Hey all. Summer is here, which means it's a great time for some SS13. I've been pretty busy this last month, so outside the few tests and the Fallout event, I haven't had much time for SS13. This will be true for this week and the next, but I should have some more time for the rest of the summer.
With that in mind, I do have some definite plans for Urist this summer, and they include some exciting updates and some unique events, new and old. I'll do my best to keep you updated on these plans throughout the summer.
My plan is to be running tests for infestation and colony mode by August at the latest. What's slowing this down is the fact that I'm also working on merging the latest updates from Bay, which will bring in a ton of new features and oodles of bugfixes, along with some optimizations. There's some stuff in there that is very useful for colony mode and some other plans of mine and Scrdest's, so it's important that we get that done ASAP. I'll still be working on assault and other little things in the meantime though, so Urist will still be seeing updates on a semi-regular basis. Another thing I'm working on in the same branch as the Baymerge is some improvements and optimizations to both the lighting system and the process scheduler, and this ties into some updates that utilize BYOND 510, which I'm sure you've heard about from the servers that have implemented it already, as it virtually eliminates lag from previous lag inducing actions like bombing and etc. Would be nice for Fallout rounds for sure
Because of the Baymerge and 510, most of my devtime in July will be devoted to those big projects. However, I do plan on wrapping up assault and paranoia and making them votable within the coming weeks, and possibly getting an early test of either infestation or colony mode out there. Colony mode is something I haven't really explained much on here, but it's planned to be a kind of survival mode inspired by Rimworld. You'll need to survive on a hostile planet, build shelter to survive the weather, fend of hostile animals and raiders, scavenge for supplies and work with the other survivors to build a shuttle and get off the planet. I'll go more into detail on it before the first test, but it'll be less combat oriented than assault or infestation, and more focused on building, crafting and survival. So, here's a tentative testing schedule for the next few weeks.
This weekend (July1st-3rd) No tests/events because I'm busy.
July 8th Paranoia Test (possibly the last one) and Assault Test. Probably around 7PM EST, but I'll post a definite time later.
July 15th Assault Test (possibly the last one) and a Paranoia test if some major issues come up in the 8ths test. If not, it could be a votable mode by this point
July 16th MIght hold an event this night, or the 15th if we don't run a Paranoia test
Past that, things are iffy. The weekend of the 22nd I'm busy the whole way through, but I may run something small during the week. The big Bay update will be done by the end of July, so we could be running Infestation or Colony tests by the end of July, beginning of August, but I'll keep you updated on that.
That's all for now, hope you all are doing well and I'll see you on the server. Cheers!