One of the biggest changes since the last update is the complete rewrite of how I handle player input. I was noticing a significant jitter even when I was running on a flat surface with a consistent velocity. The problem was even worse when I connected multiple clients in multiplayer. After dumping all of the simulation data into an excel spreadsheet and putting my graphing skills to use I found a number of bumps in what should have been a straight line. Ouch. So I went back to the drawing board and created a new input system.
The engine now keeps track of all the player input and simulates the input on both the client and server. Each input is tracked and verified once it has been processed on the server. This means the input is much more responsive client side than it was in the past and it feels much more responsive over a network connection.
I also had some time to work on more spell effects. In Spoxel there are a number of different disables that you can build into your spells. You have a complete disable with the ‘stun’ effect as shown below.
You also have a movement disable with the ‘freeze’ effect.
There are a few other disables planned but they haven’t been implemented yet. I also worked on the location targeting shape which applies constant ticks to everything in its area. This targeting shape is affected by the ‘radius’ mutator just like the AoE targeting shape. This targeting shape can be used to do everything from creating a field of constant damage to creating a magical gate to teleport entities to different locations. The visual effects are shown below. First up is the arcane variation.
Then we have a frost location effect putting the chill on your enemies.
Or maybe you want to shock your enemies with nature damage.
Or you may want to just roast your enemies alive.
awesome