Creo God Simulator News

With the recent change to making Creo free to play, I wanted to allow any aspiring Creostrider to help support the game's development by joining our community on Patreon! I've added a variety of different support tiers with their respective rewards, and I look forward to posting exclusive content and polls on the Patreon page!

--- Link to Creo's Patreon Page ---

Contributions received from Patreon will help me continue the development of Creo God Simulator, in addition to:

• Composing new songs to add to our original soundtrack.
  
• Hiring additional engineers to optimize Creo's code architecture.
  
• Contracting artists to create additional renderings, concepts, loading screens, and potentially artbooks for the game.
  
• Many more Creo-related improvements!
  

I'm excited to see that even over the course of a few days, we've gotten thousands of new players and Creostriders-in-training to our ranks, and I look forward to continuing to improve and update our little game!

All the best,
Esteban

Hey there Creostriders! I'm excited to bring you Creo God Simulator's newest update: The Willpower Update! This newest update introduces several new game mechanics to Creo, specifically regarding the willpower resource and how it is managed/obtained. It also adds a few new buildings and other small improvements that I'll cover in this post.

[h2]The Prayer System[/h2]

Yes, you read that right—your villagers can now have prayers that you're capable of answering. As a Creostrider, your goal is to help improve the lives of all the inhabitants of your town and Creo, and one of the greatest ways to do that is by helping answer the burning desires of some of your villagers!

You can easily tell which villagers have a prayer that needs answering by simply looking for a small blue flame above their heads: this indicates that they have a prayer in their hearts and are wanting an answer! Once you find someone with a prayer simply clicking on them will answer their prayer, and grant you with a randomized amount of willpower.

This mechanic has been added as a difficulty balancing aid in order to help you gain willpower faster while also keeping it random and not fully consistent—there may be times where many prayers will be available to answer, giving you plenty of free willpower, but there may also be times when barely anyone will have a prayer to answer!



[h2]Willpower Isn't Infinite![/h2]

I've been slowly developing the lore of the world of Creo—which I hope to one day formalize more into the gameplay itself—and I've come to realize that willpower is not some ethereal force that has no measure or value, rather, it is a physical force that must be conserved and used wisely.

On Creo, there is pure energy which the Gods have given mortals in order for them to reach them. This energy, when touched by a chosen mortal—known by many as a Creostrider—becomes obedient to the commands of the mortal, and can bend reality and perform incredible feats and miracles.

However, this energy we call willpower actually has a physical form: a light blue glowing liquid. Willpower being somewhat sentient must be contained within special structures that have been empowered and blessed to keep willpower in its place. These structures are simply referred to as willpower wells by many of the Creostriders before you. Though expensive, willpower wells are crucial in order to gain more willpower and unlock new technologies, powers, and continue on the quest to Godhood!



[h2]This all Sounds Cool, But Why?[/h2]

A good friend of mine and playtester pointed out an extremely destructive exploit in the willpower system of the previous updates, in addition to helping see how the system was completely broken as you began to grow your city. We found that it was too easy to accrue the most important resource in the game, so I began thinking of a better way of balancing our special liquid power.

By making willpower a capacity-limited resource, and decreasing how often it is received from every second to every 16 seconds (or a season on Creo), it has become a much scarcer and more valuable resource. However, knowing how much more valuable it has become, I'm devising novel ways of being able to acquire willpower outside of just having your believers generate it.

I created the prayer system to be one solution to help balance it, but I plan on having other randomized events and situations that will give you willpower if handled correctly.

Overall, I believe that by making gradual improvements in balance and resource management, I can help Creo become a much more satisfying gaming experience, especially when you can create a successful and thriving city!

I'm excited to have many more people try Creo as of today, since the game is becoming free. I look forward to getting much more feedback on how we can improve the game, and how we can really create something special and fun. So please, leave reviews and reach out to me with helpful feedback and suggestions for what you would like to see in the game! And please let me know if you find any bugs or odd behaviors—I try my best to keep improving Creo as much as possible!

- Esteban

P.S. Here's a look at a new shop model I added in this update—I felt that the shops were all square, and we needed a long boi to balance things out.






Big Changes:

• Added willpower capacity mechanic - players now need to increase the capacity of willpower storage available to them by building physical willpower storage structures.
  
• Added villager prayer system - you can now click on villagers who have a prayer to answer their prayer for them. This will give you a randomized small amount of willpower between 20 and 100.
  
• Balance - Modified willpower system to accrue every season (16 days). Each follower generates 1
• (faith
• 0.0025) willpower / season.
  

