NEWS
|
Hello everyone! Welcome to the seventy-first issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week. This week, we've been putting in a lot of time working on the Capital Update, some more particle and weapon effects, playing around with the beams feature, and have hired some new scripters. We'd like to welcome RoboGojo back to the team after an extended break. He has taken particles and effects back up, collaborating with Ved to create some truly astonishing work. The two of them have been messing around with beams, testing the possibilities and limits of using them for effects in-game. So far, they've managed to create some great shield and weapon effects that blow the previous particle versions out of the water.  Capital ship shield seen cycling after being hit by weapons fire during an intense battle. We have found a few limits on the beam effects, though, so we can't use them absolutely everywhere. There is a limit of around 30 beams rendered at one time, as seen in the demo below. This is a little low for the intense battles we imagine will occur in RoVerse, so we will have to work around this limit moving forward.  They've also been pushing forward with the effects for both fighters and capitals. The plasma guns available currently in the Dogfight Alpha are great as a starting point, but were never intended to be the exclusive weapon type. Seen below is a demo for how beam turrets would look on a fighter.  Beams are a constant-fire weapon that does little damage per hit, but if you can keep on target, the cumulative damage can be enough to destroy any ship. They've also created a demo for an auto-turret muzzle flash, as well as the bullet travel, which unfortunately, runs too fast for gifs to capture.  Work has continued on the Capital Update, and the guis in particular. The radar we demoed last week has been added on to, with custom icons for different classes of ships, from light fighters to very heavy, you should be able to see them coming in time to decide to make a stand, or regroup for another attack. Thanks to Mikey for polishing up the ship icons for the radar.  Idyllic also managed to get team-colored icons to work, which in the final game, will become faction primary colors, but works quite well for the dogfight. Seen below, is an enemy light fighter piloted by Ved, and a friendly light fighter piloted by Skinny.  Whoto also put in some work on GFX, providing the custom radar underlay showing angles and direction, to provide the pilot with a better understanding of exactly where enemy fighters are in relation to their ship. Ved and Idyllic have teamed up to start conquering gui design and scripting, starting with the first screen anyone in the game is likely to see - the loading screen!  We've also hired on two new scripters, Morgan, who will be taking on star system generation and backend integration, and davness, who will be working on improving fighter scripts. Welcome to the team! We hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving, I know I sure did. Once you sleep off all that turkey, be sure to sign up for the Dogfight Tournament, now's your chance. You can find the form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17KKApFQwTK-EW0uWbNQlWvq0i7OXem1Hf4YVh4SVOn4/viewform?edit_requested=true We should be announcing the date or dates of the battle soon, so don't wait too long! 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 there be any sort of interdiction bubbles? A1: While EVE takes the warp bubble to the extreme, making it the major focus of battles, I think RoVerse is better suited to a slightly different, more combat-oriented direction, where the ships battle it out in the vast reaches of space, and no extreme technology interfering with that. There shouldn't be any problems involving players running from battles that wouldn't be expected. Q2: Will there be friendly-fire allowing people on the same team to kill each other? A2: In the heat of a chaotic and intense battle, worrying about shooting a teammate instead of an enemy would be very hard to keep track of and avoid, so friendly fire will probably be disabled in system and faction battles. But in other places, where security forces might have to deal with less-than-cooperative citizens, we want them to be able to retain the ability to ensure order, if permitted. I would guess that some sort of permission is granted to military or security personnel in faction space, with the option for civilians to retaliate if fired upon, giving everyone a fair shot. Q3: Will there be melee weapons? A3: We fully intend to integrate several types of melee weapons for ground combat, for those groups that have melee weapons as part of their lore, and as a useful means of combat up close and when low on ammo. Soldiers wielding swords, charging across fields, to attack tanks and enemy bases would be pretty epic to see, even if not the most effective method. And I'm sure there would be other uses for them as well. So long and thanks for all the fish. 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! Any fans of the science fiction genre on Roblox can join the Science Fiction Genre Discord and find other fans and developers like you. 