Alpha 5: Game Engine Upgrade

Dear Erisians,

We’ve upgraded our game engine, Unity, to version 6000 from version 2022. To my knowledge, versions 2024-5999 do not exist, but the upgrade is still significant.

What’s new in Unity 6? Are there any features of particular relevance to Eris?

The biggest reason for us to upgrade is access to WebAssembly 2023, which is supposed to help improve the performance of Web based games. Since we currently only offer a Web client, this was a clear priority for us.

WebAssembly 2023 also supports up to 4 GB of memory, from a previous maximum of 2 GB. There is notably some compatibility issues with Firefox and older browsers, but it means we can support larger texture sizes and thus better graphics. It also means we can focus on adding content without worrying about optimization.

Any other reasons why you chose to upgrade?

In addition to the improved performance and graphics, Unity has also finalized a new UI system called ‘UI Toolkit’. We were planning to remake the UI anyway, so migrating over to the new system seems logical. There are some particular quirks with Unity’s old UI system that make it quite annoying to work with.

Are there any changes to gameplay or new features in this update?

In addition to the engine upgrade, we’ve added a couple of small changes based on feedback received, this includes a new optional freelook camera that can be enabled in settings. Also, the player character’s swimming animation has been adjusted to be better positioned on the surface of the water. Many thanks to @Lilith for bringing these issues to our attention!

Overall, the upgrade was uncharacteristically smooth. We’ll be back soon with another update.

— David
Lead Developer, Eris Online