Sprints #31-33 have come to an end and #34 has begun. We had a very productive quarter crossing several milestones with networking, voice commands, music, Rome and the Colosseum. Moving into this next quarter we plan to complete the Colosseum which includes all exterior and interior elements. We also plan to continue recording, editing and implement voice commands for the gladiators. We already have all the voice actors for the next quarter and a half queued up and ready to go, and are half way through casting the gladiator roster in full. We have also begun a second pass of the Colosseum which includes more detail and performant mesh structuring. Furthermore, we made significant progress with our backend code and database structure for inventories and saving other account and player related data. And finally, we completed the ‘Low Health’ music track that begins to play when a player’s gladiator is 20% health or lower. As always, before we dive in we want to thank all the amazing voice actors who have reached out and people who referred actors to us. We will be doing another round of auditions in the coming months to fill the second half of the gladiator roster once we get through the current list of planned actors.
Code
- Built and updated the editor and project to Unreal Engine 5.2
- Updated the Citizen List window to accommodate for the new larger size
- Added the Quick Actions Window (button at the bottom of the minimap)
- Various bug fixes
- Got basic functions of inventory/backend working
- Inventory
- Successfully implemented server-based transfer of items via requests from the client (server has full authority over completing the requests)
- The client asks the server to move an item they own via its location and/or ID in their Stash or Inventory, and the server complies if they do indeed own them
- This should in theory prevent item duplication bugs, a common issue when designing inventory systems
- Integrating certain functions like swapping items and equipped items while the online backend is still in progress
- Inventory
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- Backend
- Further implemented developer specific chat commands to quickly debug items by spawning them in the Stash
- Some alterations were made to the database and code to allow efficient lookups and use of the various item storage methods. (Stash, Inventory, Currency, Equipped)
- Backend
Design
- Created 3 new gladiators
- Created 3 new NPCs
- Updated the player nameplate color to be more visible
- Continued writing new lore and updating existing lore for various gladiators
New Gladiators
New NPCs
Art
- Created the first cave across Tiber River in the forest
- Completed the City Wall first pass
- Painted interior ground texture
- removed interior and exterior foliage that was too close to the wall
- Begun working on version 2 of the Colosseum
- Split each level into small sections to duplicate and reduce draw calls
- Remodeled and textured each section
- Meshes/bricks are now 3D and stick out, general 3D shapes are no longer a flat surface
- Near completion of the exterior rework
- Begun set dressing the Market area
- Added 4 bridges to Tiber River
- Continued adding rock walls to various locations around Rome
- Completed the first pass of Bathhouse #2
- Sculpted landscape and nearby paths
- Placed rock walls and foliage
- Begun set dressing the bathhouse interior
- Added misc. forest locations 1, 2 and 3
Colosseum Version 2 (Exterior WIP)
Bathhouse #2 & Nearby Area
Forest Cave
Market (WIP)
Misc. Forest Location #1
Misc. Forest Location #2
Misc. Forest Location #3
Tiber River Bridges
City Wall
New Guard Outpost Rock Walls
Audio
- Completed recording editing, mixing and implementing voice commands for the following gladiators
- Alcaeus Erastos – voiced by Wolf Williams
- Camilla Carmine – voiced by Tara Langella
- Layla Zalika – voiced by Nadia Marshall
- Roven Magnus – voiced by George Ledoux
- Saada Takiyah – Voiced by Erikka J (currently editing recordings)
- Akila Fadil – voiced by Nadia Marshall (currently mixing final edits)
- Begun implementing the sound cues for the remaining gladiator voice commands
- Begun editing gladiator efforts (breaths, grunts, screams, deaths)
- Begun implementing gladiator efforts
- Created the datatable and cues for the currently recorded voice actors
- Completed composing the ‘low health’ music track
- Begun composing the 2 music tracks that play when you have died. Since there are 2 tracks for this event the player will hear one version when playing male gladiators and another when playing female gladiators.