NIGHTLY UPDATE | 0.1.0.9 OVERVIEW This update continues to improve TGC's animals ability to communicate via sound, respond to social cues, and establishes the ability of animals to create relationships with other creatures and to remember positive and negative associates they've learned. Though all creatures in TGC are already unique beings making their own decisions independent of players; giving them access to this new Relationship memory system enhances their intelligence and allows the player to see them as more sentient. Efforts to improve all of TGC's creatures' skins & animations continue to progress in the background as well, however TCG's focus on complex Ai, world systems, and mechanics will eventually allow for an experience only comparable to being in the African bush IRL.
As the game's ai code has grown more complex I've invested in auditing and removing flaws so that there is more consistent and non-repetitive animal behavior
NIGHTLY UPDATE | 0.1.0.9
NEW CHARACTERS
African Fish Eagle (Ai)
African Wild Dog (Ai)
Serval (Ai)
NEW MECHANICS
Most animals can remember positive or negative relationships with other animals
Scroll character walk speed via Shift + Scroll up or Scroll down
Added Enclosure B map to Animal Survival Demo
Species-based level caps
Tier-based stats caps
Parents of player can have 2 offspring
Parents retrieve offspring that wonder too far
Parents keep pace within range of offspring stats
Parents respond to distress calls by players
Companions type animals may choose to follow player (siblings & orphans)
Animals will physically look in the direction of their herd to determine if they are too far from group
Players instincts pick up alert calls for danger
Animals not accepted by group leader lurk on the outsider of the group
Added unreal engine to intro level
Added hiding in bush behavior to some prey animals
ADJUSTMENTS
Changed Survival Demo to Animal Survival Demo
Improved crow hop and walk physics
Added instinct for most animals to prefer to nest away from water sources
Added a size cap for some predators to avoid prey that is too big
Added new hud icon for overheating
Added new hud icon for ticks/grooming
Added birth type categories for all creatures
Added Park Ranger and Human Survival to main menu
New African Grey Parrot social calls
New Hadeda Ibis social calls
Added more factors to animal leader selection (level, size, health, territory...)
Returned flight control to Basic version 1 (Designed to be simple)
Improved flight control Basic
Improved blood pooling after player death
Improved herding behaviors
Improved animals navigation system
Improved animal's ability to detect water edge
Removed shine from Pangolin scales
Set overheating damage to 10%
Various minor performance improvements
FIXES
Fixed Hyenas not making eye-contact with targets
Fixed birds getting too close to player for ticks
Fixed cinematic & player hud not showing automatically after waking up
Fixed Giraffes & Crows suspended too high off ground
Fixed size issues with overgrown babies & Ostriches
Fixed Serval not able to sit
Fixed friendly emote (2 call) not working for all playable characters
Fixed friendly emote(2call) spamming via player input
Fixed 12 bird species missing scent info
Fixed bushes turning to blurry blocks when moving away
Fixed auto exposure not triggering
Fixed animal communication icons not clearing old emotes
Fixed food bush 4 not moving when animals walk through
Fixed photo mode opening twice on top of itself if not exited properly
CLARIFICATIONS
KNOWN ISSUES & OFFICIAL GUIDANCE
Walking over small rocks could cause the player's camera to slant. This is actually an incomplete feature meant for automatically adjusting the camera perspective; once complete the feature will automatically adjust and reset the camera based on what the player is doing. Until then avoid climbing over small. If the camera is triggered, you can attempt to walk over another rock or object to counter-act the camera adjustment. If you can not fix it this way. only restarting the game
Walking into deep water may cause a fatal error. You can drink but avoid deep water until the new swimming system is implemented
Built-in Photomode: If pics are not in your default photos folder, check... %localappdata%\LocalThe_Great_Circle_C2\Saved\Screenshots\WindowsNoEditor (or use Steam or Nvidia Ansel for now)
UPCOMING DEVELOPMENTS (*near future)
Combat, Hunting, Rival Fights, Playing babies, Hunting Ambushes
Co-op survival mode
Water creatures, Swimming Overhaul
Improvements to player Hud (+Performance)
Combat Mode play options (Deathmatches)
Character menu
BRAND NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Oxpecker birds + on-body movements
Ethiopian wolf
African Fish eagle
Kudu
African Wild Dog
SNEAK PEAKS (Concept art & Lore)
REPORT BUGS via Discord! https://discord.com/invite/9h35M5mhBd Go to #bug-reports channel and describe in detail something you noticed that could be a bug. It also helps to list your hardware info to help determine the cause. Keep an eye out for a direct reply to tell you if it is indeed a bug and if so, a then later a followup reply indicating the problem is fixed in an update.
