Torches are finally in. I had a guest today, so could not do too much work during the day. That’s how they look like in numbers:
I also made a video of them, watch it here.
Next I will add all the basic tools to make them better aligned to Minecraft: shovels, pickaxes and axes. Currently only in wood and stone variants. I don’t know yet whether I will be able to add furnaces and iron for the first update. If yes, I will also add iron tools.
Earlier today I’ve also done some work on a slider control that will be used for all the sensitivity settings I want to add.
At the moment I don’t have a definite ETA on the update. Initially I expected I will send it for certification (yes, every update has to be recertified) during this weekend. Now I am not so sure, still lots of work to do. Maybe early next week. If it happens, it should hit the marketplace by the end of the next week.
Now go to sleep, birds are already singing outside, almost 4am here.
Survivalcraft 
29 Comments
Awesome, sounds like much fun. I would love to just get the lighting fixed and extended along with a crafting and available resource guide before any other feature are added. That would give me the chance to better play with what’s available now along with being able to see what’s going on at night. I’m trying to build me a shelter but can’t figure out how to put a roof up unless I make a solid structure first and then hollow out the middle. Don’t get me wrong though, I love the hard work and awesome game you made. Just think lighting and a guide would go a very long way towards what’s available now… Plus it would give more time to develop your other projects for the game.
Anyway, love the game thx again.
Hi Daniel. I am also all for frequent small updates. But it takes 3-5 days for Microsoft to certify a new build, so it doesn’t make sense to release with every small feature added :-) First update should happen not too long from now.
Thank you for working so hard at this! Can’t wait for the update!
Very nice. What about updates in smaller, more frequent intervals? Just a thought.
I agree with TGZ. With its limited features, I hate to say it, but I am already getting bored. Smaller, more frequent updates might keep the players from getting bored and putting it down.
Also, forgot to say in my last post, but the torches look great, and thank you for all of your hard work on this game.You really have created something awesome, and I cant wait to see how it grows.
I agree with Daniel, the lightning has to be fixed because right now when it’s dark I can’t play the game :( But I have to disagree with TGZ I prefer to wait a little longer and get a bigger update, just like minecraft does!
By the way, I Recommended your app to be featured on AppFlow and I think you guys should do the same!
Thanks Alexandre!
Loving the game, looking forward to future update. If possible (as there are no enemies etc) set the health to be regenerative or infinite for now as it is very annoying to die. Other than that keep going.
Or you could add beds / respawn points ;) really great game, thanl you for all this work!
What can I make
Planks, sticks, glass, crafting table, some tools, a lamp, stone bricks. Wait for the update which should be there soon, it will add a lot more.
Looking good. I finally found some coal and made about 75 torches, so even with limited lighting, I’ve got enough to keep working through nights. Got a castle well under way and a long mine shaft cutting straight through a mountain. Making roofs can be tricky but it’s possible if your careful enough not to fall all the time.
The situation with health is annoying, but I’m getting used to the controls now so I’m dieing less than at first
Looking forward to the update, and it’s great to see your making such quick progress. Keep it up!
question about the upcoming torches. Will they be usable in your hand (i.e. when equipped in one of the slots and selected, will they give off light and show in your hand like a tool) and also, will the crude lamps remain? and just give off better light? I have built those lamps into my cave walls, not hard to fix should they go away, but if they stay and just give off light better, then that could be good as well.
Hi Omega Ra. Torches will not work when held in your hand. I know it would be cool, but without shaders on Windows Phone it would require rebuilding vertex data everytime you moved (sorry for getting into technical details). The phone CPU is too slow for that. The crude lamps will remain, but turn into non-crude lamps that look much better.
awesome about the lamps remaining, will they still be block-like? or a different shape? Too bad about the non-hand-held torches, but I hear ya about the difficulty, maybe eventually when the dual-core chips or something come out in the future.
Really, really dig this game. Currently I’m rocking a 2 story glass house with underwater entrances and indoor pool. The lamps can be put in the glass ceiling between the first and second story to give a huge amount of light at night. Any chance you can add the following?:
1) Choice of respawning next to place of death or home base?
2) Saving gameplay so when you upgrade your phone you can transfer?
3) Creatures/Foes? Although I believe I read these are coming. Of course weapons to go along with this. For hunting/defending.
4) Any chance for online play between friends? This may be a gigantic request, but that would be unbelievable.
5) Overhead map to get a better lay of the land.
Again, these aren’t complaints, just requests. Amazing game and I’ve logged in a huge number of hourse. Keep up the good work and I can’t wait to see the updates as they roll out.
I might get flamed for saying this, but seeing as how I want to see this game constantly improve (which means you actually make money for developing), you might want to consider a way to make some updates, DLC, or seperate releases an additional fee. If seperate releases is an option it would be nice to have the option of saving your game progress and transfering it over. Not sure if this is possible with WP7, but it’s a thought. Games like this need to keep getting add-ons to increase user experience.
Hi Robinsky. Thank you for your feedback. All of your requests are planned, although I haven’t given much thought to the map yet. But I think only the 1st one will make it with the first update, due shortly.
Can’t wait. Keep up the good work.
how do you make glass?
Just put sand in your inventory and it makes glass. 1 cube of sand=1 cube of glass. You need to get to the beach more often :). I think I’ve figured out all the available recipes so far. Lamp, sticks, shovel, pick axe/hammer, work table, planks, etc. Am I missing any big ones that people know of?
lol well I have the rest except glass lol. guess I haven’t harvested much sand
can you do anything with dirt? or leaves?
I haven’t found anything to make with those yet. Before I found out there were no torches I figured it might be stick+leaves or something. I imagine that may come in to play later. But for now I haven’t found any recipes requiring them.
thanks for the info man ;) time for some windows lol
here is one suggestion. Extend the amount of time your stuff stays where you died, I ran straight there and my base isn’t too far from the spawn point, and it was all gone already. let it stay there for like 1-2 minutes
forgot to mention, I just lost a bunch of coal from that death even though I was there fast.
Amazing game. Love it. It is very inspirational to see the work you put into this. I have always wanted to learn how to create apps. So far, i know two programming languages: C++ and Lua. I have always wanted to create a game and implement my own rules as you did but havr never really come around to learning how to do it. What program do you use to publish and program this game. Its very nice and i can understand the challenge with a 3D Engine. Hope you can answer my questions and keep up the hard work and it will pay off. :)