New Lighting Preview and Early Access Updates

Hello 4D Supporters and 4D HyperSupporters!

A few days ago, I created a poll for the HyperSupporters to decide on what I would add to 4D Miner next. They had three options to choose from: a new passive creature, improved lighting, and controller support.

After about three days, the HyperSupporters ended up choosing improved lighting with 96 votes. The passive creature option received a total of 66 votes, while controller support only got 7 votes.

If you were among the few who voted for controller support, don't worry, it will get added eventually. The creature option was very popular, but I think it's a good thing that I'm working on the lighting first, since it will create a better environment for new creatures to inhabit in the future!

After the poll ended, I started working on a lighting technique called ambient occlusion (AO). Based on the pictures I have included in this post, I think you will all agree that the in-game world appears to have a lot more depth now, and looks a lot nicer overall.

AO is based on the surroundings of different points in a scene. Basically, the more "stuff" there is near a point, the less that point will be exposed to ambient lighting, and the darker that point will appear as a result.

My implementation of AO in 4D Miner causes blocks to cast a "shadow" of sorts. Possibly the coolest thing about this is that you can see the shadows of blocks that exist outside of your current 3D slice of the world.

I made a short video to demonstrate this. In the video, there is a darker spot in on the ground in front of the player, and after scrolling to rotate in 4D, the nearby tree trunk that is causing the shadow becomes visible: https://youtu.be/L3_vsKwXHVg.

The image with the red arrow shows what I originally thought was some kind of lighting artifact, but after some experimenting, I now believe it's a similar effect to what is shown in the linked video, and blocks that aren't currently visible are causing what looks like an impossible shadow.

The weird thing about viewing a 3D slice of a world with 4D lighting effects is that some things won't look right, since you can't see the whole picture. This makes the game more intriguing in my opinion, since unusual-looking shadows can give you clues about what lies outside of your limited 3D view.

I still have work to do before I can release an early build to the HyperSupporters. The lighting improvements have broken some other parts of the game, and I have to fix them before I can release anything.

On a different note, I now have more info on how newer builds of 4D Miner will be distributed to 4D HyperSupporters! I had planned on distributing newer builds through Steam by giving each HyperSupporter a special key that would grant them access, but it turns out I'm not allowed to do that without also making the same builds accessible directly through Steam somehow. That would completely undermine the exclusivity that all of the HyperSupporters are paying for, and I couldn't do that without feeling like was ripping you all off.

Fortunately, I have found a much better alternative that not only allows me to distribute newer builds exclusively to 4D HyperSupporters, but it's also much more convenient.

I have created an account on itch.io, where I can release early content that isn't yet available through Steam. Itch.io supports Patreon integration, which means I can restrict content such that only 4D HyperSupporters will be able to access it.

All I have to do is start releasing updates, and any one of the 4D HyperSupporters will be able to download the newest update after logging into itch.io and connecting their Patreon account.

I will post another update as soon as I release a new build, and in the meantime, I wish the best for all of you!