[h2]
FTessaro - Lead Programmer[/h2]
This month I have been working mostly on getting Gateway sent to the public while also doing more work on upcoming mechanics.
Most of time was spent working on several different approaches for migration, different design or technical needs to make the system more robust. Several options are going to be made accessible for community servers, so they can customize migration to their liking. Stress Tests have been great to not only find faults in the procedural system, but also balance it better after patching any holes in design.
During this time some bug fixes and improvements were done for weather as well. It should fully replicate properly and the changes in weather should no longer be immediate.
With the introduction of Gateway and the stamina system, we had a lot of balance adjustments to make. There is a global reduction in stamina consumption across all animals and a lot of per-species adjustments that were made in order to keep certain species viable. We still have more to do, but for now those balance changes alleviate most of the concerns till the next robust release.
For the main branch of production I continued working on mutations. It is nearly feature complete and we can keep adding more and more mutations over time, both up until and after the release of the mechanic. Also finished up working on dilophosaurus venom. It has a few other things necessary for release, we are ready to begin testing on it.
Besides all that. I have been working on the “Pounced-to-Pinned” transition that we call Grappled. The internal testing and animations testing have gone really well, so this would bring an entirely new aspect to pounce type mechanics, giving new options for strategic combat.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
And lastly, the usual balance changes and bug fixes. See you next time!
[h2]
dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
I worked on various different things this month, starting with my personal favorite, the herrerasaurus. With the aimed jump system players are encouraged to jump more than other species, so for now we removed stamina cost from small hops, although we will have to test carefully to see the best balance settings. The dinosaur had many of its values tweaked over time to get the best results to make sure climbing feels and looks great across all kinds of surfaces, but I finally found a solid solution to a certain jittering issue that’s been bugging me. I also enabled swallowing while latched on to a wall, which could come in handy.
We use a framework to manage our character abilities and attributes. While it works great for the most part, there was some room for improvement in terms of data usage. So I ended up replacing some of their built in solutions with our own ones that don’t send any more data than necessary. The biggest improvement is where characters deal damage to each other, which is arguably the situation where you’d want to have the least amount of lag when playing. The changes will need to be tested properly, so they didn’t make their way to the Gateway test branch, but it’s something to look forward to.
The team also did some internal testing for the diabloceratops. There are several adjustments to be made there, so I got back into focusing on that dinosaur. You can now move while blocking and you also have increased protection against attacks that can knock down or stagger players.
[h2]
Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
The first half of this month my time was focused on creating all sounds for Dilophosaurus during its juvenile stage, pitching up the sounds used already for the adult stage, making fine adjustments and replacing layers that did not achieve the right feel for this creature when pitched up. I also worked on the sound effects to prototype for Diablo sparring, I ended up creating 3 elements that will be used in combination to create the sounds of these creatures’ locking horns. Firstly, a loud and hard impact with the additional connection of the horns is used for the initial locking as they begin to spar as well as the ram attack during a sparring bout. Then a collection of lighter knocks and scraping sounds of the horns have been created to use as they come into contact as they push and struggle against each other. These sounds will be used modularly for all Ceratopsians sparring, however what I have only covers the size category of an Adult Diabloceratops and these sounds need to be scaled for multiple size categories in preparation for when I come to work on the juvenile Diabloceratops and in addition the Triceratops.
The second half of this month I was focused on making adjustments and improvements in preparation for Gateway’s release, including ambience improvements, reducing the range at which vocal calls can be heard slightly and focusing on a final quality pass on Pterodactylus’ sounds.
I am also currently working on a number of sound concepts for Dilo’s venom mechanic, an ambience to homogenize with the visuals, heighten the tension and sonically isolate the envenomated player from the soundscape of the island. Additionally, a sound is needed for the hallucinations disappearing so some designs are in the works to really sell the undulating and morphing quality of this effect. More on this next month.
