June Community Showcase, bHaptics Tropical Paradise event, Builder guidelines
Added 2021-07-01 02:16:25 +0000 UTCHello everyone!
This week has been pretty quiet in terms of Neos updates as BEPUv2 implementation has ramped up, but we still have some interesting things that have happened around Neos!
If you missed our June community showcase livestream, check out the recording below, we showed off some awesome maps, games and assets created by you! We look at some interesting ones in the article below too, including external LogiX editor, cool maps and gadgets!
We have also showcased the Tropical Paradise map for the upcoming bHaptics event that's happening this Saturday. The map is packed with detailed visuals, gadgets, interactions and vehicles, all setup with full haptics too for those who own bHaptics vest (but works with just controllers too). If you'd like a bit of taste of what's coming, check the video below!
To help creators better understand on what features and patterns they can rely on to build long lasting content and which approaches to avoid, we have also put together Things To Avoid Wiki page. This continually growing document (community contributions are welcome too!) should cover on what to avoid and what to use if you want your content to last a long time without having to fix it.
This is not to discourage from poking around and hacking things together - it's one of the parts of Neos and a very fun thing to do, but rather to understand which things will break at some point and which will last and pick the right approach for whatever you're doing.
And last, we showcase some progress on BEPUv2 integration! It has now moved majorly to the implementation phase, with several core things already functional. There's still quite some to do, but things are now falling in place and becoming more complete bit by bit.
June Community Showcase
On our last Friday livestream, we did our regular end-of-the-month community showcase, showing off all the amazing worlds and gadgets made by the community during this month. If you missed the stream, you can watch the recording below.
Tropical Paradise map sneak peek
As one of our extra streams during last week, we showcased the progress on our latest upcoming map - the Sojourner Island for the bHaptics Tropical Paradise event. This island is one of the most complex maps that we have built so far, featuring rich vegetation, many interactive environment pieces and items, vehicles, day and night cycle and is fully setup with haptic volumes.
On July 3rd it’ll be open as part of the official bHaptics event, but it will also be accessible afterwards for anyone who wants to check it out, use it as a hangout world or take it apart to see how it’s built.
If you’d like to see some of what’s to come when the map is released and you missed the stream, we have published the recording here:
Things to avoid - building content that lasts
Long term content compatibility is one of the core values of Neos and much of its architecture is designed to avoid or at very least minimize content breakage as development continues. However we have noticed usage of particular patterns that do not utilize those systems properly or build complex behaviors on some implementation quirks.
Unfortunately such patterns tend to be brittle and can cause unexpected breakage as things change, without possibility of fixing things on our end due to them being outside of the scope of the designed systems.
To help everyone understand what kinds of patterns lead to compatibility problems and what features should be used instead, we have put together a Wiki page detailing some of the common issues and what to use instead to ensure that your content keeps working. This page is also open for everyone’s contributions, if you have tips and tricks on avoiding compatibility issues, feel free to share them with the rest of the community!
This is not to discourage or call out any such usage - Neos is a platform designed for experimenting, toying around and hacking things together, but we want everyone to understand which things will break at some point and which ones can be relied upon in the long term, so you can pick whatever suits you the best.
Doing some silly cursed things that you don’t care if they break? Feel free to go to the darkest depth of hackery. Want to build something that lasts for years? Use systems and behaviors designed for longevity!
Office Hours Update
A few weeks ago we announced official office hours - a way to directly ask us questions about Neos and its development through the Discord stage. Since then we’ve done a few office hours and gathered some generally positive feedback.
If you missed any of the office hours, check out the Wiki page. It contains their times, as well as notes from the past ones, so you can keep up to date on what was asked and answered.
Community Highlights
Hello everyone! I hope you’ve been all enjoying the summer heat! This month has been filled with alot of spic-y has been quite nice-y. So check out some of the community creations and maps and let us know what you think!
Remote Logix Editor by Voyage
Often folks have always wondered, “Why can’t I use Logix in a 2D Editor?” Well now you can! A member of the Japanese Community has come out with a plugin that allows you to do just that! If you're interested in it’s setup, or would like to try it for yourself. Check out the itch.io page.
Cyberdelic Plane by Spex
Brought to you by one of our Vaporwave Technicians, we have Spex making quite the 90’s aesthetic comeback with visuals yet again in another world! Give this world a check out as you get a nice blast to the past. Thanks Spex for the wonderful aesthetic.
Midnight Rooftop by Jellyosaurus
Another recreation map from Jellyosaurus, you may recognize this one as this is a map originally made by ImLexZ. There are some Neos tweaks here and there, but generally a good map for those unfamiliar and wanting something more of the social variety in Neos. Thanks Jelly for the map!
Swarm Slaughter by Gearbell
Rip! Tear! Destroy! In this wonderful stress relief simulator world, you are imbued with the power of guns, gas, and glory! There are a variety of weapons, also with special abilities, so check out the map and squish some bugs! Thanks Gearbell for the good time!
Seeing Red by Creator Jam
In the middle of the night, lost in the woods, you notice something following you, hunting you. As It approaches, you lose it in the dark of the colors before. It’s Seeing Red! A wonderful tag game made by the participants at Creator Jam where the theme this week was to make out a whole hide and seek tag like system, where it plays like zombies. Get tagged, become a werewolf! Tag your friends afterwards. Thanks for the awesome game mode folks at Creator Jam!
GhostZ SpryRa One Water Gun
Feeling the heat this summer? Cool down with these really neat and refillable Super Soakers that will drench your friends and foes in water particles. Thanks Ghost for the awesome water guns!
Progress on BEPUv2
Majority of the development focus is now focused on the BEPUv2 integration. We’ve already got some things implemented and working (some only partially) - primitive colliders and mesh colliders now work, as do raycasts and convex sweeps. Some metadata management is implemented too.
There’s still a lot to do, but as the development transitions from the design phase (figuring out how everything will take together) and more to actually coding everything out, things should start coming in quicker.
If you’d like to see all the subtasks of the integration, check out the Physics roadmap here. You can also find a lot more in depth information in the #devlog channel on our official Discord, as well as some implications of the new implementation. We’ll sum those up once the implementation is done though, so don’t worry if you don’t want to go that much in depth!
That's all for this week, see you in the next one! And as usual, huge thanks for everyone's support in moving this project forward, whether it's supporting us on Patreon, Twitch, ICO or just being part of the community and making the whole place come alive with everyone's passion and imagination! See you next week!
