What’s New This Week at HYTOPIA: Performance Optimizations

What's New This Week at HYTOPIA: Performance Optimizations

Written by

Tweakhash

in

We’ve been incredibly busy this week shipping improvements across our entire platform. From major SDK performance optimizations to exciting new features like simplified save states and global leaderboards, here’s everything that’s new.

SDK Performance & Features

Our development team has been laser-focused on performance this week. We’ve added new helper functions that make it easier to work with entity dimensions, introduced environmental entity marking for better performance (these entities skip unnecessary processing), and completely revamped our network synchronization to use memory more efficiently.

One highlight: particles now stick to their movement paths. This means when you attach a smoke emitter to a vehicle’s exhaust, you’ll get that realistic trailing effect you’d expect. The particle system is currently under review and should be live soon!

We’ve also fixed a critical issue with world switching for managed hosts and optimized event routing throughout the platform.

Frontiers Game Updates

Frontiers continues to evolve with substantial new content and systems:

New Content & Regions:

  • Weavers Hollow – An entirely new region to explore
  • Environmental variety with new models (including some cheeky additions to the Ratkin Nest)
  • Wearable equipment: hoods, leggings, gloves, and boots
  • Interactive cobwebs that slow player movement

Core Systems:

  • Crafting system now live at the Stalkhaven blacksmith
  • Item damage modifiers for weapons (better gear = more damage)
  • Leveling system improvements with health increases per level
  • Enhanced tooltips across the UI for better user experience
Frontier’s Tool Tips
Frontier’s crafting

We’ve also launched a dedicated Discord server and X Page for Frontiers players to stay connected and get real-time updates.

World Editor Enhancements

Content creators get powerful new tools this week:

  • ZIP file import support for easier asset management
  • AI schematic builder now includes environment models in builds
  • Improved stability across all AI-powered features
  • New terrain building tools currently in research

Infrastructure & Hosting

Behind the scenes, we’ve significantly upgraded our hosting infrastructure:

  • Larger instance sizes providing more resources for every game
  • Research into zero-downtime upgrades for scaling instances and updating systems
  • More robust game hosting capabilities overall

Revolutionary New Features

Save States – Simplified

Based on community feedback, we’re completely reimagining how player data persistence works. Our new system will be as simple as working with regular JavaScript objects:

js// Add or update player data
player.persistedData.health = 20;
player.persistedData.inventory = [{id: "wooden-sword", amount: 1}];

// To delete fields
player.persistedData.inventory = undefined;
OR
delete player.persistedData.inventory;

We handle all the complex loading, saving, and race condition management behind the scenes.

Global Leaderboards

We’re solving one of game development’s trickiest problems: global leaderboards that actually scale. Our new system addresses the challenges of:

  • Multiple servers updating simultaneously
  • Expensive real-time calculations
  • Unnecessary data transfer
  • Implementation complexity

Soon you’ll be able to create leaderboards through our dashboard, submit scores via the SDK, and we’ll handle all the technical complexity.

Items & Economy

Our items system received major upgrades:

  • Gasless item burning – burn lootboxes to get loot, burn bundles to get items
  • New endpoints for tracking item relationships and collections
  • Promotional item dispensers for platform-specific rewards (Android & iOS hats)
  • Improved caching and performance monitoring

Character Customization

The Locker system now supports:

  • Hair hiding flags for items that conflict with hairstyles
  • Rebuilt inventory tab using our latest APIs
  • Fully functional character settings
  • Smoother player preview without flickering or cutoff issues

Assets & Animation

Our art team delivered:

  • New shield blocking animations
  • Dancing animation for pig models
  • Interactive chest models with opening animations
  • Fixed positioning for platform-specific cosmetics

What’s Next?

We’re continuing research on dungeon doors, candle models, and advanced terrain tools. Keep an eye out for more save states and leaderboards documentation coming soon.

As always, we’re grateful for the community feedback that drives these improvements. Keep the suggestions coming!

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