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November Devblog: Construct Intellectual Protection & Blueprint Duplication


NQ-Naerais

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Dear Noveans, it's time for another DevBlog!

 

Dual Universe is a vast game. Its gameplay has layers, and we keep adding depth to them as often as possible (though not nearly as frequently as we would like to!). As developers, we love to dive into these depths. Moreover, we want to make sure everybody understands why we design features the way we do. DevBlogs are perfect to address these topics, so here we are!

 

Today, we will tackle two major features which shall be released in an upcoming patch: Construct Intellectual Property Protection and Blueprints Duplication. Without further ado, let's jump right into it.


CONSTRUCT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION

 

The objective of this feature is quite simple: allow a player to protect their creations when they distribute them in game (whether it is by selling them or trading them). We want to make sure that no unauthorized player will access the intellectual property content of a construct they did not create themselves. In particular, we want to protect:

 

  • The possibility to create a Blueprint of the construct
  • The possibility to copy voxels from the construct to another construct (however, intra construct copies are still allowed)
  • The access to Lua scripts from Control Units
  • The access to HTML content from Screen Units

 

This is how it works: each construct has a creator. A creator can be either the player or the Organization who deployed the original Core Unit. We can call this initial construct the “Master Construct”. When an Organization is the creator, any legate will be considered to be the creator.


When making a copy of a Master Construct via a Blueprint, a set of Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection flags are set automatically, both on the construct as a whole AND individually on each of the Control Units and Screen Units in the Blueprint. The newly created construct can have a new owner, different from its creator, but it remembers who was its creator. When trying to access Lua or Html content, the DRM flag of the corresponding Element (i.e. a Control Unit or a Screen Unit) will be checked to determine if the new owner is allowed to do this action. The creator is always allowed to do that. 

 

Similarly, when trying to make a Blueprint or to copy voxels, the DRM flag of the whole construct is checked. By default, since the original Blueprint sets all the flags to “not allowed”, a new owner will have no rights to do these actions.


If you deploy a new Control Unit, or a new Screen Unit on your construct that is DRM protected, they will be deployed without the DRM flag activated; therefore, you will be allowed to modify these Elements in particular. 

 

Moreover, the creator of the construct can also decide to come and remove the DRM protection of the whole construct (by right-clicking on the Core Unit), or of one particular Control Unit/Screen Unit if he wants to (warning: this action is not reversible). Make sure, however, to check if the DRM flag for voxels is global or not. If it is, and you add a beautiful sculpture to the construct, you will not be able to copy-paste it out of the construct. You should rather make your own Master Construct for this kind of action.

 

BLUEPRINT DUPLICATION


The Blueprint duplication will let players create copies of Blueprints, which in turns other players will use to generate a limited quantity of constructs.

To understand this feature better, allow us to make the distinction between Core Blueprints and regular Blueprints.

 

Core Blueprints
When the creator of a construct, or any player owning the right to create a Blueprint from a construct generates a Blueprint from said construct, this is a Core Blueprint.


Its creation is free. It can be used as the simple construct-save it used to be. But more importantly, this is what you’ll use to generate Regular Blueprints.


It is stored in the player inventory and behaves as a regular information item. A Core Blueprint is never lost on death. However, a player can generate a core Blueprint only if he is the creator of a construct or if the DRM flag of the construct has been lifted.


All ancient Blueprints (as in, Blueprints from before the Blueprint Duplication patch) will be converted into Core Blueprints.

 

Regular Blueprints


By right-clicking on a Core blueprint, a player can choose to generate a regular Blueprint, or just “Blueprint” for short. A regular Blueprint, is in reality a one-run Blueprint, and is always the result of a duplication of a Core Blueprint.


It is a standard information item, and because it is a one-run Blueprint, it can only be used once and disappears on use.


Once created, regular Blueprints are delivered at once in the player’s inventory as soon as he validates the duplication. Regular Blueprints are weight-less and volume-less.

 

We hope this DevBlog gives you better visibility and understanding of what’s coming next in Dual Universe. Don’t hesitate to tell us what you would like to see next!

 

See you very soon in Dual Universe ;)

DevBlog (1).png

 

Want to discuss this announcement? Click HERE?

 

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