StaudSoft's Synthetic World News

[p]Over the last year, I focused on making the game deeper, more stable, and more alive. This update cycle includes major gameplay systems, UI improvements, and a large wave of bug fixes.[/p]

• Expanded City2 simulation with better NPC behavior, talking systems, daily routines, and navigation updates.
  
• Major gameplay server/entity updates for more reliable spawning, lifecycle handling, and world interactions.
  
• Hard-survival mechanics improved with crafting, cooking/drinking flow, inventory interactions, and progression balancing.
  
• HUD and manual experience upgraded with new in-game guidance and cleaner inventory/manual workflows.
  
• Ongoing world and voxel generation improvements for environment stability and content iteration.
  

• Better first-person gameplay tuning, including movement and player-rule updates.
  
• Expanded item and interaction systems: equipment behavior, pickup/use flow, crafting, and content-side balancing.
  

• Large City2 bug-fix pass (AI, navigation, and gameplay integration).
  
• Serialization and save/load related fixes.
  
• Navigation and behavior fixes for creatures/NPCs.
  
• Multiple hard-survival fixes for progression blockers and balancing issues.
  
• General gameplay-side reliability improvements across networking and client sync paths.
  

• Improved in-game manual and help visibility.
  
• Better HUD consistency and readability.
  
• Iterative cleanup of gameplay wiring and system integration.
  

[p]This release is part of a continuous iteration cycle. We will keep improving simulation depth, survival systems, and gameplay polish based on testing and player feedback.[/p]

[p]City2 (the simulation of a living human city in the game) still needs a lot of bug fixes, especially regarding pathfinding. I also need to create more polished buildings and fully integrate the city-building AI. In the survival modes, upcoming work will focus mostly on gameplay improvements, UI polish, and overall feel. There is also a fish trap system that still needs a full fix.[/p]

[p]Thanks for playing, and thanks for the feedback that helped shape this update.[/p]

Hello players,

We’re excited to bring you a special update based on your feedback! It is in the "unstable" branch. Here’s what’s new:

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[h2]New Feature: Hide the HUD[/h2]

You asked, and we listened! You can now hide the HUD (Heads-Up Display) for a more immersive gameplay experience.

How to Use It: Press F4, then navigate to the Game Menu to toggle the HUD. []Important Note: Hiding the HUD also makes the inventory and map invisible. These menus will still function but won’t be visible while the HUD is hidden. Please keep this in mind, as it could cause some confusion during gameplay!

This feature is perfect for players who love taking scenic screenshots or seeking a more immersive playstyle. Let us know how it works for you!

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[h2]Preview: Upcoming Features in Development[/h2]

We’re also sharing two new features that are currently work-in-progress. These are included in this pre-release for early feedback and testing:

1. Hard Survival Mode:
   A more intense and unforgiving survival experience for hardcore players. Balancing and additional content are still in progress.
   
   
2. City Simulation System:
   A brand-new gameplay layer focusing on managing and simulating urban areas. This is an ambitious feature, and we’re eager to hear your thoughts as we refine it further.

Please note: These features are not finalized and are not yet intended for full gameplay, but we wanted to share them with you early for testing and feedback!

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[h2]What’s Next?[/h2]

This update is focused on the HUD toggle feature, with a full release planned for next months. Stay tuned for more refinements, bug fixes, and expanded content as we work to deliver an even better experience!

As always, your feedback is invaluable—please share your thoughts on these new additions.

Thank you for playing,

Merry Christmas to you all. This has been quite a turbulent year. Sometimes I was afraid that I would have to play Fallout in the real world.

This has also affected the direction of Synthetic World's development. I am currently working on a hard survival game mode that is as close to Bush Craft (surviving in the forest) as possible. I have watched quite a few videos and have been in the forest myself. And don't worry the normal game mode remains.

Hard Survival Features:

• Simulation of poisoning and diseases. Injuries do not heal immediately, but have to be bandaged. If they are not bandaged the player bleeds to death. Balanced diet is necessary to keep the body at 100%.
  
• Campfires consume wood. They must first be lit with embers.
  
  
  
• Sleeping is necessary. To sleep well you need a shelter. There are several available for this purpose
  
  
  
• Camps can be built piece by piece in one place. To do this, the player must collect wood and leaves.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Fruits, vines grow on the trees and can be harvested by the player. This is how the player gets ropes
  
  
  
• Traps for animals
  
  
  
• Revised fire simulation
  
• Food decays
  
• Food can be cooked by placing it near a fire. Cooking takes time
  
• New tools that can be made: Axe, spear, ... :
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• These tools will be getting older when you use them. They have to be repaired or replaced.
  

But I also added other improvements:

• Less rendering commands: To render the same scene the engine now needs 3 times less commands. This makes the rendering much faster.
  
• Post processing effects (Flare, Bloom)
  
• Custom Shader Support
  
• Improved Mesh LOD
  
• Improved Mod Support. I want to support C# as an additional plugin language because many other engines do. Also, Lua bugs me because it doesn't have runtime type checking.
  

Artificial Intelligence:

• Economic simulation: I have developed a complex economic simulation for the game (similar to city simulator) that runs in the background.
  
• Planning algorithm: I have also developed a planning algorithm that is powerful enough to build cities/states that are economically plausible in this economic simulation.
  
• I am currently improving the performance of the planning algorithm with the help of neural networks. Then it will be put into the game.
  

I am currently still testing the features to be able to release a bug-free version.

And some more experiments ...

Hello, I fixed some small bugs:

• Damage of cross bow is increased
  
• Added impact impulse when object is hit by cross bow bolt
  
• Sheeps try to avoid water
  
• Enemies stop moving when dead
  
• Enemy may no hurt sound, when dead
  

Happy Easter, I have uploaded a new version of my game. This time included are many bug fixes that previously crashed the game.

• New Tree Textures + Higher Resolution
  
• Better Tree Rendering
  
• New Landscape Renderer
  
• Improvements regarding the cross bow
  
• Better Grass Texture
  
• Better Grass Rendering
  
• Updated "Start World"
  

The new forest. We fixed the bug of the "flying trees" (thanks to V.).


In the back you can the new forest with a building.


This is how the forest looks like in a flat landscape.

• Completely new rendering engine that supports Vulkan, OpenGL ES, DirectX 12, OpenGL and Metal.
  
• Ambient Occlusion + Procedural Materials (when this is done, I will rework all 3D models)
  
• Spherical Harmonics for Light Probes
  
• Radiosity (2 variants)
  
• AI: In a very small level 2 AIs could make war with each other (attack cities, destroy them, found settlements). That it works on a large scale will be a challenge.
  
• Improved memory management for framebuffers (will make Screen Space Reflections possible)
  

In the next month I will also tune the AI so that it can work on bigger landscapes.