DevBlog #13: Onwards
[h2]FTessaro - Lead Programmer[/h2]
I’ve been mostly working on the latest update for this month, after the big Update #3. I noticed a big performance hit on the servers caused by the new Spectator Mode system, way higher than expected, so I reworked it a little bit in order to alleviate the issues, which was the main cause of the irritating rubber banding that many of you had been experiencing the last few weeks. I used the opportunity to also add more features to it, such as showing AIs.
Worked also on the Juvenile Pounce for the Utahraptor, which was very straightforward since the basics of the system had already been completed, we just had to do some balance changes, add some additional animations and do some value testing.
As some of you may recall, I mentioned a few months ago that we were working in a new water system, so this month I unified the fluid simulation system to all water sources and with Jace’s help in the material side of things, the water looks good, similar to how it was before, but with the fluid simulation, which brings more immersion and new gameplay situations to the game.
Besides the usual bugs that consume a good portion of our time, I was also working on a Mesh Painting system, in order to dynamically add scars, damage marks, blood, bites or claws in the body of the damaged dinos, for example, but can be used for far cooler things, it still needs some extra work so it will be implemented sometime down the road.
[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
I started the month with preparing support for the hatchling, subadult and elder growth stages. So far we’ve only had support for dinosaurs growing from juvenile to adult. We set up our systems with the extension in mind, but other features took priority. Now we are getting closer to the nesting system’s introduction and the Pachycephalosaurus will also have a subadult stage, so the time came to add support. It’s currently limited to only allow growth between juvenile and adult, but now we will only have to flick a switch when we get to nesting and later elders.
Last month’s water system rework also opened up an opportunity to add a feature we’ve been missing. Previously our dinos started swimming when they walked into the water down to their midpoint. It had varied results, but usually resulted in dinos swimming slightly above the water when near the edge. Now this height can be customized on a per-dino basis, meaning you can walk into the water much deeper before you start swimming. Overall it provides a much more realistic behaviour.
Afterwards I moved on to the diet and migration systems. I’m not going into specifics for now, but the initial version is functional and ready for QA testing after we’ve pushed 3.5 to the public.
[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month I’ve been making more progress on designing the ambiences; with both jungle and plains biomes now complete alongside swamp, two biomes remain. I have now started on the fourth biome to tackle coasts. This will not only include addressing the usual ambient sounds, but also improvements to both the underwater ocean ambience and the ocean surf audio, improving on the quality as well as cohesion with the new changes already made. Currently I have collected together all bird one shots for each time of day, as well as a handful of loops. The ocean surf and underwater improvements are in progress. The ocean surf has been given more definition and a broader frequency spectrum range for improved fidelity. When combined with a more energetic selection of sounds for the underwater ambience it gives a better impression of the waves crashing over you as you are just below the surface. Going deeper will drive a crossfade which fades out the livelier sounds to a subtler and deafeningly empty ambience. To accompany the deep ocean ambience I have designed a selection of aquatic creature calls, previewed in the most recent phase two post, giving more life and atmosphere to the depths. To be explicit it must be stated that these examples are the raw one-shots before they have been put through real-time distance processing so may differ slightly due to this.
I have also re-evaluated the categorisation of the spatialised one shots that spawn around the player. These calls are now categorised (bar the underwater ambiences) by birds, insects (as before), as well as Fauna and a new category - a bespoke sound set indicative of the relevant biome. Each sound-set by and large is different depending on the time of day. This change should achieve a more tailored ambience for each biome whilst increasing the perceived bio-diversity and detail.
Although these changes to ambiences won’t be heard until they are all complete, sounds have been added to the new buck animations and some tenonto sounds have been altered, all of which will be included in the upcoming patch/hotfix.
[h2]VisualTech48 - Environmental Artist[/h2]
Hello folks yet again, as I missed the previous month I won’t miss this one!
