Progress Log 6/18/20 - Props, Sprites & Shader Hell! (Patreon)

Time for our June progress log!

There’s been a ton of environmental work done over the past couple of weeks. The first build of the game will have some maps for the player to explore, so we needed additional props to fill those out and not have them feel too barren.

These will hopefully help bring some life into otherwise static maps.

Along with this, we’ve been working on some reusable shaders for the game. It’s been INSANELY difficult to figure these out but they’re extremely versatile. Up in the header image, you can see what a shader graph looks like. This is something newer engines have started supporting and previously shaders had to be scripted in code. Despite that, even with the tool, they prove to be difficult. 

We played around with reflection but we worry that it might get too complex due to the camera angle. Not to mention that it’s a bit distracting if we were to include anything like fishing.

 After a lot of trial and error, we settled on this one. The water's color changes according to what time of day it is and can be customized to look different for things such as ocean water/river water/etc.

There’s also a foliage shader we’re working on to animate plants and wind. Its values are editable to make some regions of the world windier than others. Both of these shaders are lending themselves to a weather system or just region-specific weather.

Last but not least, we’re moving forward with sprites! After a ton of tweaking and adjustment, we settled on this style for the overworld characters.

We’re currently in the process of trying to animate a walk cycle. Depending on how recyclable the skeleton ends up being, we’ll be able to properly assess just how much customizability we can give the players. For the time being, it's looking like outfits will be a whole piece that can be changed, along with customizable hair, eyes, and eyebrows.

That’s all we’ve got for now! There might be another lore deep dive post later this month but for the time being, work continues!

-Vanis & Doku