Sand Saga Insider: May 2024

Patrik Harag, 2024-06-01

Welcome back to Sand Saga's monthly update! May has been an exciting month filled with several interesting changes and developments. Let's dive into what's new and what's coming up next.

PayPal Payments

I know this might not be what you want to hear, but we need to consider monetization options. For many years, I have been developing games and making them available for free, without ads, and with open-source code. I am not primarily motivated by money. However, Sand Saga is now a serious time/resource-consuming project, and the current state is unsustainable; sooner or later, I will burn out. I personally dislike ads, so I will try other options first.

I have managed to set up a PayPal payment gateway. In the first phase, you will be able to voluntarily contribute to the development and operation of Sand Saga. I don't expect much interest, so in subsequent phases, contributors will receive something extra as an incentive.

I don't expect this to happen, but imagine if just a few percent of users contributed – I might be able to work on Sand Saga full-time.

May Additions

Engine Update 24w19a
• Fish, butterfly, bird – spawning and behaviour

Engine Update 24w21a
• Toolbar redesigned
• Introduced Oil, Brick and Wood

Scenarios
• Improved Sandbox: Meteors
• Improved Sandbox: Empty
• Toolbar was updated/revisited in all scenarios

Website
• Added page about how to support the Sand Saga project with PayPal gateway (mentioned above)
• Added new server role: supporter (roles are assigned, but not yet utilized)
• Added /Are you sure?/ popup when leaving a scenario (under some conditions)
• A logged in user was automatically logged out too early – fixed

(minor tweaks are not listed)

Further Development

I plan to make some minor improvements to the birds (they currently get stuck on each other and die easily, and they can't catch fire) and to the oil (it looks odd when it burns on water). Both of these issues with burning relate to how element combustion currently works, so it will need a revision.

I'm also considering adding more types of fluids, although I don't want to make any concrete promises just yet.

I have a few scenario ideas as well. One scenario would involve only sand, with the ability to choose any color. The goal would be to create a sand art picture by pouring the sand. Another scenario would involve metal melting.

Android App?

According to my analysis, creating an Android app for Sand Saga shouldn't be technically difficult. However, the publication process will likely be lengthy and tedious, mainly because I need to "run your closed test with at least 20 testers, for at least 14 days."

For now, this is more of an idea for the future.

Conclusion

That's all for today. Thank you for your continued support and feedback. It means a lot and helps drive the ongoing development of Sand Saga. Stay tuned for more updates!