Thank you all for the very insightful and encouraging feedback I got since the release of the prototype! I worked on adding some of the suggested things. Many others are still missing but for me it seems to be better to release smaller updates more often in the current state of the prototype where there is not yet much to do inside the game.

With this update you now have the option to choose between joystick locomotion (called standard mode in the main menu) or the jog in place mechanic (called sportive mode). Each mode has its own save slot in this release. But in the future I plan to add more configurability and you will be able to set the options per savegame.

Standard mode will also allow you to mine blocks by a button press but your tool or hand still needs to overlap the block that you want to mine.

This update also includes the first test for a simple crafting guide. It will appear in front of you when you start the game and you can take it with you. It is just a basic version at the moment that will show all existing recipes. You can change the page with a button press when you are holding it.

On the world generation side there is now some simple grass created. But it can not yet be picked/mined in this version.

One important to know additional change is that floating blocks are not saved anymore. So if you quit the game they will disappear if they are not in your inventory. The main reason for this is that it resulted in performance issues when too many floating blocks were in the world. But in compensation now the stack size for blocks was increased to 64 blocks per inventory slot (before it was only 16). Additionally mining a voxel will result only in a block when the proper tool is used. The only exception are tree and wood that can still be mined by hand. The current gameplay rules are that you need a shovel for dirt or sand and a pickaxe for stone. Using a different tool will still allow you to destroy the voxel though.

In case you choose to use the jogging locomotion there is now also an in-game wrist watch style counter for the ~ jogged kilometers.

The full change log for version 0.3.2 is

• added standard mode (enables smooth stick locomotion)
• standard mode now allows to mine via button press (tool/hand needs to overlap the block)
• added simple crafting guide
• increased default stack size for items to 16 (before 4) and block stack size to 64 (before 16)
• mining will only result in blocks when the proper tool is used  (with the exception that trees can be mined by hand)
• added basic grass plants to terrain generation (not yet mineable)
• floating voxel blocks will not be saved anymore (only tools/items) as they  affected performance too much when kept
• fixed issue with hit point detection of tools
• fixed issue with recipe symmetry
• default max mine speed is now 0.5s and reset time is increased to 3.0s
• added arm display for in-game jogged distance
• added return to main menu via menu button press
• added a few additional recipes and items inspired from mine_test
•  mined/build blocks statistics increment only for physical motion

I hope you have some fun in this small prototype. Let me know how you feel about the changes and what comes to your mind when trying it out.

I have not yet fully decided what I will implement next from a gameplay perspective but I will continue to fix bugs that are found and also try to improve the basic mechanics further with all the feedback I get. Some candidates for implementation are haptic feedback on the controllers for interactions; a particle system that gives some visual feedback when you mine or grab a block and maybe some initial implementation of ores and smelting to have something more to do in the game. I also know that many people would like to see mobs in the game. I will see how I can implement something simple with the available time I have.