The Sapling
New videoseries "Evolution simulated", starting under water
Patch 10.28
Added cheats
* Shift+C activates cheat modus; the current cheat command string will be shown near the bottom of the screen
* The cheat 'continuous' makes the game run in the background (not officially supported)
* The cheat 'hideui' hides the UI
* The cheat 'showui' shows it again
* The cheat 'slowcam' slows down the camera speed
Species and family views
* You can now sort all species by name
* In the family tree, when there are more than 6 children, it shows the 6 most populous ones (instead of the 6 ones that emerged earliest)
* The page indicator below the species list view now shows numbers instead of dots (more convenient for larger/older worlds)
* When leaving the family tree and entering the species list, it automatically browses to the page of the species you were looking at in the family tree
* When looking at the species list while the camera is low to the ground, it will no longer highlight organisms in the background
Visualization fixes
* Manually created animals now always look exactly as the player designed them (optimization has been turned off for this use case)
* Decreased the chances of showing a non-walking animal as a substitute for a walking animal on land for performance reasons (optimization has been turned off for this use case)
* The 'locate a random organism of this species' (looking glass) button now also works for species with low population sizes
* Fixed problem where combs could glow white as if luminescent
* Manually placed algae now grow at exactly the location where you drop them
Simulation changes
* Made the check to prevent animals reproducing in crowded areas stricter
* Color is now also taken into account when classifying algae into species
* Increased the chance of meaningful seasonal adaptions for plants
* Prevented seasonal adaptations to 'cross' each other (maximum temperature lower than minimun temperature)
Saving/loading fixes
* Saving and then loading a game in a warmer or cooler season no longer changes the base temperature of an area
* Same fix for wind strength and shallow ground water
* Star light (allowed alga and plant colors) is now set correctly after loading a save game
Season fixes
* The game no longer crashes when you delete the current season
* The game no longer restarts at the year 0 when you change a season before going into an editor
Patch 10.25
* Algae near the shore can now evolve into plants
* Aquatic animals are now also restricted by ocean current speed, making huge population boosts less likely, and giving them reason to evolve
* Fixed a bug preventing aquatic animals from evolving into air breathing animals
* Completely overhauled how animal positions are tracked, making time jumps with a lot of animals much faster
Small:
* Fixed disappearing alga models problem
* Optimization: disabled animations for invisible algae in a few more situations, increasing framerates for large underwater worlds
* Backfins and tailfins can now evolve separately from side fins, taking their own evolutionary path
* Optimization: removed unneccessary checks for swimming aquatic animals, increasing framerates for large underwater worlds
* The algorithm that decides which animal models are built now prioritizes common species, which is both faster and gives a much better display of the variety
* Avoid reproducing in crowded areas (which would make them even more crowded)
* Fixed a simulation bug where children of existing species did not do damage to plants and algae when eating them (that is, they had an infinite food source)
* Fixed glitches related to instincts 'go away from x' near the edge of the map
* Fixed glitches related to algae being eaten even before than can grow
* Fixed a simulation bug causing underwater nests
* The species list view now remembers which filters were (de)activated
* Ocean current speed is now determined by distance from the shore, not wind speed, to make it more gradual and reliable
* Made the game write some more information to the log file, in the hope of catching another 'impossible animal'
Patch 10.24
* Redesigned the view to load savegames; now with filter buttons and more information per save file
* When failing a scenario, it now includes options to go back to 3 checkpoints (instead of always starting over from zero)
* For all objectives, there is now a progress bar so you get more feedback on whether you are going to succeed
Small:
* Manual edits to the soil stats are now also stored in the savefile
* Redesigned the objective view; now all information is one page (no tabs anymore)
* The game now displays skin type statistics when hovering skin type buttons
* When changing the global temperature in the sandbox, the soil colors are now updated immediately
* When loading a sandbox world, any changes to the global temperature are applied only once (instead of twice)
* When choosing a smaller map size, the temperatures will become less extreme (can be restored manually)
* Fixed the 'white world' bug that appeared when using seasons in the sandbox
* Polished the UV of the creature scenario, so maps projected onto the terrain (for example indicating where your creations will survive) more accurately depict the simulation
* Fixed a bug where algae could be placed over the edge of the map
* After a timejump, a message is shown 'rebuilding organism models, this may take a while...' instead of everything just freezing
* Added a new death cause: seeds fell in water (although it only shows up rarely)
Various camera improvements:
* When using the WASD/arrow keys, you can no longer fly into the terrain; the camera will automatically go up to stay 'above land'
* When you stop moving the camera, the focus point will reset to the terrain in the center of the screen. This prevents unexpected camera behavior in mountainous areas.