Small Changes:

• Integrated Steam API into main menu - will do more with this in later updates.
  
• Added tutorial section regarding the new prayer and willpower capacity system.
  
• Balance - Halved small and large temple's willpower production rate.
  
• Load slots now sort by most recent save to oldest.
  
• Added additional long shop model.
  
• Updated copyright year under MKSM company logo.
  
• Balance - Made it so only one instance of each power can be summoned at one time - this is to prevent power-spamming.
  

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed bug where two instances of powers could be spawned at a time due to async issue in monitoring toggle.
  
• Updated town background sound to remove discernable words in Español.
  
• Fixed save slot rendering issue due to incorrect usage of sorting using Linq library.
  

That's right! After months spent considering the best courses of action for the future of Creo, I've decided that the best course would be to make the game completely free. This will enable many people who haven't gotten the chance to play Creo to join our community and play our game. Creo God Simulator will become a free game on 9 March 2022, so please take this into consideration before purchasing the game!

[h2]Why is it becoming free?[/h2]

I will be completely frank with you, I have not been able to put the amount of time I have wanted into this project since I've recently started a new highly intensive degree program at a University. I am currently working on the next update, which will include several game-balance improvements, such as creating a "Willpower Capacity", and associated structures to increase that capacity. This will come in addition to various other improvements such as new buildings, events, and features.

I'm very excited to continue working on Creo God Simulator, but I feel that it is correct to make it a free experience. This does not mean that the quality of updates will decrease, or that production will stop. Production on Creo God Simulator will continue indefinitely, however, as it's been in development for so many years, I consider it a true passion project, and one that I plan on working on for a long time.

[h2]What can I expect?[/h2]

As I stated above, the fact that Creo is becoming free in no way will affect the quality or regularity of the updates I've been posting. I've got various updates and improvements in the works right now, which I hope to release shortly, but I've also got a variety of other things in my life that command my time and attention. Frankly, Creo has not been paying any bills for a long time, and I've got to work and study in order to provide for me and my family - I sincerely hope our community will be understanding of this.

Creo will continue to be updated, you will continue to smite villagers and learn new god powers, and over time, I'm truly excited to see all the incredible cities you all will get to build. I know that one day, my work will be considered "over" for Creo, but today is not that day, and it won't be that day anytime soon.

Again, please take this update into consideration before purchasing the game. I am giving a 2-week notice to any potential purchases to simply wait until the 9th of March 2022, to be able to download the game on Steam for free, and to hop on this journey with us! Please feel free to direct any questions to [email protected] - I will do my best to answer them in the order received. Thank you all!

- Esteban

Yes, it's really me! Yes, Creo is still in progress! I'm excited to bring y'all a new content update that adds a variety of new events, buildings, and other improvements. Before elaborating a bit more on this update, I'd like to thank those in the community who have been patient and understanding during this time of personal growth and change for me - regardless of whatever life tends to bring - good or bad - I always find myself being given direction and purpose thanks to Creo. We've really come a long way, haven't we? So thank you all for being a part of something that really helps me stay motivated and moving forward!

[h2]The Update[/h2]

[h3]Loot Drops[/h3]



The community has spoken - loot drops have been added to Creo! These fantastic little objects give you a random amount of resources when clicked, and appear when certain events are defeated or are created by randomized events. These new loot drop rewards really enable me to get creative with new events/powers, so stay tuned for some awesome stuff implementing these loot drops!

[hr][/hr]

[h3]Improved Building Selection[/h3]



I've reworked the building selection system, opting for a more visual method of outlining which building you've chosen. This color outline also makes it very easy to see area-of-effect structures, such as Lumberyards, Wells, and Repair Shops—as seen in the gif above!

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[h3]Bibanat & Porcudu Ranching[/h3]



World-building starts early, so what better way to begin creating the unique fauna of the world of Creo than by ranching it! The new Ranch building allows you to passively generate a constant stream of food, rather than the once-in-a-while nature of farms. Additionally, you get to farm the surprisingly aggressive Bibanat—a horned duck-like creature who is docile in small groups, but extremely destructive in large flocks—and its much calmer friend, the Porcudu—a wooly pig-like creature that's content to spend its days eating your villager's leftovers.

[hr][/hr]

[h3]The Actual Small Temple[/h3]



So, I may have made the original "Small Temple" a pretty large and impressive structure—a little too large and impressive. With this in mind, I created a smaller, more reasonably priced Small Temple which performs the same function as the original but has fewer priests. Additionally, the Large Temple now can be unlocked in the Inspiration Tree by researching the "True Discipleship" inspiration.

