Fenyora
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The game
Here's what's in the build right now and where each part is heading. Every clip is from the game.
The world
Every world grows from a seed. The terrain isn't a heightmap, so you get overhangs, caves and proper cliffs, and the biomes blend into each other instead of meeting in hard lines. Rivers run downhill, caves flood, and there are deeper layers under everything if you keep digging.
The horizon is real terrain too, out to about 700 blocks. Nothing is built ahead of time. The world appears as you walk, and the same seed gives everyone the same world.
Read about the worldBiomes
Each one has its own ground, plants, creatures and weather.
Meadow
Where you start. Long grass, flowers you can pick, and the friendliest creatures in the game.
Redwood forest
Huge trunks, deep shade, and a cave bear that hunts the goblins living there.
Fairy glades
Soft light, strange flowers and small, odd things that only live here.
Snowfields
Frost yaks, cloud rams and snow instead of rain.
Ice wastes
High, cold and bright, with glaciers and not much shelter.
Mesa
Stepped red cliffs, orc country, and a camp you'll want to approach carefully.
Ocean
Open water out past the coast, with things living under it.
Lava tubes
Tunnels linking big chambers: a dome, a rift with a rock bridge, a pillared hall, a crater and a stalactite grotto.
Volcano
Black rock, ash and lava pools that spit if you get too close. Where lava meets water it sets into Blackstone.
The arena
A cobblestone colosseum with a village behind it, where the villagers have real jobs.
Rookfall Manor
An old manor with a chess hall, and pieces that don't stay still.
Coming up
- Roads and ruins across the map.
- Orc camps and goblin camps you can raid, or just sneak past.
- Fairy citadels hidden in the glades.
- Sunken wrecks, watchtowers, abandoned mines and hermit huts.
- And much more.
Crafting
Honestly, crafting has had less of my time than some of the other systems so far, so it's still early. It works though: 241 recipes across six benches, a searchable recipe book, a shopping list, and kilns and forges that keep going while you're away.
Where it's heading: you unlock recipes by questing and exploring. Find a new recipe and you also learn the ingredients behind it, and where they come from. So every quest and every new area gives you something new to make, and a reason to go looking for it.
The benches
- Joiner's bench: the one you start with. Timber, stonework, stairs, roofs, doors and furniture. Most of your first house comes off this.
- Clamp kiln: fire clay into bricks, tiles and pottery, melt sand into coloured glass, and smelt your first iron.
- Weaver's frame: wool, silk and fibre into cloth, curtains, bedding and rugs. This is where your farm animals start paying off.
- Bellows forge: tools, hinges, lanterns and metalwork. Better tools mean faster mining and chopping.
- Resonance desk: the strange one. It tunes crystals and creature parts into clockwork and enchanted things: a songbird that sings, a clock that tracks the stars, a lantern beetle whose wings open. Later on, it's where weapons get their traits.
Building
- Break and place right in the world. Pickaxe for stone, axe for wood. In VR, swing for real and break it with your own arm, or just click. Up to you.
- Walls, floors, stairs, roofs, porches, thatch, bridges and scaffolding.
- Round doors, coloured windows, sliding screens and cellar hatches.
- Hearths, ovens, cookpots, sundials, wind chimes and signposts.
- Cut a window and real sunlight comes through it.
Coming up
- Recipes unlocked by quests and exploring.
- Housing: a place that's properly yours, with furniture that does something.
- Fishing, with different catches in every biome.
- Farming and pets (more on both further down).
- More building pieces: window frames, railings, eaves and overhangs.
VR
VR comes first. Your health is ten little hearts around your wrist, so you just glance down to check. No floating HUD. Your bag opens in front of you and you point at what you want.
Play it however you like. Do everything physically, swinging your pickaxe and grabbing blocks with your hands, or use PC style controls in the headset and just click. Mix the two if you want.
The game never moves, turns or shakes your view. Getting hit shows as a soft ring at the edge of your vision and a buzz in the controller.
In now
- Hands that follow your grip, and real swings.
- Stick movement, a dash, smooth turning and swimming.
- Riding, mining, placing and eating all from the same grip.
- Other players see your hands and head move.
Coming up
- High fives, handshakes and waves with other players.
- Fighting side by side: covering a friend, pulling them up, blocking for each other.
- Things you build together and ride together: carts, boats, a swing bench.
- Petting creatures, and a glimmermoth landing on your hand if you keep still.
Your character
The goal is simple: be whoever you want to be. There are 19 kins so far: human, elf, orc, oni, dryad, bearfolk, beetlefolk, cowfolk, deerfolk, foxkin, frogfolk, harpyfolk, owlfolk, mothfolk, sheepfolk, sporefolk, stonefolk, scalekin and merfolk. Each has its own ears, tails, horns or antennae, and you can change your colours, eyes and hair.
Clothing is the part I've spent the least time on so far. There are three outfits and some armour pieces right now. Proper customisable clothing is coming.
