An update on development

Back online

 

In June, we sadly had to significantly cut down our server infrastructure due to rising server rental prices. This forced us to take down PaintSquad's playtest server, along with our public Rush server.

Although the situation is still tense, we've managed to secure additional resources that allow us to bring a couple of game servers back to the public, which brings us to a special announcement for today...

We're happy to announce that the playtest version of PaintSquad 3.0 is now back online! Additionally, we're also bringing back our kart racing game "Rush". A legacy version of PaintSquad (PaintSquad 2.1) is also returning in the form of a memorial server.

 

 

A look into the past

 

For those who missed it: PaintSquad 2.1 is our legacy version that ran until Summer 2023. We sadly had to take the game offline due to severe stability issues and game-breaking bugs, which eventually led to the development of PaintSquad 3.0. (You can read more about the start of PaintSquad's maintenance phase here)

 

The PaintSquad memorial server is intended to give new players the opportunity to experience the content of the legacy version of PaintSquad. Although it has its issues, it undeniably remains an important part of the server's history.

 

At this point, we'd also like to mention that PaintSquad 2.1 is very much a product of its time. Many of the design decisions we made back then have been completely overhauled over the last few years. This version of the game unfortunately still suffers from many of the performance and stability problems that led us to shut down PaintSquad in July 2023. Because of this, we'll be performing several daily restarts to deal with any problems that may arise.

 

Please also keep in mind that we won't be able to act on bug reports for this version of the game, as it is no longer being actively developed. Additionally, this version still uses a copy of the production database: This means that your save game will be identical to how you left it the last time you played PaintSquad 2.1. Please note, however, that any additional progress made on the memorial server will not be carried over once PaintSquad 3.0 enters its early-access phase.

 

 

Server Addresses

 

Here is a summary of all the game servers that are available again:

• PaintSquad European Playtest:
  • Server Address: eu.playtest.xenyria.net
  • Version: Minecraft: Java Edition, 1.21.4
• Rush:
  • Server Address: rush.xenyria.net
  • Version: Minecraft: Java Edition, 1.20.1
• PaintSquad Memorial Server:
  • Server Address: memorial.xenyria.net
  • Version: Minecraft: Java Edition, 1.20.1

 

What we're working on (and why it's taking so long)

 

At the moment, the development and design team behind Xenyria and Pixelground Labs consists of a single person: me.

Although I've been putting several hours of work into Xenyria every day for the last two years, we're still a few months away from being able to release a new playable version of PaintSquad's 3.0 Update. Most of the work we've done over the last two years has been focused on building a solid foundation for PaintSquad, Rush, and any other experiences that will eventually be hosted on the server. The goal is to prevent the issue that ultimately made PaintSquad 2.1's codebase unmaintainable from happening again: rushing the implementation of features on an already shaky foundation.

 

A lot of time is now spent on planning systems thoroughly along with writing tests which allow us to catch issues with our software before an update is shipped. Last year, we also started rewriting a majority of the codebases used by Xenyria and Pixelground Labs (around 50 internal software projects in total) in a different programming language to improve productivity and overall developer experience. 

 

During the previous playtest, we were able to identify several architectural problems that needed to be fixed before we could continue building new content on top of them. Additionally, we've also had to adjust some of our existing systems to take advantage of new features introduced to Minecraft. At the same time changes to Minecraft's own engine have also required us to make even more changes to some of our systems.

 

Although there isn't any new content ready yet, we have been working on slowly incorporating some of the things people have asked for over the years into the redesign of PaintSquad and Xenyria. This includes:

 

• Being able to build, test, and submit your own stages using the same tools available to the staff team.
• Being able to help translate the game into other languages and improve existing translations.
• Laying the groundwork for systems such as a friend list, party system, direct messaging, and other social features.
• Giving PaintSquad its own original design identity and focusing on more original content.
• Building new stages and visually overhauling and redesigning existing ones.
• Designing a new hub world and expanding the game's worldbuilding.
• Start work on a new website for Xenyria.
• Major redesigns of weapon and gear models.

 

As of now, we estimate that there are around 3-4 months of development left before we can start working on PaintSquad's code directly again. Unfortunately, this also means that we'll have to delay PaintSquad's early-access phase to Spring 2027. Still, we hope that the re-release of Rush & both PaintSquad servers will make the wait time a bit more endurable.

 

 

And with that, we've arrived at the end of today's blog post. We know the wait is long, but we hope having Rush and the classic PaintSquad servers back online will make the downtime much more enjoyable. We plan on resuming our monthly recap posts as soon as we have new gameplay & content to show off. In the mean time, we're also available on the Xenyria Discord Server in case you have any questions or want to coordinate game sessions with other users.

 

Thank you for your continued support and patience. 💚