Happy New Year! 2025 is finally over. It was a big one for me — I went to my first actual concert, hung out with friends, and did the usual human stuff. But more importantly, I spent a massive amount of time staring at code for Reverie Online. I hope your 2025 didn't suck.
Let's be real: the last few months were a rollercoaster. I got sick for a few weeks, and as a solo developer, that basically means development dies until I stop having crazy headaches. I fell into a "creativity black hole" where I just stared at the screen and wondered why I was doing this. I took a week off just to think, and honestly, it worked. I’m back, I’m productive, and I’ve fixed a ton of stuff.
[FILE: CURRENT_WORLD_STATE.PNG] 01. Infrastructure
You can't have a game without a foundation that doesn't explode. I spent a lot of time on the backend systems you don't "see," but you'll definitely "feel."
- The New Debugger: Built from scratch. Now I can see exactly what’s breaking in real-time.
- Nakama Migration: Moved to native Storage Objects. It holds items and player stats much more reliably.
- Inventory Rework: New slots for armor and a better movement system. It talks to the server instantly.
- Autosave: Saves coordinates every few minutes and upon teleporting. No more logout bugs.
02. Character & Social
- Character Codes: Share your look with a simple code string. 100% cosmetic.
- Discord Integration: Account linking and "provisional" accounts for new players are now live.
- Unified Friends: Syncs in-game and Discord friends into one list.
[DATA: CHAR_EDITOR_V1.PNG] 03. Gameplay & Physics
- The Farm: Wheat, Potatoes, and Carrots are growing nicely.
- Breaking Stuff: Stones, trees, and grass are now destructible.
- Screenshot Maker: Added a Polaroid tool with a full "slide-out" animation for the vibes.
- Stair Physics: Fixed diagonal movement so stairs actually feel like stairs.
- Combat: Added a test dummy and Bow damaging logic (needs PvP testing).
[LOG: TAKING_SCREENSHOT.GIF] 04. The Scene System
Everything is now separated into custom scenes. This massively improves performance. I’m also beginning the Procedural Generation work to blend handmade villages with infinite wilderness.
05. Working On
- Economy: Shop menus and level managers.
- Guilds: 4-player party systems and synced teleports.
- Environment: Minecraft-style cloud shadows and full weather systems.
[LOG: HOUSING_ISLAND.PNG] 06. The Road to Steam
I’m pushing for the Steam store page soon! Also looking into Switch 2 devkits. In legal news, I’m registering Reverie Online as a Kleingewerbe here in Germany. It's official.
Thanks for reading. To the Discord members, Friends, and Family — you keep me going. See you in the next one!