RoVerse Development Newsletter #108

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 108th issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week.

This week, Idyllic has continued working on Ship Customization, adding that category to the 'in-progress' on the Roadmap, and making quite a bit of progress on it too. We've got an update on station NPCs and their actions from Stratiz, and Lordrex has continued work on asset saving and replication.​​

Last week we showed you the in-progress version of Idyllic's stat comparison chart for different turret mounts. Early this week, he had completed the math behind dividing the percentage of maximum value, into 5 chunks, and after quashing a few bugs related to underflowing and overflowing the chart, as well as some aesthetic changes to make the stats more visible against the blackness of space, he had a working version! In the demo below, the stats are all randomized for testing purposes, so don't write them down; also, the Blank turret variety has been set to 50% max, to demonstrate both Bonus and Penalty for turret selections.

Here we have a working version, where the stats of each turret are a Bonus to the 0 stats of a blank turret location, without any overflow, as well as the system working on a different ship. Quite the achievement.

Unfortunately it also brought up a bug in how previous turrets on display were removed, but that was an easy fix. Moving on from the stats, it was time to work on the interaction between players, and which mount they have selected. Previously, that involved clicking the arrows to the right and left of the selection, but clicking on buttons isn't always the most efficient way to quickly find the turret you want to change out. So on a suggestion from lordrex, Idyllic added scroll-wheel functionality, with the ability to add controller support in the future, making switching between turrets a breeze.

The first iteration of camera movement that avoided clipping into the ship when a turret on the far side was selected, looked a little like the zoom was spazzing out, and wasn't nearly as fluid as we wanted.

So Idyllic did a bit more research, added some more code, and added tweening. Now the camera smoothly transitions from point to point, and the user can tell just where the turret they have selected is at, with the added bonus that their camera isn't jumping all over the place making them dizzy.

Continuing on his excellent work streak, Idyllic added Ship selection menus, that let you scroll through the ships that are available for purchase or unlock, also with scroll-wheel functionality.

For now we only have a few rigged up, we'll be adding some more in the coming weeks.

The demo layout we showed a few weeks ago featured a turret location graph, but unfortunately it would be too complicated to code, and would require renders of every ship added to the game from several angles, which could easily grow into thousands of renders, so we had to drop that feature. We figure the tweened camera movements between turret slots to be a fair replacement, as well as the ability to orbit your ship while in dock was much more functional for locating where you're putting your turrets than a graph.

​In place of the graph menu, we're placing a selection description for both ship selections and turret selections.​ In 300 characters, we provide a description of the weapon you have selected to mount to that location.

Information, like their most useful scenario, to charge sequences or bullet velocity, that aren't covered in the stat comparisons fall within this paragraph, as well as the cost and confirmation of purchase.

The descriptive menu is identical when it comes to descriptions of the different Capital ship options you have available, with descriptions of the ship's turret layout, the ship's expected handling and speed, and armor capacity.

Factions submitting ships to be added to the Capital Update are encouraged to write their own descriptions of their ships, with useful info like mount layouts, illustrative depictions of the ships handling and armor, or it's designed use in conflicts. Just keep it around 300 characters long, so it fits in the box.

Next on the list, ship stat comparisons. Please note that again, these data values are for testing purposes and aren't official stats for the shown ships.

A simple matter of setting up the stat tables, and changing the pointers to the capital stats, and the math and case logic from the turret stats converts right over to ship comparisons. After fixing a few bugs regarding overflow and underflow, the stat comparison feature works like a charm. Now it's easy to tell exactly what effect changing ships or turrets is going to have on your combat-readiness, though you'll have to figure out for yourselves the right balance between speed, firepower and defenses.

​​With as many features as Idyllic has added in the past week, it is important to test as many variables and situations as possible. With that in mind, Idyllic took to rigging and importing a few new ships to add to the lineup, including this Capital from the Cyber Sovereignty...

... which tested a new percentage of stats, as well as the system's handling of XL classed ships,

​the Distronian Renegade...

... which tested updates to a ship's physical model after the first rigging process, as well as revealed a bug in the stat code when a value was exactly 1/5 max power, that was quickly fixed,

​and the Ninazu FrigateB...

... which looked too cool to not rig up.

He also rigged up another ship from the default line, one of Diesoft's ships, the Ironclad.

At the beginning of this week, the extent of ship loading was a pseudo-random loadout of turrets occurring with the click of one button - very useful for deploying immediately to test capital movement and firing mechanics for the new weapon types.

Idyllic's goal this week was to add as many of the ship customization features as possible, as well as getting back to the state that you could deploy the ship and fly off into the stars. With a goal in mind, he pushed through quite a bit of code and design and rigging work to make that happen, and I'm proud to say that he accomplished his goal.

