This is our biggest patch yet! And the longest in coming. If you only want the patch notes then skip to the bottom. [h3]Engine Upgrades[/h3] Planetation has been in development for a couple of years now and in that time we've only upgraded our [url=https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US]game engine[/url] once (to Unreal Engine 5.0) and our [url=https://voxelplugin.com/]voxel plugin[/url] never (we started already at 1.2). This is because both are a lot of work, and as a small team we have to be [i]extremely[/i] efficient with our time. The voxel plugin upgrade alone would require a complete rewrite of our world generation systems, and we were never able to justify that. Unfortunately, living in the past like that comes with its own problems. Because of unresolved engine bugs and outdated feature sets, it can end up taking twice as long to create something half as good than if we could leverage more modern supporting technology. For example, upgrading our game engine would give us [url=https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/lumen-global-illumination-and-reflections-in-unreal-engine/]more powerful dynamic lighting[/url] and [url=https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.2/en-US/introduction-to-iris-in-unreal-engine/]faster and more robust networking capabilities[/url], among other things. A full rewrite of our world generation for the voxel upgrade would also allow us to 'clean the cruft', by building in more advanced generation techniques that we never even knew existed the first time around. This is (part of) what we've been working on for 0.9. The upgrade is done, and while Planetation might [i]look[/i] mostly the same on the surface - every single update from here out will reap the benefits from our time spent behind the scenes. Before we get to the patch notes though, here's one quick example of the power of our new world generation system. [h3]World Generation 2.0[/h3] We're extremely proud of Frontier (world gen 2.0), and in the coming weeks we'll post a full technical breakdown here for you too to salivate over. We've significantly improved performance, greatly reduced memory requirements, but most importantly we now have more control than ever before over our voxels, landmarks, and foliage. This is especially true when generating underground environments such as the Geode introduced here in 0.9, something that would have been impossible before this upgrade. Giant cracked boulders guard the entrance to these important caches of wealth. Blow your way in with a well placed bundle of TNT, follow the spiraling tunnel down while keeping an eye out for sharp crystals of quartz, and then defeat a subterranean gravitational disturbance in order to earn your first Geneseed - and grow your first Iron. [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/795853533890871306/1153586878696661012/2023-09-19-070224-Aumbra.png[/img] [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/795853533890871306/1153589978748690472/2023-09-19-071443-Aumbra.png[/img] [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/795853533890871306/1153590147108057138/2023-09-19-071523-Aumbra.png[/img] [h3]Major Changes[/h3] [list] [*] Fully implement Mesa Geodes (access with TNT to earn an Iron Geneseed) [*] Add Tracer genemachine to the Genehouse, to point you in the direction of a Geneseed [*] Add Cracked Boulders to the Outback that can be destroyed with TNT [*] Add screen flash in direction of damage taken [*] Add UI toasts for looting uncommon and rare items (such as the Iron Geneseed) [*] Add cooking? [*] In unrelated news, you can now eat a Protato or a Baked Protato without already being mortally wounded [*] Reduce TNT explosion radius by 50% and add slight thematic delay [*] Fix the Jetpack consuming energy at only 50% of the rate intended [*] Polish job sequence for simplicity and to introduce the Tracer genemachine [*] Polish the Drop Pod intro sequence [*] Update Wood Gate art and add functional swinging doors [/list] [h3]Minor Changes[/h3] [list] [*] Reduce number of taps required to destroy Quartz (3->2) [*] Improve placement of TNT, so you can put it on walls or on top of destroy-able rocks [*] Hide inventory notifications when adding or removing items entirely within your own inventory [*] Add 'teleport-biome [mesa/outback]' and 'teleport-region [regionID]' console commands [*] Mostly fix landmarks spawning inside of other landmarks [*] Award Stone when a Geode Dome is broken [*] Add sound effects for the Genehouse doors, for watering crops, for the Fling Pad, and for the initial TNT detonator button press [*] Restore the player to full health when they "die" [/list]