This month's development update is in video form! In this video Paul walks you through what he's been up to since our last devlog, and shows off some of the new parts coming to Adapt!
Adapt
Development Update - December 2022
This month's development update is in video form! In this video Paul walks you through what he's been up to since our last devlog, and shows off some of the new parts coming to Adapt!
Development Update - November 2022
It's been a hot minute since our last development update so I thought I'd let you all know what Paul, the (only) developer has been up to, as well as share some community screenshots that players have submitted over on the Adapt Discord.
Over to you Paul!
Adapt November '22 Dev Update
Progression
Since last we spoke, I’ve been putting a lot of work into building the fundamentals behind player progression in-game. So here’s a quick breakdown of how things are looking so far in this three-part system.
1) AI Requests
Requests are the next big advancement for interactions with AI, and will replace the current ‘befriend’ mechanic by allowing players to complete requests for AI in order to improve your relationship. The first iteration of this system will be delivery requests, where AI will occasionally request an item from the environment, such as food, and players can find and gift that item to complete the request. In the future I’ll be expanding on this system to include more kinds of interesting items to interact with and gift, as well as other kinds of requests.
2) Missions
New Missions become periodically available during play, and provide players with optional activities in exchange for new parts and genetics. This mechanism represents the primary means of genetic progression for your species during a run, but it’s important to note that these parts and genetics will only become available for your species and its offspring within that species family tree. To unlock new character options permanently for new games, you’ll have to complete achievements.
3) Achievements + Permanent Rewards
Achievements are the player’s primary means of permanently unlocking new parts and genetics. Once a part is unlocked via an associated achievement, you’ll have access to it during character creation for all future games. This means when starting future games, you’ll be able to begin with much more diverse creatures without the need to evolve during play.
Interaction Improvements
In preparation for the new Progression systems, especially Requests, I’ve made some improvements to the current interaction system and its associated UI. In future updates, players will have access to a larger variety of interactions by simply holding the interaction key (default ‘F’). This new system will not only expand to include new kinds of interactions such as grooming, and competition, but will also include some of the currently context-dependent actions which can feel a bit clunky such as nesting.
New Parts (+ Important changes to part attributes)
Everybody loves new parts. So let's take a look at some upcoming stuff! But first… There’s a big change coming to part genetics in the next release, and that is that Part’s will now have access to variable attributes even when they share the same gene. This change is in an attempt to create more variability within similar parts to better represent specialization within anatomical boundaries. Hopefully you’ll see what I mean below.
As you can see, despite all being associated with the new Beak Gene, these fancy new beak parts offer several different base dietary abilities.
This change will usher in a number of other quality of life improvements to the Part Shop, as well as a restructure of the Adaptation / Upgrading system currently in the game. I am hopeful that these improvements will both improve the intuitiveness of the system, as well as offer some additional customization options for players.
Screenshot Central
Below are a few screenshots of the creations of our Discord users - enjoy!
Submitted by RTMARCIO
Submitted by Fisch
Submitted by Rubies
Patch Notes - 0.47.3a
Description
This is a light patch primarily focused on additional cleanup after the 0.47a release. This update also features a few much-needed quality of life improvements / fixes for the Species Editor.
Changes
- Reduced Damage values slightly
- Food Abilities now appear only when nearby
- Added 'Demo' lock ui to save and load buttons in settings panel
Editor
- Non-limb parts can now be placed on tails
- PartShop now shows multiple rows if more than 4 parts are available
- Minor usability improvements to Part Shop
Bugs
- (Fixed) Parts fail to delete when delete button is in front of another part
- (Fixed) Actions break if nest template not placed
- (Fixed) Ability Display not grouping Abilities
- (Fixed) Egg Progress UI not visible
- (Fixed) Spring bones would twitch when near edge of camera's view
Development Update - August 2022
We're back with the second development update for Adapt, hearing from Paul, the developer about what he has been up to recently on the game follow by a screenshot round up of some of our favourite community creations!
Over to you Paul:
Adapt August '22 Dev Update
The majority of the year so far has been focused on Adapt’s foundational architecture. On the player side, obvious changes include massive optimizations, new status effects and weapon select systems, both of which are dependent on new infrastructure behind the scenes, and increased density of both animals and vegetation. In addition to these technical enhancements, a good deal of time has been invested in expanding player interaction and feedback, with the intention of helping players feel connected with the world. Of course, these improvements will be on-going, but I am happy to say that the essential foundational elements are essentially complete.
