Disambiguation of Team Contributions

I – Yingtong, in-game name Hky – lead the staff team as the server owner and write practically all code for the game. However, if you see new weapons or new maps, it usually comes from the Builder team or players in the community. (I occasionally look over and revise them before they are actually added.) Planning is done as a team effort where everyone can contribute their original ideas, but the code-heavy features tend to come from my own ideas due to my familiarity with how doable a complicated plan is to be programmed into the game.

Player count

200K players in our database so far, and growing. Screenshot taken on Feb 11, 2019

November Update

• Introduced “random spawn” feature that allows setting multiple spawn locations for players. Actual chance to be spawned at a location depends on if enemies are nearby
• Made player hitboxes more consistent using new algorithms incorporating vector math (cross products, etc.) to improve the experience hitting enemies in player-versus-player mode
• Tweaked the values of many weapons to make them more evenly matched
• Added a new weapon recoil system to some Sniper Rifles that severely reduces the weapons’ accuracy when firing quickly through extra aim kick to the side

Full update log

Thanksgiving Update

• Two new Scenarios: “Archives”, where players fight with weapons from Goldeneye, and “Hoth” which copiesis inspired by Star Wars
  
• Our builders released 6 new World War II-era weapons for more authentic combat in the Normandy, Stalingrad, and Mannerheim scenarios
• Various aesthetic changes were made to the game’s UI menues

Full update log

Pre-Christmas Update

• The update put together by one of my admins while I was busy working on college essays
• Added a new Santa’s Workshop map (pictured on the right)
• Added new modifications to two Special Weapons

Full update log

Christmas Update

• Added an improved system for weapon recoil. It works around Minecraft’s limitations using multithreaded code that runs 60 times a second (despite Minecraft’s 20Hz game loop) to update players’ viewing direction, syncing up with most monitor refresh rates to offer a “smooth” recoil feeling of your view bouncing up and back down when firing weapons. (> 1,000 lines of code)
•  Released three new weapons that use the new recoil system in order to allow proper testing before adopting it on all weapons
•  Added a new map, “Mineshaft”, to player-versus-player

Full update log

January (Multiple small patches)

• Added a version of the new “Mineshaft” map for Mob-Arena (monster fighting mode). It uses a new arena switching system that allows players to progress between areas of a map. This new system will be used much more ambitiously in a future full rework of Mob-Arena, but I included it in Mineshaft to test for stability. (> 500 lines of code)
• Improved our social media presence by mirroring our Twitter accounts to the server website and Discord announcement channel
• Added functionality to add custom visual effects to explosions. A “mini-nuke” explosion is pictured on the right
• Fixed a long-standing issue that sometimes prevented weapons from doing damage to enemies

January Dev Blog

Work in Progress

• Our building team is working on a massive 2 km by 2 km map for a new, major open-world gamemode
• We have fully drafted plans for a Mob-Arena rework and are working towards bringing it alive in the game
• New UI backgrounds, such as the one pictured on the left, are in the works
• We are rolling out texturing support for weapons which will allow us to easily change their looks and create unlockable “skin” items
• We are currently planning a questing system to motivate players to come back every day for unique tasks and rewards

Bonus Screenshots to end my post!

And one more……………..