Craterlands Development Log Spring 2026
Hello! Been quite busy this last Winter. Most of the gameplay and systems are pretty well developed so I’ve mostly been working on updating the look of my game.
Tile Textures
First thing I worked on was a major overhaul of my tile system. Now instead of every tile being one small texture the texture is continuous throughout all matching tiles. This really helps the game look more organic and less blocky and sets it apart from a lot of other Sandbox Adventure games. Also has the great bonus of being very easy to add new tiles since the game automatically merges the tile outlines with the texture.
Lighting
I also added a very cool lighting shader to my game. Now on the surface shadows are created dynamically. The shader traces light back to open sky areas at an angle that changes through the day creating shadows where the light doesn’t reach. It really gives the environment more of a 3 dimensional look!
Weather
Now storms have a chance to spawn as thunderstorms now. It looks really cool how the environment lights up when lighting strikes! This is mostly just visual for now though I would like to add some cool stuff like lightning strikes or unique enemies when this event happens.
Other Stuff
Other than that been working on re-spriting a lot of old stuff. My pixel art skills have grown quite a bit since I first started working on this so some of the art definitely needs some updates. I’ve been going through many items such as chests, furniture, bosses and more and re-drawing anything that still looks kind of poor. Also, been fixing up multiplayer a lot so that is working pretty well now. You can even play multiplayer in the Demo. Check that out on my steam page if so inclined: Store.steampowered.com
Also re-did my Trailer for the 20th time lol. I did a cool effect where I mask my background in game so I can create cool intro shots with panning and layers like in the Trailer below. Check it out!
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Release Info
Still hoping to have a release by the end of the year. I’m really happy with where the game is at both visually and gameplay wise. Working on some automation updates so you can start mining minerals automatically and make researching new items less tedious. More to come on that!