2011-05-31, 04:04 PM (This post was last modified: 2011-06-01, 12:59 PM by SuperMario64.)
So a certain link in a certain Twitter post caught me eye...
Usually, when you are working on a project, you choose a direction you want to go, but sometimes, somehow the road changes and you find yourself going somewhere else. Of course on Terraria, the road itself is arced and split ahead of us so much that there really is no road we've chosen to take. Instead, the sky is the limit!
Having been in production since back in January, many, many, many, ideas have been tossed around behind the scenes amidst the Development team. Our two graphics artists have even crafted graphics that haven't yet or will never be added to the game. So I felt I would take some time and share with you some tidbits from our "idea list" and also acknowledge some of the things people have suggested here in the forums, seeing we had most of the same ideas ourselves long before release.
Early on, one of our alpha testers, named Garro, was kind enough to make us a forum for use as a development team, where the we and the testers posted our suggestions, and organized to-do lists. So much of the information I am going to share is drafted and quoted from there.
Hey Now, Why so Quiet?!
A few months ago, before our composer had been able to craft any music for the game, there was a discussion on ambient sounds; crickets, birds chirping, water drips and rock rumbles underground. A few of us would still like to have an option for such things, as anyone turning their music to zero can leave for a very quiet adventure. This may have even made it into the game if we had not released early to meet the hype for the game head-on. But in the end, we are very happy with our games music, and 9 out of 10 reviewers seem to agree. Although I did see a few reviews that list "Sound/Audio" as Terraria's weak-point. So who knows, perhaps in the coming months, the games sound will become more immerse.
Hey, Wanna Fight?!?!
So, it's probably not going to be a surprise to say that when PVP was added, we all stopped adventuring for a few days just to run around and pwn eachother. Originaly PVP was set to always be on if the attacker had it on, regardless of the defenders settings. No one could hide from it, so of course, I died a lot, as PVP is not really my forte'. But this brought rise to the idea of PVP having many more features, and also Terraria having so many game mode possibilities. Pure PVP worlds, and things like Capture the Flag, Defend the Base, came into our sights. With the dedicated server software coming out soon, possibly within a day or two, we are taking steps towards more streamlined multiplayer that may allow for customization of worlds to be PVP only, and the like. So the ideas, we had during the construction of Terraria, may still yet come to fruition. PVP and Game modes are on the horizon, and will most likely see the light of day within the next few months. So you may be seeing custom death messages like "Blue was killed by Redigit!" start showing up in your chat, in stead of that generic "was slain" message, sooner than you think.
Where the heck am I?
Now, no one seems to like Mr. Guide. But a stark reminder of why he is in the game shows itself when a new player asks, "What do I do?" When creating the game, we found ourselves deciding on free play with a bit of direction. We didn't want to blatently give the player a purpose, and we didn't want to leave them without a real goal to try to reach for. So this is how the building blocks came to rest. The Guide was born in an attempt to not only be sort of a tutorial, but also, with 'context sensative' conversation, look at where you are in the game (and what you do or do not have in your inventory) and suggest to you the next course of action. Making sure he was intuitive enough has been an on-going process, and yet still we are seeing a lot of desire to be able to kill or simply remove the Guide himself. So, for the veteran players, we will be looking into that for you. But try and remember, he has a reason for being in the game, and he is after all, one of the many people who live in Terraria. When even more NPC's find their way into the game alongside those already there, you will start to enjoy the fact that your world is alive. and you are not alone in it.
Summer Springs upon Winters Fall!
Early on, Red_Yoshi (Gabriel Henrique Kiesshau), one of our Graphic Artist, created the sprites for some seasonal objects in the game, including a Pine Tree for the winter areas. Originallybroughttoward, it was disscussed to have entire maps face season changes all at once after a few in-game days pass, and I know it is still a desire for Redigitblatantlysensitive to have this effect Originallydiscussedin some way or another in the future. Again the early release cut short the idea before it could be enacted, and the Underground Jungle became the last biome implemented before release. But as we have stated a few times... we want to see snow in the game sooner rather than later. If anything, we want it to be in the game before snow actually falls in the real world this winter season (here in the USA that is). We also seek to employ a number of seasonal ideas in-game, much like many MMO's do on holidays. So, things like fireworks, tiki torches, festive decorations, and the like, could all possibly be seen in game before too long.
Pre-Release Suggestions
When we unveiled our Trailer back on April 18th, and our fan-base exploded into existence, we were sent many ideas and suggestions that people felt would be good in the game. It was interesting to see suggestions for the game come in so readily, as no one had yet to play it to see what it was really like, and thus many people suggested things already in the game. There were however a few suggestions that stood out to us. Most of these were features that targeted a certain audiences specifically. Colorblind players, as well as Deaf Players. Now many of us sit and play the game without thinking one moment about those who also wish to play and won't get the same experience in the game that we will due to a medical reason outside their control. As game developers, we hope to employ certain things in game that will cater these demographics. Such as the possibility of having a visual indicator of being close to death rather than simply having a sound, and also looking into having an option for more colorblind friendly textures. There is no timetable on the addition of these features, but I did want to point out we are aware of the desire to have them, and they are on our minds.
