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Fair enough, not a lot I would disagree with.
 
I must admit, though, I have not seen much in the player base comments that is particularly reflective or helpful. Most are opinions of the game they would like to see or think they were promised (depending on who it is). Plus, of course, the hostility and pettiness that comes with feeling that one is not getting what one feels is necessary - which of course heads the comment straight to the circular filing drawer.
 
Not been around long enough with DU to know if NQ have been here over and over again. In the end, though, I tend not to get invested in games the way some people do. I am not emotionally attached and likely never will be to any game I play. Not even my multi-year sojourns in some. I pay my money, play, and eventually move on. Some after a good number of years, others after about 60 minutes (that was BDO - shortest time for me ever). But everyone is different.
 
Anyway I'll still come back to the point that, in the end, NQ will either figure out something that works for enough people to keep the company afloat or they won't. It will be a shame if they don't because there are good aspects to all this that keep me tinkering but it is certainly missing a certain "je ne sais quoi" or a "rasion d'etre". The original premise of player made content and "civilizations" is all just too fluffy - but the flexibility of the platform is intriguing. The scale is also great if maybe over-ambitious.
 
We shall see - I shall certainly leave my whole pint of beer a month there for the time being and see what happens. If it all works out I'll be happy and if it doesn't, oh well.
 

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Of course there are obligations for Kickstarter projects.
 
Kickstarter will often muddy the water to try and minimize user backlash. But if you look closer there are clear obligations set that campaign owners must deliver on.
 
From the KS terms-of-service:
 
And in the KS campaign accountability sections it says:
 
So while the nature of KS projects makes it so that delivery times and scope is likely to change, it does not mean there aren't any obligations.
 
And while probably not the case with NQ, if and when a campaign chooses to ignore the promises made without just cause it may become a legal matter.
https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2015/10/washington-state-sued-a-failed-kickstarter-project-and-won
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18534423/ibackpack-ftc-lawsuit-complaint-indiegogo-kickstarter

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I believe each and every customer has every right to express their concerns and grievances for the product they have paid for and in no mean resembles project advertised in kickstarter much less anything akin to what you see in videos and early pre-alpha previews.  Additionally majority of the issues with NQ's product were well known and documented all the way back 
in early alpha, and very little was done in terms of remedies to these issues. What's even more interesting to consider is the fact the NDA we had to agree to was never lifted, not even after beta launch. I've been in quite a few alpha programs, both paid and free  and i have never ever encountered such draconian terms.
 
Now before you resort to pejorative expressions like "whining" let's put a few numbers into perspective and compare them with other past projects of the kind. 
 
First of all NQ is not indie developer by any meaning of the word.  The moment you have venture capital involved, you're not independent anymore. It's not necesarily a bad thing, quite the opposite.  But even if you were to broaden the definition to anything self published on a dime 20mil+KS money+Alpha backer money gives you a number which is very much outside of realm of what is generally considered indie community backed project.
 
Now let consider past project that bears the closest semblance to DU and even JC's original pitch can be summarize as "that game" but bigger and in voxels.
 
CCP developed Eve Online in 2.5 years  with a team of 35 developers on a buget of 2.6 mil euro in a small country of Iceland the pool of available developers of which is a fraction of what you'll find in Île-de-France alone and where everything is pretty much 2x as expensive as anywhere else in Europe.
 
With those 35 people  and 2.6 mil in the pocket  CCP developed their own 3D engine from scratch, developed the full server stack from scratch, built all 3D assets in house and has it run on their own metal server housed in datacenter in UK. 
 
NQ with 35 people (if the number is to be believed) and 20.6 mil in the pocket , merely licensed Uniengine2, licensed core of the server tech,  purchased most 3D assets, and leased server capacity in AWS.   
 
Now granted, CCP initial development window was in the period between 2000-2003 so it would be just fair to adjust the budget for inflation which puts it just to little above 4mil in 2020 money.
 
I rest my case
 
As i've mentioned in my previous posts, i have no regrets about forking out for being alpha backer, i did get my money's worth out it. It is but a pity that it did not go much beyond that.
I still hang around DU for tiny slim off-chance NQ gets its house back on track,
But I will not be throwing any more money at DU unless NQ can, through their actions prove, that they can get out of that development ruth they've been stuck in for past 2 years and i would caution against newcommers commiting to paid beta access until they do. There simply isn't enough value on the table for the time being.    
 
 

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This week we will be making some visible changes across the community areas of Dual Universe. While this is primarily affecting our forums, some changes to the community in general are included: 
 
Forum restructuring and clean up EULA and Code of Conduct updates Additional improvements on the way Enforcement
Bored Boards:
The forums will be getting an overhaul over the next couple of weeks including the reduction and closure of some of the less active forum areas as well as an amalgamation of some of the remaining ones. This should help new and returning members of the community find the information they seek more quickly. We will be relocating some rarely-used sections into a read- only archive. 
 
In addition, we will be cleaning up the sea of pinned posts. We may have developed a pinning addiction in the past, we’re ready to move on from that now. 
 
We realize changing a community layout can feel overwhelming and chaotic, we are hoping to reduce the clutter and make it easier to get what you’re looking for faster! This isn’t the only plan we’re working on, but more on that later.
 
