Update 1.3.7 is Live! Complete Collision Detection Overhaul!
Collision Detection Overhaul:
I have completely re-written the collision detection code for the game! This code is what determines when you collide with objects. This includes walking, jumping, sliding down slopes, and all other similar aspects of the game.
With this upgraded system, you should hopefully also see a improvement in client performance, hopefully resulting in better frame rates!
NOTE: Please keep in mind that this collision system is a very low-level, and complex set of code, and I will be continually testing it and optimizing its performance. Please let me know if any issues you have!
Have fun jumping around and on objects in a more reliable fashion!
Multiplayer Networking Overhaul:
Another large overhaul with this update was with the Multiplayer Networking code. Other players on your screen will now immediately move and move to their latest position.
Also they now collide with objects in real time on your client ( as was part of the reason for the collision detection overhaul).
Keep in mind that is this also still being tested, and is a work-in-progress. But the instant player movement is the large update here!
Main Server Account/Player/World Wipe Performed
As I mention before, for continuing testing purposes, a full world wipe was performed ONLY on the main server. Your personal servers, players, or accounts will not be affected in any way.
To play again on the Main Servers, you will need to create a new account and new player.
If you wish to have an image of the previous server's world for your own personal server. I can make that available to you soon.
Again, let me know of any issues! This update was a very complex one!
Enjoy!
Quick Update about Big Upgrade!
I just wanted to post a quick update about what I am working on! I will be doing the world wipe in the next update, but I am working on one more update before that.
I decided to work on the *small* task of doing a complete overhaul of the game's collision detection system! Of course "small" is a joke as this is one of the larger and more complex code systems in the game.
The good news is that I have completed the first pass of it! The game's collision detection system has been completely re-written, and for good reason! The previous version was extremely computationally heavy, and this new version should hopefully improve the performance of the client by a huge amount!
Not to mention many more features to the collision system! For example, you can more reliably climb on objects, you slide off steep objects, and you can hit your head! :)
I still have to sync this system up with the networking code for displaying other players using the system. Once that is completed I will release this update!
Vantage Game Testing Playthrough Will Begin Soon!
Just wanted to post an update on what I will be doing next! Yes the title is very generic sounding and that is basically the point, as I will be doing a "general" play though of all the game's mechanics and content, re-playing and testing everything in a very thorough manner.
Also to make sure that this play through does not run into any "legacy" bugs (old bugs that have already been fixed, but the after-effects are still on the main server), I will need to do a full wipe on the Vantage Main Server.
But do not worry! I will keep an image of the current world, and all characters and accounts. If you wish to continue your progress on your own personal servers, I will make the world image available and you can still play as normal on your own servers! If you wish to have the files after I do the wipe just let me know! They will always be available.
The wipe needs to occur because of the fact that I may run into a issue that I have already fixed, and also, the remnants of some of previous issues that have already been fixed causing performance issues as well as the possibility of slowing down the testing process.
Please note! All player's personal servers will NOT be wiped at all, ONLY my Vantage Main Server will be.
Also, if this playthrough goes well, I hope I will not have to do another wipe until I make a decision for when the full release of the game occurs, and maybe even then I may not have to.
I will probably do this within the next few days.
And also, why am I doing this now?
At this point, with all the current content, completed game framework, and the first pass of game polishing it is the best time to get the game code and game performance optimized. It will be a very slow and long process, but the result of all this work will be completely worth it!
Stay tuned! I will probably plan to do this in the next few days.
Update 1.3.6 is Live! A New Sky!
I have done a complete update on the sky rendering for the game, and there is finally a sun! I have updated many textures and rendering processes to make the look and the performance much better.
Although this was a a bit work to update this, there isn't too much to explain, just for you to take a look at this colorful new update!
Enjoy!
UI Update Part 2 is Live!
The work on this went a little faster than I expected, so I wanted to release it since it has a couple of very nice UI additions.
