Tag: sandbox games

GearBlocks on Steam

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GearBlocks on Steam

Hi all, another minor demo update is out now with some small usability improvements and visual changes to the in-game maps.

image

Release notes:-

  • Minor usability improvements:-
  1. Builder tool actions (unfreeze, duplicate part, and delete part) now work even when targeting a manipulator handle.
  2. Unfrozen (individual) parts can now be directly deleted, without having to freeze them first.
  3. Move manipulator part resizing now works even when “transform” and “resize” actions are bound to the same keys.
  4. When no tool is active, the targeted part is only highlighted if it has an activatable or tweakable behaviour.
  • Improvements to the “desert proving ground” map:-
  1. Implemented height based texture blending in the terrain shaders.
  2. Replaced terrain textures.
  3. Added grass and trees.
  4. Implemented a rudimentary “weather” system that adjusts the sky between clear and cloudy.
  5. Improved atmospheric scattering to better visually blend between the terrain, distant terrain, and sky.
  • Improvements to the “flat plane” map:-
  1. Expanded its size to 8x8km.
  2. Replaced floor texture.
  3. Replaced sky with an environment cube map.
  • Raised boundary height to 2 km in all maps.
  • Bug fixes.
  • Upgraded to Unity 2019.4.38.

GearBlocks on Steam

Posted on

GearBlocks on Steam

Another minor demo update is now out with tweakable wheel friction and control wheel torque, and a few other improvements and fixes!

Release notes:-

  • Added sliders to the wheel’s part behaviour UI for setting its longitudinal and lateral friction coefficients.
  • Added a slider to the control wheel’s part behaviour UI for adjusting its torque.
  • Reimplemented options serialization code so that saved settings will persist across future version updates.
  • Added button to the controls options screen to reset key bindings back to their defaults.
  • Added multiple player spawn zones to the “desert proving ground” map (spawn position chosen from a random zone when starting a new world).
  • A construction’s position is now reset if it goes out of bounds of the world map.
  • Bug fixes.

GearBlocks on Steam

Posted on

GearBlocks on Steam

OK, I’ve just released a minor update to the demo with a few small changes.

I changed part duplication to behave more like it did before the builder tool overhaul, so that you don’t have to hunt around for the duplicated part, and thereby hopefully speeding up the building process.

Now, holding Left Alt + LMB duplicates the targeted part.  After which, releasing Left Alt (while still holding LMB) allows the duplicated part to be dragged away for repositioning.

I also fixed a couple of bugs relating to part selection and the move manipulator.

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It’s been a while, so time for a quick progress update!  I’ve moved into a new place now and I’m back up and running, so that distraction is out of the way thankfully.  I’ve been continuing work on trying to improve the building system.  Part multi-select is now pretty much done, and I’ve been trying out some ideas for selection rotation, check out the latest dev diary video for more details.

These changes are in the demo pre-release branch on Steam, so give that a try and let me know what you think!

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

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Hey everyone!  Things have been kinda hectic lately, I’m currently in the process of finding a new place to live, which has been quite disruptive to getting work done on the game.  But, I’m still slowly making progress, and it’s time for a long overdue update I think.

As you may know, in the past I’ve gone back and forth on whether to change the building system in the game to make it more user friendly.  Although many people have gotten used to the current controls, I still think that quite a few (especially new players) find them a bit awkward and off-putting.  I really should have dealt with this a long time ago, but I just couldn’t think of a design that I was happy with, so to be honest I just kept putting it off.  Anyway, lately I’ve been having another go at prototyping some new ideas to try and address these problems once and for all.

I’ve made a dev diary video on all this, that way it’s a bit easier to explain what I’ve been working on!

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

GearBlocks on Steam

Posted on

GearBlocks on Steam

Just released a minor demo update with the help screen improvements and quick / auto save!

Release notes:-

  • Improved help UI screen, now lists links to tutorial videos, and has a quick reference guide.
  • Implemented basic quick save / load world functionality (using F5 / F9 keys respectively by default).
  • Implemented basic auto save world functionality with a configurable time interval between saves (see “gameplay” options menu).
  • Bug fixes.