As always I’m mostly working on human stuff, but now you get to see them in game. I’ve been focusing heavily on adding the interior and exterior proper bases to the map, and voila, here we go and here we have two new set piece locations, alongside a bunch of new props to fill up the way. The whole system works flawlessly now so you will soon be seeing stuff like the radio tower and some other structures already in the map getting massive overhauls, as they get their interior. New modular systems are being built like the modular Locker System, and future props like these to ensure a lot of varirarity to the whole human aspect.
While it is taken care of, a lot of props are still on the way, so stay tuned for those, as the humans slowly creep up upon us.
As well I’ve done a lot of the shading process to make the whole locations far more interesting, with added Dirt and Moss, and the props can now benefit from said blends and additions, alongside a bunch of small fixes to the existing system to make sure it really feels at home.
[h2]Seiza - Video Editor[/h2]
After the trailer for Update 3 was finalized, I started with the next tasks, including the upcoming second trailer for Update 3. This will have a different format, a little less cinematic but more informative.
The planning and the filming went well and quickly, in the last two weeks I also completed the editing and polishing part.
With such small teasers and trailers we would like to keep you up to date at all times, so it is possible that you will see more of those informative sneak peeks in the future.
I also received your feedback on the Update 3 trailer and I really appreciate it. I am very happy about your kind words, Thank you!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]Tapwing - Concept Artist[/h2]
This is our dropbear of the Isle, or rather our mix of anole, jaguar and attack dog in dinosaur form.
When it came to features for Herrerasaurus, climbing was too fun an idea to pass up.
The first hurdle I had to tackle was finding a reference for climbing. There aren’t too many climbers sporting a long set of hind-legs and a short pair of arms like the Herrera has. Outside of some lizards I found the Tarsier, which proved to be a lot of help for reference, sporting similar proportions to what I was looking for whilst still being a climber, jumper and hunter.
Now while a climbing mechanic was a nice idea for mobility, it still felt like Herrera was missing a little something in the hunting department. Which is where the far right concept comes in, a bite with a grapple. You could just bite and deal some damage, but if you bite and hang on, withstanding some running and bucking you can get a bite of food from something you weren’t otherwise able to kill.
I liked this idea for a couple reasons outside of its mechanical usefulness.
On one hand, there’s something humorous about the animal being thrown around like an over ambitious cowboy, while on the other, I find it a rather unnerving idea that something could dart out of the woods and suddenly latch onto you.
[h2]Baardo - 3D artist[/h2]
This month I started work on the first in a series of edible plant assets. I was given quite a hefty list of these so I'm bound to be doing this sort of work for quite a while. For efficiency's sake sometimes it is important to lump assets into the same texture and material groups, so I worked on the first three in tandem.
Quality vegetation work is entirely rooted in good foundational texture work. Oftentimes you won't know if the asset will turn out well until the very end of the process, so it is important to have a solid plan for what you want. Here I've laid out some of the components I'll need for this series of assets.
And finally here are some shots of the assembled pieces, I'm quite happy with how they've come together.
[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
After the launch of Update 3 we shifted gears and are now moving full steam ahead with Update 4. In addition, the hotfix we've been working on has been packed with so much additional content that it has partly evolved into its own mini-update which we've coined as 3.5.
Production moves briskly forward on diets. We're nailing down each species, what they provide, who they provide it to and where they're located amongst other things. Which is all necessary to ensure that we get a fully functional ecosystem up and running, as well as providing everyone with an intricate and interesting gameplay loop for you all to sink your claws into. Besides that we've been working on the Pachycephalosaurus which is slated to crash headfirst into Update 4.5. Be sure to keep a watchful eye on our phase-two and social media channels as we can't wait to share all of the neat clips that will be making their way through the development pipeline soon.
Humans and their assets are also progressing nicely, as well as the long awaited community creature that is almost ready to emerge from it's concept phase...
[h2]Closing Remarks[/h2]
That's a wrap for May folks! What started as a hotfix swiftly evolved into so much more... As you're reading this, Update #3.5 should be in your hands, with it a plethora of bug fixes & quality of life improvements.
