Rising World News

Hey folks! We want to give you a small status update of our recent progress.

The last weeks we've been mainly working on textures and proper terrain shaders. Unlike the Java version of the game, we're using physically-based rendering, which is basically a more realistic approach to render materials.
Materials no longer consist of a single texture, instead there are various maps which allow the game to render the material accurately (including surface structure, glossiness etc).





When it comes to the terrain shaders, or more specifically, to the transition between multiple materials (e.g. sand, dirt, gravel etc), we're now taking the "height" of the particular material into account instead of just blending the materials. As a result, transitions between materials are more realistic now (compared to basic blending)



We've also been tweaking the terrain generation and started working on new vegetation. This is something we want to get ready before we can release a first playable demo of the new version. We know things take quite long, but we're sure you'll like it once it's ready :) Anyway, we are very grateful for your patience!

Last but not least we want to share a screenshot of a fairly high mountain. Even if it doesn't look that tall, but this mountain has a total height of more than 800 blocks! Just as a reference, the highest mountain in the old version had a max height of ~230 blocks. So yes, you can build much higher in the new version ;)



Stay tuned for the next status update! To get more information about what's happening in the meantime, please check out our Trello Roadmap

Hi folks! Today we want to share a few more screenshots with you.


The new version will provide much more realistic lights and shadows. In addition to that, lights no longer pass through walls.
In terms of modding, we've started working on the new Plugin API and decided to stick to Java for the API.


As mentioned in our previous announcement, we will see some major improvements regardings lights and shadows in the new version. In the current Rising World most lights were static (i.e. computed once by the CPU during chunk generation) - this provides good performance, but the visual results weren't that great. In the new version, all lights will be fully dynamic, resulting in a much more realistic lighting. In addition to that, lights are able to cast shadows now. To make sure performance doesn't suffer too much, we will use a deferred renderer (which can handle lots of lights fairly efficiently) and a smart shadow updater (which regenerates shadows only if the environment changed).

We've prepared a small comparision between the new lights (still work-in-progress) and the static lights in the old version of the game:




Shadows play a big role and can be a real game changer. When exploring dungeons, for example, or walking through forests at night (just equipped with a torch), shadows create a completely different atmosphere.




Another big improvement thanks to proper shadows: Lights no longer pass through walls in the new version!




Apart from lights and shadows, we also started working on the new Plugin API. We decided to stick to Java for the API, since this language provides a much better performance (and full multi-threading support) compared to scripting languages. This also means that large parts of the current API stay compatible, however, there are still a few changes to the API so existing plugins need to be updated for the new version. We will post more information about that soon.

Stay tuned for the next status update! If you want to get more information in the meantime, make sure to check out our development roadmap on Trello :)

Hey folks! We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope you enjoy the holidays and have a great time!

We would like to take the opportunity to give you a small status update of the new version. Right in time for Christmas we have a new screenshot for you:



The log cabin and fireplace were built with construction elements. As you can certainly see, lighting and shadows will improve considerably with the new version. In addition to that, we will use more detailed models (for the furniture, for example) and higher resolution textures.

Apart from that, we decided to stick to FMOD as audio engine. We've implemented a voice chat recently, with the ability to post-process the voice data (e.g. when the player uses a megaphone or walkie-talkie).

Unfortunately there will be no playable demo this year, because it's still too unfinished. However, we'll try to get a playable demo ready in early 2020.

As always, if you want to get more information about the development progress, you can check out our roadmap on Trello: https://trello.com/b/t5Leypcj/rising-world-development

Stay tuned for a thrilling year 2020!

Hi folks! Today we want to give you a status update of the ongoing changes (if you aren't aware of our plans to move to a new engine, please check out our previous announcement).



We've finalized the terrain generation (see some first screenshots below) and also implemented a few other interesting features. For example, the new version will be able to handle larger view distances and much higher mountains. In addition to that, we've added full gamepad support, we created a new UI from scratch (supporting various resolutions and aspect ratios), and also implemented a fast, UDP-based network system.
Btw, there is also a new update for the Java version available, you can find the changelog in our forums.




We've made a lot of progress in the past months, but of course there is still a lot of work to do. One of the biggest (and most time-consuming) features we're currently working on is the new world generation. When it comes to this feature, we have two main priorities: On the one hand, we want to create more interesting and appealing landscapes, and on the other hand, it's our intention to enable larger view distances (without killing the performance). In fact we've made some great progress in this regard and will be able to handle larger view distances as well as higher mountains. We can't give exact numbers yet (because we haven't implemented all world features yet), but our first results look very promising!

Here are some first screenshots of the new terrain generation. Please keep in mind that they use mostly placeholder-textures (and we don't have any vegetation or fancy shader effects yet), but they should give you a rough idea of the new terrain:








In addition to that, we've implemented a native bridge that allows us to write performance-critical code in C++. This made our terrain generation, for example, a lot faster compared to regular C#!
C++ also gives us more control over memory (no garbage collector involved) and allows us to use CPU features like SIMD.









Here is a small overview of the most important features we've implemented so far:

• New terrain generation: The new version features more appealing and realistic landscapes compared to the old version. It also enables much greater view distances and higher mountains (this also means you can create higher buildings accordingly).
  
