Ecosystem News

You can opt into the open beta, with no password needed if you own the game on steam. Below are the patch notes, any feedback much appreciated!

Be sure to back up your saves before trying the beta!

v0.28

FEATURES
Language support for French and German.
Add Camera submenu to the Controls menu with options for movement speed / smoothing and rotation speed / smoothing.
Allow renaming species.
Add ability to shift all the colors at once to the creature editor.
'Add Part' in the creature editor now lets the player click where they would like to position the new part instead of always placing it at a default position.
New species and substantial mutations are highlighted in-game when they occur.
Allow changing the time scale while the game is paused.
Display diet of all creatures in the list when loading a stored creature.
Display a box for reference when the player scales creature size in the evolutionary toolbox.

FIXES
Fix: Bug in Steam workshop caused many creatures, terrain, and aquariums to not appear to other players.
Fix: Species matured messages could sometimes appear in the aquarium.
Fix: Cull species prompt didn't go away after culling in some circumstances.
Fix: Color override didn't always work on creatures in evolutionary toolbox.
Fix: Events on individual creature log disappear too quickly.
Fix: It can be unclear when there are more than two pages of results on Steam workshop.
Fix: Changing timescale affects water refraction.
Fix: Plant and coral counts from current game can be carried over to a new game in rare circumstances, which could cause the new game to enter an invalid state.
Fix: Mitigate plant die offs that occur after particularly active seeding.
Fix: Creatures with 1 aerodynamics frequently swim backwards.
Fix: Species sometimes do not get completely culled.

It's spooky season again and you know what that means! Halloween has come to the depths of Ecosystem!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The ocean is a vast place, full of the unknown, and now in creative mode you can get into the spooky spirit by turning your creative map into a creepy drowned graveyard, just in time for Halloween!

We're looking forward to seeing all the horror themed maps you create - don't forget to share your screenshots either here on Steam or over on the Slug Disco discord: https://discord.com/invite/dyHnugt

Hello everyone :)

Dan here from Slug Disco and I'm here with a special video!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In this video I sit down with Tom, the solo developer, behind Ecosystem to ask him about the project, both the history of the project, if the game has gone the way he'd like during Early Access, and what prompted him to create the Evolution Sandbox update for players.

Following this chat, I then hand over to Tom who will give us an in-depth look at the tools now available to players in the Evolution Sandbox, and how you can expect those variables to change the way your creatures evolve and behave.

Alongside the launch of this video, the game is also 10% off in a Steam weeklong deal, so if you know anyone who you think may like the game - why not let them know!

Thanks for your support everyone - keep your eyes peeled for future announcements on updates coming to the game.

Hello everyone!

We're pleased to say that Ecosystem's latest Major Update, the Evolution Sandbox update is out now!


If you would like to learn more about the update you can read Development Update #10 where we went into a lot of detail about the update!

The full patch notes for the update are below :D


PATCH NOTES
v0.27 - Evolution Sandbox Update

FEATURES
* Allow for adjusting higher level properties of the environment and creatures: Drag, Aerodynamics, Mass Density, Muscle Density, Neuron Energy Cost, Maturation Time, Lifespan, and Mating Period.
* Allow specifying parameters that creature evolution will be kept within: Size, Dimensions, Body Part Count, Body Part Types (Fins/Tentacles/Tailfin), Skin Color/Brightness, and enforced Symmetry of various types.
* Add several creatures to the creature menu that serve as examples of what can be done with the parameters. These example creatures and the parameters themselves are unlocked via the research menu.
* Allow for much greater variety of creature size and color.
* Symmetry is much more common and less likely to be broken by mutations.
* Mature creatures now have a medium-priority behavior in which they attempt to keep themselves upright while swimming.
* Interaction options can now all be accessed whenever a creature is selected in addition to being on a separate menu. Also new interaction options: cull species, and speciate based on individual.
* It is now possible to set hard caps on the population of a species, numbers that it will never go below or above, allowing the player to ensure, for example, that a species never goes extinct.
* Players can now revive a creature if it died while selected.
* When heads are very thin, like a manta ray, they should appear more natural and less 'wooden'

FIXES
Fix: Sometimes the spawn species sound effect cuts off.
Fix: Editor could get into an invalid state under certain circumstances if you canceled the screenshot.
Fix: Editor randomize button does not pick the best head for the body.
Fix: When editing a creature near the ground, it's possible for the camera to get gimbal locked.
Fix: Creature selection box could get stuck on red after using the editor.
Fix: Carrion could sometimes hang around a long time after loading due to saving its lifetime parameter incorrectly.
Fix: Culling species from the Info Panel would sometimes miss individuals who were just born.
Fix: Improve performance on Info Panel.
Fix: Creatures with mutation rate set to zero still seem to mutate due to some of the effects of DNA combination in mating.
Fix: New limbs are more likely to be hooked up to nerves that actually function and less likely to trigger invalid physiology removal prior to birth.
Fix: Rare case where creatures could stop steering when pathing towards the mating grounds.
Fix: water can sometimes flicker off and on in the creature view.
Fix: When the game revives ancestors as a result of trying to keep a minimum population hard cap, those ancestors could still use their previous evolutionary parameters, possibly resulting in the hard caps essentially turning back off for the population.
Fix: Incorrect tooltips appear on some evolutionary parameters.
Fix: Hard caps don't turn on or off correctly when set from the F5 Info Panel.
Fix: Creatures from versions prior to 0.27 should not have 'enforce base part largest' set when imported.
Fix: Research card format can display incorrectly for an instant when they first appear.
Fix: Labels on evolutionary parameters disappear on some resolutions.
Fix: Incorrect item types can show up when you select 'locally installed' on Steam Workshop dropdown.