HOW TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT If you enjoy the vision of this game and want to support development, try any of the following:
Follow social media (Youtube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Discord)
Buy a subscription on TGC's Official Discord
Buy a patreon subscription
Donate directly via paypal
ALL LINKS (Youtube, Twitch, Instagram, Discord, Steam...more) https://linktr.ee/thegreatcircle
NIGHTLY UPDATE | 0.1.0.8
NIGHTLY UPDATE | 0.1.0.8 NIGHTLY UPDATE | 0.1.0.8
NEW CHARACTERS
Springbok
Cheetah
Serval
NEW MECHANICS
ADJUSTMENTS
Improved social communications process between animals
Improved factors of leadership selection (Animals tend to favor the highest level & size, but not always)
Improved Alert birds not seeing carnivores that are hidden/sheltered
Improved Monarch Butterfly general awareness
Added chicken & Chick social sounds
Added multiple reasons for animal aggression (territorial, Sparing, Protective, Play)
Some retouches on Impala
Reduced population of some animals
Reduced group sizes of some animals
Various minor performance improvements
FIXES
Fixed elephants random sounds with no communication purpose
Fixed animals water sense breaking after first trip to drink water
Fixed wrong scent tied to some animals
Fixed bleed pain causing animals to constantly change direction
Fixed hud and morning cinematic not showing automatically
CLARIFICATIONS
KNOWN ISSUES & OFFICIAL GUIDANCE
Cinematic & Player hud not opening automatically after waking up. Press H to open hud manually
Parent animal is outpacing baby
Some birds are walking too close to player to eat ticks and getting trampled.
Playable Serval can not sit
Walking into deep water may cause a fatal error. You can drink but avoid deep water until the new swimming system is implemented
Built-in Photomode: If pics are not in your default photos folder, check... %localappdata%\LocalThe_Great_Circle_C2\Saved\Screenshots\WindowsNoEditor (or use Steam or Nvidia Ansel for now)
UPCOMING DEVELOPMENTS (*near future)
Combat, Hunting, Rival Fights, Playing babies, Hunting Ambushes
Co-op survival mode
Water creatures, Swimming Overhaul
Improvements to player Hud (+Performance)
Combat Mode play options (Deathmatches)
Character menu
BRAND NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Ethiopian wolf
African Fish eagal
Kudu
African Wild Dog
SNEAK PEAKS (Concept art & Lore)
REPORT BUGS via Discord! https://discord.com/invite/9h35M5mhBd Go to #bug-reports channel and describe in detail something you noticed that could be a bug. It also helps to list your hardware info to help determine the cause. Keep an eye out for a direct reply to tell you if it is indeed a bug and if so, a then later a followup reply indicating the problem is fixed in an update.
HOW TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT If you enjoy the vision of this game and want to support development, try any of the following:
Follow social media (Youtube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Discord)
Buy a subscription on TGC's Official Discord
Buy a patreon subscription
Donate directly via paypal
ALL LINKS (Youtube, Twitch, Instagram, Discord, Steam...more) https://linktr.ee/thegreatcircle
Nightly Update | 0.1.0.7
NIGHTLY UPDATE | 0.1.0.7
NEW CHARACTERS
NEW MECHANICS
ADJUSTMENTS
Added initial life conditions for the player (Offspring, Ophan, parental fates)
Improved Parent walking pace when with offspring(so they don't outpace them)
Improved total health affecting player attack damage
Improved scaling of some edible plants to more realistic sizes
Improved large animals ability to avoid tree collisions
Reduced predator population
Turned tree collisions back on for birds to land on
FIXES
Fixed bug that caused performance drop near herds
Fixed bleed damage not working
Fixed music and cinematic being double triggered at start of game
Fixed auto tracking for nearest water body, forage area, & hunting grounds not showing automatically
Fixed animals' loss of water sense after first trip to drink water (walking into lake)
BRAND NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Began setting up Combat Mode play options (Deathmatches)
Working on Cheetah playable&Ai (Patreon or Discord subs only)
Character menu
CLARIFICATIONS
KNOWN ISSUES & OFFICIAL GUIDANCE
Walking into deep water may cause a fatal error. You can drink but avoid deep water until the new swimming system is implemented
Some animals are awaiting adjustments to get their walk animations back in sync with their speed
Survival Mode(early access) normally accessible via password to patreons and discord server subscribers, is temporarily using the demo map.