* If you lose control of the camera when tabbing out of the game, you can now 'get it back' by simply using WASD/arrow keys again
* Fixed a problem where the camera would go wild when zooming directly after coming out of an editor
Various bulldozer button improvements:
* The area cleared now perfectly matches the size of the circle, independent of map size
* Plant seeds that were about to hatch are now also removed
* A small 'falling rocks' particle effect and sound are now played with each usage, making it much more fun to use
* The bulldozer mode now is automatically turned off when using another part of the UI, preventing weird interactions
Notice: this patch introduces a new savefile format (sav7). While the old format (sav6) does still work, there should be far fewer problems with games started AFTER this patch is installed.
Patch 10.23
* Added a ´randomize all´ button to the planet editor
* Made it possible to have nests with the intermediate stage eggs
* Added smaller map sizes to the planet editor, for less powerful PCs
* Added option to locate a random living example of a species in the species list
Small:
* It now also gets dark under water at night
* The underwater sunrays now fade out at night and fade in again in the morning
* Moved planet editor UI into separate tabs, to create some more space
* In the planet editor, made slider handles follow the mouse cursor better
* Redesigned random mutation chance view
* At the side of the map, you can no longer see the air color when under water
* The camera and sound now correctly switch to 'underwater mode' when following an animal
* Fixed the sharp edges in the soil color (caused by water having less extreme temperatures)
* Fixed the hatch animation for eggs with a hard shell
* Plants can no longer evolve negative sizes
* Fixed the ready button overlapping other UI features when selecting a nest
Patch 10.22
* Added 'alive' and 'extinct' species filter buttons for the species list view
* Added a GUI scale option (for larger monitors)
* Finally figured out (and fixed) a major reason for corrupt save files: long fur was not fully supported
* Finally figured out (and fixed) a major reason for hanging games: recent changes to extinction notifications did not fully support when plants were outcompeted
Small:
* Finally figured out and fixed what caused instinct mutations like 'if hear the color green, do x', 'if you hear too warm, do y'
* Added an autosave and memory cleanup before the player starts a time jump
* Primitive (aquatic) mouths no longer evolve out of nowhere (in particular, on land animals)
* Fixed smoke particle effect in the disaster scenario
* Fixed the scripted organisms in the ice age scenario
* Fixed incorrect red areas indicating where animals cannot live in the ice age scenario
* The alga, plant and season editor music volume now also matches the music volume in the settings
* The water sounds and the animal cries (in the world and the animal editor) now also match the sound effect volume in the settings
* Made all filter buttons and their labels in the species list view larger, and redesigned the 'sort by birth year' icon to better fit the style of the rest of the UI
* Algae are now vertically centered in the species list view
* Increased the hitbox size of 'next/previous page' buttons in the species list view
* Fixed filter button opacity after disabling filter in the species list view
* Fixed sorting by population size when using 'pick color of existing species'
* Improved positioning of the red pulsating warning text in the animal editor
* Fixed rounding error for the 'minimum ocean depth' visualization, shown when placing a new alga
* Made sure soil stats overlays turn off when you open other UI (like the notification list, or the mutation chance view)
* In the planet editor gradient bar legends, fixed incorrect pixels at the beginning and end
Patch 10.21 (available to everybody!)
Large
* Predators no longer eat when not hungry, to prevent their food source going extinct
* Predators only eat eggs when they see multiple, to prevent their food source going extinct
* Optimization: don't show animations for animals further in the distance (except animals that can fly)
* Optimization: don't calculate knee bend angles for animals further in the distance
* Optimization: don't immediately disable unused 3D models; move them out of sight for a while first (enabling/disabling is expensive)
Importantly, the first two changes allow for much larger carnivore populations, which in turn results in carnivores evolving on their own in the sandbox!