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, or by contacting an Administrator in the community Discord! Don’t worry, we don’t bite! Hello everyone! Welcome to the seventieth issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week. This week has been an intense week for backend progress, with lots of work on the Dogfight Alpha Capital Update, bringing it that much closer to release; We've got another teaser for ship systems, with an improved UI that's starting to take shape; and some more lovely building and environment work from Vedrakkerous. Let's get started! Idyllic has been hard at work coding one of the more important aspects of the updated ship UI - the Radar! After a few simple iterations, we think we've found the right balance between simplicity, and usefulness. Currently, it tracks locations relative to the forward facing direction of the player's ship, so it's useful at any angle. It also tracks the vertical rise and fall, helping you level out with whatever you're aiming for.  And it works quite well. Tracking and eliminating targets at a distance has never been easier!  Though it does get a bit more interesting when a fleet of a thousand ships shows up ready to crush you. You better get used to watching your 6 for any Space Turkey fleets coming after you.  We managed to stress test the system, and it works quite well with a higher-than-expected number of markers, so you can look forward to using this sci-fi game staple soon. Ved has been working on the Capital ship hangar for the Capital Update, and has made some lovely progress.   Custom designed to hold all shapes and sizes of ships.  And it makes a few ships look very, very small. On other fronts, Skinny has been developing another ship, and has been fixing a few issues with our custom sun flare script with Sutic. Lordrex has continued work on backend systems, and we've started integrating those scripts into some nice fancy UI elements that Ved has been developing, which we'll be showing off soon. It's getting close to a busy time of year for most developers again, but we'll keep working hard to make this epic game a reality. If you haven't already signed up for the Dogfight Tournament, now's your chance to do so. You can find the form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17KKApFQwTK-EW0uWbNQlWvq0i7OXem1Hf4YVh4SVOn4/viewform?edit_requested=true We've got a few 2v2 teams signed up, but not enough of the larger teams to have a full tournament. If you sign up now, you'll have a pretty good shot at winning the prize! 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: At character creation, will you select a clan right away and never be able to leave? A1: We're looking to find the middle ground between locking you into one clan, which we don't really want to do, an allowing anyone to clan hop all over the place which is all too common with your standard Roblox groups. Getting fired from a faction or subfaction will definitely be possible, but there might be some sort of fee incurred if you start laving groups too often. Q2: Will custom animations for different species possibly be supported? A2: We're still working on finalizing the details on how fancy our character system is, but once we do that we will be able to give you solid information on that, but right now it looks to be restricted to a humanoid form, both for fairness, and for ease of implementation. Q3: If you have a family bloodline, will that be recognized as a subfaction? A3: While you wouldn't get special treatment just for having a family bloodline, there's nothing stopping you from building your own subfaction, and operating like the mafia. Anything less official than that would have to be character names, clothing, alliances, all left up to you. Q4: Will I be able to behead someone? A4: If bloxxing someone is your goal in life, who are we to stop you from doing that? I'd expect people in RoVerse explode the same as anywhere else. Q5: How's the devlist coming? A5: Its nearly completed, will all the items we want factions to develop to fit their own unique style, but we're still working on setting limits for everything from size to minimum and maximum dimensions, which will take a bit more work, and collaboration between nearly every department. Q6: Will there be grenades that can slow people down? A6: We're looking to develop a comprehensive set of weapons that cover anything a faction could desire, from giant armored tanks to rocket launchers and railguns, anything with any sort of scifi theme is up for grabs, and that includes specialized weapons like frost grenades. I can think of one clan that would love to use those. Q7: What will the server limit of players be? A7: This is one of those details that we won't know until right up to release, but our goal is to get as many people as possible into every game, so that space is full of non-stop action, if you want it, and enough far-off planets for those who prefer solitude. Once we get everything coded and optimized, we'll let you know. Q8: What are the requirements to form a corporation? A8: Just like in real life, there are two primary things you need to start a corporation - a lot of money, and