Aside from more optimizations for the UI there two new additions:
- Hide/Show your player's accessory inventory:
You can now hide all your player's accessory slots that are not currently being used! This will make it much easier to organize and manage your player's items. Also, with *newly created characters*, the "Accessories" tab is completely removed from the player inventory screen, as this feature replaces its function.
- Craft list search filter:
You can now search your craft list for specific crafts without needing to dive into every submenu! It will repopulate the list with only the filter you select.
Enjoy!
1.3.5 is Live! Complete UI Overhaul!
For this update, nearly all UI game elements have received a complete overhaul! Again, this was a massive amount of work, much more than I expected :) But it was all worth it!
There have been many visual upgrades, quality of life improvements, and performance enhancements. I plan to release another update soon to finish off a few more enchantments I wish to make, but this update is the vast majority of the upgrades.
There are too many improvements to explain all here, but I can explain a few.
- The general look of UI elements: buttons, item lists, UI borders, have all been reworked and enhanced.
- The buffs windows tool tips have been reworked and improved.
- Better contextual game play mechanics for many windows to better display more important game states (for example, red text for your stats when they go critical )
But overall, just take a look at all the windows and enjoy!
UI Overhaul is Underway!
This is just a "Work in Progress" image as I am changing many aspects of the game's UI and graphical look, and back-end code etc...
The goal is to go through every UI window, and make it easier in the eye, and make them as organized and good-looking as I can!
I was deciding if I should release these updates as I complete them, or when I am completely finished, but I think I will do something in-between!
The overall goal is to make the UI look more immersive, yet still fully functional. So far everything is going good!
Stay Tuned!
Update 1.3.4 is Live! Networking Overhaul!
Vantage update 1.3.4 is Live! This update deals mostly with back-end networking upgrades and bug fixes. Player's connections to remote severs (and their own personal servers) should be much more reliable for people with slower connections.
You can check out the patch notes here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/342910/discussions/0/1741139831456824057/
Though this update does not show a lot in terms of visual content. This is a big personal milestone as it was one of the last coding "overhauls" the game needed before moving forward with content again.
With that in mind, the plan next is to work on completely revamping the in-game UI to make it look much nicer, and more user friendly! This will probably take a while, but in the end I am hoping the UI will look completely different!
Stay Tuned!
Update 1.3.3 is Live! "One-Click" Play and Login Overhaul!
This update focuses on overhauling the initial Login system to make it simpler and easier to use!
Also, you are now able to jump in and play the game with just one click!
With the tutorial and offline play, you can jump in and play the game right away.
There is really not much more to say as all the work was mostly boring code and network stuff.
You can read what was changed in more detail in the patch notes here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/342910/discussions/0/1743390429220323504/
Enjoy!!!
Year End Review and Next Year's Roadmap!
With the year's end coming. I thought I would give a recap of what has happened, and what is to come!
It has been one hell of a year for Vantage. I have a large list of development tasks I wanted to get done this year, and I managed to complete them all! This was a great deal of effort this year, as many of the development tasks involved many major code rewrites, overhauls, and optimizations.
But with all of those complete, that opens the way to a massive amount of game play mechanics that will allow me to greatly enhance the player experience with much more interesting more complex, yet intuitive game mechanics.
Everything from the overhauled buffing system I just recently released, to the herbalism and liquid management overhauls, and the terrain optimizations and manipulation mechanics, opens the way to implementation of some very exciting game play mechanics that I can't wait to start developing!
With the most complex overhauls complete, I will be able to focus more on exciting and diverse content and game play mechanics.
Whats on the Development List for Next Year?
My plan is to begin the year with first making the game much more accessible to new players, including making the log-in window less complex, and making so only one or two clicks get you into the game quickly and easily!
Soon after, I plan to upgrade the graphics of the in-game UI, and overhaul many graphical aspects of it, make it more appealing, and organize the data more efficiently.
Then the overall plan for next year (in addition regular development and content creation of course) is to add more game-play mechanics that focus of making playing your character even more immersive, from healing, diseases and wounds. To managing the survival the harsh elements of the world.
