We are still working on the next large Modbox update – coming mid June. Largest change is the expansion of the mods system – including a Dungeon mod with a completely different entity set:
Large new changes coming:
– Haptic feedback! For when shooting / hitting
stuff
– ‘Game mode’ system. The default
game mode for creations is ‘Sandbox’,
where there is no health / inventory, and you can
spawn whatever while playing. We are adding
additional game modes that you can choose for your
creation to have to set it’s rules. Rules like
allowing teleporting, default tools and options, and
eventually additional systems like health /
inventory. Eventually you should be able to join a
server running the ‘deathmatch’ game
mode with a score/health system, that uses a
variety of mods for its level
– New ‘Main Menu’ – the
current Modbox menu is the UI cube that comes up in
edit mode. We decided we needed to make a simple
‘main menu’ for loading creations, going
from edit to play mode, joining online games, and
setting options, and the UI cube is now just the
‘edit menu’ for editing. This is part of
the change in making it easier for people to consume
content, without having to dive into the complexity
of editing creations.
– New Mods: Target Practice (with
scoreboard/highscores), and new ‘sports
pack’ mod. We are hoping to get the Dungeon
mod released for mid June, but we are still working
on the actually game mode gameplay for it (along
with working on what a ‘game mode’
is). Our goal for our own mods is to
develop stuff thats fun to build levels for –
so we are planning a Dungeon mod and a possible
‘Escape Room’ mod to develop
internally
– Hopefully some tutorial videos on advanced
building
Multiplayer:
I was expecting a open beta of multiplayer to launch this month, but it has been delayed. I think it’s important the game has depth and is incredibly fun when just playing by yourself – so I am focusing on that before focusing again on multiplayer (core of the networking works, it’s just a matter of a ton of polish and bug fixing). The last version of Modbox had a lot to offer players who wanted to edit and create their own content – but not enough for people who wanted to just consume, so I am hoping to address that with this next update (with a lot of new content / game modes). The date I am aiming for the multiplayer beta is now end of June
ModboxSDK
To create mods modders will use the ModboxSDK. As an example Brian Lindenhof created a spectator camera and a twitch chat window all with the SDK:
Messing with the #ModBox SDK 😀#VR #Gamedev #HTCVive
(@Alientrap) pic.twitter.com/pYbq6UtHck— Brian Lindenhof (@TheShadowBrain) May 10, 2016
We’ve developed Modbox entirely with modding
in mind, ‘eating our own dogfood’ to
develop the modding tools while we developed the
game from the start, so modding the game really
allows you to add anything.
We will be keeping the ModboxSDK closed for the next
2 months so we can better refine how modders can
make content, and decide what to include/exclude. If
your interested in trying out the SDK – and
have a lot of Unity/C# experience –
use this form to apply to check it out.
Thanks for the interest / support of Modbox! This is
a long term ambitious project for us – so any
feedback at this early stage definitely helps. Let
us know what you think on the
Steam forums,
– Lee