Firstly, I'd like to let you all know that I am indeed still alive and kicking. Things in my professional life have gotten quite busy lately: my company, MKSM, has been working on a new commercial product, HubFront, which is a gamified loyalty program app for small businesses. We're very excited to be working on this new project, which could revolutionize the rewards industry in shopping.
HubFront's growth and investor interest has understandably used up a majority of my time, though I keep working on Creo whenever I find the time.
Creating a New World of Creo
So a bit ago, I decided to rework the world of Creo, since I believed that the old map, though flat and reliable, was boring. So I spend some time working on a new procedurally generated map, and ladies and gents, I present to you the new Creo!
Maps can now be much more customizable and different. In addition, I redid the water and lighting systems, to give Creo a much more polished look. These terrain changes have forced me to remake all of the building models in the game since they were all designed for a flat map. This has been what's been taking up my time for a while. Here's a look at the new houses...
Overall, work continues on Creo, though at a somewhat slower pace. As I said, I continue to work on the game and look forward to future developments. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. Happy smiting!
Version 0.2.1 Patch | Bug Crushing and More...
Hey everyone!
Here's a small update in which I fixed a variety of bugs and issues from our previous version. In addition, there have been some slight improvements to the overall gameplay experience.
I recognize that this patch is small, and that's mainly because most development work is being focused towards fulfilling a game development contract we took with a company named Legends of Learning being due soon. So I'm developing a short educational game for kids teaching rational numbers. I'm honestly pretty stressed that it really limits my ability to work on Creo, but sadly, I too must pay bills and feed my family, and this contract is helping my family keep the lights on.
Here's a look at the game, which will be called Kingdoms of Rashona
Fortunately, I think I'm getting into the flow of development, and I hope to be able to work on Creo some more in the coming weeks. Some things I'm currently developing are:
Creating a raider camp which will regularly spawn raiders
Adding in a few new techs and buildings
Adding in a few new disasters, such as a plague
I hope you all can understand that I'm very committed to this project, and will continue to provide quality content and updates. Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding—you all rock.
- Esteban
Here are the major changes in this update:
CURRENT PROGRESS FOR V.0.2.1 (4/30/19)
-------------CHANGES ADDED --------
-MAJOR CHANGES-
- Added new Trading Guild building, which generates gold and resources
- Added new "Merchant" job for settlers
- Added new Kitchen building, which generates food from wood
- Added new "Cook" job for settlers
-MINOR CHANGES-
- Added new pine trees
- Added chimney effect for some buildings
- Improved saving and loading systems backwards compatibility
- Changed ground texturing technique to improve performance
---------------BUG FIXES ----------
- Fixed Barrack being unlocked without purchasing tech first
- Fixed tech icons not properly displaying whether they are discovered
- Fixed certain values carrying over from a previous map when returning to menu and starting new game
- Fixed shops and markets not saving storage capacity properly
- Fixed Dev Mode unlock not saving
Version 0.2 | Tech Tree is Here!
Good evening God Game Fans! Esteban here, and I'm happy to say that version 0.2 of Creo God Simulator is now available, and your game should auto-update! With the new version, the tech tree is finally available, which means that you actually have to work to unlock new buildings!
This new tech system still needs a fair-share of balancing of tweaking, so I ask you all, please join our Discord server, and let me know your thoughts! (Discord link here: https://discord.gg/cgtaxmq
As you can see, I'm still hard at work adding in the rest of the technologies and buildings, but it seems to be taking longer than I thought to integrate all of the new systems. I also think giving you access to the technologies early on will allow me to refine them over time. I will also try to add in a few new things soon, such as coding in the raiding parties and adding animals to the game.
Let me know what you think about the new update, either on here or on our Discord. And please, if you have any questions or suggestions, let me know!
Inspiration Update - 22 New Techs, 11 New Buildings
Happy Sunday everyone! I just wanted to give you all a brief update on the progress of Creo's new tech/inspiration system. I managed to get the back-end code successfully created, so now all I need to do is simply add in the new technologies and respective buildings.