  
• Better player physics: We tried to create a player controller similar to the current one (in the Java version), but we made some improvements. On the one hand, there is no more "jitter" when standing on slopes, on the other hand, the character is no longer able to walk up steep inclines like a mountain goat. However, we found out that we definitely need some climbing gear now ^^
  
  
• New UI: We're creating a new UI from scratch. We understand and agree that the old "wood" design wasn't really appealing, so we're focusing on a flat, modern design now. The new UI scales properly depending on the screen resolution and aspect ratio (so far we support 16:9, 21:9 and 32:9)
  
  
• Gamepad support: We've implemented full support for Xbox360/One, PS4 and common XInput controllers. You can use your mouse/keyboard and gamepad simultaneously, but if desired, the game is also fully playable without a keyboard
  
  
• UDP based networking: The new version will use "connection-less", UDP based networking. This should result in better performance compared to TCP, but most and foremost, this should help us to get rid of connection resets and other losses of connections
  
  
• C++ integration: Not necessarily a "feature", but we've implemented a bridge between C# and C++ - this allows us to write performance-critical code in C++, resulting in less overhead and better performance
  
  
• Localization: While we still don't have support for any other languages yet, we have at least support for chinese and cyrillic characters. The language files are easily accessible and modifiable, so community translations can be incorporated conveniently
  

There are of course many other things we've implemented so far. If you want to get a better overview of these features and if you also want to find out what we're currently working on, feel free to check out our development roadmap on Trello: https://trello.com/b/t5Leypcj/rising-world-development


We're still finalizing the world generation, but soon we will start working on more features which provide more "visual feedback" - e.g. animations, objects, vegetation etc. This enables us to share many more screenshots and videos at shorter intervals :)


There is also a new update for the Java version available by the way. You can find the full changelog in our forums

Dear Community!

It's about time to let you know what's currently going on, and what the future of Rising World will probably look like. Sorry for the wall of text!

Some of you may remember that we mentioned some traffic changes on Steam last October. Valve changed the algorithm that decides which games are promoted and which are not. There aren't many details known about how the algorithm works exactly, but it seems that the algorithm is mostly favoring top-sellers now - there are lots of other serious indie developers out there who were negatively affected by the algorithm change.

We lost a lot of our visibility "over night" and therefore our game sells a lot worse than before. Of course it's up to Valve to decide what's best for the store, but this change makes it much harder for us to survive - especially in combination with the introduction of Steam Direct in 2017.
The development of Rising World is not about making money, but of course we have running costs and have to pay bills just like everyone else. We will never abandon Rising World, no matter what happens, but if we're having trouble covering the costs, this will inevitable slow down development - to a point that becomes unacceptable. But even if we somehow make it to the 1.0, it would be a pity if the journey ends at this point (since there is still so much unused potential in this game).

It couldn't go on like this, so we had to find the best solution for the community and the game.

To cut a long story short, we decided to move Rising World to another engine. This allows us to bring Rising World to a new level (from a technological point of view). Graphics isn't everything, but it still plays a big role when it comes to the first impression of the game. But moving to a new engine also allows us to release the game on more platforms - for example consoles. Of course the PC will still be our main platform, but being able to bring the game to consoles (or maybe even something like Stadia) could ensure the future of the game.

We are sure that the vast majority of players will benefit from this measure in the end, since the result will be a much more polished game. The bad news is, that moving to another engine means a rewrite of the game. This sounds worse than it actually is, though. When implementing a new feature, most of the time is spent on the conceptual design - and there is no need to redo that now in this case. The actual implementation, i.e. the "programming part" is in fact the smallest part.

But apart from that there are several "core mechanics" that had to be reworked anyway, for example the world generation. It makes sense to use this opportunity to do that now.

Nevertheless, it will still take some time until the "new version" is ready. In order to speed things up, we have a new fulltime dev now (so we're two people focusing on the programming/implementation part). This wasn't really an option before, since the game already consists of more than 250k lines of code, and getting used to it would take a lot of time.
I'm still afraid that it will take up to 1 year until the current version of the game can be fully replaced by the new version (but at this stage, it will already feature the reworked core mechanics). But once we have a playable version, we will make it accessible (as "Beta" in Steam) - we're confident that this still happens this year.

We already have some preview screenshots we want to share with you. Please keep in mind that these are some very early screenshots, but they give at least a rough idea how the game could look like in the future:









Just to avoid any misunderstandings: If you already own the game, there is of course no need to buy it again. Once the new version is ready, it will replace the current version and you will be able to access it.
However, the Java version will still be available (as well as the according server files). Once the new version replaces the current one, the Java version will be moved to a separate Beta branch in Steam which will always be accessible. So if you don't like the changes and want to stick to the old version, that will be possible. We are still going to provide bugfixes for the Java version.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or if you think that it's a bad idea to move to a new engine, please let us know :) Either leave a comment here, or create a new post in the forums.

We've set up a small FAQ by the way which provides some more information: https://steamcommunity.com/app/324080/discussions/0/1642042464740355178/