So much progress! Tired producer is happy producer.

Folks,

Per my title, you’ll understand why this week’s update is going out a little late. It has been a great week here at CSE. The sheer volume of work getting done, which has only increased with new hires to the project, has kept me a bit…busy. Last week during one of our streams you may recall Mark talking about a new Technical Producer being added to the team. So why am I still so busy you may ask? Well, as anyone who has worked in a team environment knows, bringing someone new onto a project always takes extra time, but greatly benefits the team in the long run. I’m working, as is the rest of the team, to get our new Producer up to speed. However, I can definitely say her addition has been fantastic! She and I are already, to quote Forest, “like two peas in a pod.”  Not only is she bringing a fresh, outside, perspective to everything, she’s also helping with the fairly large task of bringing this plane into landing at the beta 1 airport.

Some may remember we skipped user stories a couple weeks back so myself, and our as of yet unannounced Technical Producer, were knee deep on another pass of our Beta 1 plan, looking for anything we may have missed. So here we are today, counting up several weeks of work, and I have to say, it was a bit much… definitely in a good way. That said, I’m breaking up user stories, part today, part next week.

Here’s the highlights from the week:

• Re-abilitation: Ben has completed his initial pass of all of the modifier components for our Beta 1 classes. He’s currently finishing up initial testing before we push this to Backers to play with.
• Re-abilitation: We’ve begun work on support needed for Banes and Boons using the new ability system. We’re currently prototyping the new mechanics these will require.
• Re-abilitation WIP: Lots and lots of love for the classes! We continue to add lots of functionality for edge cases to support the B1 class components.
• Re-abilitation WIP:  Consumables and ammunition – Last week we mentioned we were finishing this work up, and while that still holds true, it’s moving to Ben’s (designer) hands to begin using it for abilities. Look for more info next week.
• Re-abilitation: Abilities that utilize group mechanics are now supported. We’ll be looking at more specific testing of this next week.
• Art – Armor: Below you’ll find some amazing concept art of one of our next pieces of armor. Michelle and Sandra sketched out so many good ideas for the Fall Court armor, that it was hard to choose which one to make first!
• Art – VFX: We’re adding more functionality, performance improvements, and bug fixes to our system so Mike has the tools he needs for Beta 1. This will certainly be an ongoing task through beta as our ability system grows.
• Rendering: We’ve added a second pass to the HDR work on Hatchery. One of the more significant changes here will improve the contrast of shadowed vs. non-shadowed. areas. When standing outside of a dark forest, the forest should remain darker than before.This work will continue to see additional tuning. If things look “weird,” too bright, too dark, too saturated, etc, remember this is a work in progress.
• Multi-Zone: We’ve checked off some additional tasking around this work this afternoon and will be continuing to test it next week with some more island/server hopping.
• Art – Animation: Male and female walk and run cycles are mostly updated, minus walking backwards which is in progress. Female specific movement will need some tech work before seen in game.
• Art – SFX: dB has continued to drop in additional sound work to support beta 1. Backers will hear this work when we get SFX glued to abilities. Ice and lighting AOE sounds, piercing/crushing/slashing variations for weapons and arrows, and much more are part of the work being completed.
• Art – Weapons: We knocked off several items this week. Of significance, we have our first realm based shields updated with some pretty sweet materials. Check ’em out below.

  Okay, on to user stories! Like I said, this is only part one, as there is simply so much! (And I hadn’t even finished collecting it all!) We’ll follow up next week with the rest of it, including several new cards focused on beta 1. I do want to take this opportunity to talk about our Beta 1 tasks, as some of you may see some things not getting checked off, despite many line items related to them being marked complete. The reason for this, and I hope you understand this to be a company wide mantra, is we don’t want to say it’s done until it really is. We’re moving into the phase of gluing a lot of our work together, and that means lots of testing and bug fixing. As Andrew has said, we don’t want to say we’re done and then have months of bug fixing to do. Those of us who have been in the industry have faced this many time, and it is not how we are running CU. So thank you once again, Backers, for your patience as we make the best game we can, and also the one you, and the teams here in Virginia and Seattle, want to make.

