Awwww Yeah! This week, let me introduce, the Wheeled Leg type.
You like speed? You like agility? Do you have a burning desire to go fast? I mean, really, really fast? Do you throw caution to the wind?
Then this is the leg type for you!
Go to your user page and grab the latest build to test them out.
Built for those perfect hit and run attacks, the Scout legs bring a whole new demension to the team play and tatics of Arena mode.
Trading durability and load capacity for speed, these legs (and variants) make a great chasis for anyone wanting to play as a scout class. Or maybe sneak around the enemy team and lay down an ambush of turrets!
There are a total of 8 wheel variants in this build, giving you a large variatiey to play with.
Here are some of the other changes:
+ Made AI much more aggressive with firing weapons
+ Updated AI spawning to use new legs
+ Updated AI to learn to drive a bit better
* Modified the HD cannon to have more ammo
* Modified the Shotgun -160 parts to have a reaonable spread
So this week has some exciting changes, but first, I would like to show off the first offical piece of M.A.V. concept art!
This concept is for a medium Attacker type MAV, a role meant to be right at the front lines pushing forward.
The art is by Eliott Lilly, a great guy I have worked with in the past.
This concept really captures the art direction I want to take the MAV parts in. I will be working on updating the visuals to achieve this in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
FLAME THROWERS!
There are a total of 8 new flame throwers to help you win your battles. They make for a great hit and run weapon, but be wary of the extremely limited range. Targets that have been lit on fire, will continue to take damage, so light them up and get out.
And finally, the full change list:
* Modified the way AI spawns. This lead to a speed up and allows a greater number of parts without affecting the speed (going from a tech limited 300 parts to a tested 60,000 parts)
* Fixing collision issues on Wheels with Base cockpit
* Fixed Part name prefixes not being hyphenated correctly
+ Adding in flamethrowers
+ Adding in Flamethrower F/X
+ Adding in Flamethrower sounds
+ Added in damage over time damage type
+ Added in Area damage over time damage type
This week I devoted some time to updating the website and integrating the account system in with the design of the site as well. I felt this needed to be done, as the old site was very slow, visually jarring, and having the account system not matching made it feel untrustworthy. I am hoping you like the new design!
As for M.A.V., version 0.5.3 is now out. I didn't have the full week so it's not a major update, but I did get a few key elements done.
Sounds
I got a few sound related systems done. The first is an 'engine manager' for use on all non-legged types. This system handles the audio for all the engine sounds (idle, accelerating, breaking, load, ect.) and I have added it in game to the wheels and the tank treads. I don't have all the sounds hooked up yet, but the base is there to test the system.
Also, for the legged type's I created a footstep sound manager. This will handle all the sounds of walking around, leg movements, ect. While I got this done, I could not get the actual sounds done yet, so no footstep sounds in-game this build
Bugs
I did also tackle some of the more glaring bugs. First on the list was all the camera switching bugs. In rare cases it was possible to get in to some unrecoverable camera states (like not having a main camera) that drastically affected the gameplay. I tackled these bugs by gutting out the old camera code and rewriting a much cleaner implementation. In my tests, it was bug free, so let's see how it hold up for you!
Next up was the collision bugs in the Giant Leap level. There seemed to be several places in the map that had 'holes' in them, that allowed any MAV using tank treads to fall into the map. This was a bit harder to track down, but I feel I found the source and got it fixed. I would love to hear if you are still experiencing it. I also fixed up various collision issues (like going up the ramps in certain places).
That wraps it up for this week!
This week, I have been splitting my time between two big tasks, Hit and Death feedback and new models.
So for this week's build I really wanted to improve the hit feedback when you are in the heat of the battle. So the first thing I added was making all the parts explode when they are destroyed. This provides much better feedback to both the attacker and the attacked. Plus it's so satisfying when you see that explosion from your 'across the map' sniper shot
Next up was removing the disappearing act that happened when you killed another M.A.V. in battle. Now, you get a satisfying explosion as they come to a stop. You both get a second to understand what happened, they the blowup in a big way!
I set this up in way that allows it to be extended with other features as well. I want to add low health warning sounds, auto show and hide health when a part takes damage, and maybe even an after death 'kill cam'.
Models
I also spent a lot of time working on some new models. I have modeled a new cockpit
(based on the concept art) and have move on to texturing it. It's taking a bit longer then I want as I plan out the proper shader and workflow for ensuring customizable camo patterns and colors. I also have to consider performance impacts and compatibility with the procedural part system.
But, I am making great progress and can't wait to show it off!
Well this week, M.A.V. grew up a little bit. I officially moved away from the old .zip files and now have a full and proper installer.
So, with that said, go grab version 0.5.7 from your user page!
So along with the new installer, I implemented a new release system as well. I would like to explain how the releases going forward will work.
Stable builds, snapshot builds, and you
Through the development process I have discovered a funny paradox. Weekly releases are both not enough time for me to develop features and weekly releases are way too long between bug fixes.
Because of this, I created an opt-in snapshot build system. What is a snapshot build? It is a very rough untested build, hot of the press, used for finding issues in newly added features. Snapshot builds are very small changes, allowing testing of a very specific problem or feature.
So why would you want snapshot builds? You will get the latest features, as soon as they are available, and your feedback will help shape the way the feature turns out. Don't like the balance of a new weapon in the snapshot build? That is the perfect time to talk about it and see the changes progress.
So what happens if you DON'T opt in to the snapshot builds? You continue to receive updates, they will just be larger, farther apart, but also more bug free. The snapshot builds and tests will be used to help polish out a Stable build. If you didn't opt in to the snapshots, you will only receive stable updates. These updates will not be bug free, but they will be 'less bugs'
Snapshot opt-in
Ok, so you want to opt-in to the snapshots and start helping report bugs and being awesome? Great! There is now a dedicated snapshot bug section on the message board. Posting bugs in this section will help ensure the updates come super fast and resolve as many issues as possible. There are some posting rules, so please be sure to read them and follow them.
Cool Techy stuff
So, the new updater uses a much more efficient system for delivering updates. It's called a binary patch, and it ensures the updates can be VERY small (as small as 30KB!) instead of having to re-download the entire game (350 MB and growing). The update process is also 100% automated, meaning you just press the update button in game. The updater will launch, close the game, download the files, apply the patch, and re-launch the game. All in about 20 seconds!
That wraps it up for this week! Next week should see tons of bugs squashed and more work on the new deployment parts and system. PLEASE post any issues you have with the installer or updater to the message board!
Thought I would update you guys with this teaser I put out. Just a quick 'work-in-progress' look at the new models I am working on.
Looking really niceThought I would update you guys with this teaser I put out. Just a quick 'work-in-progress' look at the new models I am working on.
Wow, that was nice. It may be a rare thing, but it was a nice incentive to get back into the game again. I profess to having neglected it in the last few weeks.
