Big changes are going into effect for the start of the October Tournament today. Yes, we've got a gorgeous new Hackbill avatar for you Nobel Laureates to covet, but we're also making two changes to Elo's:
1. Elo penalties for quitting games- Players intentionally leaving a game will be treated as a forfeit in elo scores. This should help stop the bad behavior of folks abandoning games early to avoid a loss.
2. Elo's adjusted at the start of each Tournament- By popular demand, we're adjusting Elo's at the start of each tournament. All player's will start the new tourney each month with their elo adjusted halfway back to 1500. If you finished the September tourney with an elo of 1900, you'll start the October tourney with an elo of 1700. If you didn't play in September, you'll start at 1500. This should allow new players to climb to the top of the elo leaderboard, and ensure only active players can win a tournament.
Note- Elo Leaderboards are not visible in the live game just yet. Those of you in the beta can see them, and you're still welcome to join! (see instructions at the top of #betaannouncements in Discord). You can also still see your elo on our old website.
October's exclusive avatar is here, the Hackbill.
Happy October, Explorers! It’s a new month, and we’ve got an exciting field assignment for you! This month, we’ll be searching for and documenting the elusive Hackbill! This incredible species has an enormous growth on its bill and dazzling plumage to impress his potential mates, and rows of sharp teeth for shredding its prey. For the entire month of October, you’ll have the opportunity to compete in Multiplayer and climb your way through the academic ranks to Nobel Laureate! When you reach the top, the Hackbill avatar will be added to your sketchbook avatar collection. Don’t miss out on this exclusive design, available only for those making Nobel this month.
Weekly Challenges are in Beta Testing
The Singleplayer Challenges have now entered beta are in active testing. Come join the fun! To join the closed beta, come over to our Discord Channel and get the beta password in the beta announcements channel.
The exclusive avatar for August, the Rhinophant
Part elephant, part rhino, all beast. Earn this exclusive avatar by making your to the top of the rank ladder, Nobel Laureate, by August 31st.
Version 1.0.10 is live with bug fixes
Some users were hitting a bug in the Hotseat play build that caused their game to not launch. This new version fixes the issue.
Hotseat Play is here
The long awaited Hotseat/ Pass and Play mode has arrived!
Up to four players can play a local multiplayer game on the same device.
Swap players in the hotseat for trait play.
All players Feed at the same time, even from the side and top positions.
You can even use Intelligence from the side positions.
June Tournament Begins, New Exclusive Avatar
Hey All,
We've got a beautiful new avatar for anyone that makes it to the top of the rankings in June, the Harpy Eagle. To earn this predator, work your way to rank 1, Nobel Laureates, before June 30th. As a reminder, each singleplayer win earns you one Discovery up until rank 15, and a multiplayer win can earn as many as five discoveries to move up quickly. For players already in the Tournament Ranks, ranks 1-9, you'll start the new tourney at rank 9. Good luck, and Adapt well!
North Star
Multiplayer Changes, April Tournament Begins, Ultrawide Support
Ranking Changes
We’ve made some much requested changes to rankings:
We added rank numbers and a rank ladder into the game, so you can see right where you stand.
We’ve made it so in multiplayer games, if a person leaves, the remaining players automatically will receive a Discovery for a win over them.
We’ve also fixed a lot of multiplayer bugs, including that nasty “unmatchable” bug that made it so some folks couldn’t match.
April Tournament Begins
The new month brings a start to a new seasonal tournament. All players in the Tournament Ranks (ranks 1-9) will start the new tournament at rank 6 or rank 9. We've added a new exclusive avatar in for those that make it to rank #1, Nobel Laureate, in the April Tourney. To permanently add the new avatar to your collection each month, prove your skill by climbing to the top of the rankings!
Ultrawide Support We now fill the full screen for Ultrawide Monitors
The March Tournament Ends Soon, Last Chance to Earn the Baboon Avatar
Ten days left to make your way up the rankings to Nobel Laureate! All players making it to Nobel by March 31st will receive this Season's exclusive Baboon Avatar. A new monthly tournament will begin April 1st, and with it we'll introduce an updated rank ladder and some much needed changes to multiplayer.
Multiplayer Stability Fixes
Big news! We believe we just solved most of our critical multiplayer bugs, and we have implemented the fixes live on the server as of yesterday (no client update needed). Multiplayer should be much more stable! With this, we believe we have fixed all known multiplayer issues, so please let us know if you have any crashes or hangs. There is still a latent bug where certain accounts are unable to match with others, we're working on this one. Please use the feedback button in game to capture a screenshot, and share as much context as you can if you do run into something. Thanks for playing!
