Sneak Peek - Planet Studio and a Rebuilt and Expanded Stock Planetary System
We are still working hard on Planet Studio. It's taking every ounce of our souls to get this thing ready for player consumption, but we are getting closer and we hope to release it in early December. After that, we will focus on the Career Mode as we work toward leaving early access on Steam next year.
Planet Studio has been a behemoth project and it should be since it sets out to allow the player to build things like small rocky asteroids, terrestrial planets with oceans and an atmosphere, gas giants with rings, suns, and anything in between. Nathan has been developing this terrain generation system for nearly four years and it is truly incredible what it is capable of doing, not to mention that is insanely optimized and can even run well on mobile devices!
We have had trouble really using the terrain generation system to its fullest until Pedro came along. He has been blowing our minds with his creativity in finding ways to model realistic terrain features. Fortunately for players, they can easily leverage Nathan and Pedro's hard work by selecting from a set of templates, or any planet from the community, as a starting point for their planet and then adjusting basic settings and randomizing values to alter the planet's terrain.
However, creating truly unique planets will require some knowledge of how to use the built-in noise functions, which can be quite complicated. Fortunately, there will be many planets available that can be used as a reference.
Now that the planet templates are nearly finished, Pedro will start from scratch to rebuild and expand the stock planetary system. He will be maintaining the general feel of the existing planets but will be giving them more interesting features and make them more visually appealing. While we continue finishing this project up, we thought you might be interested in seeing some sneak peeks of a few of the new planet templates that Pedro has been working on.
Taking Control Update - v0.9.5
The update is finally done! Five new space capsules, a jet cockpit with a glass canopy, part transparency support, animated waves, a programmable multi-function display part, a new label part, and so much more. Thank you for your patience with this update. This might be our biggest update yet with over five months of development and nearly 2,000 commits to our repo. This update also took longer as we were trying to figure out how to work during the pandemic. I think we have our workflow mostly figured out now, so we're hoping to start getting updates out a bit sooner than every five months!
FEATURES
Five New space capsules
Space Capsule - Visual overhaul of previous Command Pod
Komodo Capsule - Sleek capsule which includes a small amount of fuel and built-in engines. Includes a neat rotating nose cone.
Patriot Capsule - Space capsule that has a bit more legroom than the alternatives. Great capsule if you love your country and if you have the money.
Vroz Space Capsule - Soyuz inspired space capsule.
Vroz Orbital Module - Spherical space capsule that fits quite nicely on top of the Vroz Descent Module in case you want to bring more people into space.
Cockpit with glass canopy
Added a new Label part. Now you can slap custom text onto your craft and it can even dynamically update to display craft properties. It's intended to be used in the cockpit, but we know that players are going to use it everywhere, so be forewarned that it doesn't conform to the geometry it is attached to. It is always flat and you can't change its mind.
Added Multi-Function Display part that can execute Vizzy programs so now you can provide custom, interactive user interfaces in your crafts.
Added Part transparency
Other planets should now be visible through the atmosphere of the current planet during the day.
Added ability to zoom the camera when in first-person view with the astronaut.
Added a physics distance quality setting.
Added Occlusion spinner to Tinker Panel to allow specifying that a part should never be occluded, always be occluded, or automatically calculate its occlusion state (the default setting).
Animated waves with physics on PC and Android (Sorry, iOS).
TWEAKS
Reworked the way terrain physics are loaded. The new approach should be better optimized and more importantly, it should prevent craft from falling through the terrain in some cases.
Planets in flight and map view now have geometry resembling their shape rather than showing up as perfect spheres.
Better LOD logic to reduce polygon count of distant planets in flight and map view.
The sun flare now fades out when the camera goes underwater.
Command pods now have an option to automatically default to the suggested pilot orientation whenever the part is rotated.
Added Customize button for stock themes to allow copying them to the Custom theme.
Changed default fuselage radius to 1m
Reorganized part list into new categories: Command, Control, Structure, Propulsion, and Electronics.
Added some crash detection logic and crash-loop prevention when starting the game.