Behind the scenes, this process has been a major undertaking. The new attribute infrastructure, lovingly dubbed “CAS,” (Character Attribute System), represents a complete rework of the way attributes are represented in Adapt, and has consolidated all genetics, food types, stats, status effects, abilities, and basically anything else with a name, icon, and value into one single comprehensive system, which can be completely built and rebuilt with minimal coding required. This is a major achievement, and in addition to being extremely extensible for me as a developer, has an added benefit. It is extremely modder-friendly.
So What’s Next?
The number one subject on my mind now is, “the road to release.” So let's talk a bit about what that means. Aside from the expected cleanup and addition of more content such as parts, genetics, etc, there’s really only one major hurdle remaining before we can start talking about release dates, player advancement. In Adapt, player advancement will consist of three subsystems: Tasks, Objectives, and Achievements.
Tasks
Tasks are the lowest level of progression, and can be best thought of as NPC requests. They will replace the current social system, offering players a more involved and nuanced play loop when socializing. When a player interacts with another animal, they may be presented with a task. Once completed, the player will receive a small reward, as well as an improvement to their relationship with the animal offering the task.
Objectives
Objectives represent optional quest-like activities designed to incentivise behaving appropriately for your species. Activities such as mating/socializing during appropriate seasons, seeking out delicious treats, or displacing a pesky neighbor will reward players with DNA, as well as access to new genetics or part options for your species.
Achievements
The highest tier of this system is Achievements, which offer permanent access to parts and genetics for more significant or repeated successes. Like the other activities, rewards will be related to the type of achievement completed. Though achievements differ in that they allow players to begin future games with genetics they would otherwise have to unlock during play.
There’s a lot of work to do, and there are a number of other smaller additions and changes which will of course accompany this upcoming content. It’s been truly fantastic to see the excitement and creativity coming from players so far, and we can't wait for what’s next. Thanks for reading and be sure to come join the discussion. We would love to hear your thoughts.
Roadmap
So as we heard from Paul there we are very much looking forward to the Road To Release (and further beyond!) - we recently consolidated the public roadmap, and migrated this over to Trello, so if you're interest in checking this out, you can do so here: https://trello.com/b/XMQbYPee/adapt-roadmap
Screenshot Central
Aquadon, Yrykim - Discord.
Unnamed, SmilePoneh - Discord.
Sonic Hedgehog, Silenttails - Discord.
Gigladog, Gloomrave - Discord.
Patch Notes - Hotfix 0.47.1a
Patch Notes - Hotfix 0.47.1a
Description
This fix covers some basic cleanup as well as a first pass solution for some of the new attribute data loading incorrectly for some players
Changes
Behind the Scenes
Attribute Data is now stored in Json format within the game directory’s ‘Content’ folder. This change will hopefully resolve issues caused by deserializing data at runtime for some players, which could result in incorrect attribute values.
Bugs
- (Fixed) Venom Not triggering poison Status
- (Fixed) Physics Objects sometimes becoming suspended above the ground
- (Fixed) Player animal could become invisible when changing zones
- (Fixed) Player mate could become pregnant in addition to player
- (Fixed) Ally relationship status shown instead of mate status
- (Fixed) Highlight color not updating when player changed mood
- (Fixed) Food Items rot triggered times too long
- (Fixed) Fixed incorrect carriable label on some interactable objects
Demo Update & Steam Survival Fest!
Adapt is a survival evolution game designed to simulate the constantly changing environments life must navigate to thrive. To succeed, your species will need to find food using a multitude of dietary strategies, seek out habitable environments, and react to changing seasons, and global climate. Your competitors will evolve alongside you, vying for food and territory to ensure their own survival.
Alongside survival fest we have updated the Adapt demo to version 0.47a which primarily sets the groundwork for future demo updates and most importantly improves performance across the board!
Patch Notes - version 0.47a
Description
This patch has Primarily been focused on integrating the new Attributes System into Adapt, which additionally powers the new Status Effects, and Weapon Selection systems. A huge effort has also gone into resolving several performance issues, some of which were causing crippling latency spikes for players on some machines.
Because this patch includes a major rework to several backend systems, there will likely be some added bugs, as well as some previously functional aspects of the game which will be temporarily disconnected. Feel free to report any bugs or broken genetics, mechanics, etc… and know that getting these systems working normally again is top priority. Thanks to everyone for playing!
Changes
New Roadmap!
