This week, the team working on Depths of Erendorn continued to make significant progress across various departments, all contributing to the evolving world of our online RPG. From refining character models and enhancing environmental set dressing, to optimising visual effects and resolving key gameplay issues, each team has worked diligently to improve the overall experience for players. The Client and Server teams focused on bug fixes and major system updates, while the Sound and VFX teams enhanced the game's atmosphere with new audio and visual assets. Meanwhile, the 3D Modelling and Environment teams have been adding intricate details to both characters and the world itself, creating a more immersive and visually captivating experience. These efforts, along with ongoing improvements in performance and functionality, continue to push the boundaries of what Depths of Erendorn will offer, paving the way for an exciting and dynamic gameplay experience. Examples of the latest work can be seen below. 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 focused on refining the Minotaur model by addressing small anatomical issues in the chest and arm areas, ensuring more accurate proportions and a realistic appearance. Alongside these adjustments, the team also began the process of blocking out the various armour pieces for the character, laying the groundwork for more detailed and visually striking equipment designs. These updates will enhance both the visual quality and the character's overall presence within the game, adding depth to the immersive world of Erendorn. Examples of the work completed by the team can be seen below.
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Set Piece Design
This week, the Set Piece Design team at Depths of Erendorn completed the design and modelling of settlement carts, adding a new layer of detail and functionality to the game’s settlements. These carts will contribute to the bustling atmosphere within the game's towns and villages, providing a sense of lived-in realism. Following the completion of the carts, the team has now turned their attention to settlement set dressing, where they are working to enhance the overall aesthetic and environmental storytelling of these areas, ensuring that each settlement feels unique and visually captivating for players as they explore Erendorn. An example of the work completed by the team can be seen below.
Programming
Client
This week, the Client team at Depths of Erendorn focused on finalising updates to the dry testing system, which included adding the ability to swap entities and their log references as needed, as well as addressing issues with saving and loading logs. Outside of the testing environment, the team concentrated on resolving several inventory-related bugs. These included display issues that caused incomplete inventories to appear on vendor screens, problems with deleting items from the inventory that required further server-side work, and a bug that was preventing item overflow into the player's secondary storage. Additionally, the team is investigating a bug that was allowing multiple weapons to be equipped in the same slot. Alongside these fixes, account-based functions for adding friends and blocking users were implemented, as well as the UI for the new Social Panel, which allows players to manage friends, blocked accounts, and party members. Additional work completed by the team can be seen below.
- Finished creating the Social Panel and Subwidgets.
- Implemented the Social Data and Public Account Info data types and their handling.
- Added a number of ways to interact with users in the social panel.
- Adding/removing friends.
- Adding/removing blocked accounts.
- Sending messages to friends or party members.
- Inviting friends to your party.
- Kicking party members.
- Fixed a number of hit react and death animation loops for level 2 NPCs.
- Fixed a bug preventing projectile VFX from despawning after hitting it's target.
- Updated timing options for custom projectile despawn delays allowing projectiles we do want persisting after hitting their targets.
Server
This week, the Server team at Depths of Erendorn focused on addressing the numerous errors caused by dungeons attempting to generate themselves within the new 3D system. While crashes have now been resolved, the random layout generation is still encountering difficulties with the new 3D Navgrid system, as it currently requires a 2D layout to function properly. Further work is planned for the upcoming week to ensure compatibility between the dungeon generation process and the new system, allowing for smoother navigation and improved gameplay experience.
Sound Design
This week, the Sound team at Depths of Erendorn continued engine work while testing new sound effects for key abilities, including Cursed Ground and Summon Arcane Giant. The sound design for the Summon Arcane Giant is still in the conceptual phase, with various ideas being explored to capture the scale and power of the creature. In addition to these efforts, the Undead Spawn sounds were updated, bringing a more atmospheric and chilling auditory experience to the game's undead enemies. These sound updates aim to enhance the immersion and intensity of combat encounters in the world of Erendorn. An example of the work completed can be seen below.
Environment Art
This week, the Environment team at Depths of Erendorn focused on planning and delegating tasks for set dressing within the settlement areas, with the aim of enhancing exploration and visual interest. Set dressing has already begun, with clear concepts in place to create engaging spaces throughout the settlement. A highlight of this week's work is the Rising Sun Tavern, which now boasts the best sunrise views in Zone One after tweaks to the solar system. Additionally, an outdoor seating area has been built for the tavern, further enriching the social spaces within the settlement. Road textures and material logic have also been improved, providing more realistic infrastructure to Erendorn. Lastly, adjustments were made to emissive lights to reduce splotchiness when interacting with fog, though further improvements may still be necessary to fully resolve the issue. Examples of the work completed by the team can be seen below.
Visual Effects
This week, the VFX team at Depths of Erendorn focused on developing and refining aura concepts for the Summon Arcane Giant ability, experimenting with various methods for spawning them and testing different materials and types of auras to find the best fit. Alongside this, the team reviewed some of the older VFX in the game, resizing textures that were originally created in 4K. By optimising these textures, which were using unnecessary power to load, the team has significantly improved performance without compromising visual quality. Work completed by the team in the past week can be seen in the video below.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of August yet?!
