Terraria Enters its Teens!

You heard right, everyone - Terraria has officially entered its teenage years. Don't worry, we promise that we won't be any more moody and rebellious than we always have been! This time of the year is always special to the Terraria development team. It is a time of celebration, but moreso a time of reflection: on the journey we have taken thus far, what is coming soon, and what may lie ahead beyond that horizon. It is humbling to know that our small team has been able to release and support a game as successful as Terraria for all these years.

Even more humbling is the unwavering support that each of you have shown us throughout those thirteen years. Through the ups and downs that game dev and even life has thrown at us - and all of you - your support has been the one constant that we know we can rely on each and every day. In fact. we appreciate you so much that we got YOU a birthday present...


Enter a world where Hardmode was brand new and the mech bosses represented the ultimate challenge - take a glimpse at how far Terraria has come!


We are looking forward to seeing what you make of Terraria 1.4.5 an Crossplay (hopefully!) . Who knows what exactly the future holds beyond that, but what we do know is that the path forward for the Terraria franchise and its fans is a very bright one! We expect to see you all back here next year and for many more years to come!



We thought it might be fun for everyone to get a chance to hear a few stories from our Terraria testing crew. These could be broad personal reflections - or even just fun little happenings that occurred along the way over the years. Without further ado, let the storytelling commence!

DARTHMORF
Hey everyone, I’m ‘darthmorf’ or Sam – some of you may know me as a moderator on the Terraria forums or may have used my Terraria Logo Maker[terraria-logo-maker.darthmorf.co.uk] tool. I’ve also been lucky enough to help test early version of the game since around mid 2017 and have had a great time over the years getting to peek behind the curtain and get to know the developers and my fellow testers (and a few other people from the community too!). The group multiplayer playthroughs are so much fun, and I still manage to learn something new about the game every time I play ... between the many many deaths that is. Certain moments during testing for both Master Mode and the even harder seed variants like 'For the Worthy' were particularly tough, not to mention the trolling from other members of the testing team and even the developers! I very much empathise with the original 1.3 Expert Mode testers ...



We got to see lots of funny, weird and interesting bugs too. I sadly can't mention all of them, but a favourite of mine was the brief period of time when ALL projectiles were affected by wind. It made certain boss fights quite interesting, even if it was totally unplayable! Just don't mention infinite boulders, or the 'Wall of Guide'...


Hmm, yes this is how you sit in a chair, right?


There seems to be something wrong with this campfire.


Motion smoothing for teleporting enemies might have been a mistake...


What do you mean I can't deploy my stool while grappled to a wall!?

Another huge highlight of my time was getting to meet up with a few other members of the community, along with some people from Re-Logic, DR Studios and 505 Games back in July 2019[forums.terraria.org]. It was truly a blast to hang out in person and I cannot wait until we get to do it next.



I've been a part of this amazing community for a while now, and I'm still blown away by just how friendly and kind everyone is. It's been a huge privilege to witness everything I have, and to take part in so much. I'm proud to have been able to give back a little by organising community events such as the amazing Creation Compendium[forums.terraria.org] (go check these out if you haven't - there are some stunning creations in there!) I'd also like to thank Re-Logic from the bottom of my heart for all the amazing opportunities they've given and generosity that they've shown me. I'm lucky enough to have my own career in game development which I would not have without what I've learnt testing this game.

Here's to another 13 years!!!
Wall of guide?[forums.terraria.org]



J BAME
I remember back when beta testing 1.4.4 balance changes, Nimbus and I noticed that whip sizes were strangely inconsistent, sometimes some whips were inexplainably bigger than normal. We quickly realized some armors were increasing Whip Range when they were not supposed to. We started taking off pieces to see which one was bugged, then we realized it wasn't just armor, it was accessories too.

It was so weird that we had to ask Leinfors to check the code and see what the problem was. He looked up which items increased whip range... and then he found the problem. When he gave a 10% range bonus to Tiki Mask, he had accidentally given the same buff to 90% of the items in the game.

This was caused by a single character typo in the code: Instead of checking for which Item ID was equal to Tiki Mask's, it was checking which ID was equal or greater than Tiki Mask's. That was a fun day. We will always remember you, Leinfors.



AURORA3500
My story with Terraria began with learning about it when I was in my last year of high school through youtube videos shared by my classmates. It looked like a very interesting game and I got it gifted to me in late 2011. I played it overtime and learned a lot about it starting from 1.1. And then lurked in Terraria Online for a few years. Mostly to follow dev updates and to get Tconfig Mods.