We are to the point where you can enter ship customization and selection, edit your loadout of turrets, or choose a different capital ship entirely, confirm your selections through the 'SELECT SHIP' and 'MOUNT TURRETS' button, and fly out of the hangar.

While we're still working on transferring turret control between the two scripts, it should be an easy addition to make in time for next week. This significant step forward means that actual combat between customized ships isn't all that far off, though there are a few things that need completion first,

like replication, now that experimental mode is permanently enabled. (see floating characters falling through the void instead of being invisible)

And as with any good slate of testing, we didn't just launch the Avenger from the shipyard and call it good...

Though in the future, deployment of Capitals will take place from the gamemode menu, not directly from the edit menu.

On that front, this week, Lordrex has created a list of gamemodes that we'd like to add to the game to keep things fresh and exciting over time, as well as test out future features of the Factions Beta and Full Release stages, and we'd like you to help us out.

In our community discord, we will be creating a new voting post with a list of gamemodes, we'd like you to vote for the ones that sound like the most fun, and we'll focus development on those first. Now the usual gamemodes like TDM or FFA won't be included in the list, since those are straightforward and will definitely be added, but let us know what other variants pique your interest.

Through the testing process involved with launching a variety of ships with a variety of loadouts, we realized that we had the opportunity to give a graphic reason for meshing each faction ship, even though it was more work, and the efficiency of meshParts is questionable at times - our ships move through space using the SetPrimaryPartCFrame function, which, though useful, has a problem with rounding. Accuracy errors build up over time, slowly tearing the models it is used on apart, like below.

On the other hand, if a ship is made out of two or 3 parts, we can fix these errors periodically by saving relative locations, and resetting the parts. With a large number of individual parts, such a process would be either nearly instant but slow you down significantly, or an extensive and ugly process at a slow rate. With 2-10 meshParts, resetting offsets live won't be a problem at all.

​Another benefit of meshing ships in blender, is a much more accurate volume calculation for class assignment. Below we have the Protector L Capital. Using the bounding approximation, it's volume was about 30,300 cubic studs, putting it in the L class.

By meshing it, and using an inbuilt 3D printing volume calculation plugin, we can get a much more accurate calculation for weirdly shaped ships like the Protector.

Using this method, the volume is calculated at 31,525 - still an L class ship, but slightly larger, resulting in higher calculations that could lead to lower speed, but higher armor. It's also a much fairer system, that doesn't rely on the rigger's best judgement.

A rather simple task, one would think. Until there isn't enough seating for everyone and a fight breaks out.

And easier for some to manage than others...

No longer just wandering dancing and waving robots, these station NPC's have their first activity to participate in that is tied to a specific location.

Exciting work.

Lordrex has continued his work on asset saving and replication, running a successful test today of certain mechanics, and he may draw up a diagram when his work is completed, but for now all we get is a status update - things are in-progress, and working just fine.

​
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 you be able to see neighbor factions when choosing a home planet, so you don't end up next to the xenophobes?

A1: There's a careful balance that must be struck between fog of war covering a map, and blinding players to everything not currently on their screen. A map of faction control and home planets should be readily available, and might even be live-updated on our website, but you won't be able to see installations or defenses in systems or on planets from a distance.

Q2: Will factions be able to blacklist who can or cannot buy their ships?

A2: Definitely. If just anyone could buy your ship designs, we'd have a huge problem on our hands. Pirates flying flagships, recruits in enemy fighters - truly a mess.

Q3: Will there be such things as magic attacks?

A3: They aren't currently on our list of planned features, but as a compromise, you could have lore and designs for weapons that involve mystical power sources or effects. A plasma cannon is basically a magic missile launcher, all things considered.

Q4: Will crashing into things be a valid attack strategy?

A4: Even if you have a cheap ship or lots of money, shooting something will always be a more effective attack than crashing your ship into an opponent's. We'll allow a little damage, but we don't want to encourage running over fighters with capital ships as the best strategy.

Q5: Can multiple factions use the same ship design?

A5: An interesting concept. I suppose there could be lore behind two factions having the same design, and while I'd prefer they have slight differences to distinguish them, it could work. Of course, you could always sell your ships to another faction.

Q6: Will there be a limit to the number of factions based on the number of available colors for the map?

A6: Not that I can foresee. Since it's likely that two or more factions might pick similar colors for their primary faction color, we'll probably have a way to draw edges of factions that doesn't involve just color differences. And you can always click on a system on the map to see who controls it currently.

Q7: Will ships be able to cut other ships with wing blades?

A7: An interesting concept to be sure, but not one the game engine could support right now. Basically due to limitations on the server end, we can only do a shell of a ship that you can shoot at and trigger damage, and with replication being inconsistent, flying close and cutting another ship with a wing blade isn't exactly possible. Cool idea though, maybe in the future.

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​​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!