This week’s update brings you even more Heredity module quests to dive into! We also updated the launcher, so it'll look a bit different, but since Steam handles patching for Steam users, it's not a major change for our Steam community (mainly for people outside of Steam).
So, on to the Heredity quest and bug fix updates!
AMARANTHA AND THE SEEDLINGS
Rowan, the Pygia tree-whispering Espethian in the Student District, has some big news: Amarantha has just had her newest seedlings start sprouting! Rowan’s thinking about making a Punnett square to see what the seedlings’ leaves will look like when they’re grown, and wants your help. Fire up your trusty DNA extractor and help her unlock the mystery!
Note: In order to accept this quest, you’ll have to have completed “DNA or Nay?” from Supervisor Cherie in the Amazon Biodome.
SEEDLING SWAP
Clovis, the Pygia tree, is the parent of twelve seedlings. Today is their birthday! Espethian Rowan wants to make sure the seedlings can visit the other parent, but she can’t remember who they were. Was it Hyppolite or Leonardo? Use the genetic information of the three Pygia trees and make a Punnett square to figure out who’s the other parent!
PINK ON YELLOW CAN VEX A FELLOW
Tyto Student Yosef is not happy. At all. It seems that some of his newest timpitas are yellow! He knew that cross-pollinating pink timpitas with his yellow one wouldn’t create pink, thanks to your help, but is still left staring at his flowerbed in disbelief. What could have possibly happened? There must be an answer. With your DNA extractor in hand and heredity knowledge in mind once again, check out Yosef’s flowerbed and ease his stress.
Note: This quest will be available as soon as you have finished “Pink on Yellow” from Yosef and “Amarantha and the Seedlings” from Rowan.
CREATE YOUR OWN PUNNETT SQUARES!
The quests mentioned above utilize a new quest mechanic currently exclusive to our heredity module: Punnett squares! Named after Geneticist Reginald C. Punnett, who invented the diagram, Punnett Squares are used by biologists every day to determine the probability of an organism’s offspring exhibiting a certain trait or genotype. In these quests, you’ll be learning how to fill out these squares and creating your own to help the citizens of Espeth!
BUG FIXES + TWEAKS
Tutorials should now only appear in the appropriate level during the appropriate quest stage, and won’t restart if changing levels.
Observation tutorial will no longer ask you to observe objects in a quest if you have already observed all of the objects in that quest.
Double clicking the observation button in the hotbar shouldn’t cause buggy behavior where the bubble still shows up even though the bar is gone.
Whipper Snippers body styles are now in the same order as the list from the onboarding customization.
Vendor interface help text updated to reflect how you actually go about selling items for now.
Insect species will now display their latin name and Temporal Range fields in the Biodex when fully researched.
Tutorial bubbles with continue buttons now stop bobbing so the button can be clicked easier.
The widget for completing quests should scale appropriately if the completed quest has no item rewards.
The Image Analysis window involved in detective quests is better structured so scrolling isn’t required to see feedback.
Categorization widgets can now expand to fit more than three options.
What happened to Alpha 29? Looks like we forgot to post it to Steam, just out blog. Head over to catch up if you'd like: https://www.tytoonline.com/alpha-29-more-quests-punnett-squares-and-dr-hiroshi-tetsu/
Alpha 28: Gameplay Tutorials and Student District Improvements!
This week’s update brings even more additions and tweaks to make playing Tyto Online a better experience for everybody. Check out all the details below:
GAMEPLAY TUTORIALS
This week, we’ve added tutorials that appear during the first quests you’ll encounter as a player. The first time you’re asked to use your tools like your map, Observe, or argue evidence, you’ll have on-screen popups that help you out through it all!
STUDENT DISTRICT SIGNS
Next time you’re roaming the student district, you might find some new, shiny signs to Tyto Academy, Tyto Apartments, and Tyto Commons. These signs should help with familiarizing yourself with the area, and give you a better sense of the major landmarks.
YOSEF HAS MOVED!
It would seem that Stylist Vanya has had enough of Tyto Student Yosef loitering outside of Whipper Snippers, and has politely (yet firmly) asked him to relocate. You’ll now find him in Tyto Commons in front of the house located next to Furniture Vendor Valeria’s stall.
From now on, you’ll need to go here to access quests from him like “The Gutted Garden.”
THE BELL JAR CAFE’S ELEVATOR IS NOW WORKING!
The Bell Jar Cafe’s elevator is up and running. Ride it up to the top of the cafe and gaze into the starry, Espethian night sky.
BUG FIXES + TWEAKS
The Onboarding Tutorial now has a map. Previously, opening the map during that sequence of the game would display an error.
