World Turtles News

Hi everyone!

We're excited to announce that World Turtles will be showcased at DreamHack Beyond on August 18th, 2023!

Check out the Summer Indie Showcase at https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40157993/sale/DreamHackBeyondSummerIndieShowcase . We’re super excited to see you!

If you want to join the community, join our Discord!

Thanks for your support and we’re super excited to show off all of our hard work!

Good day, fellow Meeps,



"The Beginning", especially composed by Kyle Misko as the title track for World Turtles, has been nominated for the very first "Game Music Award" category of the "World Soundtrack Awards" along with some HUGE names like Star Wars Jedi, Hogwarts Legacy, World of Warcraft, Resident Evil, Far Cry, Diablo, God of War Ragnarök, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Gotham Knights, The Settlers, Ghostbuster, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.





This forms part of the International Film Fest Gent. After public voting closes on 21 August, 5 finalists will be nominated, with the winner being announced on 19 October. We don't realistically expect to beat out such heavyweights, but you never know, and just being part of the 88-track-long-list is already quite exciting!

If you would like to listen to the candidates and vote for your favorite, you can follow the links below:

Spotify Playlist

Film Fest Gent Voting Page

YouTube video of the complete track "The Beginning"

De Chelonian Mobile!
Gideon

Good day, fellow Meeps!



I'm happy to report that the smoother terrain triangulation, less restrictive building placement, new terrain textures and improved optimization is now live! More detail in the links below.

Improved Optimization:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1512050/view/3674421166715540061?l=english

Smoother Terrain Triangulation and Less Restrictive Building Placement:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1512050/view/3696938531596732980?l=english



I'm aware of a few small visual glitches that do not affect gameplay (mostly where rivers and roads are concerned). If you encounter anything strange with the new triangulation, please mention it here or on the Discord server.

Next up: Improving the UI/UX. I'm working with a professional UI team on this one...

De Chelonian Mobile
Gideon

Good day, fellow Meeps!

I've been spending a lot of time on optimization recently, and wanted to mention a few improvements that will be included in the next update:

• I'm now emitting all "dust" and "water spray" visuals from a single pair of particle systems, changing its parameters before emitting specific particles, where previously I placed a copy of the system at each point where dust / spray needed to be visualized, and then destroyed the system to get rid of the visuals. The central particle systems now emits particles for all locations specified in a dynamic list. Rain, clouds and snow emission have been working like this for a while.
  
• Finding locations for Fracture Springs when Fault Lines erupt now runs on one of the parallel threads, getting rid of the most notable (and very noticeable) temporary stuttering in frame rate when Fault Lines erupt.
  
• Some "take small steps over time until all is done" changes are now made instantaneously if the Fault Line isn't explored by the player (and thus not visible), further reducing frame rate stuttering.
  
• I've improved memory management by implementing list pools across all threads to reduce the strain put on garbage collection, reducing temporary frame rate drops.
  
• I've reduced "Set Pass Calls" and "Batches" to reduce the amount of communication required between CPU and GPU.
  
• I've reduced excessive triangles in the Food Ball and Snow Comet models.
  

Along with the improved triangulation (see previous post), the next update will also include huge improvements in the terrain texture, which I have completely revisited (with only a few left to go). Here's an example of what the game currently looks like. Although the new triangulation requires more GPU resources (I've always been CPU bound on my side anyway), the texture improvement is achieved with no additional strain on the CPU or GPU.



I'm very excited to release this update, but there are a few loose ends to tie up before we can go live. Please stay tuned!

De Chelonian Mobile
Gideon

Good day, fellow Meeps!



I've been working on the following very impactful changes:

• An alternative terrain triangulation for a much smoother look.
  
• Relaxing restrictions on building placement, making it easier to find suitable locations.
  

Terrain Triangulation





I have completely reworked the triangulation to make the terrain more flowing, less blocky. This increases the GPU needs, but the original style will still be available for lower graphic settings.

Less Restrictive Building Placement

Previously, Meeps could raise/lower terrain one elevation level for most buildings and 2 for special ones. They can now alter the terrain by up to 3 elevation levels for most buildings, and 4 for special ones. This greatly reduces the restrictions placed on building placement.



Previously, Meeps could only walk, and roads could only go, up and down 2 elevation levels (as indicated by terraces). They can also now traverse a maximum of 4 elevation levels, again lifting restrictions on where Meeps can go and how roads connect.

Finally, this also makes pathfinding quicker, improving stability / performance.

These changes are quite impactful, so I still need to finalize a few loose ends and test that everything still works properly, so the game will not yet be updated to include these changes - stay tuned, it won't be long!

De Chelonian Mobile!
Gideon