We will also be reopening the moderator application in the coming weeks. If you’ve ever wanted to get your mod on, this will be the time to apply. 
 
The Legal Stuff (EULA and Code of Conduct):
We have updated sections of the EULA and Code of Conduct to make it clear that we will not tolerate real money trading (RMT) within Dual Universe. Please take a few moments to review the changes.
 
Idea Box (forum):
We know there have been some recent concerns specific to this forum and we would like to address them. 
 
First up, and most importantly, we want to thank everyone who has posted in the Idea Box. You have provided our team with hours of entertainment, amazing suggestions and wonderful creativity; however, we have heard a rising number of complaints about not seeing those ideas manifest within the game. We assure you that every idea is read, but not every idea can be implemented. And remember that game development takes time. A lot of time.
 
Because we have so many ideas coming at us from the Idea Box, the UpVote page and more, we would like to remind and reassure you that our team is currently focused on the existing game plan and updating it to make sure that the performance is solid and that the game is fun to play. As we’ve said in recent blogs, you may not see a lot of obvious changes frequently, but we are hard at work behind the scenes.
 
We are going to restrict the Idea Box for the immediate future to feedback regarding the existing game loops and elements only. This is not to say we won’t look outside of that, but at this time we have a backlog of content and ideas and need to focus on the existing mechanics. Once we've cleared the backlog, we'll be in a better position to consider suggestions.

Enforcement:
Now that the adaptation period of post-alpha and post-NDA lift is behind us, we are going to put more emphasis on the enforcement of our policies and tighten the consequences for people violating them. We are doing that in the spirit of continuing to build a welcoming and tolerant community of players.
 
Until then, thank you for your patience and patronage.

 

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If you remove the nebula you must make sure all other lighting is on point and directional head lights actually work like head lights at distance. The Nebula makes bad lighting far more forgiving. 
 
If you want to know what landing on the dark side of a moon / planet is like without the Nebula, approach the planet from the opposite side of the sun, come in at a nice low steady speed, deploy your landing gear, turn off your monitor.

People are over complicating it. 
 
I don’t see why you wouldn’t just have a blueprint that has 3 x L engines and four types of voxels and you fulfill your order with whatever you want. 
 
3 L atmos? Ok. I’m going to use advanced manouvre engines. 
4 types of voxel? Ok i’m going to use ultra-lithium, this carbon fibre with boosted heat resistance, advanced duralumin and some highly electrically resistant pink plastic. 
 
Basically, the blueprint would not have any ranks or stats associated with it. You would just build the blueprint with whatever grade part you want/have. 
 
I always wondered why tf you needed to specify the grade of parts in the bloop itself. 
or even just skip the bits you don’t have. Like. Nah... I don’t need the windows or.   I’ll just build the bloop without the warp drive and put that in when I can afford it. 
 
god damn it! I’ve gone and given suggestions when I said I wasn’t going to bother any more!! 

Dear Noveans,
We are glad to inform you that several QA jobs have just opened at Novaquark. As having a deep knowledge of the game is a big plus and some of our devoted players may be interested in breaking into the video game industry, we wanted to announce it here first before posting outside the community. 
 
This is a permanent, full-time, remote position. 
 
Responsibilities:
Create test plans and test cases for assigned areas of the game based on production expectations containing accurate verification points, including edge case test scenarios and potential knock-on issues over other areas that could be impacted by specific integrations. Execute test, document results, and measure impact. Report on the user experience and test results, escalating when necessary. Analyze information provided by the Development and Production teams and identify risk areas. Partner with Development, providing solid communication and collaboration. Ensure all test tool data is high quality and updated daily. Document and maintain all necessary testware. Participate in test closure activities; i.e. testware evaluation, knowledge transfer. Always champion the customer experience.  
Requirements:
Able to develop and foster strong working relationships with development partners, customers, support teams, and management. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including accurate and timely reporting. Excellent organization and time management skills. Passion for software quality and a keen eye for detail. Able to analyze and interpret data/workflows, recognize critical issues, and raise concerns. Previous experience with issue tracking databases (JIRA, Hansoft, DevTrack, Mantis etc.) Good troubleshooting skills. Fluent in English (written and spoken).
Pluses:
Gray-box and white-box testing experience. Certified ISTQB advanced test analyst or equivalent. Experience with application lifecycle and test case management tools. Previous quality assurance experience with an online title, preferably a MMO.  
Qualified applicants should send their resumes to jobs@novaquark.com. 

The Novaquark Team.
 

At current state of affairs, the most sensible thing NQ can do with DU is what  Square Enix did with FF XIV, which to this date is considered the biggest and probably only truly succesful comeback of a mmo in history. For those who are not familiar with the situation, the initial release in 2010 was an utter broken mess despite 5 years of development, In 2012 Square shut down all the servers. After complete redesign and another year in closed alpha testing they came back in 2013 with what had become as the most successful mmo besides wow (22 mil copies sold)
 
If NQ is as commited to the DU project as they're declaring they are, and if NQ can secure sufficient funding,  instead of patching a one hole to have two more sprout in its place, give the current iteration a closure in a grand world ending event and close this current technical alpha test.
 
