01-22-2023, 07:08 PM
Galaxy of Magic | January 2023 Update | v1.2 | Finding Our Identity
For reading ambiance:
Howdy, gamers!
With today's update, though we're still not quite where we'd like to be just yet, and though we are getting closer, we're significantly making up for a lot of the content we lost with the initial shutdown of the original server. Obviously, this is significant for the server as a whole, however, this particular update will bring a ton of value back to V.I.P., as well as Prestiging. We're introducing nearly 40 new player models, many of which are quite literally AAA game quality. Several of these player models feature brand-new animation sets, around 5 or 6 to be exact. To put that into perspective, that brings us to around 8 total animation sets for player models that we now have, including flying, hopping, various unique quadrupedal movements, and more, when we only had access to around 3 total for all the previous years of our existence on Garry's Mod. This will allow us to create even more awesome and unique player models that we were unable to before. These unique animation sets even feature new attack animations, gestures, and more, for the various creatures that are using them. We still have many player models we wish to add in the future, both for new jobs, as well as replacements for existing jobs. However, with these new models, come many new jobs. Before this update, we were at around only 10 Prestige unlock jobs and 20 V.I.P. jobs. Now, we're sitting at around 20 Prestige unlock jobs, and 34 V.I.P. jobs. We've also added a handful of standard server jobs. Some of the new models are being purposed as replacements or additional options for already existing jobs. Around 30 new wand models have been added, which is the most amount of wands ever introduced in a single update. This includes a few new staffs, and, the new, first-of-its-kind, (unofficially named) "Pistol of Olympus" gun wand. In case you're wondering, yes, it does shoot spells, at the same pace that normal wands cast them, and even features pistol-shooting animations. We hope to bring more "wands" of this nature in future updates as well, a concept that we really think is going to help make the server feel really unique and fun. Being that there are so many new wands, we will only showcase a select few here, you'll have to see the rest for yourself directly on the server. Additionally, alongside a plethora of other smaller miscellaneous updates, the server is now running a "new" main map that will temporarily hold us over until the first early version of our custom map (Starbright University of Magic) is ready, which isn't too far from now either. This will likely be the last temporary main map we will use. In case you missed it, we posted a progress update announcement regarding our coming custom map a few weeks ago. You can find this here https://starbystargaming.com/showthread?tid=19540. More info regarding this new temporary main map that we are currently using will follow later in this announcement.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/q4SBYT0.png]
Just as a notice, what we're showcasing in this section are not all of the new models or jobs, but this certainly covers most of them. Especially the most notable ones. The models and the jobs they are associated with below will be labeled with two tags. The first tag indicates how you obtain the job, and the second tag indicates their designated faction. For example; <Job Name Here> (V.I.P.) (Neutral). If the listed model/job does not have tags, it indicates that the job already exists, and the model pictured is the new model for that job. Without further ado, we're excited to present:
- Warrior of Bastet (V.I.P.) (Celestial)
An Egyptian Warrior who is a worshipper and disciple of the Egyptian Goddess Bastet. They've dedicated their life to the protection of Starbright in the name of Bastet. The job has been equipped with the Fireball and Lightwind spells, as well as the Damascus sword. It's one of the first jobs that's not an open whitelist or custom job to have both a wand and a melee weapon.
- Mage of Anubis (Prestige) (Celestial)
An Egyptian Mage who is a worshipper and disciple of the Egyptian God Anubis. They've dedicated their life to the protection of Starbright in the name of Anubis. The job has been equipped with the Fireball and Lightwind spells, and has its own unique magic staff, the "Staff of Hieroglyphics".
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/Oeih2yw.jpg]
- Troll (Prestige) (Neutral)
A Scandanavian/Nordic troll. The job has been equipped with a crowbar. We plan to soon have new and more proper melee weapons made for creatures such as the Troll and the Cyclops. The player model features several different skin/hair color variants.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/7B03niC.jpg]
- Dragon King (Prestige) (Neutral)
Not just any ordinary dragon, but the Dragon King, the biggest and baddest of them all. Has RP authority over all dragons. This new dragon also has new unique animations of its own.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/4RwYsU0.jpg]
- Griffin
This particular Griffin has been added as a new main variant for the already existing Griffin job. It features its own new unique set of animations.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/HEfiIE7.jpg]
- Pegasus (V.I.P.) (Celestial)
The fabled and dearly loved divined winged horse from Greek Mythology. The job has been equipped with the same SWEP as similar flying creatures such as the Griffin and Hippogriff.
