I'm going to take a break from Syn3h development for a week or two to get some other projects back up to speed, but the work I have been doing on Whirld 5 has been too exciting to keep to myself. Please note that Whirld 5, as was it's predecessor, is beta quality software - there is still much I have planned which isn't yet implemented - there is no documentation - and certain components are still a bit rough around the edges. If you can't figure out how everything works, don't worry - future versions will include complete documentation to guide you along.

 

-Aubrey

 

 

 

Download Link:

Complete: Whirld 5 Unity Package (8 MB)

 

Whirld 5 has been completely reorganized (to the point that it is now nearing organizational perfection). The safest upgrade path from Whirld 4 is:

1. Quit Unity if it is running
2. Backup all your work
3. Duplicate your Unity project folder using Finder or the Windows Explorer
4. Open the duplicate project, and delete the "Whirld" and "WhirldFramework" folders within it
5. Start Unity, open the new duplicated project, and import the Whirld 5 package.
6. If you have made any customizations to the Whirld Framework, (custom camera logic, the ability to fire projectiles, a custom lobby, etc) you can now copy the sections of code you have customized from your old project to your new one.

 

 

• FRAMEWORK: Game controller panel now snaps elegantly to the left and right edges of the screen. Also solves the jittering problem on small viewports
• FRAMEWORK: Now totally modularized - allowing you to load the framework into any scene as the game is playing. This now happens automatically, allowing you to playtest a scene as you are working on it by clicking the "Play" button in Unity. That's right - there is now no need to switch to the controller scene first every time you want to test your world. Cool idea, Eric!
• New "Whirld" Unity editor menu, which contains organized links to everything the library has to offer
• New "Whirld Manager" editor window, which provides instant access to everything Whirld has to offer. The "_Whirld" controller's inspector panel now consists of nothing but a link to the editor window
• New "Whirld Resource" tool to enable prefab locking on noneditable items such as the Base (Canceled: Currently impossible due to Unity bugs, Unity is working on fixing them)
• Much nicer Jump Point interface, with a wider range of input values - Gub
• Custom floor shader to eliminate z fighting with terrain
• Floor and sea now autoset their altitude as terrain is raised and lowered in edit mode
• Realtime sea and floor updates in edit mode. They now follow you around!
• Enlarged sea and floor to prevent visible horizon line when fog is light
• Vehicles no longer collide with sea when it is disabled - Gub
• Many operations in Whirld now tie into Unity's undo system, eliminating headaches and smoothing your workflow
• Tons of other minor tweaks and bugfixes
• And last - but certainly not least - the beginning of the Path System!
  
  

Whirld's new path system will make it effortless to create trails, rivers, roads, walls, racetracks, and more inside the Unity editor.
There are several existing Unity plugins to create roads and rivers, but nothing like this. What makes Whirld's Path system so awesome, you ask?

• Path implements the Catmull-Rom spline algorithm, which means that created paths will smoothly intersect all defined control points. You have COMPLETE control over the position of each path section, and the radius of each curve
• Each control point is an independent GameObject in Unity. This means that you can use tons of shortcuts like selecting and dragging multiple control points at once, dragging a point along the terrain surface by holding the Shift and Ctrl keys, or copying and pasting groups of nodes between paths
• Building paths is effortless! Click one button to toggle path creation mode, and then each right click you make in the scene will create a new node for the active path
• Edit non destructively, in real time! Path ties into Unity's editor update loop, watching for your changes and then instantly regenerating itself up to ten times per second. You can add or remove nodes, adjust widths, fine tune automatic banking parameters, and much more - and watch as your changes are instantly reflected in the path you are adjusting. The path library can even be called from a running game...
• Path can create closed and open splines with equal ease, and even toggle between them with a single checkbox. In open splines, the first and last nodes serve as control points - and the gizmo icons and colors vividly illustrate this
• Path can generate highly customizable static path meshes, or it can be used to carve and paint paths into existing terrain objects or serve as a guide for racetrack boundaries.
• Here's a couple development screenshots: Path Tests

 

Beta releases for Syn3h (and Whirld...) are just around the corner, and in preperation I have cleaned out Syn3h.com a bit.

