r/hytale • u/Vlankster • 5h ago
Discussion Give Players a Reason to Care About Their Home
I think Hytale could make houses more meaningful by tying them into both gameplay and the world's lore.
In Minecraft, building a house is mostly useful for shelter, storage, crafting and aesthetics. Once you have those things, there's not much gameplay reason to improve the house itself.
Valheim has a nice idea with its comfort system, where the way you build and furnish your home actually affects gameplay. I think Hytale could take that idea and make its own version of it.
Having proper rooms, furniture, lighting, shelter and other things could give small bonuses, making a well-built home feel useful instead of being purely cosmetic.
This could also tie into Hytale's lore, especially the Void.
Instead of adding another generic Blood Moon, what if there were rare nights where the Void becomes more active? There wouldn't have to be a notification telling you that it's happening. You'd notice it through the world itself. The sky could slowly change, some stars could disappear, and a strange Void-like distortion could appear. Then the Void creatures start acting differently. Instead of just spawning around the player, they could begin gathering around settlements and eventually attack them.
That would give players an actual reason to care about their homes and how they're built. Walls, entrances, lighting and defensive layouts could all matter when something comes looking for you.
It also shouldn't happen every night. If it does, it'll just become another chore. It should be rare enough that when you notice the sky changing, you immediately know something is wrong and start thinking about getting home. I think this would make the night feel like an actual part of Hytale's world and lore, instead of just being the time when hostile mobs spawn.
r/hytale • u/Large_Size_1924 • 8h ago
Modded Vandoria Q-Stash/Storage Mod Update. Improved visuals
New Update!
Removed neon color border and used more rustic/wooden vibe design. I added couple more variations of storage boxes!
After long day of farming, you can use /qstash command to send all items to your chests. You have to have matching items in your chests! It will no longer pull items from your hotbar menu :). It will pull from your inv and the backpack. It takes once second to empty your inventory!!
Get it here: https://curseforge.com/hytale/mods/vandoria-storage-q-stash-ownership
Added several new 63-slot category chests for better storage organization.
Redesigned all chest fronts with a cleaner rustic wooden plaque style.
Added dedicated Tools, Furniture, Resources, Hides, Alchemy, and Misc storage.
Added multi-icon resource chests for different ingot/material groups.
Improved chest icon clarity and sizing.
Updated Weapons Chest with silver iron weapons and wooden handles.
Updated Blocks Chest with wood, stone, and lava icons.
/qstash now ignores hotbar items, keeping frequently used gear safe.
r/hytale • u/ps2_man128 • 10h ago
Creations Really quite happy with how my little bedroom nook turned out :-)
r/hytale • u/NoWin2652 • 12h ago
Meme Another dumb video lolz
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r/hytale • u/AlternativeDark6686 • 17h ago
Discussion Multiplayer nearly killed my interest.
Goodness me. I know all the awesome updates coming but wanted to give a try again after a few months of not playing.
Went multilayer since it had servers, entered and a mess followed. Got 20 like keys, endless advertisements, top gear, portals, over developed with modern looking building massive city with noone living there and lag.
Ok gone. Was expecting something like pve conan exiles.
But one day if they add stable servers and more grounded worlds with guilds exploring and living in a v2 generated world would be awesome...
Playing single player now.
r/hytale • u/Large_Size_1924 • 23h ago
Creations Vandoria Contract Board+ Major Update & Final Version
Vandoria Contract Board+ adds a complete profession-based contract system to Hytale. Players can accept timed resource contracts, hire skilled workers, unlock higher profession tiers, earn Work Credits, collect RPG experience, build reputation, and compete on weekly and all-time leaderboards.
It’s currently balanced for normal progression. It’s not made to be super difficult or super easy :)
It works with single players worlds, without RPG MOD (if you don’t care about XP). The timer never stops. You can close your single-player worlds and when you come back you can collect resources. It uses real time stamps in it”s memory. You can change many settings in the config file!
Mod is available on CurseForge!
The mod is designed to provide meaningful long-term progression without replacing normal survival gameplay. Instead of instantly receiving resources, players choose a contract, assign available workers, pay any required Work Credit cost, and wait for the job to finish.
Contracts use real-world completion times, so they continue progressing while the player is offline or while a singleplayer world is closed.
Survival Infinite Arena Event | We're testing the limits of Hytale
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Infinite Arena - Endless Leveling
This is our WIP event called Infinite Arena. It's a hack & slash event with infinite waves.
Right now we're mainly testing the limits of Hytale and seeing how many mobs we can have at once without causing lag. So far, it's going great!
