SpaceBird

Dear Noveans, 
 
We’d like to take a moment to talk about the communication on the forums and in Discord. We appreciate the passion each of you bring to our community and don’t want to diminish it; however, we’ve seen an increase in negativity, specifically attacks, unconstructive complaints, and disrespect to fellow players and our team. This is not okay. 
 
We’ve always invited community members to speak their minds. We’d like to remind everyone that we require a certain level of decorum and respect. Participants in our community areas (forums, Discord, and our social media accounts) are expected to voice criticism and concern constructively and communicate with courtesy and respect.
 
This is a warning that we won’t tolerate attacks on staff, volunteers, or members of this community. If you can’t play nice, and with respect, then this isn’t the community for you. 
 
With love,
SpaceMom
 

No, you are not!
 

And despite all players being tall, furniture elements still looks like they where designed for giants.

The word you're looking for is 'Spangle' and that's how actual galvanized steel looks:
 

The effort to communicate more and involve the community in the development process is refreshing.  One thing that I think may help is if the snapshot used in the PTS was refreshed more frequently.  Myself and probably others want to test if the stuff they are currently working on will still work with the new changes.  Also despite what you may hear from the vocal minority, we don't need a wipe.  That would do far more harm than good. 

One man's fluff is another man's content.
 
There are some very much functional constructs which depend on their screen, such as the ship cost estimator or JayleBreak's Reactor/2D+ Voxel Planner.  If the latter were to break, and if the creator either could not make it work in the new API or did not have time to do so, it would be devastating to my main gameplay loop of voxel building.
 
I also rely heavily on creating SVGs using Inkscape (or any external editor with a pen tool) to use for sales display and events.  Often, I am making these after arriving at the event!  Having to wait on the image approval process would kill my ability to do that.
 
Could I still do these things without these tools?  Yes, but the work will be slower, more difficult and result in a lower quality.
 
If the issue is, as stated, "screen unit HTML content can be pretty big and uses a lot of bandwidth and frame time to render when updated every frame by a programming board or control unit." (emphasis mine) then this change is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

One man's fluff is another man's content.
 
There are some very much functional constructs which depend on their screen, such as the ship cost estimator or JayleBreak's Reactor/2D+ Voxel Planner.  If the latter were to break, and if the creator either could not make it work in the new API or did not have time to do so, it would be devastating to my main gameplay loop of voxel building.
 
I also rely heavily on creating SVGs using Inkscape (or any external editor with a pen tool) to use for sales display and events.  Often, I am making these after arriving at the event!  Having to wait on the image approval process would kill my ability to do that.
 
Could I still do these things without these tools?  Yes, but the work will be slower, more difficult and result in a lower quality.
 
If the issue is, as stated, "screen unit HTML content can be pretty big and uses a lot of bandwidth and frame time to render when updated every frame by a programming board or control unit." (emphasis mine) then this change is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I'm going to keep this short, since I haven't played in 3 months:
 
Removing HTML is overkill. The UI rendering solution you use in game already supports dynamically updating HTML without having to rewrite the entire content. See data binding in: https://coherent-labs.com/Documentation/cpp-gt/df/dfb/_h_t_m_l_data_binding.html
 
If you're worried about performance, this will be more efficient than your new Lua solution. You should make use of the technology you have already licensed and use instead of reinventing the wheel. More advanced UIs could be generated with the use of JS on top of this.

This is the first change I find I need to throw my voice out there with. 

This game already has a very limited community of artists and animators.  This game's look and feel DEPENDS on those artists.  The new system will only allow for basic shapes?  Get real.  We already have a 50kb limit which is outrageous for more complex SVG, but we deal with it.  Effectively banning HTML isn't about performance.  It's about censorship. 
 
This is one excuse I can't believe based on how long lights perform.  You want to increase performance?  Fix the lights.  You want to lose your game's aesthetic and appeal to artists?  Implement this change.

Artwork is a visual form.  Most artists aren't programmers so sending instructions with code to create works of art is absolutely unconscionable.  Killing off artists isn't going to affect your bottom line, I understand that, but the removal of freedoms in expression or being limited should outrage any reasonable person.

When creating artwork, you use familiar tools like Adobe Illustrator. That's how I created the Bacterium pets and then I used CSS to animate them and make them breathe. If I can't import vectors to display them on screen then I cannot work with my existing tools. You'll find that many other creators will share my feelings on this.

