Development Blog: Sprint #17

Sprint #17 has come to an end and Sprint #18 has begun. We had another busy and productive sprint, completing several tasks. We hit a new milestone with our gladiators and NPCs, and now have 104 total MetaHuman characters created, 42 gladiators and 62 NPCs. Our original launch goal was to have 30 unique gladiators, our new goal is now 50. We also began to add art to Rome now that the greybox, terrain smoothing, and main road spline phase is complete. Moving into the next sprint we are going to focus on the new player name creation UI and functionality, cleanup bug fixing, gladiator and NPC lore, Rome art, modeling and texturing the Colosseum interior and entrance. As always, we have some cool stuff to share so let’s get to it.

Code

  • Completed implementing the Steam SDK and in-game store functionality
    • Now able to make purchases in-game with the Steam overlay and wallet
  • Set up back-end database integration
  • Created our tree spline blueprint that allows us to add any tree mesh, adjust random height, snap to landscape and more
  • Begun implementing AI for our ducks, rats, rabbits and squirrels on Rome

Design

  • Continued writing lore for gladiators and citizens
  • Wrote lore and added stats for new food, drink, weapons, shields, and armor
  • Added name title rewards (50)

Music

  • Continued composing the combat music

Art

  • Continued modeling and texturing the Colosseum interior and entrance
  • Created new gladiators (11) and citizens (13)
  • Did a polish pass on several gladiators and NPCs, including teeth
  • Smoothed Rome’s terrain, removing all jagged spots
  • Begun adding foliage to Rome
    • Grass
    • Trees
    • Flowers
  • Begun adding a detailed greybox layout for the market area in Rome
  • Begun adding props to Rome
  • Added the day/night cycle to Rome and adjusted lighting
  • Added dynamic random weather to Rome
    • Clear Skies, Partly Cloudy, Cloudy, Fog, Overcast, Light Rain, Heavy Rain, Thunder Storms
    • Begun adding weather effects to the landscape and objects to show wetness and puddles when raining
  • Added new gladiator equipment and icons
    • Helmet (10)
    • Ring (57)
    • Wrist (1)
    • Trident (1)
    • One-Hand Sword (6)
    • Two-Hand Sword (1)
    • Bow (4)
    • Arrow (4)
    • Shield (9)
  • Added new consumable food (4) and drink (4) with icons totaling 61 food and 17 drink types
    • Updated a few icons for previously implemented food and drink
  • Fixed various bugs with object ghosting and shadows

New Gladiators (Full List)

New NPCs (Full List)