Cybotanica — New Features
With the launch of Cybotanica we have included a few new quality of life changes to the editor. These will help creators when designing and developing their games. All three features are settings in the editor rather than API changes, so no coding experience is needed to use them.
SIMULATED TOUCH CONTROLS
As we have launched on Facebook Gaming we now have better support to play Crayta using mobile devices. We’ve improved development in Crayta for making mobile games, now you can test mobile controls on desktop devices. This new editor option allows you to preview how the controls would work directly from the PC.
To do this, simply open the advanced editor by double tapping the tab key and then select the cog icon on the top-right of the screen. This will bring up a window that has a new option Simulate Touch in Preview.
Select this option so that it’s active, then when you preview the game you will now see the same buttons you would get on mobile. You can even interact with these buttons with a mouse to see how they would work on a touch screen. Don’t forget that it’s now very important to set the Control Scheme from the Game tab in the editor as without it the custom buttons won’t display correctly.
As you can see this is a more immediate way of testing how your game would look and work on mobile. This is extremely useful when setting up your own UI elements so that they don’t interfere with each other.
IMPROVED NPC CUSTOMISATION
One of the biggest new features in Crayta is the ability to populate your game world with NPCs. These can add life and new gameplay opportunities to your games and experiences. While we allowed you to select the look of your NPC from presets, we have now improved this feature to allow for additional customisation, but you can always continue to use the presets as a basis and then customize them how you want.
To use this, simply select an NPC that you have placed in the editor, and scroll down to see there are new options in the properties panel, including body types, skin tones, hair types and down to the cuff the NPC is wearing. It makes the creation of unique NPCs for your side-quests and any other scenario you can think of possible.
NEW FIRE PARTICLE SYSTEMS
As part of the Facebook launch we added some new parameterised smoke effects, this allowed creators to change properties like the color, spawn rate and velocity of the effect to create unique steam effects.
For the Cybotanica release we are improving things further with two fire effects (Fire — Fireplace and Fire — Torch). Don’t be fooled by the simple names, these are a whole new way to create all sorts of fires — from the smallest candles to enormous infernos.
First off, take a look at some of the amazing results you’ll be able to create.
All of the effects in this screenshot are created using the parameters in the new Flame effect.
The new effects have a clever system that allows you to either use a basic or advanced mode when configuring the effects. In basic mode you get a core set of properties that simplify the creation process. This includes the size and shape of the emitter, the colour and intensity of the flames and several other parameters. So even though it is called Basic, there’s enough control to create an enormous amount of different effects — without getting too caught up on the technical details.
As you can see in this image, the range of controls in Basic mode is still pretty large.
However if you switch to Advanced mode, then the range and granularity of the controls increases substantially, granting fine control over each flame. This level of control is something that many members of the community have been asking for and brings Crayta more in line with other game engines.
Combining multiple different types of these effects together in the same area can produce some amazing results. And we know that the Crayta community will come up with all sorts of incredible uses for the effects that we had never thought of.
We hope that you enjoy the new Cybotantica season and make use of the new features we have added when creating your games. We look forward to seeing what you will come up with next!
