The developers of Craftopia (PocketPair) recently did a Question and Answer session about updates to Craftopia and specifically updates about the Seamless World update.
Here are the Questions and Answers. They were all translated from Japanese so some of these may sound a bit strange.
Q: What will happen in the Craftopia’s 2nd anniversary event?
A: New furniture items will be added!
Q: Craftopia used to have the BotW feel to it. What will Craftopia after the Seamless Map Update look like?
A: Of course, we are respecting BotW. But Craftopia will also adopt good points of other open-world games as well.
Q: Could you elaborate what games and what aspects of them Craftopia will adopt?
A: We won’t name the specific game though. In the game where characters use elemental reactions in combat, landscapes and sceneries are beautifully introduced to players. When we play open-world games, we usually look down on the ground to seek for material items.
But in that game, the distance between a character and a camera, its angle, and the game system, everything is playing its part to have players see beautifully designed landscapes. We believe that this gives us the exploration feel.
We had focused on the speed of gameplay more than those fundamental part of the game. That’s why it has taken much time to develop the Seamless Map Update.”
Q: Will the next major update be the Seamless Map Update, or another normal major update?
A: “It will be the Seamless Map Update in our current plan. We understand that many players have been waiting for the update, so our team is fully committing to the Seamless Map Update.”
Q: Will there be the road map after the Seamless Map Update till the end of the Early Access?
A: Yes, we will make it.
Q: Will the Seamless Map Update affect the file size and the performance of Craftopia?
A: We can’t guarantee anything at the moment.
Q: Will the Seamless Map Update affect the system requirement?
A: We don’t want to make any changes on that, but we can’t guarantee it at the moment.
Q: After the first quest, there are so many content we can’t play without searching for some info outside of the game. Will the Seamless Map Update have more user-friendly tutorials and such?
A: We will add more tutorials to the game. But many crafting games don’t have detailed tutorials and require players to find know-hows on their own. We’re considering how well we should follow players in the game.
Q: Will Craftopia have scenerios after the Seamless Map Update?
A: We know there will be settlements where NPCs gather so far.
Q: Will there be enjoyable conversation and stories between NPCs other than quests and trading items?
A: We really want to do it! But making stories is fairly time-consuming… We have prioritized the main quests which has been displayed as coming soon! in the game for the very long time!
Q: Will the main story be added to the game in the Seamless Map Update?
A: Yes, we’re planning to add it along with the Seamless Map Update.
Q: What happened to the main quest?
A: We’re preparing it. We’re planning to add it after the Seamless Map Update.
Q: Will the game have enough content to play after the main quest?
A: We believe that it’s very important to prepare the content to play after the main quest. But main content should come before endgame content. We’re considering and planning carefully to make the main quest and the game system enjoyable for players first.
For the endgame content, we’re testing “Raiding” and “Different Style Placement of Buildings”. We will announce them in the development status report in the future, so please stay tuned!
Q: Is Krael the final boss?
A: Nothing to say here. Please find the fact while enjoying the story of Craftopia.
Q: Will the named mobs, such as Fan, play important roles in the story?
A: No, they won’t in the current plan.
Q: Will the VRM of CEO appear in the story?
A: ???
Q: Will there be the update related to the language of Krael such as adding characters speaking and documents written in the language of Krael, or events decrypting it?
A: Not determined yet.
Q: Will there be other cute humanoid NPCs other than Fan the Receptionist?
A: In the Seamless Map Update, we have refined every single NPCs. Their styles have been a toon one though, there was something odd, they had undescribable feeling. In order to improve overall quality of the update, we refined NPCs appearance and clothing as well.
Q: Will there be additional counterplan to the mobs outside of the chunk?
A: Whether mobs are active and working will be determined by the distance as same as we’re doing in the current Craftopia.
Q: Will you add bosses?
A: Yes, we will. We will add bosses, and modify preexisting mob monsters as well. We will give uniqueness to those mobs.
Q: Will Craftopia collaborate with Palworld?
A: You gotta wait!
Q: In the current Craftopia, there is an only cat, which is the lower body of Griffin. Will you add more cats?
A: We haven’t planned it.
Q: The development status report of August said the enemies’ AI would be improved. Will you improve the pets’ AI too?