- Medusa (V.I.P) (Void)
The fabled Gorgon from Greek Mythology. The job has been equipped with the Abracadabra, Darkwind, and Scourge spells. It is a Rogue job, meaning it can freely roam most of the map including the university, but is revealed as Void during lockdowns, PVP, and when her snake hair body group is equipped. There are plans to create a unique stone spell and or SWEP and or general mechanic for her in the future.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/YMY2oHC.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/fIVA8aD.jpg]
- Minotaur (V.I.P.) (Neutral)
The fabled half-man half-bull from Greek Mythology. The job has been equipped with a meat cleaver. This job's melee weapon will also be updated in the future. The player model features a ton of customization both in numerous body groups and a couple of different skins.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/s9uXqU8.jpg]
- Chimera (V.I.P.) (Neutral)
A powerful, dangerous, and fire-breathing hybrid beast from Greek Mythology. The job has been equipped with essentially the same standard flying/fire-breathing SWEP as most dragons. It features its own new unique set of animations.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/Y9T9Zi4.jpg]
- Sphinx (V.I.P.) (Neutral)
A winged mythical creature from Egyptian mythology. The job has been equipped with the same SWEP as similar flying creatures such as the Griffin and Hippogriff. It features its own new unique set of animations.
- Mummy (V.I.P.) (Neutral)
A mummy from ancient Egypt. The job has been coded to use a combination of default animations from half-life that makes it look and feel much like how mummies are historically depicted to walk and idle in media. The player model features several different wrap color variants.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/bXj8WxM.jpg]
- Samurai (V.I.P.) (Celestial)
A powerful Samurai of ancient Japan. This Samurai has dedicated their life to the defense of Starbright in the name of Hachiman. The job has been equipped with the Fireball and Lightwind spells, as well as the Damascus sword. It's one of the first jobs that's not an open whitelist or custom job to have both a wand and a melee weapon. Both model variants are available to use on the job.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/8AJ2ncZ.jpg]
- Dean of Starbright
This particular wise and powerful wizard is replacing the current model(s) on the Dean job. We believe it's a much better fit into the current theme of our own magical universe.
- Beelzebufo (V.I.P.) (Neutral)
A particularly large species of prehistoric frog. It features its own unique set of animations. That's right, it actually hops.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/2t6YiJa.jpg]
- Wyvern (V.I.P.) (Neutral)
Though related to a dragon, it is said in most cases that a Wyvern does not breathe fire. This alternative type of dragon is equipped with a SWEP that allows it to both fly and bite its victims. The Wyvern's bite has a lingering poison effect. It features its own new unique set of animations.
- Head Void Disciple (V.I.P.) (Void)
Second in command to none other than the Void Emperor. Purely Void, meaning it must remain within Void boundaries outside of PVP area(s) or lockdowns. The job has been equipped with the Abracadabra, Darkwind, and Scourge spells.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/2cGRtPR.jpg]
- Titanoboa (V.I.P.) (Neutral)
A large species of prehistoric snake. The job is equipped with a lethal poisoning snake bite SWEP. It features its own unique set of animations. That's right, it actually slithers!
- Wraith
This particular model is being used as a replacement for the already existing Wraith job.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/YzE8YV7.jpg]
- Scorpion (Prestige) (Neutral)
A terrifyingly large mythical scorpion. The job is equipped with a sting SWEP. It features its own unique set of animations that could likely be repurposed for similar creatures, such as other types of scorpions, or even possibly spiders.
- Void Emperor
This particular model is being used as a replacement for the already existing Void Emperor job.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/a60mpzY.jpg]
- Shaman
This particular model is being used as a replacement for the already existing Shaman job.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/59Ou8H2.jpg]
- Barn Owl (Prestige) (Neutral)
Hoot hoot! The job is equipped with a flying SWEP. There are two model variants, both using the same separate animations that the current Phoenix V.I.P. job's models use.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/ULC4CsW.jpg]
- Orc (Prestige) (Neutral)
A brutish, aggressive, and malevolent humanoid, as depicted in various mythologies. The job is equipped with a meat cleaver. This job's melee weapon will also be updated in the future. The player model features several different skin color variants.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/JTX5LRY.jpg]
- Chupacabra (Prestige) (Neutral)
El Chupacabra, a legendary and vicious creature in the folklore of parts of the Americas. The job has been equipped with a bite SWEP. The player model features several different skin/hair color variants.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/gWHxDuh.jpg]
Misc Job Updates
- Added a V.I.P. "Void Servant" job. This is the counterpart to the Satyr Companion for the Celestial. It follows all Void boundaries. The job has been equipped with magic hands and the Darkwind spell.