Fixed crash that occurred when speaking to NPCs in Espeth Park.
[*A] blank “social” biodex tab will no longer appear when selecting an animal’s social tab, and then clicking on mushrooms.
The text that prompts the player to reach level 3 before talking to Dr. Reneau about the HELO has been rewritten to be a little more specific.
Players will now be notified if they do not have permissions to chat.
Also, if you want to see what is planned for upcoming patches, check out our timeline here: https://www.sutori.com/story/behind-the-scenes-devlog
Alpha 27 Hotfix
This may have taken us longer to get uploaded and prepped than we wanted, but our Alpha 27 hotfix with a few things we did not get in Monday is ready.
CONTENT UPDATES
“Welcome, Citizen,” the tutorial quest when you leave Joel and Liana, is no longer a prerequisite for some other quests in the game. This way, players can get to the educational content and quests as soon as they enter the student district, as opposed to being forced into finishing the first quest. But we still recommend it!
You will notice many NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) in the game have updated body styles, using the new looks from our previous update!
You’ll now find characters walking towards the Transit Center in Espeth Park after completing “Welcome, Citizen” so it is easier to figure out where to go next to advance the quest.
Added more of the following species to biodomes so that they can be researched for HELO biodomes easier (thanks to Niyo for reporting):
Clouded Leopard Cub
Rattlesnake Hatchling
Caribou Calf
Caribou Moss
BUG FIXES
Fixed issue in which character nameplates were spawning in the middle of their bodies. It looked pretty amusing, but you probably would rather be able to read names.
Fixed issue in which players could inadvertently skip a step in “Welcome, Citizen” by not correctly hitting the trigger for the next part of the quest when zoning into a new area as they traveled. This will now be much cleaner, giving quest credit as soon as you zone into a new location.
Map icons will no longer fail to update if a character has spawned into an area within the quest’s radius.
Alpha 27: Tyto Academy & Gameplay Improvements
This week’s patch is all about making the existing Tyto Online experience even better for everyone, and especially new players. We recently observed about 30 brand new players playing the game and made pages upon pages of notes!
So, let's get down to it.
TYTO ACADEMY IS NOW OPEN!
At last, the doors to Tyto Academy have opened and welcome you to explore! This has been in works for awhile, and we’re pleased to finally let you explore the inside of the academy. Likewise, Dr. Reneau has been moved to be inside the academy instead of standing next to Elektra and Helo. Keep that in mind when heading to your H.E.L.O. Biodomes.
She also has a new, special icon above her head — the Ecology Module leaf! We’ll now be doing this with special NPCs that have more functionality than just quests.
IMPROVED ONBOARDING
Following the feedback we’ve received from our fellow players, we’ve also tweaked the introductory tutorial with Joel and Liana to be a smoother experience.
You can now skip the beginning cut scene, but we definitely recommend you don’t!
We made an actual Map instead of it being blank here, not that you need a map for one room.
There are now only two platforms to jump on, since many players had issues trying to do the third platform in such a small room.
Your abilities will now populate while in the cryochamber room, not just after you leave, so that players can start to review them sooner.
As soon as Joel and Liana let you know that you are good to go, you may now exit, or wait to hear what else they have to say.
Tyto Official Bert now gives the player their Cryobed during the game’s first quest instead of Vendor Erika, so there is much less running around during the Welcome, Citizen quest.
UPDATED QUESTS
While watching others play Tyto Online, we noticed that Yosef’s quest, “The Gutted Garden,” was most likely the first quest that players completed involving the argument builder. You may now find some red herrings in the quest when trying to convince Yosef, so that players better understand what pieces of evidence to look for in these quest variants, and what to be wary of.
Also, in “Pollinate & Prosper,” you can now see the flittermice being released! If you still have a flittermouse cage, you can test this out after the fact, too.
LOCK UI BUTTON ADDED
The next time you startup Tyto Online, you may notice a little padlock icon next to your hotbar.
This icon will “lock” your hotbar so that you can’t accidentally drag abilities off and potentially remove them from the bar. However, you can “unlock” the hotbar by clicking on the icon, and rearrange your abilities to your heart’s content. The bar will also be automatically unlocked when you open the Skills/Tools menu.
OTHER TWEAKS AND BUG FIXES
The leveling has been rebalanced so that players need to do a couple more quests before reaching Level 3.
We moved the Map button down with the minimap and made it so that clicking on the minimap brings up the full map.
The pre-requisites for Dr. Sandrine’s HELO quest have been updated; in addition to being Level 3, you also must have done the first biodome food web quest in the Amazon. This is because in order to research animals, you need to have earned the DNA Extractor from that quest.
