Console Dual Threat: Terraria is Coming to Wii U and 3DS

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I'm unsure if this has been confirmed... But is Terraria 3DS/Wii U version coming to Au? (Is Eu the same?; cause BOI:R came in Eu and wasn't for Au)
 
A quick note on content, then:

We've essentially got 1.2, minecarts, fishing, and a few other minor bits. We've already got more content in development and expect to add that in the Spring as a free update. As @Loki already pointed out, the technical ceiling is lower on 3DS than on any platform we've released Terraria on. If your bite point on the 3DS version is 'I want this to have all the same content as the PC version', then, apologies, this isn't going to be for you. On this generation of Nintendo handheld, that is an impossibility.

We've crammed as much in as we can to give the best experience possible on 3DS. I would advise the people of this forum to think of it as a companion to your 'main' Terraria. Newcomers to the series playing it first on 3DS are going to be blown away, of course.

The world size is the same size as on mobile. Towards the end of of production we had the possibility to make it slightly larger, but after consultation with Re-Logic we agreed that bringing back the biome backgrounds was more valuable. You can see the difference in the earliest videos that emerged and the current ones, and I'm happy we made the right call there.

I would also like to (briefly) address some of the technical issues that have been discussed in this thread: in order to create a 3D game on 3DS, you end up taking a huge performance hit as you have to render the world twice. Terraria is a 2D game. It might have looked nice for a while to have a bit of separation between the foreground tiles and the background layer, but can you imagine looking at that for hundreds of hours? What does it really add? We decided it wasn't worth compromising the game further to tick a box we didn't feel was important anyway. If you feel differently, again, stick with the version you already play.

Onto New 3DS: googling the specs of that machine and deciding that because it's got more RAM that the game would be twice as good on that platform is a gross oversimplification. I don't rule out the possibility of branching the New 3DS version at a later date if the demand is there, but the launch version must be as inclusive as possible.

I know some of you are disappointed at the lack of a demo, but I stand by the remarks I made earlier in the thread about why that was not a priority for us for launch. I saw one suggestion about creating a bespoke 300x300 world for you to have a play in, and it's a decent idea. But please understand that diverting the development resources to create a stand-alone version could not be priority for us pre-launch. The suggestion is well noted, though.

My feeling is in this age of the internet it's impossible to hide a bad game anymore. YouTube and social media see to that pretty quickly. We're confident that we've made an excellent game to ship, and we'll continue to work after launch. Once I get some download codes, I'll contact some of the people that have already posted in this thread and offer them the chance to play it. I realise the approval of your peers is far more convincing than anything I can tell you, so it's in my interest to help that along.

It was great to be able to show you new footage as part of Nintendo Direct. I may have cheekily hinted as much earlier in the thread, but I was deliberately subtle as Nintendo had us sworn to secrecy. The reception was overwhelmingly positive, and I can't wait to get the game out there. If only there was a way to make that happen sooner, hmm...
 
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When I said you could make the game twice as good, I wasn't being completely serious - I just meant there's a bit more to work with there.
I can deal with no 3D and small worlds - bit gutted about the no online - but I'm sure the game will be great on 3DS, thanks for the update Deanzor.
Nice to hear you got fishing and minecarts in!

I watched the whole direct and didn't see any Terraria! (the only game I've been looking forward to!)
 
I suggest for some Nintendo exclusive content, such as pieces of heart which gives you an extra quarter heart each.
[DOUBLEPOST=1447847493,1447847052][/DOUBLEPOST]Another Nintendo exclusive could be th peanut pop gun
 
Just curious, how does having more content tax the RAM? I thought RAM would only limit world sizes. This may be too in depth a question to be explained. I thought that the total index of items and bosses would be stored on the harddrive, seeing as it's like long term memory.
 
Just curious, how does having more content tax the RAM? I thought RAM would only limit world sizes. This may be too in depth a question to be explained. I thought that the total index of items and bosses would be stored on the harddrive, seeing as it's like long term memory.

I don't think it's the amount of content as such, but things like how many blocks/coins/items you can have stacked on the floor before disappearing.
 
My understanding is that all versions of Terraria pretty much load everything up into memory at game start.....so the more you stuff into a single world/character file pair, the more RAM needed. (Please note that I am NOT a techie, so this is just my understanding....one of the more technical side folks would need to provide needed detail,s I suspect. ;) )
 
What about the South African release date?

Must admit, being from the UK I don't have much idea about South African games retail. If you're buying on the eShop, then the release should be the same in all territories. We've not announced a date for Wii U beyond 'early 2016', which is as much as I can tell you at the moment.

The 3DS version will definitely be released before the Wii U version. I suspect there will be a concrete release date for that version announced in the next week or so.
 
Just curious, how does having more content tax the RAM? I thought RAM would only limit world sizes. This may be too in depth a question to be explained. I thought that the total index of items and bosses would be stored on the harddrive, seeing as it's like long term memory.
My understanding is that all versions of Terraria pretty much load everything up into memory at game start.....so the more you stuff into a single world/character file pair, the more RAM needed. (Please note that I am NOT a techie, so this is just my understanding....one of the more technical side folks would need to provide needed detail,s I suspect. ;) )
RAM is an acronym that is short for "Random Access Memory". It gets that name from being nothing more than a SSD (Solid State Drive, which is a storage medium that, unlike Hard Disk Drives, stores data electronically, rather than physically writing it to a disk) with tremendously fast read speeds, thus allowing for data within it to be retrieved virtually instantaneously. Thus, that data can be accessed in whatever random intervals that may be required.

