In this week’s devlog update on Depths of Erendorn, we’ve got a lot of ability updates to share with you, from new visual effects to new balance changes. We’ve also finished off the sculpts for the Guard series in ZBrush, and cracked on with the Inn that we’re building in MAYA. Keep an eye on our Instagram, Twitter or Reddit for daily updates on our pc game in development - now let’s get into it!
Sculpting the Guard in ZBrush
Continuing on with the Guard series we began creating last week, our 3D Modeller has now finished off the sculpt for the Royal Guard, the most formidable class within this group of enemies. Parts of this sculpt were then used to create the two lower Guard types.
Our 3D Character Artist also sculpted an emblem featuring a carved lion’s head, a detail that we’ll use to distinguish the higher level armour. Here’s our work so far:
Animation in UE4
Our Animator has been keeping busy over the last few weeks by implementing and testing animations in the engine, as well as creating new cast animations for playable characters. They’ve also been:
- Adding Animation Controllers to new Talent abilities
- Creating triggers, BPA_s and DDA_s for abilities
- Testing everything in game and thinking of new ideas for spells
We’re working on getting some footage together at the moment, so keep your eye out for future devlogs!
Environment Design
Set Dressing, Optimising, and Building an Inn
The main goal for our Environment Design team right now is to finish off the game’s first settlement in UE4, so a lot of work has gone into set dressing and making changes for optimisation. For example:
- We’ve taken lights out of the candle blueprints and instead manually added point lights around the level, thus preventing too much overlap between lights.
- We’ve also replaced the twig decals on the roofs of buildings with foliage painting. Not only does this look a lot more convincing, it’s also a lot quicker and easier to do.
- We also continued our progress on the Inn that we’re creating for the settlement. Working in MAYA, the roof construction is nearly complete and lookin’ good!
Our Environment Artists have also begun working on an ideas board for set pieces that can be used in the game’s caves. Set pieces are different from individual props because they're a collection of assets that will work together to bring life to a level. We’re slowly building up a collection of ideas so will hopefully be able to show you some updates soon!
Visual FX for Knight Abilities
Our VFX Artist has spent the last week finishing up all the visual effects for the Knight’s Talent abilities, and while their angles still need a little tweaking, they’re looking unbelievably cool, if we do say so ourselves. Once we’ve polished them all off, we’ll be moving on to creating the visual fx for the Parakaw's abilities - our VFX Artist is particularly excited about the crystal skill, so stay tuned to see more on that!
For now, here are the WIP VFX for the Knight’s Talents abilities:
Combat Prowess: Attacks cost 50% less Energy and the Knight takes 25% less damage from all sources.
Attack of Restoration: Deals Physical Damage and heals the player with lowest Health on the team.
Arcing Strike: Deals Physical Damage and prevents the opponent from regenerating Energy on the next turn.
Reform: Every time an enemy dies, you’re granted a 35% chance to restore small amounts of Zeal.
Sound Design
In addition to working on pole-axe hits and reworking weapon SFX, our Sound Artist has been busy mapping out sound effects that can be added to the game’s settlements.
They’ve recorded loads of sounds for this so far, including for chests, barrels, sacks, and various other ambient sounds. The point here is to create an immersive atmosphere of everyday settlement life, so that’ll be awesome to experience once everything is ready!
Reworking Character Abilities
This week was all about balance changes for our Programmers, specifically, reworking all the level 1 class abilities, talents, and generic skills to make sure they're properly balanced.
Voidmind: Used by the Twilight Elf Assassin, this stores 75% of Damage taken on the turn it was cast. Then, on the next turn, this stored Damage is transformed into Void Damage, and you can deal it to a given enemy.
Pyro Bolt: Used by the Parakaw Astromancer, this is a projectile that you can use to deal significant amounts of Damage to enemies.
Touch of the Damned: Used by the Zentragal Illusionist, this curses the enemy and reduces its Movement for 1 turn, as well as dealing Void Damage for three turns.
Earthen Rage: Used by the Earthen Dwarf, this grants you additional Strength for one turn. Strength gain can be increased by a further 1% if you’re missing Health.
https://doe.horus.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Earthen-Rage-Draft-Sound-02-with-video.mp4
This is the Earthen Rage VFX with draft sounds
Arcanic Reverberation: Used by the Watertarg Excursionist, this allows you to deal a good amount of Arcane Damage - but even better, the target then takes an extra 7.5% Damage for every enemy within 2 tiles.
https://doe.horus.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ArcanicReverb1.mp4
These are the WIP vfx for 'Arcanic Reverberation'
That’s it for this devlog - see you next Monday!
