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NQ-Wanderer

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  1. Our building contest has started! All Noveans are invited to The Exchange, in front of the Red Hall. Dispensers are set with elements and honeycomb for the duration of the contest. It ends on Thursday 22nd of September at 14:00 UTC. Dispensers exact location: ::pos{0,2,24.3793,99.3716,124.9536} Be sure to submit your constructions before that deadline, through this google form. As a reminder, if your build meets our specifications, it could be included in a future iteration of our available starting outposts and speeders for new players.* * Please keep in mind that if your constructs are selected for the contest, they will not be protected by Digital Rights Management. You however won’t need to turn DRM off when creating your construct for the contest. If you have any question, let us know in this discussion thread!
  2. Our building contest starts tomorrow, Tuesday 6th of September at 14:00 UTC! All Noveans are invited to bring their creativity and building skills to the forefront to celebrate the end of beta. If your build meets our specifications, it could be included in a future iteration of our available starting outposts and speeders for new players.* Dispensers with elements and honeycomb will be available at the very center of the Exchange for the duration of the contest. It ends on Thursday 22nd of September at 14:00 UTC. Be sure to submit your constructions before that deadline, through a google form which we’ll share tomorrow! You can check the contest’s requirements here. * Please keep in mind that if your constructs are selected for the contest, they will not be protected by Digital Rights Management. You however won’t need to turn DRM off when creating your construct for the contest.
  3. Dear Noveans, if you want to try the Dual Universe launch build before everyone else, now is the time 👇 The PTS is now open with PTS 1.0 Release Candidate 1 and the client is available for download, it will remain open until 09:00 UTC on Monday, September 5th. We invite you to take a look at the planet revamp, new blueprint features, pioneer packs and more! The full list of changes can be found on the Launcher, and on the forums at: https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/25186-pts-10-release-candidate-1-change-log/ The PTS launcher can be found here: https://www.dualuniverse.game/account/pts Feedback thread: Bug report thread:
  4. What will you do with your DACs and other digital Kickstarter rewards, Noveans?
  5. Hello, Noveans! If you’ve supported Dual Universe during our Crowdfunding roots, we want to give you clarity on the delivery of your in-game rewards. You will receive the following in-game rewards at the launch of Dual Universe on September 27th: All of your DAC balance Titles In-Game Sanctuary Territory Unit The Arkship Cryogenic Tube A Skin for the Resurrection Node Furniture Sets Fireworks We will also include your name in the game’s credits as a Crowdfunding backer. Should you wish to opt-out of this reward, please contact us at privacy@novaquark.com as soon as possible.* *Important information about names: Your real name will appear in the credits if your real first name and name have been provided with a space between. If no real name has been provided and a shipping name has been, then the shipping name will appear in the credits. If no shipping name has been provided either, your display name will appear in the credits. The following in-game rewards will be delivered in updates AFTER the game’s launch: The Alpha Team, Arkship Passenger, and Earth Legacy Outfits. In-Game Pets Emotes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We’re also making progress on the delivery of your physical Kickstarter rewards. We’ll update you with more information on that soon! Dual Universe exists today thanks to our backers, including all of you who supported us in our Crowdfunding roots. With your help, we are launching in a month. We’re thrilled with the support you’ve shown us by wishlisting the game on Steam, and the energy you’ve built around the game, with also welcoming new Noveans into our community. If you’ve not yet visited our Steam page, here it is! By wishlisting us there, you’ll help Dual Universe gain visibility and bring us to new gamers across the globe. Let us know your thoughts on the Kickstarter rewards in this thread. Thank you for your support, Noveans!