In followup to that, spend whatever time you need to parse and process all the feedback us, dedicated customers have been giving you for the past 2 years.  There are some great ideas there, they really bad ones, and even some that are truly out there.  That please take you time to research those that came before you such as Freespace, Elite, Earth and Beyond and Eve just to name a few. See what made them great as well as what made them fail in their respective ambitions.
 
I believe you convinced most of us you can make the technology work.
 
Now is the time to convince us all you can actually design and make a game.
 
And please, please for the love of Spock, hire actual Producer, and a Creative lead that has shipped at least one game in the last 10 years.
 
If you can credibly show us you can do that, i'm pretty sure most of us who stuck around would not hesitate to throw another 60 bucks your way at the right side of the tunel

Sample Scripts (Advanced)
These more advanced scripts demonstrate what can ultimately be achieved with this API. Perhaps they will inspire you a bit!
 
Entropy Like the bouncy ball example, but fancier!
local ballCount = 5000 local speed = 20 local rx, ry = getResolution() --[[ init ]]-------------------------------------------------------------------- if not init then init = true function randF (a, b) return a + (b - a) * math.random() end function randExp () return -math.log(1.0 - math.random()) end balls = {} for i = 1, ballCount do local e = {} e.x = randF(0, rx) e.y = randF(0, ry) e.r = 1 + 1.0 * math.log(1.0 - math.random()) ^ 2.0 e.vx = randF(-1, 1) * randExp() e.vy = randF(-1, 1) * randExp() e.cx = 1.0 * math.random() e.cy = 0.1 * math.random() e.cz = 0.4 * math.random() e.ca = math.random() table.insert(balls, e) end end --[[ simulation ]]-------------------------------------------------------------- local dt = speed * getDeltaTime() for _, v in ipairs(balls) do v.x = v.x + dt * v.vx v.y = v.y + dt * v.vy if v.x < 0 or v.x > rx then v.x = v.x - dt * v.vx v.vx = -v.vx end if v.y < 0 or v.y > ry then v.y = v.y - dt * v.vy v.vy = -v.vy end end --[[ rendering ]]--------------------------------------------------------------- local l = createLayer() -- render balls for _, e in ipairs(balls) do setNextFillColor(l, e.cx, e.cy, e.cz, e.ca) addCircle(l, e.x, e.y, e.r) end -- render title local font = loadFont('Play-Bold', 64) addText(l, font, '{{ E N T R O P Y }}', 32, ry - 32) requestAnimationFrame(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
 
Radial Menu Practical example of how responsive UI elements could be designed, creates 3 radial menu's using the same function.
Left: Example with transparency on the circle layer to demonstrate layering and the use of math to define the circle stroke.
Top right: Example without transparency, drawn to a different scale.
Bottom right: Example of a collapsible version saving screen real-estate and reducing rending costs while collapsed. (Only a dot is drawn while collapsed)
-- Get screen resolution and center coordinates local resolutionX,resolutionY = getResolution() local centerX,centerY = resolutionX/2, resolutionY/2 -- Draw radial menu layers local triLayer = createLayer() local circleLayer = createLayer() local textLayer = createLayer() -- Define some helpers to convert degrees to radians local d2r = math.pi/180 -- Helper function to get distance of cursor from coordinates function getCursorDistance(x,y) local curX,curY = getCursor() curX = curX - x curY = curY - y return math.sqrt(curX^2+curY^2) end -- Helper function to check if cursor is inside a radial menu section function isCursorInside(radialCenterX,radialCenterY,radiusMin,radiusMax,degMin,degMax) local curX,curY = getCursor() curX = curX - radialCenterX curY = curY - radialCenterY local magnitude = getCursorDistance(radialCenterX,radialCenterY) local deg = math.atan(curY/curX)/d2r if curX < 0 then deg = deg + 180 end if curX > 0 and curY < 0 then deg = deg + 360 end if magnitude <= radiusMax and magnitude >= radiusMin and deg > degMin and deg < degMax then return true end end -- Define function that can draw a radial menu on demand function drawRadialMenu(posX,posY,radius,steps,hide,strokeAndCenterAlpha) -- Define default variables local posX = posX or centerX local posY = posY or centerY local radius = radius or 200 local steps = steps or 15 if hide ~= nil then hide = hide else hide = true end local strokeAndCenterAlpha = strokeAndCenterAlpha or 1 -- minimum of 4 segments steps = math.max(steps,4) -- work out the depth of the triangular facets along the circumferance and use it to determine the outer circle stroke width local aX,aY = radius*math.cos(0) , radius*math.sin(0) local bX,bY = radius*math.cos(((360/steps)*1)*d2r) , radius*math.sin(((360/steps)*1)*d2r) local stroke = math.min(-(radius-math.sqrt(((aX+bX)/2)^2+((aY+bY)/2)^2)),-3) if not hide or (hide and getCursorDistance(posX,posY) < (radius)) then -- Draw triangular segments local alpha = 0.5 for step=1,steps,1 do -- calculate the corners of the triangles on the radius local aX,aY = posX + (radius*math.cos(((360/steps)*(step-1))*d2r)) , posY + (radius*math.sin(((360/steps)*(step-1))*d2r)) local bX,bY = posX + (radius*math.cos(((360/steps)*step)*d2r)) , posY + (radius*math.sin(((360/steps)*step)*d2r)) -- call helper function to determine if cursor is inside the segment and change color if true if isCursorInside(posX,posY,radius/3,radius,((360/steps)*(step-1)),(360/steps)*step) then setNextFillColor(triLayer,1,1,1,1) -- create center number while the cursor is over a selection local font = loadFont('Montserrat', math.floor(radius/4)) setNextFillColor(textLayer, 1, 1, 1, 1) addText(textLayer, font,step, posX-((radius/12)*#tostring(step)), posY+math.floor(radius/12)) else setNextFillColor(triLayer,1,0,0,alpha + 0.5) end -- Draw the triangle based on pre-calculated coordinates and with the color now preset addTriangle(triLayer,posX,posY,aX,aY,bX,bY) -- flip the alpha between 1 and 0 for the next segment alpha = 0.5 - alpha end -- Create the outer stroke which should be a negative value so it overlaps the triangle facets setNextStrokeColor(circleLayer,0.5,0.5,1,strokeAndCenterAlpha) setNextFillColor(circleLayer,0,0,0,0) setNextStrokeWidth(circleLayer,stroke) addCircle(circleLayer,posX,posY,radius) -- Create the inner stroke and fill to create the "hole" in the center at 1/4th of the radius. setNextStrokeColor(circleLayer,0.5,0.5,1,strokeAndCenterAlpha) setNextFillColor(circleLayer,0,0,0,strokeAndCenterAlpha) setNextStrokeWidth(circleLayer,stroke) addCircle(circleLayer,posX,posY,radius/4) else -- Create a transparent dot to indicate its position while its hidden. setNextFillColor(circleLayer,0.5,0.5,1,0.2) addCircle(circleLayer,posX,posY,radius/4) end end -- Draw three examples -- Example 1 (large one on left) with transparency to demonstrate how the circular shape was achieved with the triangles. drawRadialMenu(resolutionX/3,centerY,200,6,false,0.5) -- Example 2 (Top right) Does not hide, shows the result without transparency drawRadialMenu((resolutionX/3)*2,resolutionY/3,100,8,false) -- Example 3 (Bottom right) Remains hidden and un-rendered until the cursor enters its area, reducing render cost by ~120000 while hidden. drawRadialMenu((resolutionX/3)*2,(resolutionY/3)*2,80,36) -- render cost profiler if true then local layer = createLayer() local font = loadFont('Play-Bold', 14) setNextFillColor(layer, 1, 1, 1, 1) addText(layer, font, string.format('render cost : %d / %d', getRenderCost(), getRenderCostMax()), 8, 16) end -- Request a refresh requestAnimationFrame(1)  
 
