Dev Log #18 – Total Final Parts, Experimental Multiplayer Collision & More!
Hello Inventors!
Our new update is nearly here, and we have so many new parts ready for our new Update!
We have finally locked down the final number of new parts for our upcoming update next week, we have managed to finish 40 PARTS! These will all be included in our update next week on Thursday 6th August!
Experimental Multiplayer Collision
Having collision between Bots in Multiplayer is something that we strive for in Main Assembly. Since we are in Early Access, we figured that sharing the current state of our Multiplayer Collision with you fine folks would not be an issue!
This is a very Experimental feature that will change several times in the future during development as we work on refining it. You will be able to try this out in our update next week. To enable this the Host needs to be in the Main Menu. From here, click on the Cogwheel in the bottom left hand corner to open up the Multiplayer Settings, then toggle “Enable Collision”.
Detachable Part
A way of disconnecting part of your creation at will is happening! With the Detachable Part, with just the press of a button, you can do just that!
Your connections will still be connected so you can build your own RC cars!
So Many Light Variations!
There’s just not enough lights to put on all your amazing creations. Then we thought, why not just add.. more?
Along with Update 2 there will be many more lights with different looks and ways of attaching them to your bot!
Community Spotlight - Workshop Build!
Over on the Main Assembly Reddit User Extraltodeus posted their Autonomous Racer MK3 creation! Other Community members joined in and tried to beat each others lap times on the Buretop Raceway map. Why not download Extraltodeus’s Workshop build now and post your best time over on the Official Main Assembly Reddit!
Dev Log #17 – Update 2 Release Date, Wheel Rim Paints, Community Build & More!
Hello Inventors!
Another week has passed and here comes Dev Log #17! This week we will be giving you a tease of the new and upcoming parts for Main Assembly and a Community Spotlight Build.
Update 2 – Co-Operative Pack
On Thursday August 6th we are releasing our next update! Among the big pack of different variations of parts, we are adding more wheels in different sizes.
Tiny Spiked Wheels
For example the Tiny Spiked wheels can help your smallest build stay stable on the ice. Look at that excellent braking speed!
Wheel Rim Paints
Together with this big addition of wheels we also took the time to add the ability to paint the rims of basically any wheel!
Now you will be able to customise your builds even further and add your own colourful flair, we can’t wait to see your creations when the new update is released.
7 Segment Display Panel
If the debug node in programming that we added in our previous Content Update wasn’t enough, we’re also adding a 7 segment display part that opens up even more possibilities in your future creations!
Simply feed the panel a number and it will show it. Check out our GIF below showing off this new part. Here the panel is set to perform a wave going between -100 and 100.
Community Creation Spotlight
This week’s community spotlight Build features Steam user Lemon Listener and their Hover Board creation! Lemon Listener states that pressing the Ctrl key can cause you to do fun spins, which we highly advise!
Check it out over on our Steam Workshop and give it a spin! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2132620119
That's everything Main Assembly for now, we'll see you next week for Dev Log #18!
Main Assembly Dev Log #16 – Tutorial Videos, Update 2 Info & A Supreme Subaru!
Hello Inventors!
Welcome to Dev Log #16! We’ve got new tutorial videos, information on our next update, a preview of our new propellers and a Community Spotlight.
Tutorial Videos
We have started releasing some tutorial videos for Main Assembly where we go through some useful tips and tricks and also guide you through some easy builds.
We are planning on adding more of these over time and would love to hear what topics you want us to cover in the future. What things do you have trouble building? Is there something that is hard to program for you? Drop us a post over on our Steam forums or hop on over to our Discord and let us know what you’d like to see!
Keep our Tutorials playlist below on your Bookmarks and check back in the future for new videos. Here are the first fabulous five featured videos!
Simple Pistons
Simple Airplane
Simple Car Tutorial
Chassis Tools
Simple Tank
[previewyoutube="YCfImfwb5l0;full"]
Update 2
Our next update will be release on August 6th , so in about 3 weeks. As we hinted about last week it will have new parts, currently we have about ~35 new parts for this update (although that number is not quite final yet). This update will not only contain new parts though, but more on that as we get closer to the release date for it! 😊
Here is a sneak peek preview of two of our new propellers! It should be plane sailing from here. We hope it’s plane sailing for our community when you all get your hands on these propellers. Be sure to watch your hands near the blades!
Community Creation Spotlight
This week’s community spotlight we have the supreme “Subaru 22B” crafted and built by Steam user ender.land. Or should that be the Superaru!.. No one?
What an amazing reconstruction, this must of took HOURS to build! We love the metallic blue finish on the paint job too, style and substance!
Take it for a spin and burn some asphalt! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2158426216
That's everything Main Assembly for now, we'll see you next week for the Dev Log #17!
Update 2 is in the works; we are always looking at trying to help players play together. That's why we are trying to have a way to add another passenger seat so you can have a buddy tag along for the ride.
Continuing in the theme of connecting players, we'e also working on implementing multiplayer text chat.
Small Parts
Our community has also quite heavily requested part variation. We think that smaller parts are something that will elevate creations. Also, the smaller pieces are adorable!
Since it's summer, some of us are taking some vacation, we love working on Main Assembly, but we also love holiday.
But don't worry, we are taking vacations in turns so that development marches on!
