Hello everyone! Welcome to the fifty-fourth issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week! It's been another busy week for the development team, and we're glad to welcome LordRex back from vacation! He's been away for quite some time, but has been doing research on how to best go about coding the SQL backend for the game. We look forward to the progress he'll make in the next few weeks. RoVerse will, of course, be using its own offsite storage and saving system for a majority of systems, rather than Roblox datastores, for better flexibility and better control on our end. Everything from maintaining user inventories to determining ore prices in the outer star systems, to sorting players into balanced servers for battles will be controlled from our end. This also has the added benefit of foiling attempts to copy the entire game - an external server is harder to replicate than a stand-alone game! Other work this week has included some map design and building by Vedrakkerous. After his short vacation, he's come back with a vengeance, finishing off several maps for the upcoming Dogfight Alpha Capital Update, that we will have more information about in the next few weeks. He really does love his dark colors... It wasn't all fun and game though, he did have some interesting problems with particles and trails: Idyllic also went on a short vacation this week, but has shown progress on the tutorial station, as well as some miscellaneous coding tasks that went more or less ok... Except for the sun exploding, no one was harmed... JangoFettAlex has completed the tank we showed you the tracks of last week, and Vedrakkerous got his hands on it, making the lighting look epic. Now with a nice(horrifying) looking turret on top, and some adjustments to its chassis, this tank is ready to steamroll your enemies, and blast down anything that gets in its way. VitreusAeulous has been quite busy, coming up with an entire line of helmets for player characters, and I must say, they are unlike anything I've seen before. Looks like you'll be able to dress up your character in whichever style you prefer, without being confused with another bounty hunter and being mistakenly arrested for someone else's crimes... Not that that's happened to anyone on the dev team... Over the past few months, we've been noticing that certain groups anxious to apply to RoVerse have been wanting an official list of all the assets they will need to create in order to apply, and some have even gotten a head start on that process. While we don't quite have the final list and specifications ready yet, what we can do is help you out - this week we'll go over some suggestions on how best to create a ship the size of the largest capital ships, without it getting boring. One of our developers, Vedrakkerous, tweeted a short gif showing how he creates some complex vehicles of his - https://twitter.com/Vedrakkerous/status/814823474011246592 His trick - create a unique union shape, then duplicate, resize, recolor, and rotate that union to create a starship-like shape, then go in and add a few more details. Start with a generic trapezoid-shaped union, move and resize it a bit... Add some smaller and different colored versions of it... And then go crazy with neon, because its the future, and the future is bright! Using this method, rather than trying to build a giant ship out of bricks and angles, creates a much cooler end-result, in a much shorter amount of time, and with much less effort. Each week we compile a Q&A section here whenever there are any new questions posted on the RoVerse Community group wall or in the Community Discord Server. Be sure to join if you have any questions about RoVerse: ROBLOX Group: https://www.roblox.com/My/Groups.aspx?gid=2948290 Discord server: https://discord.gg/npxBGwJ Q1: Will we be able to leave our ships in space with suits? A1: Short answer - no, not anytime soon. Long answer - maybe, but it would take a lot of extra effort on our part to custom-code characters to work that small. Right now, fighters in space combat are the size of one stud, for both rendering and physics reasons, so the characters getting out of their ships would have to be even tinier. Q2: Could a faction only use the default ships and stations as their designs (if their lore was a based on a collection of faction outcasts)? A2: This question brought up a point that I hadn't considered yet - for those factions of rogue members, groups of people that have no home anywhere else, and that didn't have their own technologies but gleaned from that of other factions should definitely have a place in RoVerse. So I say this - if you can provide a convincing enough argument, a deep enough lore, and there aren't too many other people trying to do the same idea, you'll be let in. Q3: What will RoVerse do with the anthro rig? A3: I personally don't see the anthro rig being anything more than a cool tech demo at RDC, mostly because the reception has been even worse than R15 to both developers and to the common player. While it has some uses in social games, I don't see it making an appearance in RoVerse, mostly because we've got our own system planned that's an extension of the R15 rig, which I personally this is enough realism already. Q4: Are the devs cool? A4: That's a hard question to answer. They of course (mostly) have the normal body heat you would expect from a person, but some are from more northerly climes than the average, and as such are slightly cooler.
