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Project Ion - MMO (open for testing)

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by Tesla-Coil, Dec 27, 2012.

  1. StefDiesel

    StefDiesel

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    I'm interested in this game, made a community forum here: http://projection.icyboards.net/.

    Maybe you wanna add it to the links section :)

    Can't wait for patch 0.6 now.
     
    Tesla-Coil likes this.
  2. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Nice to see you created a forum, did read the topics already that you created as admin.
    We already have a community forum going but having more places to visit is no bad luxury.

    Maybe you decide after checking out the current forum to join that one as it has some history already with similar topics as yours has and will get.

    If you going to continue working on your forum i will certainly add it to places i maintain for the project, like the current forum or by example on the facebook page.

    We also have two different from wiki's by now that could also be in your interest maybe.
     
  3. Big Les Hefty Gordon

    Big Les Hefty Gordon

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2014
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    Hello all Im Les big les hefty in game
     
    Tesla-Coil likes this.
  4. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Nice to see people from the game joining the Unity forum as well.
    It is a great community forum to get familiar with gamedevelopment.

    The game is coming closer to a new release but since my eagerness is overwelming i can not give a realistic ETA anymore. :)

    The only thing i can hope for is a new official video that is showing the latest development for 0.6.0.

    For now i have made a video from their release from a WIP on the global, HoF and ATH FX.
    Enjoy and please like the video if you have a youtube account.

     
  5. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Seems the end is near, the end of VU 0.5.9 that is.
    Took this post from the official website, happy reading and do not forget to check out the screen shots.


    Hello everyone. I'm sorry for taking so long to post some news here. Sadly, there has been a lack of (good) news worthy of mentioning in this section. Everyone following us closely in the #TestBuilt IRC channel received the most detailed and up to date information. Most of which has been concerning blocking issues and fumbling with some of the Unity Pro features.

    In the meanwhile we also continued with the 100 minutes of Open Season events every Sunday. A cool tradition alleviating the fact that the "old alpha" version closely resembles a loaf of stale bread. I have been in-game for the reward ceremony and a friendly chat, which was a nice opportunity to elaborate on some of the bigger issues we'd been facing. With that said, I'm very happy to announce that we've managed to overcome the big issues and are back on track testing new features.
    Now, with our reclaimed ability to make test builds again, there is nothing stopping me from sneaking out some screen shots taken from our latest build. Video is a different story as my laptop drops to 5fps on high quality settings. Oh well, we might not be focused on eye candy too much but it sure does make a difference when things are looking nice.

    It's been tough to delay everything as much as it has been, just to work around issues with the engine. After all, we bought a license in the hopes of making our lives easier. The good news is that Unity noticed the issue reported on terrain performance and will be fixing it. I'd like to thank all of you who have been patiently supporting us during all this time and I promise to do more frequent news updates in the days ahead. Before returning to work on the new release I'll just leave you all with this short summary of work done, in progress and to do.

    Cheers!

    - fixed: A custom Terrain and Tree system to circumvent the issues with the Unity system
    - fixed: Working around an Out-of-memory error on builds using asset bundles
    - fixed: Several issues caused by the above mentioned fixes

    - done: Implementing Unity pro features and optimized (terrain) shaders/textures
    - done: Standalone database preparation and (performance) testing.
    - wip: Rebake shadows on terrain after shaders/textures changes
    - wip: Database implementation and testing in the server build
    - wip: UMA Armors / Clothes by participants
    - todo: Implement and test creatures, areas and npcs
    - todo: A fresh website and forum are in preparation
     
  6. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

    Joined:
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    A lot is happening still behind the scenes, another two news updates and two new video's from latest progress.

    Enjoy the read and watch!

    News update one


    News update two



     
  7. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    TestBuilt is closing in on the new release 0.6.0.
    They have released a few sneak preview previews last night showing a couple of different weapons.
    (Just a small grab out of the armory.)

    A good chance we going to see TestBuilt creating it's own W.I.P in preparation for the new release.





    Feel free to give feedback on the project trough this topic and a big thank you to everyone who has participated in this thread.
     
  8. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

    Joined:
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    On July 29 2013 a interview was released with the Project Ion developers by Entropia Planets Forum.

    Entropia is a game were till now most of Project Ion participants have roots.
    Due to the reason so many people were compelled with the development of this new title they found it suitable to post the interview on their forum.

    Several times it has been called a new PE, a EU detox, and it has been laughed off as a cheap clone from the both mentioned.

    Believe it or not, but by now the interview is one of the most viewed topics on the forum there and still climbing up in the ranks.



    A special thanks again to the Entropia Planets Forum crew and members for this first and official interview. For sure the best Entropia forum around! :cool:
    Be sure to check their interview from back then if you not yet did.

    A few community members thought it would be a good time to do another interview so we collected these 20 questions and interviewed the developers.
    These are the questions and answers from the new interview for 2014. :rolleyes:


    First i would like to ask you some questions in common.

