Visual enhancements and first game mechanic

Hello friendly gamer.

It’s been a while since my last post, but I have many things to share with you this month.

First, let’s talk about visual enhancements.

I added some props to fill the map a bit. Water lilies in the ponds, and rushes around the banks, and frankly, it looks good. I can’t wait to start working on the world building seriously.

On the technical side, I also activated the Screen Space Reflection. There are quite a few checkboxes that are distributed all over the pipeline configuration files. It was not easy to find how to do it correctly with HDRP. The result is discreet, mainly because we are in top down view, but it is by adding small touches of subtlety that we obtain a nice result.

I also activated physics for the movement of the character. As a result, it moves more easily on flat ground than going up slopes, or into water. The camera is also more stable and collisions works nicely with objects in the environment.

But the most important aspect of this month’s improvements is mostly the game design. I watched all the GDC talks I found on storytelling, procedural investigations, and systemic open world. There is still a lot of material to dig but I was able to start implementing one of the main mechanics:

In the game, you travel and search for powerful artifacts. These artifacts give you access to additional skills, but more importantly, give you access to sacred and protected places. There you will have a choice: keep them for yourself and use their powers for personal purposes, or offer them to deities in order to increase their influence on the surrounding environment. It your choice to keep the ancien talisman or offer it to the deities to open the 9th gate of hell.

Thank you for listening, this was the third devlog for Aekan : Call of Ruligon. More will follow and if you want to hear more about it, just follow me.