Progress Update 10/05/2024

This week there has been quite a bit of hustle and bustle amongst our development team as everyone scrambles to discuss some particularly large gameplay concepts and designs. As it turns out, the implementation of features on the roadmap has begun to outpace the rate at which said features are more carefully planned out and discussed. So expect to see some good discussions popping up in the near future. We've also just had various different projects being worked on in tandem, so all in all a productive week for everyone.

In the meantime, supporters can now experience the great oxygenation event in Thrive by activating experimental features during new-game creation, as well as a new fancy visual representation of their environment's food chain!

Programming

• New DevBuild for our patrons:

  • Implemented the food chain tab in the editor

  • Added a new music track for the tidepool biome

  • ATP balance bar tooltips now show which compounds are required to produce that amount of ATP

  • Updated the space and industrial stage prototype visuals

  • Created priority levels for PhotoStudio image generation

  • Added an in-memory image cache for the PhotoStudio to speed up displaying images of the same species again

  • Added experimental dynamic compounds feature where patches dynamically change their available compound amounts based on the species that are in it

  • Added code project for running small code benchmarks easily in the future

  • Fixed building our native libraries against newer Jolt version

  • Updated translations

• Ruminations on using a custom format for save files.

• The new food-chain tab has been implemented! It may behave a little silly sometimes.

Graphics

• The microbe stage is receiving various icons for an enhanced UI

• Our prototype stages are receiving a variety of graphical improvements to make for a more appealing setting.

Gameplay

• Discussion on the design of hydrogenase; an anoxic alternative to metabolosomes.

Sound

• Work on a new soundtrack for Thrive's coasts has begun, so look forward to some new cellular tunes!

Theory

• Nothing Substantial

Outreach

• Nothing Substantial

Other

• Nothing Substantial