Devlog Update #4 (16/6/26) : Group Commands, 1-Bit 3D Meshes, & The Animation Grind
Hey everyone, back with another quick update! We are making solid headway across all fronts right now. The engine foundations are settling in, and I’m shifting gears heavily into content creation, asset pipelines, and group mechanics.
NPC Automation & The Group Control Idea
The baseline ally and enemy automation is working better and better with the new pathfinding logic. They follow, they path accurately, and they fight when they should. However, a pure hands-off automation approach can feel a bit chaotic in an ARPG format.
I’m currently prototyping ways to give the player basic tactical control over their squad without micro-managing individual characters. I'm thinking of simple, fast hotkey commands like:
- "All in here!" (Focus fire / gather on a specific spot)
- "Retreat with me!" (Disengage and fallback immediately)
What do you think? Do you prefer squad members to be entirely autonomous, or do you like having emergency command buttons to pull them out of danger? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
The Art Pipeline: Raw 3D Generations & 1-Bit Shaders
To be completely transparent, the next big chunk of development time is being swallowed by 3D modeling and animation. It is a massive time-sink, so I’ve been heavily experimenting with local workflows to keep up the pace.
Here is a sneak peek at some RAW, completely unpolished 3D meshes straight out of my local Image-to-3D generation pipeline:
Keep in mind these look rough right now by design! The secret sauce is that these assets are going to be fed through our game's 1-bit shaders. The high-contrast, stylized rendering will mask the raw, jagged topology and turn these base shapes into sharp, moody, cohesive game sprites.
Sound FX & Navigating the To-Do List
Alongside the art grind, I'm simultaneously generating and tweaking the game's SFX locally. Sound design is another hidden time-sink, but getting the audio feedback to match the visual weight of combat makes a world of difference.
Honestly, looking at my full To-Do list right now is a little dizzying. Instead of trying to code five future mechanics at once, I’m hyper-focusing my energy strictly on getting a handful of character models, rigging them up, and tackling the animation pipeline over the next few weeks.
Appreciate you all following along on the grind. Let me know what you think about the group command flags!