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Development update - October 31, 2022 (Patreon)

Published:
2022-10-31 19:23:35
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Content

https://www.gevanni.com/projects/pb3/VirusGrows.mp4

Made a video of me throwing virus grenades into a small water pool. Basically something that exists in Star Defenders 2D but with higher level of details. I'm still not fully certain it will be in a final game (at least they might not grow to this big size) but this gameplay mechanic seems interesting none the less. Video contains viruses, blood dissolving in water, random glass breaking, grenade launcher reloading (magazine lies on the invisible background wall that is automatically made in foreground) and a bit of shotgun reloading.

Other than that - did more bugfixes, improvements and polishing. Completed network sync logic for new entity (S) including that boss variant I've shown on July 28, 2022. 

Fixed some really hard to catch bugs that would prevent replays from syncing and properly showing hits and other important in-game events randomly.



Level Editor

- Circle, vector and point objects are now shown with appropriate shapes rather than just rectangles;

- Added saving of Level Editor current settings to a map itself as well as implemented option in Settings to either always load settings from maps or load from Settings page. There is also an option to only load settings from owned maps as well as always reset settings when Level Editor launches;

- Added saving for resizable window sizes (right panel and structure list);

- Added saving of camera position and camera zoom;

- Made caption "No objects selected" visible whenever Level Editor is launched;

- Fixed bug related to double clicking Revert button - it caused in-game entities to be recreated whenever Preview mode is active. Now it tries to find each of same objects and connect logical and preview objects whenever earlier version of map is loaded instead;

- Made it so Entity bounding boxes are cached from spawned entities and not updated all the time when map Preview is not stopped.


Gameplay

- Fixed magazine masses for some of old weapons (gun_gl, gun_plasmagun) and one new weapon so it is not as heavy and loud when they fall;

- Limited maximum frequency of flips for new entity (C) that was made for quite a while;

- Added more visual details to a new entity (C);

- Limited overshooting during turning for new entity (C);

- Added better freezing logic for new entity (R);

- Made character voices unpitched in slow-motion areas since it will likely sound bad (ex. Proxy voice doesn't sound good when slowed down);

- Fixed bug causing too fast breathing (face animation) of dying characters;

- Made it so camera shaking is also slowed down in slow motion areas;

- Reworked grappling hook interface so it is more obvious on how to use it;

- Added target picking for new entity (S);

- Removed arm damaging overheating of new weapon until it reaches minimum charge (minimum charge duration changed with new sound's duration);

- Fixed issue causing new boss entity (S) to not finish its' sequences whenever hunted player is too far;

- Limited maximum jump speed for new boss entity (S);

- Fixed missing legs bug caused by player instantly teleportation and freezing in place right after player stopped driving specific vehicle;

- Made it so teleport grenade can't teleport players that are "stuck in place" due to one of new game mechanics;

- Made random hits towards behind-standing player impossible. It was possible because logically all bullets spawn at the shoulder and player that is standing behind can have its' arms in front of other player;

- Fixed bug causing entities that consist out of 1 rigid body to be unfreezable;

- Fixed bug causing rockets to explode any kind of grenade no matter how many hitpoints had grenade in comparison to rocket;

- Added tied version of sprite for non-activated virus grenades;

- Added 2-frame animated legs for virus grenades, added eye dots;

- Added blood sprays whenever virus grenades are hit;

- Virus grenades grow in water now, just like they do in Star Defenders 2D (in Plazma Burst 2.5/3 they are also playing "sip" sounds though);

- Virus grenades play alert sound, but once per group of nearby virus grenades within radius and 10-15 seconds;

- Virus grenades can swim in water now, though I might make different kinds of virus grenades be able to grow and swim in specific kinds of water (green could swim and grow in acid, blue could swim and grow in regular water);

- Decals from particles no longer spawn in water.