Most games can work around lower RAM availability by making use of loading screens, during which large amounts of data of whatever is currently necessary is loaded into RAM, ranging from graphics and sounds to necessary engine calculations and statistics. Terraria on the other hand, after world load, possesses no further loading screens or progressive background loading (from what I'm aware). Data for characters, NPCs, enemies, items, the world, and everything else in the game is loaded into RAM when you enter a world, and stays in RAM until you leave. This way, any sort of data the game might need is always readily available and can be loaded in an instant. This system allows the entire world to be active simultaneously, and prevents delays in waiting for, say, item or enemy stats, graphics, and sounds when you encounter them.

This is why RAM is such a limiting factor on what content can be included in the 3DS port of Terraria.

Er...I will disclaim that I'm not (currently) a programmer, and the information I have provided is a product of my examinations and some reading I've done from time to time. Errors are entirely possible, and I would appreciate if someone could correct any mistakes I've made in my explanation.
 
New players don't expect for a loading screen every time they enter a biome or kill an enemy, it ruins the "open world" feel of an open world
 
My feeling is in this age of the internet it's impossible to hide a bad game anymore. YouTube and social media see to that pretty quickly. We're confident that we've made an excellent game to ship, and we'll continue to work after launch. Once I get some download codes, I'll contact some of the people that have already posted in this thread and offer them the chance to play it. I realise the approval of your peers is far more convincing than anything I can tell you, so it's in my interest to help that along.
That's awesome I would love to try it out or see some more footage.
 
A quick note on content, then:

We've essentially got 1.2, minecarts, fishing, and a few other minor bits. We've already got more content in development and expect to add that in the Spring as a free update. As @Loki already pointed out, the technical ceiling is lower on 3DS than on any platform we've released Terraria on. If your bite point on the 3DS version is 'I want this to have all the same content as the PC version', then, apologies, this isn't going to be for you. On this generation of Nintendo handheld, that is an impossibility.

We've crammed as much in as we can to give the best experience possible on 3DS. I would advise the people of this forum to think of it as a companion to your 'main' Terraria. Newcomers to the series playing it first on 3DS are going to be blown away, of course.

The world size is the same size as on mobile. Towards the end of of production we had the possibility to make it slightly larger, but after consultation with Re-Logic we agreed that bringing back the biome backgrounds was more valuable. You can see the difference in the earliest videos that emerged and the current ones, and I'm happy we made the right call there.

I would also like to (briefly) address some of the technical issues that have been discussed in this thread: in order to create a 3D game on 3DS, you end up taking a huge performance hit as you have to render the world twice. Terraria is a 2D game. It might have looked nice for a while to have a bit of separation between the foreground tiles and the background layer, but can you imagine looking at that for hundreds of hours? What does it really add? We decided it wasn't worth compromising the game further to tick a box we didn't feel was important anyway. If you feel differently, again, stick with the version you already play.

Onto New 3DS: googling the specs of that machine and deciding that because it's got more RAM that the game would be twice as good on that platform is a gross oversimplification. I don't rule out the possibility of branching the New 3DS version at a later date if the demand is there, but the launch version must be as inclusive as possible.

I know some of you are disappointed at the lack of a demo, but I stand by the remarks I made earlier in the thread about why that was not a priority for us for launch. I saw one suggestion about creating a bespoke 300x300 world for you to have a play in, and it's a decent idea. But please understand that diverting the development resources to create a stand-alone version could not be priority for us pre-launch. The suggestion is well noted, though.

My feeling is in this age of the internet it's impossible to hide a bad game anymore. YouTube and social media see to that pretty quickly. We're confident that we've made an excellent game to ship, and we'll continue to work after launch. Once I get some download codes, I'll contact some of the people that have already posted in this thread and offer them the chance to play it. I realise the approval of your peers is far more convincing than anything I can tell you, so it's in my interest to help that along.

It was great to be able to show you new footage as part of Nintendo Direct. I may have cheekily hinted as much earlier in the thread, but I was deliberately subtle as Nintendo had us sworn to secrecy. The reception was overwhelmingly positive, and I can't wait to get the game out there. If only there was a way to make that happen sooner, hmm...

Every time I look at this thread and see a post from Deanzor I'm like... WOOOOOOOOO... More stuff confirmed!? Was not disappointed with the info you gave us at all. I think this game will work so well on 3DS/Wii U!? Love 505's work and I know this game will change the face of Terraria (like previous console/mobile versions), opening the door for more Terrarians from everywhere. I am amazed with how 505 has put it together so far, with the unique opening menu to the various things that make this version special from the others!?

I must say, seeing Terraria evolve so much since console version has amazed me (also reminding me how fast time goes by). You guys have made this happen (505 and ReLogic alike), thank you for an amazing experience every time.

Keep Up the Good Work!?
 
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