Major Update: Empower Your Fulus
Hello fellow scientists! This update focuses on smoothing the core loop of Monster Lab Simulator. It introduces a clearer path to rarer Fulus, aligns the economy around that path, and removes some of the most annoying friction in battles.
Quick Summary
Experience gain has been significantly increased
New quest chain starting at Level 10
A new rarity progression loop is here: Elemental Powders, Extraction Machine, and the Empowering Machine
After battles, Fulus stay inside their Orbs
Battle Room flow is smoother, orbed Fulus can heal and can be fed using the chambers in the room
Matchmaking has been adjusted to reduce unfair enemy rolls
Battle money and EXP rewards have been increased
Merge Machine RNG rules are now clearer and less frustrating
At the end, a small teaser for future updates: My Best Friend and Ancient Power Awakens
1) Empower Your Fulus
This update introduces Elemental Powders to your lab and builds a full loop around them.
New additions
Elemental Powders
Powder Storage (auto feeds machines, no manual labor needed)
Extraction Machine
Empowering Machine
Extraction Machine extracts Elemental Powder from a Fulu. Yes, the Fulu is consumed in the process but they are fine with it. Trust us.
Empowering Machine uses those powders to push the rarity of a Fulu up. You can use more powder within the machine limits to improve your odds of reaching the upgrade.
Extraction Machine and the Empowering Machine essentially give you the option to recycle your "lesser" Fulus to upgrade another one... Some call it cruel, we say it was about time.
Why this exists
We wanted a more direct and more satisfying way to chase rarer Fulus, without everything relying on pure luck. This also sets the stage for the Merge Machine changes below, so the overall progression has a better balance between effort and RNG.
Also, even if Elemental Powders look like they only do one thing right now, they are meant to be a building block for upcoming updates.
2) Battle Room changes and matchmaking
Okay. You were right. We heard you.
Fulus no longer pop out of their Orbs after battles.
We did it before because we thought it would help visibility and make potion usage clearer. In reality, it created extra steps after every fight and it felt annoying.
So we rebuilt the post battle flow.
Battle Room flow updates
Fulus stay in their Orbs after battles
Battle Room chambers have a new role
Place an Orb into a chamber and your Fulu appears and starts healing
From that same spot, you can give a potion or food to the Fulu inside the Orb
We are aware that habitats and Battle Room chambers both heal Fulus and serve the same purpose right now. But since the start of the development we had different plans with the habitats, and we will apply a new logic to them in the next updates so they won't step in each other’s toes.
Matchmaking
We adjusted matchmaking to reduce moments where you roll enemies you simply cannot beat and feel stuck. We want fights to feel challenging, not unfair.
Rewards
We increased money and EXP rewards from battles to make them more worth doing in the current format.
We are also still working on making combat feel more tactical and look better. Some improvements are in progress but not ready to show in this update.
3) Economy and RNG balancing
Yes, we were too strict with money. Sorry.
The original plan was to reward players who aim for rarer Fulus, not players who spam common sales forever. Before the Elemental Powder loop existed, players had too little control over reaching rarer Fulus, so common baby Fulus selling at a loss felt confusing and punishing. That is why we shipped a hotfix that makes common Fulus profitable again.
And with this update, Fulus are in demand more than ever! So we are giving a boost to overall Fulu prices again.
Merge Machine changes
The Merge Machine can sometimes create higher rarity results from lower rarity inputs. But the reverse was also possible, and that was the part that drove people insane.
So we changed the rules to be easier to understand and less brutal. The result rarity can no longer go outside the rarity range of the Fulus you put in. So if you are wondering how you will push toward bigger rare results now, that is exactly where the Empowering Machine comes in.
4) Some updates for the upcoming content
As you can guess, we're working on multiple updates and fixes at the same time. And sometimes we just get really excited to show stuff we're working on, here are some snippets:
My Best Friend
We are working on an update that will let you enhance your relationship with your Fulus! You will be able to name them, play with them, pet them, call them to your side, change their colors (with some respect to original so no neon green Vurnets...) and accessorize them.
Ancient Power Awakens
This is REALLY early, but we want to share it anyway. Below are a few colored concept sketches FOR THE new area and Fulus we are considering for a future update called Ancient Power Awakens.
These are early concepts and they can change. If you love them, tell us. If you hate them, also tell us.
Patch notes and bug fixes
We are listing everything here for clarity. If you spot anything we missed, please report it with steps to reproduce.
New content
Max level increased to 12
Hit Level 10 to unlock a new quest chain: Empower Your Fulus!
10 new Daily Experiments
14 new Weekly Protocols
Balance and economy
Merge Machine rarity chances have been balanced.
Amber drop chances have been balanced, and Amber prices have been increased.
Hatch rarity chances have been balanced.
Order prices have been balanced (existing orders won’t be affected).
Rewards for some Daily Experiments and Weekly Protocols have been balanced.
Some Daily Experiments and Weekly Protocols are meant to be harder. But when the system rolled too many hard missions at once, it could slow down your progress. Now hard missions won’t take over your mission list.
Experience gain has been significantly increased
Battle Room and matchmaking
We’ve fully revised the battle matchmaking logic. From now on, enemy teams should be generated more fairly based on your current Fulus.
UI and quality of life
Machine and item UIs are now properly aligned, should feel much less annoying to use.
Daily Experiments and Weekly Protocols can now be shown/hidden optionally.
Leaderboard can now be shown/hidden optionally.
Save/Load panels weren’t clearly separated. We’ve added visual feedback and made a few design tweaks so they’re easier to tell apart.
Other improvements
Outline indicators are now more visible, with a brighter and shinier look.
Removed the pads under the Orbing Machine and Merge Machines, since they made them feel like they weren’t movable.
Orb and Essence Tube colliders were fun to roll around, but not fun to manage. We replaced them with slightly more angular colliders for better control.
Object replacement speed is greatly increased, so you can move machines around faster than ever.
Selling Orbs now feels more satisfying than ever. We tweaked the sound effects and added a shiny blinking light as the Orb leaves.
Some lab stickers didn’t feel fully in harmony, so we removed a few. Sorry if we removed your favorite one, we’ll make it up to you in future updates!
Some players were getting stuck between colliders in the starter area, so we realigned the affected colliders.
A few other visual glitches around the lab have been polished.
One last thing
If anything in this update improves your experience, updating your Steam review helps us a lot.
Thank you,
Round 3 Studios