[hr][/hr]

[h3]Metal Meteors[/h3]



Another classic Creo dilemma: you're running low on metal ore, but you know you haven't experienced a random event in a while—do you wish for a potentially destructive meteor full of metal to come screaming down to Creo? Or do you wait your turn at the market? Well, lucky for you, I've made the decision for you! Metal meteors now can randomly fall down from the heavens anywhere on the map: and I mean anywhere... *We're not responsible for meteors crashing into the center of your city causing 500 damage to any structure in its blast radius*

[hr][/hr]

[h3]Rain Storms[/h3]



Running low on Willpower in order to water your crops? No problem! I've added randomly-generated rain storms that will periodically appear on the map and water anything in its path. They are generally harmless—there is a possibility that a rain cloud may create lightning along the way, but that probability is low (I hear it's around a 5% chance, but what do I know).

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

To summarize this update: new buildings, new technologies, new events, new gameplay improvements, and way more! I'm certain someone will find a new bug or issue with some of the wilder events I'll be creating/have created, so if you see them, please let me know in the discussion section of our Steam page! I'm very excited to continue working on Creo—here's a sneak-peek of what I'm eyeing for the next update (which I promise will be much sooner than the last one!):

• Conjuration God Power - Ability to convert willpower into a random resource - risky, but potentially very profitable!
  
• Trading Guild - a building that allows for a random resource to be generated, in exchange for gold.
  
• Stonecrafter's Workshop - a building that generates gold from stone, thanks to all the amazing crafts the stonemasons will create!
  
• Spontaneous Growth God Power - Ability to grow a small forest anywhere you see fit!
  
• A whole lot more...
  

Thank you all again for continuing to be on this journey with me. If you've been enjoying Creo, please make sure to leave a review on our Steam page—it helps others see and experience our small game! And if you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to reach out to me here on our Steam Discussions page! Have a great holiday season everyone!

- Esteban

[hr][/hr]

[h3]Big Changes[/h3]

• Added new "Metal Meteor" random event, where a metal-containing meteor crash lands on Creo
  
• Added the "True Discipleship" technology in the Inspiration Tree, allowing for the building of Large Temples
  
• Added new small temple building, while also changing current temple building to be "Large Temple", which has many more priests but is a higher-tier unlock
  
• Added new ranch building with two different animal types, Bibanat, and Porcudu
  
• Added loot drops (wood, food, gold, metal, stone) for defeating certain events (locust/cat swarms)
  

[h3]Small Changes[/h3]

• Updated intro splash screen and decreased duration
  
• Slightly improve town center spatial sounds
  
• Improved rain/storm spatial sounds
  
• Added rain clouds to game: can increase crop growth, but can also create dangerous lightning
  
• Added 2 more shop models/building variations, bringing the total to 6
  
• Added 2 more house models/building variations, bringing the total to 7
  
• Removed Discord links due to server closure
  
• Made loot drops inspectable with inspection tool, to see how many resources they contain
  
• Added loot drop and selected building outline effect
  
• Removed old 3D model of small trees from market
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed rain clouds not spawning out by the end of the animation
  
• Fixed rain effect clipping through the map floor
  
• Removed Creobrine
  
• Fixed audio settings not saving correctly (mainly music and sound sliders auto-saving on game start)
  
• Corrected typo in "Organized Religion" inspiration unlock description
  
• Fixed navmesh placement issue on villagers where very rarely a villager would not be placed on navmesh surface
  

Hey there Creostriders! It's so exciting to finally be able to reach out to all of you and let you know about our exciting new version of Creo - V.0.5.2! I've been hard at work for the last several months developing a myriad of improvements and changes to our beloved game, and with all the hard work being done, the time has come to release the update.

[h2]That's all great news, but where have you been for the last few months?[/h2]

That's an excellent question, random stranger! If you all haven't noticed, I've been somewhat quiet about Creo's development for the last few months - this hasn't been out of laziness or me not caring about the game, I've actually been fortunate enough to co-found a tech startup in my hometown, and with this new startup, a massive new set of responsibilities and work were added to my plate. For the last few months, I was working a full-time development job, afterward, I would do a variety of work for our startup, and then I would make time to work on Creo.

I can't tell y'all just how cathartic it has been to work on Creo. With life being as crazy as it is, making time to work on Creo feels like coming home - it's my warm space where I can let my imagination run wild, and work on making an awesome gaming experience for all of you. So I would set aside time late in the night to work on the game - after my son was put to bed and all was quiet.