You can support us by joining our Community Group or Discord server! So far, the community has been absolutely amazing, supportive, and very friendly. We are very appreciative of all the support you guys show us! If you want to catch any of our developers streaming, you can always follow our official Twitch channel here! Remember, we are always looking for new, talented builders, scripters and artists! If you’d like to help us you can always get in touch with us through RoVerse_Official on the ROBLOX website! Don’t worry, we don’t bite! Hello everyone! Welcome to the fifty-third issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week! Another week has passed with steady progress towards our next landmark goal - updates to the Dogfight Alpha that you've all been waiting for. The features we have planned for these updates - everything from ship selection and outfitting, to gamemodes and capital ships - will require diligent effort, so we can't quite give you any dates yet, but it will be soon. Accomplished this week was the construction of our first mining vessel, near-completion of another capital ship design, continued work on the tutorial station interiors, and lots of behind-the-scenes planning and design. WhoToTrus took a break from Corporate Outpost interiors to try his hand at shipbuilding, with a little bit of inspiration artwork and only a little bit of outside input, he created the WTT - 017 Medium Mining and Transport Ship. He also got to have a little fun with the small details... On the ground vehicles side of things, JangoFettAlex has been working hard on a tank-like vehicle in a style completely different from the vehicles we've seen so far. I must say, the tracks seem to resemble a Scorpion tank from Halo, and I can't wait to see what sort of turret he has planned. Sae'Tzar has been hard at work on his next capital ship design, in a similar style to the previous model. With a variety of styles and layouts, there's a capital ship perfect for your every need! IdyllicDestroyer has continued to work on the Tutorial Station interior, jumping over to a clothing store adjacent to the armory. Before any player is ready to take on the universe, it's important that they are properly armed, and look the part! I know I'd prefer to shop for clothing by hologram, any day. You may have heard about the new prototype lighting system that devs get a chance to try out - amidst all the things Idyllic had to attend to the past week, he got a chance to try the new system out on the Station he's been working on. The results... Neither the VoxelCascade nor the Shadowmap worked well at all, with both producing absolutely ridiculous results. I guess the new Star Trek got it right - the future is bright, and full of lens flares. Quite a few developers were on vacation this week, slimming down the newsletter a bit. But don't you worry, we'll be back in the next few weeks refreshed with renewed vigor to bring you the game we've all been waiting for! Each week we compile a Q&A section here whenever there are any new questions posted on the RoVerse Community group wall or in the Community Discord Server. Be sure to join if you have any questions about RoVerse: ROBLOX Group: https://www.roblox.com/My/Groups.aspx?gid=2948290 Discord server: https://discord.gg/npxBGwJ Q1: If an outpost gets destroyed completely by enemies of a subfaction, do they have to start from scratch, or do they get to recover their station? A1: When a subfaction leader creates a faction, and sets about constructing their first 'home' station, they purchase the Outpost Type kit they would like. From there, they supply it with mined resources, or purchase minerals from traders to construct the primary module. When a station gets completely destroyed, there will be some persistence of the resources - some will be destroyed and irrecoverable, but a portion may still be recollected by players of either the faction or an opponent. The station will be destroyed, yes, but not everything that makes up the station. Q2: Will there be an intermediate step between the largest fighters and the smallest capital ships, with different controls? A2: The largest fighters available will be quite big and slow, and possibly quite close in size, but the flight systems will be distinct. We want capital ships to perform a different role than a fighter of any size would, so the distinction is important. When we finalize the list of ships and scale requirements, we will have more information about each of the types of vehicles. Q3: Do you plan to use constraints for vehicles, like tank tracks and such? A3: While having physically-simulated tank tracks would be cool, the strain on the game servers would be enormous, even if we did get it to work with spherical gravity, and at a tiny scale. We will be demoing vehicle control systems shortly, and that'll give you a clearer picture of what vehicles will be like. You can support us by joining our Community Group or Discord server! So far, the community has been absolutely amazing, supportive, and very friendly. We are very appreciative of all the support you guys show us! If you want to catch any of our developers streaming, you can always follow our official Twitch channel here! Remember, we are always looking for new, talented builders, scripters and artists! If you’d like to help us you can always get in touch with us through RoVerse_Official on the ROBLOX website! Don’t worry, we don’t bite!
