Topia World Builder - (by Crescent Moon Games) [Universal]

[GlennX]

Originally Posted by EnterNexus

I personally really like the replay saving kinda thing, i love showing people how the whole world creation happened, i love how there's no extra space, and it's only downside to me is waiting for the whole process to be done again when i just want to continue working. I know it would be really weird and annoying to ask this now, since everyone else seems to want the proper save feature and you seem to be working hard in changing it, but.. why cant we have both?

The reason the recorded version had to go is that playback was just too slow, the most I could get, after weeks of painstaking optimisation, was about 12x speed fast wind. This would mean if someone edited a level for an hour it would take five minutes to reload.

Beyond that there is another downside to the 'playback' method is that it can't work across versions. If anything changes (build tools, creature AI etc.) then the playback will not be exactly the same so the playback would go out of sync and not end in exactly the same state as when you hit save on the previous version. It would theoretically possible to fix this by having multiple copies of the AI and landscape code but it would be a horrible mess to maintain.

Playback still works (I'll be using it for the demo) and might remain in some form but a bigger problem is confusing casual users so recording will be gone in the first update. It may came back at some point though.

[EnterNexus]

Originally Posted by GlennX

Playback still works (I'll be using it for the demo) and might remain in some form but a bigger problem is confusing casual users so recording will be gone in the first update. It may came back at some point though.

Aaah.. Then I understand. That does sound like it will become a horrible mess indeed, but I hope in the future a solution might arrive and it will once again be available to users. Thank you for working hard on the game though, really appreciate what you guys have done with this game.

[iosappsrock]

Just bumping this, because the developer has been very silent for the last few weeks. Last I heard, once again, we were "very close" to getting an update. But it's been two months now since Topia came out, and the update which was supposed to give us a proper saving mechanic has still not arrived. This is really becoming a huge bummer for me.

I know the dev is trying to add a lot of cool stuff, which is nice, but please! - I really just want an update to fix the blasted save-issues. All I want is to be able to save my worlds and then resume building them. I don't really care about extras right now. I think almost everyone is with me on this.

The game still sits on my computer, uninstalled until we get a proper update with proper saves. I don't want to play it without saves, because it's boring to have to watch an hour-long replay every time I want to resume, and I hate starting from scratch every session.

Any news on this? I hope we don't have to wait till January. Unfortunately from the looks of it, it seems like January would be a conservative estimate.

PS- Sorry if I sound mad - I'm not. It's just that... This game has so much AWESOME potential, and I really don't want to see it die before it reaches the peak of perfection (which I know it can attain).

[GlennX]

The save issue is absolutely fixed but I missed submitting on a date that would make it possible to get it out before Christmas. I'm just trying to sneak in a few extra features and will update more regularly in the future, it's just that the save restructure was a big one. I've also taken the opportunity to replace some of the nastier bits of underlying code but this will mean exactly nothing to anyone playing it as it's not as if Topia ever crashed or anything, it just feels better to me...

[iosappsrock]

Originally Posted by GlennX

The save issue is absolutely fixed but I missed submitting on a date that would make it possible to get it out before Christmas. I'm just trying to sneak in a few extra features and will update more regularly in the future, it's just that the save restructure was a big one. I've also taken the opportunity to replace some of the nastier bits of underlying code but this will mean exactly nothing to anyone playing it as it's not as if Topia ever crashed or anything, it just feels better to me...

Soooo... Perhaps, an early January release for the update? Pretty please?

I'm excited to find out what you've managed to "sneak" in there. Some of the stuff you were teasing on twitter looked amazing. Did that one terraced landscape tool make it in?

Sorry for asking so many questions. I am just so hyped about the progression of Topia!

Thanks for responding. It's always good to actually hear straight from the developer.

[Bool Zero]

Sadly I bought this and haven't bothered with it shortly after release... I too am waiting for an update, one that gives goals and such as well as fixes the save issues. Not knocking the devs but I feel like I bought a toy and am waiting patiently for it to eventually become a game as it offers little incentive for me to go back to in its current state.


Waiting patiently or as patiently as I can...

[VirtualBoyFreak]

Originally Posted by Bool Zero

Sadly I bought this and haven't bothered with it shortly after release... I too am waiting for an update, one that gives goals and such as well as fixes the save issues. Not knocking the devs but I feel like I bought a toy and am waiting patiently for it to eventually become a game as it offers little incentive for me to go back to in its current state.


Waiting patiently or as patiently as I can...

I'm also waiting patiently for the update. Let's hope it makes it in January. Happy New Year, btw!

[AaronLee]

Just decided to pick this up myself. I considered holding off in lieu of the impending save fix update, but temptation got the best of me. Hopefully the update comes soon.

As for the game itself, I love how attached I've become to the world created, but I also yearn for it to bee deeper for that same reason. I want to craft a delicate and functional Eco system, where I don't have to worry about the annihilation of every animal by the mere introduction of one predator. I'd love to see the animals split off and diversify, and create a unique little world that's continually influenced by dynamic changes and evolutions.

As for what it is, it's lots of fun and well worth the asking price, but i have visions and hopes for something incredible to come along eventually.

[GlennX]

New blog: here

[Platyrrhine]

Interesting read. Hope things are well with your family too