  6. What are YOU going to do during the last weeks of beta? Let us know below!
  7. Noveans, With Dual Universe about to launch, we would like to celebrate the end of beta with all of you! Whether you are interested in building, fighting, or just having fun, read on for details of two upcoming NQ in-game events. BUILD YOUR LEGACY Calling all builders! We’re organizing a building contest. From Tuesday 6th of September at 14:00 UTC to Thursday 22nd of September at 14:00 UTC, all Noveans are invited to bring their creativity and building skills to the forefront! Dispensers with elements and honeycomb will be available at a site near the Exchange. The goal of the contest is simple: if your build meets our specifications, the best speeders and outposts could be featured in a future iteration of the FTUE! To be selected, constructs must be either a Speeder or an Outpost. Construct Specifications: Speeder Requirements: constructs must feature ALL of the elements below XS Core Unit 1x Hovercraft seat controller 3x Basic Atmo Engines XS (2 pointing backward, 1 pointing forward) 1-2x Basic Hover Engine S 1-2x Stabilizers (placed vertically) 1x Atmospheric Fuel Tank XS 1-3x Headlights 1-8x light sources (including Headlights) Adjustors XS only Atmospheric Airbrakes S only Tier 1 Honeycomb materials only (+ luminescent) Players are encouraged to add details through the use of elements, but should not get above the count of 60 elements. Must be able to be compacted Outpost Requirements: constructs must feature ALL of the elements below Small core unit 1x mining unit small 2-3x elevators Elevator screen entrance door 1x VR station 1x Container S +2x container XS + 1x container hub 1x resurrection pod Personal objective screen 1x Parcel Container xs Logic Elements Basic xs/s ship parts bundle Floor above the ground (raised foundation, stilts) 400-700 m3 tier 1 (max 10 m3 of luminescent) tier 2 material accents tolerated. 150-300x total element count Total commercial value can’t exceed 1,200,000 h All required elements will be available in the dispensers near the Exchange, for free, along with honeycomb. To be eligible for potential adding to the FTUE, it is important that your construct remains in the scope and context of our starter constructs. Such as only tier one materials and things that you would normally find in a starter construct like a starter speeder or a starter outpost. We’ll have information soon with more details on the submitting process for your constructs! AMMO MADNESS Come and join the battle! NQ is organizing a large PvP event to celebrate the end of beta. We will provide unlimited ammunition through dispensers for all able Noveans to pew pew! These dispensers will only be available from Friday 16th of September at 14:00 UTC to Monday 19th of September at 14:00 UTC. The exact location of the dispensers will be released soon. We invite everyone to join the fun. If you’re looking for the fight of your life, don’t miss this call! -------------------------------------------- If you have any questions about these events, please reach out to NQ-Nyota on Discord or the forum discussion thread. Stay tuned for other NQ surprises in the last month before launch. Our community is also all abuzz with events to mark the end of beta, so you can look out for more communications from us on these player-events! Whether you want to brighten Helios with new constructs, or just set everything ablaze in an epic battle, we’re eager to see it all!
  8. How will YOU prepare for the reset, Noveans? Let us know below 👇
  9. Hello, Noveans! With the launch of Dual Universe a month away, we want to talk about how to prepare for the upcoming server reset. We’ve outlined the parts of your gameplay that you’ll keep post-reset in our announcement video and in the letter from our Creative Director. Today, we want to expand on that and discuss how best to prepare for the reset and how to get the most out of it. PREPARE YOUR CORE BLUEPRINTS Make a Core Blueprint of every construct you want to keep and make sure that you store it in your nanopack or in a container on a construct that you own, though we advise that you keep them in your nanopack as it’s the safest place to store them. If you have Core Blueprints in the care of others or in other locations around Helios, don’t forget to gather them, should you want to keep them. Being the original owner of a Core Blueprint has no impact on Core Blueprints outside of your possession. You will keep only those Core Blueprints in your nanopack and owned containers. The same applies to organization-owned Core Blueprints. If you’re a superlegate of an organization, make sure that you store your Core Blueprints in your nanopack or that they’re stored in a container on a construct owned by your organization, though again, we advise that you keep them in your nanopack. PREPARE YOUR ORGANIZATIONS Make sure that each organization you want to keep has a player as its superlegate. Any organization without a player as its superlegate will be lost at the reset. Make a list of members you would like to reinvite after the reset. Though any organization with a player as its superlegate will remain after the reset with its Core Blueprints, Name, Logo, and Manifesto intact, membership will be reset. You can use the in-game contacts system (which will remain after the reset) to keep track of your members or simply make a list outside of the game. DON’T WASTE TIME PREPARING YOUR MINING UNITS We will reset the ore distribution on each body in Helios. To find good spots for your mining units, you’ll need to re-build your Territory Scanners and hunt the tiles down. None of your pre-reset knowledge of hotspots will be valid post-reset. PIONEER PACKS AND THE TALENT ACCELERATOR The Pioneer Packs' items will be delivered in the first month after launch. If you’d like your collectibles, you’ll need an active subscription, and you’ll need to log into the game during its first month after release to receive them. The talent point and quanta awards will be given on the final day of each month for the first six months of release. Again, you’ll need an active subscription to receive them. Finally, if you've subscribed to the game, ensure that you have at least six months of talent training queued up. The talent point accelerator event, which is open to all players, will boost your talent point acquisition in the first six months of launch by: 100% for the first month 50% for months two, three, and four 25% for months five and six The launch of Dual Universe will likely be the last time in the game's life where the economy will be an even playing field. Though beta players and backers will gain some advantage by the end of the six-month launch period, the start of the launch will see every player on the same starting line. There’s never been a better time to join! We’re excited to see you in Helios on the 27th of September. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to share your feedback on reset preparation here.
  10. Dear Noveans, We have a brief update on the upcoming changes to the blueprint deployment tool. We had hoped to implement the grid-snapping feature at launch or in the first update after launch, but we’ve encountered a delay. We recognize that this is an essential tool for players to rebuild their multi-core constructs, and we’re working hard to implement it. You can expect it in one of the first updates after launch. The voxel swapping and element omission features are still arriving with the launch. Thank you for bearing with us. Rest assured that this is one of our top priorities.
