Devlog ·
Four zones under the ridge to the Barbarians, a new look for the world, and zones that wake for you
30 commits that day. Written up from the work itself.
A big day for the world itself: four new zones in the north, a fresh look for the places already built, and a long list of fixes to how they appear.
Four new zones lie under the ridge to the Barbarians. Frostmere Tundra is open snow and tundra grass, with canyons by the north gate, a black lake, the ice giants' broken gatehouse round the cave into Rimehold, a gnoll cave behind a snowdrift and the Frozen Falls. The Frostwind Pass stays shut until Whitepeak Heights is built. Mudpaw Warrens is a gnoll warren on three floors round a shaft: a long dark way in from Frostmere, a short one from Kingsmeadow Hills, whose gnoll cave now opens, a monster town, the chieftain's den deepest down and a one-way Midden Chute. Rimehold Citadel is a castle at giant size beyond a chasm and bridge, with a courtyard of black ice and three floors up to the Rime Throne. Its basement drain is a one-way exit to the Frozen Falls.
Barbarians now start in their own home. The town rings a lake, the Mere, with longhouses on a boardwalk. The warrior hall stands on a spit, the shaman and beastlord halls on the far shore, and the rogues hide behind a sliding wall of barrels in a mead hall. The Great Mead Hall is the bank. There is an inn and a tavern by the gate, a stable, the storm god's shrine, merchants, six workbenches and a raft that sails across the Mere.
The places already built got a new look. Cliffs are broken, layered rock with scree at the foot, and far mountains carry snow. Ground comes in patches of dry grass, moss and flowers, and roads are part of it: cobbles, packed earth and dirt tracks that cast no shadow. Outdoor zones now have farms, fishers' shacks, watchtowers, shrines, standing stones, ruins and enemy camps. Galecrest Keep has round towers, a stepped curtain wall and a real gatehouse. Cave mouths are sunk into the rock, go dark within a few steps and turn before the zone line. A way to a zone not built yet is blocked by a cave-in that says "The way is blocked." and clears itself once that zone is in.
Three planes were rebuilt in shapes of their own. Sky is the Broken Spire, shards of a burst tower circling over a violet storm. Fear is the Carcass, a hollow under a fallen giant's ribs. Hate is the Spite Pit, a town on terraces cut into a pit. Raid entry, keys and traps are kept.
Fixes to how it all looks. Ground, cliffs, rocks and tents that showed flat grey are painted again. Farmhouse doors are painted, windows are painted rather than holes, and thatch is calmer. Bushes, leaves and weapon racks no longer flicker as you walk. Arriving in Mudpaw, the Old Cisterns or Saltwrack Grotto no longer sends you straight back out.
Sleeping zones wake for you. Travel into a zone that has gone quiet and you wait safely behind the loading screen until it is up. If that takes over a minute you stay where you were and are told why. The zone past a line wakes as you come within 150 metres.
Weapons and shields are sized to their wearer. A gnome's sword is now smaller than a human's, and an ogre's bigger. Capes, robes and tails sway only while the world allows it; you can still turn sway off yourself.
In the workshop. Every zone has a new short name, such as humancity, and the old names still find them. The early drafts of the first five zones are gone. Moving saved characters to the new names has not been run yet. A fourth plane, the Green Deep, is a draft. A Discord command showing the world's /who all is built but not live.