DangerSpheal 🍂

All about Hytale, sometimes other things too :) - Plus, If my posts have bad grammar or spelling placements, I'm sorry, I can't really help it, I try my best.

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

@GeilsonMen21628 all armors / weapons / monsters will go through complete rework
chapter 2 will see quite a lot of changes in that regards

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

I don't think people fully comprehend how the game will change over the next few years: Cubic chunks, shaders, crafting overhaul, dungeons, ui, minigames, bosses, PvP, itemization, combat, and much, much more. It's like we barely got a game engine right now; there was literally no gameplay content when we got the game back.

We have been hiring lots of great talent lately, and it's a very exciting future. With the team we built in just a few months, we can deliver the full vision; it's just a matter of time. I am actively blocking all new content in recent updates, saving it for Chapter 1 and so on.

The hardest puzzle to solve is production with good efficiency, so we can deliver the vision to the players as soon as possible while ensuring we don't grow into a large studio that can't steer the ship on a dime when required. It's working amazingly so far, a bit harsh on people like me, who need to be aware of almost every aspect of the game, but it's a necessary burden in the short term to make sure I assign the right people in the right positions. Will open new critical roles, such as gameplay designer, very soon, to support our vision and execution.

[Slikey @slikey]

I've spent the last few days reviewing the decision by Epic Games to drop Blueprints to understand if there is something that would prompt me to reconsider Visual Scripting for Hytale.

The verdict is that we are not changing our plans for Visual Scripting. Ultimately the reasons that Epic has for deprecating Blueprints is more about how blueprints work under the hood than it is about visual scripting itself.

Given that Hytale will stay decentralized while UE6 is unifying UEFN + UE into one product, I believe that this decision is mainly driven by a cloud-native strategy.

I still strongly believe that text-based scripting is a false compromise that neither serves programmers nor designers. We can always add text-based scripting and add converting from Visual Scripting to text-based script but I strongly believe that the visual scripting both in a 2D editor and in the 3D world (DOOM Snapmap style) are right for Hytale.

I want Hytale Modding to feel like a hobby you look forward to - almost like playing Factorio or some other puzzle game. I envision this playful and accessible modding also make it's way into the education world.

More on this in my upcoming update to the modding strategy.

PS: I see your reddit threads discussing the current limitations of modding - you'll get your answers 😅

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

Rendering team tripled in size and are working on major architectural changes to keep improving the performances. Its not like I can pull artists and gameplay / tools developers on this though. This is very complex work that requires deep understanding and experience. We have the makers of Sodium and Voxy in our team, I’m sure we will be able to do great improvements!

There are also major changes to the server side happening that will improve performance as well. Its an act of balance too, if we were to entirely focus on performance the game wouldn’t go forward at all, end of day we have a long road ahead of us!

That being said, most people are having good fps if they set the right settings, rendering distance is where performances tank quite heavily on some machines.

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

looking to hire exceptional developers to reach the full potential of Hytale, flat structure, LF self-driven individuals

show me what you've been working on 👇

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

Great custom Hytale MMORPG experience! They built dungeons, boss fights, custom abilities/spells, progression, SMP, and much more in just 3 or 4 months!

I visit the server daily, make sure you check it out :)

[Hytale @Hytale]

Discord Integration is here with Hytale's Update 5!

Your Discord friends can now be added as Hytale friends in-game.

Link your Discord today from the Social Sidebar. Easily invite your friends, join their worlds from the main menu, and more to come soon!

[Hytale @Hytale]

ICYMI: Hytale’s Update 5 is out!

We want to shine a spotlight on our new Trigger Volume Tool which allows you to place persistent 3D volumes that trigger configurable effects when conditions are met.

Think of these 3D volumes as tripwires that are completely invisible to the player. However, when something happens inside of it (a player walks into it, a creature walks out, a block is placed, an arrow is shot, etc.) it will react by running a desired effect.

Here’s a compilation from our Level Designers demonstrating what's possible with this tool.
Not a single line of code was written to do this. 100% UI based scripting! 🤯

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

Fun Hytale update for map makers! Trigger volume tool is a big step forward (watch the video!). This is what I dreamed of back in 2012 when I created Herobrine Mansion.
Also community server discovery is slowly getting deployed, we should start seeing some very interesting MMO/Minigames servers in the coming months :)

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

More and more of our focus is now going into making new gameplay content for Hytale. Very exciting times ahead!

There's still a lot of groundwork to push through, but we're moving fast. The updates we've shipped so far have mostly been about getting the foundation in shape so we can actually build content on top of it without falling into a tech debt trap.

As a quick reminder, we had only a few weeks between acquiring Hytale and shipping it. In that window, we had to build a new launcher / website / many backend services, plus a lot of engine and gameplay catch-up, on a codebase that was already a few years out of date in many areas. We promised to deliver as fast as possible, and we did, but that meant the early post-launch updates had to be catch-up work rather than huge content drops. The next step is to put ourselves in a position to roll out content updates for the chapters at a rapid cadence.

As an example, some of the team have been on accessibility / controller support / localization, and so on. That kind of work easily takes a few weeks per area, and those devs are now moving to gameplay. Same story with the movement rewrite: that was needed to properly set up future things like mounts / boats / anti-cheat, and plenty more. Most of this is invisible to players day to day, but it's much better to land early than to retrofit later.

