Alpha 0.8 is now available. You will have to start a new game, because the world changed a lot. If you prefer continuing your old game, you can disable steam updates or go back to version 0.7 from the "Beta" panel in the "properties" screen.
Achievements : I added 55 steam achievements covering many aspects of the game (farming, quests, friendship, crafting, minigames ...)
New intro and tutorial quests : I updated the game first cutscene and added some early quests to guide the player a little better in the early stages of the game. It's still a work in progress, I'll use your feedback to make it better.
The hackathon festival happens on day 15 of Winter. It unlocks the hacking minigame, a special quiz game, and 5 more levels (with lasers!) in the BotArena minigame.
The Animal Market happens on day 30 of Spring and Fall. You can buy adult animals of any color. There is also a special quiz game.
Gameplay changes
Animals now have various colors that are transmitted genetically. Some colors are more common than others, and some genes are recessive (only show if both parents transmit the gene). Some colors are the result of two genes. So, if for example you let a couple of white and black rabbits live together, you could have a mix of white, black and grey babies. For now, the animal market is the only place where you can chose your animal colors, when buying them from the farm it will be randomized.
The plant bonuses have been simplified. Each bonus (fertilized, herb control, pollinators, climbing support) is shown on the plant tooltip, and accounts for 25% more productivity. Pollinators now affect plants that produce pollinated fruits (tomatoes, soy, etc). Currently pollinators are not cancelled by pesticide use, but I will soon fix that too.
Plants use the nutrients available in the soil in order to grow. With each harvest, the soil is impoverished. Poor soil will result in reduced harvests. Nutrients can be returned to the soil via chemical fertilizers, but their effect is temporary (1 harvest). Some plants such as soy provide bacteria that fix nitrogen from the air, which fertilizes the surrounding soil (2 harvests). Finally, compost is composed of organic matter rich in nitrogen and carbon, as well as bacteria and fungi which will allow continuous fertilization for a long period (3 harvests).
It is also possible to leave an area fallow, after ten days the soil recovers half its nutrients (1 harvest) and after 15 days in full (2 harvests).
What's next ?
During the next weeks I will concentrate on fixing bugs, and adding a few quality of life improvements I had to postpone. I'm also writing a guide to explain all the aspects of the game. After that, I'm considering leaving early access.
Leaving EA doesn't mean I won't continue to add features (there are still a lot of things I want to add or improve), but I've been working on this project for 4 years and I'm at the end of my budget. Currently the sales are very low (less than 10 sales per week), I can't be sure if it is because the game's not good enough, or if it is because I was targeted by people who don't like pronouns or diversity, and don't mind buying a game just to leave a bad review.
When I started this project, being inclusive seemed like a no-brainer, it costs nothing and harms no-one, so why not ? I was very naive. It ended up being a nightmare, because in the US it was perceived as political, and even more in the recent year. But I don't regret it, on the contrary, it makes me feel that inclusivity is even more important than I thought.
Hopefully, the lack of sales and visibility on Steam is the result of all the (massively upvoted) bad reviews I got because the game is inclusive, trans-friendly and neurodivergent-friendly, and once I release the game for real it will be alright. I'd love to continue working on this project for many years to come.
Hackathon mini-game preview
Howdy Scientists,
This one is a mix between Wordle and the Fallout hacking mini-game. The hackathon festival will also unlock new levels in Bot Arena and a special Quiz game.
You may notice some references to Kali Linux, the 1994 game System Shock, the 1983 "Wargames" movie, the hunter2 IRC password meme, the blue MS-DOS editor, hex editors in general, and the easy to remember 0xBADCAFE hexadecimal address.
Drone race preview
Howdy Scientists!
Here's a little preview of the mini-game I'm currently working on. It will be part of the seasonal drone festival that you will be able to unlock from the city screen in the next update.
Currently there are 2 bonuses (flags that give you more time, geysers that give a speed boost) and in the mine level there are obstacles that stop you. I plan for two more levels with also some wind zones that will push you in the wrong direction.
What makes the game challenging is that you need to look at both the whole map and the mini-map at the same time. I'm going for something relatively easy to win but hard to master. The more time left at the end, the more points you get.
Small update : two major bugs fixed
Howdy Scientists,
There were two major bugs making the game very slow at times, one occurred outside during the night especially when there was some light nearby, and the other one happened randomly but was more frequent when you had lots of crops.
The game should now run at 60 FPS most of the time. ːsteamthumbsupː
Many thanks to those who sent bug reports about these issues, it helped a lot!
