Mashpoe
patreon
Seasons or Water?
🕑 Added 2023-09-21 15:21:48 +0000 UTCHey everyone!
My third devlog on YouTube is out right now, and it covers all of the multiplayer features that were released a while ago, as well as some additional features planned for the future. I was planning on making the video much sooner, but I have been facing some serious delays. Fortunately, I am now able to give 4D Miner my full attention.
Here is a link to the current Patreon-exclusive build of the game: https://mashpoe.itch.io/4d-miner-demo/patreon-access
Now that the devlog is out, I want to implement some major changes to the game. Since multiplayer is working, I believe the most difficult days of 4D Miner's development are behind us, and I feel like I am ready to tackle some other big features.
Two of the biggest features that I want to add are Seasons and Water.
As usual with indie development, I have no idea how long it will take to implement these features, but I want to put both of them in the game eventually. This poll will decide which of these two features will be added to 4D Miner first!
Seasons
Seasons are something that I think will set 4D Miner apart from many other sandbox games such as Minecraft. Seasons would work differently depending on the biome, and some biomes will barely change at all, such as the desert biome, and tropical biomes if they are added.
I don't know how seasons would work in the midnight biome, but one idea I had was to invert them, so you can travel to a different biome if you don't want to wait an entire in-game year for certain seasonal benefits.
Seasons would allow for plants to grow, and would make farming possible. In the summer, trees will all be full of leaves. In the fall, you will be able to harvest seeds from plants, including trees. In the winter, there won't be any leaves on most trees, and snow will cover the ground in many biomes. In the spring, trees will grow leaves again, and some of them may even have flowers.
Farming would be 100% season based, but with my idea for the midnight biome, you would still be able to harvest crops twice in an in-game year. The in-game year would obviously be much shorter than a year in real life.
Water
Water probably wouldn't initially be as feature-rich as seasons, but it would still add a lot to the game. Water mechanics like Terraria's probably wouldn't be feasible, since 4D fluid mechanics would likely bring even the best gaming PC to its knees.
Something more akin to Minecraft's water mechanics could be possible, but it might be necessary to add a limit to how much water can flow from a single source. Initially, water would probably behave in a very simple manner, but over time it could become more complex as I figure out more optimizations.
Not only would water make your 4D worlds look much more interesting, it would also add a bit more difficulty to the game, since it would introduce a new way to die (drowning).
Water could also introduce the possibility for new creatures, such as jellyfish, sharks, and crabs.
I can't know all of the technical issues I will run into while I'm working on these features, so it's impossible for me to know how long it will take to add them to the game. Whatever is decided by this poll might not immediately have all of the features that I mentioned, or be ready in time for the next devlog, but over time more and more content will be added.
Both of these features will take time to implement, which is why I can't do them both at the same time. Whatever you decide for me to add first, I will do my best to make sure it works with the game as well as possible, and remember, if your choice doesn't win the poll, I will still add it eventually, since I really want to put both of these features into 4D Miner!
Thank you so much for your patience and support. None of this would be possible without you, and I really hope I can deliver on your expectations as much as possible!
PS - I have attached a 4k version of the thumbnail as a Patreon-exclusive background.
Comments
Igor Wawryk
helo im leonytube000 and i think seasons would be cool
Grzegorz
Hi people,i bought 4d miner yesterday. There is only demo? Not full fame?
Altenator2
it should just be on itch.io, I would recommend downloading the itch app, which allows you to update the game automatically as well as launch it from the client. edit: Could also be your anti-virus but I didn't have a problem with it.
Altenator2
Signs are gonna be awesome, especially on the 4d4t server
Nicolas Rodrigo crespo
hey mashpoe i got a problem, i cant install the game bc i dont have the .exe data
William i Hardwick
Thanks for replying! I’m greatly looking forward to multiplayer support for the 4D water! And your upcoming devlog as well!
Mashpoe
Hey William, thanks for your comment! I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the water in the latest builds of the game. Right now, I am working on a snapshot that has multiplayer support for water, and I am also adding signs. After that's finished (which should be really soon), I want to take a bit of time to focus on smaller features that are in high demand like more in-game sounds, as well as the overall polish of the game. I'll probably make another devlog during that time, and it will most likely be published alongside another poll here on Patreon where the next major feature in the game will be decided on.