For user stories, this update includes 8 existing cards with 165 completes. 
As a Backer, I’d like to know about smaller changes that don’t have their own user story.
Updating code signing cert no longer triggers user’s antivirus programs. – Complete
Improve patch server performance. – Complete

As a Backer in Beta 1, I’d like to play as a Crafter with basic gathering and crafting mechanics for testing.
Resource nodes
ResourceNodeDef – Complete
RNSubstanceDef – Complete
ResourceNodeComponent – Complete
Harvest Command – Complete
Resource Node DB work. – Complete
JSONify ResourceNode XML – Complete
Create PlaceableType that supports JSON file paths  – Complete
Performance and fixes – Complete

As a Backer, I’d like the selection of races in Beta 1 to have shared and unique idle and fidget animations.
Arthurian female idle variation. – Complete
TDD female idle variation. – Complete
Viking female idle variation. – Complete
Race/Gender Fidgets:
Human_Female_Arthurian_Fidget_02 – Complete
Human_Female_Viking_Fidget_02 – Complete
Human_Male_Tuatha_Fidget_01 – Complete
Human_Female_Tuatha_Fidget_01 – Complete
Unique Fidgets:
Arthurian_Male_Fidget_Extra – Complete
Tuatha_Male_Fidget_Extra – Complete
Viking_Male_Fidget_Extra – Complete
Showcase Idles:
TDD female with greatsword – Complete

As a Developer, I’d like to have a selection of weapons that visually represent each Realm’s identity. – Arthurians
One-handed mace – v1: Materials. – Complete
One-handed mace – v1: Integration. – Complete
One-handed mace – v2: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed mace – v2: Materials. – Complete
One-handed mace – v2: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v1: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v1: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v2: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v2: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v3: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v3: Integration. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Materials. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Integration. – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Modeling pass – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Materials. – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Integration. – Complete
Two-handed staff – v1: Integration – Magic themed. – Complete
Two-handed staff – v1: Modeling – Melee – Complete
Two-handed staff – v1: Materials – Melee – Complete
Two-handed staff – v1: Integration – Melee – Complete
Large shield – v1: Materials. – Complete
Large shield – v1: Integration. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Modeling pass. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Materials. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Integration. – Complete
Large shield – v3: Modeling pass. – Complete
Large shield – v3: Materials. – Complete
Large shield – v3: Integration. – Complete

As a Developer, I’d like to have a selection of weapons that visually represent each Realm’s identity. – TDD
One-handed sword – v2: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed sword – v2: Materials. – Complete
One-handed sword – v2: Integration. – Complete
One-handed sword – v3: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed sword – v3: Materials. – Complete
One-handed sword – v3: Integration. – Complete
One-handed mace – v1: Materials. – Complete
One-handed mace – v1: Integration. – Complete
One-handed mace – v2: Materials. – Complete
One-handed mace – v2: Integration. – Complete
One-handed mace – v3: Materials. – Complete
One-handed mace – v3: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v1: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v1: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v2: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v2: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v3: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v3: Integration. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Materials. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Integration. – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Materials. – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Integration. – Complete
One-handed spears – v3: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed spears – v3: Materials. – Complete
One-handed spears – v3: Integration. – Complete
Two-handed staff – v2: Modeling pass. – Melee – Complete
Two-handed staff – v2: Materials. – Melee – Complete
Two-handed staff – v2: Integration. – Melee – Complete
Large shield – v1: Materials. – Complete
Large shield – v1: Integration. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Modeling pass. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Materials. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Integration. – Complete
Large shield – v3: Modeling pass. – Complete
Large shield – v3: Materials. – Complete
Large shield – v3: Integration. – Complete

As a Developer, I’d like to have a selection of weapons that visually represent each Realm’s identity. – Viking
One-handed hammer – v1: Materials. – Complete
One-handed hammer – v1: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v1: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v1: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v2: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v2: Integration. – Complete
Dagger – v3: Materials. – Complete
Dagger – v3: Integration. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Materials. – Complete
One-handed spears – v1: Integration. – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Materials. – Complete
One-handed spears – v2: Integration. – Complete
One-handed spears – v3: Modeling pass. – Complete
One-handed spears – v3: Materials. – Complete
One-handed spears – v3: Integration. – Complete
Two-handed hammers – v1: Materials. – Complete
Two-handed hammers – v1: Integration. – Complete
Two-handed axes: First Pass planning mix and match parts system. – Complete
Two-handed axes – V1: Modeling pass. – Complete
Two-handed staff – V2: Materials pass – Melee. – Complete
Two-handed staff – V2: Integration pass – Melee. – Complete
Small shield – v1: Materials. – Complete
Small shield – v1: Integration. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Modeling pass. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Materials. – Complete
Large shield – v2: Integration. – Complete
Focuses: Concept x3 with shape/geo variations using same material concept. – Complete
One-handed “epic” ice sword v2 – Materials. – Complete
One-handed “epic” ice sword v2 – Integration. – Complete
Polearm: First Pass planning mix and match parts system. – Complete
Polearm – v1: Materials. – Complete
Polearm – v1: Integration. – Complete
Polearm – v2: Modeling pass. – Complete
Polearm – v2: Materials. – Complete
Polearm – v2: Integration. – Complete

