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Attention, survivors!

Survivors, it's time for the 4th episode of the Ardem Dev Diaries. As always, we are super excited to show you some of the progress that has been made over the last two weeks and provide you with some deeper insights into the development of Ardem. Let's dive in!

Art

On the art side, we've shifted our focus from the tunnel system to electricity-related assets. One of our upcoming major projects is integrating the electricity system into player base building. Currently, only existing buildings feature the electricity system, but in the future, players will have the ability to fully electrify their bases. They can build light switches, power sockets, and much more to make their homes more comfortable. Of course, there won't be any light without proper power production. To address this, we've implemented three sources of energy: fuel, solar, and wind, which players can use to generate power for their homes. In the image below, you can see the improvised wind wheel, one of the available power sources players can build.

Level Design

Level Design has been making good progress in the last two weeks. As we get closer to the playtest, our main focus is filling the gaps between the designed areas and Albington. This ensures a smooth transition without any blank spots, giving you easy access to Albington. Currently, we're working on a highway exit that allows entry into Albington. Designing the exit was a bit challenging, but we're satisfied with how it looks and feels. Road signs will be added later on.
The recent focus on Albington centered largely on the new tunnel system, which has made substantial progress. We've introduced additional assets to the set, allowing for cross-tunnels between the main passages. In these cross-tunnels, players can switch from one system to another, only able to crouch through them. It's a risky maneuver, but sometimes the only escape. The entire system has proven to be more complex than initially anticipated, especially when ensuring that the tunnel pieces seamlessly connect to all the different entry/exit points. However, overall, we've made good progress. The next steps involve adding proper post-processing elements to these underground tunnels, creating a dense and gritty atmosphere once you enter them.

Game Mechanics

Over the last two weeks, a key area of focus has been the melee system. In the previous playtest, we received some negative feedback regarding the inability to use items like baseball bats or knives. Regardless of the item held, the player character was essentially using fists. We've addressed this issue and implemented several different combat states for various objects and weapons to ensure authenticity in the fighting experience. With around 700 holdable items in our game currently, there might still be some incorrect combat states assigned to certain objects, but we eagerly await your feedback during the playtest to fine-tune this.
Also, due to a lot of player feedback that we have received in the last playtest, we have been working on the interaction system and the general user experience. We have changed the way of how the player interacts with most objects to hold down the interaction key instead of pressing it once and then sitting in front of your PC doing nothing while you see the animation playing. This change creates a more involved feeling and basically feels like you are actively doing something while chopping down a tree for example. The second change relates to the outlining effect on all objects. We've essentially eliminated the outlining effect and replaced it with a more subtle highlight effect that gently accentuates the targeted objects. The previous outlining effect was quite aggressive, causing discomfort, especially in darker surroundings. We're still experimenting with colors and transparency, but overall, it has been implemented and is ready for use.

On another note

We have now started to assign all our resources to QA and bug fixing to prepare for the upcoming playtest that we STILL did not officially announce. Internally, we have set a date and - we promise - will announce it VERY SOON. The next dev diaries might be a bit shorter or maybe even a bit of a different format as we are now fully focusing on bug fixing.