Solace Crafting News

I am happy to participate in Steam's first open-world sale! It's a bit of a loose term for some, and an incomplete story yet when it comes to Solace Crafting, but often new players will ask the question: "What's the furthest someone has gotten?"

Because of Solace Crafting's infinite procedural generation, the game world actually goes out beyond 1,000,000,000 meters. That's one billion meters, or one million kilometers! The Earth for comparison is roughly 40,000km around the equator. So they're definitely not planets we're playing on. In fact that adds up to be over one trillion square kilometers! So don't worry about running out of space to build on the public server I host.

The world actually goes even beyond that, there's no ice shelf at the million kilometer mark, the math just starts to get a little fuzzy, and well, we can tackle that beast some day if we really need to.

With the new map upgrades all of that entirety is previewable and with today's patch to beta, even faster than ever before.



Here we see a section of the map fully zoomed out, so an area of 20x20km. I've got a fully upgraded metal resource scanner placed here at my level 70 base in one of my single player worlds to show the new rare resource generation at work. It ramps up from levels 0 through 30, after which is uses the same math for the rest of the game. You can see there is an uncommon resource per terrain, a rare for roughly every 2x2, and elite for roughly ever 4x4, and a legendary node for every 8x8. Those numbers are generated using noise of course, so it's possible to find them quite near each other, or have a run of a bad luck.



I've also added a new stalk and timber node for underwater resource hunting as well as fixed a couple of bugs that cropped up with the last patch.

Happy gaming!

v 0.7.5.5 2021.05.28
- Rare resources are now spawned 1 per terrain on default settings, resulting in less uncommon resources
- Increased the default spawn rate of rare, elite, and legendary resources
- Added rare stalk and timber nodes to underwater areas
- Fixed resource scanner upgrades in multi-player
- Fixed a ProceduralArea spawning error from last patch

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

Join us in Discord! Follow development live on Twitch!

Interested in supporting development of Solace Crafting? Please consider becoming a patron via Patreon!

Check out the bug / suggestion tracker

I made a number of bug fixes, mostly multi-player last week that I never quite got up and ended up holding onto them for the several days that it took me to finalize these bigger changes which revolve around updates to the map.

The short version is that the map can now generate any of the data that it wants to, besides monoliths, without actually generating that entire area to determine what's there.



Previously everything was reliant on the area generation methods firing and determining what all needs to spawn there based on the biome, the height, the level, etc. This meant that resource scanners would only be able to produce map data for areas that you have "loaded" into the game at least once, as the important data would then be written out to disk.

Instead, a standalone system now generates large encounters, town resources, and rare resources, in that order, using a very lightweight series of methods that doesn't require the whole terrains biome data be generated for example. This keeps the map fast, while at the same time awarding other systems access to that data in runtime. The maximum range of a scanner is 20 kilometers (roughly 12.4 miles), which amounts to around 314 square kilometers (121 square miles). Attempting to cover that distance is no longer necessary. Unless of course the scanner picks up what you're looking for, in which case you can now head straight for it.

This meant rewiring a lot of different systems, the map, trees, animals, spawning methods, saving methods, network methods, and so on. I've tested things out a bit myself, but it's always difficult to try and really exhaust all possibles by myself for every change that I make. Hopefully I haven't overlooked anything though.

There is still one problem with multi-player in where the destruction of a rare resources is not yet being reported to client maps, so even though a scanner may pick up a rare resource, if another player beats you to it and it has yet to respawn, it may not actually be there, but will still show up on the map. I will fix that tomorrow, but wanted to get this up for testing first.

