RoVerse Development Newsletter #138

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 138th issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week.

This week was another code-intensive week, with lordrex patching up a few bugs and adding a few features, and Idyllic making sure weapons are working correctly before moving on to the next item on the list. Skinny got some work done meshing more fighters, and found time to stream a bit of the process today.

​First up, Skinny has continued to mesh the default fighters. This week he has increased his count by 6, with ships like the Hummingbird, seen below, being reduced from 37 parts all the way down to 6. There was a rocky start to his work, however - for some reason the Danube refused to be imported as a meshpart. Idyllic and Skinny spent quite a bit of time trying to solve the problem, from repeating the process independently to changing file types and export settings, but to no avail.

Wow, stream clip resolution is atrocious...

The problem was eventually identified, and we hope the solution will help other mesh-importing developers in the community:​ the word 'Danube' is censored. Yes, the solution was something as simple as renaming the filename so it didn't get bounced back by an overzealous censor...

Another tidbit learned during the meshing process - importing meshparts from .obj allows scale to be properly maintained from studio export to re-import, without having to resize the mesh or meshes when you get back into studio.

A few of the members of the community got the chance to tune into our latest development twitch stream, hosted by Skinny while he worked on meshing fighters. For his first stream it wasn't bad, but in the future we'll try and add background music or something, so it isn't just clicking and scrolling and the occasional exclamation. It was inspiring seeing the twitch channel back in use, especially since most of the original streams were heromaster building the ships skinny is meshing, and we hope to keep that going moving forward.


Lordrex has been working on a loadout saving system for a week or two now, and is making some great progress. Loadouts are officially saved, so when you return to a ship you've purchased your kit is sitting there waiting for you to take it into battle. 

With the replication bug patched from last week, Idyllic set about with the next important update - correcting some coding missteps that had the clients using your own ship's weapon table lookup for every other ship loaded on screen. The problem is quite obvious - unless everyone is flying an Excalibur with dual-plasma loadout, the code won't work. It is unknown where in the code this problem originated, or who made it, but the good news is that it is fixed.

As part of this correction, Idyllic and Lord got to dive into the game and test out every combination of weapons in an intense bug-finding-and-fixing session. Every ship from the Cardinal to the Blue Komodo was rigorously tested against both the loadout saving system, and the weaponry replication system. With a small loan of 1 billion dollars, Lord and Idyllic purchased and edited every currently-rigged ship to ensure the system is working correctly, and patched a few bugs that were found during the process.

Here we see Idyllic 1, in a fully-loaded Cardinal, firing warning shots at Idyllic2 - plasma-, laser-, auto-, missile-, and railgun-turrets all ablaze. Gameplay in this update will be much more complex and interesting than what was possible in the Dogfight Alpha, with a selection of weapon types suited for different players and different situations. We can't wait to see what sort of combos and loadouts players come up with to dominate on the battlefield.


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 ground vehicles have any complex damage mechanics?

A1: The best answer to that is we don't know quite yet, as many aspects of ground combat are unplanned yet, though a system more complex than whats used in spaceships is unlikely. For the sake of clarity and not confusing players, the systems will most likely be nearly identical.

Q2: Will far-off objects be rendered as sprites?

A2: We actually coded a feature specifically for this, back when max render distance was 10,000 studs from the origin. Now that max render is at 100,000 studs, the system is unnecessary. There are other technical limitations restricting the size of the map now, so even creating sprites won't let us make real-scale systems.

Q3: What will be the range for missiles/rockets/torpedoes?

A3: Ideally, missiles will keep going on in whatever direction they were fired in indefinitely. Torpedoes might be useful at long-range on an unsuspecting and unprepared target, while homing missiles and guided rockets will be unable to give chase to their target when they run out of fuel, limiting their ranged effectiveness. 

Q4: Will there be any weird worlds?

A4: Definitely.

Q5: Will there be planets made of metal?

A5: Not directly, but there will be planets with more metal resources than others.

Q6: Can I just mindlessly attack people in RoVerse?

A6: Yep. You are free to do whatever you want in-game, but you will have to live with the consequences. Kill too many ships and get put on a piracy list, marked as kill-on-sight? Consequences. One of the problems we identified with modern factions is how they can refuse a war, either by not defending their outpost, or not acknowledging your victories. To that end, RoVerse is full-combat outside of a few select neutral systems. What good are fleets of ships if you can't invade a system and take over, stealing its valuable resources for your own war efforts? On the player scale, systems may be governed by the faction in power, but you could potentially be a very successful pirate, maybe even get a sponsor from another faction that wants you wreaking havoc on their enemies.

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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!