Multiplayer

- Fixed bug causing overflow of synced bullet holes synced for head whenever face animation changes;

- Fixed bug causing death animations to instantly stop due to attachment object loss that happens during face state change;

- Fixes and optimizations for position prediction logic that happens in order to compensate network data delivery delays;

- Width of beams is now synced - required by new boss entity (S);

- Fixed issue causing multiple loop sounds to be sent to clients whenever some loop sound gets completely quiet for a brief moment multiple times in a row;

- Fixed issue causing client to see fake inaccurate heavy railgun shot whenever players holds fire and switches from any weapon to a heavy railgun. Weapon switch timer was being reset to an outdated value;

- Implemented proper sync for new boss entity (S);

- Fixed global chat crash;

- Fixed critical bug causing lots of important events (such as hit particles, probably chat messages too) to be skipped during replay because of improper waiting for never sent events that happen in non-replay world;

- Added number rounding for fly-by event (less data to send);

- Fixed bug causing error whenever user double-clicks match to join;

- Made it possible to stop replays by pressing space (part of an alterable custom game mode);

- Made it so replays do not repeat previous replays (part of an alterable custom game mode);

- Fixed crash related to sync of a new gun;

- Made it possible to sync extra entity data prior to creation new boss entity (S) needs it;

- Fixed memory leaks that were happening due to dynamic lights being not added to observable array of lights after sync;

- Fixed bug causing no event callbacks whenever player falls into the void and gets silently removed;

- Finished synchronization of new entity, not only boss kind (S);

- Implemented face state sync.


Interfaces

- Done some artwork for match type selection screen (ranked, unranked, custom maps), though it might be not final still;

- Repositioned global chat in Multiplayer mode;

- Added context menu whenever global chat usernames are pressed;

- Added sound for global chat username hovering;

- Added sound for global chat message send.


Sound

- Reworked sounds for new weapon, multiple times. 2 sounds;

- Made sounds for new entity (C) that was made for quite a while but was mute until now. 6 sounds;

- Updated shotgun (gun_real_shotgun) sound so it can sound better during slow motion;

- Made sound for global chat message receive;

- Made sound effects for virus grenades. 4 sip sounds and 1 alert sound.

Comments

SupremeVoid

Great update as always! Did you think further about how and where to release it?

Anonymous

Looks pretty cool Eric! One idea I have for the parasite grenade would maybe make it so that after it has grown to the size it's meant to be it will go for the nearest enemy and attach itself to the target slowly hurting them. AI/Players can melee it to get rid of it. Maybe even add another system where it explodes into acid if it's destroyed. I think it would make a great addition to the grenade. Are the sounds in the video permanent? Don't have any problems with the sounds for the most part but there were a few sounds that didn't quite sound right to me. For example, the first grenade you toss in the video that bounces off the walls doesn't sound quite right to me. I also didn't quite like the Parasite grenade growing sound at all. Don't know how I could phrase it but it sounded disgusting if that makes any sense? Maybe that's intentional? Could just be me overthinking it but it was the first thing I noticed. A while back I asked you about Cooperative experience in PB 2.5/3 and if I remember correctly you seemed pretty motivated and interested in making the Cooperative experience one of PB's stronger features. I'm also curious as to what your plans are so far or what you may have achieved in making the Cooperative experience better overall. I'm also really excited about the improvements the Cooperative Experience may introduce so would love to hear more about it. The final question I got for you is how is the AI coming along? From what I remember there is not much information on the AI behavior in the game from what ive seen would love to hear or see more about them and learn more about their improvements since your last mention of them. Finally, Eric I've upgraded my membership to the "Deadline was yesterday" version. I'm really interested/Excited about this game and any money I can hand to you to make this one day come out of development is a + for me. Keep up the great work and I'll see you next month!

UnrealCrash
>>94673408

Yes, I have some ideas for that matter. It can be best to release game with campaign so it can still take time. And this time can affect where exactly game will be released (in case if stores would have different popularity compared to now). But then again, game could be released as PB2.5 instead of PB3 but I feel like it would be a bad idea.

Anonymous

Like the implementation of the magazine for the grenade launcher. Curious to see how you do it for other legacy pb2 era weapons (or even pb1) since a lot of them do not have obvious locations for magazines. The drones growing in the water seems silly, but the mechanic could be used for another weapon or something that spreads in water. Maybe a flame/energy weapon that still works and spreads under water, but its effectiveness is slowed.