be able to provide some service, from manufacturing to security work. Once you have enough money to found a HQ, and hire on some members to run things, you can take on all sorts of tasks, from protecting borders or shipments, to producing the best gear in the galaxy. Q9: Will there be a rarity list of all minable minerals? A9: We're not quite sure yet if we'll be releasing that sort of information, partly because it ruins the mystery and exploration aspects we're hoping for, and because the rarity of minerals will vary significantly from system to system. Take spice for example - a staple in the core systems, and a valuable luxury in the outer systems. Q10: Will mined minerals have to be picked up like minecraft, or automatically sent to an inventory? A10: The way minecraft deals with mined items is probably the least efficient method for going about it, and more suited for the stone age. In RoVerse, in the era of galaxy-spanning empires and spacefaring civilizations, I'm sure someone would have perfected the technology to mine with lasers the put things right in your inventory. Q11: How will sending orders to fleets and armies work? A11: Faction leaders will have access to a few in-game systems to help with directing their armies and fleets as they battle for control of the galaxy, but relying exclusively on systems on our end might not be the best choice - I recommend setting up a faction battle discord server or channel, for the higher ranks to direct players by sending messages to a wider audience, or taking advantage of the voice chat features. Q12: How will you tell who has declared war on who? A12: We'll be setting up a comprehensive system for tracking who's at war with who, and with a special system of battle cycles taking place over a week, at set times and for a set duration, we can avoid the confusion that occurs with the current ways of doing things. At the beginning of the week you'll know when and where you'll need to send troops, and which systems you'll have to defend. 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! Any fans of the science fiction genre on Roblox can join the Science Fiction Genre Discord and find other fans and developers like you. 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, or by contacting an Administrator in the community Discord! Don’t worry, we don’t bite! Hello everyone! Welcome to the sixty-ninth issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week. This week, we've been hard at work on a variety of fronts, from planet generation to inventory management to planetary atmospheres, on top of our usual progress on ship building. Skinny has been taking a stab at designing some plant life to populate the numerous planets that litter the galaxy. We've been looking at two different approaches to the foliage that we'll be generating for planets. One option is self-contained meshes, like the ones below. The other option is modular pieces that we can procedurally generate into larger growths.   These fairly low-res plant meshes can then be distributed over the surface of a planet, with changes in biome reflected in slight changes in color. One downside to this method is the fact that you have to create every different plant type by hand, which could be worth it. Current plans are to implement a bit of both, with single-mesh small plants and underbrush, with larger procedural plants as 'trees.'  Here we have a lovely desert scene, and if all goes as planned, we might even be able to get the plant meshes to deform and sway in the wind, on high detail levels. Vedrakkerous has been hard at work developing a new line of ships which have been affectionately named the 'ticks' in the community channel. With a weird, alien shape fit for a ferocious race of conquerors, this line of ships should hold their own in any fight.   He's also been working on another ship, of type unknown, as well as working with environments outside of the shadowmap demo, with equally impressive results. While they don't quite have the shadow quality that the demo allows, they do have quite a nice look to them.    In other news, Idyllic is still working hard on planets, with another demo completed - unfortunately, Roblox doesn't like uploading large terrain files to their servers, instead preferring to crash. But he did manage to get a few good pictures in beforehand, and I think the results were quite promising.  Here we have a low-res planet exploded out to full size, and converted from parts into terrain. Idyllic tried to convert the top half entirely to terrain, but that put the file size over the limit for uploading. But, it wasn't a total waste, as the process was a great proof-of-concept to help generate planets moving forward, as well as a good reminder to Idyllic to keep those file sizes low. Lordrex has had a pretty busy week, but he's been working when he can on NPC management systems, and we can't wait to see what quality work he comes up with, to make those space stations feel like the real thing. Mikey has developed a few more graphical assets for us to use, this week he's made some minor interaction icons and two new default corporation icons, for corporations to be determined.
