Arcane Worlds news & patch notes

This took a long time, and it's a rather boring update from your point of view. There are likely weird new bugs too.

• Huge rewrite of game code in preparation for the multi-player.
• Switched to FMOD sound engine.
• Game simulation and rendering are in different threads now, resulting in smoother frame rate.
• Some parts of game code were optimized to use multi-threading.
• Spells are now scripted, so potentially mod-able.
• Global resources are removed for now, so no crafting, you find spells directly in story mode.
• Gatherers and birds are not animated for now.
• Some minor features are missing for now.

I had some health issues, so this update took way longer than expected. I'm much better now though. The main thing in this update is the new boss fight mode. Also, I switched to DirectX 9 ex, which might cause issues on some systems, so let me know if there are any weird bugs or problems starting the game. Change log:

• Added initial boss fight game mode.
• Switched to DirectX 9 ex, requires Windows Vista or newer.
• Player now collides with static objects.
• Gatherers now ignore mana that is in the castle limits.
• Fixed a mouse input bug.
• Using a different font (more localization-friendly).
• Switched to Visual C 2017.
• Added IK animation system.
• Added voxel-based model generation system.
• Added a bunch of developer tools.

I added support for spline-based deformation to point cloud models, and switched wyvern and caterpillar monsters to point clouds. Also a bunch of improvements and optimizations. Change log:

• Wyvern and caterpillar monsters now use point cloud models.
• Various quality improvements for point cloud models.
• Fixed a bug that made gatherers fight over mana.
• Optimized some AI-related code.
• Integrated easy_profiler (dev stuff, you likely don't care about it).

Support the development on Patreon!

A small patch to fix Windows 10 mouse issues:

• Fixed mouse issues in Windows 10 (using raw mouse input for looking in 3D now).
• Added mouse sensitivity slider in control options.

A small patch to fix Windows 10 mouse issues:

• Fixed mouse issues in Windows 10 (using raw mouse input for looking in 3D now).
• Added mouse sensitivity slider in control options.

I'm sorry for the long wait this time, but here's the new update finally. Change log:

• Destructible buildings (the castle and guard towers).
• Guard tower is now customizable via script.
• Increased contact damage range for birds and wyverns.

I'm sorry for the long wait this time, but here's the new update finally. Change log:

• Destructible buildings (the castle and guard towers).
• Guard tower is now customizable via script.
• Increased contact damage range for birds and wyverns.

Not a big update this time, mainly transparent effects and building editor overhaul. The next one will be destructible castle, since a lot of gameplay stuff depends on that.

• Transparent effects overhaul (much better performance).
• Added glow post-processing effect.
• New building editor UI and improvements.
• Improved dithering.

Not a big update this time, mainly transparent effects and building editor overhaul. The next one will be destructible castle, since a lot of gameplay stuff depends on that.

• Transparent effects overhaul (much better performance).
• Added glow post-processing effect.
• New building editor UI and improvements.
• Improved dithering.

This update brings some optimizations and a new world type (mountains). The game now uses vertex shader textures, so I had to drop support for some old Radeon cards that don't support this feature. Change log:

• New world type: mountains.
• Using vertex shader textures for height map and water foam flow (moving some calculations to GPU).
• Smoother nearby land (clamped bicubic interpolation).
• Culling out-of-view land, water and lava.
• Fixed guard tower shooting at mana gatherers.
• Various minor improvements.

This update brings some optimizations and a new world type (mountains). The game now uses vertex shader textures, so I had to drop support for some old Radeon cards that don't support this feature. Change log:

• New world type: mountains.
• Using vertex shader textures for height map and water foam flow (moving some calculations to GPU).
• Smoother nearby land (clamped bicubic interpolation).
• Culling out-of-view land, water and lava.
• Fixed guard tower shooting at mana gatherers.
• Various minor improvements.