See you next time Islanders! - Punchpacket
I’ve been mostly working on the latest update for this month, after the big Update #3. I noticed a big performance hit on the servers caused by the new Spectator Mode system, way higher than expected, so I reworked it a little bit in order to alleviate the issues, which was the main cause of the irritating rubber banding that many of you had been experiencing the last few weeks. I used the opportunity to also add more features to it, such as showing AIs.
Worked also on the Juvenile Pounce for the Utahraptor, which was very straightforward since the basics of the system had already been completed, we just had to do some balance changes, add some additional animations and do some value testing.
As some of you may recall, I mentioned a few months ago that we were working in a new water system, so this month I unified the fluid simulation system to all water sources and with Jace’s help in the material side of things, the water looks good, similar to how it was before, but with the fluid simulation, which brings more immersion and new gameplay situations to the game.
Besides the usual bugs that consume a good portion of our time, I was also working on a Mesh Painting system, in order to dynamically add scars, damage marks, blood, bites or claws in the body of the damaged dinos, for example, but can be used for far cooler things, it still needs some extra work so it will be implemented sometime down the road.
[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
I started the month with preparing support for the hatchling, subadult and elder growth stages. So far we’ve only had support for dinosaurs growing from juvenile to adult. We set up our systems with the extension in mind, but other features took priority. Now we are getting closer to the nesting system’s introduction and the Pachycephalosaurus will also have a subadult stage, so the time came to add support. It’s currently limited to only allow growth between juvenile and adult, but now we will only have to flick a switch when we get to nesting and later elders.
Last month’s water system rework also opened up an opportunity to add a feature we’ve been missing. Previously our dinos started swimming when they walked into the water down to their midpoint. It had varied results, but usually resulted in dinos swimming slightly above the water when near the edge. Now this height can be customized on a per-dino basis, meaning you can walk into the water much deeper before you start swimming. Overall it provides a much more realistic behaviour.
Afterwards I moved on to the diet and migration systems. I’m not going into specifics for now, but the initial version is functional and ready for QA testing after we’ve pushed 3.5 to the public.
[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month I’ve been making more progress on designing the ambiences; with both jungle and plains biomes now complete alongside swamp, two biomes remain. I have now started on the fourth biome to tackle coasts. This will not only include addressing the usual ambient sounds, but also improvements to both the underwater ocean ambience and the ocean surf audio, improving on the quality as well as cohesion with the new changes already made. Currently I have collected together all bird one shots for each time of day, as well as a handful of loops. The ocean surf and underwater improvements are in progress. The ocean surf has been given more definition and a broader frequency spectrum range for improved fidelity. When combined with a more energetic selection of sounds for the underwater ambience it gives a better impression of the waves crashing over you as you are just below the surface. Going deeper will drive a crossfade which fades out the livelier sounds to a subtler and deafeningly empty ambience. To accompany the deep ocean ambience I have designed a selection of aquatic creature calls, previewed in the most recent phase two post, giving more life and atmosphere to the depths. To be explicit it must be stated that these examples are the raw one-shots before they have been put through real-time distance processing so may differ slightly due to this.
I have also re-evaluated the categorisation of the spatialised one shots that spawn around the player. These calls are now categorised (bar the underwater ambiences) by birds, insects (as before), as well as Fauna and a new category - a bespoke sound set indicative of the relevant biome. Each sound-set by and large is different depending on the time of day. This change should achieve a more tailored ambience for each biome whilst increasing the perceived bio-diversity and detail.
Although these changes to ambiences won’t be heard until they are all complete, sounds have been added to the new buck animations and some tenonto sounds have been altered, all of which will be included in the upcoming patch/hotfix.
[h2]VisualTech48 - Environmental Artist[/h2]
Hello folks yet again, as I missed the previous month I won’t miss this one!
