Hello everyone! Welcome to the 159th 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 working on wrapping up the ship skin feature, patching even more bugs, and working on the next stage - freeroam. The first ship to support different skins, the Ninazu Dervish, has long been able to select a different skin but that's as far as it went - when you deployed, it would revert to the default. (actually the Camo variant because that is the model we started with and haven't replaced just yet) This feature relies on a precise setup of the initial file, with all the parts of the ship named distinctly, and their data all compiled into a table. Rather than saving 15 different copies of the same ship with every shader combo, we can simply change the initial ship's parts to different colors as needed, while the fancier ones add textures to specific parts. The hard way to do this would be to manually name all the pieces, record all the data, and enter it into a table. Luckily, we don't have to do this manually. As part of the ship rigging plugin Idyllic has developed, we now have the power to hit a single button, name the parts, and export the data to a table all at once. This has been done to all the default ships included in the dogfight, and we've begun developing our first skins. Coming soon to the Iridium... Ferrous - because if flying a ship and firing beams at enemies of all kinds makes you feel like a man of metal, you should look the part as well. And for the Excalibur... Chlorophyta - because a sword made of grass can cut just as deep. We're open to suggestions, drop Idyllic a message if you have an idea for a ship shader. On the bug-fixing front, we patched a few minor things relating to skins, to support the above, as well as verify that the faction-only ship patch is operating correctly. Idyllic was on vacation this past week, so he didn't get to chase too many other bugs down, but luckily there aren't any major ones at the moment. One gameplay experience that we did modify was deploying without any weapons. Since this was a much larger problem than anticipated, even after adding a guide, the game now will not let you deploy without any weapons mounted. It's a stopgap measure, to be sure, but it will work until we figure out a better way. Lordrex has been working on the next step - no, not capitals, but freeroam. As the next major stage of the project following the Capital Update, and eventually being 90% of the complete RoVerse, Freeroam is a big step that will combine a lot of the features, coding, and building we've been doing over the past three years. With flight systems nailed down and upgraded for the Dogfight Phase 1, lordrex has begun taking stock of how we will need to organize and port these features to Freeroam, while still being able to make updates to the Dogfight Alpha. This is no easy task, and we want to do it right the first time around so we don't delay unnecessarily. The stats are in for another week of intense battle. Topping the leaderboard for the third week in a row, is Imaboss2122 with 135 kills and only 16 deaths. This coming week is your chance to topple the king, as the Sentinel has been submitted with actual stats rather than randomly selected values, and may become vulnerable. He won't be putting up an 8.5 KDR this time around. Plasma turrets stole the show this week, with 102 kills, followed by Auto and Railgun around 40. The Sentinel had the most kills, at 135 (obviously) with the Iridium and the Excalibur neck and neck at 37 and 33, respectively. If you'd like to check out the rest of our data, you can find the spreadsheet here: Phase 1 Data (Week 3) We also had a stream this week, to encourage participation at the Dogfight, and we'd like to do the same every Saturday, if Idyllic or another dev is free. The dogfight is much more enjoyable when the community comes together to destroy each other in battle. You can check the video of the latest stream here: link. 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 dropships and transports be considered fighters, or a different class? A1: They will likely be a part of a different class, as they have different goals. Fighters are exclusively combat-oriented, whereas dropships and transports have more combat-support uses. Q2: Will artillery explosions leave craters in the landscape? A2: We'd sure like them to be able to do that, provided it doesn't kill performance. Smooth terrain is an excellent choice for a system that leaves craters, and the gameplay aspect of climbing into craters for cover, or destroying terrain to slow an advancing army is pretty cool to think about. Q3: How many turret points can an XL Capital have? A3: Current max is 20, for technical reasons. If things improve with faster lua, we might increase that, but for now a maximum of 20 hardpoints are allowed. Bigger ships will have higher-class turrets that do more damage to compensate - imagine 3 light turrets combining into one medium turret that is 4x as powerful. Q4: What's the current meta? A4: We have been posting our stats for you to take a look at and figure out the meta for yourselves, but if you must ask, we will answer. The current biggest impact on the meta is whether or not you have guns mounted on your ship. Ships without guns don't fare well at all in the dogfight. 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! Comments are closed.
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AuthorsVaktus: Leader of the Vaktovian Empire and head of the RoVerse Project |