- Added a Caretaker job. It functions exactly as before and even has the same lantern and broom SWEPs as the previous Caretaker job. It's currently using one of the default wizard teacher models, but we are actively looking for a more suitable model and are open to suggestions.
- Added a Bureau of Magic Law job that's simply a Galactic Council of Magic Investigator. It's a base server job with only an Acuity (level) 3 requirement. It has the RP ability to investigate wrongdoings and even detain Void who they catch breaking the laws of magic.
- Added the Duelia/Duelio temporary spell book entities to the Magic Dueling Instructor job. The job can now spawn these dueling spells for Magic Dueling class. If there is no active teacher at the time the class appears, an information board entity will spawn that gives you the spells instead. It looks like this:
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/zyLJd3y.jpg]
This is likely to change to something more suitable in the future, especially when our custom map comes.
- Elite Void Disciple had a model replacement that wasn't showcased above.
- Hippogriff was moved from the V.I.P. category into the Prestige category.
- Head Sentinel was moved to V.I.P. from Prestige.
- Head Void Captor was renamed to Void Captor Leader and moved from V.I.P. to Prestige.
- Manticore was moved from V.I.P. to Prestige.
- Familiar was moved from V.I.P. to Prestige.
- Triumvirate was renamed to Galactic Chancellor for theme uniformity and was moved to V.I.P. from Prestige. The playable slot count was also reduced to 1.
- Void Overlord was renamed to Void Emperor.
- Several Prestige jobs had their Prestige requirement unlocks changed. An updated !prestiges command will soon be made, but you can see what the new requirements are via the F4 menu in-game directly on the jobs themselves.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/9GdcVIX.png]
As previously mentioned, around 30 new wand models have been added. We will only be showcasing a select handful of them here due to the sheer number of new ones. Though all of these wands are on the server, they have not yet been finalized as to how they will each individually be obtained or unlocked, but that's planned to be done immediately after the main update is pushed through. Some will be unlocked via Prestige, some will be given to V.I.P., and some via other miscellaneous and to-be-determined methods. We will update you later, either in a different announcement or via response to this announcement in the future once this is complete. It should be within the next week for this to be completed. Finally, since there are now so many wands, and we plan to add a lot more in the future, we're picking up a new naming method for those that aren't explicitly distinguishable. For example, several of the new wands are simply wooden wands with unique shapes and colors. They're cool, but they don't really have an appearance of anything specific enough to give them each a unique name. Instead, we will refer to these types of wands as Standard Wands, followed by Roman numerals, such as "Standard Wand IV". To make things easier, in the future, we will come up with new category names for different types of wands that face this same kind of dilemma.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/El4ahVa.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/seF3c6L.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/JkBeCZj.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/Il7MONW.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/wCsCxo1.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/pFler60.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/azThDEQ.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/MqT9GQR.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/jYz56vs.png]
To be clear, this "new" temporary main map isn't our coming custom map, but rather a new version of the rp_medieval map we have previously used different versions of since the relaunch. After months of searching and trialing several workshop maps and otherwise, it's been determined that rp_medieval is the best that we're gonna get until Starbright. Though still not perfect, nor completely ideal, this new version of rp_medieval, known as rp_medieval_renewed, has all the accommodations that we need for the server's mechanics to flow and function. It also has many improvements over the versions of the map we've used previously, including no invisible barriers, real water, additional map areas that can be teleported to, and more. It also has slightly better lighting and performance than the last version we used called firelink_medieval. Once you familiarize yourself with this map, these key areas that we're about to point out will be more recognizable. We figured, since this is the last workshop map we're using until Starbright, we might as well go into a bit more detail via an announcement regarding the layout of the map and how it's going to work meanwhile.
