DevBlog #28 - Avatar Customization and Planning

Greetings and welcome to this week's DevBlog.

Now, it's no secret. One of the more popular topics that often gets mentioned is Avatar Customization. Recently, we released a new batch of avatar accessories and while the accessories are becoming more and more in-depth, it's just not enough for some...

This week, Avatar Customization has been a hot topic around the studio and something that the Atom Republic team are currently looking into is clothing.

Ideally, in  Atom Universe we all want to express ourselves with our sense of fashion, whether you're wanting to look smart, casual, futuristic or maybe you just want run around in a Mankini. When it comes down to fashion the potential is next to limitless. 

Currently, we've got some ideas and plans floating around the studio and we'll be looking to show them off at a later date. That said, we'd also like to hear from you! What type clothing do you like? What would you like to dress your avatar up with? And, what style of do you want to see around the Atom Universe world? 

If you've got some thoughts floating around the ol' noggin, or you've got some images that you think are worth sharing. Head over to our Official Forums and share you ideas with us and the rest of the community. 

Photo credits: Pexels

 

DevBlog #27 – New PlayStation 4 and Steam Early Access Update

Greetings and welcome to this week’s Devblog. Today, we’re going to taking a closer look at Yesterday’s update for Early Access players.

Mirage House

SubD Studio’s Mirage House makes its return to Atom Universe. Kickstarter backers will remember that the Mirage House was the first Private Space in Atom Universe. Now, this minimalist space has been completely reiterated.

The first big change is the beautiful day and night cycle, now you’ll be able to sit by the pool and watch the sun set over the landscape. Kickstarter backers may also remember that the original Mirage House had two floors with enough space for seating and a bedroom. Now the newly design space is much bigger across one floor with additional seating areas and stylish fireplace.

Outside, the swimming pool lights up at night illuminates the side on the property in crisp blue light. Behind the property, lights shine upon the palms trees, giving the landscape a warm glow.

Accessories

The avatar customization menu has received a lot more accessories in this new update. In fact, over 75 new accessories have added to help give your avatar a little bit more diversity. Now your avatar will be able to wear a wide range of head accessories, wings, swords, shields and tails.

Performance Improvements

With this update comes some much needed performance improvements, most notably within the Hub. The Hub frame rate has now been increased and when you’re travelling around you’re less likely to come across those nasty frame rate drops.

Patch Notes: v03.7.4112

Good afternoon everyone,

We've got a new update for all Early Access players on PlayStation 4 and Steam. Let's get to the juicy details of what's new and what's changed.

Patch Notes:

• E-mail registration screen has now been added to front-end menu (we promise not to spam you)
• EULA has now been added to the front-end menu
• Animated loading screens between level transitions 
• More avatar accessories will soon be available
• Cinematic screen in the front-end menu
• Fixed importing PSN friends
• The Bowling mini-game has been improved
• Performance improvement for the Arcade Plaza
• Pop-up window above the chat for in-game notifications (you don't want to miss those friend requests)
• Mirage House Private Space is now available for all players
• New Welcome screens added to Public and Private spaces
• New Friendly NPC guides have been added to provide you with details about the space you're in
• Various bug fixes with network and server connections
• Added messaging and confirmation dialogues added in various places in-game
• Performance improvements for the Hub 
• UI confirmation dialogues to show all in-game error messages
  
  

DevBlog #26 - Upcoming Music and Weekly Developer Activity

Greeting and welcome to this rather musical DevBlog. This we'll take a look at some of the upcoming musicians that will be featured within the next update for Atom Universe. And, we'll be also be having a little catch-up with the development team and see what they've been working on this week.

First in the new line-up is Electro House duo the Cyberpunkers, with the dancefloor stomper Drop It. The Italian DJ's KENKODE & SKINFACE have drawing a lot of attention themselves from the European media and ended up the centre of attention with their original look, consisting of masks which hides their true identity and for the originality of their shows, in which they use two consoles at once, powered by several audio machines.



The Canada based music producer and songwriter Veela teams up with the upcoming electronica duo The Odd Chaps to bring us True Colours, this chilled Electronic mix. The vocalist delivers a powerful performance in this piece of work, and not forgetting the melodic piano or groovy bass guitar licks.



Upcoming Sydney based Carl Elliot AKA Empia, delivers us Night Jungle a progressive journey through smooth rhythmic melodies and fast paced synth chops. This track will be an emotional journey on the dancefloor.



Lo Air brings us two additional tracks with Day and Night, and Heart on Fire both  of these tracks feature lively instrument samples, the beat and rhythm that you only find in the best of the Deep House genre. And very immersive vocals.





Music producer and live performer Cavaro is characterised for making Tropical House, R&B and Trap influenced music mixed with different elements from other styles and genres, always versatile, but with a unique sense of identity. Currently residing in Australia managing his own record label RKJ Music, Cavaro's Second Chance featuring Dominique reached the number 9 spot in the iTunes Electronic Charts.



Bursting into the EDM scene is the 23 year old producer REDMOON. Based in singapore, this young soul is not an amateur having produced for 9 years and counting. He first made a name for himself internationally after signing when he was just 16 and has since had his music played across the globe by artists such as The Chainsmokers, Project46, Lucky Date and many more. Having released under some of the world’s major league labels such as the critically acclaimed Spinnin’ Records & Monstercat has made him one of the top music producers in the Singapore.



Latvia based Tobu, tries to capture the perfect sounds and melodies that makes your ears happy. With Summer Breeze, Tobu takes you on a chilled out journey through a various soundscape of sounds and samples that you would imagine to hear at all your summer parties.



