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VO 1.8.163

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Feb 05, 2011 incarnate link
Cross-posted from News:

VO 1.8.163 includes:

- Keychain access menu now shows a full list of access instead of just the first station's access.
- Windows version no longer tries to warp the mouse cursor when the game is not active.
- Created new single-player game tutorials, initially for Android, but eventually for all versions.

There has also been a hell of a lot of work put into bringing playable Capships to VO. We were genuinely shooting for the 31st of January, overshot that and then were looking at tonight, but it has just not panned out yet. Still, the work is ongoing, and should not be very far off. I think people are going to be very excited when we are able to drop in this content.. the shipyard stations alone are huge (literally). There have been a number of technical challenges with bringing extremely large physical objects to the game, while still maintaining a certain degree of detail, all of which has required some added work and research. All of this has gone pretty well, I'm happy with how things are visually shaping up, but it has also made for some delays.

We are also juggling a number of other challenging timing issues, some of which are eating into development resources for features like player-capships. We will be presenting Vendetta Online for Android at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a little over a week from now, showing the game in Google's area. We really want the Android tutorial experience to be solid in advance of the show, and there is a possibility that we may do a wide-area release of the Android version around the same time (perhaps immediately after). All this depends on the outcome of further testing.

We have had a very, very intensely busy work schedule over the last few weeks, to try and both polish up certain areas on our Android client, as well as deliver new features to our existing players.

When the new tutorial system is back-propagated to the PC versions, I expect we will have a large reduction in "how do I dock?" questions, which will probably be welcome by the userbase. It still requires more polishing, but it provides an "instant action" type of introduction to the game that has never been possible before.. no more having to go sign up for an account as the first thing. Now people can quickly get an idea of the game, and then make their decisions from there.

That's all for now, I'll post again as soon as I have something significant to report.
Feb 05, 2011 Strat link
Cool. The capship stuff is exciting. I don't understand what changed about the keychain though. It looks exactly the same.
Feb 05, 2011 Whistler link
Excellent. Once the playable capships are in, I think we shall declare 2011 the end of Soon and the beginning of Now.
Feb 05, 2011 Cherrybloodsyrup link
I'm very excited.

Much love to Vendetta.
Feb 05, 2011 yodaofborg link
FM, I love your optimism, as always, but yeah, Now will not come till we can land on planets, silly! :p
Feb 05, 2011 tarenty link
Great update and news, very excited here.
Feb 05, 2011 Dr. Lecter link
Once the playable capships and faction redux and economy redux and ore redistribution/crafting implementation are in, I think we shall declare 2011 the end of Soon and the beginning of Now.

Fixed that for ya. With all the recent developments, we now have lots of new ways to log in and play a slightly shinier version the same plotless, pointless, dead-end game. Woo.
Feb 05, 2011 Phaserlight link
Gotta love the enthusiasm, Lecter.

We will be presenting Vendetta Online for Android at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a little over a week from now, showing the game in Google's area.

Very nice, if this is what it sounds like VO is finally starting to get some recognition. You guys (GS) deserve a break like this. Good luck!
Feb 05, 2011 incarnate link
And Lecter's sunny disposition makes it all worthwhile ;).

Seriously, though, we do have a lot of stuff to do before I'll consider us even "1.9" worthy, let alone "2.0". But some of it is coming along pretty well. I'm excited about this giant-station stuff, it's nice to be able to actually make something for the game again, instead of continually doing the dance of business-development with electronics companies.

This first capship implementation will still have some flaws, like a lack of shields and the like, our target has always been "fastest to get it out there", but we do have some decent plans on how to refine and improve it as time goes on.

Thanks for the good wishes, Phaserlight and others.
Feb 05, 2011 Strat link
Inc, can you better explain what you changed about keychains in this update ?
Feb 05, 2011 meridian link
It sounds like the keychain update is to better allow for a single key giving access to multiple stations and/or capships. It could be that the change won't really be apparent until capships are implemented.
Feb 05, 2011 davejohn link
Interesting , let's see how it works out.
Feb 05, 2011 Dr. Lecter link
our target has always been "fastest to get it out there"

I cannot believe that the Earth failed to swallow you up and drag you down to Hell as you typed that, Inc.
Feb 05, 2011 peytros link
you mean this-



-will be avoided?
Feb 06, 2011 Pizzasgood link
Heh, I still haven't figured it out. I just pick fights when I want to dock.
Feb 07, 2011 Alloh link
YEAH!!!

Great news! Grats, Inc, again!

INC: the shipyard stations alone are huge (literally). There have been a number of technical challenges with bringing extremely large physical objects to the game

Great, once those problems are solved, stations can grow to a proper size. But take your time, first grow the shipyards, then capitals, then...

Also, consider that "civilian cappies" should not have shields but increased hold. Even if you manage to have shields for players, consider keeping 2 versions, with/without, stating that shield generators takes LOTS of storage. Like, Trident with shield have 300cu storage, while without shields it holds 2000cu...

Lelecter: we now have lots of new ways to log in and play a slightly shinier version the same plotless, pointless, dead-end game.

Weird. Is this the same lelecter that used to claim that VO should remain space-quake? Ah, I forgot, he is a hater, and things are evolving.
VO is only plotless, pointless for those without any imagination, since it is open-ended. You create your content and history.
Feb 07, 2011 abortretryfail link
This is making me wish my internet connection was back up. :)

Any idea if the key chain changes will fix that problem where if a station is captured using a User key, it doesn't re-activate the parent Owner key?
Feb 07, 2011 Strat link
Any idea if the key chain changes will fix that problem where if a station is captured using a User key, it doesn't re-activate the parent Owner key?

It does reactivate the owner key, but it just doesn't show a check next to it. It also does not seem to be fixed by this update.
Feb 07, 2011 ryan reign link
Inc,
One quick question about cappies...

Are they going to be purchasable like any other ship?

Or are they actually (like I heard rumor of) going to be strictly a byproduct of crafting missions only available from the conquerable stations, thus making their implementation only benefit the larger guilds while leaving unguilded players, members of smaller guilds and people with no interest in conquerable stations completely out of luck on something many of us have been waiting on since VO first existed?
Feb 07, 2011 PaKettle link
well ryan I can answer part of your question...

Kits will be availible at a rather unreasonable price for those that dont care to hump a hundred XC loads of stuff thru gray space.

A more interesting question is whether the cappies will be conquered or destroyed and how easily...

I doubt anyone will want a ship that takes over a month of work to build and can be easily stolen or destroyed.