And this is where it gets interesting...
I didn't take into account just how large this new tech-tree system was going to be. To give you all some perspective, let me break down how long it takes to add a new technology with a respective new building:
1 Hour - Creating new building's 3D model on Blender 3D
15 Minutes - Creating new UI icon
20 Minutes - Adding in new tech to the tech tree/hooking up the code to work
40 Minutes - Hook up new building's code with save/load and other scripts
15 Minutes - Playtest new building and new tech to remove major bugs
TOTAL - 2 Hours 30 Minutes
Keep in mind that this is just for one new technology and the corresponding new building. Some of the tech's do not have new buildings, but rather, entirely new systems or functions, such as adding buffs to your units or improving manufacturing rates.
I will try my best to get these new techs and buildings created, but I do ask for your patience while I am creating this new and exciting system. I'm confident that it will improve the gameplay of Creo, and that it will add much more addiction to the game.
Have any questions? Let me know in the comments or in our discussions—I'd love to talk!
Version 0.1.4.3 Quality of Life and the Shard
Hey everyone! I'm happy to announce Version 0.1.4.3 of Creo God Simulator! Admittedly, it has been a few weeks since the last update, but this update introduces a variety of bug fixes, and changes the map to the new Shard form!
This version is mainly a quality of life update, or in other words, one in which I fix a variety of bugs and make general improvements to the game. As you all know, I'm currently working on the new tech tree, and progress is going very well. You'll also notice some new UI changes that I hope will improve the overall experience.
Things have been very busy in my life, due to my new baby, University, and new changes in my company, MKSM. Among all this however, I'm trying my best to continue working on Creo and posting regular updates! Let me know what you all think, I'm looking forward to hearing back from all of you!
- Esteban
CURRENT PROGRESS FOR V.0.1.4.3 (3/31/19)
-------------CHANGES ADDED --------
-MAJOR CHANGES-
- Begun work on Tech system with 22 techs to inspire
- Added new world map look (floating island shard)
-MINOR CHANGES-
- Changed how often quests and events occur by 80% of the current rate
- Slightly decreased food consumption (still needs testing)
- Added beach sound effects
- Modified building placement to fit with the new circular island shape
- Made all resource buildings have the same initial work radius
---------------BUG FIXES ----------
- Fixed saving/loading error with Marketplaces
- Fixed farm selection bug where could not select farm
- Fixed volume levels not properly saving and loading
- Fixed windmill construction quest
- Decreased metal mining to 1/3 production rate
- Fixed resource building's work radius errors in scaling
Weekly Progress Update: Tech-Tree and the Secret of the Shards
Weekly progress report time! Hey there everybody, hope your week has been as exciting as mine (what with staying up until 4 AM with a crying baby and all). I'm currently working on some exciting developments, so here's a quick update with a few photos and videos.
The Tech Tree
First off, I'm working on the new technology system. The way the tech tree will work is that you will INSPIRE your settlers with technology, and it will cost you Willpower to do so. Currently, there are 22 technologies to inspire, though that number will most certainly grow with future updates. For example, we've got:
Basic Training: COST 2000 WP: Effects, Allows the building of militia halls, which can recruit 4 soldiers.
Banking: COST 10,000 WP: Effects, Allows building of Banks, which generate gold every X minutes
The Shards
Those are just 2 of the 22 techs I'm working on. In addition, I've also changed the map, as you can see. This is closer to the image I wanted initially. There is now a sea surrounding the Shard, as the map is called. You see, Creo was once an entire world, but fall apart long ago into Shards. You were given this Shard to govern, though you won't do so alone. You'll slowly discover what happened to Creo, what forces caused the collapse, and what your role is in all of it.
The story and lore of Creo are currently being written, and I'm very excited to share this new update with you. Work is still continuing on the system, but will most certainly be released here in the next few weeks. Let me know what you all think!
