Hey realmers! In this devlog, we have a LOT to talk about. First, we will discuss the two latest updates released for the game, and then we’ll go into more depth about the highly anticipated farming update.

Halloween Event

Record-breaking event

We are very happy with how this event turned out, especially since we developed it in record-breaking time: We only started working on it 12 days before it was released. That is crazy… And even crazier knowing the event included a lot of items and a fully fleshed out NPC. Despite that, the finished product was very fun and the community enjoyed it thoroughly!

So… how did we do it? 

It was mostly possible because we built it with systems that were already in the game, plus the moderator team helped by making most of the rooms. We already had systems like the goblin hideouts, NPC questlines, and special events. It was just a matter of putting these systems together in a new spooky way.

Realmers Evolved

It's finally done!

This new character design has been in the works for a long time. We shared the first design for it all the way back in May, we requested feedback from you all to make sure this was our LAST major redesign.

Designing with the future in mind

Not only does this new character design look better, it will make it easier for us to expand on it in the future! There are a ton of new emotes in the game, so you might assume that we need more animation frames for each clothing item... But that's not the case at all! Pants and shirts actually require LESS frames now. That’s because the character switched from frame-based animation to modular sprite animation.

Frame-based animation vs Sprite-based modular animation

With frame-based animation, each “character frame” requires a “clothing frame” too. For example, the running, jumping, and dying animations each required unique pixel art. This becomes quite inefficient in the long run and requires some redundant repeated frames.

With sprite-based modular animation, you have a few images for the character’s arms/legs, and then select which one to use for each frame/pose of the animation. Sadly this makes it harder to preview the final product, so I decided to make a script that lets the artist preview the animation for a better workflow.

It’s not just reanimating

As this update got further into development, I realized how many things needed to be re-coded to work with the new character. Items like the water gun, shotgun, and skateboard needed to be redone.

In conclusion

This update took a lot of work (more than the Halloween update!), but it will make the quality of the game so much better and it will be easier for us to add more clothing items in the future!

Farming

In our last devlog we revealed that we are working on a farming update, and today we want to talk a bit more about one part of it: how to grow crops.

The basics

1. Till the dirt using a hoe. 

2. Get your bag of seeds and plant them on tilled dirt. 

3. Water your crop every once in a while (number of times depends on the crop)

4. Once it has fully grown, harvest it using a scythe!

Keeping your crops alive

To make the most out of your farm we recommend you place a few scarecrows to avoid crows damaging them. The longer your farm is unattended, the more crows will start eating your crops. Taking too long to water them will also make them wither eventually.

Fertilizers

You can use different types of fertilizer on your crops. Each one has its own use and there are a few of them! Examples include: Speed fertilizers that speed up your crop’s growth and quantity fertilizer that lets you harvest more produce.

Crossbreeding

Some crops can be created by crossbreeding different ones together. This is done by placing two different but compatible plants next to each other. Please note that it's not guaranteed it’ll work every time! To increase the chance of crossbreeding, you can use a certain type of fertilizer.

For the next update…

We will introduce a new pack of items to the shop and a helpful new kind of tool. We hope you enjoy it!

That’s it for November's devlog, thanks everyone for supporting Crystal Realms.