Later when TCF was born, I would join that after learning it was the new official Forums of Terraria. At 1st I still lurked, and mostly used it to see news for the updates. Seeing the announcement for both Terraria Otherworld and 1.3 was a very exciting time and I got involved more in the community during that time.

I had no idea where it would lead a year later, as the call for new Moderators was put out, I put in a moderator application. Because TCF had become more than a place to discuss Terraria. It was a family. I was inspired from learning what Terraria developers such as Leinfors and Ghostar have done for the game and seeing that they started out as Forum members just like many of us. When I was accepted into the Forum staff, the Forum staff and developers also became family to me. TCF means a lot to me due to how a real effort is put forth to ensure that it is a welcoming place for many people. It is taken for granted across the internet which is why it feels like a treasure.

Sometime after that, I was accepted as a beta tester, to test for the game I love a ton and have invested more hours than any other game into. Together with Unit One who joined the Forum staff and became a tester at the same time as me, we tested the end of 1.3.5, and began to test 1.3.6. At the time none of us had any idea it would become the grand 1.4 update known as Journey's End.

As it developed, I continued my work on the Forums with the Forum staff, and also worked with Leinfors and other testers to test the game, report bugs, and share our own feedback. Memories with Leinfors, other testers from our chats and playthroughs are memories I continue to cherish. One of my favorite moments of 1.4 testing was when the Bestiary was confirmed to be added to the game. I love Monster Guide type features in the various JRPGs and Metroidvanias I love and I doubted my eyes that it was also coming to Terraria. I asked Lein if I was dreaming. And he assured me that I wasn't dreaming, that it was being planned for awhile. It's a moment that still gets me giddy.

One of the favorite bugs I discovered during 1.4 testing was with the Zombie Merman Moonwalking backwards. It never made it to release due to how I looked at Blood Moon fishing once it was added.



1.4.4 is another standout update to me. It is my next favorite update due to how it added the Remix seed, and increased the stack size for all items to 9999, among other additions.

Terraria itself has held longtime appeal to me due to how it takes elements of platformers, metroidvania games, and JRPGs and blends them with sandbox building gameplay. They have always been my favorite types of games and are mixed perfectly in Terraria.

Beyond Terraria itself, the community, dev team, and my fellow Forum staff members and testers remain an important family to me. To this day I continue to give what I can to it in hopes of making all of it an even better place.

Times were hard in 2023 when we lost Leinfors. It has taken time to process, but I've used that time to better myself physically and mentally in multiple areas of life, and continue to be an active part of the Forums while testing the game. I think it's what Lein would want. So I plan to keep giving myself to TCF, and Terraria, to ensure the Forums can be a home for anyone, and to make 1.4.5 another amazing update, and anything beyond that as well.



CRIDDLE
Hi, I'm Criddle! Maybe you know me from somewhere? I've been a beta tester since May 2017. Getting to contribute to the game and helping out the developers at Re-Logic alongside my fellow testers has been pretty incredible.

One of my favorite things to remember are the times we got to create our own paintings. The group playthroughs are also always exciting and chaotic. It can be really interesting listening to the devs discuss ideas.

Over the years I've run into many strange and amusing issues while testing the game.


...did someone mention infinite boulders?





FAIRYPRINCESSSERENITY
So, I don't exactly have a lot of funny stories to share. I tend to do a lot of the background building work that benefits everyone whenever our collective group does a playthrough together to test out new features. Arenas, NPC housing, farms. You get the idea. When I'm not doing that, I like to do things that try to break the game. If I can get Red to go “We gotta nerf that,” that's a good day. I also like to do funny stuff when no one is looking so they can react to it later on.

I remember when I imported a bunch of Terra Toilets into the playthrough world we were on, and I put them at a bunch of fishing holes. When someone asked why that was there I said “If you sit on a toilet, it makes you fish better. All the expert fishermen sit on toilets.” You know what happened? That joke became an actual feature.

When a bunch of us beta testers first joined the crew, we joined a world that had just gotten started a few hours ago. Red said “You need to use torches that match the biome you're in” because we were starting to test torch luck. I wanted to live in the ice biome, but I hate the ice torches. But Leinfors said as long as I don't use wrong torches, it wasn't against the rules to use whatever I want. So I used White Torches. And Lamps. And Lanterns. I made my home. Expanded it. Again, and again. I ended up making this amazing frozen base, and then because I had a lot of time to spare, I built a whole mountain on top of that. I remember that mountain fondly. Whenever I'm feeling nostalgic, I open that world and have a look at it. I wasn't an outlier - Everyone had a house on that world. One of the other testers (I won't say who) was crazy enough to have their house in the Crimson biome.



