Dev Log

[Carn]

I've been somewhat out-of-the-loop in regards to the server for a while. This is because I've been busy working on a dev-branch of our codebase with many many improvements to the inner workings of the game.

Much of the more experimental stuff is just sitting on my computer because I haven't gotten around to finishing it to a decent enough standard to publish it. The rest of the more polished stuff is being published to a dev-branch named "qdel", which I hope to get the server running on soonish.

The trouble is, I'm working on about 5 things at once, and I sort of lose track of things!

This thread is meant to be a sort of dev-diary so people (including myself!) know what I'm up to, and so they can give input or ask questions. It's also here to bounce ideas around based on what I'm doing at the moment, so if you see something that is of particular interest, give me a +1 or something to encourage me to focus on it and actually finish it.

Anyways, much of the "qdel" branch is boring optimisation and infrastructure, hopefully when I'm finished I can get to adding some actual content that people will be interested in.

[Carn]

26-June-2014:
Dev-branch has made a huge amount of progress and is nearing the stage where it can be published onto the server. My primary aim at the moment is to take advantage of un-utilised byond features to make the game feel more fluid and responsive. It's just very slow and messy work...

Main developments so-far:

• Utilisation of byond's garbage collector. This has completely removed atom/movable/Del() from our list of most-costly procs
• Lighting streamlined Lighting uses slightly more memory, but things like singularities and opaque objects being deleted will no longer cause immense lags
• Alpha-blending cloaking devices Cloaking devices and ninja suits now make your actual sprite semi-transparant... as a very cool side-effect your clothes become semi-invisible too so you can vaguely see your underwear when stealthed xD
• Cloaking device updates are handled better they are updated on toggling the device, dropping it, or picking it up, rather than repeatedly ever 2 seconds
• Inventory code almost completely reworked much of the inventory code was standardised. This will allow me to create and maintain event-hooks to create more complex behaviours
• Client-side colouration of mob-overlays This opens opportunities to reduce the size of the resources you need to download before playing, whilst simultaneously creating MORE options for customisation. Such as choosing the colour of your underwear. It also reduces server-stress and should make the game feel a little more fluid
• Bunch of bug-fixes like goddamn I can't even remember half of them. Mostly to do with sleep() inside process() which would hold the entire game up
• Minecraft-inspired splashscreen text much like loading screens in other modern games, text on the splashscreen will give you tips and advice about the game and server rules...as well as a few silly memes
• Savefile updater improvements
  Removes some bugs where your savefiles may be lost.
  
  
• Object actionbuttons system optimised The action-buttons on your hud (for flashlights and such...top-left) have been reworked so they aren't very costly at all. This will allow more objects to have action-buttons to make the interface less clunky.

WorksInProgress:

• Client-side animation of screen-overlays (aka jamsoreal and black-tunnel-vision). I have test-cases working and WOW, feels very smooth just because it updates every 1/10th of a second rather than every 2 seconds. This area of code is very interwoven and messy though so I will have to do some serious tidying up and bug-hunting
• More sprite-accessories colourable underwear, more hair and maybe some tattoos if I can manage to make/find some sprites
• Say-code rework Language system to dictate who understands whom. Replaced the stars effect (where text is obscured by '*' when you don't understand somebody well) with a system that generates species-specific gibberish...e.g. corgi's going "yaap yap yaaaaap!" instead of "fuck you captain!"

[Carn]

3-July-2014

Nothing particularly interesting.
Been working on fixing problems in DEVBRANCH. Specifically, things not being garbage collected properly in USE_GC mode.

Also rewrote ninja code to remove a bunch of really fuck-awful code, so I can make it accommodate USE_GC mode.

Tested finished code for custom-colour HUDs. Basically it's a white HUD which you can choose your own colour for. So you could have a purple, green, blue, EYEBURNING YELLOW, or whatever colour HUD you want. Only problem was that I fucked up the icons so the contrast was awful. And it takes an hour or two to recolour them all...tedious as hell. Might try to steal Baystation's (if it's any good)

[Danuis Studnick]

WHAT WHAT

HUH HUH

WHAT WHAT

(I support these measures)

[Carn]

5-July-2014

Wrote a small system for datum-based outfits. Adding outfits to the code is retard-grade easy now.

Gonna add some more outfits to the game so admins can make events easily, like this:

/datum/outfit/spacesuit
name = "standard space gear"
desc = "Basic space-faring equipment. Includes oxygen jetpack, suit and mask"
items = list(
/obj/item/clothing/shoes/black = slot_shoes,
/obj/item/clothing/under/color/grey = slot_w_uniform,
/obj/item/clothing/suit/space = slot_wear_suit,
/obj/item/clothing/head/helmet/space = slot_head,
/obj/item/weapon/tank/jetpack/oxygen = slot_back,
/obj/item/clothing/mask/breath = slot_wear_mask
)


If you have any outfits you'd like to see in the game please contribute in the following format:

NAME
DESCRIPTION
item = where it is equipped (e.g. head, feet, pocket etc)
item2 = where it is equipped
...
...
...

Thanks.

[Name Changing Autist]

It'll probably be a pain, but it would it possible to have the standard load-out of each job on the outfit list?
Or at least Engineering (Both standard and rigsuit), Science, Medical and Security.

[NotFoos]

[Redacted - offtopic] ~Carn

Also if you're going to make animals unable to understand people, at least make ALL animals have one language. It'd be like a kids movie where animals secretly talk to each other but people never understand them/only the kids see or some shit. Then the corgis/monkeys take over the station etc...

[Snowfat]

then R&D would have to get some new stuff from Xenobiology to research a headpiece that translates animalese

[NotFoos]

Jul 5, 2014 12:00:07 GMT -5 Snowfat said:

then R&D would have to get some new stuff from Xenobiology to research a headpiece that translates animalese

You heard the man, please make this a thing Carn.

Also, making it so genetics can turn people into corgis/cats/parrots and shit would be pretty neat too. Just, if you arent a potato and do this you should really be banned. Just like if you force someone to be a slime/monkey.

Snow was it you, or someone else, who got an odysseus filled with slime syringes and turned EVERYONE into a slime? That was amazing. I think it was you maybe.

[Name Changing Autist]

Jul 5, 2014 11:54:00 GMT -5 NotFoos said:

Make one of the splashscreens "Necromorphous is a fag don't ever listen to him" and I will be the happiest asshole on the server.

oh wow rude, jus cus you got benned by me for metugaming

[Carn]

7-July-2014

Began work on a new engine:

sprites courtesy of "imblyings"

[NotFoos]

Jul 5, 2014 21:01:28 GMT -5 Name Changing Autist said:

Jul 5, 2014 11:54:00 GMT -5 NotFoos said:

Make one of the splashscreens "Necromorphous is a fag don't ever listen to him" and I will be the happiest asshole on the server.

oh wow rude, jus cus you got benned by me for metugaming

I dunno what you're talking about, this never happened. 

Also Carn that already looks 10x more badass than our engine right now and I don't even know what the fuck is going on there. Speaking of which, what the fuck IS going on there?

[luibei25]

Though, I too, have been out due to very real life involving scenarios, I can sprite things for you, Carn. It would honor me to work with you once more, even if it's something very small. This goes for anyone else who want to suggest Carn a type of clothing you'd like to see added to the game. I'll gladly take some of the workload off of Carn, and try to help out in the spriting area, since I have no knowledge of Byond's coding language.

[Snowfat]

If we're going to have so many Russians on the station we may as well make a track suit sprite

[derpthestewpidgoat]

A new engine sounds interesting. Hopefully it is destructive safe and a great murderous weapon help to the station of autism amazing people.