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January Dev Blog

by with No Comment AnnouncementsServer Updates

Hello all,

January might have seemed like a relatively uneventful month when it comes to visible updates on the server. However, under the hood our team has spent much time planning for the coming year and building a solid groundwork for future updates. We have also quietly implemented a few new changes to the game.

We are aiming to achieve a completely revolutionized game experience in GunColony by our 4th anniversary. In this post I will talk about what we have done in the past few weeks and what we have planned for the months to come.

Weapons

What we have done

One thing that you might have noticed is that the recoil for Snipers, Shotguns, Special Weapons and Sidearms feel very different. The new recoil system offers vastly improved target tracking and aesthetics while giving us more opportunities to balance our weapons against each other. It uses asynchronous code to update your viewing angle 60 times a second to deliver a seamless experience.

What we have planned

  • A new Damage Absorption system for Mob-Arena to make fights more interesting and less like shooting at bullet-sponges
  • A new hit particles system – different particles on hit to help you directly visualize how you damaged the enemy
  • Improved spread system where bullets come out in a simulated barrel that moves with inertia, instead of 100% randomly within a spread cone

Mob Arena

What we have done

We have released a new Mineshaft Mob-Arena map. Check it out!

Watch out for a surprise at Wave 10!!

What we have planned

  • A new respawn system coming soon where dead and new-joining players can be put into the game after a more consistent interval
  • Eventually, a brand new Mob-Arena rework that will completely revolutionize how the game is played; the whole server will share one match and work for one goal

Hostile

What we have done

We have rolled out some stability improvements to the Hostile Alpha mode (that were tested earlier on the main GunColony server) that should make the game run more smoothly.

What we have planned

  • In a few months, Hostile will come back in a big way. We have begun working on the rework in April 2018 and the new mode will feature extreme long-range combat unprecedented in Minecraft, as well as increased freedom for players to try new strategies towards victory.

Visuals

What we have done

We have changed the blood particle effects on some monsters and headshot hits to provide a better visual experience.

What we have planned

  • Blood particles will be improved once again to deliver more detailed information and be more visually pleasing
  • The muzzle flash effect will be optimized for a large (~50%) frametime performance improvement when firing on low-end graphics cards
  • New, unique backgrounds will be added to our in-game menus

New Player Experience

What we have done

We have replaced the spawn with a slightly tighter version of it to better guide new players to getting into their first game.

What we have planned

  • An even smaller spawn where tutorial signs will be visible by looking right behind you – like the iconic first spawn that GunColony had on release
  • A small tutorial for players to grasp the server’s basic mechanics when joining the server for the first time
  • Improvements to when and where in-game tips will show up

Social

What we have done

We have improved our Twitter channel and integrated it into the Discord and website homepage.

What we have planned

  • Better in-game information about our social media sites
  • Updates to our Discord server
  • Resuming of our YouTube channel

Other Changes in January

  • Fixed a bug where the Flamethrower did not count its kills
  • Fixed a bug where explosive weapons did not deal damage properly
  • Fixed an important issue where entities suffering a vanilla-type damage, such as falling, fire, or poison, could not take damage from weapons
  • Monster blood particles are now the correct type for disguised mobs (a skeleton disguised as zombie will now show zombie green blood)
  • Added new “random waves” and “map switch” systems intended for the new Mob-Arena rework, but both are also used in the new map Mineshaft

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A Few End-of-Summer Words

by with 4 Comments Announcements

Hello all,

A new school year is starting, so I am here to announce not only the recent changes, but also my own plans and what it will mean to GunColony.

I was a middle school student when I created the server – “The First Minecraft 3D Gun Server in the World” – and recruited its first team members such as Kiathro. I truly consider it a miracle that it has lived up to this day, and formed such an amazing community that I would never forget nor leave behind. This upcoming academic year, however, will be my fourth year of high school, and I have many more obligations now, from doing research projects to applying to my favorite colleges. Therefore, as school starts back up, I am now forced to cut back on my maintenance of the server in the short term.

I do not mean to abandon GunColony altogether. In fact, when I took a leave for a similar reason more than a year ago, it left a devastating effect on our playerbase, something that I am now trying my best to prevent. This time, I will keep an eye on the forums and Discord for any bug reports, staff applications, and emergency situations with our hosting. Also, I will continue to push out updates when possible. Furthermore, to make up for my relative inactivity, I am offloading much of my work to our staff members, who will gain more power over the administration of the server, have a larger team to collaborate with, and access new tools to help with moderation and creation. I will also continue to play my part in managing the team and providing both general and technical assistance to improve its efficiency.

During the past month, I have done much to solve the server’s utmost performance issues and management complication. As thoroughly explained in the changelog below, I have done a number of code changes to make it easier for our staff to spectate PVP matches and edit the arena world, and it is now also possible for builders to use item frames, armor stands, and paintings in their work. As well, I have upgraded our network performance and solved various optimization issues. Now, the server is an open and bug-free canvas for our staff members and players to each leave their marks on.

I expect myself to be busiest in the following two months, and remain relatively occupied in November and December. Once the college admissions season comes to an end at the turn of 2019, I will be available to work again. I sincerely hope that while I’m away, you will stay with us and help make GunColony a better place.

Best regards. Hky

 

Changelog:

GAMEPLAY

  • Skeletons now have andesite damage particles, rather than iron blocks. The previous effect had the same texture as the headshot effect, which made headshots and bodyshots extra difficult to distinguish.
  • Strays and Skeleton Horses now have the same damage particles as regular Skeletons.
  • Blazes and Magma Cubes now have lava damage particles.
  • Zombie Villagers, Husks, and Zombie Horses now have the same damage particles as regular Zombies.

 

RULES PAGE

Minor clarification updates to the Allowed Mods section of the Rules page. If you are currently using mods, please take a look at it again.

 

STAFF

  • Promoted Rijam and Breaks to administrator, with access to the server files, console, and full in-game management
  • Given pale1 moderator privileges alongside the existing Builder status
  • Staff spectating of PVP arenas now puts them in the spectator mode, preventing interference with the players in match and allowing for freer movement when spectating
  • Removed the temporary global prevention of item frame and painting destruction, which was meant to prevent staff members from accidentally damaging new maps that feature these assets.
  • Added a new, custom protection method that only takes effect when a player is in-game, to allow staff members to maintain and edit maps normally when not in a game.

 

PERFORMANCE

  • Upgraded to a better internet connection, with 300% better download speed, 250% better upload speed, and less ping
  • Tweaked settings in the MySQL database for performance
  • Identified and removed the source of unusual database stress in the website software – fixes long server lag spikes

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New Website Themes

by with No Comment Announcements
Hello all,

Although Hky already posted the news about the new front homepage, I'm happy to reannounce it AND add in the extra news of a new dark theme for the Forums!

NEW FRONT HOMEPAGE



We have just released a new home page for our website! It now showcases many of the server’s most unique features, and also looks much prettier than before. While we sort out some remaining problems with the website, please give some critiques on how the new page looks!

NEW DARK THEME



We've been beta-testing the new dark theme for about a week now, and we're safe to say it's cleaned up and ready for public use! If you would like to know how to change from the default light theme to the new dark theme, follow the instructions here:

[spoiler] STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3

STEP 4

STEP 5
[/spoiler]

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