Carth
December Developer Update
It is that time again friends, and hope all of you are staying warm this winter. We have been hard at work getting so many things completed. We also have some exciting news so grab some coffee or cup of coco and lets get right into it.
Procedural Quest System
One of the most exciting new features we have worked through is questing, but most importantly our procedural quest system. With this new system in place we have begun implementing the procedural brain behind the scenes. This AI system keeps track of a multitude of things but not limited to:
~Factions
~Time
~Spawners
~Deaths
~State of the world
~Ideals
~Motives
~And much more.
With this now in place certain quest givers will have needs depending on what is happening around the world. If there are too many bandits spawning near where this quest giver calls home. They can give out procedural quests related to dealing with these bandits. The possibilities are literally endless (hence we wanting this to work so badly for you players) and we are overwhelmed with happiness at even the first tests. We plan to use this system more and more going forward to help truly build out a live in world. The idea behind Carth has never been a quest driven game, but we realize this is really a must and really fun even in its early stages.
The Lands Of Viernes
One of the only "SAFE" areas left on Carth is Viernes. Located to the southeast of the mainland Viernes is an island of its own. While most of the mainland has been ravaged this island is relatively still safe. In return this is where players shall start their adventure. We have focused most map work of recent to fill out the island. We have added, but not limited to:
~New Villages
~Ruins
~Underground Systems
~All Vegetation Biomes
~Harvesting of all Biomes
~Spawners throughout the land
~NPCS
~Procedural inter workings
~Merchants
~Quest Givers
~So much more.
Swimming
Pretty straight forward setup but certainly worth noting. Ability to swim for player as well as horses. Player can also drown if underwater for too long so keep an eye on the draining stamina and health if diving deep.
Optimizations
This is something we continually focus on ,but recently we did a huge overhaul. The biggest hurdle Carth has with an open world is the RAM usage. We tackled this in a few unique ways and got things much more under control now. It will be a continual battle going forward yet we are glad to be at the position we are now.
Testing
We are just now beginning with in house testing of current game state. This is by far the most exciting announcement that we have. Not only does it mean finding and squashing bugs on the regular, adding new content quicker, and ability to test new ideas with instant feedback. It means we are one step closer to the Steam PLAY TESTING! We have been accepted and are ready to go here soon with public testing of Carth. We are hoping to have the game at a current stable build before then and will certainly let you all know as soon as we are ready for public testing.
In closing
Want to thank you all as always for the support. There were a ton of other smaller details over the past few weeks that are not really anything to write home (or to steam) about. Hope you all stay safe and have a great December!
August 1st Developer Log
As always we are extremely proud and excited with the progress that is being made with Carth.
We want to once again keep you all up to date as we move forward. We also apologize for the long wait from our last Development Log. Without wasting too much time lets jump into it.
Studio Growth
A lot of things have been happening here at Deidre Reay Studios. Some things we still are not at liberty to say, but most we can. We have added some serious talent to the team and could not be happier. Focusing mainly on the open world these new environmental and graphical experts are going to take Carth over the top.
Harvesting
Many of you were able to play a very Pre Alpha version of Carth last year. During the initial demo we showcased the ability to harvest from your surroundings. Be that trees, rocks, animals, bushes, or even from fallen enemies. We spent a lot of time trying to perfect the harvesting mechanics and ensure multiplayer functionality. You will soon be able to take down a large tree, but over time see small sapling take its place and grow back over the years into that tree. Beyond that every harvested item will be saved through out your persistent games ensuring you do not return to find a rock in the middle of your newly built home.
Underdark
As many of you remember from our demo you could find numerous entrances to the Underdark below your feet. These sprawling network of cave systems, lakes, and dark secrets are being expanded to give a terrifying new aspect to the game. We really feel this adds immense areas to explore and get lost inside. Also giving some of us a true place to call home
Combat
Combat has moved forward in a few great new ways. Having a system similar to the likes of the witcher or assassins creed for us all to enjoy. The enemies however have also gained similar abilities depending on who you find across your blade. Abilities now for enemies to use tactics, Similar fighting styles, ability to change how they fight, and of course magic will certainly keep all of us on our toes when coming across new and unique enemies and groups.
Portals
To stay true to the lore of Carth we had to figure out a way for the true evil to come forth. This comes from the tearing of the weave the Gods caused during their final engagement. As night falls upon the land you will have chances of coming across portals shattering into our lands. What comes with these rips in our world will be unique to that one, and certainly nothing to turn an eye from.
In Closing
As always we want to thank you all for the engagement, support, and kind thoughts as we continue to make a game we all care so much about. Without you all none of this would be possible.
