Seasons or Water?

Hey everyone!

My third devlog on YouTube is out right now, and it covers all of the multiplayer features that were released a while ago, as well as some additional features planned for the future. I was planning on making the video much sooner, but I have been facing some serious delays. Fortunately, I am now able to give 4D Miner my full attention.

Here is a link to the current Patreon-exclusive build of the game: https://mashpoe.itch.io/4d-miner-demo/patreon-access

Now that the devlog is out, I want to implement some major changes to the game. Since multiplayer is working, I believe the most difficult days of 4D Miner's development are behind us, and I feel like I am ready to tackle some other big features.

Two of the biggest features that I want to add are Seasons and Water.

As usual with indie development, I have no idea how long it will take to implement these features, but I want to put both of them in the game eventually. This poll will decide which of these two features will be added to 4D Miner first!

Seasons

Seasons are something that I think will set 4D Miner apart from many other sandbox games such as Minecraft. Seasons would work differently depending on the biome, and some biomes will barely change at all, such as the desert biome, and tropical biomes if they are added.

I don't know how seasons would work in the midnight biome, but one idea I had was to invert them, so you can travel to a different biome if you don't want to wait an entire in-game year for certain seasonal benefits.

Seasons would allow for plants to grow, and would make farming possible. In the summer, trees will all be full of leaves. In the fall, you will be able to harvest seeds from plants, including trees. In the winter, there won't be any leaves on most trees, and snow will cover the ground in many biomes. In the spring, trees will grow leaves again, and some of them may even have flowers.

Farming would be 100% season based, but with my idea for the midnight biome, you would still be able to harvest crops twice in an in-game year. The in-game year would obviously be much shorter than a year in real life.

Water

Water probably wouldn't initially be as feature-rich as seasons, but it would still add a lot to the game. Water mechanics like Terraria's probably wouldn't be feasible, since 4D fluid mechanics would likely bring even the best gaming PC to its knees.

Something more akin to Minecraft's water mechanics could be possible, but it might be necessary to add a limit to how much water can flow from a single source. Initially, water would probably behave in a very simple manner, but over time it could become more complex as I figure out more optimizations.

Not only would water make your 4D worlds look much more interesting, it would also add a bit more difficulty to the game, since it would introduce a new way to die (drowning).

Water could also introduce the possibility for new creatures, such as jellyfish, sharks, and crabs.

I can't know all of the technical issues I will run into while I'm working on these features, so it's impossible for me to know how long it will take to add them to the game. Whatever is decided by this poll might not immediately have all of the features that I mentioned, or be ready in time for the next devlog, but over time more and more content will be added.

Both of these features will take time to implement, which is why I can't do them both at the same time. Whatever you decide for me to add first, I will do my best to make sure it works with the game as well as possible, and remember, if your choice doesn't win the poll, I will still add it eventually, since I really want to put both of these features into 4D Miner!

Thank you so much for your patience and support. None of this would be possible without you, and I really hope I can deliver on your expectations as much as possible!

PS - I have attached a 4k version of the thumbnail as a Patreon-exclusive background.