UnrealCrash
>>94673830

> One idea I have for the parasite grenade would maybe make it so that after it has grown to the size it's meant to be it will go for the nearest enemy and attach itself to the target slowly hurting them. AI/Players can melee it to get rid of it. Could be done at some point I guess. So far green viruses do similar attack though, except they don't attach yet they keep on jumping onto player. > Maybe even add another system where it explodes into acid if it's destroyed. I think it would make a great addition to the grenade. Sounds good too. > Are the sounds in the video permanent? Yes, though feel free to tell if anything sounds wrong. I'm not 100% sure on virus sounds though. > Don't have any problems with the sounds for the most part but there were a few sounds that didn't quite sound right to me. For example, the first grenade you toss in the video that bounces off the walls doesn't sound quite right to me. Oh, that is a grenade launcher's magazine. Grenades sound quite similar to PB2 except for bounce sounds, I don't think I've shown it anywhere yet. > I also didn't quite like the Parasite grenade growing sound at all. Don't know how I could phrase it but it sounded disgusting if that makes any sense? Maybe that's intentional? Could just be me overthinking it but it was the first thing I noticed. Tried to make them rather silly. Will probably try something else later. > A while back I asked you about Cooperative experience in PB 2.5/3 and if I remember correctly you seemed pretty motivated and interested in making the Cooperative experience one of PB's stronger features. Yes, I think everything that works in singleplayer works in Multiplayer mode too, including all entities. Multiplayer does have replay system though which singleplayer does not have. > I'm also curious as to what your plans are so far or what you may have achieved in making the Cooperative experience better overall. I'm also really excited about the improvements the Cooperative Experience may introduce so would love to hear more about it. So far just the support of it by all parts of a game. Anything like pinging, gestures isn't there yet but gesture support exists. There are indicators for downed teammates, blind and stuck teammates. Other than that there is also typing and in-menu hints for all players. > The final question I got for you is how is the AI coming along? From what I remember there is not much information on the AI behavior in the game from what ive seen would love to hear or see more about them and learn more about their improvements since your last mention of them. They still can't react to opening/closing doors and have one difficulty setting - I feel like I would spend more time here when campaign levels will be in progress. Other than that - they are pretty much functional. > Finally, Eric I've upgraded my membership to the "Deadline was yesterday" version. > I'm really interested/Excited about this game and any money I can hand to you to make this one day come out of development is a + for me. > Keep up the great work and I'll see you next month! I'll try to not disappoint, maybe except for development duration (which I feel like I already did) Thank you ^^

UnrealCrash
>>94680084

I think most weapons have magazines except for rocket launcher, railguns, Correction-9 weapons. Hmm, I can't think of what you mean by flame/energy weapons that spread under water so far.

Anonymous
>>94680084

Maybe some sort of fireball or energy orb launcher that burns hot enough to burn under water, and the fireballs/energy orbs slowly grow in side (faster outside of water) idk

Anonymous

Btw does the CZ-DAZ have shell by shell reloading?

UnrealCrash
>>94757921

Currently - yes. Feels kind of slow at times. I thought of maybe 2 shells at a time but that would need different sound effect. Haven't done any player versus player tests.

Anonymous

There seems have fps dropping when shooting viruses Does pb2.5 still use the flash platform like pb2?

UnrealCrash
>>94876397

No flash, but GC-based language. Framerate goes from 61 to 58 when this happens in normal conditions. I've ran game in debug mode with screen recording which is probably worsens this. Main source of lag there comes from particle system that runs on main thread with the rest of a game. I probably should move it to separate thread but I'm afraid it can cause situations where particles would move at different framerate, occasionally stay in place for a frame or be delayed by a frame after hit was done. In any case it would take time - not sure if it should be priority right now. Particle count should be possible to decrease in Settings eventually too. In comparison, same PC runs PB2 with rather unplayable framerate (15-20 fps during combat).

Anonymous
>>94876397

Maybe it can be implemented as shader, depending on language and game engine specific?

Anonymous

Not sure if anyone has asked this before, but do you have any considerations about pre-releases, once everything feels stable?

UnrealCrash
>>94876397

Most computationally complex part about particles is their simulation because there is just so many of them. Even after any possible caching and optimizing in terms of quick search for walls it should collide with. There is shader, but shader only defines how particles are drawn - it won't be able to simulate collision logic. It could be used to move particles forward according to their velocities for a brief moment while actual particles are simulated on percentage basis, but it can cause shells and other debris to occasionally fall under the floor as well as part of particles will spawn with delay on hits. Probably moving to a separate thread would be a solution but that would just take time and might be not as important right now. It is even more complex considering some particles can spawn other particles as well as they are currently managed directly with replay playback (kill camera).

