GearBlocks News

Just released a minor demo update with the help screen improvements and quick / auto save!

Release notes:-

• Improved help UI screen, now lists links to tutorial videos, and has a quick reference guide.
  
• Implemented basic quick save / load world functionality (using F5 / F9 keys respectively by default).
  
• Implemented basic auto save world functionality with a configurable time interval between saves (see “gameplay” options menu).
  
• Bug fixes.
  

Time for a quick update on what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks.



The first thing to mention, in case you missed "tutorial week" last week, I released a series of tutorial videos for GearBlocks beginners, so do check those out if you haven't already. Click here for the playlist.

[h3]Help screen[/h3]

I've been working on improving the help screen in game. There's now a section that lists all of those tutorial videos, and clicking on a link will open up the Steam overlay and play the video.



I also added a quick reference guide to the main screen UI:



The last section has a list of controls for the tools, but I'm planning on improving this by changing it to be more of a step-by-step "how to build" guide.

[h3]Auto save[/h3]

Currently there's no undo functionality in the game, and it'll be a while until I can get to this, so in the meantime I've implemented an auto save feature. At least this way there's less chance of people losing all their progress from an accidental deletion for example. In the gameplay options menu the time interval between saves can be configured, or auto save turned off altogether.

Right now there's only one auto save "slot", but I'd like to add multiple save slots (e.g. two or three) that it cycles through.

[h3]Quick save / load[/h3]

I've also implemented quick save and load. Pressing F5 saves the world (again, there's currently only one save slot). Holding F9 for half a second will load the last saved world (whether it be from an auto, quick, or regular save).

Hopefully all of these improvements will make life easier for both new and experienced players!

Hey everyone, starting today is GearBlocks tutorial week. Every day during the week I'll upload a new episode. This series is aimed at absolute beginners to get you up to speed and building your first creations in the game!

Keep checking back on this playlist throughout the week as I add more episodes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIqmsKQvX6E&list=PLvlbRFvbu4-1Go55acuJtibQiS8iyXU37

A new demo update is now live, with the new builder tool model, part attachment options, and more!

Release notes:-

• Replaced the old placeholder tool models with a single new shared model used by all tools.
  
• Implemented a display screen on the tool model to show the currently selected tool and its status.
  
• Improved the tool particle effects.
  
• Added an “advanced options” panel to the builder tool UI:-
  
  • Allows attachment types to be optionally disallowed during part attachment.
    
  • Has an option to disable the part interpenetration test during part attachment.
    
• Improved painter tool UI.
  
• Saved games now referred to as “saved worlds”.
  
• Added “invert direction” option to all controllable part behaviours.
  
• Gears are now paintable.
  
• Bug fixes.
  
• Upgraded to Unity 2019.4.18.
  

Hey everyone, here's a brief update on some of the things I've done over the past couple of weeks.

[h3]Attachment type filtering[/h3]

Sometimes when attaching a part, other unwanted attachments might be created between that part and other adjacent parts, which the player then has to go and delete afterwards. It would be more convenient if these attachments weren't created in the first place.

Here's an example where we're aligning a beam to an axle, but additional unwanted attachments are being created between the beams:



As an attempt at a solution to this, I've implemented a way to filter out attachment types during part alignment. There's now an "advanced options" panel in the builder tool UI, which allows each attachment type to enabled or disabled for part attachment.

Here the fixed attachment type has been disabled in the advanced options panel:



Any disabled attachment types won't be considered when determining if parts can align together, and any newly created attachments won't be initialised to a disabled type (and will fall back to the next available allowed type).

So in the example with the beam and axle, disabling the fixed attachment type will prevent attachments from being created to the adjacent beams, but will still allow a rotary bearing attachment to be created between the beam and axle.

Here a rotary bearing attachment is about to be created between the beam and axle, but no other attachments between the beams:



I've also modified the builder tool display screen to show which attachment types are currently allowed, as you can see in the images above.

[h3]Part interpenetration[/h3]

There was a bug where, by quickly dragging a selected part while clicking to attach it, it was sometimes possible to attach it such that it interpenetrated another part.

To solve this I now use the attachment's position and orientation to calculate each part's new local position and orientation when merging composites together.

However, I think there is value in allowing part interpenetration, as it opens up creative possibilities for advanced users! So, I've added an option to the builder tool UI advanced options panel to turn off the part interpenetration test.

I'll be releasing a demo update very soon with these changes, plus the new builder tool model, and more, so watch out for that!