This week we've spent some time getting some important game functions implemented that greatly improve game usability, including key rebinding, a vocal wheel, and improved social features. Additionally, we have created more assets for our map like geysers and hoodoos, and have been working on adding Havens to Panjura!

Vocal Wheel

This week we added a vocal wheel to the game. You can access it by pressing V on keyboard, or by tapping the call icon on mobile. Once accessed, you can select a call or emote to play. Not all the icons for the vocal wheel are finished, however it is fully functional and now allows for mobile players to access all emotes, as previously they could only use the generic call. The vocal wheel will also be very useful for controller players, as you can simply use a single button to access all these emotes.

Hoodoos and Geysers

We have recently crafted some new custom meshes to add more variety and interest to our map. In addition to the hot springs we revealed in an earlier blog, we have now created geysers to accompany them! Steam will be seen rising out of these colourful pools of hot water.

Along with the geysers, we have also made some unusual rock formations, known as Hoodoos! Hoodoos are unique rock formations caused by erosion, and consist of a relatively soft rock capped by a harder, less easily eroded rock type that protects the rest of the column from the elements. These strange looking rocks can now be found on Panjura, and will soon be accessible on the map exploration demo.

Key Rebinding

A highly requested feature, we now fully support key rebinding and controller button mapping. This will help greatly with individuals who are using non-QWERTY keyboards, or simply wish to change up their control schemes to their own personal preference.

Players can choose up to 2 keys for each action, and can also reset their keybinds back to default if they want to undo their edits.

Improved Social Features

We took some time this week to drastically improve our mute, ban, invite, and chat profanity filter. While it wasn’t an immediate problem we or the community had faced in our servers, we wanted to make sure that going forward we had the tools for players to prevent online harassment should it be needed.

Inviting players to your party is now much more clear, and the colour of their party icon will change to reflect their current party status. Orange represents that they are not currently in a party and are available to invite. Red means the player is already in a group and cannot be invited to a new group. Green indicates that they are already in your group.

We have also added a Mute button, which will mute a player from sending you group invites and prevent their chat messages from being displayed in your chat feed. Additionally, this will also mute their voice chat when our voice chat feature is added to the game.

As Path of Titans grows, we will be revisiting these features and adding more functionality to ensure that players won’t ever be left powerless against harassment.

Havens

Now that the second pass has begun on our map, we have started polishing up and adding new detail and custom made points of interest into the map. Our map artists main focus is now set on adding in what we are calling Havens! Havens will be specially crafted with our smallest dinosaurs in mind. These areas will serve as a special oasis of relative safety, with larger dinosaurs unable to enter, and will encourage players to try out more than just the biggest and baddest dinosaurs.

We hope for Havens to provide our small dinosaur players with fun, unique areas to explore, relax in, and lay claim to. But, beware! There isn’t any food found within Havens, so you’ll eventually have to venture out into the dangerous unknown to search for something to eat. Thanks for reading!