Making a Tech Tree, a Baby, and More
This week has definitely been something else. After several months of waiting and watching, our baby son, Maximiliano, was born at 6 pounds 11 ounces and a length of 20.5 inches. This little guy has kept my wife and I quite busy, so I haven't had too much time to focus on Creo's development.
Now that he is finally here, however, I've begun work on the next update. I've decided that what Creo needs right now is some sort of progress, some sort of reward system. I've concluded that instead of waiting, I will now begin work Creo's tech-tree and also focus on language localization.
The New Inspiration System
Creo's tech tree will be rather unique to the game. It will have a large list of technologies and systems that your little settlers can learn. The twist is that, since you are a God, you inspire the technologies. So in order to purchase new technology, you'll have to use your sweet sweet Willpower. I'm very excited to see how our new inspiration system will improve gameplay, and I look forward to hearing all of your feedback!
Thank you again, everyone, for how supportive you all have been during this exciting time of my life. Please know that I am grateful for each and every one of you, and I very much appreciate your patience!
Esteban Hernandez
Developer
Version 0.1.4.2 | Farming and UI Update
Hey there everybody!
I'm very pleased to announce the release of Version 0.1.4.2 of Creo God Simulator. This version mainly focuses on improving the farming aspects of the game, in addition to various user-interface improvements.
In this update, I added the Windmill, a structure that will increase the growth of all nearby farms by 20%! Do know that the effects of windmills stack, so if you have your farms all in one spot, make sure to build lots of windmills nearby to maximize crop growth. I also added two more types of crops that can be grown.
Good Ol' Corn: Great for eating, feeding livestock, and popping.
Tallus Leaf: A plant unique to Creo. It's an extremely large, edible leafy vegetable. Think, "Gigantic lettuce".
In addition to the farming additions, I added dynamic lights on some buildings. So now at night, some buildings will create warm lights to help your settlers see better!
I've also completed the initial phase of making Creo God Simulator backwards-compatible regarding versions. I did this in order to minimize the number of broken saves due to game changes. The system is not perfect, but it should help quite a bit later down the road. In order to use this new versioning system, please delete all previous saves of Creo, and start saving today!
I've still got plenty more to do, and I've got my eyes focused on introducing raiding parties as randomized events in the next update, in addition to other various improvements.
Here's a list of all the changes that took place in this update, let me know what you think! Thank you everyone!
CURRENT PROGRESS FOR V.0.1.4.2 (3/9/19)
-------------CHANGES ADDED --------
-MAJOR CHANGES-
- Added video control settings in main and in-game menus
- Begun work on Version-backwards compatibility on loads/saves
- Added new building and job: Windmill and windmill worker
- Windmills can increase crop production of nearby farms
- Made crops grow half as fast, but setting up for new mill building
- Added camera tilt up and down with 'O' and 'P' keys
- Removed Build Button, now build categories are constantly on screen
-MINOR CHANGES-
- Added dynamic lighting to various building types
- Added two new crop types on farms: Corn and Tallus Leaf
- Added font size limits on build and quest menus to prevent overly large texts
- Increased mouse rotation speed and screen-edge pan speed
- Added WP as a reward on quests
- Decreased WP production from every second to every five seconds
- Increased WP penalty for not having any followers
---------------BUG FIXES ----------
- Fixed metal ore capacity being way too large (halved ore yields)
EARLY ACCESS IS NOW LIVE - Version 0.1.4 Update
THE BIRTH OF THE CREOVERSE
What a time to be alive! Hey there all you gods-in-training, I'm hoping your weekend has been going well. To be quite honest, I'm extremely pumped to finally release Creo to the public! It's taken quite a bit of work to get here, and I'm feeling various emotions, but enough small talk, let's get down to the nitty-gritty.
