We are busy at work with the final version of Creature Lab and we have encountered some second thoughts about certain aspects of the game. One of them is the UI/menu font. Some of us think that the currently used font may be a little tiring/unclear for readers.
As our players are our best authority, we ask you for feedback!
We are wondering if the font in the game is:
attractive
clear
easy on the eye (not tiring the eye)
For reference, image A is a current font, and image B is a proposed alternative (which may not be the final font we'd use, but it has the parameters that we are aiming for)
We kindly ask you for the feedback! Feel free to comment here or message us.
Remember that you can also talk with us directly via Discord:
We are busy at work with the final version of Creature Lab and we have encountered some second thoughts about certain aspects of the game. One of them is the UI/menu font. Some of us think that the currently used font may be a little tiring/unclear for readers.
As our players are our best authority, we ask you for feedback!
We are wondering if the font in the game is:
attractive
clear
easy on the eye (not tiring the eye)
For reference, image A is a current font, and image B is a proposed alternative (which may not be the final font we'd use, but it has the parameters that we are aiming for)
We kindly ask you for the feedback! Feel free to comment here or message us.
Remember that you can also talk with us directly via Discord:
Creating new limbs for my creatures is not always an easy process. Each limb can grant a permanent boost to their power, but also unique abilities, which make the monster specialized in certain kinds of combat situations. Thankfully, the incubator I've constructed is useful in indicating how the limb will turn out and what its strengths will be.
Effects of the limb transplant
The first thing I must always, always remember is that the limb will be only compatible with the mutant I extracted the DNA from. May seem obvious, but when you have an army, you may sometimes forget which sample you have loaded in a rush! I must add the DNA sequence may be chosen from a menu on the incubator laptop and loaded anytime once I extracted it from the creature. Oh, and I of course always need to have enough mutagen on hand to incubate a limb - from one to even three doses!
It's important to not have to experiment blindly every time you need to make a little replacement. That's why I can select a kind of limb that I want to grow straight from the menu of the incubator laptop by using the UP and DOWN arrows on the screen. The choice of unusual and deadly appendages is quite varied!
On the right side of the screen, there is a list of bonuses that the limb will provide if attached to the creature. There are three categories of them:
Vitality Bonus - an increase in mutant's health,
Min Damage - plus the minimum of damage the creature will inflict on enemies
Max Damage - plus the minimum of damage the creature will inflict on enemies
Thanks to this I can easily calculate how the limb swap will affect the statistics of my monster- and plan out which limbs should I attach for the desired effects. But there is also a mysterious label that reads ABILITIES. Well, in nature limbs come in pairs and even abominations against nature can benefit from pairing their appendages. Pairs of certain limbs can grant the mutant special abilities, that make it more effective in dealing with specific situations or enemies. Those are described in the ABILITIES window.
Abilities that I can grant to the creature via transplanting a pair of the same limbs (left and right) are:
Fast - allows the creature to start fighting enemies in the first wave attack even without ranged ability, but it also takes damage first,
Slow - the creature takes damage after other mutants and starts fighting only in the third phase of attacks when it is less vulnerable than monsters without this ability,
Ranged - the creature can attack in every phase of combat and even enemies that haven't engaged in fighting yet,
Additionally, two of the arms are vital to countering enemy abilities:
Ax limb - makes the creature deal additional damage to enemies with Armored ability, such as tanks or mechanized infantry,
Pliers limb - makes the creature deal additional damage to enemies with Light ability, such as the police, anti-terrorists, or light tactical units.
Equipping monsters with such limbs can make them an invaluable asset, which can even save my army in case of a violent clash with security forces. I like to have many tactical options and, as always, my genius delivers in this area.
This was our eleventh regular “Scientist Log”. We hope this extended look at how limbs enhance your creations made you already plan some wild combinations. Certainly, those blades, claws, and... frog legs make mutants not only better but also more interesting to look at (and panic about).
Remember that you can also talk with us directly via Discord:
All of my work, as with every breakthrough scientific experiment, is susceptible to an element of chance. Every substance I make is brand new, and every mutant has different capabilities. Thus, you need to control this randomness. But that's what science is for. Thanks to my ingenious computer system, I can track the abilities of my creations - and nourish them with substances that will further evolve them!
Mutant Statistics
Thanks to the vast Creatureopedia, which saves all the data on my new creation nearly instantly, I can take a look at unique qualities, which I categorized for my convenience. They immediately tell me what the mutant is capable of and what its weak point is.
The two most important statistics are Vitality and Efficiency. They are affected by the missions, so I have to be aware of them for each mutant to assign them to the task accordingly. Vitality is showing the life spark in the creature and zeroing this stat means its (second) death. Vitality is lost primarily in combat. Efficiency is indicating how well the creature is doing its tasks during missions. You can think of it as a mutant's stamina. Each mission takes a percentage of the state and when it reaches zero, you cannot send the creature to the city.
Both Vitality and Efficiency can be regained only by nourishing the creature with new mutagens. Alternatively, I can always dispose of it...
