We found the way to use and carry variants was annoying. The variants would clog up your inventory making it cumbersome to switch cubes. If you accidently selected a variant on the wrong cube, you would have to reselect the variant again and undo your previous action
To fix these issues we have changed how variants work going forward
You no longer carry cubes and variants of cubes. You now just carry cubes
Picking up a variant automatically changes it to a normal cube in your inventory, so it will stack with the rest of your cubes of the same type
Selecting a variant now sets that as your current variant. When you place any cube it will place as that variant
This cleans up your inventory and prevents the selection problem noted above. It also lets you place the same variant for different cubes easier
The current variant is now shown as the icon for your cubes in the bottom bar
The Outer rounded ramp corner variant has been added to Ficterra. This gives you a corner between two outer rounded ramps. This can give your buildings a smoother corner look compared to the sharp look of other cubes
The Inner rounded ramp corner variant has been added to the game. This gives you a corner between two inner rounded ramps
The Plate variant has been added to Ficterra. This is a flat square variant with 5% of the height of a normal cube. You can use this to build thin walls or platforms or to cover existing wall with a different material
The Pillar variant has been added to Ficterra. This is a rectangular prism that is a third of a cube thick and a full cube in length. You can use these to create support pillars, bars, 'pipes' and more
Plates and Pillars rotate based on where you place them. Plates stick to the sides of other cubes. Pillars stick out length wise from the sides of other cubes, i.e. placing them on the ground create a vertical pillar
The UI for choosing variants has been updated. It now has a title and a blurred background along with other minor UI changes
Fixed a bug where inner ramp variants would place the wrong way if there was only a single ramp next to them
Painting
We have reworked how painting colours on cubes functions
Previously painting a cube would just tint the cube the colour of your paint brush
This worked for good greyscale and whiter cubes. Cubes with vibrant colours would however be combined to produce a third colour and not the expected result. Example: painting a red cube blue, would result in a purple cube, not blue
Now painting behaviour changes based on the cube's texture in order to produce a more expected result
Painting a cube that is greyscale or whiter does the same behaviour and just tints the texture. For example painting Checkerboard yellow, will result in a black and yellow checkerboard look
Painting a cube with a more coloured texture will now perform a hue/saturation/lighting shift to get an expected result. For example painting Brick (a red brick with white mortar) blue will result in a blue Brick texure with white mortar
Depending on your cube's texture, you may need to repaint your buildings to get the correct colour in this new update
The Paint Can now snaps to grid, so they stop falling all over the place
Scripting - Modding with Code
Replaced old code block system with new scripting system using the Miniscript programming language
This allows for much more modding capability and makes it easier for use to update and maintain
New code editor with syntax highlighting. You can create and edit scripts for your mods in-game
The editor automatically checks for 'compile-time' errors, so you can check for some mistakes before actually testing your code
You can now assign code methods to be called from game events (without using addons)
The actions found in code blocks have been translated to Miniscript functions
Your code runs in its own sandbox per mod. It is also time-sliced, so if it takes too long to run, it will continue on the next frame. This prevents mod code from butchering the frame rate or freezing the game
Added per-world storage for mods. This lets you save data for a specific world. This can be used to keep track of story events or world progress
Added per-player storage for mods. This lets you save data for a specific player, in a specific world. This can be used to track player progress or save custom stats for your players
Use the 'print' function to output debug text to the player.log file
System Upgrades
We have updated the Unity version used to Unity 2019.4 LTS. This lets us do more with the game and the LTS track will ensure better stability for several years.
We have also upgraded the game from 32 bit to 64 bit. This will let the game use more memory for larger more complicated worlds
The resolution and quality popup at the beginning of the game has been removed
Resolution settings have been added to the Settings menu. This includes the specific resolutions along with the Windowed, Fullscreen, etc. screen options
Quality settings have been added to the Settings menu. You can lower this setting if you computer is struggling to run Ficterra, or increase the setting to get better graphics
Cubeopedia
The Cubeopedia has been upgraded to use the newer UI
Page buttons now have an icon as well as the name relating to the page
Variants are no longer shown in the Cubeopedia, they have the same information as the non-variant version
Monsters, Animals and NPCs tab has been added to the Cubeopedia
Category tabs now have a tooltip explaining them
Category tabs now have icons relating to the category
Other
The in-game menu has been upgraded to use the newer UI
The background behind the menu is now blurred instead of just darkened
The game world no longer pauses in single player while in the menus. This is to appease the new menu and bring the behaviour in line with multiplayer. We may revert this change at a later date
Fixed several bugs where placing objects would try to place inside the ground instead of on top of it
Fixed a bug where Door Mats could not display certain pictures
Stone Ball and Crop Plot now have textures again. They have also been updated to look better
Placeable objects can now have more than one action assigned for right click events
The inventory screen no longer resets to page 1 after a refresh
The '?' icon in the character screen has been replaced with a more apt 'empty square' icon for equipment slots that are empty
Fixed a bug where chests would think they were static objects
Fixed a bug where when placing an elevator you could 'pick up' other objects. The objects would be purple and un-interactable when the elevator was placed and they would just be deleted when the game was reloaded
Helper Key info should no longer stay stuck on the screen
Helper Key info now appears quicker and fades slower
Switching looking at different placeable objects now instantly switches the helper info instead of fading out and in again
