I had intended to bundle more into a larger update but the last hotfix was easiest for me to include one of the changes to move Rock Volley as the starter spell and Energy Blast as the later game spell. So for this update I've focused on making that change more cohesive and laying foundations for the larger update. I've had a few blocks almost ready to go for a while but I wasn't sure how they would fit into the tech tree so this update is me wrapping those up and getting them into survival mode.
The compass is an early game convenience item that will add an element to the HUD as well as show your current position on the map
Another early game convenience block that will let you see the current time of day without needing to head to bed
This probably doesn't need much of an explanation! Earth elementals will now drop explosive powder and allow you to craft TNT, provided you have learned the tech first at your Totem
Once you unlock this tech you should now be able to craft stone and wood ladders with the usual material varients and use them to climb up and down
This was a request for more lighting options and specifically lanterns of this style. However the art I've found looks best in black so for now you can craft this with any metal type but it will always be a black lantern. Eventually I will add all metal types for this lantern but first I want Cast Iron to be an option for all metal blocks so they have a black option
These are just a smaller varient of the existing rounded blocks so you can add subtle details to builds and soften those corners
My aim is still to improve combat, but I'm going to do so in a Very roundabout way! At first I was trying to do things like power attacks and combos, however I struggled to source animations that were fit for purpose and ended up just updating the current attack animation to connect with the middle of the screen. Because it was a bit of a letdown I moved onto my backup plan which was Enchanting. My thinking here is that it feels wrong to balance combat, only to need to rebalance it again once enchanting is added so I should do it sooner rather than later. I was always planning for Enchanting to come after/with the Smeltery update but I'm concious I just spent 5 months on a single update and I don't want to do that again since Smelting + Enchanting could take me a long time. With my focus only on Enchanting I started laying out the foundations and a plan was starting to form for everything except how to learn Enchantments and ultimately what I was most interested in is a system similar to Skyrim where you disenchant existing loot items. However to do that, I need more ways for you to get random loot.... So my plan for the next big update is to add explorable mini dungeons. I still have a lot to explore before I can share more details about how they will work but this is why I've been focused on adding new blocks and I might do another mini update of the same vein as I add blocks that I feel are needed to build these dungeons. As a result here are some of the new blocks:
Currently you can only find these in creative mode since my intention is for you to loot rather than craft these new blocks once the dungeons are ready.
I've had some feedback that I've been mulling over and when first playing with combat I spent some more time in challenges and decided that it does feel too easy to gain drops there and so I've disabled them. Now enemies in challenges will drop nothing. I was debating other ways to balance this but it just always felt like you would be inundatated with resources as soon as you could comfortably take on 10+ waves of the challenges.
Fixed chains from hanging braziers glowing really bright
Fixed colourable fabrics like carpeted steps looking a bit too bright when in an area with no light
Updated some of the in game loading screen images (they will eventually all be replaced now that Clouds have changed significantly)
Updated the combat objective to learn Rock Volley instead of Energy Blast
Rebalanced the Rock Volley spell to match being a starter spell
Updated Energy Blasts visuals very slightly
Fixed lots of blocks always rendering as though full light
Fixed excessive amounts of arches spawning sometimes after rotating them
Fixed TNT not showing in creative mode
Fixed the new blocks from the last update not appearing in the Shaped or Lighting categories of creative mode
Fixed lanterns appearing to cull early
Fixed the pedestal rendering with the wrong texture whilst in hand/UI preview
Fixed the pedestal having no bottom face
Adjusted the size of barrels so they can stack
Fixed not being able to click other UI after closing a sundial
Fixed the mouse not being visible until you move after pressing the X button to close the Sundials UI
Fixed prefabs not updating their lighting when you place torches near them
Fixed Portals not working at all since the 0.4.2.2 release