Finally, I have been working on herrerasaurus’s attack vocal sounds. With its calls having been created a while ago; I had established the identity of this creature as it is introduced to Evrima, taking the bellowing personality it’s known for and adding some character and individuality to it. With this in mind to help steer the design process I have created sounds for both its bite and attack which stay relatable to the established identity but scaling back on the weight behind these sounds to conform with the creatures’ size and allow its calls to be grand and pronounced by comparison.
[h2]
VisualTech48 - Environmental Artist[/h2]
This month is gun month. It has been a really long month but a month in which I will bring you more news about humans and their weapons.
We’ve designed all of the weapons to have interchangeable attachments, as we have standardized our rail, so this of course will apply to all future weapons as well. This means that any guns designed can have interchangeable attachments. It may fictionalize a lot of real-life counterparts but it mitigates the odds of never finding the appropriate weapon attachment, which in many looting games can feel like a chore.
This month we have a fully finished .357 revolver. It has been quite an interesting weapon to design and create. We’ve made special attachments to it such as the grip. With the exception of the name, it is otherwise finished.
*Keep in mind that all of our weapons are still subject to minor changes.
Besides that, I’ve been working on modular kits for the map as well, creating various additions such as stairs, and working to get the building shaders overhauled with our shader artist, Ikarop.
Lastly, an image of our shotgun for fun:
See you next month folks.
[h2]
Seiza - Video Editor[/h2]
Besides some First Person Prototype videos, I've continued to focus on our Apollo Engineering software video format. Since we will create content and lore videos with this format more often in the future, it is important to try out some concepts and especially to define guidelines. As well as the familiar login screen and boot menu I also created concepts for a global archive, a chip tracking system, a trail cam and monitoring camera system.
You can see the first video in which we were able to combine the presentation of a new species and The Isle Lore here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Additionally, planning for the most important and biggest video project so far has started, the Steam Page Trailer. It's still a bit early, but this trailer is meant to showcase all of the work that’s been put into the game since the EVRIMA branch as it moves to the default Isle experience. There’s so much content to work with and it requires a lengthy planning phase. I am incredibly excited about this project.
Since the content from the LIVING ROADMAP will be released separately, many have asked how we will now manage the update release trailers for it. We will not create release trailers for every piece of content that is released, but we will do so when enough content has been gathered. Gateway will not get an unnecessary release trailer, but will be presented in a later trailer with other content.
[h2]
KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
Hope you all have been enjoying the public Gateway testing. October has been a whirlwind for the team but a good one. Lots and lots of testing teamwide in preparation for the official release of Gateway to the public. As has been mentioned before and I will reiterate now, since we have laid a large swath of the foundational features/mechanics necessary, we are moving away from large scale releases and going to be entering more iterative releases. Which will have the added benefit of getting more frequent content to the public as well as getting more feedback and testing for development.
This month has been centered around getting Gateway in a decently playable state so survival is possible as well as integrating the Migration System. Which is intended to get players moving around the map a bit more frequently and should help create encounters with other players that feel more natural and spread out rather than constant and concentrated. The Migration System should also provide a fair amount of customization for server owners so they can tailor it to the preferred environmental desires. The next thing coming along soon will be Sanctuaries. Which are creches of sorts. Sanctuaries provide juvenile players greater survivability against starvation due to map size and a reprieve from larger animals as well as providing moments for exploration. But be very aware that while sanctuaries are aimed at increasing the survival rate of juvenile players and being fun to explore, they are not without their own dangers and are not going to make you invulnerable or keep you off the menu. Your time within a sanctuary is also limited. Overstay and death may not be far behind. Enter and exit cautiously.
The playables have been undergoing a lot of changes and iteration as we establish the basis of what climbing, sparring, hallucinations etc will look/play like from a foundational perspective. Some of the features you’ll see show up for a specific species may show up in small or large parts for other species as well. Sparring is a good example of that as that system will be shared among most if not all ceratopsians. With the visuals and some interactions varying based on species. The diabloceratops has been feeling pretty good lately even with a lot of its intended functionality missing. I’m personally pretty excited to get it into your hands. The same ideology applies to climbing. While the herrerasaurus may specialize in that action, other creatures may incorporate part of that system into their own gameplay as well. Like the hypsilophodon for instance.