Update 0.7 : Robot Dog & Container customization
Howdy Scientists!
What's new in Alpha0.7 ?
Customize your containers with a name and an icon.
Create a robot dog who can be called anywhere and fetch items from your containers.
Destroy and/or move buildings.
[previewyoutube="drl92ijyC1I;full"]
Bug fixes for version 0.6 + a new artifact detector!
Howdy Scientists!
This week, I worked on all the bugs that were submitted for the new Alpha 0.6 version, don't forget to download the new version manually if you disabled automatic updates.
There was also a recurring issue of the artifacts being too difficult to find, so I introduced an artifact detector that you can build. I think this is an interesting game mechanic that I could build on. I'm considering adding an "Augmented Reality" skill that would permit to use more than one detector at once, and you could for example visualize soil conditions, plants diseases, pollinator status, ... Let me know if you have other ideas!
[previewyoutube="l8eEmzLbRtQ;full"]
Alpha 0.6 preview
Howdy Scientists!
Just a quick preview of what I am currently working on :
New crafting system : I wanted to make crafting both more simple and more fun, so I made a visualization of the probabilities of getting a better quality item as a spinning wheel.
Compost mini-game : animals now give manure that is great for composting, and you can try to balance the nitrogen and carbon content (commonly called "green matter" and "brown matter") to make the process faster. You can also add worms to cut the waiting time in half.
Friendship panel to track gifts that NPCs like or don't like : the panel is updated when you make a gift that is liked or disliked, or during dialogues if a NPC gives a hint about something they appreciate.
City improvements once you become mayor : the 3 new areas of the map can now evolve (3 areas with 4 possible states make 64 possible combinations). Each upgrade has 3 flavours : best for community (parks and activities), best for productivity (power plants, marina), and best for the environment (ecological reserve)
[previewyoutube="JplDVHV7hf0;full"]
I expect to publish the new version before the end of the month.
If you haven't already, please consider writing an honest review of the game, it helps a lot!
Update 0.5
Howdy Scientists!
My deepest apologies for the long wait, this is a big update and this year has been a difficult one for me. Future updates will be smaller and more frequent.
What's new ?
All dialogues have been rewritten, NPCs have different things to say every day of the week + some new dialogue events when their friendship level increases. I tried to add a lot of humor, but they will also give you hints about their favorite gifts and personal stories.
Bigger map with 3 completely new areas (Waterfalls, Volcanic area and tropical beach)
There is now a fast travel system that you can unlock
Each season now has 3 different music themes, for a total of almost one hour of original music composed by Irene Chan.
The number of artefacts that you can bring to the museum has doubled (34 artefacts)
New food recipes (Cheeseburger, Satay, Vol-au-vent, ...)
Entering a building is not automatic anymore, you have to click on the door (Your pointer will change if it is currently open/available)
I did my best to remove all the bugs, but there are many different play styles and configurations so chances are that there will be more bug fixes coming soon. Remember to press F8 to submit bug reports, especially if you are blocked since there is a "teleport me to home" function that should hopefully correct most issues.
I made many changes according to the bug reports and suggestions you sent me, but some are not done yet. Do not worry, they are still on my todo list.
The old savegames won't be compatible with this new version. If you want to continue playing in version 0.4, you can go to Steam properties -> BETA and select the alpha04 to get them back.
Thank you all for your support!
Ben
Alpha 0.5 preview
Howdy Scientists!
I've been having some health issues for the past 4 months, thus the development has been a bit slower than anticipated. But I'm still aiming for a spring release for the world and dialogue update (probably just before summer, but that still counts as spring, right !?)
Here's a little preview where you can see two of the three new zones that are added to the map.
[previewyoutube="TZDnhHV-SdM;full"]
There is still a lot to do (as you can see some areas are still a bit "empty"), and all you see in the video is subject to changes, but it should give you an idea.
It's a nice time to buy the game soundtrack DLC
Howdy Scientists!
Just a quick word about the game soundtrack : next week I will add 8 new tracks composed by Irene, for a total of 17 tracks in the album. I will also double its price to $3.99. Of course, if you already bought the DLC, you will get all the new tracks for free.
Currently there is a -35% discount on the price, that is +/- $1.30 for almost one hour of music. You probably won't see such a great deal once the price is raised, so if you are interested, now is the best time to buy!
Other than that, I'm still working on the game update planned for Spring. I don't have much to show because it's mostly dialogues, refactoring, and rebuilding the world from scratch, but I'm making good progress!
