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Much of the recent work has focused on developing the game's underlying framework, with Build #205 specifically emphasizing improvements to level generation creation systems, streaming, and authentication.

I can now confidently confirm that the final game world will span at least 64×64 km!

This screenshot shows a sky-level top-down view of a 32 km terrain bridge I've built to test the map's scale. What you're seeing represents just one quarter of the final game world, which will extend to at least 64×64 km. Achieving this scale required significant testing and fundamental changes to how world modifications are created. The solution boils down to:

1. Tracking the location of anything "Removed from the Base World" - In a way that matches on both the client and the server, and in a way that is internally consistent.
   
2. As players move around the game world, generating a list of potential objects/location pairs(trees, rocks, etc.) to spawn around them.
   
3. Ensuring this list is ALWAYS generated identically on both client AND servers
   
4. Checking each potential spawn against a "Removed" database
   
5. Preventing spawns for any objects previously removed

This means when you destroy a tree or pick up a rock, that item stays gone. Even if you leave the area and return later, the system remembers what you've removed and prevents regeneration. The system also works perfectly with hand-placed, non-regenerating objects, giving me the best of both worlds.

This is an example of how the above, while being seemingly straight forward, can go wildly wrong.
This image shows a location on the client, and the server, as binary - and we can see that there stands a single 1 out of place. These two should match. This imperceptibly small difference in binary totally breaks this system - so I've had to take great care to ensure that the client, and the server, internally, each agree on what has and has not been removed from the game world.

Building on the above system, I've begun work on terrain-based procedural spawning—essentially a proto-biome system. This allows certain trees to spawn only in forests and similar environment-specific spawning rules. I'm leveraging Unreal's "PCG" framework to achieve this, and its looking very promising.

The ultimate goal is going to be to create workflows and tools that allow me to procedurally fill the world with content that is designed to be exactly where it is supposed to be, and not fully randomly generated.

While the world will leverage procedural generation, its layout, landmasses, etc, will not change or be random. They will be fixed in layout for all players. The exact position of trees, sticks, rocks, etc, will be procedural however. This lets me craft and direct a specific world with specific landmarks and borders, while not having to take 400 years to build it.

I've successfully migrated from Unreal 5.4 to 5.5. The transition broke a few things initially, but everything's stable now and running smoothly.

I've added "Shovel" as a new item type that allows players to collect certain ground objects like rocks, and also to gather soil, gravel, and other earthen materials based on terrain type. This will be essential for construction projects requiring specific amounts of materials (e.g., "300 pounds of soil" or "150 pounds of gravel").

I've completely reworked the game's core UX. Now you can simply press E to pick up any item you're looking at, and once in your hands, you can attack with it. So you can strike enemies with a fish, an apple, or a log, and each is capable of having unique attack data.

These represent the sort of "generic hand held" items - but then there are other more specific items which function specifically as combat weaponry - swords, spears, axes, bows, etc.

Additionally, I've implemented "thrust" item types such as pitchforks and spears, which offer unique functionality. Spears can now "skewer" meat, allowing players to carry multiple pieces at once, while pitchforks can gather hay and plant fiber efficiently.

I've fixed several hotbar bugs, with numerous UX improvements to make gameplay clearer and provide better feedback about equipped items.

I've upgraded the player hands to fully animatable character hands. Currently using the Unreal mannequin hands, this implementation utilizes the standard Unreal rig, meaning I can easily swap to masculine or feminine hands later without breaking anything. This groundwork also supports future clothing layering and character customization.

I've added /pktele and /pkfly commands to help with development. These won't be in the final game, but they've been invaluable during prototyping, making it much easier for me to navigate and test this massive world.

Players' characters now remain in the world when they log out. Eventually, I'll implement behaviors like having them automatically return home and lock their doors, but for now, they simply stand in place. Most importantly, when that player rejoins, they can repossess their character and continue where they left off—a feature made possible by my new authentication system.

While not the most exciting feature visually, the game is now capable of authenticating players.

The server needs a reliable way to identify returning players to grant them control over their characters, houses, kingdoms, etc. To accomplish this, I've implemented a simple username/password system where the client hashes these credentials and sends only the hash to the server during login.
This means your actual username and password never leave your machine.

For example, "MyCoolUsername|MyCoolPassword" when hashed with MD5 becomes the unique ID "9726dfb4e28603488c044018d65fcde5". The server can then use this to confirm your identity and restore your in-game possessions. This is admittedly a primitive system that I'll evolve throughout development, but it's perfect for my current prototyping needs.

Sorry for the lack of images, but this update was taking a bit to write a blog about and I didn't want to keep letting that all pile up. Have a good one!

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