A: Yes, we will. If the enemies will be smarter, the allies should be smarter too. Each pets should have their role during combat. You had to progress in the game to start playing with pets In the current Craftopia, so we will make some changes in the current pet system too.
Q: Will pets such as Mono help crafting in the game?
A: We have thought about it: players can have NPCs work in workbenches and farming plots, and each NPCs have unique ability. This could enhance the gameplay and make it more enjoyable, or not. We haven’t determined yet.
Q: Will there be weapon and armor for pets?
A: We haven’t planned it.
Q: Will there be additional weapon types?
A: We think we already have fair amount of weapon types.
Q: Will there be additional Martial Arts skills, and special equipment items for Martial Artists?
A: We understand a certain ratio of players demand more enhanced Martial Arts playstyle. If you got ideas, please submit them!
Q: Modern weapons such as guns are pretty much useless right now. Will you improve this situation?
A: We are redesigning the game balance between weapon types. There are no huge differences between them so we’re adding characteristics to them. Can’t wait to share them with you in the future.
Q: Mages are strongest both in offense and defense in the current Craftopia. Will you adjust the balance between enchantments, or renew the whole enchantment system?
A: We’re reshaping the overall game balance by adjusting not only enchantments but also weapon statuses. Combat power is solely relying on enchantments right now, so the way we will provide you with the feeling of growth is the thing we need to tackle.
Q: Will there be additional enchantments?
A: Enchantment system is one of the key element you can enjoy in Craftopia, therefore, we’ll add more enchantments. Yet we’ve been receiving lots of feedback on this system from the community as well. We’re working very hard on it to work the best for the game, so please look forward to it.”
Q: Enchantments are taking over the needs of Magical Stone. Will Magical Stones have other use of them, or will they be removed?
A: We haven’t decided yet, but we’ll sort out some items to keep it clean. We may remove some items or redesign items to give their unique values.
Q: Will the level cap and the skill point cap be higher?
A: We can’t guarantee anything yet, since that’s the thing we will adjust in the very end.
Q: Will there be PvP element?
A: We have tested PvP, of course. But that made us realize we need to go back to the drawing board…
Q: There are no roles in the current Craftopia and a player can do pretty much everything by themselves. Will the roles like Tank, Attacker, Healer, Buffer, and Debuffer be introduced to the game?
A: We’re working on the improvement of combat system, and we’ve talked about the roles in the development team. We’ve considered adding the way to utilize pets too, but nothing has been determined yet. We don’t want the roles to limit the gameplay in Craftopia. We’ll consider it carefully.
Q: Will you add modern weapons such as HIMARS or Javelin since there are already tanks?
A: We’re planning to work on new vehicles at the end of the development process of the Seamless Map Update, so we can’t guarantee anything yet. You can send your ideas to the development team via the submission form.
Q: Will you add descriptions to the items without ones?
A: Some items don’t have descriptions because writing them is simply time-consuming. We will eventually add them by in the future updates.
Q: Will you modify or adjust cooking along with the eras?
A: Cooking and healing items are relatively new system of the game. We want to redesign them with time and careful caution…
Q: Will you add the building item that supports the import of a texture image?
A: That’s the thing we’d like to try, but the copyright problem may occur. Some other games have been supporting the similar system, so we’ll research and study it first.
Q: Will you allow players to reset an island as same as the current Recreation Button does?
A: We’re designing the Seamless Map Update without involving the reset throughout the gameplay. Especially, Recreation Button was added to help players to gather resources and build stuff within the limitation of the number of islands. We don’t think Recreation Button is necessary since the Seamless Map Update will remove those limitation
Q: Will you add the feature to skip the night as in the bed in Minecraft?
A: We haven’t made it yet because the night itself doesn’t have disadvantages. If we feel we need to have one, we may develop it.
Q: You announced that weathers will grant players bonuses. What will it be like? For example, electric damage against enemies caught in rain will be increased or frost magic skills will have higher chance to set enemies freeze when it rains.
A: Weather system is a difficult topic to discuss. Adding damage bonus to a certain weather is technically adding a debuff to other weathers. We want to avoid the terrible effects such as “you can’t use fire in rain!” or “you are sick because you got caught in rain!”
A good example of weather system might be “you don’t need to water your crops on a rainy day.”
We’re planning to add that kind of small advantages to weathers.”
Q: Will you add the concept of the room along with the weather system?