For those that havent read:
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/22565-changes-to-lua-screen-units/
 
My entire range of products in-game is based on HTML screens and CSS animations. It would not be feasible to rewrite them in any amount of time that would make it worthwhile. The new LUA based drawing features are extremely limited. For example, a large part of what makes my Bacterium product look realistic is the use of CSS animation on SVGs. Most crucially, the ability to use existing skillset (HTML/CSS) and familiar tools (SVG creation outside of the game e.g. Adobe Illustrator) are what make my products possible within the already tight limitations of DU.
 
I don't want to be dramatic, because I know its important to be constructive when giving feedback but if you remove support for HTML on screens, I'm out. Hundreds of hours of work will have been wasted and the key element that attracted me to this game will have been lost.
 
HTML/CSS is an existing technology that attracts creators becuase they can use existing skillsets. Removing it is too greater loss. If anyone else feels this way, please comment below.
 
EDIT
Can I just give an example of the sort of thing I am regularly doing on screens so you can understand how unachievable it will be using the new LUA commands:
 
My Bacterium product (https://du-creators.org/makers/NoxCorp/ship/NoxCorp Bacterium) uses animated SVGs inside <DIV> containers that are then animated to move around and transformed in 3 dimensions using CSS. This can all be achieved in around 30,000 characters of HTML/SVG markup and CSS. There are no amount of "useful drawing commands" that can offer this kind of flexibility.

Your question is only necessary if you want to be in the limit of the rules. 
 
For most of us its simple:
 
If you are being "hostile" to a player on a pvp-free zone, you are breaking the rules. 
 
Trasporting any player or construct without that player/owner permission, is being hostile. 
 
If you have a issue with some ship on your plot, you can parent it and move it outside of the plot. That is OK. But moving it to a PVP zone is 100% hostile. 
 
 
Also, its not easy to make a comprehensive set of rules specifying all cases..... 
Laws say "killing is a crime" but according to your request, they should say "killing with a knife, on a swimming pool is a crime". 
 
It is fairly simple to understand what is a bug and a exploit. In doubt, dont use it.... 
 
 
 

No one wants to play a game where you don't know where it's safe to leave your stuff, and where it's not.
 
That's not risk.  It's just bad design.
 
A player left their ship somewhere that they were told it would be completely safe, and another player exploited a bug, in a new system designed to stop people from maneuvering their ships into space, and moved the ship, without the owner's permission, which is not supposed to be possible, at all.
 
The thief knew that there is not supposed to be any way to move another players ship outside the safe zone without their permission.  
 
Should be a simple decision for NQ
 

The main issue for me is that this theft isn't clever and can be done with complete impunity. 
 
They used the permissions the org gave them -- it wasn't "stealing", it was looting. 
 
If theft is supposed to be an interesting part of the game, it should have a real design.
 
Better feedback for the org to know when it is happening, skills or technique involved beyond just exploiting RDMS, and the ability for the org to actually respond.
 
Otherwise, all it does is encourage a dictator model of organizations because no one can be trusted -- new players never being able to be a part of leadership because they could be a danger instead of an asset.  
 
The fact that there's no recourse makes this more unimpressive -- no reputation system, no bounty system, no crime system, no ability to do anything other than restrict RDMS. 
 
I'm fine with theft being a part of this game, so long as it is a real concept, not some half-assed NQ implementation where one party can operate with impunity. That's not intrigue, it's trolling.
 
Until there's real systems in place to make theft interesting, org property shouldn't be so easy to pilfer. Theft/intrigue is supposed to have risk -- yes more PvP would help, but that's not the only thing required for theft to work as a game concept. 

All this guy is.. is a thief
There's no story here, no purpose, no intrigue, no espionage.
 
It's actually a really sad cry for attention..

Is the recruit a friend ever going to be fixed, and why is it not possible to add time in retrospect to when it is fixed. at this point we cannot even create a recruiter code so all info is lost and friends and referred people cannot get the stuff they are intitled too.
 
Soon Tm?

This is so rad! 
 
 
 
I put together an X-class racer for it, now I just need time to get out for a track day!

Greetings Noveans! ?
 
Today I come to all of you with a very special feature! Please put your hands together for @Burble, one of Dual Universe's very own racing specialists.