Known for their jazzy chord stabs, funky electric leads, heavy bass design, and a healthy dose of traditional instruments and samples, the duo SugarBeats has steadily stepped up the bar in their own brand of Glitch Hop and Future Funk since they launched in 2012.

Weekly Developer Activity: 

Art;

• Implementing new avatar accessories.
• Various bug fixing.

Design;

• Adding additional information to the main menu UI.
• Adding registration process.

Programming;

• Profiling and optimising the Hub's performance.
• Various bug fixing.

Community;

• Plotting and planning a new community strategy.
• Working on a new in-game video (will be shared on YouTube next week). 

DevBlog #25 - Community Poll Results & Weekly Developer Activity

It's Friday! The weekend is here and that means we've got another DevBlog for you to read.

Over the last couple of weeks you may have noticed that we've being doing a lot of bug fixing with Atom Universe. While this bug fixing process seems like it has slowed down the flow of information for new features getting added into Atom Universe. This work and effort by the development team has been extremely beneficial and progressive for Atom Universe and we'll be going to more detail about this within a future DevBlog.

Community Poll Results

Earlier this week, we asked the question to the community. What type of Private Space you would like to see us work on next. You had the choice of three places to choose from: 

• Medieval Tavern to banter with your friends
• Tree Top House located in the heart of a Jungle 
• Space Station, looking down on plant earth 

Well, the results are now in...(drum roll, please) You've decided that the next Private Space Atom Republic will work on is...The Tree Top House! 

We'll be keeping everyone in the loop as this new Private Space progresses through the development phase. 

And before we end this week's DevBlog, remember that 'top secret' project the art team was working on? Here's a first look:

Weekly Developer Activity

Art;

• Regressing bugs.
• Finished off the layout to our 'top secret' project.

Design;

• Various bug fixing.
• Improvements to the UI messaging.

Programming;

• Server scalability testing. 
• Regressing and fixing various bugs. 

Community;

• Creating new video content for our YouTube Channel.
• Selected music for the next playlist to added into the Arcade Plaza.

DevBlog #24 - The Atom Republic Block Party & Stress Testing

Atom Universe Block Party

This week, we'll be hosting our biggest in-game community event to date. All Early Access players are invited to come and join in on the fun. 

This Saturday, we'll be playing 'The Numbers Game'  and as usual there will be goodies to win! If you're one the lucky Early Access members you'll be able to join us the Hub from 12PM CST /10AM PST / 1PM EST / 6PM GMT. 

To play, you must pick a number between 1 and 100 and send your choice to 'Atom Universe CM' in-game on Saturday, please also provide information of which territory you're based in (EU, or NA). 

First prize is a 3 month trial of PlayStation Plus, one lucky North American player and lucky European player will be eligible for this prize. 

If you happen to choose the same number as another person, you'll be asked to pick another number in order to avoid any duplicate entries. 

We'll be announcing the winners on our social media channels (Facebook/Twitter) and codes will be sent to the winners account on PlayStation 4 after the Block Party.

We need your help! 

As we continue through the development of Atom Universe, we need to put our server under a tremendous among of stress, that means we need players in-game to help us achieve this condition. For you chance to get access to the Early Access of Atom Universe on PlayStation 4, please sign-up to our newsletter. 

We wish you luck and hope to see the lucky members in-game on Saturday! 

Weekly Developer Activity

Art;

• Creating new accessories for the Avatars.
• Started work on a new "Top Secret" project. 

Design;

• Adding new messages to the UI for various warnings (connection time out etc). 
• Various bug fixing. 

Programming;

• Various bug fixes.
• Working on the initial set-up for the Mirage House.

Community;

• Created a newsletter promotion for Atom Universe. 
• Gathering feedback on the Woodlands House. 

DevBlog #23 - New PlayStation4 & Steam Update and Avatar Customisation

Greetings,

Welcome to this week’s DevBlog, brought to you by the friendly people at Atom Republic.

Patch v0.3.2.4112

With yesterday patch we saw, v0.3.2.4.112 get added to the King Branch for Steam players in the in morning. However, we also had another surprise patch for the PlayStation 4 and Steam players later in the afternoon.

Players were finally able to explore our first private space and better yet, you could invite up to 15 friends to join you.

Video by Your PS Home

Now that said, we’re still in Early Access and we’re still testing the server scalability. For some players loading times between public and privates may vary in length, some taking longer than others.

Avatar Customisation

If there is one thing we know, it’s that you want Avatar customisation. So far we’ve seen a wealth of accessories get implemented into Atom Universe, but you want more. Physical changes for your avatar, different clothing items and hairstyles, the list goes on.

While this is possible for us to continually add more accessories to the avatars head, hands and back via sockets (this allows the art team to add items without altering the Atom Universe’s code).  Allowing you to alter your avatar physical appearance (size, build and features), or your avatars clothing (tops, pants, shoes etc) it would require a massive change within Atom Universe’s code.

We’re very excited to start work on the avatar customisation. However, we’re not at that point in the development cycle just yet. The main focus right now is to get the servers working correctly allowing everyone to enjoy Atom Universe without any connection troubles and of course, we’re working on the PlayStation 4 build so everyone can join in on the fun.

Weekly Developer Activity

Art

• Starting to integrate the Mirage House.
• Added an additional 25 accessories.

Design

• Even more bug fixing.

Programming

• Bug fixing.
• Testing server scalability.
• Configuring in-game commerce.

Community

• Reporting community bugs to the development team.
• Discussing possible content ideas for future distribution.