World Building Update is Live!
Version 0.150, aka the World Building Update, contains some of the most significant new features to the game since launch. I'll go over the biggest changes after this quick video, which covers the basics of the editors and what they do.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
I'll be continuing to add more tutorials to this series, with the next 3 videos going in-depth on the structure editor, layout + ropes modes in the island editor, and ground mode in the island editor. A vehicle building tutorial series will be made *after* the next major update (0.200), as enough stuff will change that making a tutorial now would have some things negated within a month or two. Anyway, let's get on with what's new in 0.150:
STRUCTURES: WEDGES AND PAINTING
As mentioned previously, structures are no longer limited to boxes and 90 degree angles. The wedge block is a variation of the decal, and that teams with new rotational controls and extrude shortcuts to allow for way more variation in structure shapes. Block painting also brings more visual variety to structures, with up to 10 different color choices per structure. I'll be building a few new structures soon to show off the new wedges and rotational controls in particular, and will include some new painted blocks as well.
ISLANDS: MORE GROUND AND MODE POSSIBILITIES
Islands have so far all used the custom mesh-building tools to generate their ground meshes. These tools have worked well to create visually interesting but still consistently-styled shapes, but they are limiting in some important ways. Now island builders can use some new built-in meshes, or import completely custom meshes in the FBX format. All meshes need to use one of the four built-in ground materials (for now), but they support rock and grass generation for all the algorithms except "Upper". That basically means custom meshes are easy to make look good and will fit in well with the loop-based meshes that exist already.
In addition, islands now have palettes that are used to paint structures. These are saved per island so it's easier to keep visual consistency and reduce duplicate structures. The other big addition to the island editor is the ability to create islands with objectives. Each mode can be enabled separately, so you only have to create objectives for the modes you want.
STEAM WORKSHOP SUPPORT FOR ISLANDS AND STRUCTURES
Islands and structures now have workshop support! You don't need to use the editors to see the islands, as they are accessible in multiple places throughout the game. It will take a bit longer to see islands popping up in the workshop, but over the long-term we should see a lot more variety in the game content.
MORE STUFF: DOUBLE THE WHEEL STRENGTH!
Maximum part strength has been capped at 3 since the game launched, with Overdrives kinda getting that maximum to 6. Well, now that strength cap is no longer 3, as each part type can set it's own max strength. Most moving parts have seen their cap increased, with many doubled to 6. This means vehicles can travel a lot faster without overdrives, particularly when combined with the just-reduced air friction (which was way too extreme before). There are also some other subtle changes that will make vehicle building better, such as the ability to disable Mini Thruster effects, and holding SHIFT to reverse-cycle strength values with the shortcut key, or holding it to fine-tune slider values in advanced mode.
THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS
I'll be focused on some more quality of life changes, and fixing anything that comes up, for the next couple weeks of Instruments work. The one feature I'm sure I want to get in (aside from a few new structures) is updating Steam Workshop structures/islands. I think that's the last Steam Workshop task for a while. I'll be recording more tutorial videos for the editors as well. I still need to refine my process, but having a more consistent way to generate voice overs is going to make creating the videos a lot less painful.
Long-term, I'll be continuing to aim for a big vehicle building update within a month or two. Multi-select, copy-paste, and logic parts are the big ticket items, with more mini-parts also coming (so it's easier to build smaller/detailed vehicles). Though the roadmap to 1.0 feels solid now, I'm not sure what comes after that, and won't decide on the 3rd big update until the vehicle building update is complete.