Welcome back, Guardians. Before anything else, I want to apologise for the radio silence over the last six weeks.
I was doing a three-week teaching internship, which came with over four hours of travel a day. By the time I got home each night and did my chores, I had no time for this project - and that was without the two heatwaves that hit across that same period. The dev update schedule slippedas well as the Ability Teaser Trailer.
Anyways - things are moving again, and there's quite a bit to cover, so let's get into it.
The Destinations Teaser Trailer Got MOTW!! (Movie of the Week)
Since the last update, we put out the Destinations Teaser Trailer - and it went further than we ever expected. It got shared on Twitter, picked up serious traction on YouTube, and more people saw it than anything we've put out before.
Then Bungie featured it as Movie of the Week in one of the final TWIDs, which is an honour we did not see coming.
If you haven't watched the trailer yet, please go do that. And to everyone who watched, shared, reposted, commented, whatever - thank you so much. It was a wild time and we would not have gotten anywhere near that reach without you.
See the tweet that kicked the whole thing off.
▶ View the TweetAbility Teaser Trailer - Tonight
The Ability Teaser Trailer that was due a few weeks ago is finally going live tonight. Head to the YouTube channel - if you haven't subscribed yet, now's a good time. Watch it, share it, leave a comment. Every bit of attention helps at this stage.
Soundtracks - Out Now
One thing that did actually keep to schedule while updates were quiet - the soundtracks. They released on time, just without any announcement to go alongside them. A single combined box doesn't really do them justice, so here's each one properly, a little late:
The Final Destiny 2 Update
Just before the internship started, the final live service update for Destiny 2 dropped - and a lot of the team, myself included, took time away to play through it. Many of us still are.
Team Changes
Two new people joining the team this week. It does keep changing, but that's just what growing looks like. Alongside this, we've updated the team and credits page, which was long overdue!
Joining to help build The Moon. Hoping to get started soon - The Moon has needed some dedicated attention for a while.
Joining to help model weapons, and has already made really good progress - more on that below.
Abilities
Good progress has been made on abilities since the last update. We now have one complete, fully working subclass for Solar Titans. The goal is to have all abilities in a working state by the end of summer - and we'll be sharing more clips and teasers as that develops. Tonight's trailer is the first proper look at where things are.
Weapons
A lot has happened here. The biggest thing isn't a specific weapon - it's the process. I've put a significant amount of time into building a detailed internal guide for how weapons are made: how decisions get made, how D2 weapons translate into Minecraft, the full structure at each step. Having that documented means we're no longer relying on memory when we come back to something after a break, and it means the process is consistent regardless of who's working on what. That's going to speed things up a lot.
On top of that - the perk-building process is much better now, the random roll system has had some internal changes, and weapon stats now reflect what perks do to them inline. If a perk adds two rounds to the magazine, the description will show something like 12+2. We've also put work into how weapons sit in your hand - the balance between actually being able to see the model and not having it fill the screen. Happy with where it is now.
Here's where things stand on specific weapons. PLEASE NOTE that everything below is still heavily work in progress, subject to change and still actively being worked on! Also note that we are still actively working on weapon textures.
The auto rifle you've already seen - fully working with random rolls in place. A few minor bugs as we update it slightly
Working - just a few perk iterations still to make.
A Raid weapon, so one of the more powerful hand cannons in the pool. Fully working.
Swords have been a different challenge to work on. The goal is to have it feel as close to D2 as possible - light attack combos, a heavy attack, and a guard. All three are being worked on. What's below is early prototype footage, still being iterated on. Thanks to Lilkorio for this weapon model!
The current target is to have at least one weapon of every weapon type built, so we have a clear picture of what each looks like end-to-end. After that, the goal shifts to one of every archetype. With Beanie now on board and models coming in more consistently, that's no longer the bottleneck it was.
Updated Dev Roadmap
The dev update roadmap has been updated to reflect where things stand. Here's the current schedule:
A Note on the Website
The site's been live for just under two months now, and it's had a great reception - really glad it landed the way it did. That said, looking back, we felt the colours, fonts, and overall theme didn't reflect Destiny's aesthetic as well as they should, so we've started rolling out a rework.
Right now that rollout only covers the home page, articles, and general site-wide formatting - most other pages may still be running the old fonts and colours for a while yet, so don't be alarmed if things look inconsistent between pages. This is a long, gradual rollout done one piece at a time, not an overnight switch.
Layouts haven't changed yet - this pass is colours and fonts only - but layout tweaks are planned down the line too.
One heads up: during this transition, accessibility features may not behave as intended on some pages. Apologies in advance for that - we're working through it.
We'd love to hear what you think about the direction, so come share your thoughts in the Discord.
Applications Open
Applications are always open - and we currently have three roles we're looking to fill, including one new one. If any of these sound like you, head to the Discord and apply as soon as you can.
The pixel artist role is brand new - we're looking for someone to work on armour skins specifically. If that sounds like something you can do, please don't sit on it.