FTessaro - Lead Programmer
Hey everyone, some of this month was spent working on the night vision update, which included a few bug-fixes and some necessary improvements to our anti-cheat capabilities. We're also evaluating feedback & investigating a number of reports regarding issues with the current night vision system, you'll find more information on that further down the blog in KissenKitten's post.
Regarding Update 6 the progress is going really well and I will split into categories below:
Gore/Organs: The base code is finished which allows organs to spawn when needed and be fully interactive with physics, soon we’ll be starting tests using animals bigger than the Utahraptor, but I don't foresee needing to make big changes in the code, besides possible enhancements and bug fixes. Still in regards to organs a new mechanic is being created for all carnivores, it is a gore specific mechanic that can be used for things like role-playing and improving diets, more details about it soon. New gore and rotten textures are going to be added to the corpses, and bone meshes as well. The bone assets are the last stage of a corpse, they will be interactable.
Diets/Nutrients/Slots: The enhanced system for diets was set up to grant more control to the players for what dietary buffs or “advantages” they can receive in our survival environment. With this new system, slots are not locked to specific nutrients anymore, they are now fed with the latest consumed nutrient and can be combined as desired by the players, for better understanding, you could fill two slots with carbs and one slot with lipid, which would provide the player with a specific buff, or a different combination of all slots fed with protein, providing another completely different buff. Players can use this to better customize their character to their playstyle.
Migration System: Since the new diet slot combinations system was finished some time ago, we now can start testing migration with the herbivores and slowly start integrating the carnivores into it. Several meetings are scheduled for the design team to decide all the details for the migration system, as well as the effects from different slot combinations. This system will motivate players to move around the map to get the benefits from their diets. You’ll get more details on this system in a future DevBlog.
Vocals: I also spent some time improving the entire vocal system, which now is more reliable, performant and fixed an issue related to reverb the sound when traveling great distances.
Skin System: By popular request, we’ve added Eye customization, so players now can choose the color of Iris to customize the character even further, integrated to the “random” button and import/export functions. I also fixed a couple bugs in the slot saves.
Physics Doors/Gates: Those systems were finished and provided to the Map Design team to start adding them to the maps. Those doors/gates are interactive physics based actors, the bigger the animal the easier it is to push them and open/close. Some doors will be “locked” by default, needing a human player to first unlock it before it becomes usable by animals. While the basic physics functionality is done, more work and adjustments may be necessary in the future.
Automatic Lights: Map Design now also has access to special actors that are automated in the island based on time of day, those lights turn on or off depending the time of day. This is a basic system that may be expanded in the future with other automatic systems added to it. This has a small relationship to Lore.
Interactive Foliage: This system has been expanded, now more foliage types were added to it, physics assets setup and tiny performance improvements added. It allows players to physically interact with foliage in the map, regardless of the distance or amount. Besides the visual joy of it, this can also be used to detect prey or threats among the foliage. This will continue to be expanded over time as much as possible.
Besides all that, we had a significant amount of bug fixes this month for QA to test, and more to come as there were also some quick tests with burrowing.
dmIV - Programmer
I continued working on the Beipiaosaurus with something you might have already seen floating around, the breach. If you surface fast enough you will be able to breach the surface of the water. This allows you to maneuver around predators better and potentially reach shores you couldn’t reach otherwise. Personally though I think it was worth adding even if it’s just for fun, there’s something very satisfying about launching up in the air and diving back down.
An interesting experience for me working on this creature is how it connects to when I was working on the Deinosuchus. We originally had a concept where the “water walking” was a more distinct state that keeps the animal only moving along the floor and you would have to leave that state by manually swimming up. In the end we went with the more seamless version you know well, since the Deinosuchus sinks passively and there isn’t that much of a difference between swimming or water walking. In the case of the Beipiaosaurus however, we returned to that same concept with some minor changes. So on the programming side I was able to just bring back the water walking prototype from back then, tidy it up a bit and just like that, one of the main mechanics was ready to go. The breach is a different, but quite funny story. While working on the Deinosuchus at one point I accidentally made it gain velocity when surfacing instead of losing it. This resulted in some very ridiculous behaviour and it’s completely different from how the new mechanic works, but I thought it was interesting how it also came back in a way.
