Continuing the momentum from our previous update, many new features have been added to Thrive which will enrich the player experience. Symbolizing another monumental step forward towards a complete Microbe Stage, we present to you Thrive 0.7.0!

This release marks the completion of the 0.6.x roadmap. For this release the major features are a new auto-evo algorithm based on miches that should generate much better AI species, and a convolution surface algorithm which gives macroscopic creatures a “skin” in the prototypes. There’s also a lot of smaller new features and tweaks to the microbe stage as usual. The last roadmap items to be completed where engulfing balancing and fixing as well as allowing continuing as a related species in easy mode.

Read on for more details, or visit the download page linked below to get the new version. As always, the update is available for free with our launcher, or you can support development by purchasing on Steam or Itch.io.

Thrive 0.7.0

See our patch notes for full details, or read on for some of the highlights.

Convolution Surfaces Realized

A long-awaited feature sure to excite the community, our macroscopic organism editor has been improved to include meshing, metaball scaling, symmetry, and finer control over sculpting your organism. You read that right: your 3D organisms are now more than just a collection of spheres!

There is still an immense amount of work to be made in the editor – creating dedicated parts related to eyes, mandibles, and more – and macroscopic gameplay remains bare. Regardless, convolution surfaces are a foundational mechanic for creating organisms beyond the microscopic stages of Thrive. We hope you enjoy this promising new feature and appreciate you for being there every step of the way Thrive takes forward. If you make any interesting looking creatures with the new editor, be sure to send them our way as we’d love to see what the community comes up with.

Auto-Evo Reimagined

Thrive’s auto-evo system, responsible for simulating the evolution of life around the player, has received a major overhaul – introducing, the Miche System.

By defining various problems and pressures that organisms might face, and defining how species might respond to that pressure, miches provide a dynamic and complex simulation of an ecosystem. Species will generally be much more efficient in adapting to their environment and responding to pressures. Players will find their worlds busier and more alive, with more competitive organisms popping up around them.

This is an exciting and dramatic change to auto-evo – the fundamental evolution mechanic underlying Thrive – built up from years of lessons learned. For a more detailed write-up on how exactly miches work, consider reading this older document by Thim, who is one of our programmers who contributed heavily to the development of miches. Note that some changes might have occurred between this rendition of miches and that which is currently implemented.

You can also see an explanation of miches in a video format where Thim yells at a lawn. Again, the current implementation of miches has likely been changed to better fit Thrive’s purposes since the making of this video, but this is the easiest existing introduction to the core concepts of miches.

Expanded Cellular Gameplay

The microbe stage has received a host of new exciting features that greatly expand on it’s gameplay and feel.

A new part – the mucocyst – has been introduced as a customization option and alternate form for slime jets. When activated, the player will be encased in a tough exterior coat of mucus, allowing major resistance to toxins, engulfment, and other threats. Players will be immobilized however, and growth will be halted while in this state.

A sprinting mechanic has been introduced, granting the player additional speed. Rather than just pointing your mouse in a direction and holding W, races to compound clouds and chasing/being chased is now more engaging. Be careful though – sprinting too long generates strain, resulting in an increased energy demand that could exhaust your organism!

The process panel now has a functional use beyond making sure things are functioning right within your cell. Players can now selectively pause certain metabolic processes via the panel, allowing for an entirely new layer of energy management for players who love to optimize.

Finally, various smaller but substantial improvements to game mechanics will make combat both more rewarding and challenging. A short healing cooldown has been introduced, making toxins more viable as a weapon and combat more high stakes for the player. And greater customization over toxins allows players to choose an expensive, high-damage impact, or less expensive and faster but less-damaging hits.

Compound Clouds Revisited

Thrive’s visual richness has been improved. Compound cloud visuals have been improved, with the clouds having much more texture and contrast than before. With adjustments having been made to improve visibility in the brighter patches.

Phosphate chunks have been introduced as well, with both smaller digestible minerals and large cloud-emitting crystals spawning into the world. These chunks will be more frequent in deeper patches and will create a more interesting visual landscape and environment for the player to interact with. More chunks might be added in future updates, so stay tuned!

Other Notable Changes

• In the experimental features mode, placing rusticyanin allows the player to shoot projectiles at iron to break off chunks, which will eventually result in the larger iron chunk being depleted fully. Enabling experimental features will allow players to test this out; feedback would be much appreciated.
• Migration has been revamped, allowing the player to direct their species towards a new patch without necessarily playing in that patch themselves.
• On easy mode, players can now switch to another species upon extinction.
• Corpse chunks now have more resources, making heterotrophy more viable. Chunks spawning and despawning has also been refactored to result in more consistent performance.
• You can now engulf when starving, though you take health damage.

See the rest of the new features in the full patch notes.

Looking Ahead

The development team will now shift focus to improvements to the presentation of information across the various editor screens of Thrive, such as the editor itself, population and patch data, the timeline, and representations of the food web in a patch. This will make the game easier to understand and manage, setting up the Microbe Stage for future dependent features, such as dynamic environments.

Though focus has shifted towards the x.7.0 release cycle, this doesn’t mean that combat will not see any new development in the future; any volunteer can pick up on concepts and implement more abilities. However, our main programmer will now be focusing on moving Thrive forward and establishing the foundation of the important features we have yet to implement.

As always, remember to join us for our developer Thrivestream later today, where we’ll cover the changes in this release and answer any questions you might have about the future of development.

You can also visit our feedback thread to give your thoughts on this update.