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Apple Issues

November 8, 2013, 9:24 am
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I see that the iOS build that has recently been approved by Apple has some crashing issues.

Quite a lot of people are reporting frequent crashes. This is of course very bad :-(

I have stopped working on 1.24 to tackle this problem first. If you have an iOS device, upgraded to 1.23.5 and are experiencing crashes, can you please email me at candyrufusgames@gmail.com the following information:

  • What device and which version of iOS are you running
  • Which world were you playing when the crash occurred
  • Whether switching on “singlethreaded terrain update” in compatibility settings fixes the crashes

(you can also add your information as comments to this post).

Thank you! Hoping to resolve this issue fast.

 


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Apple Issues Contd.

November 8, 2013, 7:57 pm
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I’ve been working on the Apple issue pretty much around the clock, and that includes a trip to my local Apple Retail Store to pick up a new Macbook Pro 13 inch. The old trusty Mac Mini that I used up to now is so slow I can’t stand it any more.

Anyway,  I think I found the cause of the crashes. Yes, I do know why it crashes, but I don’t know how to fix it yet… I’ll be on it tomorrow, need to catch some sleep :-)

In the meantime, please continue to send the reports. They have been extremely useful. I am especially interested whether switching “Singlethreaded terrain update” in the compatibility settings cures the crash.

TiredAtWork


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Under Control

November 9, 2013, 7:09 am
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I think I have the iOS crashes under control now. I found the reason and applied the cure :-)

Before I release it, I want to do some more quick fixes. Will let you know when it goes out.


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1.23.4 Out For Android

November 9, 2013, 11:28 am
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I have just published 1.23.4, which contains iOS crash bugfix and some other improvements to Google Play. It should become available for update in a couple of hours, as always.

As I said before, the crash bug doesn’t only affect iOS. It’s present on all platforms, but iOS is somehow more vulnerable to it. The bug is now fixed, this should also hopefully fix related problems, such as this:

527ac73aca6ae0.43715342_r

 

In addition to the bugfix, there’s a bunch of other changes:

  • Fixed hitting animals in 3rd person mode
  • Reduce GPU stalling by not reusing vertex/index buffers immediately
  • Reduce memory usage by recycling geometry data more aggressively (maybe you’ll be able to run with higher vis range on some devices?)
  • Warning if too many worlds on device instead of disabled “New World” button
  • Reduced probability of horses going stubborn — remember there’s one horse color that never does it!
  • Potential fix for game not starting on certain devices (e.g. Galaxy Tab 3 P5210)
  • Some other small improvements

Please update and try it. If it works fine on Androids, I’ll update the remaining platforms.

Hope this build sticks, 1.23.4 is too good a version number to have to throw it away :-)

 


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Bugfix out for Apple

November 10, 2013, 4:39 am
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I have submitted the crash bugfix to Apple, the new version number will be 1.23.8.0.

Unfortunately it has to go through the review process again – there’s no way around that. I requested an “expedited review”, something that Apple allows if the release fixes a critical bug or is associated with a timed event. It’s up to Apple whether they will honor that and review it quickly, or whether we’ll have to wait another week :-(

I am also going to submit for Amazon and Windows Phone soon.

When this is all done, I’ll be back at work on 1.24.


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Quick Update

November 11, 2013, 2:19 pm
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Just a quick update on 1.23 bugfix.

As promised, I submitted to Amazon and Microsoft shortly after iOS. All three still in review. Will keep you posted if anything moves!

I will resume posting promo codes on Twitter as soon as iOS is approved. Don’t want to be giving away codes for a bugged version :-)


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iOS 1.23.8 approved

November 12, 2013, 12:50 am
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Apple have honored the request to do the expedited review and they approved 1.23.8 in almost record time. It should already be available for download in the App Store.

I am therefore resuming tweeting of promo codes!


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iOS 7 screen freezing

November 14, 2013, 8:29 am
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On iOS 7, Survivalcraft display sometimes freezes, while the game keeps going in the background. This occasionally happens when you dismiss a text box (for example after entering a sign text).

Fortunately there is good news. Doubly good news.