Built-in Photomode: If pics are not in your default photos folder, check... %localappdata%\LocalThe_Great_Circle_C2\Saved\Screenshots\WindowsNoEditor (or use Steam or Nvidia Ansel for now)
UPCOMING DEVELOPMENT (*near future)
Combat, Hunting, Rival Fights, Playing babies, Hunting Ambushes
Co-op survival mode
Cheetah, Springbok
Water creatures, Swimming Overhaul
Improvements to player Hud (+Performance)
SNEAK PEAKS (Concept art & Lore)
REPORT BUGS via Discord! https://discord.com/invite/9h35M5mhBd Go to #bug-reports channel and describe in detail something you noticed that could be a bug. It also helps to list your hardware info to help determine the cause. Keep an eye out for a direct reply to tell you if it is indeed a bug and if so, a then later a followup reply indicating the problem is fixed in an update.
HOW TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT If you enjoy the vision of this game and want to support development, try any of the following:
Follow social media (Youtube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Discord)
Buy a subscription on TGC's Official Discord
Buy a patreon subscription
Donate directly via paypal
ALL LINKS (Youtube, Twitch, Instagram, Discord, Steam...more) https://linktr.ee/thegreatcircle
TEMPORARY ROLLBACK...ending soon!
Good news everyone! I was able to find an unfinished component that was having a negative effect on performance and was able to fix it. I will be rolling out the next update with the fix applied as well as the next group of features soon! TJ Developer
TEMPORARY ROLLBACK
Hello everyone, The Great Circle will temporarily be rolling back a few versions to compare performance and make sure new features I'm preparing to install are compatible. This is a temporary measure. I expect that everything will be fine and I will move ahead with the new updates soon after. Looking forward to showing you all the next step in this experience! TJ Developer
Nightly Update
NIGHTLY UPDATE | January 21
NEW MECHANICS
New Mechanic: Bleed from injury (WIP)...Bleed damage, Bleed icon,
New Mechanic: Enemy icon shows when player is targeted
New Mechanic: Reintroduced combat music
Added Bleed icon to status bar
Added Build version with numbered format to player hud
Added ability for Leaders to vocalize commands
Added Orphan status for offspring without parents
Added Territory size in meters to territory & Home icon
Added Eggs to some animals nesting ability
Added more variety to levels and stats
ADJUSTMENTS
Combat music now supercedes Exploration/Roaming music
Improved TGC logo in hud
Improved optimization of WAnimal Communication Airway
Improved Ai Huds
Improved distribution algorithm for birthplaces
Improved Hyena walk/run animations
FIXES
Fixed combat music not playing for fights
Fixed regional cinematic not showing region name
Fixed bug causing herds to form too quickly and too large
Fixed Zebras,Rhinos, wildebeest not creating herds
Fixed animal communication icons not following animals
Fixed exposure adjustments snapping instead of fading
Fixed animals moving before they finish getting up
Fixed animals skipping nuzzle ritual when choosing new leader
Fixed elephant tusks glitching player camera
Fixed a mistake causing adults and babies to trade sizes
Fixed broken player attack collision
Fixed Guineafowl & Crow alert calls not working
Fixed ostrich not able to eat green foods
Incremental performance improvements
Reset build version to Jan 12.2023
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Began work on learning system. This system will be used to gain abilities.
Began work on Co-op gameplay
CLARIFICATIONS
KNOWN ISSUES & OFFICIAL GUIDANCE
This update has caused a few bugs to reemerge: hud&music start too early, parent moving while asleep, parent forgets previous objective while reuniting with baby that strays too far. (Fixing these right now)
Walking into deep water may cause a fatal error. You can drink but avoid deep water until the new swimming system is implemented
Some animals are awaiting adjustments to get their walk animations back in sync with their speed
Survival Mode(early access) normally accessible via password to patreons and discord server subscribers, is temporarily using the demo map.
Built-in Photomode: If pics are not in your default photos folder, check... %localappdata%\LocalThe_Great_Circle_C2\Saved\Screenshots\WindowsNoEditor (or use Steam or Nvidia Ansel for now)
UPCOMING DEVELOPMENT (*near future)
Combat, Hunting, Rival Fights, Playing babies, Hunting Ambushes
Co-op survival mode
Cheetah
Water creatures, Swimming Overhaul
Improvements to player Hud (+Performance)
SNEAK PEAKS (Concept art & Lore)
REPORT BUGS via Discord! https://discord.com/invite/9h35M5mhBd Go to #bug-reports channel and describe in detail something you noticed that could be a bug. It also helps to list your hardware info to help determine the cause. Keep an eye out for a direct reply to tell you if it is indeed a bug and if so, a then later a followup reply indicating the problem is fixed in an update.
