[KS Update] Afternoon Update – September 27th 2013

Folks,

Another update cycle/road map (internally, we use the term “sprint”) completed and lots of stuff to share. First, two members of the CSE team have “leveled up” their families with the addition of two brand new baby boys! We wish both families the best at this joyous time and we hope that they won’t grow up to be in the game business like their dads; we want them to have normal and sane lives. 🙂 Secondly, things have been moving along a bit more slowly this past two weeks due to illness, travel, NEW BABIES, etc., but overall it was a good sprint. Here’s a look at how we did with the last road map.

Continuing work on the animation system with improved blending and playback, and implementation of Lego-like system for assembling/rendering character models. Status:
Miss.

We had to delay this task to work on other things this past sprint.
Next pass at internal account editor allowing players to merge accounts, add FPs and first pass at adding sub-accounts to main accounts. Status:
Completed.
2^nd pass world and asset editor. Status:
Completed.
Client-side work on loading/assembling assets. Status:
Completed.
First pass at player controlled models in new C# server. Status:
Late.
Fully animated and rigged Dvergr. Status:
Completed.
Concept art for possible Viking class. Status:
Completed.
Work on UI system for particle effect creation. Status:
Completed.
Full integration of JIRA (project and issue management system) to replace current use of Mantis for everybody at the studio. Status:
Completed.
First pass at some environmental concept art. Status:
Miss.
Completed story for possible Viking class. Status:
Completed.
First pass “Vision document” for stat/skill system for Camelot Unchained. Status:
Completed.
First pass “Vision document” for magic system for Camelot Unchained. Status:
Completed.

Not a bad sprint, not perfect but not bad.

For our next sprint, here are our goals:

Final client entity model finished.
Begin physics integration.
Editor infrastructure finished.
Beginning work on adds to our Asset Pipeline Management system.
Addition of more features to Animation Editor such as blend tree visual editor, and 3d player integration.
Begin final phase of first workable User Account Editor. This will be a multi-sprint task with the goal of having in the Founders’ hands for final shakedown by end of October.
First pass defining the visual look of our games’ VFX.
First pass Banshee VFX in Unity (as a test bed only, we are not using Unity for the game).
Concept art for next Viking race.
Banshee basic animations.
Generic Arthurian human model for use in testing future armor swapping tech. This will also be a multi-sprint task with work being done on both the low and high poly versions.
Integration of additional task tracking software and forward planning.
First pass couple of generic environment art pieces to flesh out demo – help determine poly counts, etc.
Finish 1st pass stats and skills Vision document after review with team.
Finish 1^st pass magic system Vision document after review with team.
Complete 2^nd contest for Founders Forum
Complete first “Piercing the Veil” with forum submitted questions.

To close out today’s update we have a few other things to share. First, before going off to DaddyLand, Scott got us a great animation test for the Dvergr, which I’ve attached. Sandra also has some new concept art showing off some possible staves for the HelBound and we also have some new wallpapers that were requested by some of our Founders.