This week we saw the completion of our recent cosmetic armour set, the Blue Melmee saw some animation updates and work continued on the Golang bug fixes. As always, join us on Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit for daily updates on Depths of Erendorn - now let’s get into it!
3D Modelling
This week our 3D modelling team completed the cosmetic armour set they've been working on over the last few weeks. We're so happy with how it turned out, and can't wait to get it into the engine. Work also began on the next armour set! We'll have more to share on this one soon, but you can check out the initial sculpting below:
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Programming
As of last week the Dungeons are once again playable, the focus this week has been on updating the gameplay systems that have seen the most changes in the Server switch to Golang, namely projectiles.
- Projectile Submanager - Before the switch to Golang, projectiles created as a result of abilities like fireball did not take the time spent travelling into account. Therefore, all projectiles were treated as hitting the instant they left the caster's hand regardless of distance. As of the Golang switch, projectile flight speed and distances are simulated and sent to the client to give us a much more accurate picture of what is happening. A Projectile Submanager has been created to handle the creation, animation and timings for projectiles fired during combat.
- Async Projectile Animation - Previously on the Client, as a matter of server validation, projectiles were required to finish their trajectory animations before other gameplay actions could occur, leading to gameplay halting whenever players fired off their spells. As of this week, projectiles now run concurrently which gives us much smoother turn-to-turn gameplay.
Additional work and updates:
- Added Pings back into the game (the ability to mark/point out a location to your teammates).
- Created new Ping marker VFX.
- Pings are now coloured by each players player colour so it's easier to understand who is pinging what.
- Made the first step of a character's movement take a bit longer to account for acceleration.
- Adjusted the logs related to movements.
- Reduced player movement speed from 500 to 400.
- Movements now animate.
- Fixed the lobby display, multiple players can now exist and start new lobbies.
Golang
This week the golang team has been bug fixing issues that have arisen during the client testing. For example, moving just one tile away from an enemy, groups of enemies that spawn in a Dungeon not being correctly randomised, or just things we haven't predicted/accounted for yet.
Additionally, the enemies in the game now use the improved AI that we wrote for our Testclient 'Player', making them run far more optimally, and be able to wait on the server's responses to decide what they want to do next after their current action.
There's still plenty of bugs to iron out, but the game becomes increasingly smoother and bug free every week!
Environment Art
The Environment Art team continued work on our switch to UE5 this week. Although there were no new visuals to show, the work carried out included:
- Exploration of lighting systems within UE5.
- Finding appropriate lighting configurations in preparation for project upgrade (UE4.25 ---> UE5).
- Terrain material improvements to reduce appearance of tiling textures.
- Testing new UE5 collision mesh generation.
Animation
This week our Animation team focused on refreshing our (unofficial) company mascot, the Blue Melmee! Their work included:
- Updating the skin weights.
- Working on the animation set: idle basic, idle combat, attacks, walk, run, hit react, and death.
- Exported, cleaned and imported in engine.
Sound Design
This week our Sound Designer began work on some ambient recordings. He focused on using EQ to give them a 'haunted' feeling. These could be used near cemeteries, outside cave or dungeon entrances, or wherever else we want to create a sense of tension.
Ambient Woodland 1
Ambient Woodland 2
They also worked on our Dark Skyhound SFX. Leaning towards a more "Hellhound" style of vocal - deep and deadly! Before moving onto the Acid Ant vocal selection - check out the WIP samples below.
Dark Skyhound
Acid Ant
That’s it for this week’s devlog, but have you seen our monthly roundup of October yet?!
