It’s been some time since we’ve published an update, and we wanted to check in to let everyone know about some of the exciting features coming next for Patterns. The game has come a long way over the past year, and as we near the end of 2013, we’ve been thinking critically about the future of Patterns to help focus our development efforts. You’ll be hearing more from us as we make progress on specific projects and features, but first, we wanted to share our vision for Patterns’ future with you.
Imagine Patterns as a platform not just for building worlds with shapes, but also for creating interactive experiences you can share with others. We’re going to put more creative power into your hands by allowing you to change the very things that make up Patterns itself! Lua scripting, substance editing tools, and direct access to tuning game systems are just some of the options that will be available. We’ll begin to roll out these new features over the next few weeks, and will keep you posted with our progress.
The first release will be a powerful tool that will allow everyone to create substance packs and custom tune substances’ properties. If you want to make all the substances hurt the player or change the actual look of the substances themselves, you can! Getting tired of the current set of colors within our world? No problem - you’ll be able to change how every single substance looks, acts, and reacts.
Another big feature we’re planning to roll out is a character creator. We appreciate the fondness that has grown around the current character, but a personal touch that only you can deliver is needed. Patterns is your universe to shape, and you should be able to create your very own personalized character to inhabit it!
We also plan to provide a robust Lua scripting system for Patterns. You’ll get access to script APIs that control game variables such as lighting values and the pull of gravity. Even more functionality will come from the ability to author moving platforms and control behavior in support of a variety of gameplay types.
We're eager to get these new tools into your hands and can't wait to see the things you'll create with them! These new features will give you even more creative power in Patterns. It's important for us to get these powerful new features right, and we appreciate your patience as we develop and roll them out. We'll keep you all posted as we make progress on these and other initiatives, so you can look forward to hearing from us more.
Thank you for supporting Patterns. We're really excited about the future of the game, and we hope that you all are too!
what about the return of flat worlds, the possibility of infinite worlds, and the idea of mega patterns or blocks that have their own gravity?
MEGA PATTERNS! Almost all of the shared worlds in the cosmos are just one big object that could be saved as a mega pattern that is agnostic of any planet. Patterns that aren't tied to any substance would also be nice for faster building of big things. There's enough stuff that's related to existing things in the game that I feel would drastically change the experience with a few specific changes. :D
LUA scripting sounds INSANE! Super awesome! :D