v 0.7.5.3 2021.05.26
- Large encounters and town resources can now be seen anywhere on the map (previously was only visited areas)
- Rare resources can now be scanned anywhere on the map (previously was only visited areas)
- Resource scanners now work in MP
- Rare resources and town resources are now generated on a per terrain, deterministic system
- Added tooltips to the encounter and town resource map icons
- Home solaces can now be set in multi-player on a per player basis
- Added a number of safety checks in case someone tries to recall in a world where their home solace has been destroyed or all solaces are locked, etc.
- Fixed spending crafting skill points in MP causing points available to be reduced by twice the amount
- Fixed raw fish not going into campfires
- Fixed the unspent points available ! not managing itself properly in some instances
- Fixed not being able to select a structure via a solace in MP
- Fixed "show hidden" on the solace travel list showing locked and unowned solaces
- Fixed locked and unowned solace showing up on the map

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

Join us in Discord! Follow development live on Twitch!

Interested in supporting development of Solace Crafting? Please consider becoming a patron via Patreon!

Check out the bug / suggestion tracker

I put out a small ninja patch to beta last week, but was mostly focused on the sale, planning, and a number of important non-software related tasks important to keeping Soalce Crafting and Big Kitty Games alive.

With this patch, I've added an initial wave of 44 Steam Achievements to the beta branch. We're already talking about more in Discord, some just for fun, and are of course always open to suggestions.

I'm planning to return to normal operations in the morning, spending the AM working on a list of bugs I've built up from reports and posts here on the forums, thanks to all of our new players that noticed us during the sale!

v 0.7.5.2 2021.05.17
- Added 44 Steam Achievements

v 0.7.5.1 2021.05.13
- Towns at a point where the land is above sea level will now choose the second strongest biome if ocean is first
- Fixed changing sign and storage chest colors and labels in multiplayer
- Fixed some projectile/targeting skills getting interefered with by certain types of triggers (colliders)

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

Join us in Discord! Follow development live on Twitch!

Interested in supporting development of Solace Crafting? Please consider becoming a patron via Patreon!

Check out the bug / suggestion tracker

Though this patch does add a number of new animals and items, I'm moving away from adding "more" to improving what is. The biggest changes in this patch reflect that with improved performance, user experience, visuals, and more.

Please note that this patch updates biome math and will require a world update. A world update will attempt to reposition all player placed objects back onto ground level. This is an imperfect system, but the alternative is starting a new world. You can of course always bring characters from other worlds into any new worlds.



I have been working hard on Solace Crafting for over 3 years now, and I've learned a great deal in that time. One of the biggest lessons continues to be the fact that I chose almost all of the most difficult "genres" of a game that a developer can aim for. 3D, procedural, infinite, multi-player, RPG. I chose all of these because that's what makes games fun for me, and because I wanted to make something better. It's been a difficult journey, but Solace Crafting has a solid core, and now that core needs to be polished.

As a first time solo developer, there are a lot of things that crop up requiring your attention that you don't initially plan for. Managerial skills seem unnecessary, I mean, it's just me, right? But actually time management and project management have proven to be two of the most critical skills towards sustained and meaningful productivity. If I get sick, everything stops. If a task I spend a week on turns out to be a waste of time, it's my fault. The stress of full responsibility can be very real, but I'm still here and Solace Crafting is looking better than ever.

I'm in the process of writing up a list of what I think needs to be polished and finalized for a version 1.0 release, taking us out of early access, but I want to give everyone a chance to voice their opinion as to not necessarily what "more" the game needs, but again, what needs to be better. The animations and the interface are definitely in need of work, but there are a lot of little things that can end up having a big impact. The addition of solace names to the map for example, wasn't difficult, it just had to brought up and prioritized.

I don't have a survey or form setup yet to let everyone provide both structured and open feedback, but I do want to setup something similar to the surveys I've run in the past with more of a focus on a "what bothers you the most" kind of a questionnaire.

All-in-all, the community has been invaluable throughout development thus far, and remains my one true boss. Without my supporters on Patreon, and new players buying copies, I would quickly be out of work. I was never good at asking for support, but it does makes a huge difference. If you're doing well and can pitch in to the Patreon fund I would very much appreciate it.

