Development Update 17.04.2026

Hello everyone, welcome to this week's (together with the last couple of weeks) progress report. 

Level: 
The level department worked on several areas of the world map, including the location of the world tree, which was updated, and we are now working on completing the hero asset. In parallel to that, we worked on several mini locations around the map, which include bandit camps and underwater caves. On the 3D art side, destroyed assets for the Lizard faction areas were produced, and all of the underwater foliage was finished, which brings us a step closer to finishing all foliage in the game.

Code:We have changed how ranged weapons are being used. Before, we had a hybrid approach between explicitly holding a ranged weapon and a quick aim feature. This caused problems (e.g. not being able to block or do melee attacks if a ranged weapon is held), so we decided to not allow explicitly holding ranged weapons. Instead, using ranged weapons is now done exclusively via quick aim.
We also rewrote routine destination animation handling to resolve many longstanding visual artifacts like weird blending between poses and props disappearing for a frame.
In the sandbox, we added a new world marker prop. This prop acts and looks the same way as the quest markers in story mode. You have options whether to show them in the world, compass, and map screen, each with distance fading.
Speaking of the map screen, it has been upgraded to represent the sandbox map you are in instead of always showing the story mode map.
Here an example together with custom markers 

Character:In the character department, work on an updated standard outfit for Max has been completed. We added a few gadgets and details to make his starting outfit feel a bit more unique. We are also working on an updated outfit for Aoi - more on that next week -  as well as making a bunch of outfit transfers requested by Game Design and the story department for outfits on characters that still need them. Last but not least, we also made a few variants of the underwear which look more like something the natives of Kerpal would wear.

Animations: In the animation department, we sat together with the quest department this week to plan out the Umbar party at the temple and the bathhouse. We then started work on some bathhouse "massage and more" scenes that can be played with either Max or Maya in combination with either a female or male bathhouse employee (four variations in total). By now, we're almost finished with the bathhouse scenes. All that is left to do is some transfers and the engine implementation, then we can place the NPCs in the bathhouse, ready to welcome Max and Maya there.

Design:On the quest side of things, we finished up the Maya x Inola scene in Umbar, where Maya helps Inola test out her newest invention. We now started implementing the Maya x Zuri quest, where Maya helps out a cute cheetah street musician down on her luck and reviewed some dialogue drafts for the Max x Riv and Maya x Gulhragg quests.
We also finalized the structure of Umbar, that includes defining the final cast of characters, the list of quests/quest givers (both implemented and TBD) and traders. The buildings have had their final amount and positioning locked in and the temple of love has had its number of guests, list of routines, and how to get in designed.
Additionally, we have been looking to improve the dialogue camera designs to make it more robust and have better camera angles.
We also worked out some recurring points of interest with specific gameplay & narrative, so players feel more rewarded for exploring the open world.

Thank you for all your continued support,

-Wild Life Team