We have a very special announcement for you today. As you know, we have been working on The Universim since June 2014, which means that it has been almost four years since this crazy ride began. While this length of time might seem huge, we are still so proud of how far we’ve come to develop such a complex game to the state it’s in right now. Given the sheer scope and complexity of the project, we cannot imagine any other team of similar size making the game any faster. We are overjoyed with our progress, and you played a huge role in this. Today, we are happy to announce the release window for The Universim on Steam Early Access. The game will be coming this summer! The exact date will be revealed in a few weeks.
We will do our best to be as transparent as possible with our future fans. We are going to make it very clear that the game is still in ongoing development and there might be a number of bugs and issues hidden in the system. We know that any game not meeting the expectations of perfection might get a little chewed up by the Steam community, so we hope that you will help us deliver our message. The Universim is our baby, and this really feels a lot like we’re going to let it out in the world to play in a scary sandbox with a bunch of older kids. We can only hope it’s not going to get hurt.
If you would like to help us out, simply spreading the word will be amazing. Ask your friends and family to add The Universim to their Steam Wishlist here, post about it on any forum you think might be interested, and, if you want to go the extra mile, send tips to your favorite news sites and influencers. You’ve been an incredible part of our community for so long, and we’re about to take another huge step together.
So, this was the big announcement. Well, at least it was big enough for us to start biting our nails and shaking a little. The Steam release is such a massive milestone, as it will in turn allow us to get more feedback and improve on all aspects of the game.
Now, let’s get to the patch
Wild animal attacks! Nuggets might’ve gotten away with hunting creatures unscathed in the past, but that’s all about to change. If an animal decides that it stands a chance in a fight, it won’t run in the direction that your Hunters might be expecting. Roaming wolves may also attack your village during the cold winter months. However, we are not so cruel as to allow these attacks to go unanswered. You can now construct Defense Towers around the perimeter of your civilization. These will ensure that no beast can harm your Nuggets.
We have also added in the ability to change key bindings. Yup! You can now adjust keys to your liking. Down with the dictatorship! Who dares force key bindings upon us?
Medieval Residential Blocks are a thing! Oh boy, it took us quite a while to get here. We are finally rolling out Medieval Houses. Stock up on some iron. You’re going to need it.
Shiny new content
Key Bindings Screen added to Settings - now you can set your own key shortcuts
Defense Towers
Defense Towers interface panel
Medieval Residential Block props, models
Mammoth Trap is now available in Hunters Hut
Residential Blocks
Implemented animal attack event.
Implemented Evolution Tower auto-upgrade (Medieval Era)
Added crossbow accessory (+ arrow)
Adjusted hunting system to use upgradable weapons (spear, crossbow, etc.).
Implemented animal attack AI
Added local temperature to buildings. Updated building snow cover.
Added iron resource to the Warehouse
Rename buildings and Nuggets feature added
Evolution Tower upgrade
Medieval Hunters Hut
Added new languages to the game (German, Spanish, Turkish, French)
Adjusted traps lifetime, needed resources & construction time
Highlight workers and citizens assigned to selected buildings. Now you can see who is working in the selected building.
Bug Fixes
Fixed: NRE when loading lakes
Fixed: How family controller was managing family creation
Fixed: Bug related to removing Nuggets from huts
Fixed: NRE related to loading fire path
Fixed: NRE related to loading paths
Fixed: NRE generated by autosaves (happened when Archive was never opened)
Fixed: AOORE when spawning new animals on planet
Fixed: Animation speed ratio calculation
Fixed: HungerAI, Nugget stuck when food resource/eatery was too far
Fixed: AmusementAI, Nugget stuck when buildings were too far
Fixed: TransportationAI, Nugget stuck when resource storage was too far
Fixed: Thirst AI, Nugget stuck when water source was too far
Fixed a rare bug in planet generation procedure where generation never ended
Fixed: “Doing nothing” while assigned to a job
Fixed: Nugget “thirst”/“hunger” stats were recovering even after well/eatery was destroyed (when Nugget was inside)
Fixed: Nuggets were auto-assigned to buildings while in school
Fixed: Language change on key binding screen
Fixed: Required materials for building is not showing in build menu after unlocking upgrades
Removed demolish button from prayer enclave
Fixed: Iron Mine resets mining progress when Nuggets re-enter building
Fixed: Tooltip localization missing on sort by school in Nugget list panel
Fixed: After loading a saved game, Nuggets are out of the bed in hospital
Fixed: Nugget stuck in hut while mating with low stamina issue
Fixed: Iron Mine animations sometimes do not play when Nuggets work
Fixed: Required biome when placing Iron Mine
