This past month has brought together a broad range of development work across the characters, systems and environments that continue to shape Depths of Erendorn. The 3D Modelling Team has completed the Tavern Master and progressed the Inn Keeper, while the Client and Server Teams have continued strengthening inventory, multiplayer and dungeon systems alongside the latest Level 3 abilities and the foundations of Hardcore Mode. Significant progress has also been made across the dungeon environments, with new procedural cave walls, rubble formations and vaulted ceilings providing greater variety and flexibility for future layouts. Alongside these developments, the Sound, Animation and VFX Teams have continued expanding the audio, animation and visual effects supporting the game's growing ability roster. Together, this work is continuing to build out the world of Depths of Erendorn while strengthening the technical and creative foundations required for its ongoing development. 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
Over the past month, the 3D Modelling Team has brought one of the settlement’s key characters through to completion while establishing the foundations for the next addition to the growing cast of Depths of Erendorn. Work on the Tavern Master progressed through the final stages of his head, facial features, hair and facial hair, building upon the completed body, clothing, accessories, retopology, UVs and texturing. With these final details refined and brought together, the Tavern Master was completed and the team moved on to the Inn Keeper. The new character has since progressed from an initial sculpting blockout into the refinement and detailing stage, with the team establishing the overall proportions, silhouette and defining features that will shape his final appearance. This continued focus on the settlement's NPCs is helping expand the character roster while maintaining a consistent level of detail across its inhabitants. With the Inn Keeper now progressing through the sculpting process, further refinement will continue as the character moves towards the later stages of development.
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Programming
Client
Over the past month, the Client Team has continued strengthening the systems that support both inventory management and multiplayer gameplay in Depths of Erendorn, while laying important groundwork for the next generation of dungeon environments. A significant focus has been the ongoing inventory refactor, with backpack, vendor and equipment slot functionality progressively moving away from Blueprints and into C++. The team has also consolidated duplicated item slot systems into a more configurable structure and continued evaluating which elements are best handled through UML and which are better suited to C++, particularly for widget layout and presentation. Alongside these improvements, the client has been prepared for the latest Level 3 abilities through new Blueprints, data assets, descriptions and active effect information, with issues surrounding the game's first transformation ability also identified and resolved.
Social functionality has received further attention, with fast travel now being developed to display party member locations and session updates being added to the in-game chat and social panel to communicate when friends and party members begin or return from adventures. Work has also progressed on the dedicated Unreal Floor Lab, where the foundations of the new dungeon floor system have been tested across terrain, water, chasms, bridges, supports, navigation, floor lifecycle management and save and reload behaviour.
Server
Dungeon development and gameplay systems have continued to expand significantly over the past month, with the Server Team building upon the foundations of the new multi-floor dungeon system while progressing the next wave of abilities and player features in Depths of Erendorn. The team has completed the remaining Level 3 abilities for the Assassin, Dwarf, Watertarg and Druid before moving on to more complex abilities for dungeon enemies such as Storm Elves and Zentragal casters. Dungeon development has also advanced considerably, with the Floor Lab now supporting varied terrain, rivers, chasms, bridges, set pieces, cave lighting and configurable wall formations. The team has refined multiple bridge styles, integrated proper cave ceilings and introduced environmental details including stalagmites, stalactites, vegetation and falling water, with the latest dungeon environments now being assembled and tested in standalone builds across multiple generated layouts and floors.
Alongside this, work has progressed on deterministic runtime generation, Dungeon Profiles, terrain and navigation improvements, loot systems and automated testing, while an important inventory transfer issue was resolved to prevent backpack and belt contents being lost between servers. The foundations of Hardcore Mode have also been implemented, including death records, personal summaries and a settlement memorial, with further end-to-end testing now being prepared.
Sound Design
Audio development has continued to grow alongside the expanding ability roster over the past month, with the Sound Team establishing the foundations for the next wave of abilities in Depths of Erendorn. Working from the latest ability designs and descriptions, the team has produced initial sound concepts for abilities including Decoy, Open Guard, Misdirect, ShadowSnare and Succumb To The Void, shaping each effect around its intended function and visual identity. These early drafts provide a clear audio direction for the abilities while allowing the team to explore how their sounds can support the impact and character of each effect. As the corresponding visual effects progress towards implementation in the game engine, the audio can be further refined to ensure the timing, intensity and overall presentation work together effectively in-game. Alongside this work, the team has continued expanding the wider sound library needed to support the growing range of combat abilities, providing a strong foundation for further audio development as the latest content moves through production.
Environment Art
Dungeon environment development has taken a significant step forward over the past month, with the Environment Team establishing a growing library of procedural systems designed to give the caves of Depths of Erendorn greater variety and visual character. Work began with a new Houdini-based cave wall generator capable of producing multiple Nanite-ready wall sizes and variations that conform to the existing dungeon grid. The team also developed procedural boulder and rubble formations, using shared vertex colour data and a master material to ensure the different rock assets maintain a consistent visual identity.
Attention then shifted towards the cave ceilings, replacing the earlier flat-rock approach with vaulted forms featuring domes, recessed pockets and hanging formations. A dedicated procedural generator now produces unique ceiling tiles across four sizes, with 16 variants prepared for integration into the dungeon generator. Considerable refinement has also gone into maintaining the sharp, faceted character of the rock surfaces while ensuring larger spaces retain convincing depth and shape. Alongside the technical development, the team has continued working with programmers to explore how procedural layouts and hand-built set pieces can work together, establishing a more varied and flexible approach to dungeon construction.
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Animation
Animation development has continued to focus on strengthening the coverage and consistency of the systems supporting combat and character interactions throughout Depths of Erendorn over the past month. The Animation Team has carried out a detailed review of existing BPAs, replacing animations where better-matching options were available to ensure abilities and character actions are represented more accurately. The team has also added missing DDAs, helping address gaps within the animation library as the game's roster of abilities and interactions continues to expand. Frequently used animations have received further attention, including cast effects and cast projectiles, with updates helping maintain a consistent visual presentation across different abilities and characters. This work has also built upon recent testing of both class-specific and generic abilities, which has helped identify areas requiring additional animation coverage. Alongside these improvements, the team has continued refining the relationship between animations, equipped weapons and ability effects, helping ensure the growing range of combat actions remains visually coherent.
Visual Effects
Over the past month, the VFX Team has continued building the visual foundations for the expanding ability roster in Depths of Erendorn, developing a series of concept designs to establish how the new abilities will appear through their visual effects. The team has completed concept art for the first half of the new abilities, exploring the shapes, movement, colour and key visual elements that will help define each effect before implementation in the game engine. Detailed annotations have also been added to the completed concepts, highlighting important features and providing guidance for the creation of their corresponding ability icons, helping to maintain consistency between the in-game effects and their associated UI assets.
That’s it for this month’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of August yet?!