Hello everyone! Welcome to the fifty-second issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week!
This week marks the 52nd edition of the newsletter, which makes it the 1 year anniversary of these helpful little updates - though work began on RoVerse before this date, and the newsletters didn't come out every week with a break after the Alpha Released, now is as good a time as any to review how far we've come in a year, as well as look forward to the awesome stuff we have planned for the future! This newsletter will come to you in two parts - the typical update and news portion, and a special portion full of the development team's favorite stuff from the past year. We've had another busy week full of progress on a variety of fronts, including more updates and refinements to the Capital Ship flight systems, we have some promising work on the User Interfaces, we wrapped up work on some of the outpost module types, as well as a new vehicle and the beginnings of a new ship. Let's get started! Part 1: Weekly Progress Introducing new players to such an advanced game as RoVerse will be a vital step in getting players interested, from both clan and non-clan backgrounds. We are trying to walk the line between these two groups, catering more advanced features for those members of factions who take pride in the clan world, and to get players who may not have any idea what the clan world is to dive in. The most important part of our development, then, is the design of the tutorial. Where many Roblox titles in the past have relied on dropping a player directly into the game, with a trial-by-fire tutorial, so to speak, with a game like RoVerse that won't work too well. We don't want someone with no clue what they're doing blundering into a pivotal battle, or to frustrate them into abandoning the game. So it is only fitting that we design a separate space specifically to teach players about the game mechanics, as well as the universe they will soon be entering. You may have seen some of the pictures we've posted about the work Andross has been doing on a space station interior - this station will not be a part of the 220 star systems available for faction control, where if it were, it would influence the control of star systems. Instead, it will be hosted in its own separate server, cut off from the rest of the galaxy. This will allow us to control the spawn points of new players, placing them safely away from the action until they get the hang of things. This week, we have spent quite a bit of time refining the layout of the tutorial - what features to demonstrate, like character creation and customization, tools and equipment, and ship purchasing, as well as working on the design of the level. Along with the technical aspects, this 'front door' of RoVerse needs to also be really cool to attract players to the game, and get them immersed in their own story. IdyllicDestroyer and Vedrakkerous have poured their hearts into new portions of the tutorial level, including an area that introduces clans and factions to the player, and an area for the customization of clothing and weapons.
In the coming weeks, we will be discussing more details on the tutorial, and hopefully showing off more completed building work.
VitreusAeulous has been working on a few more helmets for players to customize their character, each with their own style and effects. We wouldn't want the entire galaxy to be filled with yellow-headed lego people, now would we?
SirJesuKristi/Drahsid5 has been working on ground vehicle mechanics, and nearly has a tank-track system working, except for when it encounters slopes... So look for more on that in the coming weeks, once we work most of the bugs out of it.
JangoFettAlex has completed another ground vehicle, in a completely different style than the 3 previous.
This vehicle looks like it sacrificed some armor plating for a bit more maneuverability than the 6-wheel vehicles we've seen so far.
