Let me start off by saying that the next update is going to take about two weeks to develop and bug test before release. There is a lot more going on in this update in comparison to others. I've made changes to a lot of the game's base code such as rendering of certain objects and the chunk system.
New NPC System
The largest upcoming feature is the NPC re-write. Now it's important to keep in mind that this is not my department of work; Spike (co-programmer) is taking this on himself so I am not able to speak for its exact due date but we estimate it will be done hopefully around the 24th of this month.
Making The World Less Empty
I've listened to the community and have heard from a lot of people that the environment feels empty. The world just doesn't feel very lively. I am in the process of adding more plants and various world details.
[img=http://i.imgur.com/DVGwtt6.png]No environmental detail
[img=http://i.imgur.com/mZYOtKa.png]The two plants I've added so far
Village Biome
The houses randomly placed throughout the world is strange and really is only there to help in terms of gameplay. I love finding loot in games. You feel accomplished and every treasure you find is another exciting moment. So, I have been working on implementing a village biome. To clarify there will be no sort of civilization in these villages but there will be roads and houses.
[img=http://i.imgur.com/B66DRoC.png]
I spent about 10 hours yesterday setting up this single village layout. Before the update is released I'm hoping to have about three different village biomes. Each one has multiple variations that can affect the roads, the houses, and the crates. The reason these take so long is because I have to handcraft these in code and then account for each possible result.
News On The Multiplayer
I want multiplayer to be a good experience from the beginning. With the silly NPCs we have now and the lack of a believable world I feel that anyone who picks up the game simply for the multiplayer would be left very disappointed. The game is lacking content and surface level appeal. I wanted from the beginning to create an awesome game that would stand out from others. I would be violating my own personal guidelines if I released multiplayer with the game in its current state. I can not make any promises as to when the multiplayer will be available but I can tell you that it is our next priority after this big update.
Live Updates On Our Progress
There is this awesome website called Trello that we use to show our development progress. I recommend giving it a look. It's pretty cool to see changes being made in realtime.
Link: https://trello.com/b/eaw5bXk9/project-explore-alpha-0-2
This doesn't in any way benefit us outside of helping us stay organized and providing the public with realtime information as to what will be in the next update. You are able to leave comments and vote for various cards. It's a good way to show what features you want most and what changes you think should be made.
Thanks to everyone for all the support! Best wishes and have a spectacular day!