  11. Are you ready for Dual Universe launch and its coming on Steam, dear Noveans? Let us know your thoughts below 👇
  12. Dear Noveans, We’re going to launch Dual Universe! If you missed our launch announcement live stream, you can watch the replay here, and you can also read on for all the details below. Dual Universe has spent eight years in development, with the past two of those in beta. Our team has delivered industry-leading voxel technology, enabling players to build amazing worlds in a single-shard MMO like no other. We’ve advanced by leaps and bounds, adding systems like asteroid and territory mining, missions, new PvP mechanics, and more reasons to fight, as well as creation systems like the Vertex Precision Tool, new Lua API, and the Exchange for our creators to exhibit their works. In short, we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and are excited for what is yet to come. Thank you for walking this road with us so far, and it is with great pleasure that we can finally release the details of the launch with you here today: Dual Universe is launching on September 27, 2022. To enable the launch, we will close all servers on September 22, 2022, and keep them closed until the launch. All active subscriptions (excluding beta keys and full beta access) will receive 6 days of subscription at launch to compensate for this downtime. Here’s a message from Novaquark’s CEO, Nouredine Abboud, on the launch: STEAM We’re launching Dual Universe on Steam! It’s an exciting time for us at NQ as we bring our game to as many players who may enjoy it as possible and give those who prefer it the option to purchase the game on Steam. Our Steam page is already live! You can support us by wishlisting Dual Universe on steam and recommending it to your friends, even if you already have the game! The game will also continue to be available to buy on our website, as well as from our official reseller. And of course, you can still play it on almost any computer via the NVIDIA cloud-based platform, Geforce NOW. FREE TRIAL We will implement a free trial of Dual Universe with the game’s launch, which will be available exclusively on Steam. We’ll have more details on this in future communications, but for those who want to try the game's mechanics without committing to a subscription, we’ve got you covered! We will be opening a separate server for the free trial to allow anyone the chance to try the game for free without impacting the persistent server. This separate server will be regularly reset. The game has come a long way during these two years of beta. We want to give every player, including those of you who stopped playing before the game’s new systems and gameplay loops were introduced, a chance to try them. If you were subscribed to the game at any point during the beta, and your subscription has lapsed, we’re adding two weeks of game time on your account from the 27th of September. These two weeks will give you full access to the main universe. Come see what the game has to offer at launch; it’s on us! A NEW HELIOS The launch will come with some welcome additions to the game. A major one is that we’re upgrading planets. The launch is a great chance for us to bring the game's worlds to life more and to breathe more identity into them. As NQ-Sirg has described before in Ask Aphelia, we had built the Helios system for the launch of Beta and didn’t have as much time as we would have liked to make fleshed-out, living worlds. If you want a sneak peek at some of these changes, you can see them in the replay of our launch announcement live stream. This upgrade means you will see new biomes that feel more vibrant and alive. Players will initially have access to: Alioth + Sanctuary + Haven (+ Moon 1 + Moon 4) Jago Teoma Madis (+ Moons 1, 2, and 3) Thades (+ Moons 1 and 2) We’ll add more improved worlds back into the game in several phases. Please note that the release order below is still subject to change. We are also adding more planetary body types into the game! The asteroid belts of Thades will be replaced with new, bigger asteroids which can now be claimed by players. We hope to introduce more claimable rocks around Helios after the launch. BLUEPRINTS Whether you’ve got a small holding or a sprawling, multi-core space station, rebuilding after the reset will be easier with better blueprint deployment tools. As a reminder, you will keep your core blueprints after the reset, so we wanted to make your life easier when deploying them at launch. We have already added pre-visualization to blueprints with the ability to finely move their placement using keyboard controls. We’re also adding three new features at launch and in the first patch after the launch: SNAPPING - When deploying a blueprint, you can snap to the grid of another, already placed core, like when placing a Space Core Unit. Along with pre-visualization and keyboard controls, this will allow you to perfectly align cores with one another while deploying blueprints. HONEYCOMB SWAPS - You can now change any honeycomb type inside of a blueprint with any other of your choosing. ELEMENT OMISSION - You can now opt to deploy blueprints with elements missing should you lack them or to simply choose different elements to omit from deployment by choice. COSMETICS Another addition to the launch is better cosmetics. We’re adding the much-requested purple plastic and colored luminescent honeycomb. Our newly announced Pioneer Packs will reward beta players and backers with collectible items only available to them as a thank you for helping to bring the game to life. We’re also building on the NOVEAN OVERVIEW to help players better manage their customizations and skins, with much more cosmetic and quality of life improvements to come! KICKSTARTER REWARDS In-game Kickstarter rewards will start being rolled out at launch, and we will share details about them in a dedicated communication. It will include topics such as how to update your physical-reward delivery address and how to claim your in-game rewards. However, there is one piece of news that we want to share with you here. It’s an exciting time for any game developer when the project you have devoted years of your life to comes to fruition. We can already confirm that our Crowdfunding backers will be able to finally see their names in the credits at launch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Launching Dual Universe is the start of a new chapter in the game’s story, a story that we as developers and you, our community, are writing together. We still have much to do, and we’re more excited now than ever to deliver a game that can live up to Dual Universe’s incredible potential. If you have questions about the launch, please send them to us here so that we can answer them in a dedicated episode of Ask Aphelia. You can also share your thoughts and feedback with us in this dedicated forum thread. Thanks again to our players for an incredible journey so far. We can't wait to continue it with you.