I know a lot of what you're seeing right now is creative tools, modding, and so on. Note that we use those tools ourselves too, so every step forward there improves our workflow as well.

Part of the team is also deep in Chapter 1 right now. That first chapter is going to take some time because so many of the pieces around it are still being put in place, but once we hit the rhythm of chapters, the cadence will start picking up fast. That's the part I'm most looking forward to. The goal is that by the time we reach Chapter 3 we'll be at a really good pace.

We're hiring across many areas to support this content push, as you might have seen. Lots to do, but this is the stretch I've been waiting for!

We have the funds, the team, and the community. All we need now is some time to cook!

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

Hytale in 2016, 30+ old screenshots from early development 🧵

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

Very expensive path, but it's the game I ultimately want to play with my kids when they're old enough to play!
Dungeons, boss fights, epic worlds, encounters, NPCs, events, rework all professions/crafting. It's going to be a long journey!

Having modding alongside us will help the wait between major updates, and the hiring pool will keep growing for us as well.

Really happy with where we are going right now. I understand the game isn't that good right now; there isn't much to do in adventure, and it's bare-bones. I also feel a strong responsibility to ensure it's fully realized!

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

📢 Hytale job applications are now live! 📢

Two roles posted today, with multiple openings for each: World Designer and NPC Developer!

World Designers will be one of the biggest teams at Hytale. We're tripling down on what Adventure mode's worlds can become, starting with Orbis and World Gen 2. Hybrid role: level designers, environment artists, or people who do both.

NPC Developer is a smaller team, but it's the one that decides whether the world feels alive. Creature behavior, combat, boss fights, and the patterns that make Hytale react. Both technical designers and developers are welcome.

Hiring from the community first. Studios can apply too. More roles are coming in the weeks ahead!

Apply: https://t.co/MHAjPiMgAE

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

A game gets easier to build over time when systems stack instead of reset.

Chapter 1:
+3 new features

Chapter 2:
Those 3 features now become building blocks.
Add +3 more.

Chapter 3:
Now you have 6 existing systems to combine, extend, and reuse.
Add +3 more.

The result is not linear.

Every chapter increases what future chapters can do without starting from zero again.

That’s why games with strong foundations tend to accelerate over time, if they do it right, of course.

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

Will take a few chapters to make a good game, each will bring a set of content features and introduce step by step new crafting elements and systems.

These type of games are a marathon to get right. Especially since we are going in a content-heavy direction.

Each chapters will offer fun time, but Im not planning to add any forced retention mechanics on the players. Respect players time and make it clear when the chapter is completed.

Play the chapter, enjoy, move to other games or mods/servers until next chapter. After a few chapters it will start to click together and be organically be good with retention.

[Hytale @Hytale]

📢 Update 5 releases MAY 26th! 📢

- New Community Server Discovery is in
- The Friends List makes its first appearance
- Controller support arrives in its first iteration (more polish coming)
- New emotes
- Trigger Volumes for no-code scripted encounters
- Prefab 3D previews
- and a lot more across creator tools, audio, and QoL

Be sure to check out @Simon_Hypixel's tweet for more details!

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

My vision for the minigames tab (which would come after the mods tab): our own official Hytale minigames, with community-made games sitting right alongside us. That means the community would be part of the big 3: Minigames, Mods, and Servers.

It's important that we don't see the great minigames getting lost in the noise. The bar for putting a game on the tab will be higher than for other tabs, as you might imagine. Think the classic Halo custom games scene: a small set of deep, replayable minigames that talented authors built right inside the game (Infection, etc), the kind of stuff people came back to for years. DotA literally started as a Warcraft 3 custom map. Whole genres can emerge from community modders when the right tools are in place, and players can just jump in with their friends.

The recent contest made me realize we have a problem with current minigame mods; they're a bit complicated to just jump in and play. It should be super simple. We'll fix that with the minigame tab and other changes to the in-game mods browser page.

The idea is that you don't need a team. You don't need infrastructure. You could build a fun minigame or a short adventure over the weekend, hand it to us, and it will go to players if it's approved. Players would be able to support the creators behind the games they love, so if your thing pops off, that's a real win for you. No servers to rent, no ops to babysit. No paywall or monetization in the face of players, just optional support for official cosmetics at our cost, that's all. No need for modders to think about it, they just focus on making fun minigames.

This can greatly help community servers too. A server team can drop a polished minigame into the tab as a gift to players and as a doorway back to their full server for anyone who wants more (progression, community, etc). Build it once, ship it through us, let the players come to you.

How players hop in: peer-to-peer with friends in one click for instant casual play, or in a session we host and manage the queue for players. Same Play button, two lanes underneath as options.

A few notes:
- This is the direction, not a release date. Specifics when they're locked. It will take a while to get there.
- Quick session-based games live on the minigame tab. Persistent worlds and progression-heavy experiences live in the Server Browser. Different surfaces.
- Curation matters. I'd rather ship a few great minigames than 10,000 forgotten ones.

Let me know your suggestions!

[Simon @Simon_Hypixel]

LET'S GO!
Congrats to all the winners!

Make sure you guys check out the blog post, CRAZY stuff in there, super talented community, GG!

Thank you everyone for participating!
Lots of cool stuff coming in the next few months for modders, very exciting times ahead and we are just getting started!