Camelot Unchained jumps into the abundance of developmental progress in their 101st newsletter. City State Entertainment sheds some light on the game's progress, which included some UI changes, performance enhancements, and for those who might be completely lost, there’s an extremely detailed explanation of the navigation system.
A Focus on Mechanics and the Engine
The newsletter started with a nod to the previous edition, which showcased the game's progression system and graphical enhancements. This time, the team decided to spotlight the user interface (UI), performance upgrades, and character navigation, while touting the consistent updates that City State Entertainment has been providing through their Twitch channel and the official News section of the Camelot Unchained website.
Evan, a UI engineer, spoke highly about their ambitious project to rebuild Camelot Unchained's UI. Termed the "Phoenixed" UI, this revamped interface aims to enhance both quality and general speed, while disseminating information more easily. With most core functionalities already in place, the UI changes now will set the stage for future UI modifications based on player feedback.
Performance Enhancements and Finding Your Way
Lou's segment focused on optimizing the performance of CSE's proprietary Unchained engine. Through a combination of algorithmic, algebraic, and instruction-level enhancements, the team aims to provide a smoother game experience. Lou's detailed some of the challenges faced, especially with older AMD cards, and the solutions implemented, and he offered a glimpse into the team's problem-solving ideology. The lengthy explanation was rife with semi-technical details of their enhancements that could interest those with an eye towards general game design.
For Mike D’s segment, he provided an in-depth look at the Unchained Engine Navigation System, a crucial component for managing NPC movement in the game's dynamic world. The article emphasized the importance of navigation, as it brings NPCs to life, allowing them to seek, hunt, flee, and engage in various activities – and this segment provided numerous polygonal diagrams to help emphasize this point.
He went on to introduce readers to the concept of the Navigational Mesh, a system that indicates where NPCs can move within the game world. This system, represented by a collection of connected polygons, is essential for ensuring NPCs can navigate the game environment effectively. The article provides visual representations, illustrating how the navigation mesh works in different scenarios, but likely would have benefited from a video depicting the NPC’s movement in action.
Camelot Unchained's 101st newsletter is just one more step forward as the team at CSE continues to push through with their development. With insights into UI development, performance optimization, and NPC navigation, the newsletter offers a comprehensive look at the game's current state, despite little indication of when broader testing may open for more testers, including Kickstarter Backers awaiting Beta 3 access. Currently Camelot Unchained is in Beta 1.