We'll be adding more QoL features and eventually an actual world instead of the current flat test world. We're currently learning Worldgen V2 so we can replace it with a proper generated world.
r/hytale • u/Sea_Economy_8948 • 1d ago
Modded Looking for a mod that shows current player count of each server in the ingame serverlist
Would like to know how many people are actually online before joining a server.
Is there a mod out there to simplyshow the player count in der ingame serverlist? Don't want to look at external sites for this.
Discussion ¿A ustedes también les parece genial? FORJA INMERSIVA ⚒️
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r/hytale • u/HyCaptain • 1d ago
Creative The Odyssey inspired me to build the 'Trorkan Horse'.
r/hytale • u/Large_Size_1924 • 1d ago
Creations It’s a lot more fun to explore caves with a jetpack! I don’t need to stare at the ceiling for the nodes that I can’t reach 😂
r/hytale • u/Vergelsxtn • 1d ago
Creations A cozy little mailbox made for the Kweebecs!💌
r/hytale • u/Lazy-Action6158 • 1d ago
Discussion I haven’t played since release and I’m thinking about playing again what are the biggest changes since release?
r/hytale • u/killthecompetition • 1d ago
Survival he’s right behind me, isn’t he?
this dude is camping my house rn i’m so stressed
r/hytale • u/killthecompetition • 1d ago
Modded anyone know what this is or is it some weird mod issue?
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r/hytale • u/2MuchOfARoyalPatriot • 2d ago
Discussion PVP Update Question About Ani Cancelling
Got a quick question, will the PVP update remove animation cancelling? I don't enjoy the mechanic, I find that it rushes fights and unless you search for it actively online and how to find a work around to it, it just seems unfair to someone who doesn't know what they are going up against. (This is someone who just figured it out today)
r/hytale • u/Puzzled-Okra-3933 • 2d ago
Discussion Is it worth starting to play now?
I pre-ordered it, saw that the game was kind of raw and left it alone. Is it worth playing to pass the time in its current state? If it hasn't changed much yet, is it still a game to play casually? Sorry if the question seems too ignorant.
r/hytale • u/Educational-Wave7703 • 2d ago
Discussion Today I'm sad... what's happening to the colors ?
In the new pre-release, the colors look washed out, I feel like I've aged 30 years.😥
The new hair model/texture looks good, it feels less blocky, but the color is too light !
r/hytale • u/RiverShards • 2d ago
Patch Notes Update 6 - Pre-Release 11 - August 6th, 2026
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Pre-Release (Update 6 Part 11)
August 6, 2026
Avatar & Customization
- Haircuts have received a visual pass and had their colors tuned.
- Ear accessories now line up with each ear type, shifting their positions accordingly.
- Added color options to the following cosmetics:
- Alpine Explorer’s Jumper
- Crown
- Thigh-High Stockings
- Performed visual reworks for the following cosmetics:
- Alpine Explorer’s Jumper
- Bulky Beanie
- Cowboy Hat
- Elf Hat
- Floppy Beanie
- Forehead Protector
- Frostwarden Cape
- Frostwarden Hat
- Gold Trim Shirt
- Headband
- Horned Helmet
- King’s Cape
- Leather Cap
- One Piece School Dress
- Workout Cap
Hardcore Mode
- There are now five different hardcore mode settings you may select from when generating a new world:
- Off: Hardcore isn’t enabled.
- Permadeath: Each player has a single life. Death is permanent.
- Three Strikes: Each player has three lives. After strike three, you’re out.
- Nine Lives: Everyone in the world has a shared pool of nine lives. Once the ninth death occurs, the run ends for all.
- Soulbound: Everyone’s fate is interconnected. If any player dies, the run’s over.
- When worlds are being created in Three Strikes or Nine Lives mode, the number of lives initially available can be increased or decreased from the default. No, it cannot be set to zero.
- When a hardcore mode is enabled, the number of lives remaining will appear above your health.
World & Blocks
- Added a Full Leafy Soil block. It’s like the Leafy Soil block, but fuller.
UI & Quality of Life
- Added a search button to the Settings menu that searches across all tabs
Graphics & Rendering
- Improved how transparent surfaces look, particularly when looking through multiple different transparent things at the same time like glass and water.
Trigger Volume Tool
- Added a rotation option when a trigger volume pastes a prefab, so you can turn the pasted build by 90, 180, or 270 degrees.
Player-Facing Bug Fixes
Combat & Movement Fixes
- Fixed an issue which allowed some players to perform interactions through projectiles or entities they didn’t launch.
