Hey everyone! It's been a while since the last update, but the wait is finally over - I am super excited to announce the beginning of the Mechanica multiplayer open beta!
Disclaimer
This is a beta test of Mechanica's multiplayer features. I've tried super hard to get everything working as smoothly as possible but there will still almost certainly be some issues. Some of these could potentially be gamebreaking (though I believe this is unlikely), which is why I am running an open beta before release. There are also some nonessential features that are not yet present in the game but will be added during the beta.
How to get started
Before getting into a game, it is important to know that this update is opt-in, meaning that it will not be automatically downloaded to your computer - you will have to manually choose to participate. Opting in is simple, and can be done through the following steps:
- Right click on Mechanica in your Steam library
- Click on 'properties'
- Click on the leftmost tab labelled 'betas'
- Click on the dropdown and select 'multiplayer'
Steam will then download the multiplayer beta version of the game. Once this is done you are good to go!
Creating a lobby
Mechanica multiplayer is Co-op, so you will be playing with your friends. To create a lobby and invite your friends, simply press the white invite button at the top right hand corner of the main menu. The Steam overlay will open up and present you with a list of friends to invite.
Once you've got all your friends in the lobby, load an existing game or start a new one and your friends will join the game with you.
Once in game, you will also be able to invite more friends by pressing escape to access the pause menu and clicking 'invite'. Keep in mind there is a maximum of 8 players per game. I found that going beyond this limit would simply inhibit performance too much.
Another important change
I have made some significant changes to the way objects are physically connected. The new system is far more stable and optimized. Prior to this change, objects that were welded to one another would often interact with each other in unexpected ways, causing jittering and other weird behaviour. The new system combines connected objects into a singular physical unit, rather than simulating all constituent objects individually. This means you can now build larger structures without having to worry about wonky physics.
I have designed this new system to be compatible with the old connection infrastructure, so any games created on an older version of the game should work fine with the new system. There could potentially be some strange behaviour under extraordinary circumstances, but I have tested the new system with several of my own older saves and I have not encountered any issues.
Upcoming features
The vast majority of multiplayer features are complete, but there are a couple that will be added during the beta test. These are:
- The chat system; send messages to other players in the game. This may also function as a way for the game host to issue commands (kicking players, setting in-game time, etc).
- Character color customization
- Improved AI behaviour when dealing with multiple players
- Proper equippable animations; at the moment there is a placeholder animation for all tools. Actions like pickaxe swings are not yet animated, but will be soon.
Change list
- Added multiplayer infrastructure
- Rehauled welding system
- Players will no longer take damage during the 'boot-up' screen
- Fixed death screen scaling incorrectly
- Extended the draw distances of a couple of objects
- Fixed a bug that prevented the campfire from being picked up when it was lit
Conclusion
I'd like to thank all of you for your patience over the past couple of months. Multiplayer has been a huge project, both in scale and difficulty, and I'm really happy to finally release it. At the moment my plan is to keep multiplayer in beta for about a month while I fix issues and add various new features. I will be closely monitoring feedback, both on the Steam forums and the Discord server.
I should also mention that I have my final and most important exams coming up in a few weeks time. These will require a significant amount of my attention so Mechanica development will temporarily slow down for their duration (about 3 weeks) - my apologies. On the bright side, once these exams are complete, Mechanica will be my one and only priority for some time - this has not happened since release, and it means I will be able to get new content out at a much faster rate. Going forward, almost all updates will be content focussed. Multiplayer is the final major 'non-content' update I have to complete.
Thank you for reading!
Tyler