Adapt’s roadmap has moved. Come check it out https://trello.com/b/XMQbYPee/adapt-roadmap
New Features
- Added Weapon Selection feature
- Added Status Effects system
- Added group invite mechanic
- Parts can now be rotated in editor
- Osmotic Nests enabled for players
- AI now warns before attacking intruders
UI
- New UI for resource attributes (Health, Stamina, Stomach)
- Removed legacy habitability UI
- Reworked Marker system, animals now temporarily show their markers when called
Behind the Scenes
- New Animal Attribute system
- Numerous Optimizations
- Converted hex-based terrain tiles to grid based
- Improvements to AI sound recognition
- Redesigned Settings Panel UI + added audio panel
Bugs
- (Fixed) Major latency issue affecting some machines when interacting objects
- (Fixed) AI attacking allies and group members when hungry
Development Update - June 2022
Hey all!
Dan from Slug Disco here, the publishers for Adapt :)
We are going to start posting out updates about what has been going on behind the scenes as development progresses and this is dev update number 1!
Here's all the stuff we will be sharing in this months update:
- Attribute Redesign
- Attack Types
- Status Effects
- New Diets
- Part Rotator
- Optimisations
- Community showcase
So let's get stuck in!
Attribute Redesign
A major component of the 0.50a update was the redesign of the attribute system in Adapt; which basically includes all stats, genes, adaptations, and just about anything else that is composed of a name, values, and UI assets. This redesign was essential for nearly all other aspects of this update, and additionally serves to significantly simplify and expedite the introduction of future attributes of any kind, requiring almost no code to implement new stats, abilities, and genetics. This restructure also serves to lay the foundation for future mod-support by exposing all attributes and associated behaviors in an accessible pipeline. Here are some of the cool stuff that’s coming out of this change in this update.
Attack Types
Also thanks to the new attribute system, I’ve finally been able to implement something I’ve been conceptualizing for some time; which I think players will be very excited about. drumroll…
Separated Attack Types
With the 0.50a update, players will be able to cycle through multiple attack types, based on those available through their genetics. This first iteration will support the 3 current fundamental attack traits, Blunt, Pierce, and Slash, and will primarily be obtained through various Head/Mouth genetics; and cycling will work similarly to changing your mood; replacing the Q-E rotation with Q-Mood, E-Attack selection. The trade-off for this change will be that you can now only change your mood in one direction. An exciting aspect of the new Attack Types system, is that it opens the door for attack-related status effects to be evolved, which brings us to the next big addition for the 0.50a update.
Status Effects
The release of the Status Effects feature is a big deal for Adapt. Status Effects will directly tie into numerous systems in the game including habitation, combat, diet, and socializing; and will essentially replace some of the less conceptually obvious aspects of the game. (Looking at you, habitat meter).
New Diets
Two New highly requested dietary strategies are also on the way in 0.50a. Hemovore, and Nectivore Abilities will bring the total number of dietary abilities to the final total of 9.
The Hemovore ability will allow players to feed whenever they attack with the Piercing trait; and can be obtained through genetics associated with a piercing mouth, with fangs or a proboscis.
Part Rotator
While unrelated to the Attribute restructure. Part Rotation has been another highly requested feature, and one that I’ve been excited to get implemented for a long time. Players will now have complete control over placement, rotation, and scale of parts, allowing a new level of customization for their species. The Part rotator marks the first of a number of exciting editor improvements I’ve got planned.
Optimisations
Another huge, but arguably less ‘shiny’ initiative for this update was focused on improving performance. A significant portion of the last few months have been spent streamlining the games backend systems which update everything from food to physics, with more multi-core processing, and numerous fixes which could (in some cases) significantly impact performance. The result of these changes should mean a much more stable, and much smoother play experience for everyone; but will most significantly affect a subset of players who have been experiencing seemingly random frame-drops.
Community Showcase
Phew! That was a lot of updates, now let's relax and celebrate by showing off what the community have been up to :)
First up we have a video from the fantastic DarkEdgeTV where they play through the demo as an aquatic creature:
We also have the following from Blitz who tried to mate with EVERYTHING in the game:
Hopping over to the Adapt Discord we have the follow creature creations that we just had to share:
- Grog Chuggin' Huggins
- SmilePoneh
- InkStar
That's it for this update, stay tuned for our next one and update 0.50a which we hope to be able to share as soon as possible!
Q&A Developer Stream VOD
We are re-running our VOD from 4pm today so if you missed Paul, the developer of Adapt, talking through the game with everyone now's a good chance to see it again!
Thanks,
Dan
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Adapt Stream VOD
Developer Gameplay Stream Replay
Just a quick announcement to let you know that as part of the Games Made In Germany event we are running a replay of the last livestream Paul did of the game - a great chance for you to watch it again for those who missed it.
And don't forget to check out the free demo if you haven't already!
[previewyoutube="H-qXKSp_zJY;full"]