First, I’ve got it fixed. And no, I still don’t know why it is happening :-) It’s only on iOS 7, and the way I fixed it is by entirely avoiding the operation that causes it.

Second, there is a trivial workaround. If your screen freezes, rotate your device upside down to trigger a screen flip. This will unfreeze the screen.

I might release another iOS 1.23 update.

Almost forgot: both Amazon and Windows Phone updates are out (1.23.9 and 1.23.10 respectively). They fix the same bugs that 1.23.8 fixed on iOS.

[EDIT]

Just noticed – the blog passed 4 million views. That’s not half bad :-)


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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7 inch)

November 16, 2013, 1:34 pm
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I’ve had some reports that the game does not start on this device. So I went and bought it.

And what? It works. A waste of good money :-)

Galaxy Tab 2

I tested it for a good hour, found no problems at all. Despite antiquated hardware it runs pretty smooth, even with 128 visibility distance. If you have this device and the game does not work, I don’t know what to do. Bad luck…

Btw. the image above is not the actual photo of the one I bought, I just got it off the internets. The one I have has Android 4.1.

Also, I would never go near this tablet if I wanted one for myself. Why? It has a proprietary power connector. How stupid is that? So that I have to lug two chargers with me? I will soon lose the charger (I always do), and the tablet will just become an expensive paperweight.


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1.24

November 20, 2013, 3:27 pm
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No, I am not dead or a zombie! I am back at work on 1.24.

Before that, I think I will make one more service release of 1.23 on iOS (that fixes the textbox problem), but it’s a minor thing.

Anyway, the first big feature I am working on for 1.24 is a new weapon. I want to keep it secret for a little longer, but guesses are welcome, as always :-)

Whatever it is, I would like to do this release before Christmas. There isn’t much time left, therefore it may be a little smaller than 1.23 was. We’ll see how it will work out.


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New weapon

November 23, 2013, 6:08 am
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Work on 1.24 is going well. The new weapon is causing some problems, but I think I will have them sorted soon.

As usual, a lot of guesses were correct. Have a look at the screenshot:

Bow

Of course, this has been long overdue. I remember thinking I should really add it soon as far back as 2011 :-) Two years later and it’s still not in!

The new weapon is a lot more than just the bow itself, there is the entire supporting infrastructure in code that will let me do it properly and extend later, as opposed to quickly hacking it in a day.

Still aiming for the release before Christmas.


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Shape the Land

November 27, 2013, 2:42 pm
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As you’d probably expect, I get tons of feature requests. Most of them are quite repetitive: minecarts, multiplayer, NPCs. There’s nothing wrong with these, it’s just that each of them is a massive amount of work, so sadly it has to sit in the queue until I get some time to look at it.

But from time to time someone makes a brilliant, simple suggestion. Something so simple that I’d never thought of before.

This time it arrived in an email from maggieblue. What was suggested is that I allow limiting the creative mode world to a single biome – e.g. jungle, desert etc.

In Survivalcraft there’s no concept of biomes as such, the terrain generation works differently than in Minecraft. But the idea is still valid, even though you would not be selecting “biomes” — you’d be twiddling with some sliders instead.

The parameters I made available for you to tweak are the global temperature and humidity of the world. You can now offset them up or down from the defaults, as you see fit. Of course, this only works in creative and during world creation. Once you’ve started playing, you can’t change it.

TempHumid

What does it let you do?

Well, you can have a dry and hot land where there’s no greenery to be seen anywhere (apart from cacti):

Desert

Or a humid jungle land:

Jungle

Or a snowy wonderland:

Snowy

Or a wasteland:

Wasteland

Or anything in between.

Might come in handy for adventures or themed builds. To come in 1.24.

 

 


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New stuff

December 1, 2013, 6:23 am
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Yesterday I released a maintenance update on Google Play, the version number is 1.23.12. It fixes a few small bugs (including the memory bank bug with ; character appearing after the data). Still haven’t got around to releasing iOS update that fixes screen lock bug.

Here’s the new thing I was working on today for 1.24. I am sure you can make out what it is from the screenshot below:

NewStuff

No, it’s not torches or gravestones :-)

 


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Striped Beasts

December 4, 2013, 12:43 pm
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I’ve been adding some new creatures to the game to appear in 1.24.

