Thanks 
The effect is mainly noticeable on blocks (i.e. buildings) and objects. On the terrain itself it's barely noticeable, unless a block is there or an object (the sharper a corner, the bigger the impact of the effect). We're going to disable the effect for LOD terrain and for grass, since it does not hava any advantage there.
Thank a lot for the kind words and the hint about the name The name is indeed misleading, and hard to find via google or youtube. We already discussed that matter, and I think it's inevitable to change the name. We'll do it the next time, perhaps we first start a public vote to discuss a few possible names.
We are also planning to release a demo version (many people at JGO asked for it), at the same time we're going to revive the thread at JGO, and a new, polished and distinguishable name would be very helpful for that 
Unforuntately, the update requires a few more days until it can be released. We therefore ask for your patience.
As a small compensation we're working on a new effect Since "real" shadows are complex and limited (they don't work for static lights), we offer you a kind of substitute: Ambient occlusion, which will make the scene look more realistic. Take a look (the same room from the previous screenshots):
Before (screenspace ambient occlusion disabled):
After (screenspace ambient occlusion enabled):
Apart from that, the important features of the next update will be of course - as mentioned before - a fully reworked crafting menu, several new objects (torches, furniture, doors etc.) and two new blocktypes.
Hehe, yeah, that's true 
Maybe we should think about such a thing, as a joke 
The next update will bring a lot of new stuff: First of all, we made the objects look more detailed, i.e. the textures are much more sharper than before.
At the same time, the update will bring new objects, especially some light-spending objects, among other new torches, lamps etc. Most objects will be available in different materials.
Apart from that, we're going to polish the current GUI, since especially the crafting menu currently needs to be reworked. The new crafting menu will be much more user-friendly: All recipes are sorted by category, and you will also be able to mark a recipe as a "favorite" for quicker access (this is useful for blocks, since there are nearly 200 different materials).
Speaking about blocks, the next update gives you new blockforms: Ramps and a special shape for roofs (like a slanting slab). This will increase your possibilities when building a house.
Expect the next update after the coming weekend
Last but not least, a few screenshots, showing some of the new objects and the new materials.
Some of the new wood textures
One of the new objects: A big torch
Here is a new update, it's the first part of several changes we're currently working on (see announcement).
Since this update contains many smaller changes and a lot of bugfixes, there is no real feature to focus on. The changelog should be more meaningful
---------------------------------------------------------------
Full changelog:
I think the best way is some kind of repository for free available scripts. So players can create and publish scripts. If you have enough player there will be scripts for almost everthing.
I think that's a good idea! We should definitely offer such a thing 
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.
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
I personally don't need that feature. if you really implement it, please give us the ability to disable it
I like the feeling of "being alone in the world", some kind of "stranded" there
Mp is something completely different of course, I like the idea of spawning NPC that can fill all sorts of roles
That sounds fair to me. I know what you're talking about, this "feeling of being alone in the world" But as mentioned, it's not even sure if we add the travelling trader for singleplayer at all...
[...]@devs: can't you provide such a script out of the box?
Well... this is a very "specific" thing you're talking about. We will think about it, but in principle, we want to offer more general scripts. Those scripts can be extended easily then.
Just wait until the wiki arrives, it gives an overview about all functions with descriptions and examples. That makes scripting quite an easy task
Ist mir auch schon passiert... Wir werden uns drum kümmern!
I'm afraid that won't accelerate the process at all, since we already focus on mainly 1 main feature per update, but most new features require some preconditions fulfilled. In the same vein, we also fix some bugs etc., so that's the typical way it goes
Sometimes it's also not easy to predict what feature we'll implement next.
I think when the most important features (e.g. working survial mode, creative mode, animals, monsters) are done, something like "public votes" will be possible.
Jein. Man kann Zelte craften, sie frei in der Welt platzieren, und in ihnen auch die Nacht verbringen (gleiche Funktion wie Betten).
Erst mit dem nächsten Update passt sich beim Übernachten (sowohl in Zelten als auch Betten) der Spawnpunkt an. Außerdem soll es in Zukunft möglich sein, Items in Zelten zu lagern (das wird im gleichen Zuge kommen wie Kisten/Truhen).
