Tag Archives: WIP

DevBlog 16 / Back to work

Hi there!

Last weekend we showcased the game to some developers and players and some new bugs were found as expected. Some we already knew about and others were simply created when André was doing the combat demo scene we’ve shown. First thing Andre did in the beginning of the week was to fix these bugs and tweak the combat (feedback was very important). Seeing players playing and looking at what they do with the controller is very enlightening for improving small nuances in gameplay and making things more intuitive. This is a process that we intend to repeat in ever showcase we’ll do.

Tomé worked on some props this week. One of them is a very important prop – it’s basically a resting spot where one of our mechanics takes place. When the player uses it in order to recover, an ambush can randomly occur during the night while sleeping.

Old view on the left, current view on the right

The various parts of this prop can be rotated or hidden to achieve different compositions and avoid repetition.

Meanwhile, Pichel is hard at work handcrafting the mystical Elk’s textures and experimenting with fur. He already finished the maps for the saddle, as you can see in the image below.

He also finished the High Poly of one of the NPCs that can be encountered in the beginning of the game. We will talk about him and the others NPC’s soon in a dedicated devblog.

The prisioner.

DevBlog 12 / New props and Companion Model

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Hi there!

More illumination iterations were done this week. We encountered some light probe problems and had some lighting misconfigurations, but we are working on it. Most of them are related to our scene streaming system and light baking workflow.

Illumination tests.

Tomé made some concept tests for a rune stone that the player can interact with. These rune stones are strategically placed near points or areas of interest informing the player about story lore, area information or even gameplay. We are trying to have as little as possible distracting on screen tips during gamplay, these runes and some hints in the re-load screen are given to maintain the immersive experience but the core gameplay will be clutter free.

Rune Stone and alphabet concept.

We are doing some tests for an ancient alphabet for the ancient civilization ruins and runes like in the concept above.

Pichel is finishing the high poly of the player’s companion, he followed the concept posted in the previous devblog but naturally some changes were made to match the 3D perspective.

WIP player companion.

DevBlog 10 / Interior Testing

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Hi there!

Our exterior and interior 3D modules are finally ready and we are assembling the buildings that were simple place holders a few weeks ago. We are still experimenting with the overall distribution and lighting of the area.

Modular props are very useful since they can be reused in other buildings, even on later chapters. They can be used as ruins too (with simple painting or decal variations). In the next couple of weeks, Level building will become much faster and fun.

You can use stairs to reach higher places, they will also offer you clues to possible passages.

Some cracks, rubble and wood planks will be added later for added effect.

Temporary lightning, this shot uses a very simple preview light setup.

We plan to have smooth and immersive interior/exterior transitions, visually and auditory. Duck volumes (exterior sounds like birds will be clamped when you are inside), eye adaptation and reverb zones combined will create an unforgettable experience.

Next week André will tackle dynamic spine IKs for biped and quadruped, and Pichel will be working in a new NPC.

DevBlog 09 / The Journey Companion

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Hi everyone!

A very important character in this game is the player’s companion, previously mentioned in the game description. Your companion can help in some puzzles, serve as a fast travel option and can store additional weapons, armor and potions that you can’t carry with you. But it can’t follow you everywhere! Some places can only be accessed with the player alone, for example: when you need to climb something, your companion will wait for you below; in this type of situation you need to manage what you bring with you and what stays with your companion, since your inventory is limited and your companion can carry many more items.

Early concept by Jeffrey Ferreira.

This was the very first model of the game (Modeled, rigged and animated by our programmer André), and it is still the model used for AI logic tests and behavior like in the gif below. All the mechanics and logic mentioned above are already implemented.

Here we can see some automatic object avoidance, the Elk automaticly avoids major falls and objects like trees even if the player forces it.

We are trying to make the Elk’s movements the most organic possible, like previously mentioned, in situations like avoiding falls and trees, and by reacting to enemies close by. If the player is adventuring around and exploring, your companion won’t stay in the same place waiting. Our idea is to have a character with personality that you can mount and interact with, not a soulless prop.

Some details like foot IK and body position relative to ground or slope will be implemented to enhance the organic feel. This behavior is highly influenced by Shadow Of The Colossus Agro’s behavior (the companion horse).

WIP, for tests only, not the final model.

