DevBlog #17 - Arrival Imminent
Hey all,
As you’ve likely noticed from the previous blog posts, there’s been a lot of work going on for the next update. A combination of balance tweaks, features and the groundwork for future updates.
We’d reaaaally hoped this update would be in your hands by now but there’s been a lot of tricky hurdles along the way. Such is the way of game dev.
Good news is that the update has been with the Raw Fury QA team for a couple weeks and we’ve had a final thumbs for rolling out!
This update will exit warp on Tuesday, June 10th.
Damage Calculations
I’ll save the full (and pretty long) list of changes for the upcoming patch notes but one reason this update has taken longer than intended was the rework of collision calculations.
Here’s a very high level overview of what this involved…
We updated the collision calculations so that changes in linear and angular velocity have a greater influence on the damage output. This means you’ll be less likely to take damage from glancing blows with NPCs / debris.
We overhauled the code that prevents collisions being reported multiple times by the game engine (despite a single impact). This should do a better job at stopping rogue damage being applied.
We resolved issues where the mass of debris wasn’t always scaled appropriately. This means the size and weight of debris should now be more closely linked.
We fixed some problems around multi-trailer damage propagation and fixed a bug where the monitor screen displayed the wrong damage values until a save was reloaded.
The result of these changes is a more consistent and fair damage report. It’ll also make it much, much easier for us to tweak damage balance and resolve any impact related issues going forwards.
Please keep in mind that colliding with static scenery (like a space station) or crashing into NPCs at high speed will still result in major damage but overall you will find you take less damage from most impacts.
Resting Up
Another feature that ended up being a bit more work than we initially expected is the ability to use your cab bunk to skip time forwards.
This is super handy for Just In Time jobs (e.g. turning up too early for a delivery) and has plenty of potential for future gameplay features too.
It’s worth keeping in mind that your truck systems will continue to deplete unless you’ve docked with a station (which now provide free oxygen, gravity and power to prevent any drain on truck components).
Oh, and be careful where you park. Local authorities will ticket any trucks they find drifting in restricted areas or that have been docked for too long...
Survey Superstars
Lastly we want to say a massive thanks to everyone who responded to our survey about the future of Star Trucker. The response has been incredible and there have been so many great suggestions.
We’re going to keep the survey open for a little while longer so if you haven’t seen it and would like to make your own suggestion please use the button below.
Back in a Bit
That’s about it for this post. I know it’s fairly short but the next one will be a big-un and should drop around the same time as the update and patch notes.
10-10 until then.
- Monster Dave