    How many people are involved directly on this project until now?
    Not sure what's implied by directly. John (Joey) and I (Jelle) started the fire and two friends are involved at this moment. There's Schlumpfsack & Kalamona who made us some awesome artwork giving Project Ion it's current look and feel. Add to that a bunch of die-hards staying in close touch with us and supporting us in any way possible. That only leaves us to mention the people that spent time to download the package and register at a website hosted at a consumer line ip address...

    How many people have registered until now?
    Hah, that's a good one! I could take this opportunity and say we have 5421 registered users. It is the actual amount of registered users while writing this. The amount of users entering Project Ion and making an avatar is 1955 though. And I'm sure there's a bunch of alts in there too – lol.

    How many active accounts (used avatars) approximately?
    Your guess is as good as ours. We'd be honored if 10-20% of the 1955 accounts are serious.
    Development of 0.6 is taking it's precious time so we have regular visitors returning to keep an eye on things.


    On what did you guys spend donations so far?
    A Unity Pro license, a web host and some fresh assets for v0.6. We are on a very tight budget and reserving it for the bare essentials: An auto updater and beer for example ;)

    Any black budget? O wait that is confidential or not?...
    I'm too white to speak about black in public (these days...)

    Some time has passed since someone asked you if there are any plans to make Project Ion a Real Cash Economy. Whats up with that idea?

    This question was answered in our first interview with our friends over at Entropia Planets Forum. The trading currency mentioned there has been realized with the Project Ion Dinar. It's the base on which items and resources are valued in game. A payout system is (still) considered unviable. We have a couple of cool ideas but those are strictly confidential.



    Are there gonna be EULA rules?
    Only if there's an urgent reason to do so. Most people with common sense will probably enjoy themselves without the need for any rules. Intentionally harming the project or other people is bad, but even a EULA doesn't stop some people from doing so. In that sense we hope to suffice with a new kick/ban system for v0.6.

    Are there gonna be in-game moderators or people with other special rights?
    This functionality is actually built and tested already. In our case our names will be gold colored and preceded by [TB], to indicate we are from the TestBuilt team. In this state we can do some 'special' things to check for issues and/or support people who are stuck somewhere. The system was built with expandability in mind so expect to hear more about it next vu.

    Not long from now the new Unity 5 will get released, do you guys have plans to migrate to that?
    We've only got one Unity (5) license to work with at the moment so I'm sure we'll at least attempt the upgrade. The biggest challenge will probably be replacing the outdated hardware we're working with. The ACER laptops shut down during heavy load so we'll give ACER a chance to redeem themselves with a complimentary set of Predator G's or something ;)

    Any plans to support the Oculus Rift?
    We're clueless about the requirements for this device. Could be interesting if it's not too much work
    but no plans yet.




    Are you already on the payed (Pro) version of Unity 4 or still using the free one?
    Yes :)

    Anything specific you guys would like to have as 3D model that maybe the community can help you with?
    The only specific items we're looking for are wearables for the UMA avatar system. Neither of us are tailors so different sets of clothes will be much appreciated. The only requirement is that texture overlays share the same UV mapping as the base character. This is to ensure that clothes can be drawn directly on the avatar and still remain below any equipped armor part models.

    Do you guys build your own models or are most taken from the Asset store?
    We did build a lot of different models when we initially started the project. Combined with free assets from the web we had enough to see what the code was doing. When more people started testing the early versions there were also kind folks like Schlumpfsack and Kalamona to support us with a makeover for buildings and new mobs. There are still a couple homemade models in game.

    "Open Season" was supported by the most shady society... What can you tell us about them? who and what they are?
    I could, but then I'd have to kill you ;)



    Is "Open Season" a event that will survive the test of time and can we expect similar events for the other professions?
    Yes. There is no event system yet though we have some features that could be expanded upon. Hunting, mining and crafting will most likely be similar to how Open Season is done and we also want to do something for the PvP fight night events. Unfortunately the first PvP event organized by gK didn't work out due to networking issues. I can hardly wait to try this again with the Lidgren solution...



    Now we left to these five last question. Would like to hear a answer from both of you.

    What were the first thoughts when you guys started this game?
    Joey: I just started tinkering and gained experience which resulted in what we have today.
    Jelle: This is awesome. Free tools to learn (game)development in a fun way. Mankind has certainly come a long way since the Shoot'Em-Up Construction Kit for the C-64.


    Are there any special things on your wish-list's what you want to acquire?
    Joey: More than plenty, just not ready for disclosure.
    Jelle: The absolute Nr 1 on my wish-list is to be part of a civilization capable of critical thinking.


    What are your most time consuming tasks so far?
    Joey: Everything has been time consuming. Too much to go into specifics for this interview.
    Jelle: Research, communication, maintenance and administration. Basically everything that I don't want to bother Joey with while he's focused on performing his magic... ;)


    What will be your most time consuming tasks after the ones mentioned in the question before?
    Joey: Again everything. My attention will be directed at the interactive side of things. Developing
    the interfaces for different (maintenance) tasks will consume a decent chunk of time.
    Jelle: I'm looking for a new job to pay the bills so that's probably going to take it's toll on the time
    available to do project related things.