So thank you to everyone that has ever taken the time read one of my posts, and thank you to everyone that has participated in early access! The goal for 2021 is to leave early access, but that is by no means the end of the road.



The weather has warmed up here in Japan. I, as of today, no longer have any bandages (I had a small surgery for those that didn't know). And I hope to get back into streaming development in the morning, after I get a new video up on Patreon.

As this patch is going straight to live, there may be a new bug or two, on top of a couple of small things I am aware of and working on. Just let me know, and I will fix them up!

The condensed patch notes are as follows:
v 0.7.2.5 -> 0.7.5.0
- Updated map tile and icon drawing and management methods
- Added other players to the map when in multi-player
- Added player and solace names to the map on mouseover
- Replaced circular "forced" biome system with a noise based system
- Added an "archipelago" setting to world creation
- Updated world setting restrictions and added more descriptions
- Updated MP nametags to reposition themselves based on the height of the player
- Improved multi-threading of distant terrain generation
- Improved a variety of shaders used by different objects
- Improved batching of building pieces
- Improved monster turning, stopping, tracking, and acceleration
- Darkened lighting in goblin dungeons
- Randomized color of torches in goblin dungeons
- Monsters killed will no longer block movement/skill target checks
- Improved character creation camera positioning/movement
- Improved biome spawn calculation checks
- Improved player and NPC model generation speed
- Ocean objects can now spawn anywhere underwater regardless of biome
- Added pike, salmon, octopi, sharks
- Added ink, fish scales, raw fish, cooked fish
- Updated the core weather system to a completely random yet highly controlled system
- Added fog and sky colors to the biome/weather management system
- Added coral and rocks to the ocean floors
- Added a per biome lighting and weather management system
- Added anti-aliasing, motion blur, post-exposure, saturation, and bloom settings
- Enlarged and upgraded the in-game settings interface
- Updated the grass biome with more clutter and replaced the speed trees

The latest patch notes from beta are as follows:
v 0.7.5.0 2021.05.10
- Reduced cave environment brightness
- Increased goblin dungeon environment brightness
- Removed respawn capabilities from basic resources in swamp/cave/floating islands
- Fixed monster/animal animations breaking due to limiting network specific proximity checks in single player
- Fixed town buildings and planters not properly saving their updated position after a world update
- Fixed a bug where custom recipes with no ingredients could cause the crafting UI to break
- Fixed the chat UI not scrolling down all the way with a new message
- Fixed chat messages going off too far to the right
- Fixed vertical dungeons throwing an error in MP
- Fixed monsters not spawning in caves in MP
- Fixed small encounters not showing on the map in MP
- Fixed saving after traveling to far in a larger dungeon being able to cause you to reload in empty space
- Fixed a couple of "failed to spawn" errors in MP goblin dungeons

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

Join us in Discord! Follow development live on Twitch!

Interested in supporting development of Solace Crafting? Please consider becoming a patron via Patreon!

Check out the bug / suggestion tracker

This build is looking pretty solid. I've got a couple of bugs I'm still looking into, but I'm looking to push this live sometime in the next few days before moving on to globally calculable map markers.

I pushed a small patch earlier in the week without a post, so am including those notes here as well.

Last weekend was "Golden Week" here in Japan, a 5-day weekend. I hope everyone is getting some sunshine and fresh air! Happy gaming!

v 0.7.4.7 2021.05.05
- Fixed an important new variable not being sent from servers to clients
- Fixed lowering ocean frequency too far causing biome math problems

v 0.7.4.8 2021.05.07
- Changed the larger cacti to no longer remain as T0 across all areas
- Added resources to the list of obstructions for terraforming
- Fixed goblin dungeons spawning monsters on the client while in multi-player

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

Join us in Discord! Follow development live on Twitch!

Interested in supporting development of Solace Crafting? Please consider becoming a patron via Patreon!

Check out the bug / suggestion tracker