Dev Diary #70
Hey there fellow ylanders,
We're almost there with the update (actually we've managed to sneak in some more goodies as you will see quite soon in the changelog) - in the meantime we can discuss another very important feature of the upcoming update 0.12 “Smooth Sailing” - the camera.
We have implemented a brand new system (yes, we’ve implemented a completely new system, all the original code was removed), and as a result, a lot of issues have been fixed and many features now work much better - from the overall "feeling", to solving various situations where the camera behaved in a less than ideal way.
There are tons of small improvements, which you may not notice right away, but we're sure that after playing for a bit you'll realize that you don't have to "fight" the camera anymore. Moving your character around now feels much more smooth due to better camera dynamics, and you should no longer experience camera stuttering while quickly moving (usually falling) the avatar. Also, the camera now doesn’t clip through terrain and objects.
We have also done improvements to vehicle cameras, so controlling ships and (especially) cars now feels better. We have some plans to improve the ship camera even further, but it will have to wait at least till 0.13.
Standing in the corner while looking into the room in 0.11 (left) and 0.12 (right)
One of the biggest problems with the 3rd person camera is moving around in tight spaces, where your character can obstruct what you see, especially when standing close to walls with your back. You'll see that this has been improved substantially.
There are obviously many things where the first person camera works better, and we’ve promised you a special mode that would help you in situations where you used to rely on the said first person camera (that we removed temporarily). Well, you will find this mode present in the update 0.12. We call it "Interaction Camera Mode". You can turn it on and off at any point by pressing the Camera mode change (default C).
This mode will stay active as long as you don’t move around (turning around is obviously fine) or start attacking. You will see everything from the first person perspective and have a cursor visible in the middle of the screen, which lets you easily interact with even tiny objects in the scene. You can also activate this mode even during building or while driving a car or sailing a ship, which is very handy.
While we understand that this can’t fully replace the first person camera mode, our tests have shown this mode to be very useful - and we believe you will see it the same way. :)
And now for your questions:
Any new clothing items coming?
Not before 1.0. A lot of new clothing will be released in post 1.0 along with certain updates.
Being able to scale (at least non-animated objects) is among one of the most wanted features. We are already discussing all possible options.
That is a very good point, we can surely do that. Or, if you have any idea about what you'd like to see in the game, just let us know right away (be aware, though, that we have to respect existing IPs :) )
That’s it for now. Have a great weekend, ylanders, and stay classy!
We're almost there with the update (actually we've managed to sneak in some more goodies as you will see quite soon in the changelog) - in the meantime we can discuss another very important feature of the upcoming update 0.12 “Smooth Sailing” - the camera.
We have implemented a brand new system (yes, we’ve implemented a completely new system, all the original code was removed), and as a result, a lot of issues have been fixed and many features now work much better - from the overall "feeling", to solving various situations where the camera behaved in a less than ideal way.
There are tons of small improvements, which you may not notice right away, but we're sure that after playing for a bit you'll realize that you don't have to "fight" the camera anymore. Moving your character around now feels much more smooth due to better camera dynamics, and you should no longer experience camera stuttering while quickly moving (usually falling) the avatar. Also, the camera now doesn’t clip through terrain and objects.
We have also done improvements to vehicle cameras, so controlling ships and (especially) cars now feels better. We have some plans to improve the ship camera even further, but it will have to wait at least till 0.13.
Standing in the corner while looking into the room in 0.11 (left) and 0.12 (right)One of the biggest problems with the 3rd person camera is moving around in tight spaces, where your character can obstruct what you see, especially when standing close to walls with your back. You'll see that this has been improved substantially.
There are obviously many things where the first person camera works better, and we’ve promised you a special mode that would help you in situations where you used to rely on the said first person camera (that we removed temporarily). Well, you will find this mode present in the update 0.12. We call it "Interaction Camera Mode". You can turn it on and off at any point by pressing the Camera mode change (default C).
This mode will stay active as long as you don’t move around (turning around is obviously fine) or start attacking. You will see everything from the first person perspective and have a cursor visible in the middle of the screen, which lets you easily interact with even tiny objects in the scene. You can also activate this mode even during building or while driving a car or sailing a ship, which is very handy.
While we understand that this can’t fully replace the first person camera mode, our tests have shown this mode to be very useful - and we believe you will see it the same way. :)
And now for your questions:
Any new clothing items coming?
Not before 1.0. A lot of new clothing will be released in post 1.0 along with certain updates.
How about the scale widget in the editor? Are you considering the ability to scale different objects?
Being able to scale (at least non-animated objects) is among one of the most wanted features. We are already discussing all possible options.
I would like to suggest if we could have a voting contest on future costumes?
That is a very good point, we can surely do that. Or, if you have any idea about what you'd like to see in the game, just let us know right away (be aware, though, that we have to respect existing IPs :) )
That’s it for now. Have a great weekend, ylanders, and stay classy!