Last week, Depths of Erendorn saw significant progress across teams. The 3D Modelling team revised the Revenant character, while Set Piece Design focused on crafting high-poly items for the forge. The Client-side team worked on acquiring more logs for new abilities and addressed bug fixes, while the Server-side team resolved inter-server communication issues and implemented new loot distribution code. The Sound team enhanced footsteps and created audio variants for ice and snow. The Environment team laid the groundwork for asset creation and addressed technical challenges. The Animation team advanced generic skills, and the VFX team finalised level 2 skills concepts and worked on specific abilities effects. Explore detailed updates and examples of the team's work 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
During the past week, the 3D Modelling team at Depths of Erendorn embarked on revising the Revenant character. Despite facing challenges in retaining elements of the old sculpt, the focus remained on aligning the model closely with the original concept. The team diligently blocked out various components, assessing which parts could be preserved, refined, or completely redesigned. This meticulous process underscores their commitment to ensuring the Revenant embodies the envisioned concept while enhancing its visual impact. Examples of the work completed throughout the week can be seen below.
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Set Piece Design
Throughout the week, the Set Piece Design team at Depths of Erendorn dived into the project, beginning with downloading and installing the necessary files. They swiftly transitioned into their assignment task, focusing on crafting high-poly items for the forge. This comprehensive set includes essential elements such as a hearth, anvil, polishing wheel, and a diverse array of tools. These meticulously designed items are slated to furnish a blacksmith's shop in the game's initial area, adding depth and authenticity to the environment. Examples of the high poly models created throughout the last week can be seen below.
Programming
Client
This week, the client-side team continued their focus on acquiring more logs for new abilities and transforming them into templates for the dry testing environment. This endeavour necessitated addressing new bug fixes for saving and loading templates, as well as adjusting input fields to accommodate effects on the latest group of abilities that were previously unreplicable in dry testing. Additionally, the team spent time tracking down packaging issues that emerged after transitioning to Unreal 5.3.2. They also incorporated several developer cheat requests to facilitate testing of upcoming features, ensuring smoother development processes. Additional work completed by the team can be seen below.
- Fixed an issue preventing combat from ending.
- Fixed issues preventing us from packaging due to changes with the world map.
- Added cheat requests for developers to take advantage of and improve test times.
- Teleportation
- Item Generation
- XP Granting
- Ability Granting
- Stat Granting
- Added a panel to make testing even easier for developers.
Server
Last week, the server-side team focused on addressing inter-server communication issues that arose during the integration of the cache system. While more work is anticipated in the coming weeks, significant progress has been made in restoring the game's playability, albeit with some lingering bugs. The team can now conduct weekly testing sessions to ensure ongoing stability. They updated cache functions, resolved inconsistencies in usage, and implemented custom update handling functions to manage data updates across servers efficiently. Refactoring of the adventure struct was undertaken to enhance its capability in storing and managing an adventure's progression across servers, ensuring correct handling of events like death and fast travel. Additionally, new loot distribution code was developed to introduce a more flexible loot system, allowing for testing of various distribution methods to optimise the player experience. This week, the team has been actively engaged in bug fixing, particularly addressing issues stemming from the cache system's implementation on adventures. They also rebalanced several variables related to combat, loot distribution, and server addresses to ensure smoother gameplay. Preliminary work has begun to preload events and enemies before player arrival from the adventure loading screen, further enhancing the overall gaming experience.
Sound Design
Last week, the sound team focused on enhancing the auditory experience in Depths of Erendorn by improving generic footsteps for various terrains such as grass, rock, and gravel. Additionally, they created new audio variants specifically tailored for ice and snow environments. These efforts aimed to enhance immersion within the game world, ensuring that each footstep contributes to the atmospheric richness of Erendorn. Moving forward, the team will continue their work on updating and implementing sounds for the new character animations. This will involve adding and refining sounds for vocals, movements, and actions, further enriching the auditory landscape of the game. Examples of the weeks work by the sound team can be seen below.
Environment Art
Throughout the week, the Environment Team at Depths of Erendorn embarked on several key tasks to enhance the game environment. They began by setting out team briefs and conducting research to provide concepts for environment asset creation, laying the groundwork for future development. Additionally, the team focused on setting up a settlement kit and testing it within the engine, ensuring seamless integration and functionality. They also tackled technical challenges by figuring out the arrangement of assets to enable smooth camera movement within buildings. Troubleshooting and resolving level instancing issues and interactions with decals were also prioritised, ensuring a cohesive and immersive gaming experience. These efforts demonstrate the team's dedication to refining the environment in Depths of Erendorn and laying the foundation for a rich and dynamic game world. Examples of the teams work can be seen below.
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Animation
Throughout the past month, the Animation Team at Depths of Erendorn has been diligently focused on advancing the development of generic skills. This involved creating new animations from scratch, repurposing existing animations for certain skills, and transferring animations between races with necessary adjustments. Additionally, the team created detailed notes for skills that did not require new animations, streamlining the development process. While the bulk of the work centred on animation creation and adaptation, further adjustments and polishing are scheduled to take place after thorough testing. Examples of the work completed by the team can be seen below!
Visual Effects
Over the past weeks, the VFX team at Depths of Erendorn has been focused on several key tasks. They finalised the level 2 skills from the last concept art page, ensuring that each skill's visual effects align with its intended design and impact. Additionally, the team expanded their toolkit by modelling new shapes in Blender for use in upcoming visual effects, enhancing their creative capabilities. Furthermore, they worked on developing visual effects for specific level 2 abilities, including Arcanic Provocation, Mystic Shell, Tether, and Earthen Gust. Examples of the VFX team's efforts throughout the week can be seen in the video below.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of February yet?!
