Update 0.501c Out Now -- Spell Sharing + Air Magic

Update 0.501c is now live! We’re excited to bring you the new Spell Sharing tool that we’ve built into CodeSpells so that you can have all your spells automatically backed up and have the ability to share them with others seamlessly.

We’ve also incorporated some new Air Magic features, including the ability to gain information about the world in different ways and better communicate data. As always, we’ve created some spells to show off these features and are eager to see what people come up with!

There are also several changes to the structure of spells in that all spells can now perform any elemental actions. We’ve gotten rid of the idea of an orb being tied to an element as we found this to be more much more restricting than interesting. Orbs also no longer by default deplete mana per second, so mana consumption is a bit more straightforward when building your spells.

Here’s a few of the main points for this update.

Features

• Spell Sharing
  • We’ve set it up so that you can set up an account in game for CodeSpells
  • and all your spells will get automatically synced across computers
    You can also choose to share your spells or download ones that others have created

• Air Magic
  • Analyze Environment allows gathering of information about the systems of the world to use in spells
  • Analyze World Objects gives spells the ability to collect data about all objects contained in a given region
  • Deplete Mana From Orbs In Region allows removing mana from other orbs by using mana from the current spell
  • Broadcast Message now allows sending of data

• Orbs can now access their global position and rotation at no cost
• Orbs can also be oriented to go towards any global position

Changes

• Combined all spells into single orb type. All powers can be performed from all orbs now
• Spells referencing Broadcast/Receive Message may need to be recompiled
• In Orb: Removed references to Owner -- everything should now reference Creator

Bug Fixes

• Many UI bugs fixed, including common issues when creating a new spell and not selecting correct tabs
• Several fixes to simulations, including water and sand

We think this update is a big step in our vision of CodeSpells. We are excited to continue adding features to the spell sharing, and to the rest of the game. Here’s a few things that we have currently listed for next steps:

• Better foliage - We have a new foliage system almost ready to go that should increase the quality of the visuals of the game substantially. This will also help us tie in better as we continue to extend the fire simulation.
• API Interface - We’re planning on building built in documentation to the game as we feel this is one of the most important aspects of programming. In its own way Blockly does some of this, but without deeper explanations, it’s incredibly hard to work with any type of code.
• Networking - We are now starting to really ramp this up and get networking finished as soon as possible. There’s still plenty of questions and problems to solve there, but we’re looking forward to the continued challenge and making it so that you can experience CodeSpells with friends!
• More JavaScript helper class support - We’ve exposed some aspects of Vector3 and we are going to continue pushing out incremental features to bring more power to spells
• Max time limit per spell - spells don’t have to use mana when inactive anymore, so it’s somewhat common to have spells that linger. There is a way to destroy orbs with Air Magic, but we’d also like for players to be able to set a time limit on their spells to facilitate the process of building spells
• Catch infinite loops - we know this is there and we know it can be tremendously frustrating when you make a mistake and have to restart the game! We’re definitely planning on safeguarding against this.
• Some of the other elemental features we’ll be focusing on next include:
  • Air Magic - Dampen velocities of objects in region
  • Earth Magic - Torque Connection, Multiple Physical Connections per orb,
  • Better Sand
  • Fire Magic - Per object fire simulation, Object creation and destruction

As always, this is all subject to change as we find new solutions and problems, but we like to be as transparent as possible about where we’re at and how we’re building CodeSpells. We look forward to your feedback! Happy Holidays!