Filipe - Lead Programmer
As you know, there were also some issues related to upgrading the engine version from 5.4 to 5.6 that caused delays, but it was a much needed upgrade. The T. Rex and Elder System has its first pass out in the Hordetest, but I have also been working on the allosaurus and have started to get into the austroraptor. The allosaurus is the first animal in a long while that doesn't require a lot of custom things to make it game ready, so I expect it to go smoother. We will see about the austroraptor, but I don't expect major issues or delays there either.
There are plenty more things happening in the background, new dinosaur design documents have been finished and approved for implementation, so you should be hearing more about those soon. For now that is it, not much to talk about, the focus has been to get the Rex and Elders in a hordetest asap so we can move forward.
Besides bug fixes as usual. See you!
Ariel - Programmer
With the pteranodon’s spearing mechanic making its way to QA and the hordetest, I spent some time on related bug fixes and balance changes. Overall the ability is coming along nicely and should be ready to be wrapped up soon.
I also worked on ability for the tyrannosaurus you all previously didn't get to see until recently; the directional variant of the existing muzzle swing. This ability is not focused on dealing high damage, but it has a strong sweeping attack to knock others off their feet. The new version is bound to Alt + RMB and can be used to more easily hit others behind you.
I also went through the majority of attacks and updated their hitboxes to be more accurate to the body of the dinosaur. This means that for example if the animal is visually moving its head along a certain path while biting it will no longer hit others that are vaguely in the same direction. Please note that this is not related to the attack inaccuracy that can happen due to latency, that is entirely independent.
Finally as always I did my fair share of general bug fixes and small tweaks here and there, mainly related to tyrannosaurus and elders this time around.
Wedge - Sound Designer
This month has seen some good progress on Allosaurus’ sound suite. We have expanded on its existing vocal identity as a wider breadth of sounds are introduced into its audio profile to complement the previous sounds it already had and some new ones you all haven't heard yet.
A majority of the most important vocal sounds for the adult have been completed, including its full suite of attack and pain sounds as well as some other sounds for core mechanics such as courting etc. and we are continuing to plug away at the remaining audio needs. Luckily Allo doesn’t have as extensive a list of animations as the previous two dinosaurs we have been working on so this list is shrinking at a good rate.
Finally I have also been looking at bug fixes for the next patch to ensure everything we have worked on the Rex is functional and sounds its best.
hypno - QA Lead
I hope you are all enjoying the hordetest release of the tyrannosaurus and Elder Systems, despite a rough landing. We’re actively investigating the cause behind the rubberbanding occurring on the hordetesting servers and plan to continue patching this branch right up until we consider this update ready for evrima.
Thank you to everyone that has been submitting bug reports over the last day; now is the most important time to get those through to us so that we can fix them for the evrima release. As some of you have already experienced, a high priority issue we’re also looking into is character replication failing, where the player is spawning as an omniraptor with no mutations instead of the species they were previously playing as.
To give insight to just a few of the high priority issues pertaining to tyrannosaurus since our last devblog, here are a few examples that QA caught:
The tyrannosaurus subadult animations were failing to play properly due to blending issues. This is a fairly common occurrence with our species that have multiple morphs for their growth cycle and the reason that we have to be thorough when verifying animations for an animal’s full life:
Watch on YouTube
It was found that a tyrannosaurus that thrashed a pinned target but pressed its carry key before killing it would result in an unintended weight loss programme:
A tyrannosaurus that had missed its crush ability and then received a flip attack from a triceratops would lock it into sparring. The problem here being that the rex would be unable to move or disengage from them, becoming completely at the triceratops’ mercy:
Watch on YouTube
And a whole lot more, such as crush weight thresholds not working correctly, being able to perform crush without expending stamina, and having no collision when charging the ability while running through other characters. Until now, we’ve had a total of 236 issues opened for the tyrannosaurus alone!
That’s all for me this time, unfortunately. Gotta get back to the hordetest bugs. 🙂
KissenKitten - Animation Supervisor
My main focus for August was of course the rex and the other upcoming playables, including allosaurus, austroraptor, kentrosaurus, and baryonyx. With these newcomers, the animation team has been creating greater and greater distance from the other departments. Which for those that may remember, was a long term goal of ours that has come to fruition. Best laid plans still take time to execute on. Which wraps things back around to the rex.
It was a taxing endeavor to bring the tyrannosaurus into full focus but we really wanted to offer a unique experience as the tyrannosaurus rex changes throughout its life more than any other creature in the game. Not just visually but in playstyle as well. Going from frail speedster to a lanky bruiser before culminating into the tyrant lizard king for those that can survive to adulthood. I think all in all the animation team topped out at just shy of 1000 animations for the rex, which were then slotted in by our tech animation department, given a voice by the sound department and fully brought together by programming. We wanted you to feel like a tyrannosaurus rex in more than name and appearance. Hopefully we’ve achieved that so give it a whirl and let us know what you think.
As involved as the rex may have been, we never stopped making traction on the other playables. The allosaurus is likely next up to enter hordetesting as soon as it gets some more sounds and a bit more mechanical adjustments, so be on the lookout for the lion of the jurassic. The allosaurus was thankfully a pretty straight forward playable to work with minus an annoying hold over from legacy. Despite it being fairly straightforward compared to the playables of late, it'll be fun to see how it fits in and measures up. I think it’s one of the first carnivores I would say feels like it prowls.
The austroraptor is still coming along nicely, getting its swimming capabilities hooked up and core vocal suite finalized. Elegant and nimble, it’s not going to be as suited for combat as its cousin omniraptor but like all of our animals, it is not defenseless. The baryonyx however is much more suited to stand its ground. It’s still a bit away considering the sound department has to get through the animals I've previously mentioned and the kentrosaurus first but it should scratch the slashing scrapper itch for those that enjoy that. The kentrosaurus is also coming up. It’s having its main vocal suite designed currently and when that’s done, you’ll be seeing it waddling around not long after. It is a more agile stegosaurid that can keep a lower profile than the stegosaurus, and it should be no slouch in the combat department considering its adornments.
The avaceratops and oviraptor are also on the cusp of animation completion. There’s a handful of outliers for them both and locomotion for oviraptor. They’ll still need their sounds but getting these animations done eats up the bulk of the dev time for an animal generally speaking so getting that out of the way is a boon. I still think they’re both gonna be omnivorous and a threat to smaller creatures on the island that they can make a quick meal of. Between the two the avaceratops is probably the one to look over your shoulder for the most though if you’re tiny. It has a brand new attitude that nostalgia won’t prepare you for. The camarasaurus has also entered full swing development. The list just keeps growing!
As I’ve mentioned in previous devblogs, we are still making changes to old playables as well. The rex kept us rather busy so some of the current roster has had to wait just a bit before getting adjustments. The pteranodon should have its spear fishing entering testing, which will be followed by adjustments to flight. The deinosuchus is going to get some of its backburner abilities added in that should make you feel more crocodilian than before. More dragging to the depths action, smoother swimming and maybe some other stuff. The carnotaurus has also gotten some love recently as well that can show up any day now too.
Despite the length of this blog entry, in truth I’m barely scratching the surface of everything that has been going on lately. But for now, this will do. See ya next time!