Text positioning Demonstration example of the various alignment points for text using Font Metrics and Text Align.
local fontName = 'Play' local fontSize = 32 local font = loadFont(fontName, fontSize) local fontDebug = loadFont('FiraMono', 12) local back = createLayer() local layer = createLayer() local rx, ry = getResolution() local ascender, descender = getFontMetrics(font) local text = "??" frame = (frame or 0) + 1 setDefaultFillColor(layer, Shape_Text, 1, 1, 1, 1) setDefaultFillColor(layer, Shape_Circle, 1, 0, 0, 1) function drawTextBox (x, y, alignH, alignV) local w, h, ascent, descent = getTextBounds(font, text) if alignH == AlignH_Left then x = x elseif alignH == AlignH_Center then x = x - w/2 elseif alignH == AlignH_Right then x = x - w end if alignV == AlignV_Ascender then y = y h = ascender - descender elseif alignV == AlignV_Top then y = y elseif alignV == AlignV_Middle then h = ascender - descender y = y - h/2 elseif alignV == AlignV_Baseline then y = y - ascent elseif alignV == AlignV_Bottom then y = y - h elseif alignV == AlignV_Descender then h = ascender - descender y = y - h end setNextFillColor(back, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.0) setNextStrokeWidth(back, 1) addBox(back, x, y, w, h) end function main () if frame % 2 == 0 then text = "acemnor " else text = "aCjÅkö[]|!r " end -- display debug info about font if true then local infoLines = { string.format(" font : %s", fontName), string.format(" size : %d", fontSize), string.format(" ascender : %d", ascender), string.format("descender : %d", descender), } for i, line in ipairs(infoLines) do setNextTextAlign(layer, AlignH_Left, AlignV_Top) addText(layer, fontDebug, line, 16, 16 + (i - 1) * 12) end end local alignHs = { 'AlignH_Left', 'AlignH_Center', 'AlignH_Right', } local alignVs = { 'AlignV_Ascender', 'AlignV_Top', 'AlignV_Middle', 'AlignV_Baseline', 'AlignV_Bottom', 'AlignV_Descender', } -- draw text boxes with various alignments local sx = 300 local sy = 80 local x0 = rx/2 - sx * (#alignHs-1)/2 local y0 = ry/2 - sy * (#alignVs-1)/2 for y, alignVName in ipairs(alignVs) do for x, alignHName in ipairs(alignHs) do local px = x0 + sx * (x - 1) local py = y0 + sy * (y - 1) local alignV = _ENV[alignVName] local alignH = _ENV[alignHName] drawTextBox(px, py, alignH, alignV) setNextTextAlign(layer, alignH, alignV) addText(layer, font, text, px, py) addCircle(layer, px, py, 3) end end -- draw AlignH labels for x, alignH in ipairs(alignHs) do setNextTextAlign(layer, _ENV[alignH], AlignV_Descender) setNextFillColor(layer, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1) addText(layer, fontDebug, alignH, x0 + (x - 1)*sx, y0 - 16) end -- draw AlignV labels for y, alignV in ipairs(alignVs) do setNextTextAlign(layer, AlignH_Right, _ENV[alignV]) setNextFillColor(layer, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1) addText(layer, fontDebug, alignV, x0 - 16, y0 + (y - 1)*sy) end end if not isFontLoaded(font) then requestAnimationFrame(10) else main() requestAnimationFrame(120) end  

