Hey, Seekers!

Welcome to the third installment of our monthly developer blogs. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up on the new landing page to have a chance at joining our Early Access launch once it goes live or other closed playtests preceding it.

As we continue to refine and enhance the features for the upcoming Early Access, we’re excited to be finalizing a closed playtest revolving around our core battle system beforehand. Though this initial playtest will focus on a smaller group consisting of the Vocari and Inquisitors, we will be tracking various metrics to help us continue iterating based on community feedback.

Here’s a quick run-through of what we have been working on:

Narrative

• Expanded worldbuilding for environmental storytelling.
• Revised and enhanced Venari descriptions.
• Level design and bespoke assets creation.

Design

• Refined battle system with faster Venari swaps and more.
• Developed major and minor zones for dynamic Venari spawning.
• Strategic distribution of Venari throughout zones.

Engineering

• Iterative improvements to the battle system.
• Preparations for closed playtesting.
• Finalizing internal tooling for level design.
• Creation of VFX for Venari abilities and optimization of UI.

Let's dive straight into how our narrative team is bringing the new world to life.

Narrative: Environmental Storytelling

By Mr. Stidz

In the narrative team, we have continued to focus on expanding and refining Caerras’ lore. Specifically, our recent efforts have focused on worldbuilding to help with environmental storytelling and level design of the initial areas players will explore.

By weaving environmental storytelling into our level design, we aim to create an immersive experience for players as they uncover the story through each and every landscape and structure they encounter. With that, we’re also revisiting our existing Venari descriptions, revealing more about how Venari interact with their surroundings. This process is crucial as we try to make each Venari feel special for players in their collection as they venture out into the world.

Furthermore, with more level design come more bespoke 3D assets and environments. We’ve been collaborating with the art team to ensure that each element contributes to the overall narrative of the area–from the smallest props to the more expansive landscape as a whole.

Additionally, we’ve refined our cross-departmental workflows and narrative pipelines to collaborate more easily with the marketing and art teams. So that the narrative presented in-game aligns with how it’s presented across platforms.

Design: Evolving the Battle System

By Ardoyn

This month has been pivotal for the design team as we continue shaping the upcoming open-world exploration gameplay. We’ve mainly focused on refining our battle system, ensuring that each encounter is more dynamic and engaging for players.

One significant change is the reorientation of the Venari positions during a battle, where we’ve revised the Point (currently active Venari that is performing basic attacks) / Bench (idle position) system to make the swapping between them instantaneous.

With this change in pacing, we’ve also increased the frequency and impact of abilities, making sure they play a more significant role in combat. This also includes improving synergy between different abilities, allowing players to experiment and strategize with different combinations of abilities. These changes aim to make each battle feel more interactive and unique, with more skill expression in play.

Ability details expansion screen during battle.

In addition to the battle system, we’ve been working on various level design fronts. We’ve been creating both major and minor zones for Venari spawning. These spawning systems will be tested to make sure that Venari are distributed evenly across various zones and areas as players explore, not only to make sure that the Venari integrate well into the overall world layout (will the flying Dactus make a return?), but also the aesthetic of where players encounter them.

Our planning for the overall world layout is focused on creating an immersive experience, whichever route a player chooses. We’re considering everything from the arrangement of environmental assets to overall aesthetics. See an early overview of Tecta Horizons below.

Tecta Horizons overview.

We’re looking forward to seeing how these adjustments will enrich the player experience and can’t wait to hear community feedback so we can improve and shape the world even better. Stay tuned for next time; for now, let’s see how engineering is incorporating these changes.

Engineering: Internal Tooling and Battle System

By Architect

As we progress through this cycle, we’re focusing heavily on refining and iterating the battle system following our internal tests. These iterations will carry over into our upcoming closed playtest to ensure that the flow of battles is smooth for players. After the closed playtest, we’ll be able to process any feedback or feature requests for the battling as well as any reported bugs.

The engineering team is also working on finalizing our internal tooling for level design, which will allow the game design team to create engaging and diverse environments for Seekers to explore.

We have spent considerable time developing VFX for the various abilities and attack animations for all Venari to complement the battle experience in the new gameplay. We also made additional optimizations to the overall UI and servers, which we’ll look to test with the upcoming closed playtest.

Inventory and Profile overview.

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We are very excited to roll out the first iteration of our combat loop to give you a glimpse of battling in Caerras and are eagerly looking forward to hearing everyone’s feedback as we continue rolling out more opportunities to playtest the current build.

Stay up-to-date with all the latest happenings in Caerras by exploring our comprehensive Notion introduction, filled with community tutorials and resources.

Additionally, make sure to stay connected with us on our social media channels to keep up with the latest updates.

Compiled and edited by BestPwnz and Vanguardian007 from the Community Team.