Ecosystem News

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.
  

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the tenth development update. I'm currently finishing one of the bigger updates Ecosystem has had so far, the Evolutionary Sandbox update. This update is all about interactions with creatures and adding ways to influence both the ecosystem you're building and the evolutionary path of the creatures in it.

That includes allowing you to adjust a lot of higher-level properties of the environment, such as the amount of drag the water imparts on objects moving through it, substantially affecting the bodies and swimming styles that evolution will select for. You can also control things like the mass and muscle density of a species, the energy cost each neuron has, how long creatures take to mature, and how much of their life they devote to mating. It's possible to require fins, tentacles, or a tailfin, or ensure that individuals will always be symmetric even after many generations of mutations.

Work in progress look at some the options you will have access too, UI and options not final.

Size can be specified too, and in addition, much greater size variety is possible now. Creatures will be able to range from one fourth of the current default size all the way up to ten times the current default, so if you would like to have whales in your environment or to try and evolve a sea monster, it should be possible now. Color can also be specified and also has much greater variety. In particular, much brighter colors are available now, in contrast to the very subdued palette the game initially started with.

I've also put a lot of effort into adding ways to interact with creatures and making it easier and quicker to do so. It's possible to set minimum and maximum hard caps on species' populations now, which may be useful if you have a species you're developing that you want to ensure never goes extinct. All the interaction options like boosting, culling, and dragging are available immediately when you select a creature without having to switch to a separate menu, and there are new options that allow for generating a whole new species out of an interesting individual, or reviving a creature if it died while selected.



There have also been some big quality of life improvements: most notably, once they have matured, creatures now attempt keep themselves upright instead of happily swimming around upside down or at all kinds of weird angles. That had been a longstanding issue, as creatures had struggled to balance the demands of steering towards food with rotating to keep themselves up. Also, when heads are very thin, like a manta ray, they should appear more natural and less 'wooden'. This update will hopefully be available for open beta testing in a couple weeks and fully released not long after.

That's all for this update. Thanks for reading!
Tom Johnson

Just rerunning our VOD or you can find it on YouTube below:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Hey everyone

Just a quick post to let you know we will be taking part in SIMFEST: HOBBY EDITION next week!

As part of the event / sale we join me (Dan) and the developer Tom for our developer stream and Q&A!

The stream is currently schedule for 6PM BST on Tuesday 29th March - hopefully we will see you there, if you have any questions for Tom let us know in the comments below!

Thanks,
Dan