Devblog #32 - What's new this week and the future of the Block Parties

Greetings,

Early this week, we released a new patch for Atom Universe. This gave our PlayStation 4 and Steam Early Access members the opportunity to test out some new features, such as the avatar clothing and the new 10-Pin Bowling Challenges.

Time to hang up the Space Suits

With this new update, it’s time to let your avatar kick back and relax in some more comfortable clothing. In 0.3.9.4112, Steam Early Access members got a first look at Adam and Eve’s new wardrobe attire. We’re happy to announce that this feature has now been brought over the PlayStation 4.

Another major update that we’ve implemented into Atom Universe is the 10-Pin Bowling challenges, if you’re looking for a more difficult challenge, then this is for you!

Bowling Challenge – Obstacles have now been placed on the bowling lane and you must use your skill to navigate your bowling ball to that strike. Mastering spin is a must!

Bowling Challenge Pro – This is for the hardcore bowlers out there, navigating your bowling ball past stationary obstacles is too easy for you. Now, you’re faced with infuriating obstacles that move along the lane. In this mode, your spin and timing skills are put to the ultimate test.

Future of the Block Parties

In our last DevBlog, we left you with a question that has been troubling us. The future of our bi-monthly Block Parties. With our servers affecting players entering our Block Parties. Should continue them, or hold off until the servers become more stable?

We’ve had an overwhelming response from our community and we’ve taken this feedback under consideration. Starting from this Saturday, we’ll be starting to hold the bi-monthly Block Parties on a monthly basis now. If you’re an Early Access member, please do feel free to come and join us from 12:00PM CST / 10AM PST / 1:00PM EST / 6PM GMT.

PlayStation 4 & Steam Early Access Patch Notes 0.3.10.4112

Greetings all,

PlayStation 4 & Steam Early Access members will now be able to download the latest patch for Atom Universe. With it, comes a whole wealth of changes from avatar clothing, two brand new game modes for our classic 10-Pin Bowling and of course, bug fixes. More details down below.

Patch Notes:

• Customization of avatar clothes
• Additional functionality to customize clothing colour
• Additional functionality to customize accessory colour 
• New clothing and accessories added for even more customization
• 2 new bowling modes: Challenge Bowling and Challenge Bowling Pro
• Added tutorial prompts to initial bowling play-through
• Improved ball physics
• New standalone UI for subscription to make navigation simpler 
• Added details of subscription perks
• Back-end service improvements
• Improvements and bug fixes to server scalability
• Players can now see all private spaces created by their in-game friends
• General minor formatting improvements
• Networking related bug fixes 
• Fixed an issue that prevented all networked players from being able to see other players premium content if the local player did not have this content unlocked
• Fixed the new chat notifications that previously did not work
• Collision improvements
• Users will no longer get stuck after sitting down

DevBlog #31 - Managing the Atom Universe Servers

Greetings Atomz,

Friday is upon us and we’re ready for the weekend, let’s kick things off with one of our DevBlogs shall we?

Managing the Atom Universe Servers

Embed from Getty Images

For some time now, we’ve been hosting the Atom Universe Parties for our Early Access month on a fortnightly basis. While some Early Access members have been able to join in on this meet-ups some of you have had difficulty joining in.

With this DevBlog, we’ll be taking a closer look at why some members have difficulty joining and what we’ll be doing to improve the servers to prevent this forum happening further down the line.

Speaking to Alex Grona, we look at some of the potential issues that could be causing the connection drop outs.

“They are two possible factors to consider when players get disconnect from the Atom Universe servers. Firstly, connection timeout with the server. This can either be caused by the Atom Universe client or the server itself. Potentially, the client can be slow and causes the server connection to drop.  (e.g memory leaks, bugs or low performing machines). The server can also become slow and start dropping connections in order to perform more effectively. (e.g. too many are trying to connect the server at once).

Secondly, the server has crashed. Currently, there isn’t any in-game messaging to notify players that this has happened. If this issue occurs then all players will be removed from the server and returned to the main menu. The servers will then create a new instance and players will be able to log back into the game.”

This can be a very frustrating experience, especially if this is continually happening to yourself. We need to remember that we’re still in Early Access and Atom Universe is still in development. Unfortunately, that’s just the nature of the beast at this stage in development. The question now is how can we improve upon this?

“Behind the scenes, we’re currently focusing on stress testing running all kinds of scenarios that we may encounter further down the line. By running these tests we’ll be able to identify any issues that are affecting us and we’ll be able to implement a fix. Over time we will start to see the servers become more and more stable and these connection drop outs will become less frequent.”

With this issue being common for some Early Members during the Block Party events we host fortnightly, it’s left us with a question and that is should we continue these events, or hold off until the servers become more stable? 

DevBlog #30 - Advancements in the Clothing Department

Greetings and welcome to another DevBlog!

This week, we're happy to say that first implementation clothing has now been added into Atom Universe!

It's time to break away from your leather space suits and time to kick back in some more casual clothing.

With v0.3.9.4112 Steam Early Access players can try out the new attire by opting into our Kingpin branch, but please do remember that if you're wanting to attend this Saturday's Block Party you will need to opt-out and return back to the public branch.

Mix up your style with clothes and accessories. 

While this being the first implementation, the clothing options are quite limited. Adam will have a choice of two t-shirts, two sets of trousers and two types of shoes. Whereas Eve will be able to choice from a tank-top, trousers, fabulous looking black dress and two pairs of shoes. Swimwear is also available for both avatars, so if you find yourself in the Mirage House, it's time to catch some sunshine!

You'll also be able to change the colour of certain pieces of clothing from the User panel in the main menu. This way, you'll be able to keep your avatars looks pretty fresh until we're able to add more clothing to the wardrobe!

We're still working on bringing this update to the public version Steam and PlayStation 4. Once we've  got any additional information available, we'll be posting it right here on our blog.

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DevBlog #29 - First Look of the Treasure Island

Greetings and welcome to this week's DevBlog.

Previously, in DevBlog #25 we released a mysterious screenshot taking from inside a darkened hut looking through a window onto a clear blue ocean, which we dubbed as the "Top Secret Project". 

Now, we know you're all waiting for more details about this space and it just so happens that KaptinFathead has got the latest news about this space!

Video by KaptinFathead

What do we know so far? 

The "Top Secret Project" is known as Treasure Island. It's still in development and it will be getting added to Atom Universe as a Private Space. The Treasure Island will be our largest Private Space to date. Ranging from sandy beaches to a tropical forest, a mighty pirate galleon to homely fishermen huts. 

We'll be looking to add an additional mini-game exclusive to the Treasure Island. There will also be exclusive rewards that you'll be able to unlock as you progress through the mini-game. we will be taking a closer look at these feature at a later date. 

You'll be able to take a stroll down the beach and walk into the water up to waist height, but you won't able to go for a swim just yet. Once more, swimming is another mechanic we'll be looking to implement at a later date. 

Currently, the Treasure Island is only explorable during the daytime, but we'll be looking to include a day and night cycle that's similar to SubD Studio's Mirage House. 

We would love to hear your thoughts about the Treasure Island, please feel free to post them down below. 

That about wraps things up for this week, until next time, peace. 

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.