Well, that took a lot longer than expected...
Nevertheless, it's here!
This update brings voiced guides on game mechanics, both map and model editing, and expands the tutorial with detailed instructions on how to utilize various options, build nervous systems and architect the environments. All of the voiced parts now have subtitles, which can be turned on in the 'settings' menu, if you don't have them activated by default.
It also deals with 95% of bugs, we are aware of. The game is now supposed to run a lot smoother.
Some of the UI elements in model editor have been updated, and now you are able to easily change creature's size, rigidness and atom's mass, use the scroll wheel as well as +- buttons to change neuron's characteristics in neural editing (you kinda could do that earlier, but it was very finicky)...
We also changed the mechanics of the blue iterator neuron - it now has to be charged by another neuron to cycle.
Now, to the interesting part:
In this update we also made another genetic infusion. This is the last time, we do that, and from the next update the thing will be adding new stuff gradually instead of completely reloading it. As before, you can see our hands up in the air - 97% of the genetic material was already there, but now it is recombined, giving all of the genes environmental markers, which will make the system pick the genes so that they fit a specific map - you can now easily switch between environments and get different creatures from one to another!
Note that the old maps don't have any markers assigned to them, so if you already own the game and want to see the changes right away, delete the prebuilt maps before updating. And If you are building a map from scratch, it will take time for it to get its own environmental signature.
Research notes:
|Even though the genome is the same, we have registered several new creatures that appeared after we updated the aerodynamics option.
|Also some of the creatures are getting bigger and becoming more rigid. We don't know, why, but research guys say, it is a good sign(?)
|It seems that the nervous systems are also changing and becoming more stable.
|We noticed a creature that was using communication options, but did not have any receivers to get the signals from its peers. This trait is persistent and is still considered advantageous. We don't know, what it means.
Coming next: "Wanna have lunch?" update
The next update fully activates the network and makes your game connect to the cloud every time, something changes in the system - a creature is designed by the user or the enrironment shifts out of balance - which means new creatures appearing real time as well as a huge boost in evolutionary process. Research guys are saying that it will take two weeks tops to finish, so you will have to multiply that by 2.5 to get the actual time of release...