Large GPU optimization when image effects are enabled and the water exit effect is not active.
Added water quality setting options to disable underwater blur, underwater distortion, and the water exit effect.
The new update is now available. The key new feature is the new FDAI (Flight Director Attitude Indicator), also known as a navball. Nicky worked this feature and he did a great job. The navball supports all the things you would expect along with maybe a few things you wouldn't expect. The default view gives you crucial attitude information and a view of the relevant markers such as velocity prograde, retrograde, etc.
The map button opens a map display with options to zoom in/out and also an option to toggle its rotation.
Here are the other highlights from this update. The full release notes can be found here.
* Updated to Unity 2019.3.15f1. This includes an update to the physics engine. * Added additional navigation heading locks, such as radial and normal. * Updated instrument panel to include battery and mono. Removed fuel bars from mobile throttle slider. * Astronaut walk-speed on super-low-gravity planets has been increased, as has the speed that they get up when fallen over. * No-longer enforcing minimum altitudes for warp modes. * Changed primary font from Anita Semi Square to Roboto. * Show filename and resolution of an image when selected in the texture picker / photo library dialog. * Added button to take you back the title screen. * Added a sound volume property to the cargo bay. * Allow overriding yaw and pitch inputs while heading is locked to allow the player to make small adjustments. * Allow searching by part ID in Search Parts flyout in designer. * Default altitude to AGL mode. * Hide flight view inspector by default when entering flight, but remember player's preference when re-entering flight scene. * Added lighting/shading to equirectangular map generation when uploading planets. * Added Nicky Pike to the credits.
Custom Planetary Systems and Celestial Bodies
Official support for downloadable custom planetary systems is here! The website has been updated with pages to allow you to view and download celestial bodies and planetary systems that players have created and uploaded. When starting a new sandbox, you now have the option to select which planetary system to use.
This update is our first big step on the path to implementing 'Planet Studio', which is currently the most upvoted suggestion on our website. Currently, planet studio is only accessible from the developer console and is just a tool used for viewing celestial bodies and uploading custom bodies and systems. Actually creating and modifying custom content is still just an XML only capability at this time, but we are hard at work on a future update which will bring more in-game editing capability.
For those of you interested in creating custom celestial bodies and/or planetary systems with XML right now, planet studio has received some updates in this release. Details on changes and some basic instructions on how to use planet studio in its current state can be found here.
The full release notes can be found here with a list of all bug fixes and tweaks in the new version.
Space Sailors Update
You've done it. Thanks to all the meticulous building, test launches, orbital insertions, and suicide burns, you've managed to land a giant hunk of metal on another planet.
What do you do now?
[previewyoutube="Z8PoIkiQczQ;full"]
Wonder no more. Now you can jump out of the command pod and start exploring the new world in your sleek space-suit. Before venturing off, you may want to take a moment at the base of the grand vessel you've just landed, look up at it through your own eyes...and bask in its glory. The next thing you'll likely bask in will be the explosion you've just caused by toppling it all over with the new grappling hook.
We think the astronauts will provide some key interaction opportunities that were missing in the game, and given the second highest suggestion, it looks you thought so too.
In addition to causing general mayhem with the grappling hook, you can use them for practical purposes as well. The grappling hook's tether works as a useful tool to manipulate objects like this, this and, these.
No space suit would be complete without a jetpack, and yours comes standard with one. It's loaded with four gimbaling RCS nozzles which, when cranked up to maximum thrust provides just enough power to get you off the ground on Droo. You do have a limited supply of fuel, however. Luckily, your tether is not only astonishingly strong, but somehow also hollow and can be used to siphon fuel from crafts that you've grappled to.
You'll no-doubt be busy running around, but everyone needs to rest their legs now and then, so we've given you chairs to kick back in while flying to the next landing spot, or roaming around in a rover. We didn't want you to get too lazy while perched on your throne, however, so you are able to continue piloting your craft whilst in the chair. The grappling hook is also at your disposal while seated, which can result in some spectacular crashes if you decide to plant a tether down while you're skimming along the ground at 100mph.