In now
- 19 kins with their own looks.
- Skin, eye and hair colours.
- Traveller, ranger and wanderer outfits, and five armour slots.
- Other players see your kin and gear.
Coming up
- Clothing you can properly mix, match and dye.
- More kins.
- Hats, capes, jewellery and gear that shows where you've been.
Creatures
Every creature is a fantasy one first, even the farm animals: a mossy cow, a cloud ram, a goat with crystal in its coat. They all have their own habits. Friendly ones nap and wander on the day clock, night ones wake at dusk, and companions follow you around.
Tap any picture to flick through them all.
Bellhorn
Tall long-legged grazer, moss back, antlers hung with chiming bell-fruit; slow stately walk
Shake the antlers to drop bell-fruit
Bloomrunner
Bogwisp
Budling
Candlehorn
Chimefinch
Cloudram
Cockatrice
Dashcrest
Dreambaku
Driftwhale
Frostyak
Gemdome
Gildgoose
Glimmergoat
Glimmermoth
Fat fluffy moth, lantern abdomen, broad patterned wings; flutters in loose loops
Hold still and it lands on your open hand
Gobrider
Hearthling
Hootling
Hornsinger
Kettlekin
Kitsuna
Slim spirit fox with three floating flame-tip tails; trots, pounces
Offer food and it follows you and scares hostiles
Lanternkoi
Lanterntail
Leafwarden
Loamsnout
Menhir
Moonkirin
Mossmoo
Nimbus
Oakheart
Orbling
Pagecrane
Pawtrader
Petalfae
Pilferkin
Plumeclaw
Puffkin
Round cloud of fluff on stubby legs, leaf tail; bounces, and floats down slowly when it jumps
Pat it and it puffs up; it can be sheared of fluff
Rillsprite
Sandskipper
Scalewing
Shardback
Silkgrub
Skymanta
Slime
Starmole
Starneck
Stoutbeard
Stumpling
Walking tree stump on root legs with a leafy crown; waddles
Water it or pat it and it plants a sapling nearby
Checkknight
Coilcrawler
Cragjaw
Ambush brute: lunges and snaps twice
Ambush charge when you walk past
Crowntyrant
Cyclops
Deepgrasp
Dunemaw
Flarewraith
Frillspitter
Galeharpy
Gargoyle
Gobscout
Gorgemaw
Gourdling
Grimoire
Hexling
Hobgoblin
Pack skirmishers: the leader in front, the rest hold posts and take your back
Rushes in, cackles, winds up and clubs
Hornbeetle
Hornblade
Lancetoad
Maelshark
Manawyrm
Marshscale
Mimic
Plateback
Prismhead
Puffcap
Rustknight
Snapvine
Rooted: wide whip then two snaps
Snaps at anything that walks into reach
Sparkraptor
Stormpuff
Thornling
Thundermane
Tickstinger
Tidesail
Troll
Three metre stone-hided brute, mossy hump with a sapling, log club; lumbers
Opens with a roar that slows you, then mixes a plain smash, a wide sweep, an overhead slam on the spot you stood in, and a rock thrown after you if you keep away; spins all the way round if you run rings round it, answers a hit with a quick counter, and shuffles round you between blows
Umbral
The older pigs, frogs, wyrmlings and shellbacks are still around too, and the mesa has its own boars, scorpions and orcs.
Combat and the arena
Tap for a light hit, hold for a heavy one. Swords are best on soft things, axes on trolls and stone. Monsters path through the actual terrain, so a wall you build changes how they get to you.
The arena is where you learn to fight. Different monsters come through it, and each one teaches you something: the troll winds up one huge smash, the rustknight hides behind a shield you have to get around, the mimic fakes you out. Figure them out there, and you'll be ready for them out in the world.
In now
- Fists, swords and axes. Heavy hits stagger.
- Shortbow, crossbow and blowpipe.
- Fire, frost and arcane magic.
- No blood. Creatures break into little blocks of their own colours.
- If you go down, you wake up at camp with your backpack.
Coming up
More weapons, all the time. Shields, spears, scythes, maces, wands, staffs, throwing axes, whips, and whatever else I can make feel good in your hands. More schools of magic to go with them. And much more.
Bosses
Every biome gets its own boss that roams it. The cave bear is the first: it hunts goblins through the redwoods, pounces when one trips, and eats it. Hit it hard enough and it drops its lunch.
They're meant to be a real step up, for later in the game or deeper into the biome. They won't come looking for you when you're just starting out. You'll have to go looking for them.
You never stop growing
There's no level cap and no end point. The further you go from spawn, the harder it gets and the better the rewards get. You can always head a bit further out.
Skills
- Seven skills that level as you use them: mining, woodcutting, digging, swords, axes, unarmed and riding.
- Lucky rolls, double hauls and shiny finds in green, blue and purple.
- Powers like a burst of triple speed mining, chopping or digging.
