Our biggest update yet! Building off our hatching demo, we’ve now fully integrated hatching into the main game with its own mode. And since hatchlings need to be able to grow up, we’ve added a leveling system where the more you interact with each pet, the more they’ll grow. There are also numerous improvements to the pets’ behavior. Lastly, we’ve updated our environments to make them feel more distinct. Have fun hatching and raising dragons and be sure to share feedback on our Discord.
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Play Modes
Hatching Mode - Hatch up to 3 eggs at the hatching station
Hatching mode has 4 stages: egg selection, egg incubation, egg hatching and hatchling feeding.
The hatching station has been redesigned.
Currently, other pets do not show up in hatching mode.
Removed Mystery mode.
Pets
New pet leveling system! You can now help the pets level up and grow by playing, feeding and interacting with them.
Because this is Early Access, *pet levels might be reset in future updates* and will definitely be reset for the 1.0 launch.
Pets can level up using a statistics-based Achievement system, basically the more players interact with each pet, the faster they’ll grow up.
More tracked pet statistics and achievements will be added over time.
Statistics and achievements are saved periodically so players can help pets grow over multiple sessions.
A future update will make statistics and achievements for each pet visible to the player.
When pets level up, they currently pop in slightly larger using the teleport effect.
Pet hunger is now tied to their characteristics.
Pets other than Beryl can now take naps in Dragon Den and Spring Pavilion.
Pets are a bit more emotional than they used to be.
Pets only scream at you now if they’re really energized.
Pets are now more aware of the environment and will look at the scenery.
Pets no longer constantly knock food from your hand.
Pets have received more flying instruction and now move somewhat more gracefully.
Pets can now try to push each other around.
Environments
Renamed Spring Park to Spring Pavilion.
Renamed Beast Park to Summer Dome.
Renamed Winter Park to Winter Cave.
Spring Pavilion had been redesigned as a giant tent with new tree platforms and fencing.
Summer Dome has been redesigned with windows and new tree platforms.
Winter Cave had its floor color changed to make it darker for better contrast.
Added a usable pet bed to Spring Pavilion.
Misc
Bland berries will grow back shortly after they are plucked.
All fruit now takes 3 bites to fully consume.
Added a "What’s New" section to Tabby in the Loading Zone.
Gem tooltips now only show up when gems are looked at directly.
General
Improved loading times, particularly for Summer Dome.
Improved analytics and event tracking.
Staggering number of bug fixes and performance improvements.
Patch Notes for v0.60.4
Bug fixes for Quest and Quest 2 using Oculus Link.
Patch Notes for v0.60.0
It’s hatching time
So the plan was to quickly release a hatching demo, but it turned out that hatchlings have physics scaling challenges. Since we needed to overhaul the physics anyways, we implemented a new physical characteristics system to give the pets basic stats to determine their physical abilities as they grow and level up. In the next update, we’ll add a post hatching demo for raising the hatchlings. The hatching demo is only available in Beast Park - Experimental Mode for now.
Experimental Mode (aka Hatching Demo)
Experimental mode in this version is an egg incubating and hatching demo.
As a reminder, Experimental mode is available in Beast Park after completing Treasure Hunt. It is also the right most option in the initial quick start for returning players.
Step 1: Select one of three new dragon eggs to hatch.
Step 2: Place the egg on the incubator stand, then press the button to incubate.
Step 3: Place the egg in the bed to hatch.
Step 4: Say hello to your new hatchling.
Step 5: Share any feedback on the demo or the hatchlings on our discord!
Pets
New pet Characteristics that are tied to movement and abilities.
Strength - affects pushing, lifting capacity and size.
Perception - affects detection range, speed and accuracy.
Reflexes - affects catching, dodging and reaction speed.
Endurance - affects size, hunger and stamina.
Agility - affects movement speed and acceleration.
Dexterity - affects biting, grabbing and precision.
Improved dragon physics to function at a wide range of size/age/level.
Increased pet mass to be more in line with their size.
Pets are less likely to knock food from your hand.
Play Modes
Small improvements to quick start choices, added random free play modes.
Added a time limit to Mystery mode in case markers can’t be found.
Misc
Lowered music volume in Winter Park.
Minor improvements to plushie physics in Dragon Den.
General
Improved loading times, especially for Beast Park.
Improved analytics and event tracking.
Serious number of bug fixes and performance improvements.
Patch Notes for v0.59.0
Gotta relieve stress where we can in 2020
2020 has been quite the year, but in spite of all the craziness, we’re still pushing ahead with Beast Pets to bigger and better things. Speaking to that, we’ve been hard at work nailing down what it’ll take to make Beast Pets a complete game and exit early access. We’ll be sharing that roadmap in a future update but we can say that we’ll be making a push to get to 1.0 in the next few months. As for changes in this update, we’ve completely redone the pet personality system so that each pet’s distinct personality comes across in all their behaviors. There’s still a long way to go until the pets are as expressive as we’d like them to be, but the foundation is now in place so that in the near future each pet will feel distinct and special.