Sample Scripts (Basic)
The following scripts are intended to minimally demonstrate basic usage of render script.
 
Checkerboard Creates a simple checkerboard pattern by covering the screen with rectangles of alternating color. 
local resX, resY = getResolution() local tilesX, tilesY = 32, 16 local tileW, tileH = resX / tilesX, resY / tilesY local layer = createLayer() for y = 0, tilesY - 1 do local color = y % 2 for x = 0, tilesX - 1 do if color == 0 then setNextFillColor(layer, 1, 1, 1, 1) else setNextFillColor(layer, 0, 0, 0, 1) end addBox(layer, x * tileW, y * tileH, tileW, tileH) color = (color + 1) % 2 end end  

 
Simple Text Draws some lines of text. 
local lines = { "Lua screen units are great!", "They can render lots of contents...", "even really smooth, complex animations!", "They're very fast.", "They're not as easy to use as HTML,", "...but once you get the hang of them...", "you'll be unstoppable.", } local fontSize = 32 local font = loadFont('Play', fontSize) local layer = createLayer() local y = fontSize + 16 for i, line in ipairs(lines) do addText(layer, font, line, 16, y) y = y + fontSize + 2 end  

 
Bouncy Ball Demonstrates usage of both one-time initialization for local persistent data, as well as requestAnimationFrame(), to draw a moving ball that bounces off the edges of the screen.
local resX, resY = getResolution() local dt = 100 * getDeltaTime() -- initialize ball position once if not init then init = true ball = {} ball.x = resX * math.random() ball.y = resY * math.random() ball.vx = 2 * math.random() - 1 ball.vy = 2 * math.random() - 1 ball.radius = math.min(resX, resY) / 8 end -- animate ball position ball.x = ball.x + ball.vx * dt ball.y = ball.y + ball.vy * dt if ball.x < ball.radius or ball.x > (resX-ball.radius) then ball.x = ball.x - ball.vx * dt ball.vx = -ball.vx end if ball.y < ball.radius or ball.y > (resY-ball.radius) then ball.y = ball.y - ball.vy * dt ball.vy = -ball.vy end -- render local layer = createLayer() addCircle(layer, ball.x, ball.y, ball.radius) requestAnimationFrame(1)  
 
 

Technical Details
How to use Properties Different shapes support different properties that can be set to alter various aspects of the rendering of the shape. The current properties are: 
fillColor - the interior color of the shape 
rotation - the angular orientation of the shape about its center 
shadow - the shadow of the shape 
strokeColor - the color the border around the shape 
strokeWidth - the size, in pixels of the border around the shape; negative values produce an interior border, while positive values produce an exterior border 
The current API design requires that these properties are set before adding the shape, so that, for example, rendering a red rectangle looks as follows: 
local layer = createLayer() setNextFillColor(layer, 1, 0, 0, 1) -- red with 100% alpha addBox(layer, 0, 0, 16, 16)  
When you set a property, it does not persist. Thus, to render many red rectangles, you must call setNextFillColor each time. 

Note that every shape rendering command consumes all properties for that layer even if the shape does not support them. 
This is for safety and to ensure that the global state does not impact your script in confusing ways. 
For example, although images do not currently support a stroke color or width, if you call setNextStrokeWidth before addImage, the stroke width will be reset to the default after the call to addImage. 
Consult the above API specifications to learn which properties are supported for which shapes. 
 
Shape Render Order When you need explicit control over the top-to-bottom ordering of rendered elements, you should use layers.
As stated in the createLayer() API documentation, each layer that is created within a script will be rendered on top of each previous layer, such that the first layer created appears at the bottom, while the last layer created appears at the top.
 
Shapes that live on the same layer do not offer as much control. Among the same type of shape, instances rendered later will appear on top of those rendered before. So if you add two boxes to a layer, the last box added will appear on top.
 
However, the situation is more complex when mixing different shapes. For efficiency, rendering happens in batches, so that all instances of a given shape on the same layer are drawn at the same time.
 
This means, in general, that all instances of one shape will appear below or above all instances of other shapes, regardless of the relative order in which they were added to the layer.
 
