ROVERSE DEVELOPMENT NEWSLETTER #25

​Hello everyone! Welcome to the twenty-fifth issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week!

​As you know, last week we released the first public version of the Dogfight Alpha - a massive milestone for RoVerse. Since then we've been taking note of any discovered bugs, but other than that we've mostly been enjoying the Christmas holidays and taking a brief break from deving until the new year begins. Leading up to the Alpha's release, Fireband had to delay VOID work for three whole weeks in order to have the Alpha ready for release before Christmas, so he's been spending all his available time catching up on VOID work. However, he's managed to find just enough time to work on fixing the bugs you've reported witnessing in the Alpha. Below we'll go through the different bugs that have been caught and will be fixed in the upcoming patch:
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• HUD colour not changing upon team change.
• Rare server flight script crash when a player loses connection.
• Blurry UI
• Lag when player respawns.
• Thruster booster not working when 'w' is held down.
• Interface mode now has a visual notification (players didn't know why their ship wasn't following the mouse).
• Ship occasionally getting wedged in tight corners.
• 'OtherShip is nil' error fixed.
• 'Playername is not a member of Players' error fixed.
• 'Body is not a valid member of Model' error fixed.

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Not only will Fireband be continuing to fix discovered bugs, but he will also be developing the latest features for the starfighter combat of RoVerse. These will take time however, especially with the other work Fire is busy with in other projects. We've received lots of great suggestions from you guys in the community, many of which we already have planned for you to enjoy but have not yet gotten around to adding them to the game. So we've made a list, to give you an idea of what to expect to see added to the Dogfight Alpha throughout the coming weeks and months:
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• Engine kill (drifting) functionality.
• Visual GUI hitmarkers when landing shots on a target, as well as impact visuals on their ship.
• Visual arrows on the side of the screen for nearby unselected ships which fade in and out of transparency depending on distance from your ship.
• Tracking player kills and a persistent global leaderboard for the best pilots.
• Power drain for weapons and thruster usage.
• Ship selection and outfitter for unlocking ships and customising their weapon loadout and upgrades with credits earned from wins and kills.
  
• Lots of different ships, each with their own unique stats and weapon positions.
• Lots of new weapons, such as close-range shotgun style blasters, long-range sniper stile beams, missiles, mines, countermeasure flares and more.
• New maps and gamemodes such as FFA, KOTH, CTF and more.
• HUD functionality such as a list of nearby ship contacts and a list of equipped guns.
• Repair Bots and Shield Batteries, each refilled on death and consumed to instantly repair hull or regenerate shields respectively.
• Capital ships and capital ship gamemodes.
• Headlights for ships to see in the dark.
• Cockpit view.
• And much more.

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As you can see, there's lots of work to be done, and this is just the dogfighting mechanics of the game without the open world aspect. This is why we'd like to ask any talented scripters reading this to please consider joining our development team by sending an application to us at RoVerse_Official on the ROBLOX website. Even if you're not a scripter, perhaps you might know one, or a friend of yours may know one - if so, please let them know about our project and how much we are in need of scripters who can contribute as full-time developers long-term. You can see from the Dogfight Alpha that we are absolutely serious about this project and that it is far more than just a vision or pieces of text. RoVerse is real and you can take confidence in knowing we will complete it with or without more scripters - it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Unfortunately, at this pace with so few developers able to be online for very long due to studies, we're looking at a year of development until the game is truly finished. So this is why we urge anyone out there who may be able to help us find active scripters, to please do whatever you can to help see RoVerse made a reality sooner rather than later. If you have already sent an application to RoVerse_Official but have not received a response, please resend your message, as we reply to all messages so it seems ROBLOX sometimes tends to fail to deliver the message.

Each week we compile a Q&A section here whenever there are any new questions posted on the RoVerse Community group wall, so be sure to join if there's something you'd like to ask about RoVerse:

https://www.roblox.com/Groups/Group.aspx?gid=2948290

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Q1: What about players that aren't in war clans can they play (like they start neutral but then they could be drafted into an empire or corporation)

A1: We are looking into ways of best accomodating for people who are not members of any clans, however it is very important we don't forget the core aim of RoVerse which is to bring life back to clans. If the game allows everything to be done without clans then it would likely result in clans being left behind and forgotten about by most players who enter from the front page.


Q2: Will there be cruisers/frigates in Dogfight?

A2: Most definitely! It will take quite a lot of time for us to get around to implimenting them, but there will be capital ships in the Dogfight Alpha and even gamemodes specifically centered around their tactical use. There's plenty of testing to be done when it comes to fleet engagements so we'll be sure to give the public plenty of opportunity to help us perfect it!


Q3: The Alpha seems to get laggy and buggy when more people get on, will this be fixed?

A3: Yes, of course. This being the most early version of RoVerse flight gameplay, it is to be expected that the game won't be very stable and likely full of bugs that only come with large amounts of players (the reason for why we're making the Alpha public instead of closed to a small team). Many people have reported a solid 60 FPS to our surprise, but rest assured all our focus will be on stabalising and optimising the game before we add more to it.


Q4: Will we be able to play the early stages of development of Ro Verse (like the actual game not dogfight)?

A4: Absolutely! We want to involve all of you in the community as much as possible with the creation of RoVerse, because this is a community project and you all deserve to have your say in what it becomes.


Q5: How are uniforms going to work? Are we going to be able to just wear our own shirts and pants?

A5: Outfits in the game will be sold at clothing stores on board stations and in cities. Most 'neutral' civilian outfits will be in the game from the beginning, however it will be clans that will be submitting most of the more clan-specific outfits and uniforms. They will even be able to submit uniforms that are only available to players in specific careers, like law enforcement or military. Players who own sub-factions will also be able to submit uniforms (with an in-game cost) to sell on board their outposts as a product of their sub-faction, so corporations will be able to have their own employee clothing.

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We'd like to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who has supported RoVerse this far. We've come such a very long way since we first announced the start of development, we could never have done it without all of your passion, generosity and care for the clan world. If you know any friends who haven't heard about RoVerse, be sure to let them know so they can get involved too!