In the past week, the development teams at Depths of Erendorn have made significant strides in various aspects of the game's creation. The 3D modelling team focused on refining the agility set of armour, completing essential stages such as retopology and UV packing to ensure smooth character animations and realistic rendering. Meanwhile, the client-side team addressed UI bugs and made improvements, including adjustments to indicators, icons, and vendor transactions. On the server side, efforts were dedicated to refining AI behavior, optimising enemy choices and movement for a more intelligent gaming experience. The sound team, overcoming engine issues, progressed in crafting sounds for visual effects, aligning them closely with character movements for a more immersive gaming experience. Finally, the VFX team tackled shader issues and optimisations while venturing into new concept art and focusing on enhancing weapon and armor enchantments' visual effects. 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
In the past week, the 3D modelling team at Depths of Erendorn continued thier work on the agility set of armour. They completed the critical retopology phase, optimising the protective gear's mesh topology for animation and rendering. This step ensures smooth and realistic movements during gameplay. Subsequently, they transitioned to UV packing, unwrapping the model's surface for accurate texturing. These meticulous processes showcase the team's commitment to crafting high-quality character models for Depths of Erendorn, bringing them one step closer to full integration into the game world. Examples of the work completed by the 3D modelling team can be seen below.
Programming
Client
This week has been chasing up on UI bugs and missing assets. Additonally, the team has been checking off a list of long overdue UI and UX bugs to improve how the gameloop feels. More work completed by the team can be seen below.
- The 'aggressive' indicator on enemies has been updated.
- A bug that showed the container for active effects when a player is out of combat was resolved.
- Some wrongly scaled icons were fixed.
- The vendor transaction indicators have been fixed to remove the confusing 'hovered' state on the arrows.
- Added a background to the ability target tracker and adjusted the associated text to better contrast and scale with it.
- Added a popup during dungeons to inform the player on how to place themselves at the start of combat.
- Started on piecing together an overhaul of how the client handles loot drops to simplify the system overall and aid in catching future bugs.
- Combat progress will only show if the local player is taking part in, or if a currently selected player belongs to said ending Combat.
- Added the Stat Panel toggle functionality, Character Stats in the bottom right of the screen can now be toggled with the TAB button.
- Trinkets now have their "Equips to" text fixed to read "Equips to Trinket Slot".
- Added the ability to add different Help overlay pages and switch between their contents.
- Removed the old movement curs(e)or.
- Updated Character Select, selection and hover visuals and improved scaling for the login background.
- Allowed Environment Volume setting to affect various environment sound sources.
Server
Last week the server team worked on allowing fractional nav index's for entities, this should limit the amount of desync on player movements caused by snapping to the nearest nav index for any steps. Also, some world events were updated related to entity spawning. The next major task of upgrading the inventory has also been started, we currently are limited to only being able to interact with the players inventory in the settlements. As a result, loot you get whilst adventuring is kept until you return to the settlement. We are working to change this and allow the players to take a portion of their inventory on an adventure with them. Loot will also be put into this storage and as a result will be equippable. Additionally, the server team has been working on the AI behaviour. There's been various tweaks for Droval's choices on when they use their abilities, and ranged enemies will now be far more intelligent with picking what tile they move to to ensure maximum effective range while preserving their movement best they can. Finally, we did some bug fixes for counterattack not working due to the server disallowing you from attacking outside of your own turn and Active Effects accidentally appending their ID to the entity who hosts them twice, causing removal bugs.
Sound Design
The sound team at Depths of Erendorn faced some challenges in the previous week due to engine issues. Fortunately, these issues have been resolved, allowing the team to continue their work without hindrance. During this time, they progressed in crafting sounds for visual effects (VFX) assets, including a portal opening effect and the magical glove effects they been developing. Notably, with the animation team's addition of more advanced character movement animations and the VFX team's corresponding VFX work, the sound team is keen to create sounds that closely synchronise with character movements, enhancing the overall synergy between audio and visual elements in the game. Examples of the work completed by the sound team can be seen below.
Visual Effects
In the past week, the VFX team at Depths of Erendorn accomplished several crucial tasks. They successfully addressed and resolved lingering shader issues and optimisations, marking significant progress in improving the game's visual quality and performance. Moving forward, the team will continue to address any shader-related issues they encounter in an ongoing manner. Additionally, they initiated work on new concept art, further expanding the creative vision for the game. Notably, the team shifted some focus towards weapon and armor enchantments' visual effects (VFX), a vital aspect of enhancing the gameplay experience. Examples of the concepts completed throughout the week can be seen below.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of August yet?!