Starting off with an extremely simple and quickly thrown-together (it's pretty awful, but alas, it gets the point across) reference for an overhead of the map, here's how we're laying down the law;
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/VhyD0oF.png]
The keys on the map make it pretty self-explanatory. The green outline is the boundary for the Void forces, the black outlines are indicating map boundaries and or structures, and the red squares indicate teleporters. The smaller areas outside the main map are separated and are only reachable via teleporters. The Void not only have a decent chunk of the main map to themselves, but they have the entire area you can teleport to outside of the map as well. We are referring to this area as the Void Stronghold, or simply the Stronghold. While it's discouraged to traverse within Void boundaries for non-Void, we are not making it against the RP rules to do so. Simply, if a Void catches you within their boundaries, they are able to attack you on sight, no questions asked. This concept may or may not transfer to the map rules for our custom map, and it's open for future discussion. However, Void, excluding Rogues, are still to remain within their designated map boundaries. The Celestial also have their own spawn area, as well as what we're calling the Hideout. The market in the very middle of the map is designated for PVP and is claimable, as it's the most open and flat area on the map. It's also easily identifiable by natural barriers surrounding the area, and it's fairly equally distanced between both the Void and Celestial forces spawn points, as well as Neutral. Here's a quick look at some of these key areas, hopefully, this can help you identify them when you're on the server.
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/ymavwSy.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/ieRq5QF.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/1y1FL0Y.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/HpmpmiU.jpg]
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/p40kd7I.jpg]
There is of course a lot more to this map, but we'll allow you to explore and determine the rest for yourselves. If you have any questions while you're on the server, and if there are staff on at that time, they will be glad to help. The rest of the general map rules for any map we're using will remain the same otherwise, and most should be in the !rules command in-game. This should hopefully be enough to at least help jump-start the familiarization process. That way you don't have to go in completely blind and won't need to ask some of these questions.
Final Notes
- We are still actively looking for and open to suggestions for virtually every aspect of the server, including and not limited to new or alternative models and or names for various existing jobs, or even new ones, maps to test or use until our custom one is ready, new or alternative names for existing classes for the class system, general themes for the server, and much more. You name it. Please continue to share your suggestions or feedback in the 'Suggestions Discussion' section of the forums, here https://starbystargaming.com/forumdisplay?fid=193.
- A few classes have been, at the very least, temporarily removed from the class system until we have further use or utility for them. For example, classes such as Assembly don't have as much purpose until we have a proper assembly area, which we certainly will at Starbright. This will also increase XP rates for the time being, as there are fewer classes overall, so it'd be a good time to take advantage of that while it's here.
- The method that you unlock any of these new player models or jobs is subject to change, so be sure you are aware of this before acting surprised in the future, in the case some of your favorite jobs or player models are moved around. This is because we still have more player models and jobs we wish to add before we feel we're at least back to the state we were before the shutdown. This may result in jobs being moved around just like they were in this very update.
- Due to the number of new models and jobs all being thrown onto the server at once, even though they have been tested, it's very likely there will be bugs or other issues present, and maybe many of them. It's easy to have a lot of oversight over potential issues or bugs when you are testing so many new things with a small number of people. The testing will be accelerated since they are now on the live server with more players all using them at once and over time. In any case, please be sure to report any bugs on the forums, to staff and managers, or, if game-breaking, to myself. For example, if a job you switch to doesn't have any special spells such as Fireball/Abracadabra or Lightwind/Darkwind, and seems as though it should, please let us know. It very well could have been an oversight, or simply a mistake may have been made during the coding process.
- When we first reopened the website, we did some polling on a few main aspects of the server, such as the dorm concepts and scholar model concepts. We will likely continue to use this method in at least some capacity to help make bigger decisions moving forward. This will be more helpful than ever since we are actively coming up with our own theme and concepts for the server from now on. We will start reincorporating this likely sometime after the first early version of Starbright is on the server. However, feel free to continue making suggestions regardless in the aforementioned section of the forums. We are actively open to suggestions more now than ever before, and there's even a place for you to discuss them with your peers on the forums.
- Just to triple down for absolute clarity, as it is asked quite often even after stating it in different announcements at least once, our custom map is still not ready and is not a part of this update. However, we are very close to a super early first version of the map being released on the server. If you missed it, you can read the custom map progress announcement here https://starbystargaming.com/showthread?tid=19540. This same thread will be used to post further progress updates as we have them, so you can periodically check back to that thread for anything new we have to share. It's also highly recommended to watch Shy's (our mapper) YouTube video that's embedded in that announcement for more details and an entire virtual tour of what's done so far.
We still have a lot of cool ideas and plans for the server, and these last few updates have only been the beginning. In theory, as long as everything goes smoothly, the next update announcement you see should be the official release of the first very early version of Starbright. It's probably still not wise to share an exact timeline just yet, but it should be soon™. Thank you for continuing to stay patient with us while we work towards the restoration of the quality of the server while simultaneously bringing a whole new universe and experience together at the same time. We're very excited about the future, but we hope you enjoy the content this new update brings meanwhile.
Star by Star;
- The Guy
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