All of the above brings me to Grappling. Grappling, which was previously Pounce to Pinned internally, is a feature that allows pouncers and grapplers more combat effectiveness against even the largest targets. An example of a pouncer would be the omniraptor while a tyrannosaurus or allosaurus for instance would be more of a grappler. Much like can be witnessed in nature today, large animals can be brought down onto their haunches as they become weakened or overpowered. Eventually resulting in them being pinned to the ground. Spelling doom for most. This makes pouncing and grappling carnivores a threat to creatures that may individually be well outside of their size ranges. This feature is being worked on in preparation for even the largest animals on our roster to be brought down if a pack is skilled and coordinated enough to whittle them down. Size does not mean everything. The Isle is never truly safe for any creature. Exercise caution against dangerous game. It still won’t be an easy task.
The triceratops is well on its way towards animation completion, we’re also making some quality of life changes to some animations here and there as well as preliminary implementation of long dormant features like jump attacks. The pterodactylus is also getting some new interactions (and slight nerfs lol). The next playable you’ll be seeing is going to be the maiasaura which I’m personally excited to work on as you can’t have a game with dinosaurs without a hadrosaur. That’s all for now. Happy Halloween!
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Director’s Commentary – [/h2]
Hello Islanders,
Upgrading to UE5 while also pushing forward new content has proven quite arduous but we are (relatively speaking) at the finish line for porting that content over. The embargo on Gateway was lifted, so I hope those of you that have had an opportunity to play have found our work enjoyable. The testing will remain up as we finish up the smaller details that are necessary to fully move the map and content to a public release.
As it has been impressed upon by myself, we are trying to move content out faster. The Gateway build will be patched to the EVRIMA branch once the last of any unforeseen technical issues are addressed. This is a relatively large drop of content and it goes without saying that almost always something goes wrong, so in preparation, the current active build of EVRIMA (0.11.59.04) will be moved to a temporary branch for those of you who do not wish to partake in the active development of content and simply want to play the game. Once Gateway's gameplay loop is assessed internally as stable and within the intended vision, we will drop support for 0.11.59.04 and return to a singular EVRIMA branch. There's no time like borrowed time.
I'm sure many of you have already seen previews of the sparring system that is being introduced alongside the diabloceratops. This mechanic is being created to span across as many of the ceratopsians as possible, including cross-species sparring so long as the two animals are within an estimated 20% weight differential. However, this system is also going to be functional for the tyrannosaurus and a few other projected theropods. Not only will they be able to lock up and fight with a ceratopsian, but they will be able to lock up and fight with one another.
Gen 1's have gone through many changes since we've begun concepting playstyles and intent. I'm happy to say their first playable archetype has been fully through the concept phase and can be moved into production. Attached below are some of the pieces used to dictate the design direction, including two different head customization types we intend to support. We went through many body types, head styles, and skin features to capture a creature that is very clearly non-human, but retains customization features indicative of a standard humanoid character. In the future, we hope to provide a myriad of head and body choices for a player to make this incidental abomination of science feel like their own.
Other than that, I've been working on refining the direction of the game's lore items and presentation nestled somewhere between analog horror and traditional text-based storytelling. It's been very enjoyable to work alongside Seiza, Tapwing, and Fred as both in-game documentation and videos are templated. It has not escaped my notice that a large chunk of the community is ravenous for story-telling and have created some incredibly fun theories and fan videos inside the game, so I will be providing some of the resources that were created for use in-house, including the guide-sheets we use for upcoming "in-universe" videos and the templates for dinosaur glance sheets and species specific character sheets. They should arrive within the week in the Phase Three channel and I hope they find some use with the loremasters among you.
- Don
