After many years of service, Flash bowed out and Dofus 2 finds itself in technological uncertainty. suffering from more than many technical issues because of its engine, so the obvious and expected solution was a carrying. And what follow-up to this project? Unity !
Last update: 03/11/2022 – Addition of WIP interfaces
Dofus 2 on Unity: An ambitious port
A first notion to understand around this porting of Dofus 2 is simply its place. There has been a lot of confusion around Ankama’s projects and you need to understand the “lexicon” in order to be completely localized:
- Dofus 3/Dofus Unity : Continuation on Unity to Dofus. This is not the Unity port, but a full-fledged game based on its basics.
- waven : This is another Ankama game. It was originally called “Dofus Cube” then “Wakfu Heroes”
- Dofus 3.0/Dofus 2 Unity : Note the subtle “.0”. We will talk here about a global overhaul of the game engine, corresponding to a port of Dofus 2.0 that you know so well.
The details were a bit fuzzy, but that changed with the intervention of Logan, producer of the Dofus projects, last September. The latter then established a separation between Dofus Unity, the new game and Dofus 2 Unity, the port. Regarding this transition from Flash to Unity, we can also talk about Dofus 3.0as Dofus 2.0 was an update of Dofus 1.0.
The game becomes far too unstable, evidenced by the recent problems of lag and performance (we do not need to specify which ones…). As soon as the message was released last September, the Ankama teams would work to establish the future of Dofus! A dantesque stainsince 16 years of content should be transported, almost identical, and without breaking the game! But the challenge is worth it: Dofus would be more fluid, with fewer bugs, cleaned up and with many improvements that were impossible in its current state.
Redesign of appearances and Krosmonote 2020
The rest of the information around the project has been developed through the great annual communication live: the Krosmonote. Unfortunately in distance, the event however revealed many details and exclusives on Dofus, Wakfu, Ankama board games, publishing products, Waven etc. … And of course, Dofus 2 Unity was present!
The first images of the prototype were then unveiled, particularly around the rendering maps game and characters. We would be on a complete identical port, but greatly improved to make the game more pleasant both to the eye and mouse in hand! The appearance overhaul characters, already discussed since 2018, has also resurfaced with new research from Rumo, Ankamian artist. You can discover his work in the article below.
Logan’s information on Dofus 2 Unity
You will have to wait for the beginning of year 2021 to review Dofus 2 Unity! In his letter to the community, Logan reveals that the project is progressing well, that the prototyping is finished and that the team will return during the year to the various developments. Among others, the famous redesign of the skins which makes debate on the execution. Dofus 2 is Dofus 2 (yes, said like that…).
And we are finally there! You have all the information around Dofus 2 Unity! You can now follow theLogan’s Tempo Weekly around the project and discover over the announcements what your brand new game will be!
Followed by the live HebdoTempo, Logan unveils Dofus 2 Unity
We find Djinn and Logan, the #BackToFrench team for the end of the HebdoTempos season. It’s time for Dofus Unity, with a special edition. Reminder: You keep your progress, your characters, only the engine changes by switching to Unity. The show will be in voiceover, with many images to remember! Dofus 2 Unity will not arrive next week. This is a point on the project. And on the reminder side…
Why a port of Dofus on Unity?
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, Dofus 2 Unity is not Dofus 3, but Dofus 3.0 (here 2.5 on Logan’s slide). It’s a full port of your characters, not a new game like Dofus Unity.
Dofus 3D / Dofus 3 / Dofus Unity is put on hold to promote Dofus 2 Unity, the port. The players’ request was heard and the decision was made to focus on the future of the main game. There is currently “nothing more” happening on the project.
Why a port would you ask? Quite simply because support for Flash, the engine of Dofus, has been abandoned. We had to find a technological alternative, here Unity, to offer a future to the game.
There was a first, secret attempt to port Dofus via Haxe with code translation. The project was almost completed but was not suitable in terms of quality and there was still a lot of work to do on the asset side. That’s R&D!
Finally, Unity was favored for its ease of development, the possibility of recruiting developers and also the knowledge of Ankama (via Waven, Krosmaga, mobile projects, etc.).
Very quickly, during 2020, a new project arrived under Unity. What more could Ankama do to bring the game to life? Modernize it? The answer was presented to you at Krosmonote 2020, with a magnificent prototype of Akwadala! We would even have the end of the black card change screen and a complete overhaul of the interfaces…
Dofus 2 on Unity – Card by card
Yes, you will keep your characters and progress in full. Only the customer will change. It will just be a switch, and would be invisible if there were no visual changes! Logan even shows us new environments. There are 13,000 maps to redo, not everything will be animated, but the majority will be in blocks. Attention, it is in Work in Progress! At the beginning of 2022, Logan announced that the tool to recreate maps on Dofus 2 Unity was operational.
Another problem of the current game is of course the change of cards. On this point, the team worked to find alternatives and possibilities! A “puzzle” according to Logan, to bridge these joints. A transition system is planned to improve fluidity. In any case, the “card by card” will remain.
Your characters are magnificent skeletons!
Your avatar’s appearance will improve! Graphic designers will have more tools with a new common “skeleton”. Attention, everything is in Work In Progress. Moreover, for the “grey” skins, these are models to help animators and are not implemented in this way on Dofus 2 Unity. Oh, and did Logan leak any maps of the Bonta and Brakmar revamp?
If you’re worried, the Performance side, even with more animations, will run smoother! Flash does not allow Dofus to properly draw resources from your PC and causes many lags for things easily taken into account by the graphics card for example. In terms of appearances, it’s also in WIP but some ideas are highlighted!
This technical evolution will also make it possible to make many changes to customization. Besides the face, the hair will be modified better with the possibility of displaying more pieces of equipment! You can check out all of the images shown during the live regarding the character sprites in the article below.
You will also be able to enjoy magnificent new animations, highlighting both effects and… facial expressions!
Your character is unique
The costumes are back! If they are impossible because of all the templates on Flash, they will be reworked on Unity with some small tests shown by Logan.
Your character will also be more dynamic in combat and in the exploration phase! The Eniripsas will be able to fly and the team is considering, possibly it is not certain, to create camera effects.
The silence will now be kept according to Djinn. The team won’t show anything for a while! A little information for the end? Multi-accounting will still be possible!
Update of 09/1/2022: Astrub under Unity live!
To celebrate 18 years of the game, Logan released a preview of the new Unity client to Astrub. We find there the city, obvious, but above all interfaces, spells, quests, NPCs, interactive elements and the possibility for Dofus 2 Unity not to connect to classic servers (which is the initial goal as a reminder).
The Krosmonote 2022: A new release date
This year, the Dofus 2 Unity project was the big elephant in the room. We had to talk about it, but not too much. Ankama teams juggle between Flash and C#, even as the community grows impatient. Unfortunately, the latter will have to be contained until 2024, since the release date of the project has been postponed. However, you can get a first look at the new client interfaces via the article below.
A release date?
The development of Dofus 2 Unity was officially launched in September 2020. It goes without saying that you will have to wait before having it on your computer, and wait even longer before it replaces Dofus 2 as you know it! Otherwise, we will have to wait at least 2023 for an alpha, and 2024 for a final release. At least, if Ankama does not delay the arrival of the project.