If you haven't already signed up for the Dogfight Tournament, now's your chance to do so. You can find the form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17KKApFQwTK-EW0uWbNQlWvq0i7OXem1Hf4YVh4SVOn4/viewform?edit_requested=true And to give you a little extra incentive, the players on the winning teams will get access to an exclusive Excalibur Skin to add to their own ships when we finally release.  Winning teams will get to cruise the skies in their very own solid-gold Fighter, certified 14 karat gold. 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 there be a fuel system implemented on ships? A1: Early on in the project we talked about implementing a fuel system in ships that would require them to refuel between engagements. At this point in the project, we're not too sure about a 'fuel source' specifically, but a more general need to return to a base to repair extensive damage and stock up on supplies of fighters or ammo. Ships will be limited by a power system to prevent constant use of things like boosters or other consumables, though. Q2: Will minerals be restricted to a certain 'skill level' to be able to mine them? A2: I think we can all agree that being locked out of mining certain minerals would really cut out of the realism, and any game that tried to do that would next serve you with a popup for a gamepass unlocking that ability. But we're not about that. While mining more valuable ores might take longer, or we might implement a purity modifier, you should be able to hit anything that exists out there with your pickaxe or multitool. Q3: Will there be hidden, powerful weapons scattered throughout RoVerse, like infinity stones? A3: I wouldn't want to spoil the fun of you travelling across the vast reaches of space looking for rare weapons or special items, so I'll just say that the idea has been passed around a few times, and I personally think it'd be a nice touch, as long as they weren't quite infinity-stone levels of power. 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! Any fans of the science fiction genre on Roblox can join the Science Fiction Genre Discord and find other fans and developers like you. 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, or by contacting an Administrator in the community Discord! Don’t worry, we don’t bite! Hello everyone! Welcome to the sixty-eighth issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on all the progress we've made over the past week. This week, we've been working hard on quite a few cool features. We've got a close look at Skinny's new Capital ship, a release of Animula's RoVerse OST, some miscellaneous build work, and as always, some beautiful screenshots from Vedrakkerous. Also, we have an event announcement to, well, announce, so stay tuned to the end of the newsletter. First up we have Skinny's Capital ship that we showed the in-progress photos of last week. Fully detailed, this ship is truly a massive vehicle of war, and will definitely make any fleet a force to be dealt with. This ship counts as the first XXXL capital, the largest capital ships to fill the skies.   Ved's been continuing his work with everything to do with atmospheric effects, with some more unbelievable photos that show just how cool this game will be. And not just RoVerse, with the right dedication, any game on the platform could be as breathtaking as these photos.     Skinny and WhoToTrus have also spent some time mocking up and building a security drone, to make sure that any station is as safe as possible. As long as their AI doesn't go rogue and try to kill any innocent station visitors, civilians should feel safe with such advanced technology watching over their every move.   Our other builders have been building more assets to spice up planetary bases, like these floodlights to illuminate the wilderness around your base. With these high-powered bulbs set up, you won't miss a single enemy approaching your base, or you can set up a wild rave out in the darkness. It's all up to you!  Robust has been working on designing his own naval ship. I can't wait to sail it around those vast uncharted seas.  We are happy to announce that Animula has released the RoVerse Soundtrack for your enjoyment! We've been holding on to these for the past few weeks, making sure they were perfect. And now the time has come for everyone to be able to enjoy these awe-inspiring songs. And be sure to nominate him and RoVerse for the Best Original Soundtrack in this year's Bloxxy's! You can enjoy the soundtrack here: https://soundcloud.com/animula_musicdev/sets/roverse-original-soundtrack You may have been wondering what happened to the Dogfight Alpha Capital Update that we talked about a few weeks ago. I'm here to say that we have not stopped working on it, it's just taking a bit longer than we first expected to perfect everything. We don't want to release an unfinished or buggy game just to meet a deadline. To make up for this delay, we're happy to announce that we will be hosting a Dogfighting Tournament to find the best pilot and team of pilots in the galaxy! You can sign up below for either the 2v2, 4v4, 8v8 challenge, just have your Roblox usernames handy. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17KKApFQwTK-EW0uWbNQlWvq0i7OXem1Hf4YVh4SVOn4/viewform?edit_requested=true We'll have more information about the date of the tournament soon. 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: What will be the limits of the character race morphs? A1: We'll have more information about these in the coming weeks, we're still testing the best way to do this efficiently and effectively. Q2: Will you be able to travel at high speed within a system? A2: Jumping between systems is the fastest mode of travel, but limited to between jump gates in neighboring systems. But within systems, ships can travel fairly quickly if equipped with a booster system, like the fighters in the dogfight alpha. Bigger ships might be able to travel faster, but they will use a whole bunch more power, and you don't want to slow down at the other end without any power for weapons or shields. 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, or by contacting an Administrator in the community Discord! Don’t worry, we don’t bite! |
Archives
January 2023
Categories
All
AuthorsVaktus: Leader of the Vaktovian Empire and head of the RoVerse Project |
RSS Feed
