April was a month of steady progress across all departments as development on Depths of Erendorn continued to advance on multiple fronts. From backend system upgrades and engine migration to visual and audio enhancements, each team contributed vital improvements that bring the world of Erendorn closer to completion. Highlights included new character and creature assets, refinements to environmental design, expanded soundscapes, and technical upgrades that strengthen the game’s foundation. Whether building tools for more dynamic visual effects, resolving engine-related challenges, or preparing new animations for integration, the combined efforts of the teams have further enriched the depth, atmosphere, and playability of the evolving world. 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
Throughout April, the 3D Modelling team made significant strides across multiple character and creature assets for Depths of Erendorn. Early in the month, work centred on refining the Vampire Bat models, progressing from sculpting and retopology through to detailed texturing that brought out the creatures’ leathery wings, muscular anatomy, and jagged claws. With textures finalised across all three variants, the models were completed and prepared for animation and integration into the game. Attention then shifted to the Fen Elf Scout, whose camouflage attire received an overhaul with new natural textures and foliage elements designed to enhance their stealth capabilities within Erendorn’s dense wilderness. Rounding out the month, the team expanded the hairstyling options for the Earthen Dwarf by creating a variety of beard styles that will later enable greater player customisation. These efforts collectively build upon the game’s rich visual diversity, adding depth and character to both its inhabitants and environments.
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Set Piece Design
Over the course of April, the Set Piece Design team focused on elevating the visual quality and cohesion of Depths of Erendorn’s settlement environments. Using Procedural Content Generation (PCG) tools, the team enhanced set dressing across the settlements, streamlining the placement of decorative props while achieving a more organic aesthetic. Shoreline areas received particular attention, with improvements made to the placement and variation of rocks along riverbanks to create more natural, believable transitions. Grass shading inconsistencies were also addressed, leading to smoother terrain blending across different environmental zones. In parallel, research began into expanding the range of modular props with new fence models, alongside plans to introduce a variety of scattered small and medium-sized rocks to enrich the landscape’s texture. Together, these updates continue to build a more immersive and visually compelling world for players to explore.
Programming
Client
Throughout April, the Client team at Depths of Erendorn dedicated their efforts to completing the project’s transition to Unreal Engine 5.5.4 while addressing critical improvements to gameplay and UI systems. The month saw steady progress on building a precompiled version of the engine from source, preserving essential custom modifications, updating third-party plugins, and refining module selections to optimise performance. With successful validation of the migrated project, the updated engine was deployed across the development team, accompanied by troubleshooting to resolve any installation issues. Beyond the engine upgrade, the team enhanced the dungeon lobby UI, introducing a more adaptive layout for player icons and preventing unintended widget closures. Debugging also continued on several gameplay fronts, including movement, turn progression, and animation behaviour, contributing to a more stable and responsive in-game experience as development advances.
Server
Throughout April, the Server team at Depths of Erendorn focused on expanding backend systems to support greater flexibility and reliability across gameplay. A major milestone involved refactoring the ability system to function beyond combat scenarios, enabling abilities to be applied to items and other contexts within the game world. This shift was supported by updates to target selection logic and projectile handling, allowing for more versatile interactions both in and out of combat. Alongside these developments, work continued on enhancing the Combat Viewer with improvements to terrain representation, geometry visualisation, and a new export function for capturing active combat data—providing valuable tools for post-crash debugging. The team also resolved several key issues, including line-of-sight verification in the updated topology system, a concurrency bug within adventure entity management, and excessive client logging during despawn events. Collectively, these updates mark significant progress in building a more adaptable and robust server infrastructure for Depths of Erendorn.
Sound Design
Throughout April, the Sound team at Depths of Erendorn focused on expanding and refining the game’s growing audio library through a range of new recordings and layered effects. Field sessions took place at a partially thawed lake, capturing a variety of natural sounds—from ambient environmental textures to water impacts and wildlife vocalisations such as geese—which will be shaped into audio assets for combat, spellcasting, and atmospheric purposes. In parallel, work continued on enhancing the vocal palette for the game’s more monstrous creatures, replacing older samples with higher-quality recordings that better convey their physicality and menace. Special attention was given to developing dynamic vocal layers for the Zullra, aiming to express both their hidden, deceptive nature and their imposing transformation when provoked. These combined efforts contribute to a richer, more immersive soundscape that deepens the auditory experience of Erendorn’s diverse environments and inhabitants.
Environment Art
Throughout April, the Environment team at Depths of Erendorn focused on both creative development and technical troubleshooting following the project’s recent engine upgrade. A key initiative was the creation of a new procedural crystal generator in Houdini, designed to introduce greater visual variety to the game’s cave dungeons. Early results have yielded promising crystal forms, which will be combined with rock bases to simulate natural outcrops embedded within subterranean environments. Procedural UV mapping was also successfully implemented, streamlining the texturing workflow for these assets. Alongside this creative progress, the team dedicated time to resolving engine-related issues, including repairing foliage master materials that were lost or corrupted during the upgrade. Investigation also began into a landscape import bug that caused flattened terrain, with research ongoing to identify a solution. Together, these efforts continue to enhance both the visual and technical foundations of Depths of Erendorn’s evolving world.
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Animation
Throughout April, the Animation team at Depths of Erendorn dedicated their efforts to refining and finalising the Vampire Bat character, progressing it towards in-game readiness. The month began with updates to the rig, including adjustments to the bone structure and weight painting to ensure accurate deformation across the newly updated mesh. Alongside this, existing animations were reworked to align with the improved rig, enhancing motion quality and responsiveness. With animation clean-up complete, the team moved on to exporting both skeletal meshes and animations for all three Vampire Bat variants in preparation for integration. While technical issues temporarily delayed in-editor validation, these assets are now positioned for final implementation once the engine is fully operational. This work represents an important milestone in expanding Erendorn’s bestiary with more dynamic and polished creature encounters.
Visual Effects
Throughout April, the Visual Effects team at Depths of Erendorn focused on expanding the game’s environmental effects while navigating the project’s engine upgrade. Much of the month was dedicated to developing new flipbook textures using FluidNinja, with the goal of creating dynamic visuals that could later be integrated into magical effects, environmental details, and atmospheric elements. In parallel, the team explored ways to adapt FluidNinja for more organic deployment across open-world environments, enabling smoke and wind effects to behave more dynamically rather than remaining confined to static emitters. This approach aims to bring greater movement and natural variation to Erendorn’s landscapes. With in-engine implementation temporarily paused to avoid issues during the upgrade, these preparatory efforts have laid the groundwork for richer, more reactive visual effects once integration resumes.
That’s it for this month’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of March yet?!
