The Future of Rising World

  • Dear Community!


    It's about time to let you know what's currently going on, and what the future of Rising World will probably look like. Sorry for the wall of text!


    Some of you may remember that we mentioned some traffic changes on Steam last October. Valve changed the algorithm that decides which games are promoted and which are not. There aren't many details known about how the algorithm works exactly, but it seems that the algorithm is mostly favoring top-sellers now - there are lots of other serious indie developers out there who were negatively affected by the algorithm change.


    We lost a lot of our visibility "over night" and therefore our game sells a lot worse than before. Of course it's up to Valve to decide what's best for the store, but this change makes it much harder for us to survive - especially in combination with the introduction of Steam Direct in 2017.
    The development of Rising World is not about making money, but of course we have running costs and have to pay bills just like everyone else. We will never abandon Rising World, no matter what happens, but if we're having trouble covering the costs, this will inevitable slow down development - to a point that becomes unacceptable. But even if we somehow make it to the 1.0, it would be a pity if the journey ends at this point (since there is still so much unused potential in this game).


    It couldn't go on like this, so we had to find the best solution for the community and the game.


    To cut a long story short, we decided to move Rising World to another engine. This allows us to bring Rising World to a new level (from a technological point of view). Graphics isn't everything, but it still plays a big role when it comes to the first impression of the game. But moving to a new engine also allows us to release the game on more platforms - for example consoles. Of course the PC will still be our main platform, but being able to bring the game to consoles (or maybe even something like Stadia) could ensure the future of the game.


    We are sure that the vast majority of players will benefit from this measure in the end, since the result will be a much more polished game. The bad news is, that moving to another engine means a rewrite of the game. This sounds worse than it actually is, though. When implementing a new feature, most of the time is spent on the conceptual design - and there is no need to redo that now in this case. The actual implementation, i.e. the "programming part" is in fact the smallest part.


    But apart from that there are several "core mechanics" that had to be reworked anyway, for example the world generation. It makes sense to use this opportunity to do that now.


    Nevertheless, it will still take some time until the "new version" is ready. In order to speed things up, we have a new fulltime dev now (so we're two people focusing on the programming/implementation part). This wasn't really an option before, since the game already consists of more than 250k lines of code, and getting used to it would take a lot of time.
    I'm still afraid that it will take up to 1 year until the current version of the game can be fully replaced by the new version (but at this stage, it will already feature the reworked core mechanics). But once we have a playable version, we will make it accessible (as "Beta" in Steam) - we're confident that this still happens this year.


    We already have some preview screenshots we want to share with you. Please keep in mind that these are some very early screenshots, but they give at least a rough idea how the game could look like in the future:



    new_01.jpg


    new_02.jpg


    new_03.jpg


    new_04.jpg



    Just to avoid any misunderstandings: If you already own the game, there is of course no need to buy it again. Once the new version is ready, it will replace the current version and you will be able to access it.
    However, the Java version will still be available (as well as the according server files). Once the new version replaces the current one, the Java version will be moved to a separate Beta branch in Steam which will always be accessible (it will also be available for standalone owners). So if you don't like the changes and want to stick to the old version, that will be possible. We are still going to provide bugfixes for the Java version.


    If you have any questions, suggestions, or if you think that it's a bad idea to move to a new engine, please let us know :) Either leave a comment here, or create a new post in the forums.


    We've set up a small FAQ by the way which provides some more information: https://forum.rising-world.net/thread/10171

  • Red51, you are awesome!!


    If i understand right, in more or less 1 year we will have a rising world that will look like THAT, has a new world generation and several other reworked features?


    I need to invent a new word that defines excitement :D



    And the pics look awesome. Will pnb be still available or already in the game? What about breeding? More hostile? Trains?


    How are current plugins compatible?


    So many questions on my mind :D

  • Wow, those graphics look stunning!!! And having a second person to help you - brilliant news!!!


    Looks as if the changes will be well worth the wait, and our old worlds disappearing was always expected as you improved the whole worlds/ biomes etc. If, as you say, we can still use our blueprints from our existing worlds though, I, for one, am more than happy.


    Thank you, as always, for all your hard work in making this incredible game :thumbup:

  • @red51 we support you and if you need testing help with the new version going forward, there's many in the community that's happy help out.


    with unity you can also test Vulkan API and such and VR and even both ... but what I was going for is I think you could always opensource or semi-opensource the old one too, that's to say if you want to, that is.


    keep up the good work
    :thumbsup:





  • this is exiting and all, but one question, Rising World is the game I play the most. but Im a Linux user, and I hear what you say that it'll be multiplatform. but will you guys have us Linux users in mind, when putting the new engine in? ^^
    last time I checked, Unity is still in a beta fase for Linux. Just hope I dont have to give up on RW in the future :/
    and for people wondering, no, Windows or Mac is not an option ^^


    on another side note, Im pleased to hear that Unity is the RW future, its a great engine, looking forward to see the future of the Game :D

  • Thank you Red for explaining, I totally understand where is your problem, and honestly I am among many others very happy with the hard work you are doing, happy to know that now you have a developpement help and the changes you planned will surely be a great way for this game, we are a lot I think to be ready to help our best by testing etc...
    So keep up your good work for this game, we will support you !!!!
    I hope my english will be understandable and all my best wishes for this changes
    edit : but suddenly I am thinking to 1 big point: Unity got a coast, so did you think to ask some help (for the money I meant) for me it is ok because you have a great game and I absolutly want to see it grown and grown :) )

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    Edited once, last by Helie ().

