City State Entertainment released their latest edition of their newsletter and top tennish where they reveal their progress of Camelot Unchained. The newsletter is filled with UI details, plenty of coding, and a special word from Mark Jacobs about 2024 and the insistence that they are not incorporating Web3.
As usual the newsletter is split up into several pieces. The first part, led by Travis, introduces the new Phoenix UI that is currently available for Beta 1 Backers to test. We then jump to an animation debugging segment where Engineer James delves into the development of their Animation Debugger, which began as a simple GUI project and evolved into a comprehensive tool.
James states that the tool allows animators to identify and resolve issues with character and NPC animations far more efficiently than the old debugger. If his explanation alone wasn’t enough to appease you, there are plenty of stills showing off debugging data, just what you were hoping for!
The next segment with Wylie and Michelle shed light on the changes in the game's visual aspects. Wylie introduces the concept of 'global illumination,' a technique to simulate realistic lighting effects in the game's environment. Michelle discusses the recent updates in lighting, particularly focusing on the changes in nighttime lighting and ambient controls. These adjustments have notably improved the visibility and aesthetics of various environments, which you can see in a few before and after screenshots.
Finally, Mark jumps in with the final thoughts of the newsletter, starting with a disclaimer that the upcoming features for Camelot Unchained in 2024 have nothing to do with Web3. The assuaging of fears is then segued to Mark explaining that CU will be hiring more developers, with “some new people being tasked exclusively for Camelot Unchained.” They will be looking at design, tech, and art, which seems to pretty much be the entirety of the game at this point.
Essentially the newsletter ends with CU kicking the can down the road for a bit longer, promising to unveil more information about the game and the new team members soon. This is hot on the heels of the December update, where the team stated “good news” is on the way. Mark originally stated in December’s holiday message that he would be sharing good news with fans “early next year”, but as January winds down and February is about to kick off, it doesn’t appear the news will be dropping this month.