A: We haven’t planned it. We’re aware that many games have the concept of the room, but most of them have some disadvantages to it. We don’t want to make it stressful by adding the concept of the room.
Q: Will you add more sound effects and music?
A: Yes, we will do that.
Q: How many songs will you add?
A: We’re discussing with the artist now.
Q: Will you update the sound track sold on Steam?
A: Yes!
Q: Will there any changes related to VRM’s shader which players should keep their eyes on?
A: The Seamless Map Update will not make a huge change around VRM’s shader though, we have adjusted some shaders in-game. This may slightly affect the color of your model. Thank you for your understanding.
Q: Will you support The Seed Online other than VRoidHub?
A: We haven’t planned it yet.
Q: Tell us about the MOD support after the Seamless Map Update.
A: The MOD support is important since it expands how players play Craftopia, and it helps Craftopia to reach more people of unsupported languages. We want to keep supporting MODs.
Q: I am a player in Korea and playing Craftopia with the Korean language MOD. Will you support more languages after the Seamless Map Update?
A: Localization is a hard part of the game development. We wish we could support as many languages as possible, but it is unrealistic. We’re starting from the languages that most users play with, and we’re very thankful for the language mods and those creators. Thank you very much.
Q: Will you add more variation to Canon?
A: Canon is only used at the beginning of the game, so we want to change it, though.
Q: Will you add stronger Explosive Barrels?
A: We will try!
Q: Does the development team love explosions?
A: We love it!
Q: Will you collaborate with other companies or their IPs?
A: We are ready to welcome those collaborations but we haven’t gotten a chance… Craftopia is a very safe game for everyone though…
Q: Will you add NFT or cryptocurrencies to Craftopia?
A: We asked the community via the English account, everyone was angry about it. That means no.
Q: Will you sell Mono Doll in real life? I am willing to pay, just sell me please!
A: We are willing to make one!
Q: A white circle on a face of Mono, is it an eye, a mouth, or a target?
A: Wait a sec, I will anatomize them to see the result…
Q: Which games are most played amongst the member of Pocketpair?
A: Right now, it’s Farthest Frontier. This year, Elden Ring.
Q: What hot pot will you have in the end of this year?
A: Come see us in the end of this year. We will show you the real Cow Hot Pot.
Q: When will you stream a crab hot pot?
A: Crab should be implemented beforehand.
Q: What will you have as a dinner tonight?
A: I often have Yuba Tofu called Hannari Yuba Oboro(はんなり湯葉おぼろ).
Q: What will mineral deposits look like? Will they remain on the ground or appear only in a cave?
A: Mineral deposits can be seen around the same kind of spots as the current Craftopia.
But the pattern and the location of deposits may vary depending on biomes or game progression. For example, many Copper Deposits are located around collapsed rocks.
Q: Will there be other usage of minerals like Adamantite?
A: The variation of minerals and ingots are just too wide that we want to sort them out with the Seamless Map Update. Some minerals and ingots may be removed then.
Q: Will we be able to gather Salt from the ocean?
A: Not just salt, there are many items that we need so bad but are hard to obtain. We will improve the situation with the Seamless Map Update.
Q: Will there be any couterplan against depletable resources such as wood, minerals, and treasure chests?
A: Some resources are limited and depletable by design. But we may add the ways to obtain some items that are crucial to the gameplay.
Q: There has been a limitation on the number of automation items. Will there be any solution to this when the Seamless Map Update comes alive?
A: Automation is the thing we definitely cannot miss. We will put lots of effort after the size of the map is fixed. Please wait for the future announcement.
Q: Will there be any system that allows us to transport items and mobs for a long distance?
A: Only transportation available is Conveyor Belt in the current Craftopia. We’re discussing and planning to add other transportations as well.
But the most prioritized thing right now is to make the Seamless Map. We will announce the development status report once it’s determined and ready to show.
Q: Will you add the useful feature that makes it easier to store and use items efficiently?
A: (Such as storing items to, or use items from nearby storages like you can do in Terraria; the high-capacity chest with the sorting feature, expansion of existing Cloud Storage) We are aware of the storage issue and taking it seriously. We’re considering if we could address this issue fundamentally.
Q: Will vehicles and pets have their inventories?
A: The idea itself is discussed amongst the development team, though we’ve already added Fast Travel and this makes bringing back items very easy. Adding inventories is heavy on both the performance side and the development process. We’ll consider this carefully.
