New Year Update

Happy New Year to everyone!

Sorry for the lack of news. I’m working on the project alone, and I’m not entirely sure how to properly manage the project’s Steam page. However, I still post a weekly changelog here and I’m always available on Discord. I’ll try to improve and post an update once a month so the project doesn’t look abandoned, because that’s very far from the truth. A permanent key for the game in the current Work In Progress state can be purchased on the Patreon. Right now, I’m moving toward a public demo version, which should be released this year.

I want to update the status and briefly list all the significant things I’ve done over the last year and a half since the previous post.

– Functions Any object in the world can be assigned any functions. Filling the world with functions is the foundation that makes it feel alive, populating it with points of interest. At the moment, the following functions are present: teleport, effect (e.g. an altar), loot (e.g. chests), dialogue, quest, spawn point, respawn point, merchant, market (auction). By the way, all NPCs can also have functions.

– Prefabs Functionality for saving function settings for reuse. You can save either a single function or a ready-made object/NPC with a set of different functions. For example, for gathering you can create a “loot” function on a bush with a specific item (“fruit”), save it as a prefab, and then duplicate it across all bushes of that type.

– Game Design The game design window is a kind of hub where you can configure global parameters of your world. For example: maximum level and the amount of experience required to reach each one, existing rarities (for characters or items), trade markups and commissions, auction connectivity, experience loss on death, and resurrection delays. New tabs keep being added, forming a full-fledged game design document.

– Modding support A mod kit is partially ready for the game, allowing you to add new world or weapon models, up to entirely new weapon types. There are already several mods shared on Discord. The kit itself at the moment it’s more of a proof of concept, but mod support is overall ready. Plans include adding support for characters, animations, textures, VFX and more.

– Content At the moment, the project includes: 2,000 static objects (houses, decorations, plants, etc.), 167 humanoid characters with extensive customization options, and 396 weapon models across 12 weapon types. By the way, all content bundles were added using packs made with the mod kit. In other words, I use the same tool that you can use to add new content.

– Bot AI A lot of effort went into the AI so that bots play your game as realistically as possible. They can already explore the world, find points of interest, complete quest chains, use teleports, loot valuables, fight monsters to level up, kite in combat, avoid aggro zones, steer clear of overly difficult fights, rest, and more. They accumulate “knowledge” about the world during exploration and make decisions based on it. It’s not perfect yet and not everything is finished, but the foundation is already very solid.

– GDWC Finalist The project reached the finals of the Game Development World Championship in the Most Promising category! There is now a finalist badge visible on the Steam page.

– Miscellaneous Over the past year and a half, a huge amount of work has been done: multiple save slots, multiple worlds in a single session, optimization, lots of QoL and smaller fixes, keybinds, resizable UI, engine updates, and refactoring.

I never said this would be a fast project. I work on it in my free time after my main job. If Patreon could cover my salary, I could quit and work on it full-time, but that hasn’t happened in three years. Regardless, the project is alive and in active development, and I dedicate all my free time to it, as evidenced by the weekly changelogs and periodic build updates.

At the moment, I’m focused on polishing what’s already implemented. A large set of tools isn’t always well explained. I want to lower the entry barrier for new players and make sure all systems are clear and convenient. Right after that, I’ll launch the demo.

Stay tuned for updates!

Here are some beautiful screenshots from the worlds of my followers.