Hello everyone! Welcome to the eighty-eighth issue of the RoVerse Development Newsletter, where we keep you updated on the progress we've made over the past week. This week, lordrex has been designing the character creation data systems and menus that players will use when they first join the game, to create the personification of their RoVerse character, and Idyllic has continued work on Capital Ships, with some promising work on turret transit and aiming systems. Let's take a closer look! For RoVerse we wanted to blend the characters you use elsewhere on Roblox that are supported by a fairly limited set of options, with our own more expansive system that provides more options for customization - including the possibilities for custom meshes for different species both Dev created and faction created. To blend the two, we have been working on a system that will import pretty much the entirety of the Roblox Catalog into the game for use on your character. Assets sorted into categories you are familiar with, like hats, shirts, and pants, as well as some of our own design at some point in the future. Tacked onto this are more robust character options including the aforementioned custom meshes, as well as a wider variety of colors and adornments will be possible. The backend systems to support this aren't all that new - Catalog Heaven used catalog assets in-game particularly well, and the Roblox API's are readily available to grab asset ids - and the systems used to load these assets into the character creation screen aren't all that different from what you will encounter in-game when you visit shops at stations to further customize your character. It's important to look your best when terrorizing the starways. Idyllic recently picked up the task of working on Capital ship scripting for the upcoming Capital Update, and has been making steady progress for these past two weeks. Last week saw the ship movement systems, including strafing, pitching, yawing, and rolling on the global plane, this week he has continued work on these systems, including the addition of a vector lock toggle that maintains your current heading and speed, allowing you to move the camera about to aim your turrets. Contrary to the rudimentary system in the original Dogfight Alpha, this vector lock does not rotate your ship to upright, allowing it a more versatile use in combat. Upon testing it is clear that it is hard to tell when this function is enabled, so in the future we will be looking into visualizations to show the direction your ship is locked to, in addition to the HUD toggle readout. This feature added, he moved on to more important aspects of Capital control systems - turret transit. While the previous iterations of turrets worked as long as they were oriented upright, that didn't quite work for us in space, with its 3 dimensions. Using some advanced calculation methods helped along by inbuilt Roblox functions, Idyllic managed to get turrets to track the mouse position and turn to face it as closely as possible, with the turret at any orientation. This includes turrets mounted sideways like those on the front of the Avenger below, as well as those mounted to the bottom, or any angle in-between. Another aspect of importance is the modular aspect of the turrets - a hardpoint on the ship model, and a matching hardpoint on the turret model makes adding and interchanging turret models a breeze, as well as a standardized grouping format of the turret parts should allow us to easily change between any variation of the model imaginable, whether it's developer created or created by a faction. We'll be releasing the final details in a few weeks, so you can get your devs working on custom faction turret models! Here you see the turrets independently pointing at the cursor, as close as is possible on their axis. Also included in this code is the groundwork for weapon groups, so you can turn on and off sets of turrets for various situations - turning on left or right groups of turrets if you happen to get flanked, for example. Moving forward, Idyllic will be taking on the task of turret firing, of all the various projectiles we have prepared for every weapon type, as well as beginning to interchange some of the turret models and effects to test how well the system works. 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 fighter-ground vehicle hybrids be possible? A1: While a combination fighter-mech would be cool, I'm not certain how reasonable it would be to make nor use one. In the end, it'd have to be debuffed as both a fighter and a mech, making it worse at everything than two separate vehicles would be. If there is enough interest we could possibly add it in at a later point, but until then you would probably be best off with a fighter large enough to carry a dedicated mech you could jump into when you've landed on a planet. Q2: Will cities have to be filled with skyscrapers? Will dead cities leave ruins? Could I build a bunker in the ruins? A2: Actually, no. If your faction theme is better suited with low-rise structures or other shorter buildings, you can design them like that, it's up to you. Dead cities will leave ruins as a marker of the history of the place, to add exploration interest, allow factions to rebuild their cities, and to retain more history than anything in the clan world can currently. Imagine walking among the ruins of a capital of a faction that died out years ago. If you're looking to build a small structure in a city, a base is the way to go, rather than building an entire city. Q3: How will sieges on cities work? A3: City sieges will be live-fire against whoever is there to defend, with any reinforcements you bring along. Attacking a city will be straightforward, involving shooting everything, but will be tempered by a large health pool. Defenders should also be able to conduct repairs, so your invasion force should be sure to take out any incoming cargo ships bringing resources. Q4: Will ringed planets be textured planes, or will the rings be made of real junk? A4: Since one of our primary goals is avoiding the shortcomings of previous space games, it just wouldn't be right of us to take the easy way out for planetary rings. I would expect that at a long distance, the rings will appear as a textured plane or two, while up close there should be detritus to mine, or avoid crashing into on approach. 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 |