  13. "Hello, Noveans! This is Cyrille Fontaine (NQ-Kyrios), and today I’m joined by NQ-Entropy to discuss an important change coming soon to Dual Universe. Schematics have been one of the most controversial changes we’ve made to the game and a significant challenge for us to fix. While the purpose behind the system remains as needed as ever, the way we implemented schematics has caused great discontent within our community. In today’s letter, we’re excited to discuss the changes we’re making to the schematic system, based on your feedback, to improve it. Over to NQ-Entropy: When we released schematics in 0.23, it was to address a problem that had the potential to adversely affect Dual Universe as an MMO. Players were able to be fully self-sufficient with ‘build-it-all’ factories, reducing interaction between players in the game’s economy. We acted too quickly in implementing the current system. The limits we placed were too harsh, too binary, and too expensive. You needed too many schematics to run an industry chain and it was painful to manage them all. We saw the flaws in the system and listened to our community’s feedback. Schematics achieved our goal of creating specializations in what players were able to craft and limiting private, ‘build-it-all’ industries, but they also paralyzed industry gameplay for many players that couldn’t afford schematics. Our first attempt to fix the system was to reduce the price of schematics, but this wasn’t enough. It has taken us a long time to return to the schematics system and create a solution. This delay has meant that schematics have continued to impact players. However, we are now ready to introduce our solution to the schematic issue. OUR APPROACH We’ve decided to go back to the drawing board and remake schematics in a more accessible and fulfilling way. Remaking features in Dual Universe is never easy. Our time is limited, and our decisions on how to spend it directly impact the state and quality of the game. Remaking a feature means investing time into something that may not improve the game if we misfire. It also means risking making something worse, requiring even more time to fix later. The simpler solution would have been to just remove schematics from the game, but despite our missteps on how we had implemented them, schematics did meet the role they were designed for. Removing them would just bring back the original problem that we were trying to solve in the first place. We hope that this new system will be worth the wait. NEW SCHEMATICS The new schematic system is split into two major parts: copying and consuming. The brunt of the change is on the copying side, which is a brand-new system. We wanted to make schematics more accessible and easier to use while retaining a portion of their limiting effect. We have made them more scalable across the board and made the system easier to balance and adjust from our end. COPYING Players will have access to a new interface in which they’ll be able to copy batches of schematic copies from Aphelia’s Master Copies. Players will have access to several copying slots that can run simultaneously and will each be able to create a batch of schematic copies. Copying schematic batches will cost time and a small amount of quanta. For example, a batch for smaller tier-one elements or tier-one honeycomb may only cost a couple of thousand quanta to copy, while the most expensive and larger schematics may cost a couple of million. Different types of batches will also give a different number of schematic copies per batch. For example, copying a schematic batch for a large high-tier element may only give you two or three individual copies, but copying a tier-one honeycomb schematic may give you a batch of 25 or more. CONSUMING Schematic copies will be consumed by the industry unit when an item is made. You will input schematic copies into the schematic banks in the same way as before. Apart from some interface changes to accommodate the new system, the industry unit’s function remains the same. However, there are a few important points to note: Not everything will require a schematic Parts will no longer require schematics at all. This could be subject to change, but we’re experimenting with it in the first release. Additionally, decorative elements, including doors, will not need schematics, though some exceptions may apply. You won’t need a schematic for every individual item We have many items in Dual Universe. There are types of elements, with different tiers and variations, and all of our honeycomb, scrap, and materials. We felt it was too frustrating and demanding to need a schematic for each item. We want more flexibility and ease for our players. We’re creating schematic copies for each category of items based on factors such as their tier and size, rather than each item in particular. For example, you could have a schematic copy that makes large tier-three elements and use it to create all types of corresponding items such as large tier-three weapons, engines, industry units, etc. Similarly, for example, you would only need one schematic for all tier-one pure honeycombs and another for all tier-one product honeycombs. Finally, you’ll be able to list your schematic copies for sale on the market, enabling you to manage your stocks by buying and selling schematic copies. CONCLUSION To summarize, our goals for the new system are: For personal and smaller industries, players can make schematic copies for a relatively minor cost and run a small number of industry units. This brings back small, ‘backyard’ industries of convenience. Note that you can still have a lot of machines, but the number of schematic copies you can copy by yourself will limit the number of machines that can run simultaneously. For larger scales, it will require player cooperation, making larger industrialists purchase schematics from the markets or rely on friends and organizations to generate schematic copies for their factories. Schematic copies are more flexible and easier to handle. You don’t need a schematic for every item. You can use the same schematic to make one of many different items. This limits the total number of schematics, making managing them simpler. Copying time, batch sizes, number of copying slots, and quanta cost can be more easily adjusted and modified based on feedback and metrics. The new schematics will come to Dual Universe very soon. In the meantime, we will be listening to feedback on costs for copying and balancing them accordingly. We will also be watching for your suggestions for items that may need their own schematics, issues with the way items are currently grouped into schematics, or potentially items that currently have schematics but shouldn't. We won’t initially implement talents related to schematic copying but we will be implementing them in future updates. We’re also devoting a whole episode of Ask Aphelia to schematics. If you have questions about the new schematic system, please send them to us by Thursday, July 14, with this link. Thank you for bearing with us, Noveans. We know that this change has been a long time coming. We hope that this new system will revitalize industrial gameplay in Dual Universe for everyone. We invite you to join in the discussion about this topic, using this thread. NQ-Kyrios and NQ-Entropy"
