Happy New Year, Universe Architects!
After an end-of-year break, the Cells team is back at work. Let's recap on what's been released since our last update, and take a peek at what we've been working on now. As always, we rely on your feedback, particularly the feedback of our players who test all the new features of the game before public release. Our beta players play test never before seen content and provide feedback on their experience. As a result, many of the features added in the game are requests from our testers.
The Leg Bone Connected to the Knee Bone…
We released the first recurring event of the New Year, Explore: Human Body — Anatomy of Life. Based on a topic long requested by players, the event was the first to feature a content warning due to sensitive medical material and trypophobia. While the event was well received overall, we wanted to give players the opportunity to skip the event if they did not feel comfortable. The Human Body event is also the first to strategically feature two interdependent currencies: Deoxygenated and Oxygenated blood, which work in tandem to unlock nodes and generators. Generators purchased with one type of currency can produce the other type, which gave rise to new strategies in this event.
In order to ensure scientific accuracy, we consulted a medical doctor for this event. They made certain that the smallest details were correct from the particulars of the hypodermis to the complex functioning of the lobes in the brain. The pineal gland maintains your circadian rhythm - your sleep cycle - by responding to cues from the presence and absence of blue light in the day and night. Did you know that the blue-ish, green, purple vein popping out of your hand carries deoxygenated blood? For many, this was new information to learn from this event.
The launch of Explore: Human Body — Anatomy of Life was accompanied by a Discord 'Let's Play' event. A big thank you to everyone who showed. Attendees played along with the team and received Darwinium in the chat. If you enjoyed this event, we always welcome feedback to help us improve in the future.
Nebulae in 3D
With Beyond E22: When Stars Die, the simulation sailed into strange new waters. Modeling massive nebulae in 3D at 360 degrees was a large and complex undertaking. Stephanie Davila, a consultant who worked on this project, is a talented artist from Pariah Interactive game studio - our neighbors in Brooklyn. Using references from deep space images and drawing on simulations designed by astronomers, she created these amazing nebula models. Combined with advanced real-time mathematical data, the result is a feat no game has accurately depicted: distant nebulae in all their three-dimensional glory.
We chose a sampling of the most interesting, diverse nebulae for this episode. The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula sometimes referred to as the "Eye of God". The Cat's Eye Nebula was investigated by William Huggins, who demonstrated that planetary nebulae were gaseous and not stellar in nature. Episode 22 has other exciting new content which includes some very interesting stars…
When Bronze Changed History
The Civilization team began work on the Bronze Age by collecting powerful images of artifacts that survived from that time period.. The statues of rulers, gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Akkad and the Sea Peoples of Phoenicia are a wonder. The architecture of the Bronze Age was monumental: the Ziggurats of Ur, the palaces of Nineveh, and the Lion's Gate of Mycenae in Greece were overwhelming compared to what came before. In addition, new technological achievements inspired us to create immersive scenes in the garden, such as writing and paper, sailing ships, and the potter's wheel.
There is much to discover in the Bronze Age. A new addition to the Augmentation Store is the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is said by an ancient writer that the trees and flowers of this monumental edifice were watered by the Euphrates river by means of an Archimedes screw. Some scholars believe the structure was built not in Babylon, but in Nineveh, as a palace for the Assyrian king Sennacherib. The truth may lie beneath the waters of the Euphrates. We will never know for sure as the Hanging Gardens did not survive antiquity.
Another addition to the Augmentation Store is the Trojan Horse. While it never existed in real life, the Trojan Horse made its own historical mark in Homer’s influential myth, The Odyssey. Also accompanying this age, new achievements are waiting to be discovered. Will you find it?
What’s more, coming soon to the Augmentation Store is a technology that can change the way the Civilization Garden can be viewed: Map Mode. With this tool, players can get a birds eye view of the terrain and more easily visualize the sweep of human history.
We released more content in 2023 than we have in previous years. Our team has grown to support the game as a live operations service. 2024 is jam packed with exciting new content in store. New Beyond episodes are currently in development, as well as future Explore Events. Keep a look out for the Bronze Age, coming out very soon.
At the end of 2023, Cell to Singularity celebrated its fifth birthday. We couldn't have made it this far without the greatest community of players we could imagine. Our game will continue to grow and improve with your continued interest and support.
Stay cellular!
- The Cells Team