Hey Inventors!

Welcome to our 5th developer log and the start of a new weekly tradition!



We want to give you as much information as possible, with insights into what's coming and a back stage pass to the development team! Some weeks we may focus on one mechanic of the game, another we may have big new features and sometimes just what we are currently up to. Whatever shape they end up in we hope these logs will give you food for thought and lots of exciting content!

Without further... droning on! Let's get into everything new this week!


Join Senior Programmer Roger Mattsson for a short beginners guide to bot programming. If you are struggling to make your creations move, this is the place to start! Part one of two is available here:



We will be giving some more advanced tips in the part two of this guide coming in a few weeks


Thank you everyone for taking part in our open beta, there have been some truly incredible creations made so far! We also hope everyone's enjoyed their time and is looking forward to the Steam Early Access launch (June 11th 2020).

The open beta will officially close on the 4th of May 2020 at 5PM BST (GMT+1). There's still time to finish your build, try out some of the mind boggling creations so far in the Steam Workshop or play for the first time! Also, if you have a build you want to carry over, be sure to keep your beta files safe so that you can re-upload them in the early access.



Keep your eyes out on our news for other potential chances to get your hands on Main Assembly before our launch!




We've created a Main Assembly Reddit for people to share their creations, talk about development and help each other out.

Eventually, we'll be looking for keen community members to take over the mod reigns, as Reddit is a community ran platform! Please let us know if you are an especially dedicated inventor that would like to help grow the community. You can find the subreddit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/MainAssembly/


To add to the new weekly traditions, here's our bot pick this week to spotlight created by you the community. This is the SCARAB 8X8 Competition created by Deranger



We were impressed by the clever building and programming that went into this bot to make it able to climb rough terrain.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2077462932

Thank you all for reading the first regular installment in what will become many! You can leave this developer log knowing that you were there for the start of something new!

We hope you're excited for next week where we'll be exploring the intricacies of welding!

You can wishlist Main Assembly here:

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

To keep up to date with everything Main Assembly:

Main Assembly Twitter
Main Assembly Facebook
Main Assembly Discord
Team17 Twitter
Team17 Facebook
Team17 Discord

Here are our Top 10 Community Bot creations so far in the Main Assembly Open Beta!



Thank you everyone for creating such amazing machines so far! Join the open beta yourself now to have the chance to get some of your creations featured, or try out these creations for yourself: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1243740/Main_Assembly_Beta/

Here's a list of the machines and links to download them from the Steam Workshop:

10. F-107 ULTRA SABER by HB Stratos https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2047710463
9. Lotus Climax 24 remake by Gutike https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2046932127
8. Train by Sentin Elliott https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2044850150
7. V-22 Osprey by Archadius https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2042192040
6. Dirt Driver Blue by Silverlotus https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2041224792
5. Jordan 191 formula one racing car by Valkijd2 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2037675354
4. dune_shredder2 by Ph..Phteven https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2037132758
3. Babar's BIG Cargo Plane by Babar https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2008866914
2. Heinkel He 51 by Krautregen https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2005826064
1. Walkertest 02 by Takuro0131 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1998419673

We can't wait to see what else can be created by our talented community!

To keep up to date with everything Main Assembly:

Main Assembly Twitter
Main Assembly Facebook
Main Assembly Discord
Team17 Twitter
Team17 Facebook
Team17 Discord

Hey everyone,

To deliver the best possible experience for players, we've taken the decision to delay the early access release of Main Assembly until June 11th

We're extending the beta to the end of April so players can continue to enjoy the game in the meantime.

Thank you to everyone who has already played the open beta, especially those that have given us valuable feedback and shared their incredible creations.

Join now for free here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1243740/Main_Assembly_Beta/

We look forward to everyone getting their hands on the full game.

To keep up to date with everything Main Assembly:

Main Assembly Twitter
Main Assembly Facebook
Main Assembly Discord
Team17 Twitter
Team17 Facebook
Team17 Discord

Thanks to everyone who took part in our closed betas! We’ve absolutely loved seeing all your Main Assembly creations, so we’ve constructed a limited time open beta! So, get assembling!🤖​

Get your hands on the beta here!