As many of you are likely aware, the thrilling sport of ship racing has been steadily gaining popularity in DU. Players just like Burble have already created some incredible tracks, designed lightning fast racing ships and organized exciting events to entertain and delight their fellow players. What's not to love about that?
 
We sat down with Burble to gain some insight into what life as a DU racing fanatic is like! So grab a cup of something tasty and pull up a chair, because we want to share our findings with all of you now. ?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. When did you begin playing DU, and what were your first impressions? Have you always been a fan of this genre?
 
I started a few months ago before Christmas, I think. I had been following the game for years, but had not had the computer spec or the time to start playing. I've always liked sandbox games, voxel games, flying games and live communities, so DU was a logical step that was always going to happen at some point. My first impressions? I was overwhelmed and a little lost for three days on [the Sanctuary Moon of Alioth]. But after I was advised to make my way to Alioth, the game began and it's been superb ever since.

2. At what point did you decide to begin building a race track on Alioth?
 
It must have been around week two of playing. The voxel mechanics in DU are a cut above most other builder games I have played. I've always had a go at building races in other titles, but I knew for sure that the persistent world and [single-server universe], coupled with the interesting physics and excellent building mechanics would make DU the game where a really fun track could actually exist. We can design our own race spaceships and then explode them! How cool is that?

3. Do you belong to an Organization and, if so, how do your org mates feel about the track you created? Did they pitch in? (Feel free to shout out anyone and everyone you'd like!)

I am in a solo org [so that I can possess all] of the cores I need to build something on a large scale. The whole build was a solo effort until last week, when the course was finished and some new people came along and started taking an interest in building shops and housing their racers on the track and surrounding area. The last few days have been really fun, and the beautiful stuff people are now building on the track makes me really happy and grateful.
However, there were some really good people along the way who helped out with a little resources here, or a kind quanta donation there:
 
Rayder13 & Umibozu both found me early when the track was only a concept and helped me on my way with their generous spirits. Rogue455 gave me the location of an aluminium meganode for free to help sustain the millions of litres the track was consuming. Dangersnoot has been a lovely friend and kept me company on discord when I lost the will to live... deep underground chasing scanner pings. The two of us once mined a whole silicon meganode and shamelessly sold it all to buy more aluminium. Lunaprey gave me a bunch of XL screens and keeps me on my toes. Jokr shipped me 200,000L of crater soil from Madis so I could build the Madis Hairpin. (There is actually nearly half a million litres of dirt from other planets than Alioth in the track's construction, but that is hard to tell at full speed.)
More recently, other DU racing enthusiasts have reached out to me and have been very generous in donating to the track in the last few days. There is a thriving microcosm of racers in the game. I feel that racing can be a permanent part of the experience. There are a whole lot of really great people in the game and I cannot mention everyone. Just look at the support channel and everyday there are experienced players offering help and advice.

4. What's your favourite part about hosting races in DU? What about the process sparks the most enjoyment for you?

The crashing and exploding. The inevitable laughter and people flying around to rescue each other from the track, usually deep under water. The way the people who get involved interact with each other and all share the same idea of fun and creativity. Meeting people you would never meet in real life purely through a rendered location that does not even exist beyond our childlike imaginations.

5. What do you think the future of racing in DU could look like? Do you plan to host any major, recurring events?

The future in a persistent environment can only get better and better. More people are building tracks, I was not the first. There are plenty of other builders that have been here longer than me. There are LUA guys working hard to make lap time devices. There are smart traders taking care of the finances and supporting the efforts of the teams. The actual racing? The tracks all over the universe are all there and being built for the players to enjoy. Monthly events or leagues with cash prizes. Head to Head battles for quanta or to risk losing your ship blueprints to the winner. Gambling syndicates. Time trials. Laughter and drama. Exploding and fireballs.

6. What would you consider to be your top 3 sources of inspiration when it comes to crafting the perfect race?
 
The old Nintendo game F-Zero and any film or games where deadbeat rebels spend their lives speeding through canyons and exploding in fireballs. I jump out of aeroplanes for a living and teach people how to fly their bodies at 300kmh so anything fast paced and reaction based keeps my mind empty and happy. The voices tell me to do it.
 