HOW TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT If you enjoy the vision of this game and want to support development, try one of the following:
Follow social media (Youtube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Discord)
Buy a subscription on TGC's Official Discord
Buy a patreon subscription
Donate directly via paypal
ALL LINKS (Youtube, Twitch, Instagram, Discord, Steam...more) https://linktr.ee/thegreatcircle
Nightly Update
NIGHTLY UPDATE | January 12
Survival Mode(Early Access), will temporarily use the same map as Survival Mode(Demo) New optimizations are applied to the larger official world map, after that Survival (Early Access) will switch back to the unlimited official map. Survival (Demo) will continue to use smaller demo maps in the future.
Added submissive behaviors when animals choose leader
Enabled player ping in hud for networked play
Enabled Autopilot_FollowParent to Autowalk
Enabled Continuous Autopilot
Removed animal communication icons from main menu
Fixed error causing animals to freeze after leaving from morning drink
Fixed error causing player giraffe baby walk to slide
Fixed Black screen skip on begin play
Fixed "H" not changing the player's view modes "Cinematic view", "Watermark view", "Full Hud"
Fixed adult giraffes standup snapping anims
Reset experience cap to
Reset exposure reevaluation to 8am
Adjusted font in top-right dock of player hud
CLARIFICATIONS
The "Instincts" on the bottom left of the hud are a daily routine and are WIP. The hud will soon update as the daily tasks are accomplished.
KNOWN ISSUES
Walking into deep water may cause a fatal error. Please wait until the new swimming system is implemented
Some animals are awaiting adjustments to get their walk animations back in sync with their speed
Built-in Photomode: If pics are not in your default photos folder, check... %localappdata%\LocalThe_Great_Circle_C2\Saved\Screenshots\WindowsNoEditor (or use Steam or Nvidia Ansel for now)
OFFICIAL GUIDANCE
Survival Mode(early access) normally accessible via password to patreons and discord server subscribers, is temporarily using the demo map.
UPCOMING DEVELOPMENT (*near future)
Combat, Hunting, Rival Fights, Playing babies, Hunting Ambushes
Co-op survival mode
Cheetah
Water creatures, Swimming Overhaul
Improvements to player Hud (+Performance)
SNEAK PEAKS (Concept art & Lore)
REPORT BUGS via Discord! https://discord.com/invite/9h35M5mhBd Go to #bug-reports channel and describe in detail something you noticed that could be a bug. It also helps to list your hardware info to help determine the cause. Keep an eye out for a direct reply to tell you if it is indeed a bug and if so, a then later a followup reply indicating the problem is fixed in an update.
HOW TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT
Follow social media (Youtube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Discord)
Buy a subscription on TGC's Official Discord
Buy a patreon subscription
Donate directly via paypal
ALL LINKS (Youtube, Twitch, Instagram, Discord, Steam...more) https://linktr.ee/thegreatcircle
Nightly Build Update
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION AIRWAYS SYSTEM Everyday we step outside we overlook the network of animal sounds which blends into the background of our commutes to and from work, school, the gym and beyond. What we call ambiance is nature's own information highway for creatures that can understand it. Lions broadcasting their presence, blue cranes calling for mates, elephants issuing stern warnings to any would-be predators targeting their calves. All of this is done through sound and in The Great Circle you can observe a living breathing ecosystem in a way that has never been done before! No generated sounds, or cheap tricks, in TGC everything you hear in is alive and trying to stay that way! We're not just building a game, but a living breathing natural world!
NIGHTLY BUILD | January 9
Add player online status to hud
Fixed mother waking up too early on first play
Fixed player hud showing before wake-up cinematic
Add gender icon to animal huds
Added new icon for death
Added new icon for food bushes
Added new icon for water puddles
Added behavior for parental animals to wait near sleeping babies until they wake
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION AIRWAYS SYSTEM v1
Created the Animal Communication Airway system (A never before seen system which shows the player communications between animals as icons on screen. Reminder, there is no generated ambiance in TGC, everything you hear is creatures communicating, including insects and birds!)