Currently, the ordering is as follows, from top to bottom:
addText() -- Top addQuad() addTriangle() addLine() addCircle() addBoxRounded() addBox() addImage() -- Bottom  
Thus, all boxes will always render below all circles on the same layer, and text on the same layer will appear on top of both.
It is not possible to control this behavior, nor is it a good idea to rely on it, as it is subject to change in the future.
If you need to rely on something appearing in front of something else, you should probably use multiple layers. (There is currently a maximum of 8 layers)
 
Render Cost Limitations Since render script is intended to solve screen unit performance problems, we impose relatively harsh restrictions on content compared to HTML.  
This does not mean you won’t be able to create amazing, detailed, high-framerate screen contents – it simply means that you’ll need to be aware of the budgeting mechanism. 

Any render script call that draws a shape (box, circle, line, text..) adds to a hidden ‘cost’ metric, that consumes some of the screen’s total rendering budget.
The details of how this cost is computed are beyond the scope of this document, and it is likely that they will undergo changes in the future as we learn how to best optimize this technology. Roughly-speaking, however, the render cost incurred by any shape is proportional to the screen-space area of the shape, plus a constant factor.
 
This means that a box of dimension 16 x 16 consumes roughly four times as much render cost as a box of 8 x 8 . This is fairly intuitive when you realize that the number of pixels filled by the larger box is,  indeed, four times that of the smaller box. Note that four times is not exact, as we neglected to consider the constant factor, but it is close enough. 

For most render scripts, it is unlikely that the maximum cost will ever be exceeded, so most users probably don’t need to worry too much about this mechanism. However, drawing lots of large text or lots of large, overlapping images, may cause you to exceed the budget. 

If you wish to dig deeply into this mechanism, you can do so using the built-in API calls getRenderCost() and getRenderCostMax().
getRenderCost() can be called at any point during a render script to see how much all the contents added so far costs.
You can use this function to profile the specific cost of specific shapes, if you wish. 
 
It is easy enough to draw a render cost profiler on top of your screen to help you understand this mechanism. You can add this snippet at the end of your script to do so (you may need to adjust the text’s fill color if your background is a light colour):
-- render cost profiler if true then local layer = createLayer() local font = loadFont('Play-Bold', 14) setNextFillColor(layer, 1, 1, 1, 1) addText(layer, font, string.format('render cost : %d / %d', getRenderCost(), getRenderCostMax()), 8, 16) end  
Coordinate Space All render script coordinates are in screen pixels, ranging from (0, 0) at the top-left of the screen, to (width, height) at the bottom-right.
The width and height of the screen in pixels can be retrieved by calling getResolution().
For maximal robustness, and the ability to fit different aspect ratios, scripts should be written so as to adapt to the resolution using getResolution().
 
Control Units and Synchronization It is important to know that screen unit Lua runs locally to the player viewing it, this means that dynamic content seen for one player will likely not match what is seen by another player as the two will often be in differing states. For example the bouncy ball example below will not display the ball in the same location for both players viewing the same screen. To achieve similar results for multiple players you can route communication to a screens getInput() which can be interacted with from the control unit side using screen.setScriptInput(). By setting the screen.setScreenInput() from a programming board, we set a string variable (getInput()) for all viewers of the screen unit that will synchronize about once per second. (This is already a considerable amount faster than HTML does currently.)
 
Similarly a screen unit can set an output string variable using setOutput() which can then be read by the programming board using screen.getScriptOutput() to receive data back from the screen. It is important to note that a screens output field is local only, this is a technical limitation for synchronization reasons. 
 
The limits of these fields are currently 1024 characters at any given time.
 
Using JSON strings it is possible to send back and forth packets of data to and from the screens for the player running both the control unit and the screen.
All other players are limited to the input field only, this allows for one player to "control" the interaction and data exchange between the programming board and screen unit. And all others to use and operate the screen using the screen Lua.

An example of how we see this working, would be that the pilot of a ship controls it from the control seat with a screen in front of them which allows them to see various readouts from their ship. Using a mouse they are able to click various interface parts to use the screen to control aspects of their ship. These are relayed back to their control unit using setOutput(). In the meantime fellow crew members are still able to see those readouts animated and moving in real time from their perspective, even if the data they are receiving is only synchronized once per second.
 

Render Script Lua API (PTS v1.1)
Shapes Squares
addBox(layer, x, y, width, height) Add a rectangle to the given layer with top-left corner (x, y) and dimensions width x height. 
Supported properties: fillColor, rotation, shadow, strokeColor, strokeWidth
 
 Rounded Squares (New!)
addBoxRounded(layer, x, y, width, height, radius) Add a rectangle to the given layer with top-left corner (x, y) and dimensions width x height with each corner rounded to radius. 
Supported properties: fillColor, rotation, shadow, strokeColor, strokeWidth
 
 Circles
addCircle(layer, x, y, radius) Add a circle to the given layer with center (x, y) and radius radius. 
Supported properties: fillColor, shadow, strokeColor, strokeWidth
 
 Images
addImage(layer, image, x, y, width, height) Add image reference to layer as a rectangle with top-left corner (x, y) and dimensions width x height. 
Supported properties: fillColor, rotation 
 
 Lines
addLine(layer, x1, y1, x2, y2) Add a line to layer from (x1, y1) to (x2, y2). 
Supported properties: rotation, shadow, strokeColor, strokeWidth
 
 Quadrilaterals
addQuad(layer, x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4) Add a quadrilateral to the given layer with vertices (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3), (x4, y4). 
Supported properties: fillColor, rotation, shadow, strokeColor, strokeWidth 
 
