RoVerse Development Newsletter #232

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 232nd issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week.

This week, Idyllic experimented with mesh deformation and their potential for ocean waves, a new Capital gamemode has been created, Capital shields have been finished up, and a large variety of ship skins have been created for default ships, to make use of the upcoming skins feature.

Idyllic was challenged by the community to look into how mesh deformation worked. It's a new technology that has some excellent potential in a game like RoVerse - it allows meshes to be bent and deformed pretty much at will. It has applications in character animation, which is was designed for, as well as doing a wide variety of other things, like making ocean waves. After a few near-successes, Idyllic managed to code a wave system entirely independent of the Roblox water smooth terrain system, which means it could be a suitable replacement for water, which wouldn't work on our round planets.

​Last week we were extremely close to functional shield effects, having created the low-res mesh of the Bolitho. This week we wrapped up that work by welding the mesh to the Capital ship, and hooking it into the code that makes shields flash. We also had to hook up a bit of new code to replicate the shield flash to other clients, which was successful. Now when you're laying down laser fire across a ship's hull, you can see their shields dying in real time.

With the completion of the Juggernaut gamemode, attention was turned to the next important Capital gamemode on our list - Capital Team Death Match. Two teams will vie for supremacy of the skies as opposing fleets of Capital ships. Backup is limited, so make sure you have a winning strategy.

We've been working on a ship skin system for quite a while, and the mechanics and menus for selecting a skin have been completed for quite a while, however, we were sorely lacking in selection. With that in mind, we have created at least one skin for every default ship, with plenty more to come in the future.

We have a special announcement to make as well:

The CEO of Calexian Industries has decided to sponsor a community event, providing wonderful rewards should his challenges be met. Each cycle, there will be a set of tasks that must be completed by the community as a whole, in the Dogfight. Progress will be tracked weekly in the newsletters, and if the goal is met by the end of the Cycle, a reward ship will be made available for everyone. Challenges begin in Cycle 12 (January 3rd).

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 1pm and 8pm EST and earn double credits for the duration.

This week in the dogfight there were 492 kills, 6 with auto, 21 with beam, 358 with laser, 9 with plasma, 1 with railgun, and 97 with torpedo. The most dangerous ship was the Oracle with 159 kills, followed by the Excalibur with 107. The most dangerous map was The_Great_Hollow with 297 deaths, followed by Pillarum with 202.

And now, the moment you've been waiting for...
The three players that topped the leaderboard were PreadaterX51, with 324 kills and 126 deaths and a 2.57 KDR; FangABXY with 98 kills, 22 deaths and a 4.45 KDR; and IdyllicDestroyer with 46 kills, 19 deaths, and a 2.42 KDR. They have unlocked the exclusive ship Nihilos Asterus in the Alpha Dogfight. Nice work pilots!

If you'd like to check out the rest of our data, you can find the spreadsheet here: Phase 1 Data (Week 76)

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: How is skinny doing?

A1: "Oh I’m fine. Just living my life. How’re you all doing?"

Q2: What is the largest fighter in the dogfight?

A2: The Gladius is the largest default fighter, while the Constantine is by far the largest faction fighter available.

Q3: Will internet latency be dealt with in any meaningful manner that results in balancing?

A3: It is unlikely that there is much of anything the Dev team can do about internet latency beyond streamlining the networking code to be as light as possible. Take comfort in knowing that internet speeds are likely to improve as time marches inexorably forward, and fiber internet becomes more widely available.

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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!