Rising World News

First of all, thank you so much for your active participation in the survey! In total we received 2941 responses. You can find the survey results here: Survey results

Now back to the status update: We've been working on grass in the past few weeks, and are currently working on vegetation, first and foremost trees. This includes wind effects, but also things like plant growth and tree felling.

There is still some work to do, but we're pleased to share a first video of the new version. It's really not much, mainly showing the grass and the current state of vegetation, but expect more videos in the near future ;)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Unlike in the old version, wind is quite dynamic now and takes a direction and random gusts of wind into account.

The new vegetation models also provide a lot more detail compared to the old version. When it comes to tree felling, you will now have a certain degree of control over the fall direction of the log.





If you're looking for more information about the grass, please check out our Trello board - it contains some screenshots and an animated gif about how snow affects grass: https://trello.com/c/KODxdgZS/140-grass

About a playable demo: We will now finalize our work on vegetation, and there are also a few other, smaller things that need to be done before we can release a playable demo - but it's getting closer and closer.

Stay tuned!

Hi folks! It's time for a new status update, but first we want to ask you for some feedback about Rising World and the upcoming version. We've set up a small survey and it would be awesome if you can give us some feedback - this will help us to focus on the features that are most desired. You can find the survey here: https://forms.gle/MdifGvidirQ3FRQL7

But now let's talk about the status update: The last weeks we've been working on terrain modifications (i.e. the ability to dig holes), added some first items (including proper item and inventory handling) and also implemented a few weather effects.

Compared to the Java version, we will see some exciting improvements in these areas. Speaking of items: We're currently working on the ability to place items (like tools and weapons) persistently in the world. This means you can place your pickaxe anywhere and it won't despawn. Of course you can still store your stuff in chests, but being able to place your tools on a table or put them on a shelf greatly contributes to immersion.



We're also reworking all objects (like furniture, doors etc). There is still a lot of work to do, but the new objects look so much better than the old ones. Here is an early image of the new torch and torch mount:



When it comes to weather effects, snow will now be a separate weather effect. This means you can enable snow even in temperate biomes, at least via command. We're thinking about having snowfall to occur naturally from time to time (covering your world in snow), this feature could then turn into actual seasons in the long run. Please let us know what you're thinking about that.



Last but not least we did some preparation for a new, much more powerful RCON tool and we've also integrated permissions for multiplayer, similar to our old implementation in Java. Main difference is that we're using JSON now instead of YAML, however, the new RCON tool will feature a permission editor so you don't have to edit permission files manually anymore.

As always, you can follow our development on Trello: https://trello.com/b/t5Leypcj/rising-world-development

Stay tuned, and more importantly, stay healthy!

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!