 Text
addText(layer, font, text, x, y) Add text to layer using font reference, with top-left baseline starting at (x, y).
Note that each glyph in text counts as one shape toward the total rendered shape limit. 
Supported properties: fillColor 
 
 Triangles
addTriangle(layer, x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3) Add a triangle to the given layer with vertices (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3). 
Supported properties: fillColor, rotation, shadow, strokeColor, strokeWidth 
 
Layers Creating a new layer
createLayer() -> int Create a new layer and return a handle to it that can be used by subsequent calls to the above add shapes. 
Layers are rendered in the order in which they are created by the script, such that all shapes on layer N+1 will appear on top of layer N. 
This results in the first created layer being the in the background and the last created layer will be in the foreground.
Layers now have a fixed render cost and are no longer limited to 8.
 
 Set Screen Background (New!)
setBackgroundColor(r, g, b) Set the background color of the screen as red (r), green (g), blue (b) in the range [0, 1]
 
Screen State Functions Get Cursor Coordinates
getCursor() -> int, int Return the screen location that is currently raycasted by the player in screen pixel coordinates as a (x, y) tuple. 
Returns (-1, -1) if the current raycasted location is not inside the screen. 
 
Get Cursor Down State (New!)
getCursorDown() -> boolean Return true if the mouse cursor is currently pressed down on the screen, false otherwise. 
Retains its state if dragged out of the screen.
 
Get Cursor Pressed (New!)
getCursorPressed() -> boolean Return true if the mouse button changed from being released to being pressed at any point since the last update.
Note that it is possible for both getCursorPressed() and getCursorReleased() to return true in the same script execution, if the mouse button was both pressed and released since the last execution. 
 
Get Cursor Released (New!)
getCursorReleased() -> boolean Return true if the mouse button changed from being pressed to being released at any point since the last update.
Note that it is possible for both getCursorPressed() and getCursorReleased() to return true in the same script execution, if the mouse button was both pressed and released since the last execution. 
 
Get Delta Time
getDeltaTime() -> float Return the time, in seconds, since the screen was last updated. Useful for timing-based animations, since screens are not guaranteed to be updated at any specific time interval, it is more reliable to update animations based on this timer than based on a frame counter.
 
 Get Render Cost
getRenderCost() -> int Return the current render cost of the script thus far, used to profile the performance of a screen.
This can be used to abort further render instructions when close to the render maximum preventing the screen from shutting down.
 
 Get Maximum Render Cost
getRenderCostMax() -> int Return the maximum render cost limit. When a script exceeds this render cost in one execution, an error will be thrown and the contents will fail  to render. 
 
 Get Resolution
getResolution() -> int, int Return the current viewport resolution as a (width, height) tuple.
 
 Log Message to Lua Chat (New!)
logMessage(message) Write message to the Lua chat if the output checkbox is checked.
 
Loading References Loading Images
loadImage(path) -> int? Return an image handle that can be used with addImage. If the image is not yet loaded, a sentinel value will be returned that will cause addImage to fail silently, so that the rendered image will not appear until it is loaded. Only images that have gone through image validation are available.
 
Loading Fonts
loadFont(name, size) -> int? Return a font handle that can be used with addText. The font size is size vertical pixels. If the font is not yet loaded, a sentinel value will be returned that will cause addText to fail silently, so that the rendered text will not appear until the font is loaded.  A maximum of 8 fonts can be loaded for each render.
Name must be one of the following currently-available fonts:
FiraMono FiraMono-Bold Montserrat Montserrat-Light Montserrat-Bold Play Play-Bold RefrigeratorDeluxe RefrigeratorDeluxe-Light RobotoCondensed RobotoMono RobotoMono-Bold New: We added monospaced fonts
 
 Is Image Loaded (New!)
isImageLoaded(imageHandle) -> bool Returns true if the given imageHandle is loaded.
 
 Get Text Bounds (New!)
getTextBounds(font,text) -> float, float Compute and return the bounding box width and height of the given text in the given font as a (width, height) tuple.
 
 Get Font Metrics (New!)
getFontMetrics(font) -> float, float Compute and return the ascender and descender height of given font.
 
Animation  Request refresh in amount of frames
requestAnimationFrame(frames) Notify the screen manager that this screen should be redrawn in frames frames.
A screen that requires highly-fluid animations should thus call requestAnimationFrame(1) before it returns. 
Usage of this function has an obvious and significant performance impact on the screen unit system.
Scripts should try to request updates as infrequently as possible for their application. 
A screen with unchanging (static) contents should not call this function at all. 
 
Properties Defaults (New!) Shape Types (New!)
For shapeType defaults the following constants are valid:
Shape_Box Shape_BoxRounded Shape_Circle Shape_Image Shape_Line Shape_Polygon Shape_Text  
 Set Default Fill Color (New!)
setDefaultFillColor(layer, shapeType, r, g, b, a) Set the default fill color for all shapeType on layer. 
Red (r), green (g), blue (b), and alpha (a) components are specified, respectively, in the range [0, 1].  
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the fillColor property.
For users who are used to using colors in the range [0, 255] they can simply divide their color by 255 to achieve a [0,1] range.
For example: setDefaultFillColor(layer,shapeType, 50/255, 150/255 , 200/255, 255/255)
 
 Set Default Rotation in Radians (New!)
setDefaultRotation(layer, shapeType, radians) Set the default rotation for all shapeType on layer. 
Rotation is specified in CCW radians radians. 
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the rotation property. 
 
