Watch out Minecraft, Hytale says its new world generation system will "redefine the block game genre"

Despite seeming close to death just a couple of months ago, we're now just days away from Hytale arriving in very early access. There's been huge buzz around the Minecraft rival for years, but since being prised from the clutches of Riot Games, the hype has reached new levels. Despite its art style, I've always been struck by how beautiful Hytale looks, but apparently, it'll look even better soon - and things will get much easier when it comes to creating and editing your own cubic kingdoms. V2 of Hytale's world generation system will "redefine the block-game genre," according to Hypixel Studios' top dog - and although it'll launch with V1, it'll offer you small glimpses of V2 worlds.

After years of secrecy and silence under Riot's watch, it's been a complete 180 ever since Hytale was reacquired by the original founder of Hypixel Studios, Simon Collins-Laflamme. Bam, here's a new Hytale release date that'll get the game in your hands as rapidly as possible. Bosh, here's some raw gameplay footage. Bazinga, here's a blog post revealing some huge details that could see it become one of the best building games ever. It's been relentless, but in a good way.

Regarding the latter, Hypixel has just posted a new article that talks about world generation - more specifically, the differences between V1 of its system, which will be in place when Hytale launches next week, and its beefier V2.

This new version of its procedural world generation system, which has been in the works since 2021, "will completely replace V1 once we're ready, and will be the generator we support going forward." Hytale's planet, known as Orbis, is already fully realized in V1, hence why the game is launching with the original version, but Hypixel is rapidly recreating it in V2. "V1 will eventually stop generating chunks, but your old V1 worlds will still be accessible," the studio reassures.

However, while roaming around V1 Orbis in Exploration mode, you'll be able to step through what Hypixel is calling "Gateways." These will allow you to "see and experience V2 content that is under construction" before the game is fully shifted over to the new version. However, it's worth noting that this upgraded world generation system doesn't simply mean 'better looking worlds' - this is more about enhancing what's under the hood in order to create a wider array of environments more easily.

The full blog post goes into nittier and grittier details, but in essence, V2 is going to be incredibly versatile and adaptable. "Anyone can create content and modify world-gen without knowing how to code, as V2 can be edited directly in our node editor," Hypixel says. "Creators can get started with just a few tutorials and some time to practice. We believe we'll see creators discover new techniques and tricks for creating content that even we didn't think of, further expanding what can be done with worldgen.

"With our visual node editor, creators can build advanced procedural content by configuring and linking simple nodes," the post continues. "When editing world-gen, the world live-reloads in-game to reflect the changes made within the editor. This is all to make creating advanced biomes easier and faster, bridging the gap between developers and creators."

There's also improved asset-placing logic, which is more intelligent when it comes to contextually dropping items into procedurally generated landscapes. An example given involves ash trees, which will only spawn on blocks with empty spaces beneath them, such as caves. This allows ash trees to become natural markers that players can spot of where entrances to caves may be.

Collins-Lamflamme closes out the blog post with a confident statement on the impact V2 will have on Hytale. "As I mentioned publicly a few days ago, this new approach to world generation will redefine the block-game genre," he says. "For the first time, artists and game designers can take full ownership of world generation, with complete control over the final result. This is a fundamental shift away from a world shaped almost solely by programmers."

However, Hypixel will soon be hiring over a dozen new "world designers" once the game is live, and these will largely be sourced from the community. While Hypixel of course wants world creation to be as firmly in players' hands as possible, it still needs devs to create the assets, biomes, and tools that are required. In essence, it wants Hytale to be "carefully handcrafted while remaining infinitely procedural."

I'm sure these more accessible world building and editing tools are going to turn the heads of many Minecraft players, especially those that have considered getting into the modding scene or hosting private servers. While I don't expect any kind of mass exodus from Mojang's behemoth, V2 could be one of the big draws to drag players away later down the line.