2.1 - Menus, Mobs, and More!

Hello everyone, Valyarok here! Quick life update - I'm happy to say that my new job so far has been absolutely fantastic. I absolutely love the work I do, and I have such a better sleep schedule, work-life balance, etc. With that being said - my training period is finally over for both Application & PC Support, and I feel nearly 100% acclimated into my new position. Meaning I'll be able to hone in even further outside of work on what we have left to accomplish before Mysteria's release. Now, I'd like to jump into going over with you all the exciting new additions to the server. With each section detailed in this log, I'll include showcases that help visualize these new features.

Menus

Our menu GUIs for a variety of plugins has been completely overhauled. They all now have a matching aesthetic, rather than how it was setup before with a random assortment of clashing custom interfaces. This much needed change will bring a cohesive feel to all of our in-game systems that both the economy, and gameplay revolve around. Listed below are all of the new menus added, the plugin they're connected to, and a picture of what they look like. Feel free to check them out in-game by visiting their respective NPC at Spawn!

Lands: As seen in the image above this section and below this paragraph, this is the menu for the Lands plugin. Used by players to view their owned lands, nations, invitations to join other lands, claiming limitations, a map of surrounding claims, a list of all nations on the server, rentable areas within claimed lands, and personal settings.

Player Warps: As seen in the image below this paragraph, this is the menu for the Player Warps plugin. Used by players to visit and view public warps that have been created by the community. Players can add a warp to their favorites list, see all publicly created warps, and check any previous warps they've visited. This menu also gives you the option to purchase 'Sponsor Slots' using in-game currency to have your public warp displayed right on the home page of the menu for a fixed amount of time. For example, players can spend $100,000 to have their warp listed first on the home page for an entire week! (Prices and fixed time amount may be balanced/adjusted in the near future).

Custom Enchants: As seen in the images below this paragraph, these are the menus for features within the AdvancedEnchantments plugin. Used by players to purchase powerful enchants using exp levels, shop using in-game currency for enchantments other players are selling, view all available enchants ranging from simple to fabled, and combine enchantment books + magic dust for powerful enchantment upgrades.

Bank: As seen in the image below this paragraph, this is the menu used for the Bank plugin. This will be used by players to store their in-game money, and earn a fixed percentage of interest (even while they're offline!). Players can deposit or withdraw any amount of their money from the bank at any time. Players can also upgrade their bank to store more money, and earn a better percentage of interest! This banking system provides a rewarding and unique way to allow players to passively earn an income.

Auction: As seen in the image below this paragraph, this is the menu used for the Auctions plugin. As discussed in our previous dev log, the auction system is a way for players to sell their unwanted items to the community. Creating a fresh, competitive, and always evolving market to boost the overall server economy. Players can view items being sold based on categories, items they've purchased, items they've tried selling that have expired, and sort through the auction house by date the item was put up, or the price.

Inventory: As seen in the images below this paragraph, this is the new UI for the inventory, hotbar, and interactable menus. It's gold rimmed spruce aesthetic matches all the other menu systems perfectly.

Mobs

New monsters have crept into the dimensions of Mysteria, offering a fearsome challenge to players who stumble upon them during their adventures.

End Mobs: As seen in the image above this section, a group of mobs have infiltrated the End dimension! Each with their own unique skills, drops, and spawn rate. These mobs are known as - the End Scuttler, End Seeker, Ender Clam, Ender Hammerhead, Ender Slime, Ender Ripper, and Ender Witch.

Nether Mobs: As seen in the images above & below this section (Fire Spirit & Pyro Hand), a group of fiery mobs have been banished to the hellscapes of the Nether dimension! Each with their own unique skills, drops, and spawn rate. These mobs are known as the - Ember Pot, Fire Spirit, Glowstone Sorcerer, Inferno Blaze, Molten Walker, Netherite Golem, and Pyro Hand.

Tower Skeleton: As seen in the primary image of this development log, the Tower Skeleton is an enormous behemoth that lies in wait for unsuspecting adventures on a throne of death. This is one of Mysteria's most challenging world bosses. Nobody will be able to take this deadly foe down on their own - as it's vast amount of health points and various deadly attacks will require at least a large group of 5-10 players to work together. I love having world bosses that players can choose to solo, but I'd also really like to continue researching how we can expand upon the idea of players needing to communicate and form groups in order to take on and successfully defeat certain world bosses. Something akin to how world bosses work in Guild Wars 2 where most require enormous groups of 30-50 players coming together would be such an exciting sight to behold. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts and potential recommendations on this gameplay element for world bosses. So feel free to discuss it in the staff chat with us all!

RPG Items, Social Hub, and Closing Remarks

I've begun the painstaking task of going through all 300+ custom RPG items we have implemented, and assigning them a rarity tag, along with a brief tidbit of lore. These are items that will all have different purposes. Whether it's something like a bag of presents you can open for random rewards, a crafting component for custom items, or mob drops that can be hunted and sold at the market. Once rarity tags and lores have been implemented, I'll then begin configuration of their price assignments (if they can be sold in the marketplace), as well as their drop percentages from different mobs. For example, the 'Fire Axolotl Core' will only be obtainable by defeating a fire axolotl which spawns in the Nether - and can be sold in the marketplace. This system encourages players to hunt down our custom mobs to earn these RPG items. As well as the need to hunt down specific mobs if there is an item it drops that they can trade to an NPC for a specific reward.

The 'Social Hub' is a new building located near the marketplace in Spawn where players can access a variety of NPCs centered around the community gameplay aspects of Mysteria. So far it will house the 'Lands' NPC, and the 'Player Warps' NPC. The building still has room to expand the interior - so as we come up with more ways for our community to interact with each other in-game, we can add any new NPCs that may be needed.

I'd like to close out this dev log by thanking you all for welcoming me back from my long hiatus with such hospitality and warmth. I cannot stress enough how much I appreciate each member of the team. And I'm absolutely looking forward to seeing each one of you shine in your respective roles once the server launches. If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback regarding development thus far - please don't hesitate to reach out to me or ElHazu via Discord. I'm sure there's plenty of other new features or additions that I may have missed including in this dev log. Which is why I highly encourage you to check out everything in-game when you have the chance. We did run into a permission confliction bug in-game with one of our plugins, and had to completely remove + reimplement LuckPerms. So if you're missing your rank or any permissions, please reach out to me directly and I can get you set back up with those :). I'll be posting a schedule channel in the staff-only section of the Discord soon for transparency purposes as well. So that you all can see when I'll be online, and actively working on the server. Thanks again everyone, peace out!