[img=http://www.drunkonnectar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Nectar-Banner.jpg]
Image taken with new Camera Zoom feature (mousewheel)
Development News
The Monarch caterpillar work is in full swing, let's first review some recent videos!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HkU_f9tRjQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQflySrSqhw
An unprecedented level of detail is going into the Monarch so it's taking longer than planned to get there, but hopefully the wait will be well worth it:
Now on to the actual patch, Build v1.2.3!
Camera Enhancements!
If you've had any Camera/control issues whatsoever with DoN, get this patch and try the "Hybrid Cam" (default option). It's so much more fun now to control fauna :) Here's the complete list of improvements:
- Zoomable Camera! Use the mousewheel to zoom the camera in or out to your liking.
- Greatly improved camera stability. Results best experienced in Hybrid Cam mode
- Camera stuttering issues related to FPS dropping fixed.
- Camera rotation lag for hybrid/player cam decreased
- Jumping Spider camera to player distance increased. It's so much easier to see and control this creature now!
Visual Enhancements
- Friendly/neutral species can now see each other at all times. Only prey/predator interactions are subject to the complex rules of DoN's three-way perception/LOS system (visual acuity, chemo-reception, vibratory reception)
- This makes Chemo Vision so much more fun and colorful because any creature that you can already see is implicitly "smelt" and shows up in Chemo as bright colors :)
- Invertebrate leg simulation improvements to all creatures. More accurate leg placement while climbing, leg flickering issues resolved.
- Grooming now induces Free mode camera so you can take a better look at the creature grooming itself :)
- HUD: Smaller minimap, newer colors. More cosmetic changes to come in the future.
- Plant species information is now briefly shown for any new species players walk onto along with useful hints.
- Input Cues added for surface Flip Over, Jump Cancel, Jump Height modulation
[img=http://www.drunkonnectar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/HUD-Improvements.jpg]
Bugfixes
- Sensory wheel (a.k.a The Minimap) fixed for Sandbox mode
- Sensory wheel no longer stutters in highly populated worlds like the Butterfly Paradise preset
- Wing fluttering visuals now work properly for mouse-driven flight
- "Spider Aerial Spin Dance" (i.e. usage of Q/E grapple keys in mid-air!) no longer breaks camera setup.
- Spacebar to Space input cue aliasing issue fixed
Sandbox glory!
To cap things off, here's an image taken from the Nature Sandbox mode while testing this patch. Just a reminder that the sandbox is very powerful and if you haven't tried its high-speed season simulation / level-editing tools / etc then you're highly encouraged to explore the sandbox mode.
Wish all of you great success in this year 2017!
- Venugopalan Sreedharan