Update Info
In the current Update (V.0.1.4), there have been a very large number of additions. Though I'll be posting the full changelog down below, here are some highlights:
God powers can now influence non-believers to convert
Added in a tutorial for new players
Added in soldier individual control, as opposed to squad based
There's still plenty of work to do, and I'm very excited to announce some of the upcoming features I'm working on for the next update:
Raiding parties
Scenic animals in nature
Monsters
New home and shop models
Thank you all for the excellent support you've given me thus far on our Discord server, and elsewhere! This is the beginning of a very exciting journey, and I'm glad you've decided to join us. So what are you waiting for, get the game and start smiting!
CURRENT PROGRESS FOR V.0.1.4 (3/2/19)
-------------CHANGES ADDED --------
-MAJOR CHANGES-
- Added in first main quest
- Added in tutorial system for new players
- Added in map generation options
- Added possible non-believer conversion when using god powers
- Added in possible chance for settler to change religion if faith < 15
- Added individual soldier control/got rid of squad system
-MINOR CHANGES-
- Added crows
- Added spawn altar button and animation
- Added new audio tracks
- Increased rotation speed of building and road placement
- Improved accuracy of occlusion culling
- Decreased how often settler's lose faith and fear
- Decreased WP gained over time
- Added a WP loss penalty per second of having no followers
- Changed font to be more easily readable
- Changed initial altar placement
- Balanced colors a bit to not be too crazy
---------------BUG FIXES ----------
- Fixed quests spawning when there are no people
- Fixed bug where willpower could go into the negatives
- Fixed summon altar creation error
- Fixed soldier's death animations not triggering
- Fixed trade menu and info box overlapping
- Fixed quest success text notification fading away too quickly
- Fixed settler and raider audio managers not connecting to overall master volume
- Fixed sun and moon intensities not loading properly
- Fixed mountains not properly saving size/mesh data
- Fixed bug where roads could not be demolished
Version 0.1.3 - Major Faith and Fear Update
Hey there God-in-Training!
Creo God Simulator continues to grow and expand, and the new V.0.1.3 update introduces an exciting new gameplay system: Belief! Your settlers are now influenced by your miraculous powers. In addition, the new Tribute Altar building allows you to collect gold tribute from your believers—the more they fear, the more they pay! In addition, the greater the faith a believer has, the greater the willpower produced per second.
Here's the list of all changes and fixes. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or suggestions, thanks for everything!
CURRENT PROGRESS FOR V.0.1.3 (2/10/19)
---------------BUG FIXES ----------
- Fixed combat logic error which could cause the game to crash
- Fixed performance draining job script on each workplace
- Fixed music system not properly switching tracks when finished
- Fixed well worker's water not disappearing when the workplace is removed
- Fixed odd camera bumping up and down when zoomed in
- Changed camera update speed for smoother panning
- Fixed meteor explosion spawning several instances of self
- Fixed villager death animation bug
- Fixed major bug where if workers died, they would break employee lists at the workplace, and create logic errors
- Fixed well workers not properly putting out fires
- Fixed repair workers not repairing buildings at times
- Fixed quest reward display errors
-------------CHANGES ADDED --------
-MAJOR CHANGES-
- Began work on adding in Steam API
- Added Faith and Fear System
- Added developer mode by clicking the '~' key, or Tilde key
- Settlers can gradually lose faith and fear over time
- Added ability to switch building models with TAB key
- Added Tribute Altar Building
- Added Tributor Job: Tributor is needed to collect tribute, if he dies, you lose 10% of stored gold
- Days last 25% longer
- Earthquakes no longer damage ALL buildings, they only damage some
- Each believer will pay gold tribute, the amount will be based on their fear of the player/god
- Removed science resource, willpower will be used to "inspire" tech innovations
-MINOR CHANGES-
- Modified Resource gathering quest type to have more realistic goals
- Soldiers can not chat or convert each other
- Added UI sounds for in-game menus
- Changed the height position of road placement
- Added base 1 WP gain per second, regardless of faith level
- Added dynamic occlusion to improve graphical performance
- Redesign on small temple model
- Added tree sway effect
- Increased small forest wood capacity
