses for the model that show the sinister and mysterious nature of the Zentragal species. With the new proportions of our reworked spider, these idle poses become really important to ensure that previous animation can be transplanted onto the model with few problems. The team has dealt with some weird issues throughout the last week due to the difference in proportions but has overcome them to get the working idle poses and animations you can see below. Updates to the animations and idle poses will ensure that transitioning from the high poly models to the finalised low poly models will be less complex.
Visual Effects
Following on from our previous development log, the VFX team has moved away from the waterfall visual effect until a new plugin is made available. Last week, the team has been focusing on the Earthen Dwarf Character Class and their level 3 Character Class abilities. These include Magnetic Shift, Shoulder Barge, Vehemence, Earthen Touch, Holistic Regeneration, and Berserk. The visual effects for these abilities can be seen below.
.gif)
These visuals will be crucial when it comes to identifying the different spells used within the game upon implementation. Players will need to visually be able to determine which spell has been cast as it could be the meaning of life and death. With these visual effects, they will become unmistakable from each other. Visual effects such as the ones above and below will be tied together with animations and sound effects to give players as much feedback as necessary to ensure they know what is happening around them in the world of Erendorn. The VFX team has also been looking at new plugins that will take the work they are completing to new heights, so lots to look forward to from this area in development!
.gif)
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of February yet?!
