Dev Log #2: Characters and Player Customization

Welcome to another dev log for The Dragons of Old! Over the past two weeks, I've focused on developing the characters within my world and creating a foundation for both the player and certain NPCs. After searching through several free assets, I settled on this village pack. 

I also found a free character pack that I wanted to use. 

However, I found that these characters didn’t fit with the chosen village pack and the world’s current art style. To address this, I made efforts to adapt these characters to better align with the art style. Additionally, I began work on a character customization system, which will help me in creating unique NPCs.

Character Models:

My first step was to connect each mesh to a universal armature. I did this because having a universal armature would help me when I wanted to create new clothing and when creating NPCs that would use these models too. All I would need to do was export each piece of clothing and fit them like puzzle pieces. 

I divided each mesh into distinct categories, which included face, eyes, nose, hair, brows, beard, cape, hat, upper body, and lower body. Next, I wanted to have distinct color options for the customization. To achieve this, I split the models down more for skin, hair, hat, cape, boots, leather, metal colors, and primary, secondary, and tertiary colors for body parts.

To move away from the low-poly style, I increased complexity by incorporating beveling and subdividing into each mesh. The next challenge was texturing. While I lacked prior experience in this area, I was excited to learn. Surprisingly, it was not too difficult to grasp. My background in painting models (thanks Warhammer 40k) proved helpful in understanding texture painting itself. To maintain consistency with the art style, I adopted a minimalist approach. I also had to paint everything in grayscale, as this would allow for overlaying colors during the character customization process. I managed to complete most of the clothing but stopped for progress's sake.

Character Customization:

The first task was to create a dedicated map for the customization menu. I used Widgets made with blueprints for the menus. I designed a "main" widget to house various tabs for different categories. Within each category, I integrated sliders for the relevant mesh components and color sliders for applicable colors. As users adjust the values of these sliders, the player preview updates accordingly. Once the player is satisfied with their customization, the chosen colors and meshes are saved. These choices are then loaded when transitioning back to the main map.

What's Next?:

That wraps up my progress over the past couple of weeks. While it presented its challenges, I believe I've done a good job in implementing the customization system. Further refinements will be made as we approach the demo release. I will now focus on developing basic character movement and combat mechanics.