Ideas, fan fiction, etc are welcome - but I'd prefer to keep them at MarsXPLR.com for now 'till the beta period draws to a close and all content is migrated to this site as a coherent body. This will help to keep Syn3h development streamlined and on track, and ensure there's no confusion as to where community content should currently be posted. (I am planning to preserve MarsXPLR.com as a read-only archive once Syn3h leaves beta, to help remember the great times we have shared).

 

Syn3h.com now contains only my official beta release posts, and you can find all the other content that was here over at Mars Explorer's site.

 

All the best,

 

-Aubrey

 

 

P.S. If you're interested in automatic notification of beta releases, you might want to subscribe to Syn3h.com's rss feed.

 

 

 

 

You are now ready to begin creating the virtual worlds of your dreams.

Unity 3.2 and Whirld 4 make the perfect combination to design, prototype, and deploy custom worlds for Syn3h and other future Whirld enabled games.

 

Please let me know of any issues you experience, Whirld will be submitted to the Unity Asset Store once all the bugs are worked out.

I can't wait to see all the worlds created by Mars Explorer's community upgraded for Unity 3 and included in Syn3h!

 

 

 

Links:

 

This is provided for map designers who need to test their new Unity 3 worlds (official export library coming soon), curious fans who want to stay on the cutting edge of things, and me - so I can receive feedback on what works and what doesn't once everything settles down a bit.

If you don't fit into one of these categories, you should probably stick to Mars Explorer for the next couple of months :)

 

If something looks out of place, don't worry - it's a placeholder for things far greater to come.

 

Don't bother reporting bugs you come across in this beta, they are far too numerous to enumerate.

We'll try to stick to something like a weekly beta release schedule, and within several weeks should have the bugs well on their way to extinction.

 

Beta releases are provided as zip archives of native (Universal) Mac and Windows applications. Installers will be included once things stabilize a bit after the first couple releases. (Until then, just manually copy the app to your Applications folder if you're on a Mac, or your Program Files folder if you run Windows).

 

To keep track of the latest progress, be sure to check out my Evernote powered Syn3h Devlopment Notebook

 

Enjoy!

 

-Aubrey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Years of work, and months of concentrated development, are about to be unveiled.

 

I wouldn't think of releasing something that will have everyone gathered around a computer on Christmas day - but tomorrow, the first official Syn3h beta will be available for your enjoyment. Don't expect perfection, or even feature parity with the last Mars Explorer build. I have ramped up my production quality a great deal, and it takes time to get things dialed in perfectly.

 

For the next several months, I will do my best to get a new beta out each Monday - working relentlessly towards the final release. In order to deliver this beta in a functional state I have disabled a plethora of features in active development, but they will see the light of day as soon as they are ready. If something seems odd or out of place, there's an excellent chance that it is a placeholder for something much greater to come.

One of the most significant of these features is the Whirld editor toolkit - but I can assure you that it is well on it's way to universal availability.

 

 

What can you expect in the first beta? Tons of glitches and bugs. But here's some other things you might notice if you can look past them:

• Vastly improved networking reliability
• Client side asset caching on native app versions, including cache parsing for offline play. That's right - you can now be offline, and still load and play Unity Island in under a second
• In-game access to the Whirld Repository, a new system to organize and share the variety of worlds available
• Completley redesigned GUI, with more intuitive language and interface elements throughout
• Massive graphical enhancements - including a deferred lighting rendering pipeline for spectacular lighting, shader, and particle effects, and gorgeous new elements such as the smooth minimap and breathtaking sea exploration filters
• GTR's beautiful new buggy, which I spent several days fine tuning

• Finalized sea system
• Whirld toolkit release
• Official world material bundles, to make adding steel, glass, forcefields, etc to worlds easy - and resolve the shader imcompatibilities with Unity 3 (you'll see pink objects in some worlds now)
• Dedicated game modes
• New vehicle designs, including the Android for exploring detailed cityscapes. Ok - here's a wild idea: who would feel devestated if I were to merge the tank and hovercraft?
• Much, much more... I am experimenting with Teamspeak 3 voip communications, Badumna P2P networking, Earth terrain datasets, and a host of other amazing technologies