The transit screen now appears upon touching the transit center door.
The responsiveness of the interaction icon when mousing over NPCs you can talk with has been improved.
The top bar in the HELO has been improved to be smaller and more readable.
The quest zone radius on the minimap now changes color when the player enters it.
The “Skillbook” menu has been renamed to “Tools,” and it’s icon has been updated.
The cooldown timer for “Observe” has been changed to 20 seconds.
Apartment paints now will be highlighted when clicking on them, much like furniture.
A message will now display if a player attempts to “learn” or use a clothing item they already have.
No more than three quests will be tracked on your screen with the Active Quest Tracker, as opposed to the original five. They will, however, remain in your journal. This is due to limited screen real estate!
The “CONFIRM/CANCEL” buttons for placing down furniture have been redesigned for greater on-screen visibility.
In the argument builder, players are now not presented with a third possible argument format unless one of the answers in the quest would benefit from it.
There are now signs placed in some locations in Espeth, such as letting you know where the Apartments room entrance is.
Other players no longer display the level up animation when a single player levels up.
Fixed a bug where “NEW!” on Weekly Challenge rewards would remain forever.
Fixed an issue where it was hard to remove lines on the food webs because it would select a new line.
Alpha 26: More Heredity + Other Reworks!
This week’s update brings another heredity quest for you to dive into, as well as some improvements to an existing quest and voice acting for various ecology quests.
Looking to get started with the new quest? Take a look below for everything you’ll need to know:
GEPPETTO GENETICS
Espethian Lawrence in the Student District seems really excited! It turns out her pet chogwig, Lady Choggerly, just had a baby geppetto!
…Wait a second. Huh? That doesn’t seem right. Despite not making any logical sense, Lawrence is absolutely convinced that Lady Choggerly is really the mother of a geppetto. Put your heredity knowledge to the task and find out what’s really going on here.
Note: In order to accept this quest, you’ll need to have finished “DNA or Nay?” from Cherie in the Amazon Biodome.
CONTENT UPDATES + TWEAKS
The quest, “Pollinate and Prosper” by Tyto Researcher Kato in the Student District, has been rewritten and redesigned to be clearer and more enjoyable for new players.
Voiceover has been added for the following quests: A Whiskery Mystery, Abiotic and Biotic, Animals with Shells, Dr. Reneau’s Request, and The Proof is in the Poop 2.
The map has been updated with more visible icons.
We’ve added additional graphics optimizations which should increase performance for users.
We’ve added additional graphics options under Options for reducing post processing and effects which also greatly increase performance.
BUG FIXES
Fixed a bug where players could not choose what quest to accept from a quest giver when returning to a biodome from an argument builder quest.
Fixed bug in which the module tracker was not in-sync with the currently selected module.
Alpha 25: First Heredity Quests!
Today's the big day: we're happy to unveil the first quests of our brand-new heredity module in this week's patch! If you're aching to get started right away, here's what you need to know:
Panganog Paternity
Vendor Sasha in the Student District has a Panganog friend named Dashwood. To her surprise, she discovered Dashwood -- aside from being undeniably adorable -- just became a mother! But, she wonders, who is the father? It's up to you to find out!
Note: In order to accept the first Panganog Paternity quest, you'll need to have completed the quests, "My Kingdom for a Ponycorn" with Sasha and "Population Survey: Amazon" with Cherie in the Amazon Biodome.
DNA or Nay?
Supervisor Cherie in the Amazon Biodome has been thinking about her future beyond being a biodome supervisor. It seems she needs to ask a favor of you. Won't you give her a hand?
Note: In order to accept this quest, you'll need to have completed "Panganog Paternity 2" and "Abiotic and Biotic" in Espeth Park.
Updates and Bug Fixes
Weekly rewards no longer display as "new" permanently.
The Tranquil-icer has been improved to be snappier.
RP and XP rewarded for completing Ecology quests has been re-balanced so that nothing is left locked if every quest has been completed.
Animals that have been unlocked in the biodex now emit a golden glow when using the analyze skill so that you can better differentiate between Observable animals and detective quest objects.
Also, our friends over at Playful Oasis have set up a Curated group on Steam all about nature games -- indie games with topics like Biology, Zoology, Paleontology and many more. Check it out: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/7894720/
Alpha 24: Idle Animations, VO Updates, and Heredity Framework
This week's patch brings a variety of subtle (but important!) improvements as we inch ever-so closer towards the launch of the Heredity Module. The first heredity quests will be available next Monday -- less than a week away!
