Quick catch up from Sep. We did get workshops working well. It loads fast, and we are able to offer content encryption for artists that require their work to be protected that way. Example: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1759257087 Note the tree trunks are not visible this was left on purpose - the thought was to add a particle fx to the trunk to begin forming some treatment / look feel of the world. At present this work is not on the table. Not because we didn't like it, but because it wasn't getting us to playable build worth downloading. Oct. part update. Regarding playable build we began working with a great server framework with GPL license. We have reached out to the original creators of the Perl based implementation and were able to get permission to plow ahead with some of their IP (intellectual property.) More info on The Lacuna Expanse available next month or early 2020. (Above mentioned IP collab.) This in particular was a big leap forward for us, as integrating other open source works into CommunityUs is one of our goals. It is our belief these are valuable resources where game mechanics have been tested and tweaked "just so" to strike that balance difficult to find the dial on. So we thank JT and PlainBlack team for their support. Here is our in house branch: (rough commits) https://github.com/communityus-private/Lacuna-Server-Open/network It really needs to be cleaned up, we basically took 20 days and just did a deep dive to try to learn the project history and get all the features working again. The client is a web client, and you can see some of the contributers to that here: https://github.com/communityus?tab=followers Generally the web client is MIT licensed with content and IP rights to JT Smith and The Lacuna Expanse community - which CommunityUs is now part of. (This is not legal advise - contact the correct parties for clarity on use.) The Lacuna Expanse Web Client - has two branches a NodeJS/React branch and a YUI branch. We want to remove the NodeJS and become React + C# / Unity. This takes time, so we are playing with the YUI in house. more on that... We were able to get a Unity WebGL 2.0 (better shaders/graphics) build with NodeJS + React (js) front end for UI working with mini browser / WebGL-player (QT based) delivered to you as the client (the react talks to the WebGL dom I think is the right way to describe it [still new to this approach]), but the most functional code for the client is the old YUI2 (Yahoo UI) which we are now security testing and updating to YUI-latest. Once that is done, it will start to surface in game and between now and then you may see elements of The Lacuna Expanse (TLE) teased maybe on in game posters in the Aether areas (or other worldly trees [yes this is a tease - about trees]) sections of the CommunityUs Universe - which *clears throat* (because of a cold I cleared my throat, not because we admit we stink and need to get better or anything) we know few have been able to play with or even see this "in game" (now double quoting myself in a jest) because we haven't unlocked the game yet. *Sigh To be honest it is very tempting to try to deliver WebGL on all platforms (including a mobile companion [oversee and mini games] app.) There are cons to doing this but it opens up a lot of options - freeing us from code bases that don't play well with others, we can just seperate the data from the client (which we are doing anyways) and use code based on the story we want to tell. *This is the power of TLE btw - great backend for game data. We are still looking at this, but at present we press on in native client land for now. [strike]One dev log key note is if we release a mono QT WebGL solution there could be options to controlling the WebGL 2.0 player from C# at runtime, or with JS / any other runtime lang. like Perl.[/strike] Christmas in the desert repurposed screen shots.
NOTE: Ignore the low poly garden scene in the middle - that was another idea that got scratched back in idk 2014 or something. We are pushing for maybe something Dec. at present (playable unlocked on steam store - meaning no key.) Trying for a mini Christmas story experience to give a taste of actual gameplay. Alas - this won't likely fit TLE gameplay - unless we tweak the server code during alpha to host towns (or the like) instead of stars and planets. This has its own pros/cons...feel free to comment.
Last thing to mention. I think I have figured out how TLE will hook in to the CommunityUs story. Bit of how: FTL + Cyro sleep at the speed of light = ? More on the 1st.