  • Well, this caught me completely off guard, but it's not unbelievable. I've seen games revamp their games and such by working from the ground up. Kingdom was one such game having gone radio silent for a year until it was ready again. I'm glad you gave a heads up, unlike that game. :)


    This opens up new opportunities, maybe something in areas I'm more familiar with..... Everything looks nicer, crisper, and even a bit like Medieval Engineers. Granted, Rising World shall have its own touch to things. Has me wondering though if the player characters can be swappable now when using Unity.... VRchat & Tower Unite allows you to import models to quickly swap your avatars out, something Tower Unite even boasts about Steamworkshop wise. Maybe Rising World could use this to their advantage also.... Being able to swap both player & NPC characters to use external models to be imported..... The MMD models, the .pmx files constantly giving us troubles... Yeah, those. If Rising World is using Unity then that should hopefully be possible in the future.


    Also, it shall be interesting seeing how terrain shall appear now. Hopefully mountains shall be more like mountains, and less like spiky daggers. Will we get our true world generation in this Unity version? Makes one wonder. With the beautiful screenshots we're seeing I'm just trying to imagine how everything shall appear as using 'The Forest' and 'Medieval Engineers' as my examples. It's a good thing :thumbup:


    On a side note: Shall be interesting to see what happens with VR now that you're using Unity. Maybe we can see some attempts at VR, even on the slightest (when the time is right). No rush.


    Good luck Red51, looking forward to testing the new version whenever you feel like sharing it. Would love to feedback it into heavy detail :saint: And thank you for all your hard work. Thanks for giving us an awesome game! :thumbsup:

  • I love the idea and I understand why. Just hoping blue prints will work. The only down side is losing all the resources we have stored up in the vault.
    Im all ready hearing people on our server that are looking to stop playing if the blue prints dont work out.


    So if this goes forward than I will stop adding to my build so there is less to blue print. Which brings me to if I will continue to play or just wait until this is done.
    More than likely i will continue to play but just not build for I love this game and its the only one I play.


    question is this the same platform RUST runs on? I left Rust because of all the hackers. Is this new platform going to open up RW to a bunch of hackers?

  • @Redeye - don´t stop building!


    1. it is the one unique thing this game is so special for :)


    2. there is still plenty of time until the new version will arrive


    3. even when the new version is there you can still play the current one


    4. i am sure red51 will manage the blueprints to be convertible

  • question is this the same platform RUST runs on? I left Rust because of all the hackers. Is this new platform going to open up RW to a bunch of hackers?

    Don't worry. Unity is an awesome engine. Just as with any other engine or programming language, it is not about the engine or language, it's about the developer. Unity is basically just a C# Framework with an Editor. It's all about the developer.
    And look at Empyrion Galactic Survival, RimWorld, The Forest. All these games had incredible amount of updates and very frequently. I think using Unity will make the game development progress a lot faster.
    Unity is really a huge timesaver and you can actually focus on game features instead of doing tedious work that has no real value on the surface. And Unity actually gets hundreds of bug reports daily, they are a huge company. This means the engine runs extremely stable and efficient because the engine gets tested by thousands of users in every possible way. And the Unity developers are very responsive to bug reports.
    I'm absolutely sure that when the Unity version of Rising World is released, we will see a lot more progress than right now with the game. And not just more frequent, but actually larger updates with much more content.

  • Thank you very much for your feedback and support! :)


    If i understand right, in more or less 1 year we will have a rising world that will look like THAT, has a new world generation and several other reworked features?

    Yes, that's our plan ;)


    How are current plugins compatible?

    Unfortunately I can't say much about that yet, since we're not sure about the new plugin API. In case the new plugin API uses a different language than Java, we're still planning to have some sort of wrapper for the old Java plugins. In this case servers have to install a JVM in order to use these plugins.
    We've prepared something similar for the Lua scripts btw (so we could finally remove the Lua API), but never released it due to these upcoming changes^^


    Good news but I guess it will no longer get updates

    What do you mean exactly with "no longer gets updates"? Do you mean the current Java version? It's true that we're unfortunately no longer adding new features to it, since we really want to get the new version ready ASAP. But we're still going to release bugfixes and smaller changes for the Java version, unfortunately we have no ETA for the next update...