Q: The scale of the world will be bigger and players will need to move for a longer distance than before. Will you add new vehicles and adjust their motorability?
A: We will adjust vehicles and add Fast Travel to make it less stressful to explore around the Seamless Map.
Q: It has been pretty difficult to drive vehicles in Craftopia. Will you fix it?
A: The controls of vehicles are not logical things and we need to consider carefully before making drastic changes.
We notice that the current Craftopia has terrains with bumps and slopes. We could add wide road for vehicles to make it easier to drive vehicles around.
Q: Will you improve dungeon selection system?
A: We have made changes on dungeons. Each dungeon has unique gimmicks and bosses. They are totally different from the current straight-from-the-very-start-to-the-very-end-and-the-bosses-are-the-same style dungeons.
Q: Will the map be a random one or a fixed one?
A: We are making one fixed map. We considered randomly generated map in the early stage of development, though when the story is a thing, a fixed map is better.
Q: If it’s a fixed one, will you add new one with DLC or the future updates?
A: Sure. But making the Seamless Map is our prioritized target.
Q: There have been non-editable objects such as buildings and bridges of a village. Will they be editable in the Seamless Map Update?
A: I want to make my own ideal village for them. “Answer is that it’s hard to allow players to edit villages as they like.
We have newly added fixed objects to villages to give the village-feel. You might be able to build and deploy new buildings inside of a village, though you might not be able to edit them to reshape them from scratch.”
Q: Will you make terrain modifiable?
A: To make this happen, we need to re-develop the whole system. This will take lots of lots of time to develop again, so we’ve decided to go with immodifiable terrains.
Q: How many times will be the Seamless Map bigger than the current map?
A: Size-wise, it’s just several tens of times bigger. But its height and new content added to the map make it feel wider and larger to explore, we reckon,
Q: We can’t find anything under water. Will we be able to dive deeper to gather resources, or build under water?
A: We want you to enjoy over ground gameplay for now.
But we’re experimenting with caves to provide you with different experiences. If many players strongly desire it, we will consider if we could make it happen.
Q: What will happen to the respawn point?
A: The bed you’ll deploy and some locations will be Respawn Points. You can teleport to a Respawn Point, so it will dynamically reduce the time required to travel around.
Q: Will the age progression affect the Seamless Map?
A: The age progression will not affect the map in the current state of the Seamless Map Update, though we will consider them.
Q: Will you add the area where many mechs such as bots, drones, and turrets are placed?
A: We like the concept, so we will consider it. Thanks!
Q: Will you address the performance issue that occurs when we build many buildings? FPS drops and memory usage increases when we build many buildings in the current map. We heard that the Seamless Map will be larger and we will definitely build much more buildings. I am very concerned.
A: The overall environment will be changed with the Seamless Map Update; therefore, we can’t guarantee anything about the performance yet.
Of course, we’re having our eyes on the performance all the time, so we will try our best not to make it worse.”
Q: We can’t play on different islands in Multiplayer. Can we build different bases in different area after the Seamless Map Update?
A: In the Seamless Map Update, you can build your base while other players explore other biomes to gather resources.
Q: Will you add new island maps after the Seamless Map Update?
A: We haven’t planned to add islands yet because you will explore the several tens of times bigger continent instead of small islands. The idea of “the space” was recently discussed in the meeting, please wait for the future announcement.
Q: Will previous islands and Altar of Transportation have any usage after the Seamless Map Update?
A: Unfortunately, they will not be used in the Seamless Map Update anymore.
Q: Will it take longer to save after the Seamless Map Update?
A: We can’t guarantee anything yet.
Q: What will happen to the current save data?
A: Some save data might be very difficult to transfer, but we’ve planned to have the current Craftopia available to play even after the Seamless Map Update.
Q: Will you add seasonal events?
A: We want to have the event limited furniture, or seasonal pets with different colors. We’d love to do it but it’s less prioritized. Adding furniture could be relatively easier so more likely to happen.
Q: Will you hold an alpha test of the Seamless Map Update on the official multiplayer server?
A: We’re considering it.
Q: Will you hold a test of the Seamless Map Update this year?
A: We’d love to hold a test at some point of the development but it’s not determined yet. I don’t want give too much pressure on the development team.
Original Link via discord here: