Hey everyone - hope you're well?
I'm back this week to talk about what's next for Ecosystem and a provide a rough outline of the next few updates.
Today's update will cover:
- The roadmap
- Community screenshots
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Roadmap
Up until now we've been a little quiet in regard to what's next for Ecosystem as after we launched our main priority was bug fixing (which fortunately wasn't as horrific as you might think!) and then addressing the initial concerns that players had regarding a lack of information to see a high level overview of their Ecosystem.
Since launch we've been gathering all of the feedback to help influence the next steps and I'll go through the next updates below - whilst there's no dates against these updates they are in the order in which they'll be coming out.
We're open to feedback (that's the point of Early Access right?) so if you have any thoughts about these updates let us know below in the comments.
Research Re-balancing - Minor Update
We've had a lot of feedback relating to how plant research works and how it doesn't take long to get everything unlocked. Tom's taking a look into slowing the progression of unlocking new plants down to make it more meaningful when you actually get enough life points together to get that next plant.
This will also allow players to get to know how each plant behaves/spreads properly, as currently it's tempting to unlock everything and throw it all down and watch it spread.
Aquarium Update - Minor Update
Following on from the research rebalancing, we are looking to introduce an "Aquarium Mode" - this will be a mode similar to creative but where nothing changes unless you place it (no plant spreading, no evolution, no fighting).
The way we envision this working, is that you create your Ecosystem as usual and when you have evolved the perfect fish, then you can save the creature, and put it into your "aquarium". Almost like a trophy room of all the best creatures you have taken the time to cultivate.
I keep putting "aquarium" in quotes because it won't be an actual aquarium, you won't see any glass etc, though we are debating introducing ornaments to be placed in the aquarium mode, it would be great to hear if you'd like a little pirate ship to place in the "aquarium" map or not.
Steam Workshop Support - Minor Update
As mentioned in a previous development update, it's been great to see users sharing maps and fish with one another outside of the game and going to places like Nexus Mods to do so. We really want to encourage the sharing of creatures with one another, especially with the planned aquarium update. With this update we will aim to include full workshop support for both maps and creatures so the sharing process is a lot easier!
Evolution Sandbox - Major Update
This will be the second major update to the game and is still in the planning stages. The main purpose of this update will be to put more control of the evolution into players hands, we're talking toggles, switchers and sliders!
We know it's a little frustrating sometimes that you think you're doing all the right things to encourage a creature to be even better so the goal of this update is to alleviate that. We'd love to hear what exactly you'd love more control over.
Following on from the Evolution Sandbox update we have more plans for the game but we'll save those for another day - and if you have any ideas for updates not included here do let us know!
We have previously spoken about a Crustacean Update and we still want to do that but there's a lot of issues to solve to make that workable so that's more long term. You can read more about our plans for crustaceans here.
Now onto some screenshots!
Community Screenshots
This shot from PtarmiganCashier on Steam rivals our promo shots for the game!
Farmer Jenkins over on our Discord sharing this Chunky Monkey
Arleas on Steam showed off their successful Ecosystem through the new charts!
Serafine over on Discord showed off this alien looking landscape they created!
Last but not least, Kip Reigns on Steam shared what they dubbed a "hand fish!"