-Glue-

I feel like Tyron's response was well done. It gave all the required information and then some, plus they took full responsibility for how things went down, both before and after the events. They also gave plans for how they intend to improve. I think I am also happy with how Maltiez was handled. They are seemingly no longer associated with Anego, and are effectively banned from the mod DB and Discord, which a lot of people called for, but is still helping to further the game under more strict supervision. Some people may not like that Maltiez is still working with Anego, but one thing I kept asking myself during this mess was, "How is this going to affect the games development going forward?" Sure, Anego could easily continue development without Maltiez, but they obviously saw them as an asset, so I believe they can, and will help the team make VS even better, faster. What Maltiez did was really, really stupid and short sighted, but it was obviously not done out of malice, or to harm the game or community. If anything it was to protect it. So, yeah, I do feel a little bad that things went this way for them. We are all human, we all make mistakes, but mistakes often have consequences. The only thing I am not happy about is that Tyron seemingly made these responses everywhere EXCEPT the official forums... Which just feels really odd. Not everyone is in the Discord, and not everyone is on Reddit. I shouldn't have to be linked to an official response by a community member when I am already on the official forums... It often feels like this is the WORST place to have up to date info on the game. Also sorta makes me feel further detached from the community and team overall.

This is exactly why I think the first thing that should have been done was an official post about the issue. There is so much misinformation and bias being flung around, its hard to know exactly what is happening. All I do know, is hiding forum posts about the topic was the WORST thing that they could have done here. The intention of the action does not matter here. What matters is the communities perception of said action. In this case, it was perceived as hiding information and minimizing concern to save face. Because in most cases, thats how companies would handle something like this. I'm not saying that IS what's happening, but its how people will see it under those actions. They need to appeal to the emotions that people are feeling. Trying to simply put out the flame will only be seen as an attack.

I trust that you have our best interest at heart, but you really should make an official pinned post here about what is happening and what is being done about it. As someone who is not on the Discord, it looks really, really bad not getting any official information from you guys. Hiding and locking posts was probably the worst thing you guys could of done, and has really fanned the flames. I understand you are likely overwhelmed with a whole flood of community anger that most of us can't even see, but I think an official statement should be the priority. It will help quell some confusion, and give a more centralized location for discussion on the topic here. Transparency is the best rout for getting things back on track.

Thank you for the clear and concise rundown. Its hard to piece everything together through all the disjointed forums, as someone who is not on the Discord. I think while the actions Maltiez took were morally understandable, in that they were attacking cheaters, the way they went about it was absolutely reprehensible, and a major breach in trust. It would be one thing if they were just a modder. People could simply make the choice to stop using their mods or not. However, the fact they are now an official developer at Anego, and this information was kept hidden, does damage the trust in the studio as a whole. I know Tyron and the rest of the team would never do, or allow anything to negatively affect their game, or the user experience. However, the way this whole situation was handled was just awful, and does significantly damage trust. Instead of simply making an official announcement, laying out the facts, and informing us of what is happening/being done, they chose start hiding forums. Apparently even banning people from the Discord as well. Which only serves to further damage trust, and let the issue fester. This is where my issue lies. Moderators chose to try and cover up the issue, instead of simply clear the air with facts. The only post I have seen from a moderator, or dev themselves, was Tyron saying he wasn't going to allow inflammatory titles, before locking and hiding posts. Which simply does not look good under any circumstances. It comes across as sweeping the issue under the rug, denying the problem. If this was handled better by the mods and devs here, I don't think it would have been blown out of proportion quite as much. As for Maltiez. I'm not sure. I don't think they would be so bold as to do something like this in an official update, but I don't feel as comfortable having them on the team now... I really just want to hear from the team to know what is being done, what they are thinking.

Ahh, yeah. As soon as I made the post I managed to find what I needed to get started. I've been learning gamedev recently, so was really overthinking it. I'm so used to having to code the actual functions and when/where they happen lol. I forgot I only needed to add onto an existing system in this case. Thank you for the mod example! I was struggling to get my audio to play in game, but it was just because I misunderstood the file path. I thought I needed the assets folder to have a file named after my mod id, but since I was replacing vanilla assets, it just needed to be in a file called "game". I should hopefully be able to figure out how to get multiple sounds. I'll just need to figure out how to properly set up an array for it.

I see all the tutorials on making models, textures, entities, etc, but nothing on audio. I want to replace the thunder audio, and if possible, add a larger variety of sounds to it. I imagine I can just swap the audio files, but, I would prefer something a bit more refined than that. Plus, it would be nice to upload it for others to use as well. I've never made a mod, and am a novice with coding in C#, but figured an audio mod couldn't be that hard to start with, right? I just need to be pointed in the right direction, but any help on the topic would be greatly appreciated!

A shamble of shivers.

For whatever reason, I can't use brass nails and strips to craft the bellows. Looking in the handbook, it seems to be the only metal that isn't able to be used. EDIT: Apparently brass can't be used to craft chests either. Huh... I don't have a github account, so can't make an official bug report myself.