I recently left my other full-time job to focus on our startup, which has also opened up quite a bit of time for me to work on Creo! With this increased free time, I was able to wrap up a variety of improvements and updates for the game, in addition to squashing a variety of bugs! I'm excited about what's in the works for Creo, but enough about me, let's talk about this update!

[h2]What the update contains[/h2]



A large part of my time was spent working on two massive undertakings for Creo - adding language localization support, and a huge refactoring of my code architecture. Adding language localization support has been something I've always wanted to add to Creo, but I knew that it would take me a large amount of time to update all of the code to support this (this was due to a terrible game dev decision made when I just started working on Creo - all you beginning game devs out there, make sure to add language support right at the beginning!)

I finally decided to bite the bullet, and after dozens of hours of refactoring, I've got Creo and my workflow updated to allow for various languages! I've currently added Spanish support since that's my native language, but I'm hoping on adding a variety of other languages as time goes on, so let me know which ones you would like to see!

I also drastically improved Creo's core programming structure, which will allow me to add buildings and new game features much more simply and quickly than before. The changelog for this update is very long, so I will post it below, but I will highlight the ones which I think you will be most excited to hear about:

• Updated tree models to match the building's voxel style
  
• Made a variety of UI improvements, including asking if "you're you want to delete your save" - no more accidentally deleted saves!
  
• Improved the water animation quality (intersection foam, waves, transparency
  
• The game now saves your camera's position, rotation, and zoom - no more having to load a game with the camera in a weird position
  
• Dozens of other improvements and bug fixes
  

[h2]The future[/h2]



What does the future hold for Creo God Simulator? Well, in the short term, I'm thinking about adding in a variety of new buildings, such as the trading guild and the tribute altar. I've also built about 75% of the new prophet spawn event - beware, though they might increase your believer's faith in you, they might also overzealously trigger disasters! I'm also going to be adding in a reward/loot drop system where when you successfully defeat/survive certain events, resources are dropped. This is being done to help prevent you from running out of wood/stone/etc. I've also got several new events in the work (we're needing many more positive events, to help balance out disasters).

I'm wanting to keep things a bit wacky at times, so please make sure to join our Discord server and let me know what randomized events you would like to see!

As a final word, I just want to thank you all for being so patient with my little game - I'm trying my best to make time to grow this game, and I know that we'll keep adding improvements and making it better as time goes on, just as we have been up to now! Hope you all continue to have an awesome summer - stay safe out there, and don't go casting lightning bolts too often!

- Esteban




Big Changes:

Added language localization support (Spanish)
Game now saves/loads camera position, rotation, and zoom on save/load
Drastically improved code structure of all buildings, improving performance and making it easier to add/modify buildings

Small Changes:

Made small temple generate a passive amount of willpower based on priests working at the location
Improved smite animation, added small crater when smiting area
Upon language change, a notification box will clear itself
Added confirmation box appearing when clicking on the "delete save" button to prevent accidental deletion
Updated load buttons UI to be more easily readable (moved save date)
Updated farm vertical position so that farmers don't sink too deeply into farm
Updated trees to match other game art (Breaks previous saves)
Added caret to trade menu inputs
Added language support to trade system
Added Spanish version of the tutorial
Improved selected building info UI (hp, text positioning)
Improved water quality (intersection foam, waves, transparency)

Bug Fixes:

Fixed loading menu's save slots not showing correct incompatible version warning message on hover
Fixed main quest not successfully rewarding player upon completion
Fixed main quest icon triggering issues in different situations
Fixed meteor having choppy movement during fall due to not interpolating the position of rigid body
Fixed placeholder text appearing in inspiration menu when first opened
Fixed "Advanced training" technology appearing at the end of the inspiration menu
Fixed quality level not being rendered correctly in the options menu
Fixed camera pan not applying bounding limits - the camera will now limit pan distance
Fixed bug where roads could be built regardless if there are insufficient resources
Fixed roadbuilding exploit where short roads would cost no wood/metal. Resolved this by making any road cost at least 2 wood, 1 stone, 1 metal
Fixed bug where when workers died, they did not remove their filled role at their workplace
Fixed villagers death sound effects not outputting to correct audio output channel
Fixed typos in tutorial
Removed Creobrine
Fixed logic error where basic Market logic was being applied incorrectly due to a typo
Fixed birthrate error where more villagers would be born than population capacity
Fixed villager animation bug where working animations would be triggered on villagers that do not have working animations
Fixed camera issue not showing water transparency
Fixed building rotation being fps-locked
Fixed zoom speed being fps-locked
Fixed building menu not closing on right click for high fps machines