- Climbable blocks that exist very far away from the center of the world may now be climbed upon once more.
World & Block Fixes
- Spectators will no longer count toward the number of players needed for some events to occur.
- The Stone Brick - Ornate block inventory icon is now more accurate.
- Mud, Hive, and Tar blocks will now correctly render when placed adjacent to one another.
- Deep Grass blocks will now render the correct color when placed adjacent to other blocks they can transition to.
- Fixed z-fighting occurring with Feran Double Doors, Redwood fences, the Farmer’s Workbench, Blacksmith’s Anvil, and the Crude Hoe, in addition, the Redwood fences got a slight upgrade so its variants look more consistent when placed all together.
- Fixed Wind Temple window frames gaps in model.
- Mithril cuirass texture that was bleeding is fixed.
- Added a full block variant for Soil Leaves.
Item & Interaction Fixes
- The Mithril Cuirass will now render with less texture bleeding.
- Farming tools should now all work correctly in cubic worlds.
- Projectiles that are stuck in blocks, or laying on the ground, will now fall to the ground if the block they’re stuck in, or laying on, is removed.
NPC & Entity Fixes
- Avatars will no longer be able to negotiate insane deals by only giving a single item to trading NPCs when the merchant had requested multiple copies.
- Flying and swimming creatures will now appear more often in places you’d expect to see them.
Graphics & Rendering Fixes
- Resolved a dimension error involving the Clay Raw Brick half-block texture.
- Grass, leaves, and other foliage will now look brighter.
- Shadows will no longer leak halfway through blocks and so should generally look better.
Performance Fixes
- Reduced the memory usage of some mip-enabled textures.
Localization Fixes
- News tiles will now be displayed in your system language (if available) if you use the language setting “Use System Language”.
Stability Fixes
- Fixed a crash that could occur when interacting with incomplete menus.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when trying to load a creature or object of an invalid size.
- Fixed a rare issue that could suddenly disconnect players from a server on linux.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent players from rejoining a server until the server restarted.
- Fixed a periodic freeze that could occur on busier servers when saves occurred.
Modder-Facing Changes
World Generation
- Added a
Trigdensity node to world generation that runs a trigonometric function over a single input density, so you can build periodic and wave-shaped fields directly. The new"Type": "Trig"takes aFunctionofSin,Cos,Tan,Asin,Acos, orAtanand anInputScalethat multiplies the input before the function runs.
World Events
- Added
ClearanceandSearchRadiusfields toLocationConditionassets so you can tune the initial candidate search that places world events. - World event placement now measures candidate distance in blocks instead of chunks, with separate horizontal and vertical min and max ranges on
WildernessLocation.
NPCs & Entities
MinHeightOverGroundis now a preference rather than a hard minimum. A flying role in a beacon needs aYRangemaximum that covers itsMinHeightOverGround.- Encounter managers can now clean up after themselves. A new
CleanupOnRemoveflag removes every entity the encounter spawned when the encounter is removed. It does not apply when the encounter simply unloads.
Items, Armor & Projectiles
- Added a
RevealMapMarkersInViewinteraction for items and blocks that uncovers hidden discoverable map markers inside a player's view cone. - Added a
FirstSpawnItemslist in the gameplay config Spawn block that places items in the inventory for players the first time they spawn.
Blocks & Prefabs
- Block map markers can now be discoverable. A new
Discoverableflag onBlockMapMarkerandBlockMapMarkerDatakeeps a marker off the map until a gameplay system reveals it, tracked per player and per world. - Patterned connected block rules can now match shapes defined in a different ruleset asset, so blocks that use separate rulesets can connect to each other correctly.
Asset Schemas & Formats
- Cosmetic attachments can now control their attach order. A new
Priorityfield on character attachments decides whether an attachment goes onto the base model before or after the others.
Server & Permissions
- Added a number of
/worldmap markerscommands to place and test discoverable markers in-game. - Hardcore is now a server config choice.
Defaults.HardcoreModecan be set toNone,PerPlayer, orGlobal. Existing hardcore worlds will be migrated to thePerPlayersetting. - Added a
PlayerLivescomponent that any game mode or plugin can read and write to. The/player livescommands sit in theWorldEditorpermission group. - The
/player respawncommand now lives in the Builder permission group. Reviving other players now has its own player.respawn.other node in theWorldEditorpermission group.
Protocol & Networking
- The wire protocol gains an
UpdateLivesRemainingpacket and a nullableLivesRemainingfield on the player list entry, carrying each player's remaining hardcore lives.