  14. Dear Noveans, let us know your thoughts on the new update of Dual Universe, Mercury!
  15. Hello, Noveans! We’re close to the second anniversary of Dual Universe’s beta, and our latest update, Mercury, brings many exciting features to celebrate this milestone! With the new Lua API, the Exchange, Global Illumination, and more, we’re excited to head into summer with Dual Universe. We’ve walked a long road together, and with your support, we’re just getting started. You can watch a recap of the past two years of beta here: WHAT’S NEW WITH MERCURY? We’ve talked about our ongoing polish and stabilization which has remained a central focus in the Mercury update. Still, we are also introducing many new features and upgrades into the game; that includes: - THE EXCHANGE is a central commercial hub and exhibition center on Alioth. If you think of the Helios system as a giant shopping center, the Exchange acts as its information board, that connects players. It’s an in-game destination at the heart of a teleportation loop in the Pioneer Zone. It provides shops, adverts, and a community board to help any player advertise their offering to the community, whether that’s a ship shop, museum, Lua arcade, or anything else. You can watch NQ-Nicodemus present the feature in this video: - SUMMER DACs are an exciting addition that allow every active player to gift a month of subscription to new Dual Universe players. This is our way of offering a free trial of Dual Universe to your friends. Additionally, it will help us to test the DAC system before we fully implement it later. One Summer DAC will be given to every active Dual Universe account (including alpha and beta key accounts.) They can only be gifted or used to charge the first month of subscription on an account. Once you subscribe to the game, whether by redeeming a Summer DAC, a beta key, or paying for a subscription, you may no longer use Summer DACs to add game-time to your account, as it is only meant to be a way to try the game. Summer DACs are accessible through our website under My Account, where you can redeem or gift your Summer DAC, and see your DAC transaction history. Once you've received your DAC, it is easy to convert it into subscription time through this page. To confirm again, Summer DACs are separate from the DAC system and will not impact your DAC balance gained through our crowdfunding campaigns. They will expire towards the end of the summer if unused. - THE LUA API revamp has the potential to improve almost every aspect of gameplay in Dual Universe. Whether you fly with a script, manage your factory with screens, or enjoy art and arcade machines in-game, your gameplay will be enhanced by our new Lua API. It will upgrade and improve the tools available to our community of creators who make the scripts enjoyed by every Novean. If you script with Lua in Dual Universe, or if you want to, you can find our mock API on Github as well as a full changelog on our forum here. - ART IMPROVEMENTS are also here in Mercury. We’ve added Screen Space Global Illumination (SSGI) as an opt-in graphical option in Dual Universe, and improved our Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO.) This, along with other improvements to our art assets such as new vegetation and improved in-game sounds, will help enhance your immersion in the game. - THE NOVEAN OVERVIEW is a new interface in which players may see their unlocked item skins. We will expand upon this system in future updates, with improvements on displaying character information such as construct slots, territories, calibration points, and so on. - Every character will have their talent points refunded back to their pool with Mercury. As this reset also empties the skill training queues, make sure to fill them up again as soon as possible, to not lose out on talent point acquisition. While we must perform this reset for technical reasons related to upgrading our systems, this is also an opportunity for players to refocus talents into different areas and try new ‘builds’, or to simply correct training away from unwanted talents. - Also, as we’ve previously announced, polish and stabilization continue to be a primary focus for us, and Mercury will bring many bug fixes and improvements that will enhance the experience of playing the game. Moving forward from Mercury, we will be continuing to work on stabilization and polishing, but we’re also working on improving the blueprint system, the market UI, introducing digital Kickstarter rewards, and much more! You can share your thoughts on this update with us in this forum thread.
