I have started the next phase of the project, which will mainly be preparations for the beta phase. I have a lot of testing and debugging to do, in addtion to multiplayer work, and tutorials, guis, etc.
I also want to add a simple character selection menu and a more complex in-game story feature to provide the basis for an immersive, dynamic, story telling system.
I have spent some time testing the multiplayer functionality on multiple computers. There were some minor network issues, but these seem to have been fixed, and there doesn’t seem to be any issues with the multiplayer components (despite UNET being deprecated in Unity).
I intend to look into multiplayer testing a lot more in the next few weeks, and add some criticial functionality, such as a character selector, and the ability to create an account, choose a username, etc.
I have made some more improvements to the text to speech system in the project. I have added a new voice from Cereproc, this can be selected as a possible voice for the characters in the project.
All character voice settings are now persistent throughout the game, and so it is a simple matter to add new voices and then select which voice (if any) a character should use.
The port is now basically done, but I do need to do some more testing.
I have a minor ongoing issue with the voice recognition keyword recognizer. I am getting an error, but the system works, so this is not a priority.
I had some more serious errors with the shaders for my weather asset, and the Oculus avatar, but I was thankfully able to replace the shaders with others that worked just as well.
I am also using the port as an opportunity to run additonal tests on all aspects of the project. I have already found, and fixed, some minor issues with other systems that I hadn’t tested in some time.
I have also made some improvements to the text-to-speech system in my project. I have added the ability for each of my AI characters to have their own, unique, voice.
Unity 2020.2 is now out, and I have spent the last few days porting my project to it.
So far, it has gone relatively well, but I have uncovered some issues.
UNET is still present and working in 2020.2 (it is slated for removal at a later date), which was a relief.
However, I had to make some changes to the Oculus VR code, due to Unity moving to a new “XR” integration. This was, thankfully, minor.
I also had some random issues with networking, involving server messages not being correctly sent, but these issues seemed to resolve themselves.
I now have a lot of testing to do before I can continue with the project.
The variable time of day code is now working.
This took a lot of time, but it worked out well, and seems to be reliable. It also adds a lot of realism to the project.
I am now working on more bug fixes and improvements.
I have also fixed some issues with the velocity limiter. When travelling at high speeds close to a planet, it was possible for the player to pass through the surface of the terrain.
This is now mostly fixed. I have also made various other improvements to the lighting and shadows, and fixed some more bugs.
I have now moved on to some final debugging for this phase of the project.
I have fixed various issues with the text display, lighting, and AI.
I have also added various other improvements, such as colour coding for text, and other minor improvements.
I am currently working on adding variable day lengths to planets. Up until now, the project has used a single time scale, synced with the server, for all planets.
I need to find a way to add unique day lengths for all planets while also making sure that the time is synced correctly with the server time (so that the time of day is persistent across play sessions, and over the internet).
This is proving to be difficult.
I have been working on adding the complex nav meshes to the dynamic structures, so that the AI characters can automatically transition to and from interiors.
This was quite difficult to get working properly, but it now works. I have also made changes to the AI action code so that the AI can perform a variety of actions in any location or within any interior.
I have also fixed a number of bugs and issues with the AI and navigation code. I am quite pleased with how this system is working.
The structure is now basically done, and the player can interact properly with it, move and rotate it, and customise the interior by moving objects around, etc.
This will be the basis for much more complex crafting and customisation features that I will add later.
I am now working on adding dynamic nav meshes to the interiors to allow AI characters to also enter and interact with items in the interior.