Check out the changelist below!

* All levels have received many tweaks and bug fixes.

    - Reworked lots of objectives in the maps

* More races added in Tundra, including Air races!

* Aerodynamics bug fixes and improvements. Is now more stable at high velocities and the curve of plates makes a difference.

* Added new gizmos to several parts that can be used to set properties so you don't have to do it through the programming menu

    - Gizmos can be cycled through with "T" while having the part selected if the part has multiple properties (more gimzo properties will be added in the future)

* Helper meshes have been added for lots of crafting operations. You will now see how far you have moved/extruded something.

* Removed driving 3 for now. Is being reworked completely

* Added center of mass gizmo, can be enabled through the bot radial menu.

* Changed the categories for programming nodes a bit.

* Can now connect two chassis elements by selecting them and then clicking on the gizmo that appears.

* Lots of optimization

* Lots of bug fixes

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1243740/Main_Assembly_Beta/

It’s competition time…. and it’s a big one!

We want you to design a cosmetic for the Main Assembly drone, and three favourites will be chosen and put in the game!


Twitter: Tweet your artwork, tag @Team17ltd and @BadYolkGames and add the hashtag #MACommunityCreationCompetition!

Instagram: Upload your artwork, tag @Team17ltd and @BadYolkGames and add the hashtag #MACommunityCreationCompetition!

Discord: Upload your artwork in the competition channel on the Main Assembly Discord


The competition closes at 11:00 GMT on Monday 16th March. Both Bad Yolk Games and Team17 will then look through all the entries and shortlist ten entries. We'll let the wonderful Main Assembly Discord community choose three winners! The remaining finalists will win some Bad Yolk Games/Team17 goodies!


Good luck and we can't wait to see all the entries!


Full terms and conditions can be found here!


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

Welcome to the mid-beta2 DevBlog!

We hope you’re enjoying the Beta so far!

Today, we'd like to talk about Kits. Kits allow you to create reusable parts of a robot and share them easily! Kits can be as simple as a single part with perfectly tweaked properties or as complex as an automated segment of a walking centipede with multiple sensors, programmed CPU, and mechanical legs!

Kits are a relatively new addition to Main Assembly, and not yet introduced through the tutorial system, so we’d like to use this opportunity to step through the creation and use of a simple kit!

So how do we go about making one? Here’s a little starter bot we’ll use to test stuff:



The plan here is to make something that acts a little bit like a servo but can spin a full 360 degrees, and can either be programmed with a target angle or a constant rotation rate. This is a useful concept which we don’t (yet) have a dedicated built-in part for, a perfect kit candidate!

First things first, a Kit has a root part which dictates which bit of it attaches to bots. This can be anything, but it’s often convenient to start with something simple to act as an anchor piece!





Next, we’ll build a tiny chassis to support the other parts we will need for this experiment - a CPU and a motor!



Add the remaining functional parts, and we’re nearly done!



The final steps are to program our proto-kit’s CPU: we’ll add some inputs, a PID controller, and some fiddly math to make sure that it handles the motor’s current angle wrapping around from -180 to +180 degrees. Looks a bit messy, but the advantage of kits is that once the work is done someone else just needs to use the inputs and not worry about the inner workings!

We added a Reset input in addition to Target and Speed, so you can clear any internal state and put the motor back to its starting position.



Alright, time for a quick test! In the docking station, we hook some inputs up to a wrapping sum node and then feed that into the Target input on the proto-kit CPU!



Add a quick indicator and all seems to be working as intended!



All the functionality is implemented, now we just need to turn this chunk of robot into a Kit!

Select the root of the kit, in this case the attachment part we placed right at the beginning, and bring up the radial menu (E by default). Under Advanced, click New Kit.



The part plus all its counterparts are selected and isolated from the rest of the robot to form the new kit.

You now get to name your kit, add some notes, assign a category, and take a picture that will be used as an icon and default image if you upload the kit to the Steam Workshop.