  16. Hello, Noveans! Let us know your thoughts on Mercury upcoming art improvements down below!
  17. The graphics of Dual Universe have taken many strides forward since the beta started, and they continue to be an area of focus for us here at Novaquark as we keep working on improving immersion in the game. In previous updates, we’ve tackled visual effects upgrades to water, warp effects, the skybox, entire planet revamps, and much more. In this devblog we want to talk about the various art upgrades coming to Dual Universe with Mercury. GLOBAL ILLUMINATION We’re implementing Screen Space Global Illumination (SSGI) in Dual Universe to improve lighting and the overall look of the game. SSGI is a method to simulate light-bounce to achieve more realistic lighting. Much of the lighting detail in the real world comes from light which has bounced many times from different surfaces. However, calculating all of the different light paths in a real-time digital setting such as a computer game is difficult. Standard rendering provides only the first bounce of light, but SSGI is a way to approximate complex light interactions without taking a heavy toll on framerates. SSGI will be available as an optional setting in Dual Universe with Mercury. We’re also improving our Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) to enhance how objects and surfaces are lit in the game, and therefore their visual quality. SSAO efficiently approximates the brightness of light on different parts of visible surfaces. It considers factors such as the game environment, the position of light sources, and shadows created by different surfaces to add a more realistic look to 3D game environments. VISUAL EFFECTS UPGRADES As shown in the screenshot below, there will also be graphical improvements to vegetation as we implement asset fixes that significantly improve their look in the game. We’re also adding three new explosion visual effects with the destruction of core units which you can see in this video 👇 The color variation is chosen at random when your core explodes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are many more upgrades included in Mercury that will improve the look and feel of Dual Universe. We’d recommend you turn up the volume too: we're also polishing the sound design in order to enhance the game’s performance. Mercury is arriving very soon, and your feedback is essential. If you have any thoughts on our art improvements, we’d like to hear them. Let us know in this forum thread.
  18. Hello, Noveans! In the video below video, NQ-Nicodemus, the driving force behind the Exchange, dives deeper into the feature and answers some of the most common questions we've seen. Watch for an overview of the Exchange and more information about how it will be run. If you have more questions for us, please submit them using the Ask Aphelia submission form. We hope you'll enjoy the video!
  19. Dear Noveans, we hope you're as excited as we are about the Lua changes coming in the next update, Mercury. Let us know your thoughts below!
  20. "Hello Noveans, this is NQ-Ligo. Whether you’re piloting with Lua, hauling cargo on a scripted VTOL platform, controlling a factory with screens and programming boards, or simply enjoying an in-game arcade machine, Lua can impact almost every aspect of your experience in Dual Universe. After many years of accumulating Lua updates and additions, it’s time to revamp the Lua API of Dual Universe entirely. Our objective is to enhance and future-proof the tools available to those who create the fantastic scripts enjoyed by everyone in-game. WHY REVAMP LUA API? We must rework the Lua API to prepare it for future extensions by organizing it better, making it easier to use, and enhancing the tools available to our Lua creators. From a global point of view, the vision we have for Lua has evolved, and though we’re preparing a detailed changelog on our forum, here are some highlights: Restructuring of the entire Lua API. Preparing for an object-oriented approach to be ready for future evolutions. Reduce JSON use in the API to favor the use of real Lua tables. Rely much more on event-driven code to reduce player loops and server requests. Reduce the complexity of the scripts, thereby reducing their size. Add some nice-to-have features. Garner more interest in certain elements like the telemeter. WHAT’S CHANGING WITH THIS LUA API REVAMP? With the many changes coming to the API, we wanted to give you some of the highlights, while as we said above we’ll be giving you the specifics in another communication. For now, I want to discuss some of the most significant changes with you all in this devblog: NEW NAMING CONVENTION We needed to apply a clean naming convention with this revamp to make Lua easier to use. This will become even more necessary as we expand the Lua API in the future. As a result, multiple functions have been renamed, but most importantly, events will receive a name change. Any event will have a prefix ‘on’ from now on, for example: unit.onStart() unit.onStop() system.onUpdate() system.onFlush() unit.onTimer([string] tag) TWO NEW PERMANENT SLOTS ADDED As part of the API restructuring, we have decided to add two new permanent slots: `player` - This will represent the player using the script. Usually referred to as the "Master Player" in the current Control Unit or System API. `construct` - This will represent the construct on which the controller running the script is placed. Most of the construct-related functions were in the Core Unit API. Each of these slots will have the associated functions and events and will receive some additions. Let's take the example of `construct`. You will find functions and events coming from the Core Unit API and some additions. To give you an idea, here is just a snippet of the `construct` API: [string] getName() : Returns the name of the construct. [int] getId() : Returns the construct unique ID. NEW [table] getOwner() : Returns the owner entity of the construct. NEW [table] getCreator() : Returns the creator entity of the construct. NEW [0 or 1] isWarping() : Checks if the construct is currently warping. NEW [int] getWarpState() : Returns the current warp state (Idle = 1, Engage = 2, Align = 3 …). NEW [0 or 1] isInPvPZone() : Checks if the construct is in the PvP zone. NEW [float] getDistanceToSafeZone() : Returns the distance between the construct and the nearest safe zone. [string] getPvPTimer() : Returns the current construct PvP timer state. [float] getMass() : Returns the mass of the construct. [float] getInertialMass() : Returns the inertial mass of the construct, calculated as 1/3 of the trace of the