Sincerly,
Deidre Reay Studios
Holiday Season Developer Update
Hail Carthians
This Developer update will cover December and January as we as a team took a decent and needed vacation for the holiday season! Nevertheless we are excited as always to share with you some of the things we have been working on, refining, developing, and implementing. So with out wasting too much of your time let us jump right into it.
~Revamping The Building System~
We have began tearing apart and rebuilding (no pun intended) our building system. This is something that has been on our list of things to improve for about 6 months, and is finally coming to fruition. We are extremely excited creating a more dynamic building solution closer in comparison to games like Valheim. Where you have a modular workflow to complete and add to a structure you are building. We find this type of system to be one of the most engaging and are excited to continue refining it for Carth.
~Engine Update~
This was something we debated about for awhile. Should we take the time to upgrade the internal Unity Engine to a newer version, or stay at the stable place we have been. Both had pros and cons to their ideals, but we decided the pros out weighed the cons to move to one of the latest and tech pushing versions of the Unity engine that is available. This in turn gives us a big advantage going forward, more optimization, features, and options in general. However, this was a move that took us about 2 weeks to recuperate from. Now that this is behind us however we are more excited then ever for the future.
~Options Menu~
One of the most common critiques we received during the short spanned demo release was the options menu not functions properly, being overly complicated, and just lacking in general. Not any more Carthians as we have dove in to fix these issues, and believe you all will have a silent applause when you compare differences from early versions.
~Main Map Work~
We continue to work on the game map as this is of course needed work. We are mainly focusing on fine tuning from the beginning area and working outward. We aim to try to bring great quality to all the villages, towns, and places of interest on the map yet realize some things we can add in the future. So far everything is keeping a very high quality and we are proud of the work being done.
New Dialogue System
We were really excited bringing in a great dialogue system with many use cases. From merchants, mercenaries, civilians, intelligent AI, and always dragons you can now communicate! Not only communicate, but progressive communication that can be severely different bases on skills, traits, feats, race, sex, standing, level, the list could be expanded exponentially! With a clean ui we are just very proud and excited for this to begin finding its place within Carth.
~In Closing~
There are many other mundane things happening that really we feel are not quite worth noting, but nevertheless happen daily. In closing we want to as always thank our community for your support. It truly means the world to us, and we can never thank you enough. If you would like to be closer to the action and development of Carth please join our discord and twitter where we release content almost daily, interact with our community, and more. Links are at the bottom of the page. Cheers Carthians!
Sincerely,
Deidre Reay Studios
Links:
Official Discord
November Developer Update
This month of November has been quite busy for the development team. We focused a lot of attention towards a few elements of the games development.
~Optimization
~New Armour
~Networking
~Mounts
~New Harvesting System (that works in Multiplayer)
~Dynamic Hair and Body Physics
~Continual Improvements and Bug Fixes
First lets talk about a few of the more exciting new features we worked on and or finished. Mounts and Mounted combat was an incredible addition to Carth. Being able to ride across the landscape and even defend one selves while on a mounted stead was incredible. It took a great deal of time to then network that, but once finished it was too much fun.
Another exciting thing we began working on was the new and improved harvesting system. We already had harvesting from the different biomes working, but it was lack luster at best. Now when you decide to cut down a tree the tree will fall with gravity and physics (TIMBEEERRRR). Same goes for smaller plants, rocks, and the like. Added particle effects and correct animations are still needing some work, but we are happy how it is for the time being. Finally we networked all of this and are planing for some of this vegetation to regrow over time. Not everything however as if you take down a big tree a stump will be all that remains.
Last but not least the development team spent a vast amount of time working on optimizing the entire project. Everything from crunching texture sizes, bringing poly counts down, and even updating the entire game engine. All of this has brought a better over all quality and performance to the game and our workflow.
We want to thank you all for sticking with us through our social medias, wish lists, discord, and all the positive feedback we are receiving. We have a lot left to accomplish in the coming months and it really means a lot having all of the support.
Yours Truly,
Deidre Reay Studios Development Team
Links:
Official Discord
Carth Live Stream at Next Fest!
We are overwhelmingly excited to be showcasing Carth live to the world during Steam Next Fest!
Carth is something we know so many of you have been waiting to see more of and learn the direction the game is going. Well this is the perfect chance! Join us live to learn more and ask questions to the developers themselves.
Still In Alpha
Carth is still in an Alpha state, but every week moving closer to where we wish to see the game go.
Many of the features are implemented ,but some things we will surely be expanding upon and always making more efficient and a better experience for the players.
Discord Community
We have an active discord community revolving around the game and development. We have monthly giveaways, competitions, and open dialogue around Carth and development. As we move forward we plan to add more to our testing team and could use your help. Feel free to join us and be a part of the community and development of Carth! Discord
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526430/Carth/