Etherjump 1.1.0: Robots, Replays, & Optimizations

NPC Robot, arrived. Replays, fixed. Data optimizations, made. Bugs, squashed.

Beep boop! The Robot NPC from this May’s builder item competition has finally arrived! The development team has been hard at work and we are proud to introduce the 1.1.0 update.

🎉 NPC Robot Release: Meet Dexter! 🤖

After you all voted for “Robot NPC” in our item idea vote, the team took on the challenge and turned it into pixel-perfect reality. Now, Dexter is all-systems-go and ready to join us on our Etherjump adventures!

Dexter is an NPC that will pop up with a dialogue box whenever a player gets near, allowing for builders to finally tell their own stories and have more control over the level experience. Being a robot, Dexter is mass-produced so feel free to add as many of him in the level as needed!

Thank you to all you Etherjumpers that submitted your ideas and voted. Your inventive ideas and energy are what make Etherjump a truly community-powered game.

💡 Robots 101: Your Crash Course to Building with Dexter 🛠️

So, you're ready to add Dexter to your levels and introduce players to our new robotic buddy.

1. Head over to the Level Builder at build.etherjump.game

2. Open one of your Plots, or hop into Freeplay.

3. Open the Item Catalog by clicking the + button in the left sidebar, or press E.

4. Navigate to the Miscellaneous tab, where you’ll find Dexter, the robot NPC.

5. Place Dexter anywhere you’d like in the canvas, and a text editor box should appear. Type in your desired message for Dexter to say. Click Confirm.

6. Press Play to preview your dialogue for Dexter in action! If you need to make any changes, click on the pencil icon above Dexter, and edit your message in the text editor.

We can't wait to see the new adventures you create with Dexter. Remember to share you levels in #share-your-plot!

Stuck? Need a bit of help? Shoot a message in #general. The Etherjump team and your fellow builders are always ready to lend a hand.

We have many plans for Dexter in the future, such as being able to respond to his dialogue and letting him set objectives throughout the level. For now, we hope that players and builders will enjoy this added layer of interactability!

Replays

We know that replays have been out of commission for a while, so we’re pleased to announce that they are finally back! The previous inaccuracies on replays have finally been fixed, so players can rest easy knowing that their best runs are preserved just as they were played.

No more running through walls, taking random damage, or inconsistent enemy behavior! The new replay format guarantees that runs will replay out just as they were originally.

Level Format Update

The way levels have been stored have been long overdue for an update. The original method of storing and loading levels caused the file sizes to be much larger than necessary, resulting in long loading times for both the builder and player.

With our new and improved format, large areas of scenes can be condensed in a fraction of the size. What this means essentially is that maps with large sections of repeated blocks such as grass tiles, spikes, and even air can be stored quickly and efficiently. 

In practice, large plots have seen the largest increase, with a completely empty large level being over 250,000 times smaller! On average, large levels can see up to an 80% reduction in size. In the case of medium and small plots, you can still expect to see a notable shrinkage of up to 50%. 

Overall, these changes create a noticeable improvement in real world loading and uploading times for both players and builders alike.

Bug Fixes

No update would be complete without squashing out those pesky bugs!

• Clouds no longer inconsistently disappear during lag

• Sand no longer shakes inconsistently during lag

• Removed a bug where wizards would sometimes get stuck in an animation loop without firing a projectile

• Removed a bug where players would sometimes randomly take suffocation damage while wall jumping

• Modified gameplay timer to more accurately reflect run time

What’s Next

We know many of you are eager to receive news on the future of the game, and rest assured we have many exciting updates coming soon!

Asset Refresh

As mentioned in our January 2022 update, we have been working hard with our artist to unify the Etherjump style and create a more cohesive artistic identity. Stay tuned for more previews as this overhaul project nears completion!

New Content

We have many plans in place to spice up the gameplay of Etherjump. The Unity engine update has allowed us to feasibly add more dynamic features to the game. Some features on our timeline are slopes, moving platforms, and advanced enemies with adaptive AI. 

Thank you everyone for your continued support. We have many things going on behind the scenes that we can’t wait to share with you!

The Etherjump Team