Greetings, medievalists!
So, we’ve been pretty busy the last couple of months as evident by updates 12, 13 & 14. In fact, we were so busy that we didn’t manage to create our obligatory videos that showcase all those features. Now that we have time, here is one that covers all of the important things, in case you missed them:
How does it look? Did you get to experience all those things? Have any interesting stories to share? Let us know in the comments.
Now back to our main subject. Let’s start our first Medieval Monday Talk (this year) with our biggest archnemesis. Let’s talk about the game's camera… again.
When we tried to improve it the last time, we tried to provide a solution that would work both for the old and new players. The result was also influenced by the time it would take to develop and test such a feature, and that’s how the “coyote camera” was born.
While far from perfect, we thought of it as an improvement over the previous camera functionality. However, after releasing some cool updates lately, we now have the time to tweak the camera once more.
You really like the idea of locking the camera to a specific layer (Solution 3 in that camera MMT). And we can see why - you would be in charge of overview, sudden layer jumping wouldn’t catch you by surprise and you would be able to see the majority of your settlement in its full glory.
We think we’ve figured out how to implement that, along with applying offset to the camera target (Solution 4). Hear us out.
Remember that Reset Camera View button in the upper left corner of the screen?
It was used for just that - to reset the camera to its default view/angle. But in the upcoming update, once you select it, it will show one additional panel in which the Reset Camera View button will be stored. The button next to it is Lock Camera Layer. Selecting that will show camera layer control.
This option will essentially allow you to choose a layer that will function as a camera’s center. So you will be able to put it at the top and zoom it out for the maximum distance. But the camera will still be limited by the ground and thus the clipping will never occur. Here is how it will look in practice:
Is this the right solution, in your opinion?
This still requires a bit of work on our side. We still have to cover camera behavior in various situations - what if during its movement a hole one voxel in size is detected, what if it encounters elevation of one voxel? Coyote time would handle that, but should it even be triggered, as the terrain in our game can get uneven.
Should the camera react to beams? Should it react on the floors that are on the beams? How should it behave if there are walls on those floors on beams and you are in between layers, visibility wise?
Should the camera drop down during the coyote time as fast as it does now? Should holding the right click/middle click on the mouse pause the coyote time?
We have some ideas on how to handle those situations, but covering them all takes time. We’ll get there, and when we do - you will have all of the options mentioned in that MMT45 and then you can customize your experience however you want. How about that? Let us know in the comments.
We’ll have more MMTs to share, but we also have to patch the existing update. So have patience, and…
Stay medieval!