Hello everyone
Firstly, we’d like to apologize for the absence of our regular dev updates in recent months. I want to assure everyone this is not a reflection on the teams’ efforts over this period.
Progress on development has been moving rapidly, so much so that when iv gone to write an update for you, there is already new topics to discuss. This all said as we grow closer to the initial raid mode, we hope to have the time and media to provide better insight going forward.
As always, a huge thank you to our amazing backers, and the wider community as a whole. We literally couldn’t do it without you, and your support is a constant reminder that we’re on the right track. Likewise, a huge thank you to our awesome mod team here on discord for all the same reasons.
I’ve written a “Brief” explainer/recap of what our daily work has been since OTK/Next Fest.
Likewise given we’ve got a lot to discuss. As such to avoid long drawn-out essays, we’ll be attempting to bring back our weekly, or fortnightly updates.
Currently we’ve got an interview with ItsMoxie regarding our new Bandit and Animal AI. Kz and Mr.Z have attempting to tackle the animation problem themselves. Likewise, Delta has been doing some great stuff with External Fortress walls, Battlement attachments, and destruction meshes. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for these updates, and related art/media.
For this post, Mr.Z has written us a nice quick section regarding his recent exploits in archery/ranged combat development.
Dev Recap since OTK/Next Fest Expo
TL:DR – We’ve been carefully integrating survival elements for months, creating new maps and biomes. We’ve had several internal tests which have been awesome fun, but there’s still a lot to be done.
Full – As folks might be aware, we had a great run after the OTK Games Expo, and Steam Next Fest. The results of this have been great for our marketing, and ongoing crowdfunding. That said we’re still only a small team, and we need to work within a scope we can manage.
In effect this means we’ve been selecting specific elements of survival gaming which we then prototype, implement, and then balance these elements to create the survival/combat experience that is our vision.
As an example, we’ve been running regular internal tests of the Initial Survival Build. If you looked at it from the outside, it has all the bells and whistles of a prototype for our full game. Players can currently: Harvest/Farm, Create Keeps with a verity of building pieces, Progress in technology via upgradable workbenches, Place beds for respawns, Hunt working AI deer and even engage in the first implementation of raiding.
However, it must be clear, on inside there is still much work to be done. The most prevalent ongoing activity is pure balancing. This includes everything from how much the first swords should cost, to how many hits of a battering ram should take down a door/wall.
Another factor to consider as we add new layers, (Archery for instance) it drastically changes the way the game is played, from how players act in the world to how bases are designed. We’re basically attempted to layer these on as quickly as possible, while still adhering to the level of quality we like to aim for.
In this way we’re making really good progress towards our end goal. If we can keep going as we’ve been doing so, before to long (hard dates not being easy to predict), we’ll reach a point where every layer has been implemented, and we can do a last balance pass before launching the raid mode to our backers.
That said i should remind folks that this is a slow process, and we’ve got a thing for quality. We can’t wait to get the wider community to be playing and testing the initial raid mode, however we’ll be doing our best to release it when we feel it’s ready.
Archery
Salutations Renowners, Mr. Z speaking! Over the past few months Archery mechanics have begun their first implementation. The goal of archery in Renown is to be a useful supplement to melee combat without becoming the dominant form of combat. We do not want the game to devolve into a shooter with every man bringing a projectile weapon to the fight, the focus of this game is melee combat first and foremost. That being said, Archery is meant to be a playstyle that allows people who are newer and less experienced at melee combat to be able to be useful in PvP without as much effort.
Archery has many uses, not just limited to PvP as hunting down deers with a bow is much easier than trying to run up to them with a sword in hand. There are 2 types of arrows, Bodkins (Anti Armor) and Broadheads (High Damage and Bleeding) points. The bows have many quirks such as how strongly they affect aiming difficulty, movement speed, firing rate, etc. One somewhat hidden mechanic is called Encumbrance. Encumbrance is when your equipped armor affects a lot of Bow mechanics such as how much Stamina is drained by aiming with the Bow and movement speeds with bows as well as difficulty to aim. Ideally for easier aim, one should desire to have a minimal loadout just including some gambeson and a helmet to avoid any Encumbrance penalties. Additionally using a Bow requires a quiver which takes up a primary weapon slot, same as the bow, so effectively one cannot use large 2 handed weapons while using a bow. I feel this is a good enough downside that archers are not expected to dominate in melee given the relative lesser power of one handed weapons compared to 2 handed weapons.
One thing to take special note of is that Bows do not use a random cone of fire mechanic for aiming, the arrow is always pointing where it will travel, aim difficulty comes from how hard the camera shakes while aiming. Another very important mechanic is deflection chances, good armors such as plate armors have a high chance to deflect Arrows which massively reduces damage taken, the deflection chance is also stronger the farther the projectiles have traveled so a smart Longbowman will want to prioritize shooting enemies at distances close enough that it’s possible to be threatened by melee opponents closing the distance. One should take special care to use armors in good condition as deflection chances drop the lower armor durability gets, that rusty plate of armor isn’t going to be a strong defense against a good archer.
Additionally, there have been new bows added, namely the Shortbow and the Warbow. The Shortbow is the first Bow you can craft, as such it is the weakest of them all, however they are also the fastest firing and have the least penalties to movement and aiming. The Warbow on the other hand, is the slowest of the bows, the most damaging and longest ranging, it also has the least chance of having a deflection. However its Stamina requirements are absolutely massive and it would be a bad idea to get caught in close quarters with it.
Another new development is the return of Throwing weapons. In the past I experimented with allowing players to throw any weapon of their choosing. This proved to be a mistake as people chucking Zweihanders at incredible velocities which seemed very wrong. It also led to a lot of melee engagements being decided by a spontaneous weapon throw from one of the parties, which was hardly sportsmanlike. Given this, a complete rework of throwing was due, and now only specific dedicated throwing weapons are able to be used.
We now have 3 types of throwing weapons: Throwing Axes, Throwing Knifes, Javelins, and in the future different kinds of medieval grenades. These weapons are able to be made early on in the tech progression and are a good supplement for a powerful 2 handed primary weapon or can even be used with a shield in hand. They are very useful for killing players who are running away or dealing damage before a melee engagement. Thrown weapons can be parried however so anyone ready for them is unlikely to be hit by them.
Given that the ranged combat has received so many new additions, it was also time to overhaul the Shield blocking mechanics. Shields now can block projectiles using their hitboxes rather than just giving complete immunity to ranged attacks in the past. More importantly, it’s now possible for Shields to block Projectiles passively, even when they are on your back or the side of your horse.
As always folks, thank you very much for your ongoing support and enthusiasm. We’ll hopefully have the next update out next week with either itMoxie on bandit and animal Ai, or Kz/Mr.Z’s animation progress. Let us know in the discussion channel what you’d rather see.
Till next time
Ashur