Und zum Thema "Camping" werden auch noch mehr Möglichkeiten im Laufe der Zeit kommen, wie schon am Anfang des Threads angesprochen: Andere Zelte, Lagerfeuer, Kochstellen etc.
Mhh, you are thinking in long time terms. I hope that we all looking back to the first of many self-developed games in 10 years.
If you keep that in mind, I think you have 2 years to integrate it into concept. After that the next game should be in the pipline
If everything goes well, that's the plan. We have quite some ideas for future games. But we'll focus on Concept at least until it reaches its final state (respectively a kind of final state). And after that, we first have some further plans to extend Concept, and I'm talking about really big things. But we will be coming back to that when the time is ripe
[...] For me concept is a high potential (as long as the developer stay focused and keep the good speed of delivering features). It just has to take the critical mass of players. This is the most important part!
Thanks! Of course we do our best to bring new updates as quick as possible. Currently some updates may take a little bit longer, since there are still some critical features on our todo list, and we're only 2 developers. Apart from the game development, there are still some other tasks: implement new payment methods, work on the wiki, website etc.
I'm sure development could be even faster in the future Currently we do our best to bring new updates at intervals of 1-3 weeks.
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.
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
What do you mean with "tradepost"?
Exactly, all those things can be done with Lua scripts in the future
[...] Probably it is better to concentrate on high level suggestions [...]
That's true, but we'll do that anyway This is what I also wanted to say with my previous post, that we have to implement animals first, and after that, we first have to complete the survival gameplay etc.
[...] but as my mother use to say: "If you want to do something, do it right". I made the experience that it is sometimes harder to change stuff afterwards. And why not give an input that might be relative usefull? [...]
Your mother is right When we implement something like breeding, we'll most likely do it the way you suggested. But it's uncertain when it will happen; since there is so many stuff we have to do first that is really important for the gameplay (and taming, breeding and herding is rather "fine-tuning"), it may take several months or even a year or so until the time has come 
Btw., it depends if something is hard to change afterwards. If we talk about a really big thing like a multiplayer mode, it's of course very hard to implement afterwards (at least in our case, where the whole world has to be in sync, and where we have to deal with a huge amount of data).
But the more specific the change is, the easier it is to implement afterwards.
[...] But if the dev wants animals to be something valuable, he can say animals will have, later or now, specific atributes or benefits, but progged the game like in minecraft, it might be hard to balance that later on. you know? I dont claim my ideas are mass compatible or the only way. its just a piece of colour to give the game a touch which pushes it in another direction than mc.
The Minecraft system is good, but it's also very basic. So we always welcome any suggestions to make our game more individual
I don't want to say that you have to keep your ideas in your mind. What I am trying to say is that you should try take make a top -> down (or the other way) discussion.
Start at a high level and go into detail (or start at a low level and go to high level).
For example:
[...]
So you see there are a lot of thing to think about and one of them is your point. I am more the development guy and so I have to think about the whole concept of something [...]
Of course this would be more helpful, but we can't claim that. Every suggestion is welcome, it doesn't matter how detailed it's described, or how important it is. Undetailed descriptions or "fine-tuning"-features may take a long time until they're implemented, and detailled descriptions are more helpful for sure, as long as that's kept in mind, and nobody expects that his suggestion will be in the game shortly, everything is going to be alright
[...] Maybe adding a kind of script that tells: [...]
That will definitely be possible
I am also getting your point and I am with you. Sadly I made the experience that thinking small (all the time) could be extremly bad for the whole game. I am also a friend of details and I love talking about crazy new ideas no other game will ever have. But keep in mind that even this game will never have it
This "all the time" is a very important part in your sentence Thinking small all the time is extremely bad for the game, that's a bitter reality, but thinking sometimes small won't hurt
And bringing a lot of cool features in the game is not impossible, but a very very very time consumpting task. You see that when taking a look at Minecraft: Even today they're adding cool new stuff, but they're working on the game since a very long time. They can afford it, they earned so much money (and still sell plenty copies of that game) that there is no real need to make new games as fast as possible to avoid declaring insolvency.