inertial tensor. NEW [matrix] getInertialTensor() : Returns the inertial tensor of the construct. NEW [vec3] getCenterOfMass() : Returns the position of the center of mass of the construct, in local construct coordinates. NEW [vec3] getWorldCenterOfMass() : Returns the position of the center of mass of the construct, in world coordinates. [float] getCrossSection() : Returns the construct's cross sectional surface in the current direction of movement. [vec3] getSize() : Returns the size of the building zone of the construct. NEW [vec3] getBoundingBoxSize() : Returns the size of the bounding box of the construct. NEW [vec3] getBoundingBoxCenter() : Returns the position of the center of the bounding box of the construct in local construct coordinates. [float] getMaxSpeed() : Returns the max speed along the current moving direction. [float] getMaxAngularSpeed() : Returns the max angular speed. [table] getMaxSpeedPerAxis() : Returns the max speed per axis. [table] getMaxThrustAlongAxis( [string] taglist, [vec3] CRefAxis) : Returns the construct max kinematics parameters in both atmo and space range, in newtons. NEW [float] getCurrentBrake() : Returns the current braking force generated by construct brakes. NEW [float] getMaxBrake() : Returns the maximum braking force that can currently be generated by the construct brakes. The above are just a few examples. You can find more functions in the CODEX. MORE ITEM API FOR CONTAINERS AND INDUSTRY With the addition of the mining unit API, we also added item API to the game. We have since had a great interest in this type of function from our community, allowing players to get more detailed information from item IDs. As a result, we have decided to integrate it into multiple APIs for items or containers. For example: NEW [int] element.getItemId() : Returns the element item ID. NEW [int] weapon.getAmmo() : Returns the item ID of the currently equipped ammo. NEW [int] engine.getFuelId() : Returns the item ID of the fuel currently used by the engine. NEW [event] industry.onStarted( [int] id, [float] quantity) : Emitted when the Industry Unit has started a new production process. NEW [event] industry.onCompleted( [int] id, [float] quantity) : Emitted when the Industry Unit has completed a run. NEW [int] core.getElementItemIdById(uid): Returns the item ID of the Element, identified by its local UID. NEW [table] container.getContent() (old getItemsList): Returns a table describing the contents of the container, as a pair itemId and quantity per slot. CHANGING CONTAINER API Reading the contents of a container is one of our most widely used features, but there has always been a problem. Its current implementation allows players to make ten requests as quickly as they would like, followed by a wait time of five minutes. This has caused spikes in server requests on our end and has been impractical for players. We will change this behavior to allow you to make a content request with a fixed minimum delay of 30 seconds between two requests made with the `updateContent()` method. As before, receiving content from the server triggers the `onContentUpdate()` event allowing you to get the contents with the `getContent()` function. We have also made the updateContent function return the time left before the next request to give our players better tracking of the process. CLICK WITH LUA We’re adding a simple but often requested function; a mouse click for Lua! Left-click, named ‘leftMouse’, has been added as a Lua action, triggering the onActionStart, onActionStop and onActionLoop events. For design and security reasons, Lua will only detect left mouse clicks when not in use by the game. So if you click on a widget or in your inventory UI, Lua won't detect it. We’re excited to see what our talented coders in-game will make of this tool! MAKE THE LIGHTS FLASH In the past, we added the possibility of making light-elements glow with color components set to higher than 255. However, this caused graphical issues, and we had to remove the feature. We are reintroducing this feature with Mercury but limiting it to a maximum factor of 5. And at the same time, we are changing the color format from 0-255 to 0-1 and 0-5 for HDR colors for consistency. We will convert the color property of all existing light elements deployed in the game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many other changes and additions will be included with this revamp. There are so many that it would not be practical to cover them all in a general devblog, but we hope this small selection will inspire your creative spirit! WILL ALL MY SCRIPTS BE BROKEN? Although we consider this revamp necessary, we still want to give you time to transition and adapt your systems and allow your scripts’ users to continue using them during this transition. To simplify the transition, we will deprecate all of the current API from Mercury, which means that the current functions and events will remain functional for a time but will not be referenced in the CODEX anymore, nor visible on the UI for events. You will then receive a warning when using a deprecated function or event for the first time. Please note: This depreciation will be time-limited. The goal is to remove all of the old API by the game’s launch. Along with other factors, we will need to release a new-API version of the default flight configuration before removing the depreciation. We will continue to assess whether removing the old API before launch is possible, and we’ll keep you apprised. HOW CAN I CHECK THE UPCOMING API CHANGES? Given the extent of the changes, we have chosen not to list them all in this devblog. The list of changes is very long, so our goal is to try and post a detailed forum thread with all changes and we have published a mock API on the official Github to allow you to prepare yourself as well as possible. CONCLUSION We hope you are excited, as players and creators, by the few changes mentioned here, especially about the new opportunities for all to enjoy that our passionate Lua community will create in Dual Universe. Our goal with the revamp is to push the door to future possibilities, evolutions, and additions for Lua. We'll be looking to go even further in the future and provide you with more tools to create content for other players. As always, we appreciate your feedback and opinions, so please feel free to come and share your thoughts and ideas on this forum thread! We look forward to seeing you there. Yours truly, NQ Ligo"
  21. Dear Noveans, we hope you're as excited as us by the introduction of the Alioth Exchange in upcoming update Mercury. Let us know your thoughts in the thread below!