Community Creation Spotlight
For this week's community spotlight, we present the Bouncy Drone Game by user Dargino. All we can say is that we were all blown away by this game, inside our game. Using reflections to display the game is quite a genius. You have to try this one out!
Try it yourselves: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2154544831
That's everything Main Assembly for now, we'll see you next week for the Dev Log #16!
Thanks for all of your patience, the issues with the new weapons not being available in the challenges is now fixed and live on the main build.
Have fun... breaking things! :)
Break It Known Issue, Workaround and Upcoming Hotfix
Hello folks,
We're currently working hard on a hotfix for the update which we will have with you as soon as possible. The known issue is that the new axe and hammer weapons do not unlock for the mine challenge as intended.
For the meantime you can access the fix whilst it is being tested in the Experimental Branch, which is the special build that you can preview and help test upcoming changes. There's a guide on how to access this in one of our previous developer logs: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1078920/view/2458350973558404281
Thanks for your patience and we'll let you know when the patch is live on the main build!
Main Assembly Update #1 - Break It!
Hey Inventors,
The first content update for Main Assembly Early Access has just landed, download it now! We also just dropped our Early Access development Roadmap here. Let's jump into the big feature and the patch notes!
Break It
We've released a new challenge map set called 'Break It', it consists of three levels all taking place inside an old mine, each level going deeper and deeper into the mine. As the name suggest it is destruction focused, you will travel into an abandoned mine, smashing through wooden obstacles and collapsed mineshafts, find hidden items, set trapped dummies free and unblock old mine machinery.
New Weapons
We have added some new melee weapons to help you out with all this destruction. We have the old hammer part, a new axe blade, a sawblade and a rock drill.
We are looking forward to seeing your new bots in action, remember to show off your creations! ːsteamhappyː
Patch notes
Break it challenge levels added
More melee weapons added
You can now switch between CPUs directly in the programming menu
Razor Chroma animation support added
Workshop images should now have a proper background
Better support for non qwerty keyboards.
Arrow keys no longer default to camera movement.
Added more controls that can be rebound.
Added mouse sensitivity support.
Game progression can now be reset.
Debug print node added to help with programming!
Added switch node to programming.
Grouped nodes in programming no longer overwrite all properties.
CPUs no longer clamp their input/ouput between -1 and 1, but can be any value.
Mirrored sensors now work better when used in CPUs
Fix for flip bot sound getting stuck when bot is deleted.
Fixed slowdown in programming mode when dragging multiple nodes.
Bug fix for flipping parts.
Non player controlled bots work better in multiplayer.
Thanks for reading, we'll see you soon for the next dev log and update!
We've got a a very wholesome dev log for you this week! We're looking ahead today to the future of the game and all of the exciting things coming both just around the corner and further into Early Access
Roadmap
It's here, our Early Access roadmap that will be guiding us to our launch and hopefully giving you all a much better idea of what's coming. Please bear in mind this is not final and some of the content could change, especially with your feedback! There's also lots more smaller changes and improvements we'll be adding so not everything is included. Without further a do, feast your eyes on this:
Please let us know all of your thoughts in the comments!
Update #1
Tomorrow it is time for our first content update to Main Assembly! It will have new content and a lot of fixes.
A big thanks to all the feedback we have received, we have added several requested things (and more are coming, we are adding things as fast as we can!)
Here's a quick sneak peak at one of the big or should I say... dig features coming!
We'll share the full patch notes when the update goes live tomorrow - be on the lookout!
Community Creation Spotlight
We don't want to sting people with too many puns, but this must bee one of the best themed dragsters we've seen! Earning its racing stripes over on the Main Assembly Sub Reddit this bot 'Angry Bee' was designed by newgenome! It has a lot of buzz in its engine and is definitely worth checking out!
We hope everyone's enjoying the game so far and we can't wait for you all to get your drone appendages on the update tomorrow! We'll see you next week for the Dev Log #15!
Because we wanted more interactions with the environment - and because smashing things is fun – we decided to add a new type of objects in our game.
We call them
'destructibles'.
Since our game is not going for realism, we wanted and simple way to handle those destructible objects while keeping them flexible enough to be used in many different contexts throughout the game.
The system ended up working like this:
Destructibles have states, with an associated health.
When the health of that state is depleted the destructible moves on to the next state.
While doing so they can swap the 3D model they are using, spawn debris and particles, and many other things.
They will go through those states until the last one, where they are – for all intents and purposes – destroyed.
(3Dmodels used for each state of destructible objects)
Feedback is important to maximize players’ enjoyment:
A shine effect as shown above on destructible objects lets players know they can go nuts!
When hit the destructibles spawn a stylized hit VFX.
The model is slightly deformed on impact (it also flashes). This makes it clear to the player that they have damaged it even if it was not enough to force a state change.
Some weapons are more efficient that others against specific materials:
These destructibles can be used in many situations:
Roadmap
A new development roadmap is coming soon folks, keep your eyes peeled on Steam and our socials for our plans on content coming through Early Access! We can't wait for you all to see it!
Community Creation Spotlight
This is a Hover Bike by 紫川幽冥, our team liked it so much, that they added a grabber to save dummies!
We hope you are enjoying the game so far, we are really enjoying trying out all of your creations! We'll see you next week for the Dev Log #14!