Added ability for animals to send & receive vocal communications. (Plain calls are meant for any animal within earshot. Calls+ right arrows means the message is directed at a specific individual. Call+reverse-arrow(left arrow) means an animal is replying directly to another. Messages directed towards the player will show in the hud on the left side under "Incoming messages" dock. Below that is a list of calls that the player can send outwards to any animals within earshot. Later I will add the ability for the player to target specific animals for communication. For the time being I'm disabling the ability for the player to see calls by birds and insects. Otherwise the screen would be full of calls even at a limited range.
Added ability for animals to broadcast their presence to other animals
Added ability for animals to reply to broadcasts
Adjusted player hearing range for animal communication airways so that calls between animals that are too far will still happen but wont show up on screen
Added ability for DEUS(God ai) to regrow food in forage areas
Add pregnancy status for all animals
Added online status to hud
Fixed NPC counter not working in hud
Carnivore aggression and combat is temporarily disabled
Updated game version to Jan 5.2023
DEV NOTE The carnivores are getting overhauled soon. Their new brain will allow them to track prey, attack intelligently, target the weak or sick, and hide near resources to set up ambushes. TJ Developer
Nightly Update
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION AIRWAYS SYSTEM Everyday we step outside we overlook the network of animal sounds which blends into the background of our commutes to and from work, school, the gym and beyond. What we call ambiance is nature's own information highway for creatures that can understand it. Lions broadcasting their presence, blue cranes calling for mates, elephants issuing stern warnings to any would-be predators targeting their calves. All of this is done through sound and in The Great Circle you can observe a living breathing ecosystem in a way that has never been done before! No generated sounds, or cheap tricks, in TGC everything you hear in is alive and trying to stay that way! We're not just building a game, but a living breathing natural world!
NIGHTLY BUILD | January 9
Add player online status to hud
Fixed mother waking up too early on first play
Fixed player hud showing before wake-up cinematic
Add gender icon to animal huds
Added new icon for death
Added new icon for food bushes
Added new icon for water puddles
Added behavior for parental animals to wait near sleeping babies until they wake
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION AIRWAYS SYSTEM v1
Created the Animal Communication Airway system (A never before seen system which shows the player communications between animals as icons on screen. Reminder, there is no generated ambiance in TGC, everything you hear is creatures communicating, including insects and birds!)
Added ability for animals to send & receive vocal communications. (Plain calls are meant for any animal within earshot. Calls+ right arrows means the message is directed at a specific individual. Call+reverse-arrow(left arrow) means an animal is replying directly to another. Messages directed towards the player will show in the hud on the left side under "Incoming messages" dock. Below that is a list of calls that the player can send outwards to any animals within earshot. Later I will add the ability for the player to target specific animals for communication. For the time being I'm disabling the ability for the player to see calls by birds and insects. Otherwise the screen would be full of calls even at a limited range.
Added ability for animals to broadcast their presence to other animals
Added ability for animals to reply to broadcasts
Adjusted player hearing range for animal communication airways so that calls between animals that are too far will still happen but wont show up on screen
Added ability for DEUS(God ai) to regrow food in forage areas
Add pregnancy status for all animals
Added online status to hud
Fixed NPC counter not working in hud
Carnivore aggression and combat is temporarily disabled
Updated game version to Jan 5.2023
DEV NOTE The carnivores are getting overhauled soon. Their new brain will allow them to track prey, attack intelligently, target the weak or sick, and hide near resources to set up ambushes. TJ Developer
Nightly Build Update
Hello everyone I wanted to let you know that I will be releasing nightly build updates to steam for The Great Circle demo. These updates include a variety of changes and improvements to the game. I understand that it can be hard to keep track of all the changes so I will do my best to include patch notes for each update on steam. There's usually anywhere from 50-200 changes so I will do my best to summarize the most relevant parts in an easy-to-read format for you. Thank you for your support for being a valued member of TGC's community! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the updates! TJ Developer
NIGHTLY BUILD | January 5
Fixed hud showing too quickly upon first waking up. (Now: Wake...Cinematic...Hud)
Improved leadership system. Animals not born with leaders can now choose (Leadership is based on level, size, and personality. The next improvement will require the player to perform realistic displays of dominance within view of animals to be chosen as leaders. currently this is either yes or no. The next update will put in place a spectrum where individual members of groups can have varying levels of acceptance, and it falls on the leader to keep followers in line and continue to prove themselves most fit to be leader.)
Added scent exchange behavior
Added bonding behavior
Added choosing player as leader behavior
Added NPC counter to hud for testing(near/far)
Began code foundation for vocal communication airways (Ambiance)
