Devlog Update #3(13/6/26) : AI Asset Pipelines, Navigation, & Stat Architecture
Hey everyone, dropping in with a progress update covering the grind from yesterday and today. A lot of heavy lifting under the hood, specifically locking in the base engine mechanics and getting my local AI asset generation pipeline running.
Engine & Gameplay Updates
- Navigation System: Built the NavMesh and pathfinding logic. Allies can now successfully follow the player through complex mazes. Tied the exact same Nav system to the enemy AI so they dynamically path to the player when they draw aggro.
- UI Foundation: Hooked up a placeholder Main Menu with some basic settings, alongside a functional ESC/Pause menu.
- Bug Squashing: Fixed some minor lighting bugs that were causing visual artifacts.
The Custom AI Asset Pipeline
I’ve been setting up a heavy local workflow so I can synthesize my own assets rapidly without losing visual cohesion.
- Visual Style: Installed and trained several custom LoRAs for my local Text-to-Image AI to lock in the game's specific art direction.
- 3D Generation: Set up and trained a local Image-to-3D mesh model to convert those 2D generations into usable game assets.
- Audio Workflow: Installed and trained a local Text-to-SFX model for in-game sound effects. For the background music, I've hooked up a paid online API to generate the BGM tracks dynamically.
Core RPG Stat Architecture
Spent a lot of time mapping out the math for the character progression. Here are the final derived stats that actually govern combat (aside from specific spell/skill passives):
Attack Damage, Magic Damage, Attack Speed, Cast Speed, Max Mana, Max HP, Mana Regen, HP Regen, Dodge, Physical Resist (Armor), Magic Resist, Heal Cast Bonus, Heal Receive Bonus, CC Resist (Tenacity), CC Duration, Movement Speed.
Here is how the Base Stats correlate to those mechanics:
- STR: Attack Damage | Max HP (20%)
- DEX: Attack Speed | Dodge | Movement Speed
- INT: Magic Damage | Max MP (20%) | Magic Resist (50%)
- WIS: Max MP | MP Regen | Cooldown Reduction | Cast Speed
- CON: Max HP | HP Regen | Armor | Magic Resist (50%) | Tenacity (CC Resist) | Heal Received Bonus (50%) | CC Duration
- CHA: Heal Cast Bonus | Heal Received Bonus (50%)
- PER: Stealth Detection | Less prone to Artificial Threats
Developer's Corner / Current Roadblocks
The Parry/Block Scrape: I originally wanted to add dedicated Parry and Block mechanics for both spells and physical attacks, but it was going to make an absolute mess of the whole stat system. For now, it is completely scrapped so I can keep the core math clean.
The Perception Problem: I'm a bit stuck on the PER (Perception) stat. Right now it only governs stealth detection and reduces artificial threats. It feels incredibly weak and almost useless to the player compared to the other core stats. If anyone has ideas on what else Perception could logically govern in an ARPG format without overlapping into DEX/WIS, let me know(I tried Accuracy I won't have that stat in game it will make things more complicated, also the dodge stat and those who dodge are only the "Rogue" types those who invest on Dex and the Rogue Tree passives to any other player the dodge will be negligible)!