Alpha devlog #2 - Crystal Hub

Hello everyone, it's time for September's devlog! Since the last devlog we have released two updates, the City Update and the Crystal Hub. Let's talk about them!

City Update

This was more of a "filler update" (or "content update"); we needed some extra time to fix the crash rates on Android. We decided to do something that wouldn't require a lot of work on the programming side. Despite that, it still added a few new functional items to the game. It introduced skateboards, which make the player faster but also more "slippery". It also added keypad doors and security cameras, which are features that players have been requesting for a while.

Crystal Hub

Anubis and I had wanted to add a hub to Crystal Realms for a while, and now it's finally here! We felt like adding a hub with only one NPC or only the daily login bonus would be a bit boring, so we waited until we had more ideas of what purpose this hub could have. With DAZ-L, Quill, and Glenn (on Sundays), we felt like it was the perfect time.

Now that we have it, we can expand on it one NPC at a time. Probably, most major updates will add new NPCs to it. For example, if we do a fishing update, we could add a fishing NPC where you can sell your fish, buy new fishing gear, or complete fishing-related quest lines.

Right now, a lot of the harder-to-obtain items rely either on luck, are part of a seasonal event, or are crafted in a cauldron.  The quest system that we added with DAZ-L will allow us to introduce hard-to-obtain items, while still making the process feel fun and engaging. One DAZ-L quest we have in mind right now is for obtaining the jacket that Quill wears, since many players seem to want it.

This update also brings a new realms menu. We wanted to redesign it because the old one was a bit confusing for new players. Many didn't know that there was a history tab or a favorites tab, which made finding their realms challenging. With this new design, I believe it will be easier for new players to understand how it works, and it will also leave a good first impression of the game (since it is one of the first things you see).

About the actual design journey of the menu... It had its ups and downs. We actually went through a few iterations before landing on the final one. Here is the second design that we had, for example:

We asked the moderators what they thought about it, but it sadly sparked quite the negative response. The buttons at the top are too similar to the ones other games had, and we wanted the menu to have more of a magical/dimension feeling, instead of resembling a sci-fi cosmic environment. Although it looks quite polished and sleek, the main feedback we got is that it did not fit in Crystal Realms... So we went back to the drawing board!

Then, in the next design, we thought, what if the buttons for each realm were inspired by the huge crystals inside the game? So, a stone with a pink/purple crystal lodged in it. This new design we were much happier with, and the moderators also responded much more positively. It fits in better with the core Crystal Realms aesthetic. The button for creating a new realm also really sticks out, which points new players in the right direction.

What's next?

Before Halloween starts, we still wanna do two more updates. The plan is to have an update in late September,  an update in early October, and then the Halloween event in late October.

One of these updates can be compared to the city update, in which we will add new items and mechanics that fit a theme. Just like the city update, it will also add a new item pack to the store. The other update will be an overhaul to an existing system in the game, and will also include a new enemy. In addition, we might do some small updates in between that add just a few items (or just one cool item), just to keep the game fresh while waiting for the bigger updates.

Halloween will be the next big event, and will likely feel like an expansion on last year's. We won't spoil too much...

We have also started working on the next big update that we talked about in the last devlog, and we will continue working on that in the background. As we already explained, it will introduce a new progression mechanic (just like the goblin hideouts did) but in a more relaxed and cozy way... Stay tuned for more info in the future!

Last Halloween, we made the new items available one day at a time, and we would like to hear your thoughts about that. Should we do it again this year? Please comment in our Discord! We value your feedback.

Character redesign

In case you are not aware, we have been working on redesigning the character of Crystal Realms. We have had some feedback from people that they didn't like the old design. So, for the past 4 months, we have been gathering feedback in a #suggestions-forum post on our Discord. We have finally landed on a design that we are happy with.

We are still in the process of animating it, but I believe that when the next devlog comes out, we might have the animations ready! A lot of clothing items in the game will have to be reanimated though. We have tried not to change the character's shape too much, so that we can avoid unnecessary animation changes, but all shirts and pants will have to be updated.

With this new design, we will also be adding more emotes to the game! Some of these emotes will also include new hand gestures. We stopped adding emotes because we knew we wanted to redesign the character, and any emote introduced before the change would need to be done again.

Mobile improvements

This month, I have been working hard on improving the crash rate of the game. It used to be about 6.3% on Android devices, and right now we have gotten it to hover around 1.2%. This will help the game a lot in the long run, as crashes often lead to negative reviews, and the Google Play Store will not promote your game organically if your crash rate is above 1.1%. We are now super close to getting the crash rate below that threshold!

I have also started to work on making the game use less bandwidth. Right now, it uses about 15 kilobytes per second when playing the game normally, and I have gotten it down to about 10 kilobytes per second by compressing the entity positions. I believe I can get the game down to about 5 kilobytes per second with a few more optimizations. Optimizing this will make disconnects happen less often, and it reduce mobile data usage.

Conclusion

That's it for this month's development log! Exciting stuff is happening, both in-game and behind the scenes. In next month's devlog, we will reveal what this "big update" that we are talking about really is. I can already tell you, though, that many of you will enjoy it (It is NOT fishing, please stop asking).

- PIEMEN and Anubis <3