Update v.0.6.5 is Here

Hey there Creostriders! I'm excited to announce Creo God Simulator's newest update: version 0.6.5. In this update, I've added several new game mechanics and improvements, namely:

• A new construction system with a new construction workshop building
  
• Replaced the old 2D pixel-art villagers with physics-enabled 3D villagers
  
• Added Autosave option in addition to allowing saving during disasters/events
  

The full changelog will be listed below, but overall, a rather large set of improvements was added to Creo in this update. I have all of you Creostriders in the Creo community to thank for the outstanding feedback, bug reporting, and game improvement suggestions you have all shared with me on our Steam Community pages: it is because of this direct insight and feedback from you all that I can make a better gaming experience, so thank you!

[h2]The Rise of Creo God Simulator[/h2]

Honestly speaking, in the last few weeks, I've been shocked by how much our Creo community has grown and how many new Creostriders are out in the world playing my little game. To put it in perspective for you all: more people have downloaded and played Creo in the last two weeks than have in the last 3 years... Yes, I'm shocked by this as well! There are thousands of new players who are providing me extremely useful insight into how I can improve the game, and what they would like to see.



[h2]Creo's Patreon Returns![/h2]

Because of this incredible growth of our game community, I'm excited to announce the re-opening of Creo God Simulator's Patreon page and community. Many of you have personally shared an interest in supporting the development of Creo more deeply, and so I'm opening up our Patreon page to help generate some money that I can use to accelerate the development of Creo.

I'm planning on using funds generated by Patreon to:

• Work more with talented graphic designers to create beautiful loading screens, concept art, and user interfaces
  
• Have several more original songs written for Creo, adding to our already extensive soundtrack which you can check out on Spotify!
  
• Hire an additional part-time programmer who can help me complete my tasks a bit faster, and accelerate our momentum toward the full release
  
• Hire a writer to help me create a more cohesive lore/world for Creo God Simulator
  

If any of these things sound exciting to you, please show your support for Creo by joining our Patreon community! There are various Patreon rewards as well, and I'd love to add any additional Patreon rewards the community would want.

You can support the ongoing development of Creo here: Creo God Simulator Patreon Page

[h2]Major Changes in this Update[/h2]

I'll now go over several of the new changes I've added to Creo God Simulator, many of which were directly inspired by your suggestions and requests!

[h3]New Construction System[/h3]



As I continue moving forward with my overall vision and roadmap for Creo, one crucial aspect of the game will be having buildings be built, rather than simply plopped down. This new feature will allow you to build a Construction Workshop, which will employ builders and more rapidly build new structures.

Additionally, you can use your Willpower to speed up building construction by simply hovering over a building under construction! Along with this change, there are now building limits applied to certain buildings (specifically, on the construction workshop for now). Having limits to the number of specific buildings you can place opens up a new avenue in the gameplay loop for Creo: building limits will be able to be increased through unlockable upgrades and rewards.

[h3]Villagers Physics (Villager go boom)[/h3]



As part of my overall effort to make Creo more fun, I've decided to make villagers 3D, in addition to adding physics to villagers. I plan on adding more God Powers in the future, such as the ability to pick and move around villagers, tornados, etc. I want to make the world of Creo much more interactive, and I believe this is a solid first step as I move toward that goal.

[h3]Added Saving During Events and Autosaving[/h3]



One of the most common requests the community has made in the last few weeks has been an improvement to Creo's saving system, which I wholeheartedly agree with. Because of this, I've now made it so:

• You can save during disasters in the game (for better or for worse)
  
• There is a save confirmation dialog now, to prevent accidental saving
  
• There is now an autosave option in the game settings, which will save the game automatically every 15 minutes
  

[h2]What's Next?[/h2]



I've got a big vision for what the next update will be. As I've thought of how to make Creo God Simulator a more fulfilling and enjoyable gaming experience, I realized that I would like to make the main Creostrider character a controllable, in-world character. This will open the door for me to add numerous new gameplay mechanics, such as:

• Giving the player the ability to harvest resources on your own, with no need for structures (early game)
  
• Allowing the player to move around the map, and interacting with ancient monuments which will grant technologies, powers, and resources
  
• Giving the player more direct abilities, such as a convert power, which will convert villagers within a small area around the player
  
• Many, many more
  

So in summary, the next update will hopefully contain the beginnings of this new gameplay mechanic, with all of the logic and new features that will go with it.

If you would like to follow the development of this new feature, among many more, please hop on over to our Patreon page to unlock exclusive development content, in addition to being able to have voting power over future features, improvements, and more.

As always, I'm deeply grateful to you all for all the support and kindness you have shown me as I work on my game, and I look forward to providing you all with an awesome experience. Please feel free to create Steam Community > Discussions if you have any questions, concerns, bug reports, or suggestions. Keep on smiting Creostriders!

All the best,
Esteban

[hr][/hr]


[h2]Creo Changelog - 03/10/2024[/h2]

[h3]Big Changes[/h3]

Added new building limits mechanic - certain buildings have a maximum number of structures placeable (only applies to construction workshops currently).
Added autosave game option in the settings menu (autosaves every 15 minutes).
Added ability to save the game during all disasters excluding earthquakes. Fires, swarms, and other disasters will save when game is saved.
Added villager physics to respond to explosions and god powers!
Replaced villager 2D sprites with 3D villagers - this was due to game design limitations with 2D sprites.
Added Construction Workshop - allowing you to hire builders who can automate construction process.
Added new building system - all buildings take time to build. This can be accelerated by building a Construction Workshop or by hovering over the building under construction.

[h3]Small Changes[/h3]

Added Ultrawide (5420x1440) monitor UI support.
Added a save confirmation dialog when clicking "Save Game" to prevent accidental saving.
Re-added Patreon support button on the main menu to help fund and accelerate development.
Added ability to build buildings using willpower by hovering over a building under construction.
Improved the effectiveness of the rain power by detecting all event objects in a vertical pillar up to the cloud, rather than a sphere at the floor.
Added new tutorial sections stating where the number of available workers can be found, in addition to a new tutorial section that teaches camera movement.
Added mining sound effect to metal mine.
Updated build/effect area projection method to not project on terrain mesh - improved performance dramatically when many projectors are active.
Updated villager logic to reflect changes in villager design and physics.
Added explosive force physics to the meteor and lightning god power.
Added UI elements to show when buildings are being built, or when construction is paused.
Upgraded saving/loading system in the game, which should make adding new building types/building functionality much easier in the future. *This breaks all prior saves unfortunately*
Updated building selection outline to not show silhouette, only outline.
Improved navmesh accuracy for all building models.

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

Fixed info icons still showing if "show info icons" was deactivated.
Fixed bug where the delete load confirmation dialog was not removing itself if another menu was selected.
Fixed a bug where fires that destroyed a building were never removed from event lists.
Patched exploit where small altars under construction would still have their build area available before completion.
Fixed bug where prayer icon collision shape was too small to click.
Fixed bug where rain clouds' sphere collider would interfere with villager pathfinding.
Fixed bug where buildings could be placed overlapping other buildings under construction.
Fixed bug where clicking on the prayer icon above villagers did not work. Updated villager prayer icon to have its own collider.
Added work area projector to water well, which was missing for some reason.
Fixed bug where windmill collision checker object would trigger Repair buildings scan, which should only work on placed buildings.
Fixed bug where a player was able to quit during the saving process.
Fixed Spawn Trees god power not spawning trees in the exact position the player selects.
Removed a bug in the load menu where deleted slots were still being checked and triggering an error.