This is gonna be a long one, so let's get right into it! [h1]Graphical Improvements[/h1] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41441434/be794cba56408e041ee6c606098fd5845dd3db01.png[/img] Did a pass on the graphics a couple weeks ago. The goal is to make the game look more clear, vibrant, and less flat. This was accomplished by doing the following: [b]Lighting[/b]: More contrast from lit areas and dark areas. I've also changed the lighting setup in a way that makes the edges of the blocks sharper and more distinct. Keep in mind: a day/night cycle will be added eventually and will affect lighting too. [b]Post processing[/b]: Tweaks to contrast, saturation, and exposure levels. [b]Block colors[/b]: Several block colors were changed for more color variety. I've also changed the color palettes used in biomes. The color palette change is part of a larger ongoing process that I'll talk more about in a bit. [b]Sky[/b]: It's bluer. Clouds have more color range. There's no longer a constant overcast. This is not a dynamic system just yet, cloud coverage will change depending on things like weather and biome eventually. [b]Flora[/b]: Tall grass texture is shaded a bit differently and is thicker. There's more I want to do here, like adding more variety and maybe even bushes. But I'll save that for another time. [b]Water[/b]: Different shade of blue. There's a few things I want to do here before showing it off. [b]Particles[/b]: 3D falling leaves are back, for a while now it's been 2D billboard textures. They spawn more frequently and move more horizontally now. I'm looking into adding more particle effects too. [b]Animations[/b]: I removed the moving leaves animation. It was a little odd-looking and there may be a replacement at some point. I may also look into changing the grass sway animation to make the bottom of the grass anchored at some point too. There's still a bit more work to do in this area, like distance fog for example. I've been experimenting with Unity's built-in fog, and didn't really like the results so I'll have to take a different approach. The tree shading is another thing I may touch up on, but other than that I think everything is looking fine for now and another graphics pass can wait so I can work on more important features. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41441434/b0027d76707e6b8885506f986ac4159beb6da1c7.png[/img] [b]The below image gives you an idea of how things looked before.[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41441434/a8d46756c48575f88e1ed79d01beae45311baa4d.jpg[/img] [h2]Block Color Changes[/h2] So, if you've followed for a while now you may recall that regions would have their own procedurally generated color palettes. This was to increase region diversity. This system is problematic, to say the least, and has been scrapped for the following reasons: 1. Performance. This required the game to choose a color palette for each region, convey that information to each client connected to the server, then store that information so that the color of chunks changed during runtime to the appropriate colors. It was quite a mess and really didn't seem worth it in the end. 2. Odd behavior. This system did not add new blocks, it just changed the color of existing blocks. Let's say a player saw a red-colored desert, mined the red sand, and took it to another region to build with that red sand. That red sand wouldn't be red anymore because the region colors sand blocks yellow. 3. Graphical inconsistencies. Some color palettes worked better than others. They fit in with the other blocks and colors better than some that were honestly not very visually appealing. So for those reasons I will instead just add a few different colored blocks. You may not see some of the colors shown in previous videos and screenshots, but I think it's worth the tradeoff. Admittedly, It was a poor design decision from the start. Unfortunately things like this happen during development. Sometimes the best decision is what's best for the game and players, and not holding onto something that took considerable effort to develop. [h1]Terrain Improvements[/h1] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41441434/a01d97ed3d132b2a219a63e3a98495c4a811a117.jpg[/img] Did another pass on terrain generation. Tweaked some terrain generation variables, removed ugly contours/artifacts caused by prematurely typecasting floats to ints, developed a better implementation of canyons/mesas, and added region rarities. [h2]Region Rarities[/h2] Regions now have a rarity system. This system is like an item rarity system in RPGs. Here's the rarities: Common Rare Unique Legendary Fabled These rarities impact the generation of terrain, mobs, and resources like ores. It also influences what type of loot you will get, and other future game mechanics. Regions will have "generation points" and it's solely based on what rarity it is. Common - 0-1 points Rare - 2 Unique - 3 Legendary - 4 Fabled - 5 After a region has selected a biome, they must select terrain features. The current biomes (grassland, desert, and tundra) do not cost any points. In the future certain biomes will. Here's the cost of terrain features: Plains - 0 Hills - 1 Forest - 1 Mountains - 2 Canyons - 2 It's a pretty short list right now, but more terrain features will come in the future. I think this is fine for now considering we're in an early alpha stage anyways. Certain features like caves, rivers, lakes, and coasts generate naturally and aren't affected by this system. There are certain mechanics I want to add in the future like fishing and dungeons for example. The region rarity system will determine the quality of fish you catch and the difficulty of dungeons you find. All of this scales with distance from spawn too. [h1]Performance Improvements[/h1] I started off last month with performance improvements, here's a list of the notable changes: - Minor shader optimizations - Material consolidation, resulting in significant reduction in draw calls (HUGE improvement!) - Improvements to chunk update system, boosting the amount of chunks that can be updated per frame. - Significant improvement to structure generation, especially structures that generate snow on top of leaves [h1]New Capsule Art[/h1] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41441434/f75d4662adbd50e413d2d340820b3db8b7259009.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41441434/fc47844b6a6c28fd88ea0d2da42adbc8853d933b.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41441434/cfebee8b57d6cf3844de286935833ff01ea94145.jpg[/img] [h1]What's Next?[/h1] Just a few more touch ups then I'll begin improving combat and mob mechanics. The goal is to have fun and satisfying combat. I'm going to focus on animations, controls, and feedback. Then after that I'll add character customization, playtest and do some touch ups where needed then the closed demo will be ready!