I agree, I would love more aquatic content. Its not something most people think about, but the more filled out areas like lakes and oceans are in a game, the deeper the world feels. Swimming, or sailing over an ocean, knowing that there is a whole other side of the game to explore underneath you, is such a great feeling. Its like you are actually in a large, living world that exists even without you. Not many games pull it off. I imagine VS will get another big ocean update eventually. It doesn't seem like them to leave such a large content deadzone. But there is definitely more pressing features to get in game first. Personally, I would love some 1900's style diving gear that we can find/craft to explore the oceans. With lots of flora and fauna to find throughout. Unique aquatic ruins, shipwrecks, large coral structures, water themed rust creatures, unique crafting ingredients. Maybe even a story dungeon that takes place in an ocean. Lots of potential!

It would be a great way to naturally implement the knapster mod. Using the pottery wheel could make it auto complete valid recipes. Things like shingles or molds could be handled by making stamps or wood molds of some sort. I love the knapping and clayforming system, but it does get tedious pretty fast. Especially with shingles...

Honestly, being able to sort different entries into custom tabs, as if they were physical markers in the book, would be really neat.

Honestly, an interesting idea that fits the game pretty well. Though, I could see it being easily abuseable, so it would have to cost something. Perhaps a temporal gear gives 1-3 uses of it? It likely would only work on food that is about to rot, since I don't think there is currently any way to distinguish different rot from each other, or tell what it used to be. I'd love to see more mechanical and temporal features such as this added to the game though!

Honestly, I love that its not a horse. It makes VS feels more distinct and whimsical. I think it would be neat if they added more non-traditional mounts. Imagine being able to find, or breed a dire wolf that you could use as a mount. Or tame a dolphin to hold onto while swimming. Maybe even some tameable rust corrupted creatures in the future? Or a mechanical creature for completing the story, or a late game dungeon? Lots of interesting ways they could go with it! Heck, I've been wanting to learn to make mods for VS lately, so maybe I can look into custom mounts once I learn the basics. That being said, I wouldn't be opposed to normal horses being added either. I just personally would chose the more interesting options every time lol. At the very least, horses would make getting a mount easier, and add variety.

It is pretty odd that the official forums don't get these small updates and teasers. I only ever see them on the official YouTube, or Twitter accounts. Like, they have shown off water wheels, fishing, new mechanical parts and features, tests for procedural dungeons, new decor system updates, the new shelf/storage system, huge updates to smithing, including quenching, tempering, and grinding, etc. So much crazy cool content that has yet to be shown off here on the forums. Its pretty wild. I imagine they only want to post stuff on the forums that are confirmed to be coming next, or have proper details, but its still odd to post everywhere but here. I don't like using Twitter, but I peak my head in every now and again to see if VS has made any posts lol

If you really do want to give VS a chance, and weren't just shitposting, then lemme try to help you get started. The bears are a real pain point for everyone. They are unnecessarily aggressive, suspiciously stealthy, and very persistent. (The devs are looking into fixing this). For now, its just something you need to be vigilant of. Wandering dense woods is dangerous, as you can't see what dangers are lurking just around the brush. IIRC, animals only spawn under certain environmental conditions, so you wont see bears and wolves everywhere. My tip for being chased by animals is to try and get them caught up on stuff. Jump over water and pits to slow them down, or get them stuck. Weave between trees, etc. If worse comes to worse, try to fight them in the water, as you can typically push them back more than they gain on you. (Reducing creature swim speed in the world options can help a lot) For getting better worlds, if you don't want to mod, I suggest changing these world gen options: Landcover (Not landcover scale!): 70% Landform Scale: 120-130% That should make the landscape feel a bit larger, and reduce areas that feel aggressively bumpy and impossible to traverse, along with making water more common. Some people also like upping the upheaval rate, which makes hills/mountains less sheer, but I personally never messed with it. (Note. World gen changed recently, and probably will again, so preferred settings may change with time. I suggest looking into the settings so you can adjust to your own tastes in the future.) For soil fertility, I believe its tied to the local rainfall. More rain = more fertile. More heat = less fertile, etc. As for the map. There is a setting when creating your world called "Color-accurate World Map" which makes it easier to see what you are looking at. Though, VS doesn't have traditional biomes. Flora, fauna, and I think even geologic landform are tied to the local weather and temperature. The only significant different is that you get more snow to the north, and there is an equator to the south that has warmer areas, both of which have different flora and fauna that can spawn. I believe mountains and stuff spawn relative to the local geology? As VS simulates different things like Sedimentary, Metamorphic, and Igneous rocks, all of which affect what sorts of materials you can find in the area. I think it even simulates tectonic shifts/overlap? Its pretty crazy. I imagine if you know a lot about geology, you would know where to look for specific materials. The learning curve is definitely harsh when going in blind. Just make sure to use the handbook. It has all the information you should need, and what it doesn't, you should be able to figure out through context. My last tip, is that if you hit H (The handbook button) when mousing over something in your inventory, or when crouching and looking at a block, it opens that items specific handbook entry, so you can instantly see what its used for and stuff. The handbook also has entries for most major gameplay elements. How to prospect, how to smelt ore, how to smith tools, etc. I went into the game mostly blind, and I was able to get most of it figured out, though that first winter was brutal lol. Hope it clicks with you soon. Once you get set up somewhere and start looking to progress your gear, that's when the game really opens up and hits you with those cozy vibes.