This update brings a new map feature: mountains, along with some deep and important changes to the game balance, focused around the timescale speed which as been slowed down to 50%.
VIDEO DEVLOG
FULL CHANGELOG
This update is NOT compatible with old savegames!
(major glitches and bugs may occur if you try to load a previous save)
MOUNTAINS:
You can set the amount of mountains generated in the island creation window, or you can disable them if you prefer so. Mountans add a new layer of depth to both the ecosystem simulation and the survival gameplay, because they can create "safe zones" on the island, allowing some animals or plants, and the player, to stay relatively isolated from the rest of the ecosystem.
Mountains also work as "walls" for the wind, and prevent sandstorms or snowstorm from passing, which can be useful if there is a desert nearby.
TIME SCALE:
Before this update, a day in the game (24h) lasted 240 seconds. This was rather fast, even for a 2d top-down ecosim like DinoSystem: several players reported that in Survival mode they were not able to undertake the basic actions before the end of the first day.
As I mentioned in the previous announcement, balancing DinoSystem isn't easy, because the variables in place are many, and everything is inter-connected and persistant: I can't just change a slider or a variable to slow down the time scale and that's it, because there are factors like sun relative position, weather, animal AI routines, vegetation energetic mechanics and survival mechanics that need to be coherent with the timescale.
But i did it. A day in the game now last 2 times longer than before (480 sec), and it now feels just right. I don't regret listening to the feedback, because it was completely worth it!
On top of that, there are many improvements and fixes in this update, so as always just read the full changelog for a complete insight!
About the next update, I'll post an announcement in the upcoming days explaining the short-term development plans. Make also sure to always check the development thread which is constantly updated!
Daniel