Image credit: ProbablyNot

23.01-03: 2023 1st Quarter Devblog

Thursday, April 6, 2023
Written by: CosmicCoincidence

SS3D 0.0.6.1

Download - Changelog


"The Line between disorder and order lies in Logistics."

-- Sun Tzu

Q1 Recap

This quarter has been our most productive quarter in at least a year. This includes new documentation, promising progress on the core rework, and even some new features we didn't have before the rework like addressable asset data and character roles.

Also, a big thanks to our maintainers; none of these contributions would make it into the game without proper review and testing by them. I feel it is important to remember and thank them as they do a lot of work but sometimes get forgotten in these blogs. So, thanks again to our maintainers!

Documentation

Due to John's initiative, we made a huge improvement recently that impacts every aspect of our development. Which is us finally having a quality documentation solution. Before this year, we have been using Google documents in folders on our Google Drive, but now, we are using GitBook (https://ss3d.gitbook.io). Thanks to GitBook for sponsoring us with a free premium account via their open-source program!

Our GitBook, being new, may see some restructuring and lots of additions still. Currently, we have 4 main spaces; Design, Art Guide, Dev Guide, & Systems. "Design" is our game design documentation. "Art Guide" & "Dev Guide" are our contributor guidelines. While "Systems" is similar to "Design" but is for the technical documentation related to implementation.

Since the game we are making is community-oriented, feel free to read up on our Design page and share your thoughts on our Discord or GitHub.

Also, if you're curious about seeing our development progress in the form of a plan and where we are in that plan, see our Roadmap page.

Rework

As you likely know if you read our last blog or are active in our Discord, we have recently been overhauling the under-belly (underhauling?) of the game itself.

This process began about 1 year ago with John starting on his own branch, then about 5-6 months ago he reached a point with his "underhaul" that more contributors started to assist. About a month after that we officially swapped over to using his branch as our new primary development branch.

As of now, the rework is still incomplete but continues to shuffle forward as we port over our game systems & assets to the new branch.

John readded the interaction wheel for secondary interactions. He also readded item spawning from vending machines.

Broodje readded and reworked his previous tilemap system, fixing several bugs in the process. It is now play-mode only and no longer can be used in the editor. It also now has a simple UI window and hologram to show where and what tile you are placing. The system also now supports items embedded in the tilemap which means they can now be saved to the tilemap save file.

CosmicCoincidence readded many objects including structures, wall-mounts, furniture, floor textures, etc.

Nath readded the basic player inventory and item sprite generation, while also fixing several bugs in the process. He readded our basic substance system with a few testable substances and fixed a few bugs. He also readded the container system and fixed bugs with it as well.

Containers

After redoing the old container system, Nath introduced basic pockets, then went about rehauling the whole system. The rehaul makes the system more independent, easier to use, and more organized and efficient.

Asset Data

John implemented a new asset data system. The new system automates much of the process for contributors. The system uses addressable groups to determine how the assets are referenced, loaded, and used.

Stamina

Ryan added a stamina sub-system. Ultimately it is a sub-system to the player health system but we do not have that yet so the stamina system currently is standalone.

The specifics of the system may change over time, but currently, stamina decreases through various movements (eventually combat too), can regenerate over time, and can be trained through usage.

Roles

LightVelox implemented a new role system recently. For now, there are currently only 2 roles; security and assistant. Players can now start the round with a role (though there is currently no way to select what role they want), and the player will start with an item loadout based on that role (currently only spawns an ID and PDA). ID cards have even been given permission traits so they can do things such as unlock lockers or use certain doors.

Controls

After replacing the input manager with a new input action asset, IAmTeapot reworked the input/controls system to now use toggling methods and input consumption which fixed several issues we had with the system. A short list of these issues includes; overlapping control schemes conflicting with each other, unwanted interactions happening while UI elements were focused, and drag and dropping item icons not working properly.

Details

Ryan

Notterox

Nath

John

CosmicCoincidence

SirReginald1 (new contributor)

IAmTeapot

LightVelox

Alainx277

Seteron

Konstantin3001

k0fe (new contributor)

Assets

Konstantin3001, the go-to 2D lad at SS3D, refuses to quit delivering pure quality assets for us. Recently he submitted a new winter skybox for the holodeck see his beach on here, and new food & glass particles!

Grimmie popped in for a visit and decided to submit this directional grille model.

Kruzn (new contributor) made this simple but sweet meteoroid for us!

Art

SmokingMan spontaneously rendered another image for us!

Did you really expect this masterful render to be done by anyone other ProbablyNot?

And CosmicCoincidence made a 3D variant of SS13's classic logo and some banners using previously submitted wallpapers.

beep banner
beep banner
SS3D Banner 1
SS3D Banner 2
SS3D Banner 3
SS3D Banner 4

Footnotes

As always, if you want to follow along with our development & community, joining our Discord is the best way to do so.