I hope you had a great week! This week has been very busy for me as I took all the previous systems and tied them together into the first playable version of the campaign mode.
This weeks build is a bit different. This build is *very* Alpha, and because the code changes over the past weeks have been so great, there are some features from older builds that I am not sure are still working completely. As such, there is a new section in your user page that will allow you to download any of the older Alpha builds, just in case this release (or a future release) breaks something for you.
Here is an overview of the changes:
There are too many changes to go into much detail, but here is an overview.
A new level system (plus editor) :
This was created to overcome some major issues I was running into with the default levels. I needed a way to store multiple versions of each level, along with various changes to the levels, and it needed to be able to scale up to hundreds of levels. The default unity levels could not provide this feature for me (each level in the older builds was ~90mb). Because this required building levels in a new manner, I needed to create a custom level editor to help with this. This custom level format will also make it possible to have mods that have custom levels.
A new Gameplay Manager :
The old gameplay system was too hard coded with Siege mode game type rules, so a new, more modular system, was needed. It also needed to properly work with the new dynamic level system, so it couldn’t rely on hard coded values (like the old system did). This, coupled with the new level system, should make it much easier for me to create levels that work across all game modes. This saves me from having a bunch of special levels for the Arena and Siege mode game types.
Inventory Manager :
I created a manager for handling all the inventory transactions, making sure that it would work and be secure over multiplayer game modes. This is integrated into the campaign mode Garage, under the store tab, allowing you to buy and sell different parts. I also made it so this system could be bypassed, so you will still have full access to all the parts in Arena mode and Siege mode.
World Manager :
I needed a system to handle all the interactions you can do in the ‘game world’, so I created the world manager. This system relays messages between the world and the other players, and also handles the basic networking systems. This will also be in charge of the weather, and other world level events, like a territory changing hands.
Campaign Game Mode:
The campaign game mode is the first mode to take advantage of all the previously mentioned updates. It allows multiple save games, tracks all your progress separately in each game world, and defines the rules when fighting in battles.
As you can see, while there was quite a lot of work going in, most of it was ‘back-end’ work, so there have not been any visual updates. In fact, the levels are at a slightly degraded state, since they have been rebuilt using the new system and they are not fully finished.
I hope you will give this version a try and help me track down any of the bugs I may have missed. If you do find a bug, please report it to the forums. I will continue the march of improving the game modes, fixing the bugs (getting multiplayer campaign mode working) until version 4.0.
See you next week!
[Reminder: M.A.V. is currently in Alpha funding for $10. If you want to participate in the Alpha program and get access to the weekly builds, you can sign up for an account Here, and upon logging in you will be presented the option to purchase and Alpha membership.]