We have a new update to accompany today's monetization model switch. If you'd like to read more about these changes, please read this article first.
Patch Notes
Premium Upgrade (PU) features are now enabled for all players
Added offline-enabled XP Boosts for players who previously purchased the PU
Added new "Statue" profile icon for players who previously purchased the PU
Gated "Ukiyoe" border for players who previously purchased the PU
Added Rich Presence for Steam; friends can now see various details about what you're doing in-game
Builds are now 64-bit rather than 32-bit
Fixed bug on creature death that caused various graphical issues
Fixed arrow spawns for moveset-related tutorials
Fixed News tutorial spawning on the wrong layer
We hope you have fun!
Pricing changes & the future of VirtuaCreature
Hello,
We have some big changes to announce for how players will engage with VirtuaCreature, as well as updates to the game itself.
Monetization Model
We tried our best to present a Free-To-Play model that was both fair and engaging for our playerbase, first with a more typical mtx-based model, and later completely replacing it with a single, simple DLC to unlock all features. Despite our efforts, this simply didn't pan out. Even now, long after the dust has settled, Legacy Version regularly outperforms this current version of the game in sales - a much older build of the game with less content, little to no tutorialization and a worse engine holding the core of the experience back. What this clearly signals to us is that you guys, the playerbase, would much rather pay once and be done with it than deal with any type of F2P system, simple or not.
Frankly, we agree! So, that has guided our decision to convert VirtuaCreature to a regular paid product like most others on Steam. There are a number of key changes accopanying this conversion:
The Premium Upgrade will be delisted and will no longer be purchasable.
Any in-game features that were locked or limited by the Premium Upgrade will now be fully available to all players. This includes all storage boxes for creatures, inventory slots, the standard XP rate etc.
Cosmetic perks, aka the borders and profile icons, will now be mostly available to all players - more details on this below.
Players who have already added the game to their account while it was free will get to keep it and will be receiving the above changes as well.
If you have already purchased the Premium Upgrade, or purchase it before this transition, you will be privy to a few exclusive perks:
7 XP Boosts, lasting 24 Hours each, will be available to redeem at any time. These will refresh on starting a new game as well.
The "Ukiyoe" border, which will not be available to regular players, will be unlocked.
A new "Statue" profile icon, which will not be available to regular players, will be unlocked.
We hope these changes will create the best possible experience for our players going forward.
Game Update
A regular update will also be pushed alongside these changes, mainly consisting of backend changes we've been building up over the last few months. However, there are some noticeable new things as well:
The game will now use 64bit builds instead of 32bit. This will not affect the vast majority of the playerbase, however if by some slim chance you are running a 32bit OS, your system will no longer be supported.
Rich Presence for Steam! Your friends can now see exactly what you're getting up to, or if there's space to join your multiplayer match.
A small collection of fixes, including some user-reported issues.
We'd be interested in doing more "auxiliary" updates like this in the future, though that all depends on how smoothly this transition goes. We'll keep you posted!
Legacy Version merge
We will be delisting the "Legacy Version" of VirtuaCreature from sale. If you're still interested in playing this older version of the game, we have merged it into this version! Simply go to the beta tab in the game's properties and select the "legacy" branch and the game will update accordingly.
If you have any questions about these upcoming changes, please feel free to leave a comment here, on our discord or in the forums and we'll get back to you.
Happy playing!
Legacy Version is being delisted
Hello,
We have made the decision to remove Legacy Version from being sold via Steam. We would love for all of you to move over to the newer VirtuaCreature, as it is bigger and better in every way! As a bonus, we plan on merging this version with the current game as an optional branch in the near future.
We are planning on removing Legacy Version from sale on April 3, 2023.
Thanks for your support!
VirtuaForecast - October
Hello,
I come to you today with a breakdown of our new event system, and an update for the future of the game:
Monthly Campaigns
Starting today, there will be a new set of challenges that will be generated on the first day of the month and run until the last, every month into the future. Think of these like daily missions, but with higher task requirements (and higher rewards!). You can find these on the same screen as the daily missions by hitting the page turn button.
You can also find this in the news section of the Network Hub, which will display the end date:
Development Update
With the completion of the 1.3.x patches and our server update, we've officially reached the end of planned development for VirtuaCreature, and will be transitioning into "maintenance mode". If we find any important bugs, we will fix and deploy them, and we might even run some events here and there, but this marks the end of new features or major changes. Online features will remain operational, and we plan to keep it that way for a long time.
Given the age of the game's core, we feel we've pushed VirtuaCreature as far as we can within its reasonable limits, and are ready to move on and pursue new projects. We're very thankful for anyone who stops in sometimes to play, and hope many more of you will come explore what we've built over years to come.
Thank you for reading!
Server Update
Hi everyone,
We're currently in the process of deploying an update to our servers, which will alter a few parts of the online experience for VirtuaCreature. Check it out below:
Patch Notes
Daily Missions now reset at exactly 12AM UTC, rather than 24hrs after the last restart
Monthly Campaigns are now generated on the first day of every month, with higher mission requirements and rewards than Daily Missions
We will have a larger news post to expand on this in the coming days. Thanks for playing!
Extended Maintenance - September 30
Hello,
The game server will be temporarily closed from September 30 @ 12PM EST until October 1 @ 12PM EST for scheduled maintenance, during which time we will push an update to our backend servers. We apologize for the extended interruption this will cause.
See you all soon!
Update 1.3.2
Hi everyone, we have a new update available now!
Patch Notes
Added new achievements for Lift & Race minigames
Added new tutorials for Movesets & Equipment Feeding
Restored cooking deletion from Legacy Version; while slots are occupied by elements, they can now be deleted from your cooking inventory
Happiness can now only be drained once by overfeeding until the creature has lost hunger in some way
Removed happiness boost on levelup
Increased Daily Tower rewards for money & Synths
Rescaled Equipment sell prices, now much higher
Improved hunger display; now shows values under 0/above 100
Fixed being able to select non-existent moves in the shop
Updated an outdated Help string for Equipment
Thanks for playing!
Announcing the VirtuaCreature Open!
Big news everyone!
We're officially opening registration for the VirtuaCreature Open, our first official tournament with cash prizes and a livestream!
If you're interested in signing up, please do so here:
Please read the description in full before registering! It contains vital info on what you need to play, as well as the rules, useful guides, prize info etc.
We will be running a stream right here on Steam as well as on Twitch, so we'll have some ways for you to watch. We hope some players here will join!
Update 1.3.1
Hello,
A new update is here! This includes a variety of important bugfixes.
Patch Notes
Fixed critical bug on the borders screen that would brick player savefiles
Fixed tutorial arrow spawns that would softlock the game
Fixed certain tutorial data not being saved, which caused many minor oddities
Fixed tutorial prompt being on the wrong layer on Arena & Tower battles
Fixed mole score being unable to display 3 or 4 digit numbers
Fixed wrong text size on Chest screen
Scheduled Maintenance - July 12
Hello,
The game server will be temporarily closed on July 12 @ 12PM EST for scheduled maintenance, during which time we will push an update to all users. Expected downtime is around 1hr.