Here’s one of them:

StripedBeasts

 

It is faster and stronger than the lion, so beware! It also jumps high, will easily go over 2 blocks.

There is a secret variant of the same creature spawning rarely in snowy areas. It doesn’t have a spawn egg, like orca and some other animals, so you must search for it. I think it’s a good idea to have some animals like that – makes it worthwhile to look far and wide for the rare fauna without anticlimax of seeing someone else get the same result with cheap spawn eggs :-)


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Christmas Animal

December 7, 2013, 4:00 am
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To keep in line with Christmas release, I couldn’t omit this one:

Reindeer

 

They will be fairly common across the cold parts of the world. I will probably make them edible as well.

In case you’re wondering what is this – it’s a reindeer, also known as caribou in Canada.


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Muscle

December 10, 2013, 2:28 pm
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First, something not game related.

As usual on Tuesdays I went to play badminton at the local sports centre. Everything was fine until I felt like a tennis ball hit me in the calf, and could not play any more. It turns out I pulled my muscle :-(

For the first time ever I had to use crutches to move about… This will take weeks to heal. It’s even quite funny, because I will have to climb a ladder tomorrow, and not in the game either, but real stuff. If I fall off, this might be the end of Survivalcraft as we know it :-)

Speaking of which. On the game front I am trying to cram as much stuff in before Christmas as I can, but as they are quickly approaching, I will have to stop soon. The bow needs a few finishing touches.

If you’re reading my twitter, you know that you’ll need to manually load an arrow before shooting. I think this is more realistic than automatic reload, and gives a more immersive experience. What I still need to do is to add a source of materials for the bow string and make aiming more challenging.

Here’s the set of arrows you can use:

Arrows


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What to make a bow string of?

December 13, 2013, 2:42 pm
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Thanks for all the suggestions in that matter.

Here’s what I am actually doing:

Ivy1

Ivy2

You can spot the new feature when you see it, I am sure!

Ivy will be used to make bow strings. It grows only in very humid and hot areas, might take some time to find.

My calf is getting better by the day. I thought it will take weeks to heal, but now I am more optimistic. On the first day I could only crawl. On the second day I could hobble. Now I can walk like a human again. Still long way to jumping and running, but I will get there.

Btw. Ivy can be planted and grows down on its own, so you can plant it all over your house.


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Release preparations

December 14, 2013, 3:46 pm
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I am quickly adding last features to 1.24 and switching the mindset to release mode. Christmas is near, so near, we need to move fast.

There is quite a few new things I haven’t mentioned yet because I didn’t have time. Here’s one of them:

NewXmasTree

 

A new Christmas Tree for 1.24

The old one was too ugly for this year’s Christmas :-) And it was taking two precious slots in the blocks texture.

The new one has a proper 3D model and uses wood and spruce textures, so I was able to recycle the old tree’s slots. You can still light the decorations if you supply some power to it.

I am adding one final block, and then release time! Google Play gets it first for testing, as usual.


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1.24 Release Imminent

December 15, 2013, 4:13 am
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As I said on Twitter, I’m not standing up until 1.24 is out for testing on Google Play.

Do you know what this is and why it is showing zero?

Target


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1.24 Out For Testing

December 15, 2013, 2:30 pm
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1.24.0.0 has been out on Google Play for testing for several hours.

Here’s the full list of changes in this update:

  • Added bows
  • Added 4 types of arrows
  • Added electric shooting target
  • Added reindeers
  • Added tigers
  • Added rare white tigers
  • Added hyenas
  • Added ivy
  • Added strings
  • Added feathers, made birds drop them
  • Added iron fences
  • Added iron fence gates
  • Allowed adjustment of global temperature & humidity in creative mode
  • Fixed a bug with machete being able to break wood in adventure mode
  • Added new pretty Christmas Tree
  • Tweaked spawning code to produce more birds and fish, less land animals

Please update and test, test, test!

So far I’ve seen a couple of people complain about recurring “error saving world” message. If you’re getting it, please let me know along with any details of your device and Android version (and amount of free space on it!).


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