Hello and welcome back all to another progress report on our upcoming story-driven RPG, Vahrin's Call.
It's been an incredibly productive month for the Titan Roc team, with lots of awesome updates across the board. So let's just dive right in, shall we?
Improving the world's lighting has been an ongoing task for us, for quite some time.
As you traverse Vahrin's depths and the sun rises and sets over this once great city, the varied lighting conditions alter the atmosphere of each area you explore.
We've always loved experimenting with different times of day and weather with Vahrin's Call, as it allows to cater each area in the game to match the vibe we're aiming to deliver.
That being said, lighting is an incredibly difficult thing to get right, especially when you're working in a tiny team with very limited resources.
We always felt the game looked a little dark at certain times, even when you wouldn't expect it to be.
Our recent QA tests confirmed our concerns, which led us to take action and implement some substantial changes that have greatly improved the lighting throughout the world.
With the updates made throughout September, the degree of control we have over the game's lighting has increased dramatically. We are now able to manually adjust each area in the game to achieve the specific result we're looking for. This ensures the game is bright enough for you to be able to see clearly (when intended), while maintaining the tone and atmosphere of all the locations you'll visit.
Underground lighting has also seen substantial improvements. We now have the ability to seamlessly transition from the bright and sunny outdoors to the depths of that dark, damp cave you just discovered. The lantern is the staple of any serious adventurer's toolkit, please don't lose it..
Everyone on the team, as well as our QA testers are very happy with the recent lighting improvements. We're excited to see what you guys think of it when you're finally able to dive into the world yourselves!
Moving on, let's talk about AI improvements.
As combat polish begins, the team has been focused on fine-tuning the human AI in the game.
A myriad of updates have been made over the last month that have resulted in the combat with human enemies feeling infinitely more engaging, natural and above all else, fun!
Bandits are now feeling much more responsive and significantly harder to cheese in battle.
Added animations and improvements to their pathing have transformed them into a much more aggressive foe, keeping you on your toes and encouraging you to make use of all the weapons, skills and spells you have at your disposal.
Tying into these AI improvements are difficulty settings. These will allow you to customise your experience with the game's combat, depending on the kind of challenge you're looking for.
Increasing enemy health and calling it a day, is something we're actively avoiding. We believe this approach to difficulty scaling only serves to drag out fights and make the combat feel tedious.
With Vahrin's Call, upping the game's difficulty will result in increased enemy aggression, reducing the amount of time you have to catch your breath mid-combat. On the harder settings, groups of enemies won't be as hesitant to take turns attacking you, so you'll need to exercise caution and maybe consider a more strategic approach to your next fight.
It's been really cool seeing the human AI develop over the last month. In such a short amount of time, they're already feeling so much better.
Has me excited to see what they'll feel like once they're finished and even more excited to see how all the creatures, beasts and bosses will respond when given the same coat of polish.
Finally, let's take a little peek at something different. Maps!
When you arrive in a newly discovered area, you'll receive a map that paints a picture of what to expect around the next corner.
Collectibles and points of interest that you discover in the world are marked on the map, helping you to keep track of where you've explored. Quest markers are also displayed on the map, aiding with navigation, but these can be disabled in the settings menu if you like to keep things immersive while adventuring. We'll talk more about these settings in the future.
This style of map is brand new to the game and we're very happy with how it's coming together.
We've experimented with a range of styles for our maps in the past, previously opting for a more simplified approach. In the end though, we decided that a more hand-drawn, colourful look is a better fit for our game. I hope you guys agree!
As I mentioned earlier, it's been a very busy and productive month for everyone on the team, with substantial improvements made across the board.
This paints a bright future for the remainder of Vahrin's Call's development and I can't wait to show you all what else we have in store. It's going to be an exciting few months!
As always, thank you all very much for your continued support. We hope you enjoyed this update.
Catch you all next time!
- The Titan Roc Team