Pets
Complete overhaul of the pet personality system with more changes to come!
Changed pet core personality traits to CHIEF (Curiosity, Helpfulness, Impulsiveness, Expressiveness, Friendliness).
Pets now have personality profiles that manifest themselves in a wide variety of behaviors from attention span to respect for your personal space.
Curiosity (familiarity <-> curious): interest in familiar vs new things; affects attention, awareness, novelty.
Helpfulness (selfish <-> nurturing): willingness to share or consider others; affects sharing, interacting with toys, social behaviors.
Impulsiveness (disciplined <-> impulsive): attention and focus, engagement in entertainment/fun; affects attention, interests, randomness.
Friendliness (anti-social <-> social): interest in others; affects social distancing, social attention, social interactions.
We’re still fine tuning personality expressions so expect more behavioral changes in future updates.
Fixed a bug where pets would ignore each other, not sure how we missed that...
Improved pet memory.
General
Preliminary support for Oculus Quest 2 via Oculus Link.
Improved analytics and event tracking.
Soul crushing number of bug fixes and performance improvements.
Patch Notes for v0.58.1
General
Updated analytics and event tracking.
Assorted other bug fixes and performance improvements.
Patch Notes for v0.58.0
Scanning… Hungry dragon detected!
This update consists of mostly behind the scenes changes along with a lot of prep work for 1.0. We’ll be posting a separate announcement about our roadmap very soon. To help us strike a balance between big changes and frequent updates, we’ve added Experimental mode for testing incomplete systems.The first experimental feature is a scanner with a flat display system we plan to adopt for all information (including Tabby). Please let us know what you think in our Discord. Also, Oculus Link now works with Steam, yay.
Experimental Mode
New mode for testing things that aren’t fully integrated. This mode will change frequently as we test new things
Currently only available in Beast Park after completing the Treasure Hunt and testing the Yellow Scanner.
Powers
All powers now support toggle after a quick press to turn on. Double press to toggle has been removed.
New Yellow Scanner gem that can be used to scan pets and objects to bring up a display with information.
Activate the scanner, then point at a pet or object in range till the beam expands, then select with the button or trigger to bring up a display with some information.
The scanner display will appear in front of your hand and can be grabbed to adjust it’s position.
The scanner display will disappear after 15s or by pressing the scan button again.
Magical Tablet (Tabby)
Added experimental mode to map modes.
General
Fixed Oculus Quest support on Steam via Oculus Link.
Steam accounts now default to Home on the main branch, though this can be changed under settings or by switching to the commercial branch.
Improved analytics and event tracking.
Untold number of bug fixes and performance improvements.
Patch Notes for v0.57.2
Bug Fixes
Fixed a loading bug.
Fixed a bug with Tabby buttons.
Fixed a bug when dragons bite a ball.
General
Oculus Link support for Quest.
Various other bug fixes and performance improvements.
Patch Notes for v0.57.0
Smashy smashy!
It’s Destruction time! Destruction mode has been added to Winter Park, find it in the quick start options or the mode selection for Winter Park. This is an early version of this mode so please share your feedback on how we can make it better.
Destruction Mode
In Destruction mode, your goal is to help the dragons destroy all the ice sculptures within a time limit, after which you'll receive a score for the amount of damage done + a time bonus.
3 minute timer to break 10 ice sculptures in randomized locations.
Tracked high score.
More difficulties and rewards planned.
Powers
The laser can make the parts it shines on more interesting to the dragons, even after the laser is off (currently only the ice sculptures).
Fixed a bug where the laser would change angle if it doesn’t hit anything.
Dragons
Dragons can now better interact with the ice sculptures before and after breaking them.
Fixed a bug where dragons would get stuck flying in a particular direction.
Small adjustments to dragon attention span and distractibility.
Winter Park
Improved how ice sculptures break up.
Added a threshold for ice sculpture damage for triggering complete collapse.
Ice sculpture fragments can now be touched and picked up before they disappear.
Dragon Den
Books are now easier to hold.
Magical Tablet (Tabby)
Added destruction mode to map modes and some quick start options.
Tabby will disappear before loading the next location/mode.
General
Improved analytics and event tracking.
Silly number of bug fixes and performance improvements.
Patch Notes for v0.56.3
Bug Fixes
Fixed quick start button bugs in Loading Zone.
Fixed bug where multiple buttons could stay pressed on Tabby.
Fixed controller highlighter bug.
Fixed Rift S controller positioning.
Various other bug fixes and performance improvements.
Patch Notes for v0.56.2
Bug Fixes
Fixed broken Korean text.
Various other bug fixes and performance improvements.
