copied from https://www.unitystation.org/blog
Greetings, crew.
Welcome to another weekly update blog post, where we highlight the most noteworthy developments from the past week. As always, remember that this is just a brief summary, and you can find a more comprehensive list of changes on our Changelog page or at our Github repository.
Without further ado, let's dive in and explore some of the thrilling updates we've been working on this week!
Genetics!
After months of development, we're excited to announce the arrival of Genetics in our game! With this new feature, players can now assign both negative and positive mutations to other players. Additionally, the phyisical appearance of other players can be mutated and their body parts can even be changed to different species, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for creating unique and monstrous creatures.
But let's dive into the specifics of how Genetics works.
Introducing the Genetics console! You will be able to find it in the geneticist office. Interacting with it is quite simple, let's see it step by step. The console UI will look like the picture on the left and is composed by 3 main sections.
Targeting
The system targets body parts based on their name. For instance, if you want to apply a payload to someone's arm, inputting "arm" will target their arm. But be careful, because it will affect both right and left arms, since they both contain the term "arm".
Although it's a simple and effective method, we are open to suggestions for better ways to handle body part targeting. So if you have any ideas, please don't hesitate to share them with us.
Mutations
There 3 types, mutations, customisation mutations (physical appearance) and species mutations. These sections will be populated by the mutations you can research (see next section).
Payload
You drag and drop boxes from the available mutations into the payload designer. These are all the mutation that will have an effect on the targetted body part.
Once you are done playing god, you simply click the "Generate" button. It will generate a DNA syringe ready to use.
DNA farming
Well, how do I discover or research mutations to fill in the available list? You will need to get some DNA. There are currently 2 ways to do so.
- Amber ore. Mining can find this wherever they mine. All you need to do is insert it into the genetics console and it will give you DNA points to spare.
- Solving the DNA stabilization puzzle. Align all the sliders so the lines are purple. Finding the sweet spot wil also grant you DNA points.
Dino Eggs
So what do we want DNA for? Well to print dinosaur eggs, of course. Well maybe it isn't that evident, but keep reading.
Having enough DNA points gives you the ability to synthesize a dinosaur egg. Place it somewhere safe, as it will hatch after some time and it might or not hatch into something dangerous and aggresive!
Once the baby dino is born, use your mutation grabber to study the newly created lifeform and find out what they like to eat. Make sure to have great relationship with your local botanist, because these dinos have different diet preferences, from berries, subterranean food, vegetables or even meat.
Feed your dinosaur, so it grows strong and big. Once they are in adult growing phase and their DNA is more stable, you can use your mutation grabber again and study the mutations they might have developed from the synthetic conception. Load your findings into the geneticist console.
Customisation mutations
Going back to the genetics console UI, the customisation mutations represent the physical appearance of a living thing. It is encoded in this format presented in the picture. By analising the crew, you can study the names and proper format of different phyisical appearances and apply them on the geneticist console.
This feature is subject to be buggy and change as it is more experimental.
Species mutation
These represents the DNA composition of individual body parts. You unlock them by solving a puzzle, which will grant you a random specie out of the pool (Current puzzle is a sudoku, we are open for suggestions).
Giving you the ability to morph body parts into any of the available body parts you have researched, even cross species! Yes, this means you can turn someone into a pile of kidneys and sell them to cargo.
picture by Pixel_Mania#7430
Oh, the monstrosity!
A work in progress system
There are going to be bugs, some names aren't very descriptive and we will be revising pretty much everything. We just wanted to provide you with some more stuff to do in game, and also this way you can be part of the development!
Let us know what you think about the genetics system, what would you improve, what you like.
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Emote window
MaxIsJoe introduced a new dynamic selection window that can be reused for pretty much anything, using the Emotes window as the proof of concept.
Thanks to this window, accesible by pressing your local chat keybind + shift, you will be able to select an emote from the list without needing to remember the exact word that triggers it when you type it in chat. Giving you access to a huge list of emotes you can use to express yourself in game!
General fixes
Last but not least, here is a list of some other contributions we want to highlight.
- CorruptComputer has done some cleanup and tackling code quality. Thanks a lot!
- Cyborg body parts no longer come with free human body parts.
- Firelocks are visible again.
- Lankercool did their first contribution by fixing what light fixture drop when destroyed. Thank you very much!
And that's all for this week's update. We hope you found it informative and exciting! As always, we want to thank our amazing community for their support, from those who play the game and provide valuable feedback to those who contribute with code, sprites, and [url=https://wiki.unitystation.org]wiki
If you want to get involved in the project, don't hesitate to join our Discord community and chat with us.