IdyllicDestroyer also worked on wrapping up the final details of 4/5 outpost variants, completing corner and vertical modules for the military and corporate versions. With these final modules completed, he was able to add them to a rudimentary Outpost generator, that places modules randomly connected to each other, that shows us how a completely inefficient and randomly designed station would look. Military -
Pirate -
This system is extremely rudimentary, ignoring collisions and overlap, but it gives us a very good visualization of what an average station of that type would look like, allowing us to make tweaks to the exteriors, and influence the designs of the interiors.
Of course, being Idyllic, he took the system and cranked it up to 100, generating outposts with hundreds of modules each that no faction would ever be able to create, just to see what would happen. The results are below.
As you can see, the Military Outpost, even in its most random configuration, retains a bit of order, remaining flat and linear. On the other hand, the Pirate Outpost becomes a complex web of rocks and struts, but looks as impenetrable as any fortress could be.
Each week we compile a Q&A section here whenever there are any new questions posted on the RoVerse Community group wall or in the Community Discord Server. Be sure to join if you have any questions about RoVerse: ROBLOX Group: https://www.roblox.com/My/Groups.aspx?gid=2948290 Discord server: https://discord.gg/npxBGwJ Q1: Are we allowed to keep our faction lore a secret in order to use it for ingame reasons? A1: For your faction application, you will have to describe the official lore of your faction, but if you were interested in spreading false lore throughout the game, we could probably accommodate you. A mysterious faction that no one knows about, with members of opposing factions slowly finding the truth, would be interesting, as long as every faction doesn't try to do that. Q2: Will ores mined have variations on purity, effecting their resale value? A2: This is an interesting idea. For crafting purposes, we will probably keep the use of resources simple and straightforward, just so players don't get frustrated by going to build a ship and having the wrong purity of iron. For resources that are purely for sale and resale, this could be an interesting idea we could look into implementing. Q3: Will there be a possibility for pets or ride-able animals? A3: While we are still working on confirming whether we will be able to add AI animals or enemies, pets or ride-able animals would be cool, but probably something added to an expansion at a later point. Q4: Will there be space kittens? A4: The galaxy is a very big place, full of planets and stars untouched by the hand of man, nor seen by his gaze. There are untold wonders and terrors out there, you'll just have to get out there and explore! Q5: Will mechs and walkers be a thing? A5: Word has just come in from HQ saying affirmative. We're looking at adding a variety of vehicles for ground combat, just to keep it interesting. No more battles between 20 copies of the same tank and jeep, though that might still happen. Q6: Will we be able to add cybernetic replacements to our characters? A6: Character creation will be uniquely involved, with plenty of selections for your player effecting only aesthetics so as not to give one species or faction an advantage over another faction, but there is the possibility for purchasable enhancements to give you a slight edge in battle or in certain environments.
Part 2: Year in Review There has been a lot of cool things we've accomplished in the past year, and it was hard to pick a favorite. We've pushed the limits of the engine, recruited the best and most creative builders in the clan community, and tested our coder's talents making a never-before-seen game that everyone who hears about it gets excited about. So without further ado, here's a selection of our favorite images, videos, and tweets we've released to the public over the past year. Planets:
From a colorful roundish blog of parts, to a smooth terrain sphere replete with mountains, continents, and weather systems, the strides made bringing realistic planets to Roblox have been quite astounding, and have been both a pleasure to watch and work on. And who could forget the great times we had searching for Frank the space turkey as a community?
Initial Dogfight Demo:
This video really caught the public's attention - up to this point, the game was only an idea, and like so many ideas that have gone through the forums before, could disappear in an instant. But when this video appeared, showing off an initial version of ship flight systems unlike anything done before, RoVerse became more than just a crazy idea scribbled in a notebook, it became a real possibility.
RoVerse Cinematic Trailer:
Such an important step in the realization of RoVerse. While not exactly an accurate representation of the final product, the initial trailer set the standard for everything that was to come after it. It laid the groundwork for planets and ships and stations, and it also threw in a bit of background lore and an interesting story to go along with it. It showed us just how far we could go with the Roblox engine, as long as we dedicated ourselves to overcoming any obstacles.