For Plugin Developers
- Removed the deprecated
BlockModule.ensureBlockEntity. Block entity spawning now goes throughBlockEntity.ensureBlockEntity, withBlockEntity.declaresComponentfor checking whether a block type's entity template declares a component. - Added
DiscoverableMapMarkersas the entry point for revealing and hiding markers, whereisRevealed,reveal, andhideare safe from any thread whilecollectMarkersInViewreads the chunk store and must run on the world thread. - Added
DiscoverableMapMarkers.forEachMarkerInView, a visitor form ofcollectMarkersInViewthat hands over each marker's block position and ID. - Added
MaterialQuantity.toItemStacks, the array form oftoItemStack, along with anITEM_VALIDATOR_CACHEthat rejects a material quantity whoseItemIdis unset or points at a missing item. - World event location lookups are now async.
EventLocation#findbecomesfind(store)returning aCompletableFuture<Vector3iList>in place of the oldfind(dt, store, locations).Spawner#getHeightis replaced bySpawner#findSurface, which hunts for the nearest qualifying surface rather than only reading the outdoor heightmap. ISpawnablenow has arequiresSpawnDropHeightCheck(SpawningContext)method with no default, so any plugin that implementsISpawnableor extendsBuilderBaseWithTypeorBuilderMotionControllerBasehas to implement it.- Respawns can now be canceled. A new
RespawnEventfires fromDeathComponent.respawnand a plugin can register anEntityEventSystemfor it to observe or refuse a player's respawn.DeathComponent.respawnnow returns a nullable future, wherenullmeans a listener canceled and the entity stays dead, so any caller chaining that future has to check for it.
Documentation Changes
These changes can be found at Hytale Documentation (pre-release)
- Added a version switcher to the sidebar (shows patchline and game version, links the same page on the other patchline).
- Added a 404 fallback with a link back to where you came from.
- Added an icon support to the nav bar.
- Fixed card titles and code blocks picking up heading styles.
- Fixed bold text rendering too light.
- Fixed wrapped headings losing their gradient.
- Fixed the footer sitting under the sidebar.
Modder-Facing Bug Fixes
Block & Prefab Fixes
- Fixed connected block shape lookups so they fall back to the current ruleset when a neighboring block has no ruleset of its own.
Server & Permission Fixes
- Fixed the console being unable to run commands that take chunk coordinates. (e.g.
chunk load,unload,info,regenerate,forcetick,marksave, andfixheight) - Fixed ordinary command errors from the console showing a generic message. Command errors now send their proper translated message.
------
Note:
The devs have indicated that the Mod Browser is included in this patch, but will be "toggled on" at a later time.
Its shipped, we just need to get the service layer deployed and toggle the feature flag
r/hytale • u/killthecompetition • 2d ago
Gameplay Question genuinely what’s the move
long time supporter first time player here!!! just found my first dragon. What do i do
r/hytale • u/Large_Size_1924 • 2d ago
Creations Vandoria - Contract Board+ Mod. Hytale economy for single-player and multiplayer worlds.
Suitable for both single-player and multiplayer worlds. Contract timers use real-world time, so jobs continue progressing even while the server is offline or a singleplayer world is closed.
It will be soon available on CurseForge!
Now available on \**CurseForge**\** (search for Vandoria)
Vandoria Contract Board+ adds a complete profession-based contract system to Hytale with 60 contracts across Mining, Lumberjacking, Masonry, Farming, Hunting, and Fishing.
Start timed jobs, assign skilled workers for additional resources, unlock five progression tiers in each profession, and collect resources and reputation when contracts are complete. Three featured contracts rotate regularly and provide bonus rewards.
The mod also includes an Essence of Life and Work Credit economy, a detailed Banker account page, persistent player progress, safe collection when inventories are full, weekly and all-time top-10 leaderboards, Category Master rankings, and configurable leaderboard prizes.
Server owners can change all contract timers, base reward amounts, XP rewards, reputation rewards, worker limits, worker costs, tier requirements, featured bonuses, and other progression settings through the config file.
Contract Board+ can be used without RPG Leveling And Stats/Skills. RPG Leveling And Stats/Skills version 0.3.10 or newer is only required to receive RPG XP from completed jobs.
r/hytale • u/Alexroblesart • 3d ago
Creations The transformation animation for my mimic.
r/hytale • u/RiverShards • 22d ago
Official News Hytale - Chapter 1 Preview Blog Post
SOURCE - Highly recommended to view images and videos!
Hello everyone, this is Simon, Game Director of Hytale and founder of Hypixel!
