Season 7 Devblog - Farming & Islands

Greetings Survivors! We want to thank everyone for the tremendous amount of support for the launch of XERA: Survival Season 7! And To all of the new players joining us, welcome and we can’t wait to meet each of you in game and through our official discord! With the release of the long anticipated wipe and Season 7, we’ve seen a large growth in returning players and new players coming in and we hope you’re enjoying the fresh start along with the populated servers!

As we continue throughout Season 7 we have a lot of new content planned which we want to share with everyone through this Dev Blog. Keep in mind that not everything we are working on will be included here, but we want to share some of the upcoming content being developed and gather your thoughts and feedback as well! With that being said, let’s get straight into a deep dive of some of the exciting things coming throughout the next few weeks!

[h2]Swimming[/h2]
The addition of a swimming mechanic will open up new areas of the map, along with scattered islands around the edges of the map. This will also introduce choke points on bridges (These will become no-build zones) as vehicles will not be able to traverse through the water. A number of islands will be available to build on along with the addition of palm trees for wood gathering in these areas.


[h2]Wildlife/Animals[/h2]
The introduction of more wildlife into the game will add a new dynamic. We’ve also improved the AI (which was previously used with the Deer at the Southern Lakes) to make them feel more natural. New mechanics include, fleeing when attacked, becoming aggressive towards threats, including players and other wildlife in the area. Currently we plan to introduce a variety of new animals including Cows, Chickens, Wolves, Bears, and Pigs in addition to the deer that are already in the game. Wildlife will also be harvest-able for their meat and other materials which will be used for new cooking and crafting recipes.


[h2]Map Updates[/h2]
In the next update you will notice a few changes to the map, firstly beaches will have harvestable palm trees, which grant wood, plant fibers and a chance of coconuts. We are also re-working Bakersfield Farms to feel more natural and with a lot more loot - tied into a ‘Farming’ loot table for seeds and other items for the new farming system.


[h2]Base Building/Farming Updates[/h2]
We are also working on a brand new farming system, allowing you to grow a range of 30 different crops. Along with crop growing and harvesting, we are also introducing bee hives for collecting honey, a chicken coop for eggs, and the water harvester for filling bottles. We are also adding base lights which will be craftable to allow for lighting in darker conditions as this has been a highly requested feature from the community.


[h2]Crafting/Cooking[/h2]
As we have added a number of new food items, new recipes and cooking of these items will be available. We have added a new ‘pot campfire’ which will be used for these new recipes.


[h2]Crafting Menu[/h2]
As the game has expanded to include a lot more crafting options, we have added the ability to favorite recipes - making it a lot easier to access your frequently crafted items.



We hope that you have enjoyed reading about all of the exciting things that are coming soon and look forward to reading your feedback. Remember, as a community driven game, we count on everyone for your feedback and suggestions as we expand the content available to all of our players. Feel free to connect with us via our discord at https://discord.gg/xera and let us know your thoughts!

Cheers,
Spotted Kiwi Interactive