Now when you bring up the Kits menu (Tab by default) you can see your new kit under the assigned folder. Clicking on the little cogwheel allows you to delete or move the kit or upload it to the Steam Workshop for others to use. Clicking the kit icon itself allows you to place copies of it on the currently open bot, just like a regular part!



Once kits are placed, they are unpacked into collections of parts that can be edited, reprogrammed, and tweaked.



And now we have a motor that can turn at constant rate but will remain fixed around its current angle - perfect for implementing a certain kind of mechanical walker! This simple and somewhat wobbly strandbeest uses two of these kits to provide power to its legs. Notice how the two primary metal bars near the middle rotate in lockstep with 180° offset – pretty rad!



Thanks so much for reading! Keep sharing your creations with us and we’ll catch up with you next week!

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

The Main Assembly closed beta is now live!

If you signed up for the beta, please check your email inbox for your Steam key!

Once you've redeemed your key, you will get access to the Main Assembly beta on Steam so you can start building whacky and wonderful things!



Want to know what's new? Check out our latest development blog HERE.

We're still busy crafting Main Assembly, so you may encounter a few known issues in this beta.

We added a bunch of new things and fixed quite a few bugs (RIP Spawn Lottery, you shall not be missed). However, there are some things from the previous beta that we just haven't had time to address yet:

Aerodynamics - we're going to take a swing at this before release, but the current version is pretty close to the previous beta. Sorry!

Drive Assist - drive motors still try to be helpful and occasionally get it wrong. Again, we'll look at this.

Build Mode - a lot of QoL fixes aren't live yet, such as updating the grid before you do anything, marquee selection, better mirror previewing...

Workshop - the new beta does not share Steam Workshop space with the previous beta. Any bots created and saved in the first beta will carry over into the full game at launch, but bots saved in this beta sadly will not carry over.

Also...

• You may encounter a softlock when joining multiplayer with printed complex vehicles
  
• Some players may not be able to view any robots in the Steam Workshop
  
• Performance issues may occur when spawning in a small amount of large robots
  
• The game may free when reconnecting headphones while in Tutorial scenarios
  
• Issues uploading the same bot which has been deleted the Steam Workshop
  
• Controllers may only function partially while other assigned buttons output no function
  
• Players may be unable to rejoin a multiplayer session after disconnecting from the internet

Want to leave feedback?

Head over to the Steam forums or official Discord!

Hey there, it’s time for another blog post!

Closed beta 2 is here! It's running from today to the 28th of February! So what’s new and exciting in this beta version, you may ask?


The Tundra sandbox map has received a barrage of updates, with new road sections, all-new racetrack area, refreshed ski jump, updated tunnels, and much more! Enjoy exploring, flying, racing and crashing in the biggest of our levels.











There are now several race courses available in the Tundra map! Simply find a start zone, remain in it until the countdown finishes, and then follow the waypoints. Compete against your friends in multiplayer or try to beat your own personal best!



This beta contains four race tracks for you to test out with your range of vehicle designs.


We have three new functional parts for testing in the beta: the camera, speaker, and the RCS thruster!

The camera is a simple part that allows you to enter first person mode, add one to your cockpit, wire it up in programming, and enjoy! Each camera has some range of motion to look around and a configurable field of view, and you can have multiple cameras per bot to switch between at just a press of a button!



The speaker part can produce sound using a range of audio samples. Control the pitch and volume independently via programming to make anything from simple car horns to looping beats! Tied to this is a new optional semi tonic mode for the sequence node in programming, to allow for precise and harmonious pitch control.

The RCS thruster can generate a thrust vector in any direction, making it highly versatile, and it comes with a number of smart inputs to make it easier to get started with flying, hovering, and self-correcting robots!



We also added some cosmetic parts, because everything is better with googly eyes!




Programming got a facelift and several functionality tweaks, covered in a previous devblog here!

The paint and material tools got a complete overhaul, allowing a greater range of colours while hopefully being easier to use! See here for more details.

Progression got revisited, you can now unlock parts and drone cosmetics by collecting Stars!