- Breaking a block you placed yourself gives nothing, so there's no cheesing it.
Zones
Out past the early areas, the land starts asking for a minimum skill. You can wander out and try to fight whatever lives there, but you won't be able to dig the dirt if it wants level 100 digging and you're level 10. The early zones never do this.
It's only there to stop people jumping from level 1 to 1,000 by walking out, walling in a big monster and farming it. Everywhere else, you're free.
Weapons that grow with you
Some weapons gain XP as you use them. Basic gear stays basic, but you can give your favourite weapon a soul and keep levelling it, putting your resources into that one weapon instead of swapping every time something new drops.
Or don't. Pick up the new drop and see what you get, or craft something new. It's up to you.
Taming and calming stones
Coming up. Bosses will drop calming stones. Use them on a hostile creature and it turns friendly. Tougher creatures will need more stones. Once it's calm, you can keep it as a pet or put it to work on your farm.
It's a later game thing, and it gives you a reason to head back to places you've already cleared and look at the monsters there in a new way.
Riding
If it looks like you can ride it, you probably can. That's the rule I'm building to. I don't want to stop anyone riding their pet around, so I'm just going to let you.
Hold a saddle, reach for a creature and you're on. Every mount handles differently and has its own perk. The goblins worked this out before you did: gobriders are a goblin on a dashcrest, and you have to deal with both.
On the ground
- Frostyak: extra bag space while you ride.
- Loamsnout: digs for you.
- Moonkirin: hostiles leave you be.
- Hornsinger: a warning call sends nearby hostiles backing off.
- Shardback: half damage.
- Gemdome: twice the shiny finds.
- Bellhorn: picks up seeds and petals as it walks.
- Glimmergoat: climbs walls.
- Dashcrest: you hit harder.
Up high
- Skymanta: glides, and you float down if you step off.
- Nimbus: hovers, and heals you as you ride.
- Canopy monkey: climbs trunks and runs across the treetops.
Coming up
- Goblin rider races: race the gobriders and everyone else on the server to the finish, across a jumping course with speed ups and slow downs. A party game, just for fun.
- More mounts. If it's got room on its back, I'll try.
- Riding the creatures you've tamed.
- A riding power.
Food and farming
Nine creatures give you stuff when you touch them: milk, wool, eggs, silk, wax, truffles and crystal. They turn and nod, there's a little puff, and it grows back later. Shellbacks even grow a little garden on their shells.
Three meals so far: slimecube bento, cloudram dumplings and grilled frost yak. Hold the dish in one hand and eat with the other. Anyone nearby can watch you eat, crumbs and all.
Coming up
- Planting the seeds you already collect, with crops that grow over real days.
- Cooking at the ovens and hearths you can already build.
- Tamed creatures working your farm.
- Fishing, and a lot more recipes.
Weather and light
Water and lava flow, spread and fall. Weather changes every few minutes and everyone on the server gets the same sky. Rain turns to snow in the cold and goes quiet when you're under a roof. Storms come with lightning and thunder.
Light comes from the blocks, so sun only gets in through real gaps and a window throws a proper shaft. At night you'll want a fire going.
Playing together
Every world runs on a server, so a friend in a headset and a friend on a PC can build the same house. Claim land, share chests, chat. The arena village already has 19 villagers going about their day.
Server owners can already roll back edits and kick troublemakers. Coming up: anti cheat, and more tools for difficult players, like limiting what new joiners can do and a waitlist. It's always cat and mouse, and I won't pretend any tool stops everyone. But server owners will get real control.
Servers and mods
Most of the game lives in plain data files, not code: creatures, kins, recipes, biomes. That's how one person can add a creature in an afternoon, and it's why modding can be there from day one.
From day one
- Mod support.
- Host your own server.
- An official server alongside them.
Claims
The server decides how land works. It can mark out a city and let players claim plots inside it, or let people claim anywhere. How much you can claim is a setting: in game money, playtime, whatever the owner picks. If it's just you and a friend, turn it all off and claim everywhere. Just play.
Towns
Coming up: a government system for towns, with ranks like king, queen and mayor. The official server will use it. On your own server it'll be there if you want it and never forced on you.
The engine
Fenyora runs on my own engine, written from scratch for this game. No off the shelf engine underneath it.
Why bother
A world of this size, generated as you walk into it, asks for things a general purpose engine won't give you. Owning the whole thing means I can fix anything, and nothing gets in the way.
Built for the world
Terrain, lighting, water and the creatures are all written around voxels, so they can be fast in ways a bolted on approach can't.
Speed is the point
The engine is measured on every change. Slow frames are a bug, the same as a crash.
The data stays open
Creatures, kins, recipes and biomes are still plain files, so modding works the same way it always would.
Platforms
PC and VR first. That's the launch I'm focused on. After that, I want it on as many platforms as I can. The Quest download is about 60 MB right now and I'm keeping it under 100, aiming for 90 Hz on the headset.