Most of the month was actually spent working on something I had been waiting to work on for a long time, climbing. The idea originally came up along with the Pteranodon’s latch mechanic, but ultimately we didn’t have the time to include that. I always really enjoyed climbing in games where it’s possible, so I was pretty excited by the idea of taking a stab at it myself. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong with a system like this, you can have all kinds of complex surfaces and a character moving along in every possible direction. Making it work reliably and looking nice and smooth is quite a challenge. There’s still a good bit of work left to do, but it’s coming along nicely. As for what dinosaur actually gets to this, let’s just save that for later.
amar0k - Programmer
With the hotfix out of the way I have continued working on the new online subsystem and resolving various issues with that. Player count is one as you would have noticed it not correctly updating to show a full server along with some work on RCON and the Queue system. AI work is back in full swing with the new Pterodactylus and Compy getting additional functionality like nest raiding and attacking so watch out hatchlings!
There has been a significant change to the overall movement of AI and how that functions to save on performance and the general look and feel of how they move around in the world. I have continued reworking crowd AI and spawning for performance and dietary updates.
Tapwing - 2D Artist
My month has been partially occupied by another wave of color selections for some upcoming dinosaurs. I'm sure you’ve seen some clips or pictures going around the Isle discord. But besides that, I’ve more nature sketches for you guys.
Our lion of The Isle.
What we wanted for this dinosaur was to showcase its ambush centered abilities and really let them use those claws. For instance, you might not be able to outrun a Gallimimus, but if you can get the jump on it, you might just have the burst of speed to grab it before it slips away. For some other uses with it’s claws besides grappling and pinning, we explored the idea of it being able to dig up burrows or perhaps carry it’s food in hand rather than in mouth so that it might still be able to call, bite or smell where other animals would have to put their food down and risk loosing it’s catch to a sneaky thief.
All in all, you’ll want to be careful around those dense tree lines when Allosaurus is around
It’s time for our king of the skies. An insidious meat-eating flying giraffe with a lance for a face and you’ve got our Quetz.
With Quetzalcoatlus we wanted to show its air-savviness, from combat to surprise landing stab and runs. While it might not be able to go toe to toe with other apexes its size, it’s a nightmare to the many smaller creatures of the isle. Its long neck and beak give it plenty of range that make it formidable on the ground or in the jungles. So keep a sharp eye out amongst those trees, one of them might be staring back at you.
Bryan - Animator
All of my work this month has revolved around Beipiaosaurus, it’s been a tricky and ungainly animal to work with as most Therizinosaurs are. They are the embodiment of “I don’t know what to do with my hands.” thanks to their abnormally large forelimbs and semi-upright stance. Thankfully we’re nearly done with the animation stage of its development once a few kinks are worked out, with only the Juvenile animations left to do. I think I speak for both Kissen and myself when I say “it’s been swell but the swelling has gone down”, we’re eager to move on to the next subject after spending so long on the Beipiaosaurus.
It will definitely be a fun playable creature and we really went all out on its swimming animations. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and I hope you will be too.
On that note I’ll likely start streaming again soon so I’ll have to dig out the Gerry cam again since I know you all only watched the stream for the good boy. I have quite a few good animals on my task list you’ll enjoy, both from the new roster and classics from the Legacy roster.
VisualTech48 - Environmental Artist
This month has been partly committed to the Damage Pass, consisting for now, with various decals and mesh type decals for damage and grunge to the buildings in general. It started off with various leaks, from rust ones to just environmental ones, dirt and grimes.
Next up I went further and took scans of existing damage decals, and color corrected them and made them game ready, with various tweaks to both color, height, and displacement which now features a bit more in the game itself. It's a “cheap” and old school POM displacement and all of the decals that are featured in the damage pass now have it.
I’ve started re-constructing the exteriors and a bit of interiors of known and done buildings to feature these types of damages and decals, which now makes them look more of this world, and that it has been weathered even further, with the addition of metal mask damages as well:
You can see a clear difference in the damage on the last image, where the decal has been put to most of the edge of the garage.
