Hello everyone! Welcome to the 103rd issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week. This week saw some great achievements on the star system transportation system, a new weapon type for Capital ships being added to the mix, and extensive work on updating and unifying the UI between Fighters and Capitals. Up first is the new weapon type - the second-to-last weapon type for Capital turrets is the plasma cannon. Launching a superheated and compressed pocket of ionized gas using magnetism and lots of electricity, this weapon type is one of the most devastating weapons at taking out opponent ships shields. Though the projectiles have a lower velocity than other weapons available, they make up for it with an expanded area of effect for hitting targets. If your gunner can properly lead an opponent ship, you'll have them destroyed in no time. Plasma turrets also feature a charge-up effect like beam turrets for the larger versions of this weapon - fighter plasma launchers have a much lower charge-time. On the back-end side of weapon additions, plasma weapons act as a combination of conventional turrets and beam turrets, with a few stat changes, the target name, and two lines of code, these new weapons were added to the game. This ease of addition is important if we want to be successful in adding a wider variety of weapon types, as well as a variety of turret models and shapes, to match faction ships. A success is a great sign. Lordrex has continued refining the system travel code that we've been talking about the last few weeks - the first successful test of multiple players travelling between and towards the same system at the same time has been completed. One of the most interesting and challenging aspects of our plan to use a single star system place, and dynamically load in the proper maps has been sorting players into the proper server. An easy shortcut would be to create a separate server for everyone, but then the galaxy would be empty. No, we have to register each server with an ID, save that ID elsewhere, and if someone attempts to join a star system that already exists, send them there instead of making a copy. The first live test hit a small bug, but in under 10 minutes we were back for test #2, which led to lordrex and Idyllic flying around the same star system server, together. There was something incredible about being able to, for the first time, exist in this galaxy in a set location - Idyllic spawned in the Cassiopeiae system, while lordrex was in Alpha Prime. Taking a trip through Arcturus, to meet in Babylonia, and travel on together to Alexandria was an experience unmatched in my development career - basically like taking the first steps on the moon. We can't wait to see the galaxy take shape, with asset loading and an improved map added in, as well as seeing players explore and take their first steps as well. Last up this week is work on the Capital Update UI. Idyllic spent some time while on a road trip designing an updated and uniform UI layout that covers everything from the loading screen to fighter turret management. Some of the storyboard frames are posted below. Much more sleek and polished, especially when all the interfaces match up. 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 damage-over-time weapons? A1: While we don't have any plans for those at the moment, our system is flexible enough that we could add new weapon types fairly easily. If you have a specific weapon type in mind, type out a description and put it in the #suggestions channel. Q2: Will ships be able to intercept ships while jumping or using FTL? A2: This question came up quite some time ago, and the answer was no - for system-to-system travel. Because jumpgates send you between servers, there's no way to drop someone out midway, nor any use to do so. But with some recent changes in gameplay we've developed, there could be weapons used to interrupt the jumps between points of interest in a system. It could be an interesting concept to look into. Q3: Can we have ground combat on ship exteriors? A3: Unlikely, ships are much too small to have any sort of exterior gravity-generating presence, and if you had artificial gravity on the outside of the ship, you'd end up covered in debris. Stick to shooting ships with turrets, rather than handguns. Q4: Do faction-designed jumpgates have to be ring-shaped? A4: I suppose not. Within reason, you could build a bit of structure behind the portal on the far side from the system's star for an unusual-shaped jumpgate, as long as it's not excessively detailed or large. Q5: Will weight factor into ship stats? Can we have more details about stats? A5: Weight won't be a direct factor affecting ship stats, though it could be considered a combination of other stats directly set - more armor will be heavier, and will affect acceleration and turning radius. We'll have more stat details in the future, we're still nailing down the initial stats, which will then be tested in the Capital Update. Q6: Will faction leaders be able to assign lower ranks the ability to pick outpost modules to build to expand stations? A6: We plan on having an extensive rank system chock full of permissions for a wide variety of tasks, including assigning someone as a stationmaster, allowing them to run the station as they see fit, freeing faction leaders from micromanagement to look at the bigger picture. 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! 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AuthorsVaktus: Leader of the Vaktovian Empire and head of the RoVerse Project |