Feb 18, 2023

Open Playtest, Furnace, New UI, Workbench, and more...

rod (removed) - Zis

Welcome to this new devblog!
As you may know, the Open Playtest is approaching and we would like to thank all the players who are helping us a lot to prepare this event. It’s always a pleasure to see players enjoying the game while we still have a long way to go.
Don’t forget that to support us you can participate in the Kickstarter here, add the game to your wishlist on Steam here and join us on Discord here! Don’t forget to share the game and the different networks around you!

Open Playtest! February 25th & 26th

In the previous Devblog, we announced an Open Playtest! As a reminder, this one will take place on the following dates:

Start: February 25th, 2023 09:00 am (GMT+1)
End: February 26th, 2023 22:00 pm (GMT+1)

This open playtest is an essential step for us, we want to introduce the game to as many players as possible and allow them to have fun and enjoy themselves throughout the weekend. We also expect several Twitch streamers to come and play during the playtest.

We count on each of you to share the existence of the open playtest around you, to your friends, your relatives, your steam contacts, discord, etc… To participate in these playtest you just need to request access directly on the Steam page.

Stress Test

To prepare for this playtest we have already set up 2 stress tests and this will continue next week with other sessions allowing us to observe different criteria.
Contrary to a classic playtest, the main objective of a stress test is to test the performance of the servers and for that we need a maximum of testers. The goal is also to receive feedback from players on the overall feel of the game, knowing that we are constantly working on those aspects of the game that make for an enjoyable experience.

We will keep you updated via Discord on the dates of the next stress test.

To participate in these stress tests you just need to request access directly on the Steam page as same as in the same way as for the playtest.

UI Design

In the previous devblog, we informed you that we were starting to rework the user interface. Currently, the UI is purely functional, it is neither thought out nor aesthetically pleasing. That’s why we took some time to think and conceptualize what we want for the future of the different UIs. In order to facilitate the creation of the UI we use the Figma software which allows us to create a tree structure, to prototype, and to integrate directly the UI inside the game engine.

In this small demo video, you can see the game menu and the navigation between the different menus. This step of creation is called zoning, it’s just a matter of conceptualizing all the interactions.

At first, you will find some scrolls on the right showing possible News and links to our different networks. By clicking on the first button on the left, we access the servers page, we can see its dates on the tab on the right. By clicking we connect to the server with a loading screen. Once in the game, here is a part of the new interface, the player’s inventory, and the primitive crafting menu.

We hope this preview will get you excited! Tell us what you think about it for now.

Furnace

Every dwarf needs a custom oven! You can finally admire the 3D model of the oven. The realization of this asset started at first with the research of different references and the conceptualization of the design. The references in the dwarf universe are numerous and it was necessary to gather all that makes the dwarf its splendor in this asset. The lava of this asset was quite complex to realize so its texture matches well with the artistic direction.

Animations

We are constantly working on the creation of new animations. This week we made for example an animation about two-handed weapons, especially the sword. So you will have the possibility to equip different weapons and we are currently working on the possibility to equip a secondary weapon with the left hand.

Concept Art

We are happy to have welcomed a concept artist to the team. This newcomer allows us to make the work of our 3D artists much easier. Here are the first concepts for assets in the game, more precisely the Engineer Workbench and the Wood Workbench with 3 different levels. This is the same logic as for the Blacksmith and will be the case for each of the workbench.

What's Cooking?

At the moment we are working hard on the success of the next playtest and for that, we are analyzing the different performances during the stress tests. The role of the testers is essential for this. We count on you all. We are also preparing for the arrival of dungeons in the game, the addition of new weapons as well as the arrival of explosives to attack the opposing bases and get a first loop of gameplay allowing raiding!

We are always very happy to read all your feedback and to discuss with you on discord and during events like the one we are going to have next week

Well, that's it for today.

Again, thanks for all the support guys, and be ready to test the game on February 25th. Join the discord here! Don’t forget you can participate on Kickstarter here and wishlist the game on Steam here!

Thanks all for reading, see you soon!