We are still exploring the Elk’s design, and that is currently one of our top priorities. Next week Tomé will make the final concept of the Elk for Pichel to model. Next step is new animations.

In this week of work André did some bug fixing and gameplay polish while Tomé and Pichel finished the ruins asset modules.

DevBlog 08 / Interior Illumination and deferred decals

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Hi there!

Pichel and Tomé are doing some progress in the texturing department, painting maps for all the modular props. You can see below most of the wooden assets, all game-ready.

Various finished wooden props.

This week André implemented deferred decals, they will be used for blood splats on surfaces and for details in walls/floors, like cracks for example, or other numerous applications in static objects.
Some improvements have been made in the way enemies respond to hits, like if the player swings the sword in one direction and hits the enemy, he will stagger in the opposite way he was hit. The direction of the blood particle and blood splat in floor respect the hit direction too.

Here you can see some blood on the ground with the new deferred decal system.

We did some tests with interior lighting too, still very WIP (no final textures nor materials), but now we know that we can achieve cool ambient interiors.

You can see some light coming from the cracked ceiling in the far end.

DevBlog 07 / Current Progress

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Hi everyone!

Today we will show you a floor plan preview of the area we are working on which expresses the planned size for the first Act of the game. The areas highlighted with the white contour are the ones we are currently working on. We are building assets to populate every zone fittingly, for example, if it is a predefined dry and rocky space we will not place colorful flowers.
In the second Devblog we have shown you guys a mini boss encounter that occurs in the area zoomed in the map below..

Floor plan preview of the first Act.

André improved and added more features to combat, like a new trail system (for weapon swipes) and improved bow targeting system. A new Quicksand mechanic was implemented which will have many players trapped when they try to reach some items in isolated zones.

New trail system preview.

Pichel and Tomé are working on texturing all the assets we have shown in the previous blog post. Here are a few examples of floor tileable textures.

Portuguese pavements texture tests.

DevBlog 05 / Bow behavior, Ancient Ruins and Sound

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Hi everyone!

In this week of work, Andre changed some things in the bow behavior. A trail prediction was added and the view when shooting was flipped. We’re also considering removing the Crosshair. In Decay of Logos the range of your bow depends on your Strength Stat.

Old view on the left, current view on the right.

Now the camera goes to the right side instead of left . When locked onto a target the behavior is different (no camera change) and the arrow always hits (if in range and providing the enemy is not defending).

In this screenshot the player has a strength of 11 for example.

Andre started improving the sound in the game and changing some things in how it is handled overall. Audio mixer, duck audio, snapshots and reverb zones were added for a more immersive experience.

On the other side of the trenches, Pichel and Tomé have been developing our own modular set for the ancient ruins. They’ve been pretty much playing with Lego.

In this screenshot the player have a strength of 11 for example

The modular set for the ancient ruins.

DevBlog 03 / Buildings and new areas studies

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Hi!

Time for some architectural concepts and new area studies – the game has more than colorful woods! We want to showcase a few additional environments that will be in the game, from very bright and vibrant (like you have seen in previous blog entries) to dark dungeons or windy barren landscapes. The scenery will mirror the player’s mood and experience as they explore our game world.

Tomé, with his architect background has been a great help designing and constructing the ancient ruins that populate part of the world.

Forsaken ruins of an ancient civilization.

We are currently working on other areas like the swamp below while trying to maintain the same stylized look. During their journey players will smoothly transition between different areas, we are going to use the mood as a storytelling device, each area will be unique in it’s own way. It might even be a way to tell the players what kind of challenge they should expect, we are still experimenting and it has been great!

Swamp concept area.

DevBlog 02 / Concept and 3D Art

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Hi there!

Today we’ll show some concept art and 3D models of the game, most of them are already in-game.

In the beginning of the game you are most likely to found this set of weapons.

In the beginning of the game you are most likely to find this set of weapons.

The high poly of the main character.

This week, Tomé did some architectural 3D and concept studies for the ancient ruins which populated the world and in past were once the home of an ancient civilization.

Pichel among other things has been revamping the first enemy you face in the game. We will post some concepts and high poly models in the next devblog post.

André made a small pause in game development and joined the system management dark side. He transferred our cloud solution for project management to our local linux server with Bitbucket Server (VCS), JIRA (project management) and Bamboo (auto-builds) cross integration, plus a robust backup system for our projects. During Pre-production we used Github and Trello.