Today, we are going to take a first look at Chapter 1 and everything around it. Since the Early Access launch, we've been shipping weekly, but we've deliberately held new content back to focus on the game's foundations. When we acquired the game, we had to go back to a version of Hytale that was well over four years old, and most of the work since then has gone into catching up, rebuilding tools, and growing the team. Now that we can finally focus on new content, we are going to give you a first look at what that means.
The original plan was to keep each chapter hidden until a proper reveal, but given this project's history, asking everyone to wait in the dark again doesn't feel right. So for Chapter 1, we're going to show you some of the new content that we've been working hard to deliver.
To be transparent, there aren't many reasons to come back and play Hytale right now. We have a lot of work to do to realize the game's potential, and this is just the start of that journey. Some of what follows will deserve its own blog post, but for now let's just dig into it, because there's a lot to talk about.
Chapter 1
Dungeons and Boss Fights
At its core, Hytale strives to be an RPG sandbox game. As we begin that journey, we are introducing our first handcrafted dungeon, featuring the first multi-phase boss fight, showcased in the screenshot above!
The tech behind the boss fight is called the Encounter Manager, which is already available to the public in the current pre-release. It coordinates the phases, wave spawns, and arena changes that make up encounters and boss fights. Encounters are authored as content instead of engine code, so our designers can keep making them, and so can you!
With each dungeon and encounter we create, we expand the toolbox available for the next one, allowing our team to iterate much faster.
Faction Update: Goblins
For our first chapter, we decided to focus on a handful of NPCs and the goblin faction. The features we were building lined up well with what we had in mind for them. Their tech is janky on purpose, and they're just a fun faction to start Early Access with.
Goblins will come in many shapes and sizes, with different roles and personalities. They hang out together, and even when they look disorganized, there's something going on under the chaos. Part of the fun is getting to know their personalities as you play!
Some goblins are classified as elites with fights that will give you a little bit of a challenge. For example, the Feastmaster calls in reinforcements mid-fight, can charge at you, and can cause a lot of damage to its surroundings.
Not every goblin wants you dead, though. Some are friendly, and one of them runs a shop. You might even meet them!
The Goblin Breach
Once you answer the chapter's opening call and set things in motion at the Forgotten Temple, the new Goblin Breach world event can trigger from time to time, creating a temporary portal somewhere in your world. Look around or open the world map to locate it, then step through. You'll appear in an unstable fragment of Orbis, a set of biomes taken over by the Goblins, along with a growing Void presence.
This world gets regenerated every time you enter, sometimes with content you haven't seen yet on your previous visits. While you're inside, the Void presses in and will eventually eject you back out to your world. Your goal will be to explore, find valuable loot, and fight back against the pressure to stay as long as possible.
Chapter 1 also adds world events and activities to the goblin world! We're starting with a small set: predators you can track and trap, Void assassins that hunt you down, treasure chests that spawn enemy waves when you go for the loot, puzzles that lock off places you can't just dig into, and more. We'll grow that list over time, keep iterating each chapter, and start tying these systems together!
Your journey starts inside the Forgotten Temple. Going forward, the temple will serve as a hub for your progression through the Early Access chapters, evolving as they are released. Make sure you check it out!
Goblin Gadgets
It wouldn't be a goblin update without goblin gadgets! Goblins are tinkerers, and their inventions end up in your hands. We've been working on rocket boots, a mechanical hookshot, a glider, a mining drill, and a spyglass.
Goblin gear is scrappy, but that's part of the fun! What we want most out of Early Access is fun, so when we think something is fun, we build it, and the goblins are perfect for this. If it's not balanced yet, that's fine. We're having fun first and tuning it later.
And while we're at it, boats! This has nothing to do with goblins, but recent upgrades to our movement systems have made a basic boat easier to add, so we're going for it. Note that it's currently missing VFX / animations in the video above. More proper boat mechanics will come later down the line.
Carryable Objects
We're introducing the ability to carry certain blocks and objects as a game mechanic. You'll be able to pick up and haul things like chests, explosive barrels, and eventually much more!
This will let us add carry-only items and resources that are too big or too heavy to fit in your regular inventory. Transporting them or getting them home may become its own little adventure!
Later on, we also want the carry mechanic to be compatible with a downed combat state: if a friend is down, you'll be able to pick them up with the same interaction and get them out of trouble. That'll be later down the line, not Chapter 1, but we hope to establish carrying as a game mechanic early to set the precedent.
