Improving the gore system and enemy AI for Episode 2 of COVEN
With Episode 2 comes new and improved enemy meshes, as well as a much improved gore system both visually and performance wise. Meet the new base villager mesh: "What is a man? A miserable little pile of colliders.
Full notes
Full COVEN update
Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.
What changed
0 fixes2 additions2 changes0 removals
Performance
Balance
Gameplay
addedWith Episode 2 comes new and improved enemy meshes, as well as a much improved gore system both visually and performance wise. Meet the new base villager mesh:
changedPreviously you could do damage to 3 areas of an enemy, the head, torso and legs. You could also cut them in half vertically or horizontally which was just a mesh swap. In Ep.2 you'll be able to do damage to specific areas of limbs, 4 areas of the head, upper/lower torso, upper/lower arm and upper/lower legs. This means you'll be able to immobilise enemies in new ways, such as blowing off their forearm so they no longer have a weapon to attack you with, instead they'll try to beat you with their bloody stumps.
addedThis system will be brought to Ep.1 at some point as well most likely as the new base enemy setup is much cleaner than the enemies in Ep.1. Performance will be improved as well as the fun gained from a more granular gore system. Though I'm not sure when, as it will be a lot of work and I'm mainly focused on getting Ep.2 out currently.
changedAs well as an improved gore system I'm also going to take what I learned from Ep.1 regarding AI and make the enemy behaviour much more dynamic and less "run at enemy, try to hit enemy". With more varied enemy behaviour patterns and attack cycles. COVEN Ep.1 was my first attempt at making enemy AI and it shows tbh.
COVEN changes
addedWith Episode 2 comes new and improved enemy meshes, as well as a much improved gore system both visually and performance wise. Meet the new base villager mesh:
changedPreviously you could do damage to 3 areas of an enemy, the head, torso and legs. You could also cut them in half vertically or horizontally which was just a mesh swap. In Ep.2 you'll be able to do damage to specific areas of limbs, 4 areas of the head, upper/lower torso, upper/lower arm and upper/lower legs. This means you'll be able to immobilise enemies in new ways, such as blowing off their forearm so they no longer have a weapon to attack you with, instead they'll try to beat you with their bloody stumps.
addedThis system will be brought to Ep.1 at some point as well most likely as the new base enemy setup is much cleaner than the enemies in Ep.1. Performance will be improved as well as the fun gained from a more granular gore system. Though I'm not sure when, as it will be a lot of work and I'm mainly focused on getting Ep.2 out currently.
changedAs well as an improved gore system I'm also going to take what I learned from Ep.1 regarding AI and make the enemy behaviour much more dynamic and less "run at enemy, try to hit enemy". With more varied enemy behaviour patterns and attack cycles. COVEN Ep.1 was my first attempt at making enemy AI and it shows tbh.
With Episode 2 comes new and improved enemy meshes, as well as a much improved gore system both visually and performance wise. Meet the new base villager mesh:
"What is a man? A miserable little pile of colliders."
— Dracula, probably
Previously you could do damage to 3 areas of an enemy, the head, torso and legs. You could also cut them in half vertically or horizontally which was just a mesh swap. In Ep.2 you'll be able to do damage to specific areas of limbs, 4 areas of the head, upper/lower torso, upper/lower arm and upper/lower legs. This means you'll be able to immobilise enemies in new ways, such as blowing off their forearm so they no longer have a weapon to attack you with, instead they'll try to beat you with their bloody stumps.
I'll be using a combination of blend shapes and bone scaling, along with some more intricate decal related stuff/things for an overall much more juicy combat feel.
This system will be brought to Ep.1 at some point as well most likely as the new base enemy setup is much cleaner than the enemies in Ep.1. Performance will be improved as well as the fun gained from a more granular gore system. Though I'm not sure when, as it will be a lot of work and I'm mainly focused on getting Ep.2 out currently.
As well as an improved gore system I'm also going to take what I learned from Ep.1 regarding AI and make the enemy behaviour much more dynamic and less "run at enemy, try to hit enemy". With more varied enemy behaviour patterns and attack cycles. COVEN Ep.1 was my first attempt at making enemy AI and it shows tbh.
It does mean Ep.2 will take a wee bit longer (not aaaages, don't worry) but it's for the greater good.