I'm sorry for the long wait, but the update is finally here. This is a major rewrite of AI code, making mobs modular and customizable both for me and for the modders. You can script AI behaviors now. I'll use it to add more variety to the enemies in the next updates. In other news, some people contacted me about cooperation on the game, they want to remake graphics (they have artists) and run a Kickstarter campaign to judge if the game is popular enough to invest money and time in finishing it together with me. I'm not sure if it'll work out with them yet, but I'm going to give it a try. Change log:

• A big rewrite of AI and actor code (separating actors and behaviors, modular scripted AI etc.)
• Enemy missiles are now visible on the map.
• Fixed trees disappearing after loading a saved game.
• More developer / debugging stuff via imgui.

I'm sorry for the long wait, but the update is finally here. This is a major rewrite of AI code, making mobs modular and customizable both for me and for the modders. You can script AI behaviors now. I'll use it to add more variety to the enemies in the next updates. In other news, some people contacted me about cooperation on the game, they want to remake graphics (they have artists) and run a Kickstarter campaign to judge if the game is popular enough to invest money and time in finishing it together with me. I'm not sure if it'll work out with them yet, but I'm going to give it a try. Change log:

• A big rewrite of AI and actor code (separating actors and behaviors, modular scripted AI etc.)
• Enemy missiles are now visible on the map.
• Fixed trees disappearing after loading a saved game.
• More developer / debugging stuff via imgui.

This is a small update before I start overhauling AI which I have mostly planned out already. I integrated "dear imgui" library and made log viewer / script console with it. It's quite good for quickly building developer tools, so eventually I'll bind it to script to make it available for modders and for script analytics and debugging.

• Added log viewer / script console (accessed with F5 if you have dev. tools on in options).
• Added gloss maps for building textures.
• Mana threshold is displayed now on the castle mana bar in the progress mode.

If you like what I do, you can support me on Patreon!

This is a small update before I start overhauling AI which I have mostly planned out already. I integrated "dear imgui" library and made log viewer / script console with it. It's quite good for quickly building developer tools, so eventually I'll bind it to script to make it available for modders and for script analytics and debugging.

• Added log viewer / script console (accessed with F5 if you have dev. tools on in options).
• Added gloss maps for building textures.
• Mana threshold is displayed now on the castle mana bar in the progress mode.

If you like what I do, you can support me on Patreon!

The main feature of this update is shading overhaul, which changes how light interacts with materials. It allows for glossy materials now, and thanks to rendering pipeline changes, I have place for extra material parameter in the G-buffer which I might use later. If you're interested in technical details, it's inspired by Disney's BRDF, but adjusted for real-time non-photorealistic rendering. And some hacks to make stuff that doesn't have normals (like foliage) look good.

• Major overhaul of shading and lighting.
• Ranmantaru logo in first loading screen.
• Blurred background for loading screen.
• Fixed minor shadow issue.

If you like what I do, you can support me on Patreon!

The main feature of this update is shading overhaul, which changes how light interacts with materials. It allows for glossy materials now, and thanks to rendering pipeline changes, I have place for extra material parameter in the G-buffer which I might use later. If you're interested in technical details, it's inspired by Disney's BRDF, but adjusted for real-time non-photorealistic rendering. And some hacks to make stuff that doesn't have normals (like foliage) look good.

• Major overhaul of shading and lighting.
• Ranmantaru logo in first loading screen.
• Blurred background for loading screen.
• Fixed minor shadow issue.

If you like what I do, you can support me on Patreon!

This is a minor update, but it adds a new game mode, called "progression". It's going to be like the original Magic Carpet, a linear sequence of challenges without a story. It's just one world so far, but I'll add more in the next updates, and this game mode will likely change a lot with future updates.

• Added initial progression mode (just one world so far).
• Fixed missiles not hitting stone cups.

If you like what I do, you can support me on Patreon!

This is a minor update, but it adds a new game mode, called "progression". It's going to be like the original Magic Carpet, a linear sequence of challenges without a story. It's just one world so far, but I'll add more in the next updates, and this game mode will likely change a lot with future updates.

