Community Update
First and foremost, I want to start by saying thank you to those of you who are still here to read this. It'd be an understatement to say that we've had a lot of obstacles to overcome these past few weeks and our staff have worked extremely hard, day in day out, in order to keep this dream of ours a reality. I know a lot of you may still have some concerns or doubts about the status of Rage Roleplay and how recent events will affect us going forward, so let me make this perfectly clear... RageRP is very much alive.
It goes without saying that a few mistakes have been made, in regards to staff, development and even the open-beta and it's important that you know that although you might not see what goes on behind the scenes, we have taken all of this on board and we are working tirelessly to bring you a better Rage Roleplay, without the stress and community BS that we had previously.
Obviously Rome wasn't built in a day and I know a lot of you are eager to return to roleplaying and in line with being transparrent, yes... I could have put the server back up by now with the old script and the same old problems but I don't want to do that. Since the unfortunate departure of Golden and Sparx, I've stepped up and taken over the development of the server as a whole and as such, I want to ensure that I deliver a more stable and more feature packed version of what you all came to know and love (and sometimes hate).
That said I can't take all of the credit, Juggernogga has joined the development team permanently and is for lack of a better phrase, my right hand man in this endevour, so please... Make sure you show him your appreciation too.
With all that in mind... Let's dive in to what's been going on, shall we?
User Control Panel
One of the things I was working on before the craziness was a new version of the User Control Panel that would streamline a lot of the existing features as well as add a few new exciting ones... Along with that a more fitting style. I had originally planned to release this before the madness however due to the timing of work and reality, I had to delay it which I suppose now is a good thing as it means I'm able to give you something new in addition to the changes to the server.
I don't want to reveal too much right now as it would somewhat provide unwanted spoilers for the upcoming development blogs, but in the meantime here are a few images for you to feast your eyes on.
Server Update
Where do I even begin... One thing that I wanted to avoid was giving you a newer version of the same. There were some serious issues during the open-beta that would've have required extensive amounts of time to fix due to the archecture of the script and the language (Node / JS) and it's lack of object-orientated structure. Instead I wanted to do something different, I wanted to build something that'd be self sufficient and easily maintainable in the future, even if something unfortunate was to happen to me, the person taking over would have an easier job of it.
That said we made the decision early on (I guess we made it before the madness happened really, within the development team atleast) that we'd instead use a more OOP approach and as such we started to migrate and build everything that was good from the existing base using C# for both the server-side and the client-side systems, giving us a more consistent approach towards development.
In addition to that, I am in the midst of developing new guidelines for our UI and visual elements moving forward, again to give that more consistant feel but also to help improve user experience as a whole. This ultimately means that anything that you'd previously seen will have changed, from the login to the character selection, character creation, faction management, inventory, the lot.
With that in mind I'm not going to wow you all with pretty pictures or videos of everything that we have, I do want some anticipation and excitement to come from this development log.
What I will show you in the meantime is the new login, character select and the new spawn selection process.
So what else is new?
Factions / Groups
I suppose the biggest thing right now would be factions... Unlike before we've now introduced both factions and groups. Factions are already established organisations, for example the LSPD, the Fire Department and so forth and in the future would also include any group of legal status that would obtain an official status. A group is something that a player can create and set up themselves and then manage, allowing you to invite other players, manage ranks, rank permissions, both from in-game and the UCP.
Most importantly, a player is not restricted to a single group therefore allowing an unlimited amount of possibilities.
Inventory System
We've also made a few improvements to the inventory system, allowing for us to make quick changes and even add new items straight away, allowing us to create items that would benefit roleplay for player-owned businesses.
Items also now have weight and players have a max-carry amount unless they possess a backpack to extend it.
Spawn System
Unlike before, we wanted to give players the ability to choose where they spawn (within reason). When you first create a character you will spawn at the default location but as you play and move about your last location is also updated. If you disconnect and reconnect within a certain period (i.e. crashing, having to restart game, etc) you will automatically be spawned at your last location - thus preventing players from relogging to avoid arrest or roleplay.
If you return after that period, you will still be able to choose from the default location or your last known position.
As you develop your character, you will also be given the options of spawning at your faction or group spawn point and any of your owned businesses or properties.
Vehicle Keys
Another little neat thing (atleast in my opinion, rage about to ensue) is the addition of actual vehicle key items as see here:
Essentially when you purchase a vehicle you will receive a key that corresponds to that vehicle (based on the vehicle ID in the brackets). Without the key you can not lock / unlock, start the engine or intract in any other way with your vehicle. This also expands the scope of the mechanic job along with a new business type for handling replacement keys, key cutting and a few other nifty little things for you to see in the near future.
Clothing
I've done away with the previous system for clothing (the pre-set upper body combinations) and restored it to the way we all know and love, enabling that level of freedom and creativity. With that obviously comes the potential for unrealistic outfits and as such, I've given staff a few little commands in order to tackle that. Better watch out.
I've also reintroduced wardrobes which are essentially saved outfit combinations that can then be accessed via a player owned property (business or house), a personal vehicle (truck) and a few other places (LSPD, FD, etc). These allow you to store outfits and name them in order to be able to quickly change into those jazzy top hats at a moments notice.
Closing Remarks
As I said, I didn't want to overwhelm you with pretty pictures and fancy videos but instead give you a more detailed rundown of what is to come. I feel I may have repeated myself a few times in this post so please do excuse me, it's late, I'm tired and I need sleep (and alcohol).
I hope that this post restores a little faith in everyone knowing that things are progressing and please if you have any questions or suggestions on what we can do to improve Rage Roleplay, hit me up.