Blue New World - Colossal Update

Hi everyone,

With the Easter Holidays approaching, so does development on the game restart. But this time, I have truly huge plans for the next update, which will be by far the largest update yet. It will be the first Colossal Update, which is the term I will use for truly game changing updates. The Blue New World Update, will thus, as the title implies, be a complete remake and rework of the whole world. I am currently not satisfied with how the current world looks and feel like I have gathered enough game design experience during the last couple of months of development to create a much better and immersive map. So, without further ado, this is what this colossal update will include:

Voxel Terrain: By far, the biggest thing will be the transition from a regular plane landscape to a fully volumetric voxelised terrain. This will allow for much more realistic terrain construction, and, most importantly, amazing cave system generation, which I can’t wait to start working on :).

Greater Map size: I have decided that the current map is too small, so if I am starting all from scratch again, might as well go big. I plan to make the map 2.5 times as big as the original, which will most likely be the final size of the map. I will also remove the Ice borders, leaving for an infinite span of water in all directions. This will mean that players will also have access to areas of the map I wouldn’t have started working on yet (which was the purpose of the Ice borders in the first place, to prevent the player from reaching those areas), but I think that the fact that those areas will be empty and quite deep will actually make the player return to the main area, while also increasing the immersion.

Complete and total biome rework

One biome will get a completely new look starting this update: and yes, I am referring to the shallow reef, the starting biome full of corals. From now on, it will be called the Sun Reef. I think that it currently looks way worse than all the rest, and so will need a complete aesthetic reshape.

The other biomes

the kelp jungle, crystal caves, and rich plateaus will also be improved, but won’t be completely reshaped.

New biome: There will also be a new biome: the Mangrove Forest. This biome will replace the current Nordic kelp jungle. I won’t spoil it too much, just know that it will be a shallow to medium depth biome and will be awesome!

New biome types – cave biomes: This one is huge. Most of the biomes will also have their own sub-biome in the form of a cave network biome, meaning that most biomes will have cave systems which will look and feel completely different from the surface version of the biome, and will harbour different resources and dangers. I plan to start by making 3 cave biomes in this update (excluding the crystal caves).

Alien Altars: scattered throughout the map, the player will also be able to encounter and interact with diverse alien altars, helping him uncover and advance the story even further.

New creatures and fish: It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to make a complete rework of the landscape and flora without a rework of the fauna, so, while not as big as the previous two, many other small and medium sized creatures will be implemented, and we might even see the appearance of the first big size creature in one of the biomes.

New resources and tools: almost all resources will have a better model, there will be many more resources, and each biome will have more specific resources. Also, new tools will be added, such as the sampler, extractor, and scanner, which will completely change the gameplay of the game.

Collectible Easter Eggs: the first collectible easter eggs will be implemented in specific locations.

Player controls and stats update: While there won’t be huge player control updates (as I plan to completely rework the character in another future update), there will be greatly increased player movement speed, allowing for more efficient map exploration and resource gathering, which is a big thing. The oxygen will also deplete slower, and the oximeter will be analogous to the amount of seconds the player has underwater, at least if the player is above 100 m depth – meaning that 100 O2 will equate to 100 seconds of oxygen left, allowing again, for better time management and decision making.

Left hand controls: It has been brought to my attention that quite a few players will wish to play the game, but because they are left-handed they are unable to do so. Therefore, with this update my priority is also to make the game more accessible to everyone, so left-hand controls will be implemented.

Ocean Lighting and water improvement: The whole atmospherics and water systems will be reworked, which means there will probably be atmospheric fog outside the water, the waterline transition will be very smooth, and the color transition from biome to biome will also be gradual and seamless, and not direct and brutal as it is now. The water will also gradually get darker as the player dives deeper. God rays will be more realistic, and the problem with the screen getting darker when going under the waterline will also be solved.

Player HUD and UI Overhaul: Some new updates to the player HUD and the UI will be made once more.

Sound Overhaul: There will also be an update to the sound effects and the soundtracks. The sound effects will be much more in line with what the player is doing, the underwater sound effects will be much better, and the diving sound effect bug will be solved. Also, many new great soundtracks will be added, further cementing the in-game immersion.

Improved Skybox: some small improvements will be done to the skybox.

Improved Performance: Because I remake the world from scratch, I will also be able to take into consideration certain optimization factors and adjust them, allowing for a much better optimised game.

Various Bug Fixes: some bug fixes such as Steam VR launching upon opening the game, seemingly walking on water, excessive motion blur and chests losing their content will try to be solved.

FPS Settings: I will also add a feature in the settings to disable the fish schools from the world: this is because, while the fish schools are awesome and add life and immersion to the game, they are also very costly in terms of performance, so this setting will help improve performance for those who value a higher frame rate over some beautiful fish (PS: I would never do that I love them fish :)), while also allowing those who have more powerful machines to run the game in its full beauty.

This, as I said, will be the first Colossal Update, bringing the game by itself to the Alpha 0.78 stage (which means I will consider the Alpha stage 78% complete upon release of the update). I also said this will be the first Colossal Update, as I intend to follow this update with a second Colossal Update, which could be even bigger and more important than this one, and which will bring the game to the Alpha 0.95 stage, but won’t spoil anything else about it, just know that it is in the works ;). Such an update requires enormous amounts of work, but I will do my absolute best to finish it and deliver it in time, around the 1st of May.

So strap yourselves, and prepare for a deep dive, hope you will enjoy it.

Love,

Petru, BaleYc Studios