Fixed: Incorrect news message when Nuggets die from fire
Fixed: Prayer enclave error when clicking on spam folder after loading game from save
Fixed: Nugget list items blinking when hovered
Fixed: Building names do not get translated after switching language in gameplay
Fixed: Trap range ring disappear when camera is zoomed
Fixed: Easter egg missing
Fixed: Ghoster moves dead animals
Fixed: Can not grab pump, well and reservoir from menu
Fixed: Unable to place Epicenter with tutorial setting off
Fixed: [UI] Hide/Remove specific accessories from a Nugget's portrait in the ID panel
Fixed: Loading screen missing localization
Fixed: Dead Nuggets in hospital infect new hospital patients
Fixed: God Power Carousel first use has visual glitch
Fixed: Hunters Hut UI: Show only required materials+
General balance changes
Increased max distance when searching for buildings to drink from
Nuggets will ignore lake drink spots that are too far
Removed food/water related features from bunker
Cemetery Level 0 - Gravestone lifetime decreased
Cemetery Level 1 - Gravestone lifetime decreased. Wood Capacity Increased from 10 -> 50
Refactored Perk Order
Nugget’s Lifecycle increased by 10%
Mating speed decreased in order to ensure the smooth transition mid / late game to higher population and improve overall balance
Research Time got adjusted after refactoring perks
Time when injures start to happening was moved to the later stage of the game
Upgrade priority was increased. Previously new buildings had a higher priority then upgrades
Art
Bear “Attacking” animation was added
Mammoth “attacking” animation was tweaked
“Attacking” action was added to the wolf animations list
Bear “attacking” animation is more balanced now
“Howling on the moon” animation was added for the wolf
“Attacking” animation was added for the Deer male
Deer female now has “Attacking” animation in its list
Fox now has “Attack” animation
“Tearing the victim” animated action is now available for the wolf
A new model of a crossbow weapon for Nugget Hunter is added
“Shooting” animated action is added for Nugget to hunt with the crossbow
Defense Towers models are now available in Stone Age in two variations
Hunters Hut model upgrade is made for Medieval Era
Evolution Tower model upgrade for Medieval Era was made
Medieval Residential Buildings models were improved to have visual “building progress”
Stone chunks will update snow cover based on the local temperature.
UI Design
News log - fixed broken links
Fixed missing localization for residential huts
Prayer Enclave - text fields were updated to hold different amounts of text when localized
School panel - UI optimization and all text fields upgrade for localization
Stone Mine and Stone Refinery - UI optimization and text fields update for localization
All tooltips are now localized and can hold different amounts of text
Warehouse localization text update
All tutorials are now localized and can hold different amounts of text
Settings menu localization was added
Main Menu localization was added
Nuggets List panel has now pagination added, so we removed that huge lag when list was opened with big number of Nuggets
Buildings List Panel has now pagination added as well
Fixed game breaking bug when hitting F2 to display controls screen
Nugget ID panel update - status and occupation couldn’t fit in designated area when localized
Farm panel fixed Information icon - it wasn’t displaying tooltip
Worker ID panel - first and last name bug fix
Research perk icons added for: residential blocks and epicenter update, hunters hut update, defense tower unlock
Going to defense tower Nugget status icon was added
Farm panel - alert text position fix
Evolution Tower, God Powers Menu and Construction Menu font size tweak - from 18 to 20pt
News in main UI font size changed from 18 to 20pt
Main Menu - added flags in bottom right corner to quickly switch languages
MainUI iron was added to all resources window.
Performance Changes
Nugget and buildings list panel performance improvement
As we rocket towards the Steam Early Access release, we ask that you please help us spread the word in any way you can. We will soon begin approaching press and content creators for any coverage they can offer. If you have a few favorites of your own, please ask them to cover The Universim. Feel free to contact us for any additional information. It’s time, dear friends, to really make some noise. We have been working incredibly hard, and we think it’s about time to let The Universim shine out there in the big wide world. Therefore, up until the Steam release, we will be fixing as many bugs as we can, polishing content, and adding in a bunch of new buildings.
After the game hits Steam, we will start rolling out the Modern Era and Space Age. This means new planets and more Godly features!
Click here to tweet about The Universim.
As a result, we will be taking a month’s break from the patch releases to work on stability and various other improvements (so, not an actual break, just a little more time to work harder on a bigger update). To make up for it, we’ll be adding in some great new features and a few surprises. Who doesn’t like surprises ;)?
Oh, and just a reminder for everyone who bought or will buy The Universim from our website: you will all receive a Steam key as well. Thanks!
All the best,
The Crytivo Crew