LOOK AT THE BONES!
Many of you have seen the little bunny on our Steam Page. And many of you are asking when he/she will show up. Well, along with many of the ideas and possible additions that could come some day to Terraria, we want to say, "soon". But how soon is soon and what 'time-frames' we will be using are not something we want to constrain ourselves too. With the early release, we saw that rushing something, even a great idea, can have its consequences, as many of you have seen via the bugs that were in the game on release. We quickly fixed most of them, of course, as Redigit makes quick work of bugs we discover, and those bugs would not have even been there, if we had a month to test before we released. But all in all, the release went well, and for the most part, you, the fans, were quite forgiving. We thank you for your patience, and strive to remove the remaining bugs, and begin work on the new content you all (and even we ourselves) desire to see in the game. And as for the bunny, his/her sprite-work is all but completed, so, he may be stealing your carrots sooner than you think. Also, with the impending server software soon being released and 'out of the way' much earlier than we had expected it to be, it goes to show just how much we ourselves want to get beyond the necessary and move on to the more exciting things.
A tidbit from our 'old' To-To List.
Below are a few things listed on our old to-do list, and I stress to you that these things, while still possible are not stated to be absolutes in finding their way into the game. Also, the '...' you see mean there are more listed, I'm just not showing everything.
Spoiler
NPC and World Interactives
...
~Cleansing Pool (Makes Ebon Stone into Stone, and other evil items to non-evil, etc)
~NPCs w/ Quests
....
------------
Items
...
~Treasure Finding Item, makes chests and pots glow.
~Reinforced Doors / Stone Doors / Portcullis
~Campfire
~Placeable Flags
~Fishing Poles / Fish
...
-------------
World and Gameplay Dynamics
~Background Vistas (mountains/horizon)
~Bushes
~Seasons
~Stalagmites and Stalactites
~Weather
...
As you can see, we have a grand vision for the game. And as far as we can tell, we will be adding new, more fun and shinier things to the game over time as we aim for that vision. We hope you enjoyed the journey so far as much as we have and we look forward to moving forward.
Blue Wrote:The changelog for 1.0.3 is already twice as long as 1.0.2's! And yes, we've fixed the cloud/bottle bug! New Skeleton graphics?! Coming soon!
How exactly does spawn point work? I had the gennius idea of leaving the game open during the night. When I came back, the game was closed. When restarting it, my house was gone and I couldn't find my underground passage that I spent hours digging... Do they fill up or something?
Raph589 Wrote:How exactly does spawn point work? I had the gennius idea of leaving the game open during the night. When I came back, the game was closed. When restarting it, my house was gone and I couldn't find my underground passage that I spent hours digging... Do they fill up or something?
You game crashed, so likely, your map didn't save.
Raph589 Wrote:How exactly does spawn point work? I had the gennius idea of leaving the game open during the night. When I came back, the game was closed. When restarting it, my house was gone and I couldn't find my underground passage that I spent hours digging... Do they fill up or something?
You need a bed to set a Spawn point of your own. You need Silk (That is made of Cobweb) and wood to make a bed. When you have a bed, put it in a Walled place with at least a torch and right click it, it should tell you that the spawn point as been set if you did it right.
2 day eviction notice. A new map will be restarted, clear out all your personal goods. I will get a trust-able person to hold the public supplies. When cleaned out, map will be restarted.
Erich Wrote:2 day eviction notice. A new map will be restarted, clear out all your personal goods. I will get a trust-able person to hold the public supplies. When cleaned out, map will be restarted.
Gahhhhh just when i was starting to do my evil castle! dang
Btw can you get a Map of the whole world just for curiosity sakes? I wanna see the end product.
Oh my! I'm getting way too addicted to this game. Already 15 hours in: got the merchant and the nurse, dug to the underworld, got cloud in a bottle(awesome 8D) and saw eye of chtuluh but died sadly since I wasn't prepared. Still haven't got the hook for the clawshot, any tips to hunt skeletons?
Well i just dug a Straight Hole from the basement of my Base to the underworld. And when i reached the Underground-DeepUnderground-Deepunderground(Lavapools)-Underworld i build some temporal HQ with Beds Anvil furnace etc, and on the side of those HQs most of the time i had a good square area dugged out without Background walls and could see the mobs knocking on my door. Most of the time skeletons and Mother slimes.
Terraria discussion thread
