We’re excited to share some significant updates from our development team this week. Our focus has been on performance optimization, new creative tools, and expanding our platform capabilities.
Performance & Optimization
This week brought major performance improvements across the board. We’ve implemented an optimized allocation pool that dramatically reduces server-side stutters – games like Frontiers are seeing substantial improvements in smooth gameplay.
We’ve also upgraded our chunk system with several key enhancements:
- Faster collision detection – Chunks now use optimized voxel-specific colliders
- Improved rendering – Opaque chunks are now processed more efficiently, reducing transparency issues
- Physics optimization – Chunk collision meshes are now attached to fixed rigid bodies, significantly reducing physics processing time
New Creative Tools
Particle System Enhancements
Our particle emitters just got much more powerful with new .pause(), .restart(), and .burst() methods. The burst feature will be perfect for effects like grenade explosions and hit indicators. We’ve also added sizeStart and sizeEnd options for more dynamic particle animations.
Enhanced Block Rendering
We’re introducing support for opaque blocks with alpha testing – perfect for creating realistic transparent materials like glass blocks.
Game Improvements
Frontiers Updates
- Optimized environmental entity collisions for smoother gameplay
- Fixed flower collision issues in Chitter Forest
- Temporarily adjusted enemy behavior to prevent performance issues from excessive item drops
Platform Infrastructure
Migration
We’ve successfully migrated our entire item system (marketplace, locker, lootboxes, and promotional items) from HYCHAIN to Base’s Sepolia testnet. This transition improves reliability and performance across all item-related features.
Quality Assurance Process
To ensure the best user experience, we’re implementing a new QA workflow for frontend updates. This means features will be thoroughly tested by both developers and designers before going live.
Developer Experience
- Game hosting improvements with better asset replication and ARM64 server support
- Marketplace performance boost with ~30% faster query times
- Create tool fixes to ensure Featured game tags are properly maintained
- Locker enhancements with centered player models and improved rotation controls
New Assets
Our art team has been busy creating new content:
- Chicken eating animation
- Farming tools (iron watering can and hoe)
- Bee models (baby and adult versions)
- 12 new crop types including blueberry, corn, cotton, pumpkin, sunflower, and wheat – each with 5 growth stages
- Improved wind animations (now called ‘idle’ animations for SDK compatibility)
What’s Next?
We’re continuing to work on transparency rendering improvements and exploring new ways to enhance the development experience. Thank you for your continued support and feedback – it helps us prioritize the features that matter most to our community.
Stay tuned for more updates next week!
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