The Zentragal armour gets a new coat of paint, while additional props are created for the city set. The wizards of coding have been working on implementing world combat and polishing up some vendors. Meanwhile, the audio team have been creating some unique soundscapes for the dungeons and the environment team has focused on decorating a small area of Erendorn. Finally, the animators have created some new attack cycles for the Elf and the Droval. 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 have been continuing to work on the Zentragal's protective gear, adding a splash of colour to the tier 1 and tier 2 armours. Using the colour pallet closely related to the Black Widow spider, the team have worked in the Zentragal's colours into the bodice. Along with blacks as the base, the team have used a bright red colour as an accent. The red in the armour is also one of the key aspects that differentiate between each tier, this is necessary feedback for the player to know which level of Zentragal they are fighting. The team will continue working on the armour through the coming week along with working on the tier 3 armour.
Set Piece Design
The Set design team have been continuing their work on the props needed for the cities of Erendorn. Working with a different theme, the team created a cabinet and set of shelves. In contrast to the other props throughout the last few weeks, the team have designed these props with an ornate finish. Using more curves and adding extra details on the larger surfaces conveys a prop that a crafter has taken the time to build. These props once completed, were implemented into the engine to furnish the buildings within Erendorn.
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Programming
Client
This week has been about getting the remainder of the World Combat loop implemented, as well as fixing any Dungeon Combat issues that arose from the previous week, this includes but is not limited to;
- Updating pathfinding and grid data for World Combat tiles. Differences in tile information and its usage in pathfinding have been unified to work in either Session type.
- Improving Combat removal function to work on individual Combats. Previously Combats were removed as part of Combat Manager's clearing, the new method allows it to persist while Combats and their Submanagers are despawned which is necessary to allow adventures to continue after one group of enemies has been defeated.
- Implementing Combat player Victory handling, players finishing a combat encounter as the victors are now able to return to world movement after combat despawning.
- Implementing player death handling, giving the player the ability to remain as a spectator in the adventure after death or to return to the settlement.
- More development on the dialogue system, mostly tackling some persistent bugs in there.
- More slight visual fixes to the inventory and backpack UI.
- Updated means of checking how equipment changes are communicated between client and server, fixing an issue with equipment for the player and enabling the inspector to read updates from other players.
- Implemented Interactables into the Interactable Manager and Camera BPs.
- Interactables can now be given Assets to spawn.
- Assets now spawn in, position themselves and are clickable/hoverable.
- Added handling for VendorData messages.
- Added VendorData class.
- Added VendorData parsing function.
- Added helper function to get the world position for a specific coordinate in a zone.
- Updated the clients info on the items in the game to reflect the new updates.
- The stats panels should now correctly display if a multiplier is used.
- Added session log class for EquipChange logs.
Server
The server team have been working on implementing and polishing the vendors throughout the week, relocating and fixing the interactables to contain the correct asset ID. Additional work from the server-team can be seen below.
- Fixed an issue where combat IDs were being transferred between servers with a player which was causing the new server to deny actions as it though the entity was still in combat.
- Relocated the settlement 01 Vendor.
- Fixed Vendor Interactables to contain the correct AssetID.
- Regenerated and updated the CSV export for items.
- Fixed reconnecting entities party associations.
- Ended combats should no longer try to add entities back into them.
- Equip actions now update the connected clients so Equipped items on each client is the same.
- Fixed a lingering Connection object which was causing some bugs.
Sound Design
The audio team have been working a lot in the background over the last few weeks working on the many different pieces of audio that are already in the engine. Once everything had been smoothed out within the engine, the team look to improve the ambience within the dungeons of Erendorn. Audio such as this will be layered over the current cave as bass layers and be used randomly each time a new instance of the dungeon is loaded. Using some pitch and volume modulation will convey the feeling that the geology/ structure of the room is changing as the player moves throughout. Additionally, some ethereal breaths have been made for the cave, these will be used less frequently but will add more dynamic range to the caves. This audio has replaced similar sounds that were already in place but were from the cemetary soundscapes, making them unique to the games. Finally, to round out the month, the team also worked on some effects of the poison arrow. All the audio created throughout the week can be listened to below.
Environment Art
The environment team have been working on decorating a smaller area within the initial area of Erendorn. Following on from the work completed last week, the team have utilised the tall grass and flower model to furnish the landscape. Using the new assets the team have brought some colour and variation to the fauna, breaking up the green spans of the grasslands. The team have also used some of the boulders created throughout the last week to add even more variety to the scenery. The team will continue to work on areas throughout the vast initial area of Erendorn throughout the coming weeks.
Animation
The animation team have been polishing some animations within the engine over the last week. While doing this, the team also added new stunning animations for many enemies and characters that needed them. Out of the engine, the team worked on animations for the Elf and Droval. The animators created a bow attack for when the enemy is using its ranged weapon. Special attention has been used as the elf draws its bow showing the tension held within the string. This is also shown as the bow is pushed away by the enemy, as the arrow is released.
On the other hand, the Droval attack shows a lot of power as the enemy lunges forward. The animation team have used anticipation within this movement cycle as the Droval draws their body back before they enter the full length of the strike. Similarly, a metal spring needs to be compressed before it can release all of its power. The team have portrayed this recoiling within the entirety of the form of the Droval, but it is most visible within the hips and shoulders. Along with this animation, the team also cleaned up some of the other movement cycles needed for gameplay and then imported them all into the engine.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of August yet?!
