We’ve reached the 7th Development Blog already? Wow. This deserves a poem:
Seven oh seven – double-o seven,
In Garry’s Mod, where worlds are leavened,
A server’s born, Half-Life 2’s delight,
Where Roleplay thrives, through day and night.In City 8’s dystopian embrace,
Players unite, in a digital space,
With mods and lore, they bend and weave,
A living world, where stories conceive.Server devs toil, with passion ablaze,
Crafting experiences, in countless ways,
Combine and rebels, locked in strife,
A virtual stage, for a new life.In City 8’s dystopian embrace,
Players unite, in a digital space,
With mods and lore, they bend and weave,
A living world, where stories conceive.Through code and scripts, they build anew,
NPCs wander, as players do,
Events unfold, dynamic and grand,
A sandbox realm, at devs’ command.Seven oh seven – double-o seven,
In roleplay dreams, they find their heaven,
From Ravenholm’s dread to coastal shores,
An ever-changing world it explores.In City 8’s dystopian embrace,
Players unite, in a digital space,
With mods and lore, they bend and weave,
A living world, where stories conceive.So here’s to Half-Life 2 RP’s domain,
In Garry’s Mod, where they entertain,
Seven oh seven – double-o seven,
Forever thriving, in gaming’s heaven.~ ChatGPT 3.5
What, did you think I’d write that myself? Hell no, I suck at poems. Don’t get me started on writing and creativity… anyway, onto the Devblog!
Props. More props. MORE!!!
Recently, an amazing Half-Life 2 mod came out called Swelter. It stole my HL2RP Event idea.
Jokes aside, it is a brilliant mod that deserves all the praise it gets, and I highly recommend it. It was so good, in fact, that I could not resist diving into its assets and porting some models over to Garry’s Mod for us to use. And thus, we now have a few more props to play with, similar to the G-String & NEOTOKYO props that were added a few months back.
As with the previous props, you may freely use these in your shops and apartments (if/when applicable, of course), should you wish to do so.
Autonomy my beloved
As voted on in the Feature Vote channel on our Discord, I worked on a new Autonomous Workshift System. You clock in, work, and reward yourself! That sounds secure, I’m sure it’ll work as intended. We can trust people.
Jokes aside, this new system is meant to take the monotone and tedious item production shifts away from normal workshifts in order to give labor shifts more space to take place, which are more roleplay-oriented and usually have a larger (visible) impact on the map in some way. At the same time, this enables players who have nothing to do or no one to roleplay with to remain entertained by working and getting Workforce Coupons. In short, we kill two birds with one stone with this update!
Enough rambling in text-form; the showcase above explains the system in greater detail, as well as some bonus goodies later in the video, which will also be outlined below. I went for a more ‘professional’ vibe for this video as opposed to me running around a development map with random music in the background. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but I think it’s a good start – if you have any feedback, please let me know!
Let there be Light!
Combine Locks have received a minor visual upgrade. Their magic sprite now actually emits some light, illuminating the surrounding area. It’s a small change but it’s details like these that end up improving the environment, little by little.
Pretty Screens
In our LEGENDARY MIGHTY FIGHT towards improving the visual quality around the server, the Ration Dispensers and Payroll Machines now have a small screen attached to them. This was mainly done because, let’s be honest, no one liked the silly little notification messages that told you what was displayed on the screen, right? …Right?
With this update, these notifications were completely removed and are now displayed on actual screens instead. These include errors, general notices, as well as the supply status of the entity, for Civil Workers’ Union personnel.
You got a Permit for that License? Wait- what?
Drumroll for the latest addition to the Uplink Terminals………. The Permit Index!
The Permit Index contains all the possible permits and licenses that you can acquire as a citizen from the Civil Workers’ Union. It is very similar to the Employment Registry – you feed the terminal a few hard-earned coupons, and it prints out a form that you then hand over to the Civil Workers’ Union, who will finalize the permit process.
Under Maintenance
All machines need to be maintained from time to time, right? Well, the Uplink Terminal definitely classifies as a machine, and thus this Maintenance Mode was born. This mode was primarily added to accommodate the new supply requirement that the terminal has, that being papers and ink. Up until now, the terminals somehow managed to generate ink and paper out of nowhere. It was getting really difficult keeping the SCP Foundation from kidnapping them, so we decided to get that fixed so they leave us alone.
This new mode can be accessed by the Civil Workers’ Union and can be used to add and remove different types of papers, as well as ink cartridges used for printing applications and forms. It also features a small ‘firmware reload’ option that is mainly for roleplay purposes.
Conclusion
We’re getting back on track and making progress on multiple fronts, not only development-wise, but also roleplay wise! We have several pending events that you should totally check out and apply for if you haven’t already:
OUT THERE: A COLD LEAD
EXPURGATION
EMBERS OF TURAIF
We have also launched the NARRATIVE BOARD – a page on this website that outlines all major on-going events on the server. It will be actively updated as these events develop or when new ones are introduced.
Please keep sending any suggestions or concerns you may have regarding anything server-related. Your feedback is invaluable to us and helps us improve Lancer for the better. In any case, a lot more exciting updates are on the horizon, and we hope you are as excited as we are for them!