As long as a game is not such a huge success, you have to concentrate on the most important "cool features"
[...] ( red51: challenge for you to disprove me
Challenge accepted. What's the time frame? 10 years?
[...] But to be honest, i dont know much about scripting etc. Just hope the lua stuff is as easy as i hope so i can do the stuff i like to see^^ for example the optionalbe marketstand without an admin needed^^
Don't worry, it's not that hard Lua is also easy to learn. This scripting system is comparable to SA:MP, MTA or IV:MP (yes, mods for a completely different game, but the basic idea of writing a gamemode is the same).
But currently it's nearly impossible to write gamemodes without any documentation. You should wait until our wiki is available
In my personal opinion should be a herd and its basic behavior part of the main game and not from a lua script. But to decide this is part of the developer.
That's the way it's currently intended Of course there is a basic behavior, spawning, AI etc. You only write a Lua script if you want to change this behavior, for example if animals should not spawn during evening, or if a monster should be spawned instead every time an animal should have spawned, or simply to completely prevent wild animal spawning.
[...] oh, btw, a meltingsystem would be nice
Yes, something like a "recycle system" is planned, that tools or weapons can be melted to get some of the basic materials back.
[...] If I hear coins (or money) it reminds me to the question about "in game sales". Are you planning to do this? [...]
By no means! We will never implement something like ingame sales or something like that, at least nothing that can be exchanged with "real" money
Trading on the other hand is a planned feature. You'll be able to trade with other players at all time, simply by right-clicking them. This will open a trading menu where you can simply exchange items. So you may trade your iron sword for 32 apples for example Or you may also give away your sword for free as a gift.
Apart from that it'll also be possible for serveradmins to spawn NPC's, and you can give them different task and you can define how they should interact with other players: For example, you can say that they should simply attack hostile mobs when they're close enough (so the NPC will become something like a guard), or you can create a conversation (so the NPC may tell you the serverrules or -news). Of course you can also say that the NPC should be a trader, and you're able to define what items he has in stock, and what they'll cost.
All these things can be done in creative mode. You should know that the creative mode will be more likely an "ingame-editor". There you place the NPCs and you'll get different tools (e.g. a conversation editor) to define the interactions. Advanced users can combine this with Lua scripting of course
Perhaps we will also implement something like a "travelling trader" for the singleplayer: A trader will spawn something near you with his cart for a certain amount of time where you can buy or sell items. But this feature is still uncertain...
[...] If the player now has the ability to "transform" rare stuff into coins it would make the game more lorefriendly [...]
Yes, that's why it'll be possible to craft coins (e.g. copper, silver and gold coins, but without "mixing" different ores, since this would be a little bit too complicated, and that also implies that "mixing" ores should also be possible for weapons or tools, and that goes beyond the scope of the game ). Combined with the ability of the serverowner to exclude some items from crafting, coins become a "real" currency that cannot be forged by someone else.
[...] Instead player could "rent" a specific "marketstandsize" and offer their goods there [...]
That's something the serverowner is responsible for. "Renting" something is - of course - not intended by the game, so it's necessary to do this either by virtue of agreement (e.g. you have a hotel with serveral rooms, every door is locked, and when the player gives you whatever you want for one night, you give him the key for a door), or by creating a custom Lua script (remember that this is really a special thing we're talking about, so Lua is the only real solution for implementing something that individual)
Don't worry, you're definitely not spamming the forum, you can write as much as you want, we welcome any posts
First of all: Yes, we're planning to bring a form of payment into the game. It will simply be an item (perhaps coins, maybe they will be threated differently from regular items). Since server-admins (yes, once again, payment is a multiplayer-only feature) will get the ability in the future to restrict items (so that they can't be crafted), they're the only ones who can control how much money is in circulation
About the silver- and goldmines, allocated among different kingdoms: This is difficult to implement due to the randomness of the world; if the world would not be random, this would be much easier. In addition, ores will also occur randomly, comparable to Minecraft. The occurrence is only influenced by the depth and the current biome (e.g. diamonds are more common in deserts etc.).
