dmIV - Programmer
In our previous testing the gallimimus was only able to forage near shores, where it could dig up frogs. This does not really fit the playstyle of the dinosaur, so I added support for foraging on land. The system is still essentially the same, with the difference that compies can be dug up instead. They provide a little food, but no nutrients, serving as a more interactive version of grazing.
Originally we tried a leaping attack with a lot of movement for the gallimimus' "alt attack", but it didn't feel right in the end. So it was replaced with a quick kick towards where you're looking without turning the character. On the topic of kicks, I also added support for controlling which leg you attack with while running or jumping. This is not just a visual difference, be sure to use the appropriate one to hit your target.
With some of our dinos having really high juvenile speeds relative to their size (in particular the gallimimus and troodon) it was time to change how our character speeds are determined. Previously it was blending the animations as you grew and determining your speed to match that, but unfortunately this came with issues such as dinosaurs becoming way too fast during the transition period or not having as much flexibility. So I turned things around and speeds are being set directly, while the animation system was updated to figure out the right animation to play. This was actually quite challenging, since the animation blend spaces don't necessarily match the speed you'd expect when you just blend them as they are. So I came up with a solution to adjust the blended animation to make sure there is no foot sliding.
Unfortunately when it comes to programming it can be hard to explain why we have to change things that "already work" just to make them work differently even though the end result is very similar from a player perspective. Sometimes these refactors just have to be made for things to work better.
With update 6.5 moving into the testing phase there were periods where I had time to move on to new tasks. For me this meant the diabloceratops. The base character was already set up with the basics, just missing unique abilities and several animations. Many of you might be able to guess already, but I started work on the sparring mechanic. It's not an easy one, there are two players constantly moving around, performing actions that can affect each other's movement, many different things can happen. It's in early stages, but there's strafing movement, interlocking and basic animation support in place already. Naturally at the moment update 6.5 takes priority, but it's coming along nicely in the meantime.
Bryan - Animator
Once in a while a dinosaur comes along in Evrima where we have to do a bunch of legwork we haven’t done before, diabloceratops is definitely one of those now. I’ve been busy working on the locomotion and watching yaks try to bully each other on Youtube for the ‘sparring’ mechanic and hoo boy that was a lot to do, you don’t wanna know how many animations that was to do. It was 48.
Been a busy month for dinosaurs in general, with the last bits for gallimimus and ceratosaurus being finished at the start of the month. Been nice to continue the trend of breaking away from expanding necessary features for the base Evrima dinosaurs like omniraptor or carnotaurus and working on bringing new animals into the ecosystem. Ceratosaurus will definitely be a welcome addition to remind carnotaurus that it isn’t normally an apex predator just because it’s bigger than omniraptor.
Wedge - Sound Designer
I’ve been full steam ahead working through designing sounds for the diabloceratops. Both primary and directional attack vocal sounds are completed as well as vocals for vomiting, drinking, regular/extreme pain and death sounds with more currently in the works. When I have the sounds for all shared mechanics I will be experimenting with sounds for its sparring mechanic
I made some edits and designed some new sounds for gallimimus, its attacks had been reworked. The existing sounds for its directional attack were edited to fit the new animations, and new sounds were made for the others, for its running kick, a short grunt with a bit of oomph, and a bird-like growl for its peck attack.
I have also put some attention towards fine tuning the crossfades and pitch/volume modulations for all 4 of the new playables to ensure there is a smooth and appropriate transition across all vocals when blending between juvenile to adult sounds.
Besides working on creature sounds I also finished up on a fairly demanding design, a sound to accompany the pulsing of a colony of bees displaying near synchronicity. The sound consists of a bed layer, the ambient hum of the swarm. The clattering and vibrating of the wings is made up from various sources, such as rice on plastic, foil packaging inserted into a handheld fan etc. They are processed granularly to emulate the clustered sound of dozens of tiny wings vibrating against each other. The pulsing motion is created using dopplers to simulate the motion with dialed in variation to amplitude, pitch and panning. I then processed with a resonator to extract some subtle natural pitch and added a synthesized low bass sound that compliments the pulsing rhythm and adds some restrained tonality.
Tapwing - 2D Artist
They are small, they are many and if you thought compsognathus were bad for stealing food, wait till you meet Pterodactylus. They are ravenous little corps cleaners and it was fun helping come up with different ways they could be tiny menaces on The Isle. Like breaking down large bodies, bullying smaller creatures off their kill and some potential egg thievery too. So keep a close eye on anything of yours that could be deemed food, you might find it munched on or snatched away when your back is turned by the mini toothy pterosaurs.
KissenKitten - Producer
This month has been a whirlwind of action for the team all around. Stress testing has begun and we’re fleshing out the new playables as testing dictates their adjustments for live release in addition to a lot of engine problem solving. As with any engine change or update there are unforeseen issues, interactions and bugs that can arise that may not play nicely with old tech or downright break something entirely. Luckily, many of these engine bugs and incompatibilities are known to the gamedev community and the engine developers and will hopefully be tackled soon. Aside from that the troodon’s testing phases have been promising for their intended playstyle feeling unique among the roster. With a few knob twists and lever pulls it should be in a nice spot that doesn’t leave it feeling too under or overpowered. Though we’ll have to keep an eye on especially coordinated groups. Completion of ceratosaurus, gallimimus and beipiaosaurus playtesting should go much swifter. Fingers crossed.
Additionally, the diabloceratops is animation complete pending any alterations to established animations for the sparring mechanic. dmIV has laid down some impressive first iterations that we should be able to share soon. We hope you like it! The dilophosaurus is also well on its way to being animation complete after some directional attacks and injuries. So there’s a chance it will enter testing alongside the diabloceratops. If that weren’t enough, the herrerasaurus is also entering full swing production. Some team changes have been made that should allow us to crank animations out a bit faster than usual which will be a welcomed change of pace.
There’s also been a lot of pre-production rounded out on some features to come for both the Gen 1 and Gen 2 humans which I am excited to work on despite being more of a dinosaur fan personally. Getting 6.5 out the door will be a welcome relief for us all and get us one step closer to the reality of what The Isle really is as a horror survival experience. Catch ya next time!