Although the game is not currently released, I would like to post updates here. Just to talk about the things I have been working on behind the scenes, and give you sneak preview of some of the latest features I have been working on, however buggy or unfinished they may be.
Resource Regeneration
I have long since had on my TODO list to make resources regenerate over time. Many playtest we have ran out of all resources on the island and were forced to twiddle our thumbs. So I have finally gone to work implementing this. Here is a video of the system in action.
UI Enhancements
I have spent quite a bit of time going over and polishing the UI code. It wasn't really all that bad, just kinda all shoved into one class that does way too much. So I moved lots of things to their own classes and tied up lots of loose ends. I made the server name auto populate with [steamusername]'s Server. While at it, I also extended the character limit for world and server names. Sixteen characters often just wasn't enough, thirty two should be enough. An option for servers to be friends only was also added. Not really anything else to say really, just something that needed to be done.
Saplings
When it comes to trees, rather than make them naturally regenerate, I thought it would be a good idea to add plantable saplings instead. When chopping a tree, there is a 15% chance of a sapling being given. Once you have one, you can plant them and after some time they turn into a new tree. The system used to give saplings from trees can also be used for other things like giving rare metals when harvesting metal ore, so its pretty flexible.
Building Improvements
I made some improvements to the building mechanics. During playtests I heard complaints about the wall placement. Mainly that it was always trying to place at the wall socket closest to you. So I made some tweaks to how the wall sockets behave, it should feel more predictable.
