[MTA:SA] Back with the milk and cigarettes - Dev Fireside Chat #2

[Badandy]

SAVLINE ROLEPLAY
MTA:SA RP Dev Fireside Chat
SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2024




A MONTH.... TO GET MILK AND CIGARETTES?

I believe I owe everyone an explanation on why the second fireside dev chat is a month later when I said this would be every two weeks. This past month, my life got in the way when I bought a new car and was sick for over a week. It doesn't sound like much but it was a pain in the ass. Anyway, this update will go over more fundamentals of the server including the interaction system and the main way the player will interact with the server like with objects, vehicles, or other players. We are working towards a server that doesn't have many commands that you have to remember and most actions a player needs to do will be through the interaction system or items.

After experiencing the 1.0.0 server, I learned what to adapt for our next version. One important feature was right-click menus that allow players to right-click entities to perform actions. Right away, I knew I could improve them since they weren't used everywhere and they were quite limited. Along with that, there wasn't a universal interaction key but individual features may have their own way of handling actions. I believe in unifying and having a global solution so playing on the server is consistent and reliable. The next two sections will cover each one in a little more detail and what to expect from them on the live server.


Right Click Menus

Right click menus are one of the most versatile features we can use on the server to make it easier to take action and play on the server. Entities can have multiple areas on them to be able to right-click and perform an action. For example, vehicles can have doors, a trunk, a hood, and a gas door. In the previous 1.0 version, they only worked on the whole entity but now we are able to define these specific zones. When you use the key bind to enable the mouse, you can hover the mouse over different parts of the entity to see if there's a right click menu, and if there is, a tooltip with the name of the part or entity will appear. At that point, you can right click and see the actions you can perform. Depending on the action, you may not be able to perform it unless you have satisfied a condition. For example, trying to open a trunk when you don't have a key to it if it's locked.


Tool tip showing when hovering over the vehicle's door.


Right clicking the trunk shows the options (In Development)


Interaction Points

Interaction points are more straightforward where you walk up to an entity or part of an entity and a message will appear on your UI that will tell you that you can do an action. For example, "Press E to open hood". These UI elements will have multiple versions to suit different player's tastes. The one shown is the minimalist version so it doesn't get too much in the way. There will be one that is shown in the middle bottom of the screen as well that's more apparent. If there are multiple actions available at the same point, you will be prompted to select one. Interaction points will only show available actions if certain conditions are met like if you are on foot, holding something, etc. so it has the flexibility we need to develop content for the server.


Standing at the hood of a vehicle and having a message in the upper left explaining the action.



The Future

Currently, we are still working on the tools and systems that will power the content that the players will play. This is the real nitty gritty stuff and the plan currently is to finish up most of the systems this month and work on content during October and November. We will be asking for feedback on the way about items, furniture, jobs, and more. Friday the 13th is our next dev chat and we will have much more to share at that point that including more about interaction, vehicles, objects, and properties. We are still planning on releasing in December of this year and I hope to see you there.