Hi everyone,
It’s been a few months since I put out one of these, and I thought now would be a good time to produce a consolidated update and share it with the community.
What has been done?
A lot, and it’s a lot more tangible, which is very exciting. Right now there are essentially two domains, programming and map design.
Programming Highlights @https_KingPie
Job Framework (front-end and back-end)
Paving the way are the jobs of ‘Bounty Hunter’ and ‘Royal Army’. Jobs are more than nominal and will be really transformative with regards to how you can play the game, interact with other players, and tailor your experience.
A lot of sustained effort will be going into this over the next few months, because this is essentially the backbone of the entire job/economy side of the game
Huge rework/rewrite/upgrade to Immersive Environments V2 - Advanced ‘Package’-Based Audio and Lighting Control
This is our lighting and audio ‘engine’/control tower which is used to make the game pop. All the new updates are designed to make the game feel as immersive and engaging as possible. The settings will be fine-tuned as things get more stable, and we will push the sensory capacities of Roblox to the limits.
Inventory + Loadout System
This isn’t the craziest thing on paper, but I implemented this in a manner which will really push the player experience. Now possible are: items (weapons, shirts, pants, accessories, etc.) automatically given to players based on team/faction association, primary + secondary weapon pairings, items owned purely in-game (no robux needed), compatibility with Roblox accessories and custom modeling, paving the way for crafting/trading, etc.
CullingService (CullingService - Custom Client Sided Culling/Streaming Module)
In order to bring everyone the richest experience possible, I designed a custom streaming solution. This follows a similar concept as StreamingEnabled, but enables better control and less concessions. The final result is that the game can be much more detailed, less CPU intensive, and more accessible (especially for older devices).
Map Design Highlights @Ahlvie
Frontier full design
The Frontier is going to be immense and insane. There’s not a lot to say beyond the fact that it will be an amazing area of the map to explore, battle, and interact with players.
Connecting areas
The areas between the Frontier and the City have been significantly updated. This allows for a smooth and elegant transition between urban and rural areas.
The City itself
Last, but absolutely not least, the city itself. The city itself has been reworked multiple times to aim for the best layout, overarching design, and style. Few images are included, because this area is in a highly dynamic state and subject to lots of change with a majority of current buildings being placeholders
What Comes Next/Where Are We At Overall?
Right now, our programming foundation is pretty solid. Programming-wise, I will be building on and polishing. I will be building on the current foundations to create new things and polishing existing stuff.
What does that actually mean? For example: I will be creating new jobs from the existing framework, vice making an entire economy system. Another example: I will be polishing the existing UI, making it feel more smooth, responsive, and natural, rather than arranging UI elements and coding it from scratch. To reiterate, the existing foundation is solid enough to stand on and design upwards, which is what I will be doing almost exclusively from here on out.
Map design-wise, the idea is to keep progress consistent and detail-oriented, so get excited for more updates in that domain.
Benchmarks
The benchmarks I’m evaluating are as follows:
- Limited playability
- Extensive playability
- Full playability
Right now, I think the game is about to enter highly limited playability, in the sense that with a few more pushes of programming and forced connection between some parts of the map via fast travel a server of testers could be sustained for a short time in which testers could actually play the game versus standing and bunny hopping. Once it hits that stage, I aim to reduce the paid access price to get more testing. Each update will amplify playability.
Once that point comes, I’m aiming to hit extensive playability afterwards. From a programming stance, this should be easier to get to than starting from ground-zero and going to limited playability. The reason being is simply that the foundation becomes that much stronger.
Closing Notes
I sound like a broken record, but thank you all so much for your patience. I’m glad to say that there are a lot of people watching the progress of the project with anticipation and interest. Your support (particularly the testers, who always give valuable feedback, insights, and perspectives) has been invaluable, and I sincerely promise that there is nothing that makes me more excited than the thought of players finally getting into the server - and that’s what I’m driving towards.
If you have suggestions, as always please reach out and I’m more than happy to talk about the game and its direction, or answer any questions.