But that's not the end. Among the statistics I've categorized are secondary statistics, which are an important indicator of a specific mutant's capabilities. The key to successfully performing missions is to use the strengths the creature has to its advantage.
Substance Acquisition - the talent of bringing me so much-needed substances stolen in the city. Body Acquisition - the mutant needs to have some skill in stealing the bodies... and bringing them back relatively intact. Terror - this measures how scary is the creature to the public and how fast its sudden appearance on the streets will raise panic. Stealth - combat situations are usually not optimal, so the ability to lurk around avoiding detection is crucial to my endeavors. Anti-Light Attacks - the ability to counter the attacks of infantry. Armor Piercing Attacks - the ability to handle tanks and other heavy military equipment. Vitality Boost - the bonus to Vitality from the mutagens used on the creature Efficiency Boost - the bonus to Efficiency from the mutagens used on the creature
Of course, a genius like me has a method of raising the creature's statistics. One is just "feeding" them new mutagens, which can unleash the additional potential in them. I can also develop new limbs from mutant DNA. Those are especially needed to raise the combat potential of the monster.
Additionally, I devised a genius method to grow new internal organs in my lab. By replacing the lungs, the stomach, or the liver of a creature, one can discover valuable boosts, which elevate its usefulness. Those boosts often need a certain substance to be activated properly,
This was our tenth regular “Scientist Log”. The statistics of the mutants allow you to plan your missions. The Creatureopedia is a great way to keep each of your creations on track. We hope you have a clear idea of how statistics will work in the game now. Remember that you can also talk with us directly via Discord:
We are aware that many of you are eagerly awaiting the confirmation of a new release date for Creature Lab. Thank you for all your inquiries on that topic, which show us that you are very engaged in our game. We have also promised to provide more details as soon as possible and today we deliver an update on this topic.
According to our estimates, Creature Lab needs over a month of additional work.
First of all, we'd like to explain further the main reason for the delay. While we were working on the missing localizations, we discovered that the mission system implemented in the game is interacting wrongly with the save system. In several specific instances, it could lead to corrupted save files. This of course made us unable to release the game according to our quality standards, so we decided to take our time and make the necessary adjustments. We want you to enjoy a stable version of Creature Lab when it launches.
Currently, we are replacing the existing mission system with a new one. To implement it properly and do several necessary rounds of QA testing, we need roughly 6 weeks or so.
Of course, this estimate is subject to change, as the process of changing the game is not always progressing ideally. But we trust that eventual changes will be minimal.
Based on that production estimate, we aim to announce the new release date somewhere around early March, as soon as everything is ready and we find a suitable release window. The time between the release date announcement and the actual release will be short. Hopefully, both events will happen in the same month.
As we stated before, we don't want to predict the actual date before we're sure that it's rock solid and unmoveable. We are very grateful for your kind words on the delay here on Steam and elsewhere on our comms channels and hope today's update clarifies our plans.
We implement more changes for your enjoyment!
As we ensured, we use the added time wisely and implement quality-of-life changes in addition to improving the core systems. Such changes are, as usual, based on your feedback from the demo and our other presentations. The occasion calls for a sneak peek.
We've heard your opinions on the tutorial and the clarity of gameplay. So to be crystal clear about what you should and can do, in addition to revamping the tutorial, we made an extensive FAQ on virtually every element and mechanic in the game. And it's fully illustrated!
You have also noted that moving the vessels one by one can be tedious. Voila! Here you have a basket for carrying up to 6 wherever you please. It's already implemented in-game and ready for launch.
Be ready for more news and behind-the-scenes soon and remember that you can talk to us directly on Discord:
It's official: all the mad professors who prefer consoles as their gaming platform will be able to enter the lab! With our Kickstarter campaign ending today, we have reached 100% financing of the main goal.
CREATURE LAB CONSOLE PORTS WILL BECOME A REALITY!
We would like to take one more occasion to thank all the backers, all friends, all supporters, and every kind person who believed in our ideas for expanding Creature Lab. We are glad we have you, and to see how crazy the scientists' community is growing! And of course, you can look forward to more news on ports further this year.
Using this occasion, we'd also like to remind you that all the backers will receive surveys in the coming days, in around a week max. The info from those surveys is necessary to process your rewards, so please remember to complete them and send them back to us.
We will of course update you on the topics regarding console versions, but if you prefer more bite-sized information, you can also follow us on social media:
We have postponed the game to polish some key features for you, but we are working on a myriad things big and small to provide you with the best experience possible. Take a look at two sneak peeks we shared online recently.
ADDING SOME COLOR
We're constantly working on the final polish for Creature Lab - not only on key things, which made the need for the added time.
For example on being more colorful! The all-green token menu was not as keen to your eyes as it could be, so we are making all graphics full color, based also on user feedback.
TINKERING WITH STEAM DECK
You have been asking us about the Steam Deck compatibility of Creature Lab. So you wanted to show you a little bit more.
We're not yet ready to confirm how the Steam Deck support implementation will exactly turn out and timings, but we're also not forgetting about the users of this platform. As you will see in the video, there is a need for a substantial amount of work and tinkering on optimization, such as UI, but in the department of "running," we're on the right track.