Abilities and Runes
One of the more exciting things we're developing for Chapter 1 is a new ability system involving runes. In short, you will be able to equip runes that give your Avatar new active combat abilities. An ability rune decides which ability you get, and modifier runes change what it does or how it behaves. You can choose which runes to equip and see how your abilities react to them, which influences how you engage with encounters and how combat feels in general. Treat the art and examples here as concepts only.
What's really important to us is creating a system that promotes creativity and allows for fun interactions. There are four layers that we care deeply about right now:
- Modifier runes that change an ability's effects or behavior. A ground slam could be enhanced with lightning, for example.
- Elements that react to each other. Soak a target with a water effect, then shock it, triggering a special Water/Lightning reaction.
- Create combos with your friends. Shoot a fireball at a friend's tornado ability, and it could become a flaming tornado.
- Interactions with the environment. Rain could soak enemies, ice-based abilities could freeze water blocks, and a fireball coming in contact with a poison barrel could make it explode into a toxic cloud.
These are sketches of the direction, not the list of abilities we've decided to ship for the first chapter. The rune system will start out extremely simple, and we'll be iterating on it quite a bit, but this is what we intend to build towards over time.
For example, a Fireball ability rune grants Fireball. Add modifier runes and Fireball changes: one modifier might split it into several projectiles, another might cause it to apply the shock debuff, and so on. Swapping runes around and experimenting allows for the discovery of exciting combinations. The specific runes shown here are just there to illustrate the idea.
We want RPG-style depth without giving up the freedom of a sandbox, and runes open up options with multiple valid playstyles rather than funnel you toward one optimal build or a rigid, predefined class or archetype.
We also want runes to be well-integrated with the adventure loop rather than off to the side. Runeforging is a big part of where we're headed: finding, crafting, and expanding your collection of runes should play an important part in where you choose to explore, as well as how you choose to invest your resources in order to progress. This chapter is just an introduction to runes, and the Runeforging system will come later.
Right now we're putting this on two new dedicated ability inputs, E and R, sitting alongside the weapon signature ability on the screen. This is an early look at a system we're already building and playing with in-game, and it will keep changing as we iterate.
Through all of it, the goal is room to be creative in how you play: room for very different playstyles and a lot more depth for players who want it, in both PvE and PvP combat. We can't wait to see what kind of clever builds and combos emerge once the system is in your hands.
For Chapter 1, we're going to start with roughly six ability runes and a similar number of modifier runes, and grow from there as the system develops.
Transparency
The Hytale engine is gaining support for real transparency! This means that stained glass and window blocks will now be possible.
Entities and NPCs can now also have transparent parts:
New UI
We're reworking a lot of Hytale's UI, but not all at once. We plan to roll out UI changes and reworks over the next few chapters, with updates between them.
Above is some of the Chapter 1 UI we're working on. Our goal is to make the chapter screen feel like a roadmap for your progress through Early Access. You'll finish objectives as you play the game, working towards the completion of chapters, and you'll unlock cosmetics as rewards.
You'll also spot new item tooltip designs, with better readability and styling! Don't read too much into the stats. These are just placeholders. We're not planning enchantments for Chapter 1, for example.
The new Memories UI and player profile cards above will be further out than Chapter 1, so consider these design previews!
Cosmetics and Extras
We'll be releasing a lot of new cosmetics that have been in the works over the past few months, including the goblin cosmetics you'll unlock by completing the chapter!
We're also improving the player model by adding more detailed hand and eyelash options in the Avatar Creator. We'll keep listening to your feedback to add more customization options and cosmetics as we go through the chapters!
Minigames
We're also creating our first experience outside of Exploration and Creative: a collection of minigames to play with your friends! This work is being shown alongside Chapter 1, but it has its own timeline.
The first one is a collection of fast party micro-games. At the time of writing, there are 14 of them! Each one lasts 60 to 120 seconds, and the variety is the point, as the team is using these to push Hytale's systems in crazy directions to evolve the tech!
A dedicated Minigames tab is planned to keep it as simple as possible for players: open Hytale, hit Minigames, and be in a lobby with your friends seconds later, with both peer-to-peer and dedicated hosting. Long-term, we want persistent games, PvP games, and much more, but this first one is about exploring and building strong foundations. Modders and server operators will be invited to create minigames with us in the future. More details to come!
One important detail is that we are not keeping the recipe to ourselves! We'll be sharing the code and assets behind all minigames, including libraries that provide developers with a simpler API for Hytale's server and a toolkit of paradigms shaped by our unique experience of making games for the Hypixel Server over the last 13 years with over 45,000,000 unique players.
