I've been putting some things off waiting around for this and that the past few weeks, and it's just turned into a big time sink. I'm working on one last attempt at some outsourcing, that looks promising, but ultimately the real power that isn't being tapped into right now is our community.
On the roadmap fishing is next in line, and I already started working on it a bit, but ever since the new year started I've been increasingly turning my head down a new direction. I'm looking to start actively working on creative mode, Steam Workshop support, and an interface in creative mode to allow players to create items, recipes, and so forth. The capability to create new items and recipes already exists, though things have changed a bit since I created the system and needs to be upgraded a bit, and there is no interface yet which will make it a lot easier to work with.
Why? I've always imagined Solace Crafting as a procedural engine simply populated by default with the rules and data that I feed into it internally. I do very much look forward to adding my own main quest lines, class unlocks, unique items, and so forth. However, giving the community the tools to participate in such creative processes and facilitating the sharing and growth of those aspects are what really makes a lot of my favorite games shine.
I'm imagining a number of interfaces during world creation with lists of possible encounters, monsters, biomes, loot, and more, for players to import and export freely, and turn on and off as they see fit. I've mentioned this a bit before both here and on Discord, but the time has come to really start working on it.
Having said all that, this patch improves a variety of multiplayer aspects including an upgrade to the Steamworks wrapper written by Gary Newman from Facepunch, well known as the creators of Rust. This removes the need for a dedicated server to log in to Steam in order to post itself to the server lists, and will make working with Workshop easier once I get there.
Resources will now also attempt to respawn every 7 days. This is also now a world setting that can be changed during world creation or from within using the console.
The shaking experienced beyond 10km for multiplayer clients is also fixed.
27 new building pieces have also been added, though there are still unfortunately some problems with them that I am very aware of. A number of them do not line up properly or have gaps in them when placed next to one another. Models that do not have these problems are still in the works, though the shapes will be the same, so if you can look past the cosmetic issue for a little bit, they will automatically update when they are ready.
Most of the major changes since the last live update are as follows:
- Added loading progress percentages to the start screen and main game transitions
- Max "Cave Resource Density" value changed from 0.8 to 0.5
- Updated Steamworks wrapper
- Fruit trees watered up to the "Mature" stage will now regrow their fruit with or without being watered
- Added 27 new wooden building pieces
- Relaxed building obstruction box checks from 2.9m cubed to 2.6m cubed
- Terraforming is no longer blocked by buildings
- Steel tools now do +5 damage
- Resources will now attempt to respawn 7 days after being harvested
- Added "Resource respawn rate" harvesting to world settings (/resourcerespawnrate in the console)
- Reduced the cost of solace power upgrades
- Reduced max near terrain draw distance to 1024 (an alternative is in the works)
The latest beta patch notes are as follows:
v 0.6.2.15 2020.01.30
- Changed default resource respawn timer from 1 day to 7 days
- Fixed a crafting experience bug
v 0.6.2.14 2020.01.30
- Fixed animal attacks hitting the host instead of the client
- Fixed client skills not working properly past 8km
- Fixed client side monsters/animals teleporting around improperly past 8km
v 0.6.2.13 2020.01.30
- Fixed crafting experience not enough to level a profession up not being applied properly
You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.
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