Capital Ship Combat Demo:
For months, we'd been making promises about all the features that RoVerse would have, and one of the biggest was the mixed combat that we always planned, with giant capital ships facing off, with squadrons of fighters flying about lighting up the darkness of space. Getting Capital ships off the ground brings us one step closer to our final vision.
Everything else:
It's been an exciting year for both us, and the members of the RoVerse Community. We wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for your constant support and inspiration. As long as there are players who want to play a game like this, we will keep working to bring about this awesome game. I can't wait to see where the next year takes us!
You can support us by joining our Community Group or Discord server! So far, the community has been absolutely amazing, supportive, and very friendly. We are very appreciative of all the support you guys show us! If you want to catch any of our developers streaming, you can always follow our official Twitch channel here! Remember, we are always looking for new, talented builders, scripters and artists! If you’d like to help us you can always get in touch with us through RoVerse_Official on the ROBLOX website! Don’t worry, we don’t bite! Hello everyone! Welcome to the fifty-first issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week! We've got some nice progress this week in both the building and scripting departments - after a short break, NoCollider got right back to work improving the Capital ship Flight systems, adding turret replication and muzzle flashes, as well as creating the foundation of the shield system. Over in the building department, IdyllicDestroyer has been working on the final few modules for the last few styles of Outposts, getting those ready to be sent over to the interiors designers. Galbotrix has been streaming his work on the Industrial interiors, with progress on the Industrial Communications/Hub Module. WhoToTrus has been making some finishing touches to the Corporate Hub, with a space-juice bar and station control room. We'll be filling in a few more details before production, but the main work has been completed! We've got a new vehicle to show off, perfect for crossing those large empty desert worlds or storming an outpost. Good work to JangoFettAlex and Vedrakkerous! (Note: These images are all produced in-game, no outside rendering or editing) Each week we compile a Q&A section here whenever there are any new questions posted on the RoVerse Community group wall or in the Community Discord Server. Be sure to join if you have any questions about RoVerse: ROBLOX Group: https://www.roblox.com/My/Groups.aspx?gid=2948290 Discord server: https://discord.gg/npxBGwJ Q1: Is it possible for npcs to exist? A1: Now there are two types of NPC's you could be talking about - AI controlled fighters, or the talkative bartender you run into on a space station. The latter will definitely be a part of RoVerse, from collecting quests, to generally populating stations, you can expect to see a variety of NPC characters hanging around. AI powered weapons systems, on the other hand, probably won't be in the initial release due to their high overhead to run, but we'll keep trying, and who knows, it might end up as an expansion. Q2: Will there be a way of getting news about the occurrences across the different star systems? (Such as updates on wars going on or price fluctuations and other things like that) A2: We are looking to support an active journalism occupation in RoVerse, where players can write down their views of events happening in RoVerse, to give a first-person account to those who cant be there, or those who come later. The other, quicker option will be staying in communication with factions and community discord channels, asking around about prices, or keeping tabs on the war efforts. Q3: Also will non-functioning buildings be something that can be user-created, (like a monument or just some skyscraper that serves no wartime purpose) A3: Not every building constructed on planets will have a wartime purpose, some are purely for generating resources, and some help grow or protect the populations in cities. We are looking into ways to support faction-custom structures that are purely decorative, or are present in clan lore, so stay tuned. Q4: Will you be able to colonize planets? If so, will you be able to set up some kind of self-sustainable town/city/colony? Also, will you be able to mine planets dry of ALL their resources? A4: Colonizing planets is a fairly important goal of any faction - it is declaring to the universe that this planet is yours, and you intend to keep it! Planetary resources will function similarly to asteroids, with a set amount of resources, and a long regeneration period. So, in theory, you could strip a planet bare, but they are quite large. You can support us by joining our Community Group or Discord server! So far, the community has been absolutely amazing, supportive, and very friendly. We are very appreciative of all the support you guys show us! If you want to catch any of our developers streaming, you can always follow our official Twitch channel here! Remember, we are always looking for new, talented builders, scripters and artists! If you’d like to help us you can always get in touch with us through RoVerse_Official on the ROBLOX website! Don’t worry, we don’t bite!
