Ghost of Species Updates

• Performance Improvements - It's hard to quantify exactly, but I've made some significant optimizations to the game since launch. I may have also murdered empathy in the process, but it's safe to say Species now can handle far more abominations of nature than it could at launch.
  
• Mac and Linux Support - the game actually runs on Mac and Linux now! This is a big deal for me: I always knew I wanted Mac and Linux support, but actually trying to implement it intimidated the heck out of me. So glad I did!
  
• Underwater Ecosystems - Aquatic life is now nicely balanced with land-borne life, and both are viable niches for creatures to occupy.
  
• Graphics - Underwater worlds in particular look a lot prettier than they did with improved fog, lighting and most importantly bubbles. If I may take a moment to brag, the new sedimentary layers in the cliffs also look pretty awesome.
  
• Animation - Creatures body parts are now screwed on properly and spend a lot less time waving in the air like they just don't care. 
  
• Anti-cannibalism Measures - I may have screwed over the poor carnivores with this one, but they were cannibals. They deserved it...
  
• Over-hunting Suppression - ... but then they took revenge on the prey species! I had to do it! I had to kill them all! I'M A MONSTER OF CIRCUMSTANCE!
  
• "Niches" Automatic Population Control - designed to encourage creatures to continually adapt to new food sources rather than adopting a single strategy and relying on it forever.
  
• Stability - Oh my goodness yes. So many bugfixes. I've learned my lesson: in the future, major updates will be released on a beta branch for play-testers and early adopters.
  
• And so many tiny improvements to the simulation it'd be difficult to list them all here. Let's just say, I'm satisfied that Species is a better game now than it's ever been.
  

Ghost of Species Multithreading

Ghost of Species Roadmap

• Cyan - Gameplay. These features are centered around establishing an interesting game-play loop and a science-inspired progression system, wherein you unlock features in the game by observing and experimenting with the simulation.
  - The closest feature here is 'Sampling', where you utilize the rovers to "sample" creatures and build a library of body parts for... later use. Oh lordy what did I just type.
  
• Green - World. Improvements to the world, mostly from a 'simulation' standpoint.
  - The features I'm looking at here are seasonal cycles and a map editor. Admittedly, mostly for my own edification, but I know at least a few people are interested in the latter.
  
• Yellow - Creatures.  Mechanical, graphical and animation improvements to the creatures themselves.
  - These are incredibly important, but as you can see on the map most of them are gated behind other features. Most notably, I want to get working on the Phenotype Editor, a "spore-like" graphical creature editor (distinct from the numbers-based gene editor). This will come in handy for previewing and iterating on creature improvements.
  
• Red - Creature Interactions. Social and combat behaviors and balance improvements. By far the most important of these is making carnivory and hunting viable in the long term, but that's also going to be an incremental process over the course of several updates. Calls and social behaviours, such as herd defense and pack hunting, are also high on my priority list.
  
• Indigo - Mod support. This is planned. I tend to think simulation games live or die on the strength of their modding community, so this is definitely planned.
  
• Violet - Multiplayer. Extremely long term goals. I'll probably try networking in another context before I attempt to introduce it to Species: I have experience with the subject, but not as much as I'd like.