XMAN101
During one of the beta playthroughs for 1.4, Leinfors and a number of other testers were trying to figure out a strange bug with the Windy Day music. It seemed to play without rhyme or reason.

Turns out, it was no bug. It just so happened that my base on this playthrough was in range of spawn and I had set up a music box to play Windy Day at my base. Once discovered, it was promptly deactivated by Leinfors.



UNIT ONE
Happy Birthday Terraria!

It has been a wild ride that I am so thankful for. Getting to beta test the game is a dream come true, and working with my fellow beta testers has been such a wonderful experience. All of them love the game, and nerd out to it like I do, sometimes so much so that I can't keep up with their knowledge. They are truly passionate and experts at what they do.

One of my favorite bugs involved platinum axes showing up on empty weapon racks after opening legacy worlds. The weapon racks would be empty, I'd save and quit. Then open up that world in the newest beta, and boom, there were platinum axes on them. But not on all the empty weapon racks, it seemed so random and weird. Like I'm sure many of the other beta testers will mention in their stories, it was Leinfors that was right there, ready to dive into it.

After his first reaction (which was "Wtf Unit, phantom Platinum Axes" to which I replied, "Yeahhhh, I dunno..."), he posted this:


Everyone tried to figure it out, people were loading in old worlds and got the platinum axes showing up, but only on certain racks. After a bit, we left it for the dev team to sort out (like they always magically do).


So many platinum axes! Can you spot why it was happening? Turns out that only the weapon racks facing left were getting these phantom axes. Right-facing weapon racks remained empty on world load. Once Yorai and Lein had figured it out, all the phantom axes were put to rest, never to show up again.



DOYLEE
Don't challenge the creator of the game to a copper shortsword duel. He will win in ways you don't initially expect, whether that be boulders or banishment.



MANAUSER
One time I found an obscure bug in the king statue. Specifically, a lightning bug. We were testing 1.4 which added the NPC happiness system, and I took it upon myself to manually check every neighbor combination and biome preference. That all went fine, but I was using the king and queen statues to help with moving NPCs around and happened to find something completely different: The king statue could summon lightning bugs if there were any on the screen. That bug report got a surprised "Whaaaat" from Leinfors. But it turned out that the king statue was supposed to (and now does) work on the traveling merchant, but guess no one ever noticed it wasn't working because they didn't know it should. See, the traveling merchant is NPC 368 and the lightning bug is NPC 358 so a little typo was all it took to get a funny result.



SIGMA
Greetings, Terrarians!

You are probably reading this hoping for spoilers? Loki has been posting teasers for Terraria 1.4.5. At Re-Logic? They're actively working on Terraria 1.96.3!


Don't hold your breath waiting for Terraria 2… it’s at least 3000 years away.


Nah, just kidding. This is one of many amusing bugs that have come up during playtesting. After all, Terraria is a game where eating lunch in midair is a comparatively normal thing to do.

When a game has existed for 13 years and has over 5000 items (and counting), there are going to be strange and unexpected interactions. One of the very early (if not first) bugs I reported as a tester:


When meteors were shown in the background before landing, they were initially visible in the Underworld.



Herein provides an interesting crossover between bugs and contributions. An early version of my painting ‘Blessing from the Heavens’ was a reference to this. It had an Underworld frame and was intended to be found in Obsidian Towers. But the Towers were already quite full of paintings, so it was moved to the Floating Islands and given a skyware frame. Having the opportunity to make some paintings has been the biggest highlight of being involved with Terraria. I hope you like the paintings as much as we did making them!

(Leinfors, I am grateful that you were able to make `Strange Growths’ cycle between the four painting types when placed. You are missed by us all.)

Tester contributions are strictly cosmetic – paintings, names, tooltips, etc. Any new content and the direction of the game is with Re-Logic and its developers. Ever noticed how all of the town slimes’ names start with S? That was somewhat coincidental. We contributed names for slimes on a spreadsheet. Eventually we noticed a pattern emerged: The majority of them started with S. The team decided to keep it that way. (Most of those references the wiki mentions are not actually references. It's coincidental the name is the same.)

Speaking of references… Contrary to what the wiki says, the in-game dog name Lucky has nothing to do with 101 Dalmatians. It’s the name of my real-life dog. He is not a dalmatian. If you do want to find a new reference, there’s another in-game dog name named after my real-life dog. His name comes from a TV show.


I made the Abigail screenshot that was used in the 1.4.3 release announcement. It was not used, but I also made an in-game screenshot with Deerclops, Chester and Wilson.