Hello everyone! Welcome to the fiftieth issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week!
To begin, we'd like to welcome our newest scripter, Drahsid5. With his talents, he's been tasked with writing up the scripts for the innards of ground-related vehicles, like the APC and Transport Truck. Of course, he can't script them without having a model vehicle to work off of, which builder JangofettAlex was happy enough to provide. Featuring well-sculpted frames and sleek edges, these vehicles should be quite fun to drive!
NoCollider has really pushed himself this week, working long hours on the infrastructure that runs ships, both fighters and capitals. With an impressive amount of work put in this week, the end result is a nearly polished space flight and combat system.
He has also been working on the gameplay engagement of Capital ships in-game, adding important elements like turret rotation and projectile firing, as well as visual effects like engine trails and explosions provided by Vedrakkerous. The goal was to recreate both the look and feel of an immense battle between two factions and their massive ships. Of course, we are making sure that the effects of a large battle aren't more than most computers can handle.
Other devs have been making progress in their fields, polishing off sets of outpost modules, building ruins and turret types, and all sorts of other fun things, but nothing big (or pretty) enough to show here.
And the part you've all been waiting for: A new video, courtesy of Vaktus, detailing Capital Ship Combat in-game! Each week we compile a Q&A section here whenever there are any new questions posted on the RoVerse Community group wall or in the Community Discord Server. Be sure to join if you have any questions about RoVerse: ROBLOX Group: https://www.roblox.com/My/Groups.aspx?gid=2948290 Discord server: https://discord.gg/npxBGwJ Q1: Will moons be inhabitable? A1: Moons will functions nearly identically to planets, unrestricted by biome type or other such factors. They would exist in the same server as the surface of its host planet, and be entirely inhabitable, explorable, and capturable. And not every one will be like the Moon, think of the forest moon of Endor, or other diverse satellite micro-planets. Q2: Can we make our own version of 'storms' and such that would occur or are those even going to occur? A2: At this point, it's hard to say whether we would even be able to make storms happen, let alone user-generated ones. We will try our best to make each world and environment feel unique and real, let us worry about the storms and other environmental effects, focus on your clan ships and structures. If you do happen to create an interesting weather phenomenon, send it over to a dev or in the community, we might just add it ourselves. Q3: Do our ships have to follow the same surface guidelines for the interior? Such as using smooth plating and glow and nothing else such as diamond plate? I use a bunch of diamond plate in my original work, so I was just wondering if I have to change it to fit Ro-verse style? A3: While you don't have to fit our design style exactly, and we do encourage you to have your own unique styles of spacecraft, you should keep in mind what the roblox-supplied textures look like when scaled down to a single stud's size, few, if any, look very good. If you can find a way around this, like a custom tiling texture that scales down, that would probably work out better for everyone in the long run. Q4: Can we use textures as well? (when designing clan ships) A4: Loading texture files into the game does slow down players joining the game, but we do want to be able to support a variety of clan aesthetics - textures should be allowed, but not in excess, and not horribly large files. If you could compress your textures before uploading them, that would be phenomenal. You can support us by joining our Community Group or Discord server! So far, the community has been absolutely amazing, supportive, and very friendly. We are very appreciative of all the support you guys show us! If you want to catch any of our developers streaming, you can always follow our official Twitch channel here! Remember, we are always looking for new, talented builders, scripters and artists! If you’d like to help us you can always get in touch with us through RoVerse_Official on the ROBLOX website! Don’t worry, we don’t bite! |
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AuthorsVaktus: Leader of the Vaktovian Empire and head of the RoVerse Project |