v 0.1.2 - The Taiga cave update!

Hello Cosmorists!

This is an update similar to the Verdant update, but focuses on the taiga cave biome instead, which previously lacked content compared to other similar cave biomes! You might want to visit the taiga biome on Tierra, and visit their caves to experience the new content!

Overhauled Taiga caves

In the taiga cave biome, a lot more new and exclusive content awaits, as well as a fresh look to it! The taiga cave biome will also have variations between parts of the biome that are above freezing, and other parts that are below freezing. Here's an example of a part that's above freezing! Now for an area of the biome that's below freezing! If you're brave enough to go to some of the colder taiga biomes on Tierra, and go deep enough in their caves at around 15 layers deep that's still below freezing, you might stumble across wonders like this!

A new toolset

With this biome overhaul also comes a new set of tools! Using any of these tools also lowers the player's body temperature by a certain amount per use when one durability is taken! A lot more dangerous to use in cold biomes such as the taiga caves that they originate from, but very useful if you find yourself in blisteringly hot biomes such as the hottest of deserts, lava caves, or magma forests! They're still not as effective in hot underwater environments such as the equatorial region of Aquatica.

A data structure change

If you've read the Latest in Cosmorists for January 2025, you might have noticed that I worked on changing how the game saves data. This is the update that changes it! Existing saves will still work, as backwards compatibility has also been taken into consideration, but once an existing save file is saved, it'll be converted to the new data structure. In the screenshot above, the save at the bottom is before the conversion, and the one on top is after. The file size is expected to be around 2x larger, but will still be within the 10s or 100s of kilobytes range for the majority of saves.

Ambience

+ Taiga cave ambience

Enemies

+ Frost Leech

Items

Gadgets
+ Boreal Ring of Ice

Resources

+ Frosty Sap

Tools

+ Permafrost Axe + Permafrost Bow + Permafrost Pickaxe + Permafrost Sword

Technical

• Changed the way the game saves and reads data for new and existing saves.

World Generation

Tierra

~ Slightly expanded the range of humidity values that the taiga biome can generate in at deeper levels. ~ The taiga cave biome will now generate with a new stone wall. ~ Slippery ice can now generate in the taiga caves in parts that are below freezing.