This week in Depths of Erendorn's development, our teams made significant strides across various aspects of the game. The 3D modelling team resumed work on the first short hairstyle, refining textures and testing a lower-poly approach. The set piece design team completed the magical books set and nearly finished a stone bridge model using advanced shader materials for enhanced visual quality. The client-side team focused on resolving issues with character switching, updating the icon database, and progressing on the levelling-up process. The server-side team set up servers and load balancers, made queue system improvements, and addressed concurrency issues following the migration to 3D navdata. The environment team created a rockpool coastal area, fixed display issues, and improved texture resolutions, enhancing visual quality. Finally, the animation team implemented and adjusted bird animations for seamless integration into the game engine. Examples of the work completed by the teams 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
The 3D modelling team resumed work on the first short hairstyle, using previous efforts as a reference to identify what worked and what didn't. A quick scalp texture was created for the style, and a lower-poly approach was tested for the hair on the sides. Additionally, a new hair texture was quickly developed, which might be more suitable for this shorter hairstyle. This work aims to refine the hairstyle, ensuring it complements the diverse character designs in Depths of Erendorn. Examples of the work completed by the team can be seen below!
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Set Piece Design
The set piece design team completed the magical books set this week. Additionally, they are nearing the completion of a stone bridge model that utilises a modified shader material from Megascans. This shader allows for vertex painting up to four different materials, including puddles, and uses heightmap blending for enhanced visual quality. The shader also includes numerous parameters, enabling quick achievement of desired results and applicability to props, terrain static meshes, architecture models, and more. Examples of the work completed by the team can be seen below!
Programming
Client
This week, the client-side team focused on fixing remaining issues related to players switching characters while maintaining their connection to the game servers. They also addressed problems arising from updates to the icon database and resolved build issues following upgrades to rendering settings. Additionally, the team progressed on implementing the levelling-up process in the client. This involved setting up visual cues for hitting an experience cap and establishing communication between various related UI systems. While some assets still need implementation, the team has enabled signalling pop-up messages, altering the appearance of the XP bar, and displaying when a party member is ready to level up on the team panel. They also adjusted the level-up screen to show incoming stat changes and better guide players through the levelling process.
Server
Last week, the server-side team focused on setting up servers and the load balancer for login servers, making changes to the queue system, and improving the base image to facilitate easier and faster deployment of new servers. Implementation with the game client is scheduled for next week. This week, the team concentrated on general testing, ensuring server stability following the migration to 3D navdata. They addressed read/write concurrency issues that arose when chunks were loaded simultaneously with entity pathfinding. Additionally, a rare issue caused by force quitting the game and immediately logging back in was resolved, along with minor bug fixes for edge cases in the new level 2 abilities.
Environment Art
Throughout the last week, the environment team made significant progress in the development of Depths of Erendorn. They created a rockpool coastal area, fixed normal display issues in large rocks and props, and scaled down settlement roads for better integration. The team also improved the tiling scale of sand in the landscape texture and increased the resolution of virtual texture streaming for the landscape, enhancing the game's overall visual quality and immersion. Examples of the work completed by the team can be seen in the pictures below.
Animation
After refining the base bird model, the animation team successfully implemented the bird and its basic set of animations into the game engine. These animations have been meticulously adjusted to fit the new model and seamlessly integrate into the dynamic world of Erendorn. This progress ensures that the bird's movements are realistic and well-suited to the constantly evolving game environment, enhancing the overall immersion and visual appeal of Depths of Erendorn. An example of the work completed by the team can be seen in the video below!
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of May yet?!