The chairs are pretty comfy, but it's doubtful you'll want to fly millions of miles across the solar system in one while strapped to the side a rocket. To that end, we've retro-fitted the command pod's to have crew-compartments which astronauts can board for long trips.
Unlike many controllable characters in games, the astronauts are physically simulated. Being physically simulated means the astronauts will react realistically to forces and torques. They'll orbit just like everything else, and can be pushed, pulled, shot out of an improvised cannon, knocked over by a passing wing-tip, etc. On the other hand, it also means it is harder to have the animations match the movement with 100% precision, so you will see some "sliding" where the feet don't quite match the astronaut's direction of movement. Given the nature of the game, and how important physics interactions are, we felt that having the astronaut interact seamlessly with the environment should be a primary goal. We all hope you have fun exploring those environments with them!
This update has a lot more than just astronauts, though. It has some highly requested features such as this, a camera that can actually go underwater, some really nice Vizzy improvements, and a lot more, including many bug fixes. The update should be available now on Steam, iOS, and Android. Like usual, it may take some time for it to be delivered to your device.
Make sure to check out the full release notes for a list of all features/bugs in this release.
For those who beta-tested, the release notes since the last beta are here.
This update includes Vizzy, an automated visual programming system that you can use to program your craft to execute a wide variety of flight oriented tasks. Just click the EDIT PROGRAM button in the menu while building your rocket to get started. I also put together a tutorial video showing how to automate a rocket from the launch pad all the way to orbit. You can watch it here:
https://youtu.be/EGi0tbFhA_M
There are several basic building blocks that can be combined in endless combinations to create very complicated programs. The user interface is very similar to Scratch, Snap!, and Turtles. So, if you are familiar with those, you'll be right at home with these building blocks. You can easily combine the blocks together to build complicated statements. For example, if you want to set your Slider 1 input equal to the sin of your craft's AGL times 0.25, you can do that. I don't know why you'd want to do that, but it's totally possible:
On Start - Called when the craft enters the flight scene
Receive Message - Called when the flight program receives a message
Broadcast Message - Executes all matching Receive Message events in the same flight program
Broadcast Message to Craft - Executes all matching Receive Message events in any flight program in the entire craft.
Variables
Support for custom variables
Set Variable
Change Variable by amount
To create a flight program, just open the menu in the designer and click Edit Program. This will create a flight program on your primary command pod. If you want to add a flight program to a different part, just select it and open Part Properties and in the Tinker Panel there is now a button to add a flight program.
The program editor works very similar to the rocket designer. You can pull new building blocks out from the flyout panel on the left. Connect instructions together to form your program. Expressions can be dragged into the open slots on instructions or even other expressions. Note that each program must start with the On Start event, so make sure to connect your instructions below one of those.
When you are done editing your program, open the menu and click Save to Craft. This will store the program in your command pod (or whatever part you are using). You can also save your program to file if you want to use the same program on another rocket. Lastly, you can import an existing program into your current program if you want to leverage some code you've already created elsewhere.
Thanks for reading and we can't wait to see what you build with Vizzy!
Automated Flight Program - Early Beta Testing
I just pushed out a new beta version of SimpleRockets 2 that includes the new Automated Flight Programming System, currently nicknamed Vizzy. It's available on the Public Beta Testing branch on Steam. I'm keeping the beta restricted to Steam for now so that I can respond more quickly to player feedback.
There is still a lot of work left to do, but I wanted to get a beta out so you could experiment with it and give us feedback as early as possible before the official release.
So far, I'm happy with how things are turning out. There are several basic building blocks that can be combined in endless combinations to create very complicated programs. In just a few minutes, I was able to create a program that does the step-by-step directions from the Flight Tutorial to achieve orbit. I've uploaded it here. Here's a screenshot of the first few instructions:
The user interface is very similar to Scratch, Snap!, and Turtles. So, if you are familiar with those, you'll be right at home with these building blocks. You can easily combine the blocks together to build complicated statements. For example, if you want to set your Slider 1 input equal to the sin of your craft's AGL times 0.25, you can do that. I don't know why you'd want to do that, but it's totally possible:
On Start - Called when the craft enters the flight scene
Receive Message - Called when the flight program receives a message
Broadcast Message - Executes all matching Receive Message events in the same flight program
Broadcast Message to Craft - Executes all matching Receive Message events in any flight program in the entire craft.
