Hello everyone!
The last week of April brought the first proper look at Xyren's new client work! Buildings, characters and familiar game screens started coming together, alongside improvements to the camera, touch controls and lighting. This update covers April 25–30, picking up after the texture and shop fixes in the earlier April posts.
This was an early development preview. There was still plenty to do before it could become the everyday client, but it was a useful first look at where I wanted Xyren to go.
A More Complete World
I started bringing recognisable areas of the game into the new client, with terrain, trees, walls and buildings appearing together. Being able to move around a place you know makes progress much easier to see than a collection of separate previews.
Neighbouring areas received attention too. I corrected visible gaps and uneven joins in the ground, so the landscape met more neatly as you moved between areas. Walls and scenery also received placement fixes.
These are the details that help a place feel right. A building needs to look sensible from the other side as well, and a walk around it shouldn't reveal a gap in the ground! There was more work ahead, but the world was starting to look much more familiar.
The Familiar Parts of Playing
The sidebar, chat, inventory, dialogues and shops started taking shape around the world view. I also worked on the minimap, walking markers, overhead speech and hit information.
I wanted the new client to retain the ordinary things that make Xyren comfortable to play. Opening your inventory, reading a conversation and checking where you're walking should feel familiar even while the appearance of the game changes.
Character previews received some early attention as well. Equipment and appearance became a larger part of that work, and I addressed cases where a missing character portrait stayed blank after loading. These previews were still being developed, with more improvements to come in later months.
Camera and Touch Controls
Camera work included touch controls for rotating and zooming around the scene. On a phone, those controls need to leave enough room for the game itself, particularly when you're also using chat or your inventory.
Held presses began opening the appropriate actions for scenery, NPCs, players and ground items. Inventory actions and using items together also received attention. The aim was to make it clearer that the action you choose belongs to the thing you selected.
Login improvements included submitting with Enter and keeping the form usable when the phone keyboard appeared. Touch input was still an ongoing part of development, but these were useful steps towards making the client comfortable away from a desktop.
Lighting and Graphics Choices
The early client gained shadows for scenery and characters, adding more depth to the world. This was an initial version, with further work needed on how shadows looked across different areas and devices.
I also connected more of the graphics settings, including VSync and antialiasing. Antialiasing needed a restart before its change took effect, something the settings should make clear when you use it.
My aim is to give you useful choices about how the game looks. Higher settings should be an option you can try on your device, with room to turn things down when you prefer a more comfortable experience.
Other Changes
- Improved the way neighbouring stretches of ground meet.
- Corrected several scenery and wall placements.
- Added more familiar inventory, dialogue and shop screens to the client work.
- Improved early character previews and missing portraits.
- Continued work on textures that failed to appear during loading.
So what's next?
May's focus is bringing these ideas into a client that can keep growing, with more attention to login, everyday interfaces and moving around the world. April gave me a clearer picture of the work ahead, and I'm looking forward to showing you how it develops.
All the best, Austen