Updates Biome Specific Content - Weekly Updates

ktksan

Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
Weekly Report - 20 July - 26 July

1.Added separate empty texture for Waterskin - merged
2.Opened PR for BeforeAfterEvent - https://github.com/MovingBlocks/Terasology/pull/4095
-Also added a small list of potential candidates for the same
3.Explored Structural Templates and World Gen
4.Attempted to use Structural Templates at the time of World Gen - stuck - unable to retrieve template prefab in Rasterizer.
 
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ktksan

Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
Meeting Minutes - 27 July 2020

List of Items to get Ready for Play test:
1.Hypothermia Effects
-Visible breath
-Frostbite
-MovementSpeedReduction
2.Hyperthermia Effects
-Thirst, Movement changes
-Weakness
(Check above items in multiplayer)
3.Body Temperature System
-BTS needs to be merged along with Thermia levels pr
-replace chat log messages with some other representation (maybe)
4.Items - drops, crafting
5.Filling Bar
6.Structures(maybe)
7.Add a readme in CC
 

ktksan

Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
Weekly Report - 27 July - 2 August

1.Playtest was conducted successfully by adding CC to JS game mode
2.Body Temperature System was merged (finally!)
3.Thermia Levels PR was merged
4.BeforeAfterEvent was merged and used in the CC PRs
5.Structure Templates can now be used during world gen.
Issues found in multiplayer
-particle effect was not visible in the non-server player's screen(was activated though) - possible issue with replication of particle effects in server
-similar issue for setMaxIcons() in playerWeakness - max health changed but UI change not replicated in non-server player's screen
 
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ktksan

Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
Meeting Minutes - 3 August 2020

1.Resume BodyTemperatureAlterationEffect
2.Use structural templates to create an Igloo template
3.Placement of Igloo during worldGen (explore world gen providers)
4.Create recipes for hunting traps and baits
 
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ktksan

Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
Meeting Minutes 10 August 2020

Action Items
1.Continue with Igloo Spawn PR
2.Implement activating BodyTemperatureAlterationEffect using Items
3.Spawn Items in chest in Igloo structure
 

ktksan

Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
Weekly Report 10 August - 16 August

1.Igloo Spawn PR completely implemented.
2.Implemented item effects using BodyTemperatureAlterationEffect - required a lot of extra changes
-An issue with previously implemented workaround for negative values in AffectBodyTemperatureEvent was found, changes were made in the AbstractValueModifiableEvent to support negative values for the same.
-An issue in equipments was found and fixed- equipments only supported integer values for the alteration effects through equipments, whereas AE itself already supports float values.
-Support for negative values was added in OnEffectModifyEvent
A total of 4 PRs were required for these changes - 1 in CC, 1 in Equipments, 1 in Engine, 1 in AE
AbstractValueModifiableEvent - https://github.com/MovingBlocks/Terasology/pull/4123
OnEffectModifyEvent - https://github.com/Terasology/AlterationEffects/pull/24
AffectBodyTemperatureEvent : https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/29
Item Effects: https://github.com/Terasology/Equipment/pull/125
 

ktksan

Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
Meeting Minutes 17 August 2020

Action Items
1.Continue with all the open PRs
2.Wrap up tasks - Add UI to indicate the condition of Hypo/Hyperthermia as a way to get rid of the chat logs.
3.Start with the Wrap Up post for the GSoC coding period.
 

ktksan

Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
Biome Specific Content Enhancements for Terasology

Final Report - GSoC 2020


In this post I aim to summarize all of the work I have done during the past months in the GSoC coding period.

The aim of the project was to introduce some Biome-Specific Content to Terasology. These content enhancements were made basically in the form of impacts of a biome’s characteristics on the player. The two main biomes focused upon for the task were the Desert and the Snow biomes owing to the extreme nature of climatic conditions in these biomes.


The Journey

The project started out by implementing some extreme effects that the player would have to deal with traversing these biomes. These effects were implemented following Terasology’s “Event-Component-System” (ECS) approach. For a start these effects were implemented in a test “danger zone” and were later shifted to their appropriate places of action.


Extreme Climate Effects

The effects in the Snow biome were attributed to the extremely low probable body temperatures of the player when in Snow and hence were named Hypothermia Effects.

  • Visible Breath Particle Effect
  • Movement and Jump Speed Reductions
  • Frostbite periodic damage and stun

The effects in Desert were attributed to the extremely high probable body temperature of the player when in Desert and hence were named Hyperthermia Effects.

  • Increased Thirst Decay
  • Movement and Jump Speed Reductions
  • Player Weakness due to heat
A list of PRs implementing these effects -

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/8

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/9

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/10

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/11

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/12

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/15

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/19

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/20

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/22


While implementing these effects a lot of other related issues were found/ fixed/ implemented and some new features were added. Some of these include adding new AffectThirst and AffectHunger events which are sent out by their respective systems and can be used by by other modules to modify them:


https://github.com/Terasology/Thirst/pull/16

https://github.com/Terasology/Hunger/pull/19

https://github.com/Terasology/Thirst/pull/17


Added a new event and system in the Health module which makes use of events to change max Health and supports changing the maximum number of Health bar UI icons displayed when max Health is modified.

