Update Preview 2014-06-25: Many changes...

Hi folks!

You've probably expected a new update, but unfortunately, it's not ready yet This is due to the fact that the game is undergoing some bigger changes, and we're also doing a lot of bugfixes. We're not only working on the game, but are also implementing a new payment method: paysafecard, which will hopefully available in the next few weeks.

Concerning the game, we're currently fixing a lot of annoying things, e.g. "flying plants" near cave entrances, or missing grass at some locations. We also replaced the old filebrowser (which was used for uploading custom images) by an ingame solution, since the old one caused many problems.

Another point: With the next update, there will be a new biome type: Grassland, with only a few trees, and many smaller plants (which are also new) like flowers, ferns etc.

This is just the first step of realizing some bigger features. Here is an overview of the new features and also a roadmap for the next time:

Next update:

• Changed worldgeneration to generate bigger cave entrances
• Added a new "biometype": Grassland with only few trees
• New ingame-filebrowser to select and upload custom images
• New plants: Flowers, ferns, mushrooms
• Fixed a lot of annoying "cosmetic" problems, like flying trees near cave entrances
• Changed the look of the grass
• Fixed a lot of problems related to cutting grass

Following updates (in the long term):

• New biomes, like desert, tundra, polar region, savanna etc.
• New crafting gui with clearer navigation
• Extended construction system
• Animals and Monsters
• Chests to store your items
• Corpses when you die, allowing you to get your stuff back
• Ability to deconstruct objects, pack tents etc.
• Creative Mode (containing many, many tools)
• ...

Note: There will be of course more things we'll implement, so this list is not complete And btw., this list is not sorted.
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Lastly, I want to show you a few screenshots of some of the new features:

Meadows:

Ingame-filebrowser:

Flowers:

Stay tuned!

Quote from DrohtinDev

Are those flowers usefull for something (medicine, tea, ..?) or just nice looking? (also agree to the awesome look)

Yes, flowers can be picked up and used as an ingredient for different things, for example to create potions, cook meals (probably you'd use herbs instead of flowers ), or perhaps to colour textiles.

Quote from DrohtinDev

I am really looking forward to new biomes, especially about the transition from on to another.
From forest to grassland looks ok, but it could be better (no offense ).
You should have a look at some forest. At the "edge" of a forest are mostly shrubs and you can not really look into the forest. Behind these "first row" of shrubs are not so many of them. The point is if you are at the grassland and someone is in the forest you should not see him so easy. I know this is a small detail but you have to take care about all transitions between the biomes to make sure that the world look smooth.

Yes, that's true, but I think it'll work in this case. In the first step it's important to avoid something like in Mc, where you find a desert next to a polar region sometimes
Anyway we'll have "simple" transitions: Between grasslands and desert you find a steppe, but that's it. Or between grasslands and polar regions you find a tundra and so on

1. This size per biome is currently 2x2 worldparts, that is 128x128 chunks, that is 2048x2048 "blocks". Perhaps we will double it's size. But it's possible that two biomes of the same type will be directly next to each other. And yes, it's a "fixed form", but you probably won't notice ingame, since they have frayed transitions.
2. Yes, each biome has an individual set of plants, with individual density.
3. Yes, they will. There will be animals for dry regions (desert, savanna, steppe), for "normal" regions (grasslands, forests), and for cold regions (tundra, taiga, polar)
4. Currently it's planned that the biome will stay and can't be changed that easily. If you cut all trees and grass, they'll regrow.
5. All chunks that are already stored (only thoses that were already modified) on your disk won't change. But around those chunks there will be new biomes of course.

But remember that you won't see too much of the biomes in the next update (only the new grasslands), most of them will be implemented afterwards

Alright
No, there will be no loading time, the full world can be explored without the need of any loadingscreen

The biome size has nothing to do with the view distance, it's just because we want to avoid too small biomes. Currently every chunk has to be an individual mesh, since there would be nearly no identical chunks that could be reused, so there are no tricks about texturemanagement The only "trick" is the usage of texture arrays instead of atlases.