  22. Dual Universe is home to a vibrant player-driven economy, with many enterprising Noveans finding creative ways of advertising their wares in-game. With last year's introduction of the parking rules for markets and districts, it became clear to us that we needed to supplement external community tools by creating a dedicated, in-game site for players to buy or sell goods and services. Catering to the entrepreneurs and shoppers of DU, we are excited to introduce the ‘Alioth Exchange,’ a new megaplex offering an opportunity for players to spend their quanta in shops built and run by their fellow players. “The goal of the ‘Alioth Exchange,’ is to provide a venue for players to showcase goods and services that cannot be done using the traditional market system. Additionally, serving as a Community Hub for information and social interaction to help better facilitate player connection.” - NQ-Nicodemus, Keeper of the Exchange The first Exchange site in Dual Universe is being introduced with the Mercury update and will sit at the heart of a teleportation network between all Pioneer Zone districts and markets. It will house an eclectic mix of player-built constructs, (limited to an XS core) advertising and selling anything from voxel libraries, ship shops, markets, racetracks, Lua scripting, or anything else players choose to build and offer. Shoppers can navigate the Exchange using a directory that creates waypoints to their preferred shops. While shopping, players can enjoy an internal “Fast-Track” system within the Exchange, that is built out of elevators! Each of the four halls of the Exchange are also marked with a shape and a color such as a yellow cross or a green circle, which will be rendered from afar to help navigation. With only sixteen initial slots, space is limited! If you’re interested in joining as a vendor, we’d urge you to start the application process as soon as you can. Application Process: Step 1: Read this document carefully to learn our rules, guidelines and requirements. Step 2: Build your construct to a completed state, ready for review by NQ. Step 3: With your XS core construct complete, fill and submit your application form. We are excited to bring you this new feature and will be monitoring your usage to decide whether or not to add more similar sites in the future. We look forward to hearing your thoughts in this forum thread.
  23. Hello Noveans! Let us know below your thoughts about the announce of our next update, Mercury!
  24. Summer approaches and with it comes Mercury, our next update to Dual Universe. As Cyrille Fontaine, our Creative Director, mentioned in his letter, our focus is currently on polish, and Mercury is no exception. This update also brings new features such as The Alioth Exchange, better lighting to improve visuals, Summer DACs, and more. Read on for an overview. THE ALIOTH EXCHANGE We’re about to deploy a new installation in the heart of Alioth where players can apply to build a display to advertise and sell their creations. Applications will be open to all players who want to advertise their ship shops, markets, Lua Scripts, organizations, voxel libraries, or anything else that they create. More details about, ‘The Alioth Exchange,’ will be available in an upcoming dedicated post. Note: constructs featured are samples only. CONTINUED GRAPHICAL UPGRADES We’re tackling illumination, vegetation, and explosion visual effects with the Mercury Update. You’ll find that the game world will be more radiant and realistic with our new global illumination, vegetation asset fixes will improve the look of foliage in the game, and whether you’re fighting or simply crashing a ship, you can enjoy more vibrant explosions. SUMMER DACs We’re implementing a separate, test version of DACs, allowing every active player to invite a friend to try Dual Universe free for one month. These Summer DACs are separate from real DACs, and will not impact your accrued pool of DACs from crowdfunding packages when gifted. One Summer DAC will be given to every active player and can only be redeemed by new accounts not yet subscribed to the game. They will expire by the end of the summer if not used. Summer DACs should allow us to test our web-based DAC system before the game’s release while offering your friends a chance to try the game for free! NOVEAN OVERVIEW We're adding an in-game interface which provides an overview of your general account information and unlocked possessions. We’ll expand this feature moving forward, but in Mercury, you’ll be able to see your unlocked cosmetic skins in a dedicated tab. LUA API Our vision for Lua has evolved over the years and with the new directions we’ve taken, it’s become necessary to entirely revamp our Lua API. These changes will future-proof the API and make it better serve the game by improving and tidying the system. We’re starting this process in Mercury. Naturally, such a major change will come with an enormous changelog, but to give you a brief overview of what’s coming ahead, we’re going to: Restructure the entire Lua API Prepare an object-oriented approach to be ready for future evolutions. Reduce the use of JSON in the API to favor the use of real Lua tables. Rely more on event-driven code to reduce player loops and server requests. Reduce the complexity and size of scripts Add some of the, ‘nice to have,’ features Add further points of interest to some elements such as the telemeter. To summarize, our goal with this update is to reset the API and prepare it for future evolutions. Rest assured that your codes will still work in Mercury and that we’ll give you ample time to adapt your creations. TALENT POINT RESET Every character will have their talent points refunded back to their pool with the Mercury Update. While we must perform this reset for technical reasons related to upgrading our systems, this is also an opportunity for players to refocus talents into different areas and try new ‘builds’, or to simply correct training away from unwanted talents. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As always, we’ll publish a series of articles delving deeper into Mercury’s features, but for now, thank you for reading, Noveans! We’re excited to move forward with Mercury and are eager to hear your thoughts in this forum thread.
  25. Hello, Noveans! Let us know what you thought of our Creative Director letter below.
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