It’s always hard to come forward with bad news and double hard to repeat a bad message. We truly respect your dedication to Creature Lab and how eager you are to jump into the role of crazy professor raising his army of relentless mutants. We are also super eager to let you try the result of our long, sometimes harsh, but passionate work. Creature Lab is everything to us, together with its community.
However, life is rarely made of ideal situations. And developing a game as an independent team can be a perfect example of this truth sometimes.
That’s why, after much consideration, we regretfully inform you that we have to postpone the game yet again.
We know you already have a lot of doubts about this delay, and the number one question is: why? One big reason is the process of localization to all languages we have committed to making available at launch. Despite the best efforts of both us and our translation partners, we found significant parts of localized versions not on par with our quality standard. We need some time to get them to the level of polish we can present to native speakers without any doubt.
As for the second reason, it may feel like repeating the reasons behind our previous delay. However, Creature Lab became a, well, really big creature during the development process. We have implemented all the features and systems we wanted to include in the launch build. However. we were not fully satisfied with the way they work and interact in some aspects.
We want Creature Lab to be not just playable. We aim to deliver the best possible experience for all of the players. That’s why we decided to give those features more time for additional polish. We are sure this will make them more fun to use in the final game.
So we’re taking some time to provide the best final touch possible. As we have to make you wait a little bit more for a second time, we don’t want to commit to a date that is not written in stone. For the moment, we are setting the game to Coming Soon status.
That doesn’t mean that we intend to make you wait a second longer than needed. We hope to provide you with an unmovable, ultimate launch date as soon as possible. And we mean to put focus on the word „soon”.
Of course, we are here to answer your questions. Don’t hesitate to ask us anything via Discord and Steam discussions. Let’s start a conversation and we’ll be sure to address your doubts and feedback.
We’re sorry again and thank you for your patience! You make our work worthwhile and we promise to bring you the most abominable (by this we mean the best) version of Creature Lab possible in this universe!
Working alone is tied to the specifics of my experiments by definition. I am always in the shadows since our “normal” society has no understanding of my scientific pursuits and my refusal of being limited by conventions and so-called ethics. I cannot trust anyone – but sometimes, you can find certain organizations also operating in this shadowy underground, which can put my creations to good use. And I can put the resources they can provide to even better use.
That is why I am always connected to the...
Dark Web
This part of the internet is inaccessible to the uninitiated, where people with very specific and very illegal needs seek the services of eager creative minds like myself.
Funnily enough, the system which is used to post Dark Web contracts is similar to a message board that could be found on the “normie” internet. I can access it from my hidden computer system, which I also use to coordinate missions in the city. By selecting MSGBOARD, I get to access a list of contracts from many different shadowy organizations: “evil” corporations, fringe science initiatives, cults, revolutionary movements, and many other entities beyond the knowledge of the public. They are grouped into several factions. With time, there are more and more contracts appearing on the message board. You can also see the type of goods you need to deliver and rewards in the form of symbols next to each contract.
Of course, when I open a specific contract, I can see the needs of the employer in more detail. Those can fall into several categories. The employer may ask for mutagens with required properties. They may also order me to deliver one of my custom-made limbs or even a whole mutant creature with a certain set of those.
However, I have to mind time constraints. There is always a set deadline to deliver the goods – and you can also find sprint contracts, which have a very strict time limit. Sometimes they will be done only if I already had the required resources stored in your lab. If I fail the contract, I will lose my reputation with the employer’s faction, which means fewer contracts from them and fewer rewards for a set period. However, if I’m doing well with a faction, I will get more contracts with stronger rewards. So you need to strategize and set priorities when taking up any of those jobs. If I decide to accept a contract, it disappears from the message board and lands in a separate ORDERS menu, from which I can monitor them and deliver the requested resources.
But what do I get out of those contracts? The employers offer me the most needed things for my experiments – new substances and dead bodies – and they are great alternative sources for those. This allows me to put my mutants in harm’s way less often to bring them from the city. But perhaps the most valuable rewards are tokens. Tokens are single-use “favors” I can gain from different factions through contracts and select from a separate TOKEN menu. They vary from special implants that can temporarily strengthen my creatures, to sabotaging the army bases, destroying evidence of my presence in the city, or even getting volunteers to help with my missions. Some stronger tokens are specific to one faction, so you have to keep your reputation in check and take up advanced contracts to access them. Tokens usually take effect immediately, although some provide bonuses lasting one day.
This was our ninth regular “Scientist Log”. As you can see, Dark Web is a great addition that works as an optional side quest system, from which you can immensely benefit during your quest for The Ultimate Mutagen. It adds such a fun layer to the gameplay that we dedicated a separate stretch goal in our Kickstarter campaign for an extended edition (running till January 10th) to a mobile Dark Web app. If you want to help us make it a reality, you can support our Kickstarter linked below:
You can also provide us with your feedback via Discord:
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season! + small gift
Image Power wishes all fans, players, and friends a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. And in the newest update of our Kickstarter campaign, you will find a small present ;)
