u/TheLastSanctum

In case you missed it in the newsletter!

If we get the most followers on Journiarc within a couple days, we'll win $100 we can put towards development! New followers are also entered to win a raffle prize themselves. You can sign up and follow our board here: https://journiarc.com/project/2500e62c-c6f0-469e-a1a9-e573439713e5/board

Coding

• Primarily did work on networking replication setup. This involved 4000 lines of errors and a pull request with over 7k additions, but we're actually pleased with how it went!
  • The features we need are now compiling and hooked up with the physics framework, but (intentionally) non-functional.
  • Finished first-pass software engineering, but this work still needs a second pass before significant testing.
  • Updated the movement component and pawn manager, as well as the physics tick flow to include server replication and client move replay (with minimal rollback, i.e. the "default Unreal networking model").
• Fixed a long-standing annoyance with the mesh rotation turn axis.
• Fixed some minor animation problems.
• Started texturing menu assets and experimenting for future use on other menus.
• Worked on complete button functionality.

Map & Misc

• Worked on some rock pillar structures in the tutorial map.
• Created autograss (the foliage that populates as normal grass) for blue forest region.
• Painted extra terrain texture complexity in blue forest.
• Began work on blue forest ground foliage (extra assets like shrubs, mushrooms etc).

Here's a peek at a small area! WIP of course (top image).

• Finally solidified a design for Lindwyrm and its default skin. The default colours below come from our logo. The potential variants are based on colours from skins you could be nested in from, or potentially randomized colours for spawning in without nesting. Which is your favourite? (Bottom image)
• Worked on the Lindwyrm model base sculpt (nearly finished, just needs the tail).
• Created storyboards for the upcoming flight showcase (temporary trailer).

Thanks for reading! The next newsletter will be on October 02.

In case you missed it in the newsletter. This is a bit simpler than the others because Iceclaw's Broadcast is intended to be "spammable". It also alternates between two variants in the clip. Keep in mind that the call still needs a polish/audio quality pass! (WIP)

Code & Misc

• Reworked ground animation logic to flow more smoothly between movement states.
  • Now interpolates between states linearly (within the state) using a piecewise function rather than scaling only from idle->state or smoothly across the entire graph
  • Still needs some tweaking, but feels closer to a finished-for-demo product. Now it looks more like realistic movement! Here's a clip showing off the change (top)
• Implemented the turn-in-place animation and blending.
• Updated turn-in-place based on feedback to rotate more smoothly and have a smaller angle before moving (to avoid a sense of not quite going the direction you expect).
• Fixed some minor ground movement bugs related to turning in place transitions.
• Fixed NPCs to correctly walk away when the player is close.

This sprint onward we started and will continue working on networking (multiplayer logic). It's a bit scary and where a lot of games have trouble, so wish us luck! Also, keep in mind that as we work on this, there might be fewer code-related visuals to show as we focus on backend stuff.

• Began work on core physics replication logic.
  • We're using custom movement logic, and so physics replication needs to be updated substantially to simulate client-side correctly without killing networking bandwidth.
  • The basic infrastructure is very similar to the default Character, but requires non-trivial adjustments for the flight system, climbing systems (particularly latching), and ground movement logic (particularly rotations and permitting carrying objects).
  • We are currently deciding not to use Iris for various technical reasons, but leaving the door open if needed.
  • The current approach, based on initial testing, should scale to our target low-end computer / player counts, but the engineering here is being kept open to change depending on performance analysis down the line.
• Did some exploratory work on managing NPCs at scale on the server.
• Did some work on the game's main theme!
• Animated Iceclaw's Broadcast. This is a bit simpler than the others because Iceclaw's Broadcast is intended to be "spammable".You can also hear the call for the first time. It also has at least one variant at the moment (shown). Keep in mind that the call still needs a polish/audio quality pass (bottom)! (WIP)

Thanks for reading! The next newsletter will be on September 18.

In case you missed it in the newsletter!

This sprint was also light like the last one, sorry! Devs have been on the tail end of a vacation, dealing with pet issues, mental health, etc. We should be a bit more back to normal next sprint. Here's the small list of what we did this sprint:

• Imported Pain and Death animations for all playables and NPCs.
• Imported other animations such as Bite (adjusted), Iceclaw Climb Start and End, Levin Air Grab.
• Worked on the lightning ball VFX for Levin's Ball Lightning ability.
• Started work on static VFX for Levin's Static Field ability.
• Started colouring the current loading screen art.
• Did some preliminary work/research on implementing our polished UI menus.
• Finally finished Iceclaw's Broadcast call!

As a small visual, here's Levin's Seaglow skin in action: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_hD_WN25iVY

Thanks for reading! The next newsletter will be on September 04.

In case you missed it in the newsletter! We might still tweak the timing of the sounds.

Coding

• Updated basic ground movement logic based on playtesting feedback.
  • Made turns much more responsive.
  • Improved the acceleration/deceleration logic.
  • Improved logic to help with paws "sticking" to the ground rather than sliding.

Ground movement has been a sticking point for awhile, and we're happy it's feeling better! (Even if only to prevent testers from going insane from slow turning (@_@))

• Added in basic Venna logic and spawners again to help with playtesting.
• Tested basic networking starting points -- currently it's failing tests (as expected), though with fewer breaking points than we anticipated (it's probably fine to have a bug that crashes the game any time a player leaves the server, right?)
• Did most of the work for camera effects when diving, namely a small FOV change that enhances your feeling of speed. Note that you will be able to disable camera effects in the game for motion sickness.
• Minor movement bugfixes.
  • Falling now should "stick" less to objects.
  • Falling-> Walking is a bit less temperamental (though it still needs some debugging).

Art & Audio

• Started cleaning up the 2D concept of a Scoria skin to make it ready for 3D painting.
• Did some concept work on future post-demo wyrms.
• Made more progress on the loading screen event art. It's in the detailing phase and will soon begin colouring!
• Finished up the audio for Iceclaw's Friendly call! We might still tweak the timing of it. Which real-world animal do you think inspired the call and animation?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BP9BZjc5rKo

Thanks for reading! The next newsletter will be on August 7.