Lastly, I’ve made the CCTV 2 types of cameras, with a few variants, nothing too shabby. Here are some HD images of them rendered in Marmoset:
Wedge - Sound Designer
I’ve mostly been focusing on rounding out all sounds for Troodon, this has included the final adult sounds that were not finished by the end of last month, creating a juvenile variant for the majority of these sounds (the ones that didn’t need this worked fine just undergoing some pitch modulation in engine) and finally sounds for its hatchling stage which at this stage include just a vocal sound for hatching and begging. Now all sounds are implemented I will be doing some fairly extensive play testing on Troodon to ensure that all sounds work as intended and there are no key sounds i’ve missed.
I’ve also been working on creating chorus vocal sets, much like Pterodactylus’, for Compies. I have completed a large group sound for the food chorus, a mob of chirping and interesting trills, as well as a handful of short alarm sounds, leaving only a chorus sound triggered by the player crossing into a territory they are inhabiting left to do. With these two significant tasks (Troodon and AI choruses) nearly off my plate I’m looking forward to what’s next to come.
As always, alongside work on new content, I’ve addressed a few sound issues that are brought to my attention either through the community feedback channel, QA bug reports or raised by the team or from my own playtesting. The most common issues I’ve addressed are problems of consistency in the intensity and volume of both ambient water sounds and footsteps (specifically for medium creature sound sets) across the three different movement speeds. I’ve also started putting together foley sounds for dragging corpses (and also for Deino’s movement), I’ve been putting together a looping sound for each surface type in game, split into 3 loops for each surface one for each of the main size categories which is an audio enhancement to breath a bit more life and detail into these interactions.
KissenKitten - Producer
I swear it feels like there’s no more than a week in between these blogs. Time flies when you’re battling a knife fingered battle penguin. This month has consisted of further work on the mechanics mentioned in the last blog like gore. With the VFX pipeline pumping out buckets of blood in preparation for gore’s debut. After some fine tuning, we’ll be getting some test shots prepared for public consumption. Expanded diets and migration are also in full swing. The TLDR being that you’ll have more options for how you want the life of your character to play out. If you got into a scuffle and want to heal your wounds a little faster, there’s a diet buff for that. Feel like you’d enjoy running around a bit longer before being gassed? There’s a diet buff for that too. With the new system, you should be able to get a lot more mileage out of your gameplay experience and discover the best routes for your species and your personality that continue long after you’ve reached adulthood.
Troodon is nearing completion but needs testing and some supporting effects before it can be considered ready. Alongside it, the Beipiaosaurus has been diligently making its way towards animation completion despite being a fever dream to work with. We think you all are really going to enjoy it. But know that we suffered to make it a reality. Animation work on the Ceratosaurus and Gallimimus has slowed down as we’ve increased production but those two haven’t been nearly as complicated to work with. The Dryosaurus is also having its dodge reworked to be much more intuitive and fluid. The burrowing has been prototyped a few times as well but it is not ready to be showcased just yet. It is still on the backburner but at least on simmer. Some of the other animals that have been making some production appearances that we haven’t mentioned much include the Oviraptor, Baryonyx, Kentrosaurus and Dilophosaurus. None of which have entered the animation stage just yet though. But some of their supporting art should be making an appearance in the not so distant future. Some may even be featured in some streams soon. Cross your fingers!
Humans are getting some in-game polish in preparation for their entry to the live branch alongside Update 6. Our human modeler has done such a great job on them all and I’m so excited for them to be showcased in a much better light than you’ve currently seen. Speaking of light, we have received a lot of your feedback in regards to the new night vision causing some of our more sensitive players motion sickness and headaches and are working on making some adjustments to make it easier on the eyes. We take the matter seriously and want to make sure we can make the night vision experience comfortable for as wide a range of people as possible. Should it take longer than expected to make those adjustments, we will revert night vision in the interim so we don’t bar any of you from playing while we craft a solution.
Lastly we do have some new content coming out related to the NPE (New Player Experience) that we feel will help make The Isle more accessible to players that are new to survival games and specifically one pioneering playable animals. We understand the learning curve in The Isle can be steep at times. In many ways, we intend to keep it that way but also want to ensure accessibility is not solely lost due to a lack of clarity rather than a lapse in player judgment and decision making. So expect that content to drop soon as well. See you in the next one!