    If, as you say, we can still use our blueprints from our existing worlds though, I, for one, am more than happy.

    Yes, we try our best to keep old blueprints compatible with the new version :)


    with unity you can also test Vulkan API and such and VR and even both

    That's true, VR will be much easier to implement (same about things like controller support, for example). We will also offer support for Vulkan.


    I think you could always opensource or semi-opensource the old one too

    It's something we take into consideration, although we're not quite sure about this. But if we make the Java version open source, it will only happen once the new version is ready ;)


    but Im a Linux user, and I hear what you say that it'll be multiplatform. but will you guys have us Linux users in mind, when putting the new engine in?

    We definitely have Linux in mind :) Linux will be a main priority for the dedicated server, for example, so it's still fairly important for us. Although we're not 100% sure if we're still going to support OpenGL. The main API on Linux will be Vulkan, but that's not supported by old hardware, for example. Maybe we have to start a poll to get feedback about this (i.e. to find out how many Linux users would be affected if we really discard OpenGL).


    Unity is still in a beta fase for Linux

    AFAIK this only affects the Unity Editor, so this wouldn't matter for the final game :)


    Has me wondering though if the player characters can be swappable now when using Unity [...] Being able to swap both player & NPC characters to use external models to be imported..... The MMD models, the .pmx files constantly giving us troubles... Yeah, those. If Rising World is using Unity then that should hopefully be possible in the future

    It's definitely getting easier when it comes to importing/exporting models, especially when it comes to FBX models. Being able to replace player or npcs characters was originally planned for the API anyway, but since it required a lot of changes "under the hood", we will keep this in mind now when migrating to the new engine ;) Can't say much about MMD files unfortunately, AFAIK Unity does not support this format, but it should be easy to convert these models to FBX (and Unity has great support for FBX).


    Also, it shall be interesting seeing how terrain shall appear now. Hopefully mountains shall be more like mountains, and less like spiky daggers. Will we get our true world generation in this Unity version?

    Yes, we're writing a completely new world generation algorithm. This affects biomes, mountains and caves. We will no longer see the unrealistic, steep mountain spikes in the new version ;)


    Shall be interesting to see what happens with VR now that you're using Unity. Maybe we can see some attempts at VR, even on the slightest (when the time is right). No rush.

    Oh yes, VR is definitely much easier to implement with Unity. While it's still a low priority (our main focus is to get the new version ready as soon as possible), it's something that's on our todo-list (at least as a beta branch in Steam or something like that) :)


    Just hoping blue prints will work

    It's really a high priority for us to keep old blueprints compatible :)


    question is this the same platform RUST runs on? I left Rust because of all the hackers. Is this new platform going to open up RW to a bunch of hackers?

    Yes, it's the same engine. However, all important "decisions" regarding the gameplay are made by the server, so the server never trusts the clients (at least when it comes to important stuff - for example, a hacker can't just spawn an item to his inventory, since inventories are managed by the server). In addition to that, we're going to use IL2CPP, which compiles the game to C++, and therefore it's much harder to decompile and to modify.

  • Will you give us some treats during the waiting time? Like a diary or similar? I would like to hear some updates about the progress, planned features, etc. in regular intervalls. Maybe not daily or weekly but bi-weekly or at least monthly would be great.


    I know you don´t want to bore us with 1s and 0s - but even if its just your current visions, estimations or some blabla about the game itself it would be a positive sign towards those waiting for the "big change" and those interested in this game.


    Actually i personally think its highly important, if not crucial, to get more official information and updates. But you know my opinion on this already ;)

  • Those screen shots looks really nice, im glad to hear that you will keep on working on the game no matter what, i will like to see aswell atleast a monthly update about what its going on with the new version and how its going.


    This game have so much potential, i hope that the game will go in the right direction, we do really enjoy the game.

  • In my opinion that was the right decision. The java version right now is already awesome with this level of detail no other game can provide when it comes to building. A new engine on the other hand will improve the overall apearance of the game, lightning, textures, shader and so on. That would attract people who are more triggered by graphics than features. Sounds like win win. And the pictures look already "Mega geil!". Sorry in german there are better words for this :D


    But if you need support @red51 especially for the time till the release and the fact that the visibillity of RW is lower. I wouldn't hesitate to open my paypal wallet even if i already own the game. And many others would for sure. You know like patreon or similar and absolutely non-obligatory. Some games deserve such support more than half of the damn AAA games out there for ridiculous prices.


    Just think about that. I think its worth it. ;)

  • I love the graphics, reminds me a lot of biomes in Rust, and I hope that this means we will finally have running water.


    Will this affect building at all? I would hope that we are still able to build with fine details and set the exact sizes of pieces, use blocks, etc. That rough looking fence worries me if all the planks and beams will be rough hewn like that. That would remove some of the quirky charm of the current graphics and building possibilities for different styles/eras of architecture.

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