I haven’t written an update for a few days because actual work on the game has been a bit spotty. Also I wasted a lot of time fiddling around with 3D trigonometry to get the player’s character to look at the block the mouse pointer is over. I eventually got it right only to decide I didn’t like the effect and went for something less accurate that gives a more natural appearance, just a tilt of the head in the right direction.

A couple of big changes went into this version which weren’t very much work at all but have a big visual impact. First of all I added trees to the landscape. The algorithm is very simple: I place a couple of trunk blocks then have a growth function that extrudes branches with a random chance of the branch extending or putting out leaves instead.

Amberfell Tree

This seemed to give a pleasing shape to the trees. I scattered a few over the starting area for now. Later on when I get into terrain generation they’ll become more prevalent.

I spent a few hours creating new textures to use as trunk and leaves and ended up having to change the grass and stone textures too. I’m happier with them, but they still need some real design input.

Secondly I gave the player a real body instead of the black slab! Here’s what it looks like with my initial textures:

Don’t laugh :)

Check the video out to see the animation of him walking forwards, backwards and jumping plus his head animation as he looks at the selected block.