Hi everyone, over the past few months we have made several experiments to the overall design of the game and we would like to share with you our progress and the direction we are taking this game forward, so lets get started. [h2]Game Visuals[/h2] Currently the Unity game engine features 2 main render pipelines the Universal Render Pipeline (URP), for simpler lighting and shaders with more portability options, and the High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), for advanced lighting and shaders with next gen portability in mind. In general, these render pipelines are responsible for the visuals of the game. Previously we went with URP as it gives better base performance and a simpler approach towards shaders and lighting, however as development progresses, we started to get limited by the limitations of URP. In order to achieve the visual fidelity we aimed for we decided to switch to HDRP for better overall visual fidelity. Unfortunately, even though you can convert from one pipeline to the other, the game needs to be “cleaned up” of potential errors. And cleaning up afterwards is whats painstakingly long as we not only need to cleanup our scenes but also do more optimization so that performance will not drop significantly. Thankfully after much tweaking we are able to get performance back on track with the addition of better overall visuals. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43691934/2aacf94d97f993c5c96780ea39ada5ffe2c5145c.png[/img] There’s still a bit more to be done in the conversion process (character selection scene) however in general we can confidently say that, moving forward, Dinosaurs Dominion will use the HDRP. [h2]Regions and Dinosaurs[/h2] Aside from the render pipeline we also overhauled much of our level design and list of dinosaurs to better suit the gameplay mechanics. We have decided that a more linear approach to the level design would be better as it would suit the mechanics of the game and enabled us to create a more immersive experience. The current map we are working on is the wetlands however, unlike previous design, this biome will also include a mountains and forest region. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43691934/2f346a9fa86f4d0dff63384dd194b107bcffdd1b.png[/img] As for the dinosaurs, currently we are focusing on 4 dinosaur species for our playable characters and AIs which are the Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Austroraptor, and Ekrixinatosaurus (Heavy WIP), with other species planned for integration later on in development. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43691934/6ddb3d46b6a57adda31610ae9a88480af74d63cc.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43691934/1ad46cf1d2e4e8421f782c5cf63c9d3afb4d0bb3.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43691934/4084a856648cbfc5cbf8e2df6b7d6856917c346b.png[/img] That’s currently it for this Devlog, there’s still much to be done and we will keep you posted. Make sure to follow the game to not miss out on any updates and wishlist the game to get notified when its out. More updates coming soon.