New Player Character Idle Animations
First, we've added some new idle animations for your character. Now, whenever you're standing around, they may look around and take in the scenery, check their shoes for any dirt, or even doze off to sleep!
New VO
Additionally, Supervisor Farah in the Mojave Biodome now has voice acting. Go and give her a visit!
Module Tracking Added
And finally, we've begun to lay the foundation for the upcoming Heredity Module. Using the new Module Tracker, you can now choose to track Ecology or Heredity Leveling on your main player profile, and check your progress with both. To open the Tracker, click the newly added icon for it at the top of your screen, next to the Research Tree.
Other changes we’ve made to enable additional modules:
Quest bubbles above quest-givers' heads will now have an icon that specifies what kind of EXP you'll earn.
When clicking on an NPC who has multiple quests for you to accept, you can now easily identify which module belongs to which quest.
Everywhere else where you receive EXP or RP has been updated to specify which Module it is from (like quest acceptance and completion screens).
On the player profile on the top left, there is now also a quick option for changing the type of EXP you are tracking. Click the icon in the middle of the circle, and a drop down will show the module options to choose from. It will then immediately switch to showing your progress from that Module.
Character Screen has also been updated to reflect multiple Modules of experience and allow switching the tracking priority.
Tweaks & Bug Fixes
Right clicking NPCs when you have an argument builder and an available quest no longer pushes you into dialogue with the quest rather than giving you an option of which you want to do.
Cursor is no longer stuck in “talk to NPC” mode when you are inside of an argument builder.
The “NEW” badge on weekly rewards no longer has cut off text.
In the “Coneflower Collection” quest, flowers now show up on the mini-map.
Window resolution, as well as window mode settings, are now saved between play sessions.
Previously missing icons have been added to the remainder of the HELO rewards.
Fixed a bug where pollinators would say they needed more than 2 to reproduce during their reproduction week.
Chogwig and Capybara pets now have UI icons.
Changed HELO challenge, “It’s a Baby __!” so that plants are not referred to as “babies” and not “born” in biodomes. For plants, this weekly challenge is now called, “It’s a __ Sprout!” While the variant for animals will retain the original title.
Announcing the Next Module: Heredity!
We’re really excited to announce the new module we’re adding to Tyto Online — Heredity!
This is the next big step in our ambition to incorporate many different subjects in Tyto Online. So what will players be able to do in this new module?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFloeip3Y50
Much like the Ecology Module, this one is also made up of a set of quests and a Sandbox (for ecology, that is building your own ecosystems).
The Quests
With the brand new quests we’re adding, players will experience many different concepts involving heredity and genetics, starting with the basics all the way through to lethal alleles and incomplete dominance and codominance. They’ll learn how to incubate and hatch a drakon egg; Yosef is back with even more problems: his timpita plants aren’t turning pink as he expected them to! And how did a baby Yawp end up in a Chogwig litter?
The Sandbox
The Sandbox for Heredity is actually breeding your own drakons! After living on the terraformed moon Halcyon, an unexpected disease left many drakons sterile and unable to reproduce. So it’s up to the Tyto Academy students to breed drakons on Ovo and add more diversity into the drakon population so they can return to Halcyon.
Players will be able to trade and cross-breed with other player’s drakons, learn how environmental and genetic factors affect the growth of animals and plants, and construct Punnett squares for their quests to predict the outcomes of their drakon breeding. As players level up, they’ll unlock progressively complex types of genes for drakon breeding, from varying horn and wing types to color schemes and even some secret mutations.
Concept art for various drakons, although first iterations will not have legs, only wings!
Timeline and Rollout
The Heredity Module will be more linear than the Ecology one is, because these concepts really depend on each other as the player learns. We're also tying the quests directly to what is being unlocked in the Sandbox. So for example, you can't do Color with your drakon until you've leveled up enough and done the polygenic influence quests where you'll then understand what is going on better.
We've therefore decided to release in the same order that players will be playing. This means starting on June 5th with the first quests to learn about Heredity. Rather than adding the Sandbox at the end like we did with Ecology, we'll be rolling out the Sandbox's first parts just a couple weeks later, then adding more features as we build out more quests and unlock more abilities in the Sandbox!
Some of the variants our modelers are working on, with various head types, horns, and tail shapes!
Oh, one last note! This week's patch will be out Tuesday as we are observing Memorial Day on Monday.
You’re about to see why we skipped last week’s patch… today’s is huge!
