What's New?
Official Radiant Forest Alpha v0.1 Map
Assets/01_Game/Maps/Embersteel_Radiant_Forest_Alpha_V0.1.prefab
In this update I finally managed to consolidate all of our floating assets into a unified scene with actual canon. This content is the first round of many, but a solid start in polishing the loop we're building.
Added Unity Project Content Folders (All Radiant Forest Content)
Assets/01_Game/Characters/Assets/01_Game/Maps/Assets/01_Game/Tools/Assets/03_GFX/01_Textures/RF_01_Radiant_Forest/Assets/03_GFX/01_Textures/RF_02_Strange_Forest/Assets/03_GFX/01_Textures/RF_03_Ancient_Forest/Assets/03_GFX/01_Textures/RF_04_Extras/
These folders encapsulate ALL of the content we're planning to use for The Radiant Forest (our first level). These assets were a long time coming. They may not be the last, but they are definitely the first step towards realizing the theme and style we're striving for with Embersteel.
Added Four New Cassius Characters
Assets/01_Game/Characters/Cassius/Cassian_Raze_01Assets/01_Game/Characters/Cassius/Cassius_Kane_01Assets/01_Game/Characters/Cassius/Ca'Zi'Ni_01 (Preview)Assets/01_Game/Characters/Cassius/Cassius_Carver_01 (Preview)
So far, our artists have delivered 2/4 of the characters we've explored for this first level. Two remain in preview (Ca'Zi'Ni and Cassius Carver) but the other two are totally playable with full animation sheets. These frames were basic, but a start in breathing more life into Cassius. These characters represent a different version of himself from another timeline. Variants will interact with each other, the world around them, and the events taking place in context of the environment and their timeline/background.
Added MapGenerator Script!
Assets/01_Game/Tools/MapGenerator.cs (needs review - tiling bug)Assets/01_Game/Maps/RF_Foliage_Generator.prefabAssets/01_Game/Maps/RF_Ground_Generator.prefab
Building maps by hand (with hundreds/thousands of tiles) was not entirely sustainable. That being said, I spent a few hours hacking away at a new MapGenerator class that aims to help do the heavy lifting of map creation (initial bedrock generation). Beyond that, I can continue with my manual by-hand style editing and refining the map from the foundational generation. So far, I have gotten (some) success generating sceenes from both prefabs and 2D sprites/tiles. Building this script has been very insightful and has shown me a lot of the smaller scripting I could accomplish without having to bother Josh. Aside from that, this class may or may not turn into future map editing frameworks that we build out later on. For now, it has cut down my map creation process by at least 50%, leaving me with more time to design the world without toiling with the editor.
Improvements
- Completely overhauled The Radiant Forest, implementing v0.1 of the Alpha Map. This version uses paid art commissions for all assets, invigorating the game with its first round of asset polish.
- Added map animations for foliage layer - all trees, mushrooms, and foliage prefabs now animate, breathing more life into the environment.
- Added new canonical Cassius characters - two out of four equipped with animation frames we can begin to utilize.
- Added new assets for Quark Labs. More to come later.
- Added new player paths for suggested boss routes (4).
The Radiant Forest scene as we knew it is gone. Some of the player pathing remains similar, but all assets and visuals have been overhauled in place of the handcrafted assets we have received from various artists. This style depicts a surreal retro-pixel theme that can be iterated on in future biomes and settings. For now, The Radiant Forest remains a place of mystery, surrealism, and natural oddities.
Optimizations
- Streamlined manual map creation workflows with semi-automated generation using new MapGenerator class.
- Standardized asset bundling and level creation process. All assets are now in the pipe and staged/prepared for easier management & other level customizations tools.
- Optimized MapGenerator performance by grouping generated tiles/prefab assets as chunk clusters. Noticable improvements inside and outside of editor were noted.
Optimizing the MapGenerator class took a decent chunk of my time over this sprint, but now that core functionality has been outlined I should be able to pick up where I left off next week, accelerating some of the level buildouts thanks to this new tool. With Josh's expertise, I'm sure it will become far more useful in the weeks to come.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug where prefab instantiations weren't being generated onto the grid via the new MapGenerator class. Unfortunately, fixing this introduced a new bug on the other side, making tile sprites un-generatable for the time being (will fix in next patch).
- Fixed a bug where MapGenerator wasn't placing new assets in proper layers. This was debugged and offered to developers as an option to set prior to generation.
- Fixed some organizational issues with the Embersteel_Radiant_Forest_Alpha_V0.1.prefab. Hierarchies are now properly set and standardized for future map creation.
All bugs I encountered were self-created and self-resolved via the new MapGenerator.cs script I introduced. This is definitely something that can be improved/refactored into a more game-ready tool that streamlines the level design process even further.
Code Refactor & Audits
- MapGenerator.cs was both introduced and refactored many times in this update. Unfortunately, it remains 80% functional, missing the last 20% for functionality auto-generating the sprite tiles (ran out of time to debug this over the weekend). This should be an easy fix once I have a chance to dive back into the class.
The only code I changed and updated in this update belongs to the new MapGenerator.cs class. These methods aim to streamline initial level creation processes.
Miscellaneous
- Brushed up lore and canon.
- Updated embersteel.academy website.
- Validated more experimental gen-ai workflows.
- Learned how to edit/splice/animate sprites in Unity.
- Still working with artists commissioning the other two Cassius characters.
What's Next?
This update finally introduces (somewhat) canonical content that can be playtested for further polish.
There remains plenty of work to be done improving the level design of this Alpha Build (which can be, but not limited to): better defined biomes, battle areas, and corridors. Add more land features and immersive layers of foliage/grass/fauna and other natural landmarks that tell a story.
Beyond the level design perspective, there is also work to be done importing the enemy assets and sprites, breathing action into the environment through the roamming of some of these enemies.
With the core engine built, base level designed, and story outlined - we are well positioned for major content updates for the rest of the year.
It's hard to tell exactly when we'll be able to start advertising a Closed Alpha, but I think it's closer now more than ever before! Stay tuned for a chance to be one of the first to playtest the game.
