Another productive week of development unfolded across the Depths of Erendorn team, with focused progress made on several key systems and assets. From environment performance improvements and new structural additions to ongoing animation refinements and equipment sculpting, each department contributed to both the visual and technical evolution of the game. Internal preparations for team testing also played a major role, prompting stability fixes and backend optimisations to support smoother gameplay and more reliable systems. As development continues to push forward, these updates help lay the groundwork for a richer, more performant experience across all areas of the 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
This week, the 3D Modelling team continued their work on expanding the Forest Druid’s equipment range, progressing with the sculpting of the next armour set. This phase is focused on establishing the key forms and thematic elements that define the set’s naturalistic style, reinforcing the class’s connection to the wilds of Erendorn. As the sculpt takes shape, the team is working to ensure the new set brings visual variety while staying grounded in the Forest Druid’s earthy, organic identity. Once complete, this new armour will add to the growing collection of wearable assets designed to support class distinction and character customisation.
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Set Piece Design
This week, the Set Piece Design team continued their environment polishing efforts with a focus on new structural assets. Four turf houses were completed, each designed to blend naturally with the surrounding landscape and contribute to the grounded, immersive feel of Erendorn’s settlements. Work has also begun on creating custom grass patch assets specifically tailored to be placed on the rooftops of these homes, enhancing their overgrown, earthbound aesthetic. These additions will help further define the visual identity of certain regions and bring greater cohesion to Erendorn’s environmental storytelling.
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Programming
Server
Last week, the Server team focused on improving quest reliability and preparing for internal testing by addressing performance concerns and event communication bugs. A significant portion of time was spent investigating unusual CPU usage spikes across all game servers, prompting the implementation of new performance monitoring tools to track the execution times of both player and server commands. These metrics now provide valuable insights to support ongoing optimisation efforts. As part of this, heavy server tasks previously set to identical timers were staggered to reduce load and avoid spikes. Work also continued on quest data handling, including improvements to how quests store variables and how they are communicated to the client. Fixes were applied to event activation logic, along with targeted updates to several world events, such as correcting broken dialogues and misconfigured activation radii. These efforts helped stabilise the server in time for the team’s Friday playtest, marking another step forward in preparing Erendorn for broader gameplay sessions.
Environment Art
This week, the Environment team focused on performance optimisation across several key graphical systems to improve frame times while preserving visual fidelity. A significant gain was achieved by removing approximately 13.5 milliseconds of cost from custom post-process materials, alongside an additional 1.8 milliseconds saved through adjustments to anti-aliasing quality under TSR. Lighting improvements continued with changes to Lumen, where switching to Surface Cache mode and refining how foliage interacts with lighting resulted in a further 3 millisecond gain. Visual quality was carefully reintroduced with minimal cost. Shadow performance was also addressed by replacing Distance Field Ambient Occlusion with Virtual Shadow Maps for dynamic shadows. Lastly, the team adjusted Nanite settings by reducing the maximum pixels per edge, decreasing the cost of both the visbuffer and basepass. These changes collectively contribute to a smoother, more efficient visual experience across the world of Erendorn.
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Animation
This week, the Animation team continued refining the game's character animation set by identifying and improving earlier or less polished sequences. One of the key updates focused on the Jab animation, which was adjusted to better convey weight and intent, helping ensure smoother and more convincing motion during combat. These ongoing revisions are part of a broader effort to bring all character animations up to the current standard, reinforcing both visual consistency and gameplay impact as Erendorn’s roster continues to grow.
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of August yet?!
