Author Topic: Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations  (Read 4310 times)

Styg

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Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations
« on: May 31, 2022, 02:13:45 pm »
Hi guys,

As we promised with the last Underrail dev log, since February we've been focused exclusively on the Infusion project. Here's a little update on how that's going.

We're still ways off from having anything resembling an actual game, as I'm still working intently on the engine and the tools. Much of the old engine is either being changed or scrapped and replaced and it's going to take some time before we can get the new stuff operational.

I'm going to give you now a quick overview of some of the engine work done, and then perhaps we'll get into more detail about these various systems at a later point. A quick note for those of you who have grown accustomed to our standard Underrail (1) dev logs which are usually centered around some upcoming update or a specific set of features: these in turn will be a bit more free-form and will cover whatever we're focusing on currently. They are there not to get you hyped or present you with a polished product preview, but rather to just give you some insight into the game's development and assure you're it's actually taking place.



Firstly, I redid the entire dialog engine and editor and we're now sporting a neat flowchart editor instead of the old tree-based one. I've also added some new technical features that are going to allow us to more easily write more robust dialogs.</p>



Secondly, I've decided to redo the AI from scratch. This time, I'm implementing it as a full-fledge state machine that I'll actually be able to debug properly. We want to add all kinds of proactive and reactive behaviors (inside and outside combat) to our NPCs and to do that we need a robust system such as this. I'm going to go into more details about this in some future dev log.

Next, for the purpose of the first two features, I implemented a simple scripting language that we can use to quickly embed code within our systems without having to write C# functions in Visual Studio. This should make the development much more agile in some areas.

Finally, there are some visual features that have had to be revamped, such as the 3D model renderer. We're now using physics based rendering. I've post any new character renders right now, though I will leave you with that beauty at the end.

I don't have any new fancy environments to show you either, and actually we have regressed with the amount of environmental assets that we have, as we increased the sprite resolution in the meantime and need to re-render the old stuff. This was a necessary step in future-proofing the game, so by the time it comes out, it won't be completely outscaled by monitor resolutions like with our first game.

I'll quickly mention that projectile and particle systems are operational, but are currently lacking (any) content.

That's it for now. I haven't given you much content to comment on, but let us know your thoughts anyway. I've created new General section for discussing Underrail: Infusion on the forums, so feel free yo post any thoughts and the like there, as well.

Cheers.


Barry

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Re: Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2022, 04:22:32 pm »
Didn't know it would be possible to make crawlers more horrifying than they already are, and these are just the regular variant!

Pharum

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Re: Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2022, 01:45:42 pm »
Excellent news i'm very happy that you are keeping ups updated that's very important.
That crawler looks extremely good if its possible pls next render single char + enviorment :D game will look sick based on that crawler.
Litteraly can not wait for it - i'm rolling on Fonline 3 servers right now becouse i'm deeply lacking good post apo game.

Crows

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Re: Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2022, 07:58:10 pm »
Thanks for the update Styg!

deanisi

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Re: Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2022, 11:52:02 am »
Thanks, I hate this 3d death stalker in hd. Now I can't sleep without lights on.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2022, 11:56:12 am by deanisi »

Kiki

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Re: Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2022, 04:10:12 pm »
man, I think it will be amazing when the community starts modding underrail ifusion, the way things are going it will be a great game, and don't forget to invest in marketing.
Hi, I'm 16 and I like to play games with good difficulty, and I also like to do pixel art.
My discord: Kiki#0348
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kamax3

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Re: Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2022, 04:46:34 am »
As a programmer myself (iOS & Android) that's super cool to hear about the actual game development processes and custom tooling you're writing to get this off the ground.
I wish more game studio's did this! Makes you wonder how other studios handle dialog trees... Actually, I think I know. They don't handle them... all dialog leads to the same outcome in most "rpgs". Or it leads to the "good" choice, or the "evil" choice. Always love to see Fallout(1&2) style nuance in dialog trees (Although that's probably what leads to the notorious buggy launches). Seems like your tooling might be a solution to that. Anyways keep it up bre.

apollounderrail

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Re: Dev Log #4: Laying the Foundations
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2022, 12:44:02 am »
Major hype! When the game comes out, you can count on me to get ZEALOUS, you can count on me to get RADICAL, and you can count on me to GALVANIZE my friends and brothers into buying it.