RoVerse Development Newsletter #204

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 204th 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 conventional and flak turrets, with a few weird issues cropping up and throwing a wrench into the works. This week also concludes the 7th cycle, so we have a brand new ship for the cycle 8 leaderboard-topping players coming next week.

Deep into the code for making projectiles bounce off of surfaces, Idyllic ran into a problem. A trick to debugging complex code that is giving you trouble is to just start explaining it, usually to a rubber duck, and you'll likely find where the problem lies. This particular problem involves the projectiles after they bounce off of a surface. Instead of travelling in straight lines, they curve as if affected by gravity. However, they do not all curve in the same direction, and gravity is turned off in the dogfight.

Projectiles being effected by gravity curve because there are two forces acting on them, one in the direction of their flight, and one going down... perhaps the problem is that the projectiles remember the direction they were originally going, and keep trying to go that direction. Turns out explaining the bug is actually pretty helpful. We'll keep you posted.

In other changes, the bank display has been moved to the location that used to be occupied by the username in the menu bar, several bugs have been fixed in the dogfight regarding incorrectly-named Hills, and a missing spawn has been resolved.

This coming week begins the 8th cycle of the dogfight, the 7-week units of time where we crown a dogfight champion, and weekly leaderboard-topping players earn an exclusive ship. Next cycle, players will be able to earn the Stratus Sprite, the next ship in the Stratus line, which is more of a specific-role fighter compared to the flexible platform of the Squall.

​The community dogfight continued again this week, with members of the community coming together to blast each other out of the sky. Here are a selection of screenshots from the event - send in your own if you have them. Join us next week at 8pm EST and earn double credits for the duration.

​This week, there were 210 kills, 68 with plasma, 62 with beam, 59 with laser, 10 with auto, 6 with railgun, and 5 with torpedo. The most dangerous ship was the Excalibur, with 44 kills, followed by the Silencer with 40. The most dangerous map was Classic with 125 deaths, followed by Citadel with 39.

And now, the moment you've been waiting for...
The three players that topped the leaderboard were CptJaller, with 49 kills and 35 deaths and a 1.4 KDR; Phaytox with 40 kills, 13 deaths and a 3.07 KDR; and IdyllicDestroyer with 27 kills, 36 deaths, and a 0.75 KDR. Nice work pilots!

This wraps up the 7th cycle, and was the last opportunity to unlock the Stratus Squall, but we'll have a brand new ship for players to earn in the coming cycle.
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If you'd like to check out the rest of our data, you can find the spreadsheet here: Phase 1 Data (Week 48)

Now, for the overall cycle stats!

Classic was the most dangerous map, with 375 kills, followed by Citadel with 308, and Frostland with 214. The top ship was the Excalibur, with 602 kills, followed by the Washi-0 1 with 269, the Hex with 150, and the Gladiator with 111. The top weapon was the Laser, with 568 kills, followed by Beam with 516, and Plasma with 250. Auto marked up to 188, Railgun with 68, and Torpedo with 18. An outstanding 80 pilots participated this cycle and earned at least one kill, while again 100 players died at least once. The lowest KDR belongs to BAXTHEGUY with a .04 KDR. The dogfight has seen 5,572 visits, with an 83% approval rating (26-25) and 287 favorites.

This cycle there were 1,608 kills total. Topping off this cycle's leaderboard was FangABXY, with 290 kills, 183 deaths, and a 1.58 KDR. He was followed closely by JakorKilludge with 140 kills, 60 deaths, and a 2.33 KDR, and Phaytox with 134 kills, 148 Deaths, and .9 KDR. These three pilots have unlocked the exclusive Golden Squall Skin, coming soon to a dogfight near you.

If you'd like to check out the rest of our data, you can find the spreadsheet here: Phase 1 Data (Championship Series 7)

 
​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: Why would I ever want to fly a medium fighter over a V-Heavy fighter?

A1: While the heavy armament of a very heavy fighter is certainly quite attractive, the agility of lighter fighters can prove to be an advantage. In dogfight combat where you're flying directly at each other it may be better to have more guns, but in the future, evasion may be a more productive tactic. And don't put too little emphasis on agility, looping around slow-moving fighters can do wonders for your survival.

Q2: Y'all remember when armament had no meaning?

A2: Of course! Such wonderful times when we were ruled by the iron fist of the Sentinel, crushed under it's heel. 

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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!