Multiplayer Dev Diary #3 - Materials and parts

Hello raiders!

In the last dev diary, we shared the work and decisions behind building our ships — an aspect we take very seriously because we aim to create ships that you can enjoy and recognize instantly. This time, we want to give you a peek into the process of creating a ship. Keep in mind that any material we share is a work in progress and may change in the final product.

Everything begins with the concept. We experiment with various shapes, initially without much concern for “realistic” parts, aerodynamics, or other practical considerations. We draw inspiration from these early concepts, trying out diverse ideas while staying true to our post-apocalyptic/horror theme. Our ships often feature makeshift components, assembled to protect delicate parts or serve as weapons.

Once we’ve settled on a concept to explore further, we move to Blender. Here, we assemble the ship using kitbashing. This stage helps speed up the process and allows us to focus on integrating our unique style into the ship’s aerodynamic design. We experiment with different skins and colors, tailored to the ship’s intended function in the game. We examine the ship from all angles, paying special attention to the rear, which is the view players will see most often. We put significant effort into creating varied and interesting rear designs.

Next, we review the model for performance and optimize it for the game. This involves refining the initial model to ensure it runs smoothly in-game. Then, we move into the rigging phase to animate the ship. We have vehicles with parts that respond to player input, and we design these animations to be engaging yet unobtrusive during gameplay. Our primary goal is to create a ship that is functional and enjoyable to use in combat.

The final phase is importing the ship into Unreal, where we build the control rig to create animations that respond to player input.

And that’s it for today. We hope you enjoyed this technical insight and look forward to the next dev diary. Stay tuned!

Farewell, raiders!