Small
* Optimization: shortened the render distance for underwater animals
* Optimization: use the terrain height sampler also to determine camera height
* Optimization: use the terrain height sampler also to determine where plants, eggs and animal babies should go
* Optimization: created light weight variant of mouse hover logic (oa without tooltip options) for organisms, so it can handle large amounts of organisms better
* Stopped carnivores eating meat of their own species (because in some situations populations could sustain themselves indefinitely this way)
* Added percentage of deaths to extinction notification
* Fixed bug where the death cause notification only considered deaths TODAY
* Fixed incorrect 'random mutation chance' toggles after going into an editor
* Fixed bug where omnivore species populations were artificially kept small
* Fixed bug were the game lost track of recently evolved algae after loading a savegame
* Added warning message when feet don't touch the ground to the movement panel of the animal editor
* Moved several vertices in the small lobe fin models a bit lower, to increase the chance of them touching the ground
* Changed 'first creature' level objective for clarity: your creature only needs walking limbs, it does not actually need to be able to walk
* Fixed bug where you could click plants while in a UI view, like the time jump view
* Fixed underwater music losing the lowpass effect if you changed the time speed
* When random mutations are turned on, sight related instincts can now also mutate the darkness/brightness of their trigger color (forgot to add this so far)
* Removed various asset bundle related error logs shown each time opening the animal editor
Patch 10.19 (beta only)
Large
* Added new main animal stats tab in the animal editor, showing you whether your creation breathes, moves and lays eggs on land or in water
* Added music to the season editor
* Implemented 'edit seasons' button in the world, so you can redefine your seasons whenever you want
Small
* Set terrain height sampler to higher accuracy, decreasing the amount of animals floating above or sinking into the terrain
* Improved knee bending calculations, decreasing the amount of feet floating above or sinking into the terrain (Inverse Kinematics)
* Pressing multiple arrow (and WASD) keys simultaneously now makes the camera move diagonally
* Releasing arrow (or WASD) keys after pressing multiple simultaneously no longer makes the camera stop
* Fixed unexpected camera behavior after opening the speciest list view or the objective list view
* Fixed unexpected camera behavior after using the arrow (or WASD) keys while focusing on an organism
* Added extra growing circle to get your attention when the algae handle is introduced
* The animal body part length handle can now also be used when there is something at the back of an animal, like a tail
* Fixed swimming animation glitch when swimming at the surface
* Fixed swimming animals floating above shallow water
* Fixed animals that would drag on land swimming too low
* Made the visual and audio transition to and from the planet editor smoother (dip to black, crossfade)
* Made the visual and audio transition to and from the alga editor smoother (dip to black, crossfade)
* Made the visual and audio transition to and from the season editor smoother (dip to black, crossfade)
* Made sure the unlock hint is always on top of the rest of the UI
* Fixed the unlock hint not appearing in the second scenario
* Fixed editing (as opposed to mutating) being sufficient for the 'mighty mutations' milestone in the second scenario
* Fixed oxygen bubble visualization not fading in when looking at the animals up close
* Fixed 'white terrain' glitch caused by turning on seasons without defining them
* Camera movement is no longer blocked after getting out of the species or objective overview with the esc button
* Fixed 'hand' type limbs never unlocking
* Fixed non-responsive 'mutate' button for individual underwater animals when zoomed in
Full release of the 'Sea & Sandbox' update delayed to October
Having said that, I feel the game will not be ready for the 'main' branch on September 13. This is partly because I would like to fix some more bugs, but most of all because I did not get to (1) optimization (= acceptable FPS) and (2) balancing (= interesting simulations) at all so far. While the overall response to the Sea & Sandbox update is super positive (again, thanks!) I'm seeing multiple beta players report that this lack of optimization and balancing really affects the current gameplay negatively, and I can totally see why.
This means the 'Sea & Sandbox' update is not yet ready for everyone, so I have decided to continue pushing my patches to the beta branch for a few more weeks: my current plan is to move over to the main branch on October 11. While I don't expect to have a 100% bug free, smooth and balanced game by then (this is still an Early Access game after all), things should be significantly better than they are today.
But I really wanted to play this Tuesday!
Well, you can; I will continue to release patches to the beta branch, which everyone who bought the game has access to. Every devlog of video of season 2 ends with a visual instruction on how to switch to this beta branch. The fact that I upload builds of the game on this branch instead of to everyone the only thing that is different from the original plan.
By the way, the version of the game that is available on the beta branch right now is already a lot more stable than the version that what I released on August 16, and will be even more so with the upcoming patch, which I aim to release in the coming week.
What about the price increase?
I feel it would be fairest to only increase the price when the 'Sea & Sandbox' update is available for everyone, so the price increase is postponed as well; it will go live together with the update.
Patch 10.12 (beta only)
Large
* Added an extra hint to show how the mutation mechanic works, shows up when hovering locked body parts
* Made underwater temperatures and seasonal effects less extreme
* Remodeled the 'early lobe' fins to be more sideways oriented, so they look better when the animals drag themselves on land
* Fixed mutation chances being (much) smaller than the UI claimed they were
Small
* Made greenhouse level less hot, as even the toughest plants could no longer survive
* Egg types can now also mutate
* Implemented the 'mutate alga' button in the alga detail view (did nothing so far)
* Swimming animals now gradually slow down when they reach their target (instead of abrupt stop)
* Optimization: only show alga holdfasts when up close
* Optimization: stop alga animation when not visible
* Added explanation: land animal with aquatic eggs went extinct because it could not reach water in time to lay its eggs
* Added explanation: aquatic animal with land eggs went extinct because it could not reach land in time to lay its eggs
* Fixed inaccessible area in the east of each sandbox map
* Animals can no longer walk on steep terrain (but plants can grow there!)
* The seasons editor no longer glitches out after the deleting the last season
* Fixed confusing animal editor warning for nest builders that are too heavy for their legs
* Fixed hibernation slider availability when opening the animal editor
* Fixed crash when randomly mutating algae after loading a savegame
* Changed the starter level to have water until the edges
* Changed the default egg type in the sandbox to the intermediate stage (instead of the aquatic egg)
* Decreased chances of animals flying through mountains
* Completely removed former primitive limbs and mouths from the game (they could still show up because of random mutation)