UnrealCrash
>>94956703

I'm thinking of something like invite-based closed beta that will include more and more players overtime. It could start from my Patreon supporters, PB2 Supporters and other known people from PB2 community, specifically people who can give useful feedback. Campaign on the other hand could be released when game enters open beta/release, but it should be better to have it nearly finished by the time closed beta starts. Basically we want new players to experience Campaign and then get curious about Custom Maps and Multiplayer. Sort of give general direction on what this game is, with the help of Campaign. Campaign should also have cooperative mode, this will be separately tested too, probably within closed beta somewhere near the end of it. There probably could be lot of technical mess (will servers be capable? Will we have enough servers? Will we be able to afford enough servers in time?) and spoilers (somebody has to test campaign before release, unless I'll not publish it during closed beta).

Anonymous

Is it possible to add a trigger or other kinds of tool of playing a single music note (do rei mi) in PB 2 (or 2.5/3) map editor like Minecraft redstone music/Genshin Impact Lyre? I think that would make some maps more attractive.

Anonymous
>>94876397

This is more reasonable.And Is it possible that 2.5 will have more than 60fps? Especially today when high refresh rate displays are popular

UnrealCrash
>>94876397

Yes, it seems to be possible and supported, though I tested game on 60hz monitor only so far. Frame times show that it should be possible with slightly better PC to run game at more than 60 fps.

UnrealCrash
>>95025594

Yes, it is possible to upload and play single sounds, using various pitch and volume. Not sure if pitch is enough to simulate note tunes, but have variety of note sounds could be a solution here. If anything - sounds might just require an approval process completion. It is very similar to PB2's decorations system as of now, but with folders and various permissions per folder (up to allowing only specific level developers to use these sound effects and decorations).

Anonymous
>>94757921

So long as the damage output is good, the slow reload should be justified. Plus, being able to top off the gun is always a boon.

Anonymous
>>95025594

By the way, if you plan to recruit people to help you with the game, what skills do you want them to have

UnrealCrash
>>95025594

To be honest I feel like I'm not ready to be able to pay people for job. Quite possibly I'll be making PB2.5/3 alone but might add some of fanart as well as work together with PB2 custom level developers to make optional campaign levels. Maybe some art work, sound design, music making, voice acting.

Anonymous

what was cause of global crash

UnrealCrash
>>95515790

You mean database crash? MySQL's MyISAM storage failure caused by probably forceful reboots or MySQL process killing - PB2 server was shared with few other Coolbuddy projects and thus not everyone was treating MySQL process properly. At that time no MySQL backups were possible because MySQL was detecting issues with database which were noticeable in terms of bad performance when it was related to certain IDs, I think sometimes certain rows could not be found depending on type of index search (search by login would find rows, but not by row UIDs). I remember when one of these reboots happened users also lost access to lots of user accounts and custom maps active specifically at that time, I think in read mode. That is probably when some part of important data was lost. Then I did REPAIR command and MySQL just deleted a huge part of still accessible data for no reason at all (I didn't read manual for REPAIR command as I expected it to just work, there was warning related to possible data loss). Then I recovered small part of most requested data from one of previous year's backup. Since then PB2's database uses InnoDB for important data, no issues except for slightly worse performance on weaker servers which we had before.

Anonymous
>>95515790

is it still possible for database crashes or data loss to occur with InnoDB? how were you able to recover lost data and accounts to begin with, is there some backup for all the data? also noticed there is SD crystal in the background/other SD elements in older posts - are they official part of game, or just placeholders or tests?

UnrealCrash
>>95515790

InnoDB works differently - basically it does not save incomplete data to a database file. It was considered more reliable at that time. Probably newer version of MyISAM is as reliable but I don't want to risk for now. Some data wasn't lost, some was recovered from backup made years ago before issues started happening. SD2D art is just placeholders - tested pixelated decorations as well as animated sprite sheets using them since I don't have any else at the moment.

Anonymous

are you going to still develop SD after PB3 is released? also, is it possible to get red version of SD skin in PB2 as your ingame skin, or not?

UnrealCrash
>>95537661

SD2D/SD3D - not sure. Feels like not enough people care about these games, though I'd want to try and make SD3D voxel model & animation editor, then maybe try porting some of SD2D entities into it if not all (in case of success). I think I could make a cool multi-use editing software out of it at very least. Red version of SD skin in PB2 is done with limb recolor - these don't work in multiplayer but can be made by just doing reskinning with triggers in Level Editor.

Anonymous

will elements and entities of SD be implemented in PB2.5/3? i feel maybe the new engine could handle an open world map better, so maybe SD could be recreated inside PB3, is that possible?

