Spirit Of The North 2 - Development Deep Dive Trailer - video Dailymotion

Watch Spirit Of The North 2 - Development Deep Dive Trailer - GRYOnline.pl on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm Taylor, one of the developers behind Spirit of the North 2, which is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox.

00:08In this short deep dive, I wanted to share how we approached the most challenging but most rewarding aspect of the sequel,

00:15rebuilding the feel of controlling a fox.

00:19In the first game, players told us the movement felt clunky, the collision was frustrating, and jumping wasn't intuitive.

00:26And honestly, we agreed.

00:28Piloting a quadruped is very difficult in video games, and players aren't quite used to it.

00:34And from a dev perspective, it's a much harder problem than it seems.

00:38So for Spirit of the North 2, we threw out the old system from our first title completely and started over.

00:45Most humanoid characters use a capsule collider.

00:49That works great when your limbs are symmetrical and your pivot point is in your torso.

00:54But with a fox, the capsule becomes oversized, and the character rotates from the middle, making it feel like you're steering a shopping cart.

01:04We ended up doing something that usually is discouraged, dramatically shrinking the capsule and even letting the mesh stick out.

01:11This gave us a tight collision that allowed the fox to move through tight spaces and never bounce off nearby walls.

01:18The final movement model was inspired by a kite, where the head leads and the body trails.

01:23All the animations needed to be rebuilt to match.

01:26But in the end, it felt more natural, responsive, and fun.

01:30It took years of iteration.

01:31But the difference is something that you will definitely feel when you play.

01:35The other big issue to address was jumping.

01:41We wanted the precision of scripted jumps without the immersion-breaking ledge markings seen in other games.

01:48So we built what we call target jump system.

01:52And the targets are placed procedurally in real time.

01:55The system evaluates dozens, if not hundreds, of factors and conditions in real time.

02:00It is easily the most complex system I have ever created, and also the most satisfying.

02:07But we didn't stop there.

02:08If you're sprinting, the procedural targets switch off.

02:12You get a more reckless, longer jump.

02:14Perfect for covering distances fast in a huge open world.

02:19The balance between freeform movement and target-locked precision is what makes traversal in our game so fun and fox-like.

02:27That's it for now.

02:28There are many more improvements we made to the fox character, including animations, morphs, grooms, skins, abilities, and more.

02:35But for now, I hope this gives a sense of how seriously we take our player feedback in getting the movement right.

02:41We are grateful for the players who play our games and help guide our designs.

02:46We still have plenty to learn, but we're really proud of where our character has landed.

02:52Spirit of the North 2 is now available on PC, PS5, and Xbox X and S.

02:58Thanks for watching.