Kits are now available to test! Kits are modular pieces of a creation that can be shared on the Workshop with their programming via the inclusion of CPU parts. Kits can be added to your own bot through the catalogue, just like basic parts. By exposing inputs on embedded CPU parts, the kit creator can make it easy to achieve elaborate results with relatively little programming in the host docking station.


Arthropod legs make great kits!

Mirroring is still very much a work in progress, but now you can toggle any chassis between symmetrical and asymmetrical with a button press! Each chassis has its own mirror plane so you can create elaborate fractal bots by nesting them, keep things simple and aligned with a single plane, or make a completely lopsided bot as you desire.

We hope you love these updates and that you're enjoying the Beta! See you next week for another DevBlog!

Don't forget to Wishlist!

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

We’ve assembled some news for you... A Main Assembly beta is on the way! It will be live from 2pm GMT on February 14th and will finish at 2pm GMT on February 28th! 



You can sign-up for the Beta here

Here’s a list of the major differences from the previous Beta we had:

• Tundra has received some major improvements.
  
• Programming has received several improvements:
  • New wire rendering
    
  • Grouping of nodes
    
  • Renaming of parts

• Kits that save parts you've made to easily reuse on other bots
  
• New colour and material editor
  
• New parts:
  • Speaker, create your own music!
    
  • First person camera
    
  • RCS - a type of thruster that can affect orientation & momentum
    
  • Googly eyes

• Racing in multiplayer
  
• New progression system for challenges

Codes for the Beta will be sent out at 4pm GMT on February 14th & February 21st! So you have until February 21st at 2pm GMT to sign up and take part in the beta, you don’t want to miss out!
 
But wait.. there’s more! Main Assembly will be entering Early Access on April 16th!

We can’t wait to see what weird and wonderful things you’ll create!

Add Main Assembly to your wishlist!

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

Welcome to the third installation of the Main Assembly Dev Diary!

Today we’ll be talking about colours and materials! Two of the main ways to tweak the appearance and behaviour of your creation!

Initially, we decided that each robot would have a palette of three colours. This would provide a consistent theme as all the chassis elements and parts would use some combination of the three, while also allowing for some tweaking via selecting which colour would be the dominant contributor on a piece-by-piece basis. This made it very quick to change the appearance of a bot by swapping out the palette or changing a single colour from the palette.

We also offered a variety of materials from which chassis could be constructed. These offered a wide variety of physical properties and different surface looks.

After the open beta, we received a lot of requests for more colour slots as well as feedback concerning the wide variety of materials and confusion about their purpose, so without further ado, we have new systems and workflows to show you today!

Unleash The Rainbow!

Rather than the entire creation using a fixed palette, you can now use a different combination of any three colours on each individual piece. Want yellow and green motors with a blue body and hot pink seat? We have you covered! In addition to allowing you to save and load from several favourite slots, the most recently used combinations will be there too!



After picking the colours you want to work with, you can now enter Paint Mode! Simply click on parts to paint them with your active colour set, click and drag to apply to multiple pieces in a single stroke, or double-click to perform a fill.



But wait, there’s more! Some parts and materials can use multiple colours! To pick which is the primary, secondary and tertiary active colour, simply scroll with the mouse wheel to cycle through the three active pigments. There’s also a shortcut to swap primary and secondary for quick switching as you paint!




As well as a colour picker tool to sample colours from already painted parts!



Some parts, like the Trail-maker, can even use the primary tint colour in other ways!



A common complaint about the old colouring system was that too few colours were available, whereas materials suffered from the opposite problem! To combat this, we’re trying out a system where materials are grouped into three main categories: Light, Medium and Heavy. Currently all the materials within a category have identical densities and resilience, leaving you free to pick one based on appearance or the presence of aerodynamic effect boosting.



Having selected the material you want to use, you can then apply it to plates and frames in the same way as the paint tool – click, click and drag, or fill!



That covers the major features of the new paint and material tools! We hope the new approach is easier to use, and we look forward to the arrival of rainbow robots using the expanded colour palettes!

Thanks for reading and see ya next week!

Don't forget to {LINK REMOVED}Wishlist Main Assembly!