UnrealCrash
>>95586204

PB2.5/3 will be more about high level of details, arena & storytelling style of a game. I could try optimizing it for some cases where high number of entities will be on screen but I feel like SD would be the way to go there. When I started making SD2D I've been saying that SD2D could be more of what not PB2 nor PB2.5/3 can become, and vice versa. Basically: - SD2D is about big open worlds (with proper optimizations it could support even more than now); - PB2.5/3 is about arenas, story-telling levels, level editor, modding, customization. I think at very most, some elements of SD2D could be put into PB2.5/3 as some mini-game, similar to how it is with SD level in PB2. Most SD2D entities and creatures would need much higher level of detail as well as better collision systems (not just boxes) and that would be much more calculations. Then, SD2D uses lots of optimizations and features PB2.5/3 simply doesn't have (low update rate for offscreen entities, grid caching, texture atlasing & HTML5 canvas-compatible draw operations, pixel color based sprite operations).

Anonymous
>>95586204

a bit unrelated, but what do you think of clans like dark clan? and will pb3 have built in clan system? will SD receive an update on natural environment anytime soon? i.e lakes, trees, caves etc.

UnrealCrash
>>95586204

Clans are a cool concept that can be potentially used for fun events. PB2.5/3 has clan system, but it lacks stat tracking, logos and pretty much use outside of just modifying nicknames. I still need to integrate them into specific game modes, implement automatic matchmaking that takes clans into account. SD2D needs such updates. I'll not be implementing them for some time. There are occasional caves though.

Anonymous

how complex will skin customization be? will we be able to color very specific parts of the body, or will there be presets to what can/can't be modified will there be possibility that multiple people can play singleplayer/story based maps or even campaign together/in sort of multiplayer story mode? like players instead of campaign heroes

UnrealCrash
>>95658793

Skin customization - it is possible to even fully redraw all body parts. Presets are all PB2 skins pretty much. Though I have feeling like most important function of Skin Editor would be .svg import since I would not make proper vector software by myself probably for now. It is rather fully customizable. I'm looking towards cooperative campaign playthroughs. Hadn't started making story maps but did a lot of work to make character control for level editor scripting easier. Also, I see some of your messages in notifications but can't see them there nor my replies. Perhaps you are deleting them? I can reply to those too.

Anonymous

i also only see some of the replies/messages on feed/notifications, but full comments and replies are displayed when i check the full post, patreon seems a little weird with how it handles showing a conversation will svg import for skins require your approval as to avoid people uploading inappropriate images to skins? i can message you in private if you prefer that

UnrealCrash
>>95728841

Message in public it is fine - maybe it will answer others' questions too. Most likely all skins would go through approval process just like decorations do now. Game might or might not have option to show unverified skins for confirmed adult players.

Anonymous

will weapons also be colorable/customizable like characters? maybe option to have weapon inherit colors of character

Anonymous

There are many teen newbies try to registrate on offical site in our community.But they are stopped by being detected of using a vpn even they are not using,I know this mechanism is being used to block hackers, Maybe we can level up the registration invite link higher than this mechanism to let those true newbies have their own accounts(you can add some details to prevent someone inviting his own alt,ban invite funtion if invitee has strange behaviour).

UnrealCrash
>>95810966

I think I won't be developing invite-based VPN bypass system for PB2 as it can be quite fragile. All staff are now granted permission to allow certain login names for registration whenever website detected someone's connection as VPN using. Staff members should be contacted for this though in some way.

UnrealCrash
>>95797499

Currently no. I have feeling it will make guns non-distinguishable in action. Custom levels probably would be able to replace regular weapon parts with decorations though.

Anonymous

will PB3 have censor filter for bad words

Anonymous

Star Defenders 2D is a bit like a prototype of PB3 ? Will there be any more upgrades of SD2D (like testing some functions of PB3)?

UnrealCrash
>>96395437

Star Defenders 2D will be more like a game Plazma Burst 3 will not be able to be. Simplistic and high numbers of entities versus overdetailed but simpler arenas/levels. Though, to be fair, with enough worker servers Plazma Burst 2.5/3 could reach that level of massive multiplayer game. So far only thing I've tested with SD2D is how much data can be sent without performance issues. And it looks like PB2.5/3's network snapshots are significantly smaller than SD2D ones, which does look promising as for future PB2.5/3's performance.