With news about greedy corporations, abandoned Early Access launches, on-disc DLC, and mob votes to garner attention – how has Terraria managed to live so long, and with so many free updates? The answer: Everyone in Re-Logic plays Terraria and enjoys it. They all want the best they can. Whether paid or volunteer, it really is a labour of love. It's been 5 years since I was asked to join the testing team and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Throughout the journey, I've met some amazing people and made very good friends.

To Re-Logic: Thank you for the opportunity. I am grateful for it every day.

To my fellow team members: You are some of the most amazing people I know.

To the player base: Your enthusiasm, dedication and strong community are what has kept (and will keep) Terraria growing and expanding. Everything Re-Logic does, it does for you.
-- Sigma



DISC
One of the most memorable experiences I’ve had so far in my time as a tester for Terraria was during the summer of 2022, where Redigit invited us to play through a yet-to-be-polished version of what, at the time, was called the “everything seed” (later known as the “zenith” and “get fixed boi” seeds). The most notable difference between what we played and what was released was the number of Queen Bee larvae scattered throughout the world (it has since been drastically reduced after this playthrough, due to the sheer number of accidental summons and therefore effective armageddons during the early game). There were times where Red got so fed up with the Queen Bee summons he would temporarily give himself a Meowmere and slay them all.

However as amazing as all of this was to experience first hand, what I remember the most, and will likely never forget, was when we, the testers and developers of Terraria, were set to face off against the underworld’s fiercest pre-hardmode foe, the Wall of Flesh — only there was one unforeseen issue that was only discovered halfway through the fight: the world difficulty was set to effectively Master mode, whereas it should have been set to Expert. As such, we were set to face a Wall of Flesh with just over 200,000 health, and the encounter resulted in several dozen deaths, and the Wall of Flesh going from one side of the world, to the other, undefeated, with just under half of their health remaining. This was the single most scuffed boss battle I have ever encountered in almost 13 years of playing Terraria, and also the single most enjoyable. There was even a time during the fight where everyone in the world other than Redigit and I had been slain; to fight alongside the creator of Terraria as other testers and developers cheered us on as we fought against the Wall of Flesh was nothing short of an unforgettable experience to say the least.



JENOSIS
Hello! I’m Jenosis and I’d like to share my experience in Terraria both before and after I became a tester!

Before I played Terraria I was unironically in the camp of “oh wow 2D Minecraft”. It started in 2012 with a friend asking me to come over and play it with him for a weekend while his parents were out of town. It felt slow and kind of clunky at first, at least on console (PS3), but it started to get really good and before I knew it I was running around in Hell with a space laser gun re-enacting the whole plot of DOOM trying to find magic weapons.

I returned home and asked my parents if I could download and play it on our family computer (which was quite ancient). I began to play it and forgot about it for a good bit (as it was my senior year in highschool), but returned to it shortly after my graduation after enrolling in Fall college classes. I found the Crimson and told my friend all about it and he spent hours trying to find it on his PS3.

As Terraria grew and updated, so did I and eventually began to dabble in modding it with tAPI a few months before 1.3 came out. Come 1.3 in all of its QoL and much needed expansion on existing content I was having even more fun and tModLoader was just starting to become a thing. I got back into modding again and made even more friends while doing so.

Come 2019 I had a hard time trying to keep up with everything in my life. I got something in my TCF inbox one day and it was Cenx reaching out to me asking if I wanted to become a tester. I felt butterflies in my stomach for the sole reason of being involved in one of my favorite all time games. The first day of setup was information and sensation overload, but I learned a lot more than I thought I was going to for my first day.

Over the course of 1.4 Beta there was much to test and find bugs for; I happened to catch a lot of tile related bugs in the process. One of my favorites was being able to plant the vanity trees on gray bricks. Another bug I loved, that was unexplainable and couldn’t repro even now, was the crystal sentry beams coming from the pet butterfly. Makes me wish we had a butterfly summon now.

Seasons have come and gone; so have phases of testing beta updates. Lein had unexpectedly passed away leaving all of us distraught and lost without him. He was a great person and mentor who helped expand, and understand, my views on game development. To this day whenever I or other testers suggest something; I tend to look at it with a reasonably critical eye to see where said thing could fit into the grand scheme of the game.

I’m loving my time helping out and testing the harder bugs so I can help make Terraria a better and more bug free game. Here’s to Terraria and its wonderful community I’ve had the absolute pleasure of interacting with, cheers!



NIKE LEON
My beta testing horror story is from back in 2015. After one of the updates my character saves started overwriting each other. Nobody else was having the bug. And then the next update mysteriously fixed it.We never could figure out why...