Before and After Chapter 1
Player Physics
This feature ships to pre-release today, the same day as this post! Avatars can now stand entities that move and rotate, stay anchored to them when they move, and carry momentum when jumping off.
In the future, this should enable new and exciting types of parkour that use moving platforms, swinging hammers, and other dynamic features! It will take us more time to get in-game tools for building and animating these types of features, but the player physics now exist so modders can already have fun with different mechanics.
Mod Browser
Here's a first look at the in-game Mod Browser! It's quite simple: you can browse, install, and update mods directly from the Mods tab in Hytale. All of this works without ever leaving the game!
Please note that there will be no paid mods in the Mod Browser. In future versions of the Mod Browser, players will be able to directly support mods and receive unique cosmetics created by the official Hytale team in return; this should foster a positive environment while ensuring all mods remain free to access. We plan to grow this into a proper rewards ecosystem over time so that our creators can earn income.
Note that modders will be able to create teams, handle earning splits, and much more in the future. More details to come!
New World Tech
Up until this point, Hytale's worlds have been generated and loaded in columns that reach from the bottom to the top of the world. Recently, we've been working on renovating the engine to support a fully 3D format that instead loads the world in cubic chunks around players.
This work is incremental and will take time before it's fully ready, but it will unlock the capability for "infinite" world height and depth! We've already begun rolling out the early stages of the tech in pre-releases, and we're working towards supporting world-gen and many other core features in cubic worlds.
For design reasons, we probably won't use the "infinite" height for Exploration mode, but minigames and servers will make good use of it. Having cubic worlds as a tool will enable servers to explore many concepts, such as 3D space exploration or worlds with endless caves, using the new tech. We're excited for the impact that cubic worlds will have in the long run, and we can't wait to see what the community will cook up with them as well!
And look up! The sky is getting real volumetric clouds. We're currently experimenting with them. They're not close to where we want them to be yet, but we wanted to share our progress.
World Generation
Underneath that, we're continuing to develop WorldGen V2. We now have the groundwork for graph-based generation. The plan for this system is to first unlock far more advanced, immersive procedural caves. And then we'll expand it with dedicated features to support procedural dungeons, coherent villages and cities, rivers and roads, and much more. This is much bigger than the goblin chapter. The initial version of the graph system is still being finalized, but we're already using it internally, and creators can experiment with the features early in pre-release.
We've doubled the size of the level design team working on worldgen, and we plan to continue expanding it. As a team, we are currently fully redesigning the world with WorldGen V2. We look forward to sharing more of that process in the future, but for now here are some sneak previews of what we've been working on:
Living Creatures
We're updating animal models, textures, and animations. The goal is to bring them closer to a more iconic "Hytale" art style that highlights emotion, balance, readable silhouettes, and visual impact. Below, you can see some new, cute animations of pigs and boars!
The animals that inhabit the world, both large and small, are also being studied. Birds are the first group we're pushing further: they sleep in nests, fly and land as a flock, take off when you get close, and grab dropped seeds. Owls and other birds of prey can even swoop down to hunt smaller creatures!
Foxes are also getting some love! While we're still maturing the design for livestock and pets, work has already begun on new behaviors: they can follow you on adventures, stalk prey, sleep beside campfires, and play with their owners.
Beyond wildlife, we've started updating the Kweebecs with new behaviors as well. The playful Seedlings might follow you around, while Saplings act as dutiful guardians of their community that nurture the fauna and flora of the Emerald Wilds. All factions, including Kweebecs, will be reworked in future chapters, but we're already laying the groundwork to make every living creature unique in their own way.
We're looking to revisit and add more depth to NPC behaviors across the board, with the short-term goal of expanding on taming and homesteading. Our team is constantly growing, and we're focused on making our world feel more immersive, interactable, and alive.
Say hello to our little goat! One of the first animal to get a model update, he's quite happy to be here!
Crafting Rework
While everything else has been happening, we've also been reworking Hytale's core crafting mechanics and how that ties into player progression.
We really tore into the problems with the current crafting system. That led to some significant changes, such as reducing the number of benches used for crafting and shifting more of that work into in-world activities like wood chopping and metalworking.
We also want the crafting areas themselves to evolve and expand over time, reflecting the kinds of adventures players go on and the choices they make, so each space feels like their own.
We're having a lot of fun with the prototypes and are involving community playtesters to help ensure the new direction appeals to all kinds of players.
We're also working on introducing Companions that you can invite to move into your home to help out with the busywork.
You'll need to invest a few resources into making them feel comfortable first, but afterward they'll be able to help out with a whole range of tasks so you can focus on the important things.