UPDATED ARGUMENT BUILDER
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been hard at work on a complete overhaul of the argument builder. Here’s how it looked before, and what it looks like now:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
With this new design, our goal is to make quests like these feel a lot less scripted or work-sheet-like and more like a scholarly debate. Quest-givers will also now give specific feedback on certain answers you submit to them, either in agreement or in skepticism.
Due to this update, every single Detective style quest in the game has been updated! Some have been reworked significantly, but most have minor improvements and updates alongside this. Remember, in your Options menu, you can re-set quests if you want to check them out again!
H.E.L.O. CHALLENGE REWARDS
We’ve now added a bonus if you receive all three Weekly Challenges in a week for your H.E.L.O.! You’ll now receive loot boxes filled with all kinds of goodies. The interface has been updated to track your progress as you work to earn these.
The rewards you get from the Weekly Challenges belong to various loot sets, all of which are centered around a specific theme.
For example, one set is called “Spots & Stripes,” which features tigers, leopards, jaguars, and other creatures who all have spots and/or stripes! In order to track your progress on the reward sets, use the H.E.L.O. terminal in front of Dr. Reneau in the Student District and click on the “rewards” tab.
H.E.L.O. UPDATES
Updated the bottom bar in the H.E.L.O. to only show the relevant controls, not your full normal ability bar.
If you have a large population of animals in your H.E.L.O., the game will now scale down how many are actually visible. This is for performance reasons.
The H.E.L.O. interface now displays the amount of animals that are spawned inside a biodome when expending Impact Points.
Fixed a bug where carcasses in the H.E.L.O. did not show a selection highlight.
Updated the Leaf count ratings in the H.E.L.O. to be more accurate.
Updated the calculations for H.E.L.O. time progressing while away to be based on when you were last in that specific biodome, not online at all. This should be easier to comprehend how much time is passing in your H.E.L.O. now and not go on for a longer period than you intended.
Fixed an issue in your H.E.L.O. where animals placed near walls could spawn on the other side of them.
Fixed the process of researching insect and decomposer species to unlock for the H.E.L.O.
Made the highlight of the current reproduction stage of a plant in the H.E.L.O. green to be more visible.
A mouseover tooltip has been added to the “eats tough” icon, which will appear on certain animals in the research tree and biodex.
Decomposers no longer spawn with zero population if the biodome is brand-new and free of detritus.
Time now stops in a H.E.L.O. a few weeks after everything dies. You aren’t getting credit for an old biodome if it’s dead!
ART + CONTENT UPDATES
If you miss collecting your Weekly Challenge rewards before the weekly reset, it will now auto-award into your inventory.
Certain coats and skirts now display correctly on characters with larger body types.
The quest “Here, There, A Polar Bear,” has been renamed to “A Polar Bear Affair.” Also, “Where Polar Bears Roam” has been renamed to “A Polar Bear Affair 2.”
Improved lighting in Whipper Snippers.
TWEAKS + BUG FIXES
You can now view your image analysis items from your Evidence Journal if you want to re-review them when forming arguments.
Fixed a bug in which players could enter a conversation with an NPC while in camera mode.
Addressed issues with changing screen resolution on Windows PCs.
Fixed an issue where Transit UI and Room Entrance UI didn’t close with ESC.
Made the on-boarding marker in the harbor during the introduction quest not miss-able.
Alpha 22: HELO Updates
Ecosystem Updates:
- The “Add Life” HUD now displays the number of animals that are placed with a territory placement.
- Tooltip has been added to explain “Eats Tough” icon on the Research Tree.
- Hotbar within the HELO has been replaced with the HELO bar + Camera.
- Players may now see the amount of time that has passed since they exited their biodomes.
- Players may now preview locked nodes on their Research Trees
In extreme cases, biodomes may now scale the amount of animals displayed to ensure extremely populated biodomes are stable on all platforms.
- A softcap for swarm type territories has been added per zone in each ecosystem.
Other Updates:
- Usable items now display their cooldowns within the inventory UI
Resolutions for screen resolution selection has been reordered to be in size order.
- Founder’s Wall UI selection has has a distance check added.
Bug Fixes:
- Carcass highlighting has been fixed.
- HUD UI’s now close on escape.
- Animals will no longer spawn inside of locked zones.
- The previously selected max time away from biodome now displays highlighted on the options UI for player biodomes.
- Shop UIs no longer open offscreen.
- Fixed bug where new biodomes do not pass time when “max time away” is set to “none.”
- Players no longer respawn halfway in the ground of the grassland and desert biodomes when selecting “Get me Unstuck!” from the options menu.
- Fixed a bug wherein the chair inside Whipper Snippers would not rotate with the character when changing eye/hair color.
Ecosystem Updates: