Update log
Full Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call update
The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.
Repeated intro
Greetings mercs! A belated Happy Halloween to you all and welcome back to another progress report on our upcoming story-driven RPG, Vahrin's Call 🎃
Extracted changes
- Gameplay
From new combat animations to creature hair optimisation and a plethora of bug fixes, it's been another busy month for the Titan Roc team. Let's dive back into the world of Leyda to see what's been happening!
Combat Animations
Animation refinement had been on the todo list for quite some time, a task for when we finally made it back into combat polish. Well, if you've been keeping up with our recent posts then you'll know that's exactly the stage we're in now!
Last month, we talked a little bit about the new animations making their way into the game, specifically for the human enemies you'll encounter on your adventure. Today I want to touch on some new animations that are being used not only for enemies, but also you, the player.
The gif above shows the old, greatsword walking animation. At a glance it seems fine, but when you begin to consider the kind of stance you would expect someone to have when wielding such a heavy sword, it starts to feel a little strange.
Now, I'll make it clear that realism in Vahrin's Call has never been a major concern for us. Ensuring the gameplay is engaging, the world is exciting to explore and you're just having a fun time playing in general, has always taken priority over delivering a realistic experience.
That being said, the style of Vahrin's Call is a blend between realism and fantasy. Yes, we have magic spells and all manner of fantastical creatures, but we do have to keep things grounded when necessary. Even high fantasy worlds have consistent laws that need to be obeyed.
Okay, slight tangent, let's get back to the combat animations!
Above, is the new greatsword walking animation.
As you can see (and will hopefully agree), it's much more akin to the kind of stance you would expect to see from someone wielding such a heavy chunk of iron.
Like I mentioned before, this new animation will be used by both you and human NPCs.
It's satisfying to see your mercenary holding a sword in this way, but it's even cooler for NPCs (in my opinion). They're no longer flailing their weapons around, and seeing them approach you while holding their blades upright has done a surprising amount for making combat encounters feel more engaging.
Below is one more example, this time for the bow.
Before
After
Overall we're really happy with how these animations came together, even if they were quite time consuming to implement. It's something we've also seen members of the community suggest in the past, so we hope you like the changes we're making.
Speaking of community suggestions (and to round off this animation section), we also saw many of you commenting on the position of holstered one-handed weapons on humans.
To keep it short and sweet, when you holster a one-handed weapon, be it a sword, mace or axe, it gets attached to your waist. Previously, it was attached to the right of your waist, and you guys rightly pointed out that drawing a weapon from this position, with a character who is right-handed, isn't very practical.
An oversight on our part that has now been corrected, moving the weapon socket to the left hip.
New Creature Hair
Next up, it's time to talk about the new hair
Source