 Set Default Shadow (New!)
setDefaultShadow(layer, shapeType, radius, r, g, b, a) Set the default shadow for all shapeType on layer with size radius.
Red (r), green (g), blue (b), and alpha (a) components are specified, respectively, in the range [0, 1].  
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the shadow property. 
 
For users who are used to using colors in the range [0, 255] they can simply divide their color by 255 to achieve a [0,1] range.
For example: setDefaultFillColor(layer,shapeType, 50/255, 150/255 , 200/255, 255/255)
 
 Set Default Stroke Color (New!)
setDefaultStrokeColor(layer, shapeType, r, g, b, a) Set the default stroke color for all shapeType on layer. 
Red (r), green (g), blue (b), and alpha (a) components are specified, respectively, in the range [0, 1].  
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the strokeColor property. 
 
For users who are used to using colors in the range [0, 255] they can simply divide their color by 255 to achieve a [0,1] range.
For example: setDefaultFillColor(layer,shapeType, 50/255, 150/255 , 200/255, 255/255)
 
 Set Default Stroke Width (New!)
setDefaultStrokeWidth(layer, shapeType, width) Set the default stroke width for all shapeType on layer. Width is specified in pixels. 
Positive values produce an outer stroke, while negative values produce an inner stroke. 
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the strokeWidth property. 
 
Properties Set Fill Color for the next shape
setNextFillColor(layer, r, g, b, a) Set the fill color of the next rendered shape on layer. 
Red (r), green (g), blue (b), and alpha (a) components are specified, respectively, in the range [0, 1].  
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the fillColor property.
 
For users who are used to using colors in the range [0, 255] they can simply divide their color by 255 to achieve a [0,1] range.
For example: setDefaultFillColor(layer,shapeType, 50/255, 150/255 , 200/255, 255/255)
 
 Set Rotation for the next shape in Radians
setNextRotation(layer, radians) Set the rotation of the next rendered shape on layer. 
Rotation is specified in CCW radians radians. 
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the rotation property. 
 
 Set Rotation for the next shape in Degrees
setNextRotationDegrees(layer, degrees) Set the rotation of the next rendered shape on layer. 
Rotation is specified in CCW degrees degrees. 
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the rotation property. 
 
 Set Shadow for the next shape (New!)
setNextShadow(layer, radius, r, g, b, a) Set the shadow of the next rendered shape on layer with size radius.
Red (r), green (g), blue (b), and alpha (a) components are specified, respectively, in the range [0, 1].  
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the shadow property. 
 
For users who are used to using colors in the range [0, 255] they can simply divide their color by 255 to achieve a [0,1] range.
For example: setDefaultFillColor(layer,shapeType, 50/255, 150/255 , 200/255, 255/255)
 
 Set Stroke Color for the next shape
setNextStrokeColor(layer, r, g, b, a) Set the stroke color of the next rendered shape on layer. 
Red (r), green (g), blue (b), and alpha (a) components are specified, respectively, in the range [0, 1].  
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the strokeColor property. 
 
For users who are used to using colors in the range [0, 255] they can simply divide their color by 255 to achieve a [0,1] range.
For example: setDefaultFillColor(layer,shapeType, 50/255, 150/255 , 200/255, 255/255)
 
 Set Stroke Width for the next shape
setNextStrokeWidth(layer, width) Set the stroke width of the next rendered shape on layer. Width is specified in pixels. 
Positive values produce an outer stroke, while negative values produce an inner stroke. 
Has no effect on shapes that don't support the strokeWidth property. 
 
 Set Text Alignment for the next shape (New!)
setNextTextAlign(layer, alignH, alignV) Set the next text alignment for the next rendered shape on layer.
alignH controls the horizontal alignment of a text shape relative to the draw coordinates.
alignV controls the vertical alignment of a text shape relative to the draw coordinates.
 
alignH must be one of the following built-in constants:
AlignH_Left AlignH_Center AlignH_Right  
alignV must be one of the following built-in constants:
AlignV_Ascender AlignV_Baseline AlignV_Top AlignV_Middle AlignV_Bottom AlignV_Descender  
Note that there is a subtle difference between AlignV_Ascender/AlignV_Descender and AlignV_Top/AlignV_Bottom: the ascender and descender alignment modes anchor a text string to a global top/bottom position of the font, while the top and bottom alignment modes anchor a text string relative to its own bounding box. Thus, while top/bottom are useful for aligning individual text strings with high precision, they depend on the contents of the text string that is rendered. On the other hand, ascender/descender align text in such a way that the alignment will not change depending on the text string. The correct choice will depend on your specific use case and needs.
 
Control Unit Interaction Get Input (New!)
getInput() -> string Return a string of input data (or an empty string, if no input has been set) that can be set via a control unit with the screen unit API function screen.setScriptInput(inputString).
 
 
Set Output (New!)
setOutput(outputString) Set the script’s output string to outputString, which can be retrieved via a control unit with the screen unit API function screen.getScriptOutput().