Variables
Support for custom variables
Set Variable
Change Variable by amount
To create a flight program, just open the menu in the designer and click Edit Program. This will create a flight program on your primary command pod. If you want to add a flight program to a different part, just select it and open Part Properties and in the Tinker Panel there is now a button to add a flight program.
The program editor works very similar to the rocket designer. You can pull new building blocks out from the flyout panel on the left. Connect instructions together to form your program. Expressions can be dragged into the open slots on instructions or even other expressions. Note that each program must start with the On Start event, so make sure to connect your instructions below one of those.
When you are done editing your program, open the menu and click Save to Craft. This will store the program in your command pod (or whatever part you are using). You can also save your program to file if you want to use the same program on another rocket. Lastly, you can import an existing program into your current program if you want to leverage some code you've already created elsewhere.
Some of the next things I have planned to work on next are of course more instructions and properties. Also, I'd really like to add custom instructions and custom expressions. If things go well, we could potentially get the official release of this update out before Christmas, but of course, that depends on the feedback we get from all of you.
Vizzy is the nickname we've been using for this Automated Flight Program, but we are considering changing its name. Does anyone else have any suggestions on what you think it should be called?
Spotlight, beacon light, and new mirror tool.
The highly requested light part is now available in the newest update for SImpleRockets 2. Nathan and Kevin worked this part and they went above and beyond. There are actually two separate parts: a spotlight and a beacon light. The spotlight part has several customizable features that make it really easy to work with. It has settings for Extension Distance, Rotation, Spotlight Angle, Range, and Intensity.
The beacon light has options to customize its blink pattern, such as Blink Style, Blink Frequency, and Blink Offset. Also, you can change the color of a beacon light or spotlight by changing its Primary color with the Paint Tool.
Some care should be taken with the new spotlights as too many can cause the game's performance to suffer as additional lights in the scene require the GPU to do a lot more work.
Features
Added Quick Mirror, Mirror Selected Part, and a new Mirror Tool to help simplify building aircraft.
Added a Light part and a Beacon Light part
Added a new quality setting "Quality->Craft->Max Craft Lights" to limit the number of active lights at any given time. Lights can be costly to performance, so this can be used to reduce the impact. Priority is give to the most recently activated lights.
Added a new quality setting "Quality->Shadows->Craft Lights Cast Shadows" to enable/disable shadow casting by craft lights. Shadows are very costly to performance, so we recommend turning this off unless your device can handle it well.
In flight, a right mouse click on a part toggles that part's activation state and a middle mouse click on a part toggles camera focus on that part.
Tweaks
Reorganized the Gizmos part category in the designer
Performance enhancements to drag calculations.
Removed "AutoDiscrete" from wing/fin input options.
We decided to have ourselves a good old fashioned Halloween space race to see who could build the best Halloween themed spacecraft. Put a pumpkin in orbit, send Pennywise to the moon, or build a haunted house on mars. Let's bring Halloween to the Simple-Verse! Points will be awarded to the top three players with the highest-rated submissions from the community. I will act as a tiebreaker for the top three by casting my vote. Make sure to upload your craft as a successor to this craft to enter.
The deadline for the competition is 11-4-2019 by 7:00 am CT.
PRIZES
1st: 1500 points
2nd: 500 points
3rd: 250 points
THINGS TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR SUBMISSIONS
Creations that are spooktacular that embody the spirit of Halloween.
Multi-stage madness that gets the blood flowing.
Spacecrafts that get you howling to the moon and back.
Try to keep things G rated, and have fun!
Planetary rings, auto-pilot, and designer enhancements
We just released an update for SimpleRockets 2 that includes planetary rings for Urados, auto-pilot control for airplanes using the nav sphere, and several designer enhancements.
