Another busy week for our developers! The 3D modelling team has updated a previous enemy model while Set Design polish and update assets as they get closer to finishing off city props. Also, the Animation team continues their work on the Draconian cycles while the Sound design team create audio for unsheathing weapons. Additionally, new building blocks have been created for the next point of interest by the Environment team and visual effects for the Watertarg's abilities have been started. Finally, the wizards of coding have continued their work on party implementation and completed general quality of life fixes. As always, join us on Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit for daily updates on Depths of Erendorn - now let’s get into it!
3D Modelling
Taking a break from the Zentragal rework, the 3D modelling team has started to update a few previous models. The model in question last week was the Frog and Stone frog enemy, these models have had their topology cleaned up and new texturing added to the back of the model. Pieces of stone have also been added to the back of the Frog so the silhouette is a lot easier to define at a distance, this in turn will aid players travelling through Erendorn. Updated models can be seen in the pictures below!
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Set Piece Design
Last week, the set piece design team have been working on the finer details of the furnishings that will be used within Erendorn's cities. Working on a writing desk, some shelves, and a selection of blinds, the team has added some intricate details to give the props an authentic feel. All assets that were on the list, to be completed for the interiors of Erendorn, are coming to a completed state. The team will now work on adding extra details to assets and begin creating materials so they can be placed into the world with the stylised effect the team is striving to achieve. These new assets can be seen in the picture below.
Programming
Client
Last week, the team aimed to continue implementing the World Session party system and begin adding the ability for parties to join an Adventure Session. This is the groundwork that will allow players to leave the settlement and explore the world of Erendorn with their party. A breakdown of some other work completed by the client team can be viewed below.
- Further implementation of Party interraction UI; Kick, Leave and Disband actions now display correctly from Party Updates.
- Added the ability to start an adventure with your party, beginning the process of setting up and joining a new session to transition to.
- Added a stand-in for the first zone to allow us to test the new systems for world exploration.
- Updated the format for imported ability tooltip data to use descriptions preformatted to include rich text tags.
Server
A busy week for the server team, the majority of which has been spent creating a script that intelligently tags abilities. The client uses a tagging system to flag certain parts of an ability's description to be displayed differently. For example 'Deal 10 (+15% AP) Fire Damage' will have '10... Fire Damage' in Orange, or whatever colour we settle on for Fire damage, and the '+15% AP' will be the colour of AP, potentially even having the text 'AP' replaced with the symbol for Ability Power, depending on future design decisions. While the client already had this system in, when we balance or create abilities, we had no way to put these tags in ourselves save for laboriously doing it ability by ability. With this new script, every time the servers are launched, they run through the entire database and intelligently add the client's tags to every ability that doesn't already have them, and updates existing ones. Additionally, the Knight's new/reworked abilities have been implemented, and some fixing to the TurnManager that was allowing Ambushers to take multiple turns at once has been done. Other work completed by the server team last week can be seen below.
General Fixes:
- The Server's Command Logging has improved.
- You can no longer move other player characters in the world.
- Automatic Ability Description Tagging added to the server making adding ability descriptions easier.
- Added a random generator to the world session.
Adventures:
- Fixed Adventure Session request.
- Fixed an issue starting new sessions.
- Fixed the zone server config file.
- Starting adventures now correctly starts a session and now the client is given the cue to connect at the right time.
- Refactored the enemy spawn code.
- Added a Enemy group spawn event.
Parties:
- Reconnecting to a session doesn't break parties anymore.
- Party kick should work now.
- Corrected the party invite logging when an invite is accepted.
- Fixed a checker function that determines if everyone is disconnected from the party.
- Party update on reconnect.
- Party handling improved and fixed to enable starting adventures.
- Party Invite responses work now.
- Party leave should work correctly now.
Sound Design
The team working on sound design has been focusing on weapon audio. The past week, they have directed their attention to the withdrawal of weapons from their sheaths. Using a combination of metal scrapes, wood being chopped, strings being pulled, reverb, and echoes the team has created the audio required for any type of weapon being taken out of its holster. What seems like a small feature of a game is essential for keeping gameplay fluid and keeping the attention of the player. Without this, some players may be taken away from the immersive experience the team is striving to give adventurers. The audio made this week can be heard below, along with a video showing how they will be applied to character animations.
Environment Art
The castle ruins are beginning to take shape as the team gets closer to completing their modular kit. Last week, modular walls have been created which have small windows in them. These will add some variety to castle walls along with the ruined walls that have been made through previous weeks. A medium doorway has also been created to add a more realistic feel to the ruins, this will also be good for variation within the walls. Some attention has also been given to more shattered areas of the ruined walls, these new wall panels have then been used within some experimentation pieces as the team looks into finalising the trim that could be used at the top of the walls where needed. Examples of new wall panels and experimentation can be seen below.
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Animation
The animation team has continued working on the Draconian this week, focusing on completing the movement set and polishing previous cycles. The team has worked on light and heavy attacks as well as the walk and a run cycle. Within these animations, the team has shown great use of exaggeration to convey the weight of the two-handed sword this draconian carries. These animations will continue to be polished and then added to the engine ready for gameplay. These new cycles can be seen below!
Visual Effects
Following on from the concepts of last week, the Visual Effects team has started creating the effects for the Watertarg. These abilities include Rainstorm, Early Grave, Drain Strength, Armoured Carapace, Mass Asphyxiation, and Palms of Ice. Using cool colours such as blues and whites the team has created these visual effects to imitate the waters that the Watertarg hold sacred. The team has also put a lot of work into the shape and form of these abilities, this will ensure the player can define each ability as it is used. Now, that this is complete the VFX team will work on more of the complex abilities for the Watertarg. These new abilities can be seen below.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of April yet?!
