This is the first major update for Craftica. This update includes a new game mode for beginner's guide. In this guide mode, players can get familiar with the essential operations in this game, by following some instructions to complete some small tasks.
This update also includes several improvements and fixings. Notable improvements include:

• Now the zoom view window is replaced by an adaptive view field, so that the player can see better when placing a small block or placing at a distant location;
• The orientation of a partial block or an item for placement is determined by the relative location of the cursor inside a placement area. Now this area is highlighted with a blue square to make it more clear how the orientation is determined;
• Now crafting bases can be switched directly by the block size switching hotkey without opening and closing the crafting dialog;
• Now a simple widget animation is supported for the clipboard item when it should be empty for certain operations;
• A few improvements are also added to item dropping and gathering to make it more convenient to use;

The fixings are mostly minor, including fixings for:

• Procedural object decoding;
• Terrain block loading;
• Object orientation for placement;
• Object anchor face checking for placement;
• Location handling for objects and agents in the terrain system;
• Tooltips for formulas;

[ 2020-04-09 20:31:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Craftica: A Next-Generation Creative Sandbox Game with Subvoxels

Craftica is a next-generation creative sandbox game with a near-infinite world represented by voxels and subvoxels. It is inspired by Minecraft, but it takes the voxel representation to the next level with subvoxels of multiple sizes. Craftica currently supports both creative and survival modes with main focus on the creative mode.

Voxel and Subvoxels

In Craftica the basic voxel is a full cube and the subvoxels are partial cubes with one or more corner chopped off.



The support of subvoxels in Craftica make it possible to use relatively smooth representations of objects in the game. Also the voxel and subvoxels in Craftica are supported at multiple size levels, so that fine structures can be represented at a scale comparable to the real world.



In fact Craftica has very good support for Chinese architectures, and includes a large number of standard structures with Chinese architecture styles.

Smart Placement of Blocks and Items

Craftica is designed to allow intuitive construction of objects using subvoxels, and supports consistent operations for placing basic blocks (voxels and subvoxels) and items.

In-Scene Crafting

Item crafting in Craftica can be done in the scene, using formulas that are structural and intuitive.

Village

In Craftica worlds, some places are generated with villages. Each village is generated with a few houses and at least one workshop and one defensive fort or tower, and spawns with at least one warrior to defend the village.



The relationship between a village and a player is characterized by affinity. Affinity can be zero, positive or negative, indicating a neutral, friendly or hostile relationship.

The affinities between villages and player(s) are initialized randomly. Normally, there will be more neutral villages than friendly and hostile ones, and more friendly ones than hostile ones. Their actual percentages may vary according to game modes and difficulty levels.

Trade

When a positive affinity reaches certain levels, the player will have free access to some village structures and storages (different structures and storages may have different affinity thresholds). And when a negative affinity reaches a certain level, the village warrior will actively attack the player.

Trading with villagers or defending the village against hostile mobs will improve the affinity between the player and the village. On the other hand, attacking villagers will deteriorate the affinity.

Survival

In survival mode, barbarians and other hostile mobs will be generated. They will attack the player and villages. The only way to survive is to fight back or run!

Instant Help and Hint

Craftica can provide instant help and hint that is relevant to the current state of the game and the player. Such help and hint can be turned on or off with the H key at any time. Instant help and hint is automatically turned on when a new world is started, unless it is disabled in the game options.