    What are your thoughts on the upcoming update, any visions of the future to share?
    Joey: It's looking good so far. The visuals as well as the mechanics under the hood are a reason for optimism.
    Jelle: The 0.6 update is a huge milestone for Project Ion. The future will be determined in large part by our ability to replace our old development hardware and scaling up to host a larger amount of concurrent users. A second unity license would make collaboration easier as well.


    Thanks a lot both for your time and these answers and looking forward to all that is coming!
     
  9. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    TestBuilt has not started a new topic yet on the Unity forum, so i will take the freedom to inform everyone again about the latest progress.

    The new update is coming close to completion, after a year of work on it that is!
    The official team is strengthened with Tedjuh as web and forum developer.
    With his help the team has released a new website and opened as well a new forum, both in full control from the developers team.

    We are as well spoiled with a new screenshot and news updates in the last month.
    Make sure to check them to get all the information!


    We still not sure if we can welcome the new child V.U.0.6.0 before the end of this year but all focus and aim are on it to realize this.

    John, the lead-developer is and has worked his ass off in this last year to get the project in it's current state behind the curtain.
    He is responsible for as good as all the work VU0.6.0 harbors on many fronts, he will be the hero in my and many people their eyes.
    It is understandable but a shame he has no time to hang out with us currently but i am sure we going to see him and the other developers a lot more as soon VU0.6.0 is released!

    Hope this time some Unity developers will respond again on this topic, since a developers screen is posted for the first time in this thread... lol
    Also hope the new update will become noteworthy enough to be noticed by Unity itself.
    Lot of pioneering has been going on... :)

    Well feel free to put some feedback people!
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2014
  10. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Silence before the storm?

    The developers posted another news update with two new screens a week ago.

    I made a video in the current build, working on another one as well. Enjoy!
     
  11. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Happy new year to everyone on the Unity forum!

    Glad we have reached this wonderful year for Project Ion.
    On the moment we are with a closed group testing the new version and tracking down all bugs.

    All with all it looks very promising. Hope i can soon refer to the actual official announcement of the public release, till then we have to do it with the "Take down notice" @ the official website news section.

    To conclude i post some cool screens made in the project while testing!
    Feel free to visit this album on IMGUR.
     
  12. YoungDeveloper

    YoungDeveloper

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    Jun 28, 2013
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    I remember you posted this on www.armedunity.com very nice project.
    Have there been any in-game hacking attempts?
     
  13. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Oct 30, 2012
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    Thanks for your reply and question.
    So far not that i know of, but the developers may know more than me about that subject.

    Do know they learned and did a lot on security and stability in this new V.U.
    Feel free to tap into IRC to talk with one of them, Jelle is most of the day available in there.
     
  14. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Promised another video some postings ago, not of my own hand, but it at least reflects the current state of the project.
    Seems the road is open for public release since most serious bugs are tackled.

    Enjoy (best in HD) and thumbs up! ;)
     
  15. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Another news update has reached us from the TestBuilt facility.

    The message needs some further investigat(ion) if you know what i mean.

    Stuff is really going well and it might be worth to take a look one of these days if you guys and girls have some time.

    The server is still 24/7 available as it has been for the last few years, most active with players from Europe currently.

    Since game dynamics not allow to give equipment for free you will find yourself limited in the things you can do.
    Still it is very good possible to play as free player by collecting materials called "Pick up's" or to help out other avatars in task as healing them.

    Most do a small donation that gives them access to the in-game currency and thus gives them the opportunity to play the game without to much effort.

    You can find more information on the main website if you have become interested.
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2015
  16. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    A lot has been improved over the last months.
    PigBenis a known player for many in the project has come back after a year for a recap.
    (Did cover also some other Unity titles already, check his channel on youtube for them.)



    He will continue his review with a series of video's covering all the professions and game-play so far in-game.
    Feel free to download the latest client and feedback is always appreciated.
     
  17. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    Developers seem to be closing in on a new VU bringing vehicles to the project.
    These screens were shared by the internal testing team, besides that we were also spoiled with another few videos by PigBenis. As said in the last post, he does do cover a lot of different games, including other Unity titles.

    His latest video covers the crafting so far developed and the videos before did cover the hunting and mining.







    Feel free to find more details about this project trough the main website.





     
  18. Tesla-Coil

    Tesla-Coil

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    After a 3 year break i back to explore and support the project.

    The developers not stood idle while i was away. To short involved yet for give a clear overview but these screens i took two days ago while testing the new update that will be released today.

    ps. don't mention the Fps, these screens i took on a Probook 4530s :D

    2019-06-12 (49).png
    2019-06-12 (26).png 2019-06-12 (35).png