Dec 13, 2019

Main Assembly - Seraxia | Team17

Today we're incredibly excited to announce our partnership with Bad Yolk Games to bring the sandbox creation game, Main Assembly, to Steam Early Access in 2020!

Take your first steps into Main Assembly's world of ingenious inventions with our new announcement trailer:

https://youtu.be/B0qA9HmE2eM

Sign up now to get early access to the closed beta!

Prepare yourself to become a master inventor and stay up to speed with all things Main Assembly by Wishlisting on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078920/Main_Assembly/

Sign up to the Team17 Newsletter or keep up to date with all things Main Assembly here:

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Oct 11, 2019

Discord Community Contest #2

Main Assembly - MowHammer

Hello again everyone!

It's time for our second Discord competition, but first time we post about it here! It will run from Friday (2019-10-11) till Sunday midnight (2019-10-13), then we will announce the winners on Monday (2019-10-14).

👉https://discord.gg/wGH4gsm👈

This time we want your ideas for achievements we can add into the game.
The achievement can be in any part of the game (challenge level, sandbox or multiplayer) but keep in mind the complexity of the achievement will matter in our decision.

Your suggestion should have a Title and be followed by a short description on how to get it.
For example:
Star collector - Collect 20 stars.

To participate just post your suggestion in #competition in our Discord channel.

Like last time you can vote on suggestions you like with :heart:

We will decide on who the 2 winners are, we will factor in number of votes, how technically feasible the suggestion is and how well it fits in our game and most importantly how good it is.

These are the prizes the winners will get to choose from.
*Main Assembly mouse pad
*Main Assembly poster
*Main Assembly t-shirt
*Bad Yolk coffee mug

Sep 5, 2019

Gamescom's best of the rest: the coolest indies round up

Kine - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice Bell)

This would not be RPS if I didn’t return from Gamescom and write minimally about the triple A-xtravaganzas and maximumly about smaller, weirder things wot I saw. So here, have at it: my favourite of the independently made games I saw at this year’s show. I flatter myself that the selection is broad enough that it covers genres to suit every taste. Strategy games! Card games! Building games! I haven’t picked all story driven adventure games or RPGs! That’s personal growth on my part, that’s what that is.

Highlights include the one about loneliness, the one about loneliness, and the one about death.

(more…)

Aug 7, 2019

Devblog #1 - Programming Robots

Main Assembly - MowHammer

Hi folks, [BYG]Watts here. This is my first devblog and we're going to talk about something near and dear to my heart: programming!

In Main Assembly, we want to allow players to control elaborate contraptions and make cunning devices, but in an approachable and enjoyable fashion. Not everyone enjoys writing code, after all!

The brain of any bot is either a Docking Station where your little drone avatar can directly interface with the robot, or a Processor which is designed to operate without direct control. While your drone is docked, your controller inputs (mouse and keyboard or gamepad) are available for you to use in programming. Both Docking Stations and Processors can also use inputs from sensor parts, such as proximity and orientation sensors, get feedback from powered parts, and generate their own signals such as waves and noise.

As an important aside, Docking Stations are available in two flavours. The Simple Docking Station has reduced capabilities but can automatically program itself to control robots that look a bit like a conventional car. The Advanced Docking Station is, well, much more advanced!

When you have a docking station or processor on a robot, you can use a shortcut to enter Programming Mode at any time during crafting.

The programming itself uses a node- or graph-based representation. Signals carrying fractional values (normally between -1.0 and +1.0) enter the Docking Station or Processor, from inputs or sensors, and can then be combined with simple math operations (addition, multiplication etc.), tested against each other (minimum, maximum, equality etc.), used with very simple memory systems (take the mean value, delay the input for some time, etc.), and finally sent to powered parts!

One of the simplest such parts is a Motor. If the programming sends a value of 1.0 to a motor, it spins at its maximum speed. If it instead receives 0.25, it will spin at quarter speed. And if it is sent -0.5, it will spin backwards at half speed. Most parts accept this kind of continuous input and respond accordingly.

Slightly more complex is the Drive Motor. This combines a simple motor with a mechanism for turning the wheel, a brake and a suspension assembly. Turning and braking are controlled through independent outputs. As the name hopefully suggests, this part is designed to get robots up and driving around with minimum fuss.

Parts such as Servos and Pistons treat the values they receive as a target position, based on their limited range of motion. For example, if a servo can turn from -90° to +90°, a value of 0.5 corresponds to +45°. It will then turn until its actuator is aligned with this target angle, assuming it is not blocked.

Combining all these features allows for a remarkable level of control! Chaining servos, pistons, hinges and motors permits many degrees of freedom, and the programming lets you adjust these parts with as few or many inputs as you need.

You can even make a crab bot with just a handful of servos!