• Added initial progression mode (just one world so far).
• Fixed missiles not hitting stone cups.

If you like what I do, you can support me on Patreon!

Switched trees to point clouds and added auto-generated colliders for them and large stones. No player collision yet, just missiles. And the shading is still off, the foliage had a translucent effect which is missing right now. I guess I'm going to fix that next and switch wyverns and caterpillars to point cloud models as well.

• Added various (and mod-able) brush images for point clouds.
• Trees use point cloud models now.
• Added auto-generated colliders for point clouds (used for tree foliage and large stones).
• Menhirs (large standing stones) now block missiles.
• Point cloud objects now fade out before wrapping to the other side of the world.
• Some performance optimizations for shadows.

Switched trees to point clouds and added auto-generated colliders for them and large stones. No player collision yet, just missiles. And the shading is still off, the foliage had a translucent effect which is missing right now. I guess I'm going to fix that next and switch wyverns and caterpillars to point cloud models as well.

• Added various (and mod-able) brush images for point clouds.
• Trees use point cloud models now.
• Added auto-generated colliders for point clouds (used for tree foliage and large stones).
• Menhirs (large standing stones) now block missiles.
• Point cloud objects now fade out before wrapping to the other side of the world.
• Some performance optimizations for shadows.

Point clouds are still in progress, only used for stones now, but I did some bugfixing so here's a work-in-progress update.

• Fixed (hopefully) the "can't create saved game file" bug.
• Point cloud models for various stones.
• Added point cloud quality setting.
• Menhir circles use single type of stone object for the circle now.
• Changed how static objects are created for better mod-ability.
• Optimized some parts of world generation.
• Switched random number generator to faster and better xorshift* algorithm.
• Lighting/shading is somewhat off temporarily while transitioning to point cloud models.

Point clouds are still in progress, only used for stones now, but I did some bugfixing so here's a work-in-progress update.

• Fixed (hopefully) the "can't create saved game file" bug.
• Point cloud models for various stones.
• Added point cloud quality setting.
• Menhir circles use single type of stone object for the circle now.
• Changed how static objects are created for better mod-ability.
• Optimized some parts of world generation.
• Switched random number generator to faster and better xorshift* algorithm.
• Lighting/shading is somewhat off temporarily while transitioning to point cloud models.

A small update while I still work on the big stuff (point clouds).

• The castle now spins nearby mana around in a vortex before consuming it.
• Added flattened ground for castle levels 2 and 4.
• Added game mode description.
• Buildings are now displayed properly on the map.

A small update while I still work on the big stuff (point clouds).

• The castle now spins nearby mana around in a vortex before consuming it.
• Added flattened ground for castle levels 2 and 4.
• Added game mode description.
• Buildings are now displayed properly on the map.

Another mostly technical update: lava spells for sandbox and technical stuff for future mod support.

• Added lava source, sink and globe spells for use in the sandbox mode.
• Switched to physfs library for reading/writing game files. Building editor now saves to %APPDATA%\buildings\ folder.
• Optimized file checks (like reloading shaders/textures/scripts).
• Switched to Visual C++ 2013. No runtime installation necessary, so ignore this.
• Changed button style in the main menu.

Another mostly technical update: lava spells for sandbox and technical stuff for future mod support.

• Added lava source, sink and globe spells for use in the sandbox mode.
• Switched to physfs library for reading/writing game files. Building editor now saves to %APPDATA%\buildings\ folder.
• Optimized file checks (like reloading shaders/textures/scripts).
• Switched to Visual C++ 2013. No runtime installation necessary, so ignore this.
• Changed button style in the main menu.

It's a smaller update, and mostly a technical one. It would be most interesting for modders. Change log:

• Added comments to the script files, describing how things work.
• Added auto-generated documentation for game objects.
• Added initial Steamworks integration, for now it just pauses the game when you open the Steam overlay.
• Log entries now include time since game start.
• Updated BASS.