Development Update #6

Hello all! It’s time for another Stormrite development update. We have been working on a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff and some content that would spoil the story if we were to share it, so there’ll be fewer visuals in this update.

NPC Interactions

Our new NPC interaction system makes the kingdom of Redreach feel more alive, with NPCs not only interacting with the player in more exciting ways, but also interacting with other NPCs in ways that will spice up the gameplay experience

For example, in this clip here, the player is ambushed by a pack of Lupis’, and is in a very precarious situation. However, there are some nearby bandits who are usually neutral to the player, and attack Lupis’ on sight. The player seeks refuge at the bandits’ tent and turns a 3 vs 1 situation into a 3 vs 3 situation

Enemies will also remember previous interactions. If you attack a neutral entity, they will begin to attack you, and alert all nearby allies of your presence. If you manage to escape and return to the same place, these enemies will still be hostile towards you. The player’s actions now have long-term implications on the gameplay, allowing you to experiment with different ways of interacting with the world.

More Wildlife

We’re going to be adding more wildlife to give the world more character, and we’ve started with some Red Deer, a passive species that will run at the sight or sense of any danger

Sneaking

NPCs now detect loud noises and footsteps, either investigating or fleeing from a sound that it hears. Different NCPs have varying hearing ranges, and the player can sneak to reduce the sound of their footsteps so they cannot be heard by any NPCs.

Facial Animations

Since all characters in Stormrite will be voiced, we must have some sort of facial animation happening when they speak, to avoid ruining immersion. Previously, this was done by hand. Over time, this will be very time-consuming, as each line of audio can take up to 15 minutes to create an animation for

To save this valuable development time, I am working on a system to create these animations with the click of a button, just by plugging in an audio file. This is a very early look at it (~ 1-2 days of work).

The next steps are to add blinking, clear up the pronunciation of “S” sounds, and begin on the facial expressions (this video is just a test for the lip-syncing part of the animation)