Over the past month, the teams at Depths of Erendorn have continued to make progress across all areas of development, further enriching the game’s world and refining its systems. From the intricate detailing of character models and armour sets to the dynamic enhancements in sound design, animation, and visual effects, every aspect has seen updates. The game’s environments have been elevated with new assets, refined landscapes, and optimised foliage systems, while improvements to gameplay systems such as camera controls, dungeon setups, and server stability have ensured smoother and more immersive experiences. Key milestones have been achieved in developing visually striking abilities, implementing robust character animations, and enhancing the auditory depth of combat. 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
Over the past month, the 3D Modelling team at Depths of Erendorn has made significant progress in bringing the Earthen Dwarf to life through detailed and robust design work. The team began by blocking out the core components of the first Earthen Dwarf armour set, transitioning from early concepts to detailed sculpting. With a focus on achieving a bulky aesthetic that complements the Dwarf's stout and rugged nature, individual parts of the armour were meticulously refined to create a strong and imposing appearance. This week, additional plates were added to emphasise a robust and bulky aesthetic, perfectly complementing the stout and resilient nature of the Earthen Dwarf character. These enhancements aim to create a visually striking design that aligns with the character’s grounded and formidable identity. Alongside this, the sculpting of the Dwarf Guards was completed, marking another milestone in establishing the visual identity of this resilient race. Examples of the team’s work can be seen below.
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Set Piece Design
Throughout December, the Set Piece Design team at Depths of Erendorn has made remarkable strides in enhancing the game’s environments, with a particular focus on settlement areas and the marketplace. The marketplace assets pack was completed, featuring a cohesive collection of high-quality elements designed to create immersive and visually dynamic trading hubs. Following its completion, the team shifted attention to set dressing the reworked landscape, meticulously sculpting the terrain to restore its natural features while adhering to updated design objectives. Efforts were concentrated on detailing the marketplace area, adding vibrancy and functionality to this critical hub within the game world. Beyond the marketplace, detailed set dressing efforts extended to other settlement areas, with fine adjustments made to multiple assets to improve their integration and visual appeal. Plans are underway to expand this refined set dressing to additional areas, further enriching the depth, atmosphere, and cohesion of these important player environments. Examples of this progress can be seen below.
Programming
Client
December saw the Client team make progress on refining gameplay systems and addressing a range of technical challenges. Key advancements were made in the camera control systems, with the implementation of adjustable settings for speed, acceleration falloff, and tether range. This required the creation of new UI classes, updates to the file manager for saving and loading settings, and the addition of a "developer mode" for testing purposes. Camera acceleration was also improved to adjust based on motion direction, ensuring smoother transitions and enhanced responsiveness. Further updates to forced tethering enabled the camera to drag smoothly with player movement rather than snapping abruptly back when exceeding tether bounds. Significant progress was made on Dungeon Combat systems, with adjustments to Ballots, Rerolls, and RoomBuilder debugging tools to enhance the placement functionality of dungeon components like floors, walls, and ceilings. Several issues were resolved, including fixes to context menus, friend and party member lists, and preparations for integrating lootable corpses. Updates to the level-up system improved party notifications and VFX triggers, while a bug affecting stat updates in the team panel when equipping items was also addressed. These developments continue to ensure a polished and immersive experience for players navigating the world of Erendorn.
Server
Over the past month, the Server team has made significant progress in enhancing development tools, gameplay functionality, and server stability. A key achievement was the creation of a combat area web renderer, enabling developers to view snapshots of active and past combats directly from server data without requiring session access or a client. This tool, supported by an integrated API layer and secure data handling, provides valuable insights for debugging issues such as client desynchronisation. Further updates improved the tool with features like clickable nodes, entity rotation displays, and enhanced debugging capabilities for dungeon generation processes. Game server stability was greatly improved through fixes to critical crashes related to enemy placement, movement updates, and race conditions in the debug mutex tool. Terrain remapping was conducted for the new game map, recalculating nodes, movement values, and fast travel zones, while refining workflows to enhance future iterations. The team also worked on procedural dungeon generation, addressing set piece linking issues to prevent irregular layouts, and began developing pre-written quests designed to alter enemy and event spawns during adventures, rewarding players upon completion. Lastly, the reworked Earthen Dwarf ability, Inner Grit, received necessary bug fixes to resolve scaling issues with its stat bonuses. These efforts continue to bolster server performance, development efficiency, and gameplay depth.
Sound Design
Throughout the month, the Sound team has focused on refining the game’s auditory experience by adding layers of depth and dynamism to ability and attack sounds. Subtle yet impactful elements, such as body movements, footsteps, and whooshes, were integrated into the soundscape to amplify the power and impact of abilities during gameplay. These additions, particularly effective for larger abilities, emphasise the build-up and release of energy, while simpler attacks were enhanced with grounding elements like footsteps and grunts. Abilities such as Palm Strike and Blindside were used as test cases, showcasing the difference these layers make with comparisons of versions featuring just movements and those with both movements and whooshes. The team’s approach ensures these added elements seamlessly blend with existing audio, acting as padding that enhances the overall soundscape without overshadowing the primary ability sounds. This enriched auditory design creates a more engaging and visceral combat experience, especially during chaotic battles, and further immerses players in the world of Erendorn.
Environment Art
Throughout December, the Environment team has delivered substantial updates, introducing a wide array of new assets and enhancements to elevate the game’s natural landscapes. Among the additions are grass, fern, pennyroyal, beech saplings, spruce saplings, and bushes, all of which significantly expand the variety and detail of the game’s flora. The landscape master material was updated to dynamically scatter “dumb foliage,” such as grass and pennyroyal, while Procedural Content Generation (PCG) tools were utilised to strategically place boulder clusters—covered in moss or snow depending on altitude—and scatter diverse tree species at varying densities based on ground material, slope angle, and elevation. Further innovation came with the development of “smart foliage” systems, enabling elements like ferns to be automatically placed in shaded areas, such as near boulders or within dense spruce forests. The team also conducted an extensive optimisation pass to enhance performance, making tweaks to poly counts, reducing quad overdraw, evaluating nanite meshes, and adjusting parameters such as foliage animation cut-off distances, shadow settings, and culling distances. These updates not only enhance visual fidelity but also improve overall performance, creating a more immersive and optimised environment for players to explore.
Animation
Over the past month, the Animation team has focused on refining character animations and ensuring seamless integration across various classes and abilities. Significant progress was made in updating and transferring shared animations, with careful adjustments applied to align them with the unique movements and traits of each character class. This work has prioritised maintaining a consistent animation style while preserving the individuality of each class, enhancing the overall fluidity and responsiveness of character actions. These updates contribute to a polished and immersive experience for players, ensuring that every interaction feels dynamic and visually cohesive as they explore the diverse world of Erendorn.
Visual Effects
Finally, the Visual Effects team at Depths of Erendorn has made significant progress in enhancing the game’s combat experience by delivering impactful and visually engaging designs for a variety of abilities. Effects for abilities such as Embodiment: Life, First Blood, and Might were crafted to align seamlessly with the game’s aesthetic, improving clarity and immersion while amplifying their impact during gameplay. The team’s efforts have focused on ensuring that every ability feels unique and visually compelling, with each effect contributing to the dynamic and polished combat system within the game. These updates not only elevate the visual presentation of abilities but also deepen the player’s sense of engagement, ensuring that the world of Erendorn continues to be vibrant and immersive. Examples of the progress made can be seen below.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of November yet?!
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