It's been a busy week for the team, as the 3D modellers lay the foundations for hairstyles! During this time, the set piece design team continued working on city props. The wizards of coding have been working on implementing world combat and ironing out kinks related to it. Additionally, the sound team have been collecting some ambience from woodlands and the environment team has been creating new foliage for a world event. Finally, the animation team have been getting technical while working with the Zentragal and the VFX team continues to work on the abilities. 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 team have started to lay the foundation for the many different hairstyles that will be needed for the beings of Erendorn. Starting with some texture, the team have created a variety of lengths and types of strands. Once the hairstyles have been designed these textures will be utilised to add depth and contours to the head of hair. Depending on the strand of hair used, our artists will be able to convey the thickness of the hair. The team will continue to work on these textures and start the new hairstyles over the coming weeks. Examples of the foundations for hair strands can be seen below.
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Set Piece Design
The set design team have continued to create props for the dwelling within the cities of Erendorn. Props such as these will be used to furnish houses that will be inhabited by the more affluent within Erendorn's populous. The team have created a large vase, small bench and solid table throughout the week that will fit this aesthetic perfectly. Using thick and sturdy pillars for legs gives the impression that furniture such as this would last a long time in the houses they furnish. Examples of the new props can be seen below.
Programming
Client
This week has been spent implementing the handling of a range of World Combat circumstances, namely allowing adventuring party members to enter and take part in Combat without the rest of the party and subsequently allowing members not in Combat to join in on the fight. Additional work completed by the client-side team can be seen below.
- Implemented the setup of new Combats the player is not necessarily participating in.
- Updated the Turn Display to show the relevant Combat turn order when selecting different characters.
- Created and implemented Logs and Steps for new Server message types; Items being equipped in Sessions, Vendor Transactions and Adventure Progression Granted.
- Created Steps that will be used to spawn objects and modify adventure Zones, adding and removing objects and navigation data to keep things interesting out in the world; Interactable Objects, Spawned Objects and Navigation Data Modifications.
- World Event first client asset was created.
- Crash related to painted XP outside of the bounds of the zone.
- More UI elements for dialogue integrated.
- A lot of bug chasing in the dialogue system.
- Dialogue windows now open clientside.
Server
This week, the server team has been focused on more Adventure bug fixing, with more of a big laundry list of things worked on rather than any single feature worth diving into an explanation of. However, a few new things have been made on the side, including the beginnings of our Day/Night systems, Weather code, and tying the game's systems such as enemy XP into them. You may find more powerful enemies during nighttime, or things may get rough when a storm blows in! More notable mini fixes and additional work from the server-side team can be seen below.
- Reworked how DeepCopy was used in the server, changing from straight Deep Copying to creating new memory addresses that copy the values of the original.
- Some tweaking with enemy groups in the open world and their spacing, as well as respecting the painted-in XP of the local subzone.
- Fixed Active Effects crashing open-world combat.
- Fixed Adventure combat ending causing a Crash.
- Zombies now no longer apply their plague to themselves, but their enemies!
- Added Item Drop Logs.
- Added the ability for the server to change the weather.
- Fixed a bug which stopped the Leave manager which handles removing disconnected players from sessions.
- Fixed a bug which stopped dialogues from starting.
- Refactored World Events to be easier to create and work with.
- Fixed many bugs which stopped the spawning and selection of world events.
- Refactored enemy placement and selection in world sessions.
Sound Design
The sound design team have been out in the wilderness recording atmospheric audio throughout the last week. Using professional equipment has allowed the team to capture the essence of the woodlands and forests. This audio will ground the world of Erendorn in realism and add much-needed atmosphere to the grasslands and wooded areas. Small details that have been captured by the team, such as birds tweeting and leaves rustling will give a much needed ambience to the world. Examples of the audio collected throughout the last week can be heard below.
Environment Art
The environment team have been creating new foliage for an in-game event throughout the last week. The new foliage will stand out from the rest due to its different leaf colour, but more importantly the red berries that will adorn the branches. A range of bushes has been created so they can be placed in abundance throughout the landscape and not be too repetitive. The hedges that have been created will be used within a world event where players will need to gather the berries from them as they travel. Along with their stand-out nature, visual effects will be added to indicate that the berries can be picked by wandering adventurers. The team will go on to implement the new foliage throughout the coming weeks. Examples of these can be seen below.
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Animation
The animation team have been working on the engine with some technical aspects of animations this week. When animating a model with legs, the typical action would be to animate walk cycles using a flat surface. This makes animation easier and gives a reference point for the feet hitting the floor. The main issue that typically arises with this method, especially in the world of Erendorn, is that game worlds are not typically flat. This issue can lead to the model clipping through the floor as it walks through rough or uneven terrain. Working with a complex system, the team have been able to create a program that works with the mesh of the Zentragal. This code will make sure that the feet of the arachnid will stay above the ground it walks on, whilst also being able to continue using its walk cycle as it moves. This will be incredibly useful as the Zentragal moves throughout the hilly grasslands of Erendorns initial area. Examples of the program in action can be seen below.
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Visual Effects
Finally, the VFX team are back creating visual effects for many abilities that will be needed for gameplay. Throughout the week, the team continued working on the list of abilities that will be used once a character has reached their 3rd level. A range of visual effects have been created for abilities such as; Concussive Vines, Hail Storm, Power Tap, Nurturing Heal, Chain Lightning, and Invigorate. The team have continued to use many techniques to bring eye-catching and visual appealing abilities to Depths of Erendorn's gameplay. Examples of the newly created visual effects can be seen in the video below.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of September yet?!