As always I’m mostly working on human stuff, but now you get to see them in game. I’ve been focusing heavily on adding the interior and exterior proper bases to the map, and voila, here we go and here we have two new set piece locations, alongside a bunch of new props to fill up the way. The whole system works flawlessly now so you will soon be seeing stuff like the radio tower and some other structures already in the map getting massive overhauls, as they get their interior. New modular systems are being built like the modular Locker System, and future props like these to ensure a lot of varirarity to the whole human aspect.
While it is taken care of, a lot of props are still on the way, so stay tuned for those, as the humans slowly creep up upon us.
As well I’ve done a lot of the shading process to make the whole locations far more interesting, with added Dirt and Moss, and the props can now benefit from said blends and additions, alongside a bunch of small fixes to the existing system to make sure it really feels at home.
[h2]Seiza - Video Editor[/h2]
After the trailer for Update 3 was finalized, I started with the next tasks, including the upcoming second trailer for Update 3. This will have a different format, a little less cinematic but more informative.
The planning and the filming went well and quickly, in the last two weeks I also completed the editing and polishing part.
With such small teasers and trailers we would like to keep you up to date at all times, so it is possible that you will see more of those informative sneak peeks in the future.
I also received your feedback on the Update 3 trailer and I really appreciate it. I am very happy about your kind words, Thank you!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]Tapwing - Concept Artist[/h2]
This is our dropbear of the Isle, or rather our mix of anole, jaguar and attack dog in dinosaur form.
When it came to features for Herrerasaurus, climbing was too fun an idea to pass up.
The first hurdle I had to tackle was finding a reference for climbing. There aren’t too many climbers sporting a long set of hind-legs and a short pair of arms like the Herrera has. Outside of some lizards I found the Tarsier, which proved to be a lot of help for reference, sporting similar proportions to what I was looking for whilst still being a climber, jumper and hunter.
Now while a climbing mechanic was a nice idea for mobility, it still felt like Herrera was missing a little something in the hunting department. Which is where the far right concept comes in, a bite with a grapple. You could just bite and deal some damage, but if you bite and hang on, withstanding some running and bucking you can get a bite of food from something you weren’t otherwise able to kill.
I liked this idea for a couple reasons outside of its mechanical usefulness.
On one hand, there’s something humorous about the animal being thrown around like an over ambitious cowboy, while on the other, I find it a rather unnerving idea that something could dart out of the woods and suddenly latch onto you.
[h2]Baardo - 3D artist[/h2]
This month I started work on the first in a series of edible plant assets. I was given quite a hefty list of these so I'm bound to be doing this sort of work for quite a while. For efficiency's sake sometimes it is important to lump assets into the same texture and material groups, so I worked on the first three in tandem.
Quality vegetation work is entirely rooted in good foundational texture work. Oftentimes you won't know if the asset will turn out well until the very end of the process, so it is important to have a solid plan for what you want. Here I've laid out some of the components I'll need for this series of assets.
And finally here are some shots of the assembled pieces, I'm quite happy with how they've come together.
[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
After the launch of Update 3 we shifted gears and are now moving full steam ahead with Update 4. In addition, the hotfix we've been working on has been packed with so much additional content that it has partly evolved into its own mini-update which we've coined as 3.5.
Production moves briskly forward on diets. We're nailing down each species, what they provide, who they provide it to and where they're located amongst other things. Which is all necessary to ensure that we get a fully functional ecosystem up and running, as well as providing everyone with an intricate and interesting gameplay loop for you all to sink your claws into. Besides that we've been working on the Pachycephalosaurus which is slated to crash headfirst into Update 4.5. Be sure to keep a watchful eye on our phase-two and social media channels as we can't wait to share all of the neat clips that will be making their way through the development pipeline soon.
Humans and their assets are also progressing nicely, as well as the long awaited community creature that is almost ready to emerge from it's concept phase...
[h2]Closing Remarks[/h2]
That's a wrap for May folks! What started as a hotfix swiftly evolved into so much more... As you're reading this, Update #3.5 should be in your hands, with it a plethora of bug fixes & quality of life improvements.
See you next time Islanders! - Punchpacket