William i Hardwick
Hi Mashpoe! The 4D water is SO cool! But I’m dying to know, what’s next? I hope all is well! We love you Mashpoe!
Mashpoe
I didn't post a video yet, but Ramder did, and he did a great job: https://youtu.be/eOXRQ60lOvc I will make a full devlog on my YouTube channel after I finish getting water working in multiplayer. Water is currently available in the latest Patreon snapshots (https://mashpoe.itch.io/4d-miner-demo), but only in single player.
Mashpoe
I think the shape of the world in latest snapshots is actually a clifford torus, which is like a 3d cube, but the opposite faces are connected. If you walk for long enough in one direction (about 5.85 × 10^11 years), you'll end up where you started. Since the worlds are so big now, you could basically think of it as an infinite cuboid though. A sandbox game with a spherical world sounds like an interesting but challenging project, especially if you make an entire solar system. Good luck if you do end up working on such a game.
Icicles
he posted a video
Nia Schimnoski
Hi, is the planet an infinite rectangular cuboid, or a equirectangular volumetric spherical projection? I was thinking of making a sandbox game on a sphere at somepoint with its own solar system a bit like no mans sky but to test some abstract ideas later at some point.
Pauline Delolme
I find the idea of the seasons and the 4D water incredible and I wonder if it will be possible to recover the 4D water without modifying the game files!
Mashpoe
Yes, and actually the first water shapshot is probably going to be released within the next few days! Most progress updates take place in the Patreon-exclusive channels in the 4D Miner Discord, so be sure to check out the footage and screenshots in the #4d-hypersupporters channel.
RZ302
Are you still alive, even?
LunarCodes
You can use Heroic Launcher or Lutris to get it running on Linux
Floof_the_fox
wheatly WHEATLY CRAB ha ha
Grayson Jacobs
It worked for me as a non-steam game using the latest version of proton.
aXentric
it might be a joke
NPC# 1776
i was able to get it working fine on linux, use bottles which allows you to use proton outside of steam
RAMDER007RED yt
thats not what that means, minecraft also had food before hunger
picklguy
cra b
Enderteck
No Linux build ? *Insert low quality megamind face here*
Sugarschild
vote water for CRABB
EmmaBellHelium
two coolest things in 4d are water and explosives. vote water.
blitceed
here’s why you should vote water: seasons come with farming, and farming comes with food, and food comes with a hunger bar and we don’t want that
RAMDER007RED yt
vote seasons, i want actual new gameplay, water doesnt really add more gameplay, just makes it look more like minecraft
440Hurtz
But, depending on weather Mashpoe goes with a more realistic 4d seasonality, it could create some REALLY interesting new seasons, due to the planet almost defiantly being in duel rotation, meaning two axial tilts and makeing it possible to have 16 seasons, ranging from dessert hot, to arctic frigid. But, if the seasons are going to be generic earthlike 4 seasons, I would like water more.
440Hurtz
I feel water is really interesting in a 4d sense, I feel there is a lot of potential for cool physics, similar to ice.
RAMDER007RED yt
#voteseasons the avrage player cares about gameplay and how it looks, not the technical level behind it
Redjard
♯votewater water adds way more on a technical level than some if statements in plants behavior based on game time
RAMDER007RED yt
#voteseasons seasons adds way more then some water
Alicent
I think your idea about inverted seasons in the Midnight Biome would be really cool, as it’s very similar to how the Southern Hemisphere works in our own world, and as an Aussie, I appreciate that!
Walugus Grudenburg
I was sold on seasons until you mentioned crabs. Any option that makes crabs come sooner/more likely is getting my vote.
Jon Gibbs
while seasons would look great, being able to make a 4D fountain sounds so fun i have to vote for it
Jan Záviš
I wanna harvest 4D wheat and then bake a 4D donut
Collin Campbell
Bro, 4D snow would look kinda trippy
Rayce Lee
Seasons could be so wacky depending on the rotation of the planet! A hemisphere can only face towards, away, or to the side of the Sun... But a hemihypersphere could face in... different... directions! If you think of the year as a 1D line, on side hot, on side cold, Earth just goes between them and draws a line. But maybe on a 4D world the line is a 2D plane and the world draws a circle! < Cold, Hot >, Based ^, Cringe v, for instance. Or < Cold, Hot >, Funny ^, Scary v Just an idea 🤓
Kabage Kibbles
water