7. Besides hosting races, what's your favorite thing about DU? How do you spend your time in-game?
 
I am not a very skilled block mover - I hardly know any voxelmancy stuff. But still, it is the building and ship design and the interactions with friends. Sometimes Dangersnoot and I spend a whole session just visiting all the incredible VR locations people have shared. What makes DU great is that what you build will be seen by others. It's not an ego thing. So many other voxel games you spend hours building something that you love only to realise you are alone, in a dead server, and there is no one to share it with. Even paradise is boring if there is no one to share it with.

8. If you had to offer one piece of advice to your fellow DU players, what would it be?

Get the hell off of Sanctuary. Immediately. Leave all your stuff there. Get to Alioth as soon as you can.

9. If you could have ANY feature in the game (to support your racing ambitions or not), what would it be?
 
A little more smoothing in close proximity player to player desync and player position lag. The smoother we can make the game feel while flying around at 500kmh just above the water and sand, the better the racing experience will be for everyone. I don't know anything about code but if that is a possibility then I think we all would like to have it please!

10. And lastly, the big question on everyone’s mind is: what are the coordinates to your track!? We're dying to visit!
 
In the hot sandy paradise around the equator on Alioth at a Lake we call "Melanuma Beach". Please, anyone come by and explode yourself into whatever you feel is best at the time!

::pos{0,2,0.1646,108.9371,5.1948}

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We sincerely hope you enjoyed our interview with Burble! Thank you for reading! 

If you know of a player or Organization that's doing something you think we should feature, drop us a line! To do so, you can:

1) Send a DM to any of our Community Managers here on the forums
2) Send an email to community@novaquark.com
3) Post your recommendation right here in the comments

Please be sure to supply us with the following details:

1) The name of the player or Organization you'd like us to feature
2) A point of contact so we can conduct an interview
3) A few sentences to let us know why you think this player/Org deserves their 15 minutes of DU fame ✨
 
 

For me it is the BIGGEST issue with the game, internal comms.  I read over and over again that all there is to do is mine in this game.  When actually that is totally not true.  The problem is that you need to search for all the other options.  You can be a prospector (but you need to use another discord), or ship sales (but again, really need another discord), you can have your own shops (but noone know they are there), you can offer refueling / repair services (again though, noone can contact you about it in game - discord again).  I have a list of 15 different Career paths you can currently take in DU, only 3 of them are really viable without having to work outside the game.

I really think that once NQ allows us to share / advertising what is going in actually IN the game, then we might start to see the civilisation start to emerge, not the current sandbox of hundreds of seperate orgs that barely interact with each other.

I there, i am actually working on a Dual universe LUA sandbox.  I dont think you will find something else like it.   But it i have to finish it.  Some importants features are still missing.
 
Its a work on progress but very functional actually.
 
You use any editor you want (i use notebad++) and you only have to press RUN to reload. And you will be able to export it to json also.
 
All elements are fully functional
 
Timers work
 
Fully functionnal databases wich can be administrated using a small internal SQL database (H2).
 
Work real time.
 
System.Output window with some debuging functions
 
Screens are fully compatible with svg. And the result is very close to  DU (still few glitchs ?)
 
You can fully setup internal databases (player/constructs) and customize your environment with a Preload file using LUA (easy to do, anyway there some samples).
 
It come with a bunch of tutorial scripts to learn some of the basic of dual universe (hello world, databanks, screens, emitters, buttons)
 
The mouse events are fully functionnal (You can click on the screen and get mouse positions)
 
Some majors functions are still missing (screen widgets and few elements), actually, the navigator return dummy values,  but its a work on progress. 
 
And...  most of all... It will be open source!
 
Have a nice day
 
 

Sorry, I messed up the dispenser. Everything is working now.

Continuing on beyond the original 2D Voxel Planner, I'm releasing today a new in-game building tool: Reactor/2D+ Voxel Planner. It extends the original 2D Voxel Planner's limited layer support with a Layer definition screen while adding a tool to design the 3 dimensional shape of a single voxel.
To support these features, a new XS Dynamic core construct has been built with a unique Voxel stack (derived from the NRD Voxel Cube which also inspired some aspects of the interface). The construct also has new Reactor frame
The blueprints (at nominal cost) for the construct and the original 2D Voxel planner are available at the Objective Driveyards headquarters at the open space location which will hold their future sales office. There is plenty of parking! In game location: ::pos{0,2,23.2925,73.1635,9.1008}
Also available is a limited number of blueprint+elements+voxels from a dispensor. These will cost 100 000 quanta and are limited to 1 per player.
More information can be found on this short  Video tour.