Ethercraft: Updates & New Items
We’ve got a few modest but important updates to discuss along with an announcement that will hopefully get everyone excited.
Changes and Updates
- fixed bug with display for item type and rarity
- related: Mage Mincer and Stone Skin Amulet should both now show as Legendary items
- improvements to mobile compatibility and styling
- inventory items should now properly adapt to browser width
- upgraded webserver
- Translations: Japanese and Spanish translations are now live. Since development is incremental, translations aren’t 100% completed yet (and probably won’t be for a while), but what we have now is fairly comprehensive, covering item name and item description for all 60 of our current items, with more interface strings and additional languages in the pipeline.
- Dedicated node: To alleviate any potential lag resulting from node congestion, so we’ve set up a dedicated Ethereum node which users can optionally use with MetaMask when interacting with the client. This should make everything nice and snappy and will help make the experience a lot smoother for those who elect to use it. Details on how to connect to our node will be provided with the next update.
New Items
In preparation for the crafting system, we will be releasing a set of Enchanted crafting items consisting of various powders, tinctures, viscera, etc. We’re going to do things a little differently this time; most of these materials will be start at very low prices and will range from 0.01 to 0.05 ETH, with the vast majority starting at 0.01. The majority of these limited-run items will be Rare, and their sale will end with the sale of the current set of 60 items around the middle of next month. After that, like most of our current set, they will either never be available again, or their replacements will be more costly or less effective. Our goal with this set is to both create a solid foundation for our early crafting tree and to enable increased participation by those who were simply priced out of the first round of items.
On that note, I’d like to add that as a result of the highest demand of any of the top-tier items, Pep’s Token has officially become our first 1-ETH item (and rightfully so) and will never again be available for less than 1 ETH.
Important note on prices and how our client handles transactions
tl;dr: This is a minor technical note, but it’s important to be aware of.
The price for each item is determined by its controller contract. This is an exact number measured in wei and can be viewed either through etherscan or simply by clicking the price of the item on the individual item’s page which will then copy the price in ETH to your clipboard. (This also works for the contract address—simply click on the item’s graphic.) For example, at the time of this writing, the current exact price of the Frog Hat is 0.352 ETH which I was able to copy by simply clicking on the price displayed on the Frog Hat page. However, the price displayed on the Frog Hat page is different:
What is the reason for this discrepancy? The answer is simple: Since prices for in-demand items change with each purchase, and because transactions will fail if you send less ETH than the current price of an item, we round the display price up for the convenience of users who are not using our official client (such as people buying through MEW). The same thing happens again when you click BUY—if the item’s price has already increased due to high demand, the price which is automatically filled into MetaMask is rounded up to a number slightly above the true current price, helping to prevent failed transactions, inconvenience, and confusion on the part of the user.
Does this mean we’re taking more ETH than advertised? No. Any excess ETH you send to any of our Enchanted item contracts will be credited to your address’s balance for that item and will be available for withdrawal immediately. For example, you send twice the price of any given item, you will immediately be credited half of the amount that you sent, meaning that the amount that you will have paid is the exact price of the item. This is important during periods of high activity because prices can change with each subsequent transaction.
However, if you wish to send only the exact price of the item and no more, you can do so using the exact price as described above. (Do this at your own risk—it’s more likely that your transaction will fail, in which case you’ll forfeit the gas for that transaction.)
Failed Transactions
We’ve noticed a number of repeated failed transactions coming from just a small number addresses. So far, though, nobody on either Discord or Telegram has reported any problems. We have our theories about why this is, but if anyone out there is having trouble with transactions going through for any reason, please contact us — we are happy to help.
Crafting Items: Release Date and Time
Our working plan is to release the crafting item set some time after 10:00 PM (20:00) UTC tomorrow, January 19th. If you’re not already there, join us on Discord and Telegram in order to stay in the loop.
Misc.
Core Game Design Details
It has come to my attention that I simply haven’t done a great job of explaining our vision for the playable game and how we intend to proceed. Although I’ve done a lot of Q&A on Discord and elsewhere, I intend on releasing a comprehensive article here on Medium in the coming days outlining exactly how the game will look, feel, play, and function.
As always, you may have to clear or bypass your cache for the changes to the site to take effect and to render properly. If you are having this problem with Japanese, clear your cache!
Stay tuned for updates!
Social media:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ethercraft_io
- Telegram: https://t.me/ethercraft_io
- Discord: https://discord.gg/WAJdrvw
- Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ethercraft_io/