As a Developer, I’d like the Camelot Unchained ability system to fully support the design scope of the game for B1.
Can run an arbitrary skill node when a skill does damage – Empath now hurts itself equal to the amount they healed properly. – Complete
Added more skill networks that don’t have part targeting – you no longer can put a target component into a skill if it doesn’t use one.  – Complete
Kinematics can be offset from the ground properly – most static entities are no longer sunk halfway into the ground – Complete
Active effect “names” – active effects are all given the name of the file they came from. – Complete
DistanceBetween helper function – mostly used for doing range checks. – Complete
System skill nodes – Drown and exhaustion are driven from XML skill nodes rather than being hard coded. – Complete
Player stats are pull from database – previously were hardcoded, now the values you see during character creation are actually loaded onto the server. – Complete
Stat requirements – Skills can have a requirement that checks your stats (includes checks for meeting the stat reqs of weapons). – Complete
Subject sort/max targets – We can do a spatial query for a melee swing, then if your target is in it, hit them, otherwise hit the person closest to the center of it (and a whole variety of similar things). – Complete
Stones have health – Stonehealer stones have health, can be damaged, and die when they run out of health. – Complete
Skills can be tagged for being disrupted by movement. – Complete
Check if a gear slot has anything in it from a script – Used by Open Hand component requirements. – Complete
Stats are now bounded – Your move speed never can go above 10 regardless of buffs. – Complete
New weapon stats – Values on weapons have been balanced, and weapons have stat requirements based on quality – Starter weapons have stat requirements of 20. – Complete
Add ability to filter subjects based on if they are in your group – Used by healer AoEs to only heal your group. – Complete
Traumas – When you take a wound, you get a temporary trauma active effect applied to you based on part wounded. – Complete
Armor penetration. – Complete
TargetFocus part affects all subskills – Fixed a bug preventing the part component from properly working with periodics and other delayed execution. – Complete
SetRobOnFire node – Can be included into skills to set Rob on fire. – Complete
Stonehealer stones show up again post client skills. – Complete
Autogen the notes section of a skill – Puts the parts used to make it in, shows up in tooltip and spellbook. – Complete
Removed some slots from skill networks because they are never used. – Complete
Skill results bug fixing – some skills were reporting incorrect values. – Complete
Deflection updated and working. – Complete

As a Backer, I want to seamlessly move between islands and zones without being aware that I’m moving between different game servers.
Use Presence server to spawn players:
Ensure that spawning still works without a Presence server. – Complete
Handle game servers disconnecting from Presence server. – Complete
Fix bug where players sometimes remain after the user disconnects. – Complete
Handle transitioning to zones that the client is not connected to. – Complete
Reconnect if game server gets disconnected from Presence server. – Complete
Use Presence server to get a list of relevant game servers:
Add web API for retrieving relevant server list. – Complete
Retrieve relevant server list on client startup. – Complete
Make sure there are no issues when running local clients and servers.  – Complete
Use zones’ world bounds to determine zones of interest. – Complete
Send updated server list to client after transitioning zones. – Complete
Avoid showing loading screen when client is loading distant zones. – Complete
Send updated server list to clients when it changes. – Complete
Connect and disconnect from servers as player moves through the world  – Complete

Okay, on to some art renders! These items should be showing up in game during our next inventory update for testing. First off we’ve got some unique Viking ice swords! Bet ya didn’t see these coming? These were intended as possibly more “epic” or conceptual ideas, and quickly became one of our favorite ideas. Get yer mittens!

Next up, a couple of one-handed Tuatha swords.

Here’s those realm specific shields I mentioned up above. I’m particularly impressed with the details in the materials. Remember, these are mostly all procedurally created materials, something still relatively new in it’s usage in the game industry.

Arthurian:

Tuatha:

And Viking:

Fall court armor for the Tuatha! Nuff said. Let’s hit the in progress concept art first:

Those three designs were some of our favorites of the myriad of pieces Sandra and Michelle came up with. We chose the heavy looking armor to flesh out, and I’ll tell you why after this next shot:

One of the things we are working on, on the art side, is improving not only the quality of our work, but also further defining our pipeline and looking for new issues that may arise. After our first pass of nine sets of armor (3 light, 3 med, 3 heavy, per realm) we of course came up with a list of things we wanted to improve. On top of that we noticed our poly count was pretty under budget. This set of armor is visually quite complex in all the overlapping pieces, sharp points and curves which means we’ll need to stress our poly budget to realize it successfully. There’s also plenty of little details in here that will cause problems in rigging, animations, materials, uv’s, etc. We want to get the problem areas out of the way as early as possible. When this set is done, we think it will look pretty epic on a Tuatha Forest Stalker, bow in hand, slinking through the Autumn biome we dropped in a few weeks back.

All right, that’s it for this week’s update. Like I said, this is only part one of the user story update.

CU next week,

– t

P.S. – Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I wasn’t gonna make Max stay late on a Friday night to check all this 🙂