The version 2.0 update has finally been submitted for CraftWorld on WP7.

This should not be considered an update. This should be considered a replacement for the current version of CraftWorld. The new feature list is massive, and the change log is incredible. Not a single system has been left unedited, replaced or tweaked.

Since CraftWorld’s release we have been collecting feedback and reports. This is what began the initial severe changes to the level generator and save system. As we worked, we began to redesign simple systems attached to these two larger systems. This included the object system that powers chests, books and blocks , the region streaming system and even the sky!

During all of this, CraftWorld needed a little something extra to set it apart from it’s competition, so we pushed up the Physics system up in the schedule. Implementing a fully-fledged Physics simulator on the WP7 was quite a challenge. Considering the 2,654,208 potential cubes that may be struck by a moving object in a medium sized world, this proved to be a bit of a hurdle.

However the Windows Phone devices running CraftWorld are limited not by their processor power, but are intensely limited by their graphics power, especially the first generation of WP7 devices.  During the v0.65 and v1.3 updates, we greatly improved the CPU performance, granting just enough power to enable this after the v2.0 re-write.  When you begin a new game in CraftWorld, you are now provided with a Beach Ball and a Dice that may be rolled, thrown and tumbled about the world without the impact being visible to you!

You can only imagine what we are considering for the other two platforms.

In a previous post, I talked about the new “MiddleEarth” level generator. Since then, it has been improved. Forests are placed evenly across the world, cactus can be found in hot deserts and patches of crops and shrubs can be found in the correct biomes. This includes grain, sugarcane, grasses and a few others. These will soon be a member of the farming system, and used in the cooking and alchemy systems which are soon to come.

 

 

The new region streaming system is also a massive improvement to CraftWorld. As you traverse the world, the CraftWorld must either pull a region from the disk and put it in the world or generate it using some complex algorithms. As this happens, older regions must be saved and removed from memory. This is a very CPU and GPU intensive process that was once the source for many lighting and graphics glitches. Not only has this been fully replaced, but lighting has been re-introduced into the world. Caves are dark, trees grant shade and you may craft torches to provide illumination to your mineshafts while performance remains buttery smooth.

Deep in the bowels of the world, materials such as Copper and Adamantum may be found. These provide the next step of tool construction in future updates. So we recommend that when you find these, and others including Ruby, you tuck them away in a chest. Consult the Survival guide each time an update is installed to check out what’s new with these new materials.

I’d be here all night trying to explain and describe many of the other changes from v2.0, so I’ll have to break it up into more frequent blog posts. Now that we have reverted from hyper  grind mode back to regular grind mode (knock off work at 11pm instead of 3am) we can leave our cave and post a little more.

If you don’t already have CraftWorld on your WP7 Device, we highly recommend that you grab a copy from the marketplace. It is both free (ad supported) and paid, with an increasing price as we issue updates. Right now, it is in the process of jumping by 50c to $2.49. If you are hanging out for the Xbox or PC, then we apologize for the wait. But this delay and work on the WP7 is drastically improving the more powerful platforms.

If you want to chip in the help CraftWorld reach its final goal and all platforms, get a copy on your phone, donate or purchase some of our older games on the Xbox Indie Games marketplace. Should you own a member of the iPhone or Android families (or a 1^st gen WP7), please give one of the Nokia devices a try next time you consider an upgrade. The 800 especially is an utterly fantastic device which has simply exploded in popularity, dwarfing all other WP7 devices according to our telemetry data.

Thankyou for reading! And I’ll be back with more soon, so for now here are some screenshots taken with the in game camera.

Here is a small changelog of the more noticeable items in v2.0. When we were at version 1.3, in just over a year we had achieved 540ish revision of CraftWorld in our repository. We are well over 1020 revisions of CraftWorld, marking this as a substantially improved game.

1. New Features:
2. Full Game re-write
3. Full propagation lighting with torches
4. Physics engine
5. Propagating Water
6. “Middle Earth” Terrain generator
7. Blended biomes
   1. Plains Wet,
   2. Plains Temperate,
   3. Plains Dry,
   4. Swamp,
   5. Forest Taiga,
   6. Forest Woods,
   7. Forest Rain,
   8. Desert,
   9. Tundra
   10. And more…
8. Grass grows over dirt in daylight
9. New region streaming system
10. New character controller
11. New save system, more reliable and faster.
12. Added real caves
13. Added half height blocks. Snow, stone brick
14. Reduced garbage collections (jitters)
15. Implemented ‘Daniel Script’ scripting system
16. Improved memory management
17. Addition of Sugar cane
18. Added tree shadows
19. Addition of new Grasses
20. Added border trees
21. Add priority for edited regions over streamed regions
22. Addition of Grain
23. Addition of shrubs/dead shrubs
24. Added Cactus (don’t touch)
25. Decreased start up time
26. New block damage system
27. Added Material seams
    1. Coal
    2. Clay
    3. Adamantum
    4. Diamond
    5. Gold
    6. Copper
    7. Ruby
    8. Iron
    9. And more…
28. Added Copper
29. Added Adamantum
30. Added Ruby
31. Added diamond
32. Added buoyancy to water
33. Added new hand damage.
34. All blocks slowly auto heal slowly.
35. Added physics Dice
36. Added physics beach ball
37. Changed crafting templates (see survival guide)
38. Improved sky. Pretty now.
39. Can craft Resurrection stone
40. Updated survival guide
41. More graphical options
42. Option to remove help button
43. Better threading, less battery use.
44. Camera now degrades.
45. Fixed painting loading
46. Added 3D particles
47. Added region biome tinting
48. Added clay
49. Added gravel beaches
50. Added Dark trees to new biomes
51. Added sandstone
52. Fixed item health bars.
53. Added Ice
54. Added Snow
55. Many more items
56. And 10’s more…

 

1. Fixes:
2. Trap Door and wood door collision glitch
3. Objects transfer, not recreate.
4. Fixed holes in regions
5. Fixed temporary holes while on region borders
6. Fixed missing region rendering
7. Fixed Door and Trapdoor loading
8. Fixed ‘poke’ during place.
9. Removed save file ‘leak’
10. Fixed digging during poke.
11. Fixed painting loading
12. Fixed AO border glitches
13. Fixed item duplication
14. Fixed chest item loss
15. Fixed item health bars.
16. Fixed smelter crafting, no item loss
17. Improved auto jump accuracy
18. And 100’s more…

 

1. Tweaks:
2. Faster player movement
3. Increased damage done by tools
4. Increased damage done by player
5. Reduced fall damage
6. Tools last longer
7. Tools work more consistently
8. Changed crafting templates (see survival guide)
9. More graphical options
10. Tweaked fog view distance