https://github.com/Terasology/Health/pull/45

https://github.com/MovingBlocks/Terasology/pull/4058

https://github.com/Terasology/Health/pull/46

https://github.com/Terasology/Health/pull/47


Items to Overcome Extreme Climatic Effects

Next task taken upon was adding items to overcome these obstacles. The items include wool vest, arabic thawb, sand slippers and waterskin.
This involved creating item prefabs, adding drops to animals like sheep, deer, etc for raw materials, adding crafting recipes for these items.

https://github.com/Terasology/ManualLabor/pull/30

https://github.com/Terasology/WildAnimals/pull/56

https://github.com/Terasology/ManualLabor/pull/34

https://github.com/Terasology/ManualLabor/pull/33


While adding these items, a new feature: filling bar for fluid item containers was added
https://github.com/Terasology/Fluid/pull/20


The Body Temperature System

Simultaneously with all these tasks, a new Body Temperature System was built which would help make the transition from the Hypo/Hyperthermia Effects being triggered when in danger zone to Hypo/Hyperthermia Effects being triggered when the body temperature actually reaches extreme values. The Body Temperature System reacts on climate information such as ambient temperature and in case of it growing very high or low can result in the player becoming Hypo- or Hyperthermic. Being a rather complex topic, it required a lot of discussion, brainstorming and review cycles.

Along with building a body temperature system, gradations were introduced in Hypo/Hyperthermia Effects so that the player would start being affected with minor effects in lower thermia stages and the effects become worse with further deviation of body temperature towards the extreme temperatures.


https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/24

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/17

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/26



While working on the body temperature system, a lot of events which had a before - after style functionality were noticed. Thus, a new abstract event - BeforeAfterEvent was introduced so as to have all such events inherit this event to avoid repetition of code. (The transition has not yet been made for all such events, and is still under progress)

https://github.com/MovingBlocks/Terasology/pull/4095


Alteration Effect for Item Effects

After a Body Temperature System was in place, a way to implement the effects of items to overcome obstacles was available. A new Body Temperature Alteration Effect was introduced which could be used by wool vest and arabic thawb to slow down the change in temperature to extreme values and completely avoid it in relatively less harsh climates. The alteration effect was then used in delta prefabs of the items in the Equipments module to add their functionality.

Along the way necessary modifications were made in events like AbstractValueModifiableEvent and OnEffectModifyEvent and the Equipments module.


https://github.com/Terasology/Equipment/pull/125

https://github.com/MovingBlocks/Terasology/pull/4123

https://github.com/Terasology/AlterationEffects/pull/24

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/29



Surprise Structures in Biomes - Igloo & Oasis

Next task was to introduce some surprise structures in the extreme biomes.
  • Igloos in the Snow Biome
  • Oasis in the Desert
Oasis - The task of building an Oasis was very much related to the TSoC project of @Sin3point14 which involved heavy usage of the lake module, and hence was done in collaboration with him. The tasks undertaken in collaboration include cleaning up and improving the Lakes module, increasing the size of lakes along with varying probability of spawn in different biomes.

https://github.com/Terasology/Lakes/pull/6/commits

Next, while implementing Igloos in the snow biome, a way to use Structural Templates during World Generation was implemented which could prove to be useful for a lot of future projects. Addition of the method in the Tutorial World Generation is pending for the same and shall be added soon.
Subsequently, a new Igloo Structure Template was created using the Structure Template module and was then distributed in the Snow Biome using the same new method during World Gen.

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/28



Wrapping Up

With this the core of the project had been completed and some wrap up tasks and minor bug fixes were worked on.
One of the major ones being - addition of a small UI icon on the screen when the player is under the effect of Hypo/Hyperthermia, the icon disappears when the body temperature returns to a normal range.


https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/31

https://github.com/Terasology/ClimateConditions/pull/27

https://github.com/Terasology/JoshariasSurvival/pull/38



What was not achieved?

Although my work is complete and playable and the objective of the project as a whole was completed and implemented, there are still a few things pending according to my proposal:

1.Recovery Effects in Surprise Structures - After a discussion, a decision was made to let go of this part, instead chests will be placed in the surprise structures filled with rare items such as gold, diamond. The chests are already spawned in the igloo right now but the reward item spawning mechanism needs to be added.
2.Hunting Trap- This wasn’t implemented owing to timeline constraints. Since this was not a core part of the project idea, it doesn’t really affect the gameplay.
3.Dizziness Effect in Desert - New additions in rendering could now make this effect possible, an attempt to implement the effect shall be made soon.


Bugs found during development:

The particle effects in general are not replicated properly in non server instances in multiplayer gameplay. This was noticed when the visible breath effect on the players was visible on the server instance of the game but wasn’t visible in the non server instances.

My Experience

I had an amazing time working on the project throughout the summer and I believe I have learnt a lot along the way. I think my GSoC journey has been fairly smooth and the credit definitely goes to my mentors and the whole Terasology community. The community is extremely helpful and approachable, and there was always someone to guide me out of any sort of issue that I ran into. The discussions and brainstorming sessions with the mentors in the weekly meetings were also amazing. And I definitely had a lot of fun throughout the entire program.
 

meetcshah19

New Member
GSOC/TSOC 2020
@ktksan was just reading this thread and noticed the last bug you mentioned. I guess that is fixable now since particle effects work for me while shearing in multiplayer.
 
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