Happy World Oceans Day everyone!

We were recently approached by WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conversation who in partnership with Curve Games are running a World Oceans Day Charity Sale to raise aware for their charitable work and honestly, Ecosystem is such a great fit for this that it was an immediate yes!

During the sale Ecosystem will be 10% off, with a further 10% being donated to WDC.

Alongside the sale we are running an open beta for the next major update to come to Ecosystem, the Evolutionary Sandbox Update.

We spoke about the update in Development Update #10 so if you want to get the full rundown of the update you can check out that post!

As always with our betas, we HIGHLY RECOMMEND backing up your save files as we can't guarantee they will stay compatible with the main branch version of the game.

You can back up your saves by locating them at: C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\Ecosystem - to back them up just copy them to another a folder, for example your desktop, then when you revert back to none beta version of the game, if your save doesn't load you can copy them back to your Documents\Ecosystem folder.

You can use the games Discord server to provide feedback (which is preferred) or the Steam community forums on the pinned post.

You can opt into the open beta by choosing it on the Betas tab (accessed by right clicking the game in your Steam library, and choosing properties).

Patch notes for the beta are below, and if you would like to learn more about WDC you can read more about them below :)

PATCH NOTES
v0.27

FEATURES
* Allow for adjusting higher level properties of the environment and creatures: Drag, Aerodynamics, Mass Density, Muscle Density, Neuron Energy Cost, Maturation Time, Lifespan, and Mating Period.
* Allow specifying parameters that creature evolution will be kept within: Size, Dimensions, Body Part Count, Body Part Types (Fins/Tentacles/Tailfin), Skin Color/Brightness, and enforced Symmetry of various types.
* Add several creatures to the creature menu that serve as examples of what can be done with the parameters. These example creatures and the parameters themselves are unlocked via the research menu.
* Allow for much greater variety of creature size and color.
* Symmetry is much more common and less likely to be broken by mutations.
* Mature creatures now have a medium-priority behavior in which they attempt to keep themselves upright while swimming.
* Interaction options can now all be accessed whenever a creature is selected in addition to being on a separate menu. Also new interaction options: cull species, and speciate based on individual.
* It is now possible to set hard caps on the population of a species, numbers that it will never go below or above, allowing the player to ensure, for example, that a species never goes extinct.
* Players can now revive a creature if it died while selected.
* When heads are very thin, like a manta ray, they should appear more natural and less 'wooden'

FIXES
Fix: Sometimes the spawn species sound effect cuts off.
Fix: Editor could get into an invalid state under certain circumstances if you canceled the screenshot.
Fix: Editor randomize button does not pick the best head for the body.
Fix: When editing a creature near the ground, it's possible for the camera to get gimbal locked.
Fix: Creature selection box could get stuck on red after using the editor.
Fix: Carrion could sometimes hang around a long time after loading due to saving its lifetime parameter incorrectly.
Fix: Culling species from the Info Panel would sometimes miss individuals who were just born.
Fix: Improve performance on Info Panel.
Fix: Creatures with mutation rate set to zero still seem to mutate due to some of the effects of DNA combination in mating.
Fix: New limbs are more likely to be hooked up to nerves that actually function and less likely to trigger invalid physiology removal prior to birth.
Fix: Rare case where creatures could stop steering when pathing towards the mating grounds.
Fix: water can sometimes flicker off and on in the creature view.

KNOWN ISSUES:
Uprightness option on Evolutionary Parameters Menu does not do anything, as this behavior is always fully on.


About WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation

https://uk.whales.org/

WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation is the leading global charity dedicated to the conservation and protection of whales and dolphins. We defend these remarkable creatures against the many threats they face through campaigns, lobbying, advising governments, conservation projects, field research and rescue. Our mission is to share the wonder of whales and dolphins with people all across the world, and inspire global action to protect them. Our vision is a world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free.

WDC has offices in the UK, US, Australia, Germany and South America and currently works on a range of campaign areas including:

• Stopping hunting and commercial whaling. Around 1,500 whales and dolphins are hunted each year
  
• Ending the keeping of whales and dolphins in captivity. There are around 3,600 whales and dolphins held in captivity across the globe.
  
• Preventing the accidental entanglement and death of whales and dolphins in fishing gear. Hundreds of thousands of whales and dolphins are accidentally caught and killed in fishing gear each year.
  
• Creating healthy seas and safe homes for whales and dolphins. 81% of all whale and dolphin species have been affected by plastic pollution.