Ecosystem News

Hey everyone!

April was a big month for Ecosystem, so we thought we'd share a monthly round-up of everything we got up to in case you missed anything.

The Big Behaviour Update

After an extended open beta, the Behaviour Update launched for all players last month, and was jam-packed with new features for your ecosystem. From building nests, swimming in schools, and even singing, this update introduced a range of new behavioural features for your creatures to fulfill their individual needs. Plus, we added bioluminescence! If you haven't updated your game yet, you know what to do...
Read the full patch notes here.

Earth Appreciation Festival and WASD London

Ecosystem also took part in two events in April: Earth Appreciation Festival 2024, where we donated a portion of our profits to Ocean Conservation Trust, and WASD in London, where the latest version of the game was available to play.

That's everything we have for you this month, but as always, be sure to join our Discord to chat all things Ecosystem, and follow us on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news!

Today marks World Earth Day, an occassion where we mark the importance of our planet and the factors that are impacting it. But with human-made issues such as climate change, pollution, overpopulation, lack of sustainability, and conflicts, it's a stark reminder not to take our planet for granted.

That's why we're taking part in Earth Appreciation Fest 2024, which contains both post-apocalyptic games that remind us of what we stand to lose, and nature-based games to help celebrate the incredible bio-diversity of the planet we call home.

You can check out the full range of games taking part in Earth Appreciation Festival here.


Psst! Don't forget Ecosystem is also exhibiting at WASD 2024, where you'll be able to try out the latest build of the game from 25th - 27th April!

Hello everyone!

After an extended open beta we're pleased to announce that the Behavior Update is out now for everyone!

There are a lot of changes and fixes in the update, full patch notes below, but lets take a look at the new changes in the latest trailer.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

PATCH NOTES

FEATURES
Increased creature autonomy: after learning first to swim and then to seek out targets, creatures enter a life stage in which they are more autonomous in their decision-making, attempting to fulfill their individual needs.

The following new behaviors are now available to creatures:

• Finding shelter and resting
  
• Building nests
  
• Feeding on insects on the water surface
  
• Gathering food to bring to their offspring
  
• Playing and socializing, chasing each other or knocking stones around
  
• Swimming in schools
  
• Bioluminescence
  
• Song
  
• Pitch and volume envelopes for each note in a song are specified in the genetic code, so songs will evolve as the species does.
  
• Reworked creature fertility and energy so that the odds of survival and number of offspring is less influenced by random factors.
  
• Creatures now remember the locations of food seen while exploring.
  

FIXES

• Update translations for the new text added in the update.
  
• Improved line-of-sight checks before creatures resort to pathfinding to prevent cases where creatures swim far up because their target is behind a small bump.
  
• Fixed some errors with line of sight checks that could result in creatures not seeing food/mates that actually should have been visible.
  
• Fixed error where color comparisons could be incorrect when checking how well a creature blends in with its environment.
  
• Fixed error where bilateria spawn preset had incorrect 4x lifecycle count by default.
  
• Fix: On rare occasions, creature models can freeze and end up floating permanently in the water.
  
• Fix: On rare occasions, plant models can freeze and be unremovable by the player.
  
• Fix: messages about species maturation and nonviability remain on the screen while the game closes down after exiting
  
• Fix minor errors that could occur when the plankton cursor was outside of the game region and when displaying traits for certain creatures, which could impact performance.
  
• Fix error that could cause some saves to fail to load.
  
• Fix: boosting a creature creates offspring that are not initialized properly.
  
• Fix error causing degraded performace and incorrect behavior when creatures who are playing with a rock knock it out of the ecosystem boundary.
  
• Fix: creatures forget what they were doing upon loading a savegame.
  
• Fix: all gifts turn into mushrooms upon loading a savegame.
  
• Fix: when mushrooms are picked up to use as a gift, they are not held in the mouth but seem to float outside of the head.
  
• Fix error where the games by friends panel would not disappear when it was supposed to.
  
• Fix error that can occur when a creature is recovering from a staggered state and actively targeted by another predator.
  
• Fix minor errors with bioluminescence and the creature editor.
  

Hey everyone!

We're happy to announce that the beta for the Behaviour Update is now live on the OpenBeta branch on Steam. As always, if you'd like to participate, be sure to back up your saves!

BACK UP YOUR SAVES - Before taking part in the beta, if you have some ecosystems you love and want to test out the combat, please back them up. You can find the save files in your "My Documents/Ecosystem" folder.

ACCESSING THE BETA - Right-click the game in your library, choose "Properties", choose "Betas", and select openbeta from the list.

WHAT'S CHANGED - Check out the patch notes below:

PATCH NOTES

FEATURES
Increased creature autonomy: after learning first to swim and then to seek out targets, creatures enter a life stage in which they are more autonomous in their decision-making, attempting to fulfill their individual needs.

The following new behaviors are now available to creatures:

• Finding shelter and resting
  
• Building nests
  
• Feeding on insects on the water surface
  
• Gathering food to bring to their offspring
  
• Playing and socializing, chasing each other or knocking stones around
  
• Swimming in schools
  
• Bioluminescence
  
• Song
  

• Pitch and volume envelopes for each note in a song are specified in the genetic code, so songs will evolve as the species does.
  
• Reworked creature fertility and energy so that the odds of survival and number of offspring is less influenced by random factors.
  
• Creatures now remember the locations of food seen while exploring.
  

FIXES

• Improved line-of-sight checks before creatures resort to pathfinding to prevent cases where creatures swim far up because their target is behind a small bump.
  
• Fixed some errors with line of sight checks that could result in creatures not seeing food/mates that actually should have been visible.
  
• Fixed error where color comparisons could be incorrect when checking how well a creature blends in with its environment.
  
• Fixed error where bilateria spawn preset had incorrect 4x lifecycle count by default.
  

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the March development update! My work on the next major update, the Behavior Update, is coming to a close and should be ready for a March release date. With the new batch of features, I hope to give creatures more autonomy, more to do with their lives, and more ways to differentiate themselves from other species.

Creatures now need to find shelter and rest, can build nests to lay eggs in, can feed on insects on the water surface, can gather food to bring to their offspring, and can play and socialize.

They can also adapt to swim in schools or communicate with bioluminescence:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Bioluminescence

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Schooling

They can also evolve vocalizations, the development of which involved making a simplified 'fish synthesizer' and specifying pitch and volume envelopes in each creature's genetic code, subject to mutation along with everything else:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Vocalisation 1 - Best heard between 10-50s

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Vocalisation 2

I'm hoping that all of this will add further depth and variety to the gameplay and make your species and ecosystems feel even more unique. Thank you for reading!

Tom Johnson