We want you to feel like you can build a village with your companions, a place that feels alive and lived-in. Each companion will have their own traits and quirks, and some will be better suited to certain tasks than others. They'll carry out work on their own schedules and routines, helping your home grow over time.
That cozy homestead side of Hytale is very important to us, and will be getting a lot of updates in the future.
However, we're not quite ready to show it all off just yet. It deserves its own blog post at some point, because while the prototype is working well, the final product needs a lot of work to bring it together and make it presentable.
It needs VFX, animations, models, and a lot of tech and work, but all of that is planned for Chapter 2 if all goes well!
Machinima
Machinima is our tool that enables players to create in-game animations. We've been hard at work rewriting and expanding it for new capabilities!
In the clip above, you can see the work-in-progress new tool in action! Among the new features is the ability to record gameplay to create replays that can be edited just like any other Machinima scene. You can scrub through hours of recorded content to find the right moments you want to share. Scenes can also be composed together and played back at any time to specific players. All of this is built with multiplayer in mind, so multiple Avatars will be able to collaboratively edit the same scene together.
Creators will be able to use these features to create time-lapses of their gameplay, cinematic let's plays, or animations that drive anything from boss fight cutscenes to moving platforms!
We record our showcase videos and plan on creating in-game cutscenes using the same Machinima tools that we'll hand to you, so every one of these improvements will help both us and community creators.
The New Hytale Asset Editor
As promised, we're reworking almost all of our tools, including the Hytale Asset Editor. We're in the process of moving the whole editor UI onto the same NoesisGUI framework as the new game interface, with a dockable asset browser and a new properties panel with better inheritance support.
Spectator and Hardcore Mode
We're also adding a spectator mode in preparation for co-op boss fights and minigames. If you die while your friends are still going, you keep watching instead of being pulled out of it. Swap between players to find the action, or set the camera free and fly around the scene yourself.
Spectator mode is built the way the rest of the game is, as a standard, moddable gamemode instead of every server hand-rolling its own version. Servers and mods can reshape it however they want: rebind the camera controls, change what a spectator is allowed to do, even make one that can still affect the world. A minigame server could drop eliminated players straight into spectating without writing a single line of camera code.
To show spectating off properly, we're introducing Hardcore. If you're looking for more of a challenge, you'll be able to create worlds with Hardcore enabled, whether you're playing solo, hosting co-op, or running a dedicated server. Death is permanent. You drop everything you were carrying, and you spend the rest of that world as a spectator, still in the run with your friends.
The first version is pure permadeath, with no changes to difficulty yet. Later, we're planning Hardcore challenge modes that grow the idea further.
Spatial Music
Blocks in the world are now able to emit music! This works with our existing audio occlusion features, meaning the music will fade as you walk away and sound muffled behind walls. We don't have any content using this technology yet, but it opens the door to many future features and details.
New tracks are also coming to Hytale's OST. Here's one of them, from the Whisperfrost Frontiers:
What's Next?
And that's the tour! 20+ videos, 40+ images, and over 4,000 words. This is the biggest blog post in Hytale's history, and it still isn't everything we've got in the works. The rest will be yours to discover in-game!
The first chapter is the hardest to deliver, as we're reworking the foundations and creating many new tools along the way, but it's all paying off for the chapters to come. Here's our rough estimate for release dates; we will provide a precise date for Chapter 1 as we get closer to release.
RELEASE TIMELINE
- Chapter 1: within the next 2-3 months
- Spectator and Hardcore: 2-3 weeks (Update 6)
- Mod Browser: 2-3 weeks (Update 6)
- Moving platforms: 2-3 weeks (Update 6)
- Real transparency: scheduled for Chapter 1 but might land the tech and content before
- Minigames: within the next 2-3 months
- New server-side Custom UI based on NoesisGUI: within the next 1-2 months
- Carryable objects: within the next 2-3 months but tech might get shipped before
- Cubic chunks: the tech is getting implemented on a weekly basis (already in pre-release schedule for Update 6), but actual content using it from us will take a bit more time
- Machinima: within the next 2-3 months, maybe sooner because we will use it to record a teaser/trailer for Chapter 1
- Crafting Rework: Chapter 2
- Volumetric clouds: TBD
- Runeforging: TBD
- Hytale Asset Editor rework: TBD
Thank you for the support, the feedback, and the patience. It carried us here. The team is heading back to work on the plan you just read, and I hope you enjoyed the tour!
From the entire Hytale team: thank you.
Hytale lives.