Terra Nil News

Terra Nil gets better performance and Linux support

Terra Nil, a building game about restoring nature just got upgraded with better performance they've now officially released their Native Linux and macOS versions too.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/10/terra-nil-gets-better-performance-and-linux-support

Better Performance and macOS/Linux

We’re excited to put out the first post-release update for Terra Nil. This is a small update focusing on some performance improvements, polish, bug fixes, and the much awaited native macOS and Linux builds. We’re also working on some bigger, more exciting changes for upcoming updates that we’re looking forward to sharing with you — more news on that coming later.

Note: if you have trouble installing macOS/Linux builds, you may need to restart Steam. If you are having trouble with the native Linux build, you can try opting into using Proton as a temporary workaround.

Performance

Combining meshes
LODs
Reduced draw calls for some materials
Speed up loading times by precomputing hashes
Improve tile highlighting
Rework tile rules
Precomputing texture atlases
Remove a significant amount of cruft from gameplay tiles
More water quad work and gameplay tile optimization

Polish and Bug Fixes

Improve edge panning and capturing the cursor
Use more exact number for whether seeds should get ticked in seed bank
Fix sunflower radiation softlock
Add screenshake toggle setting
Off-screen recycling arrows are now on an ellipse, so not overlapping with UI
Add hover tooltip text for zen mode
Changing building tabs doesn’t count as hovering
Show speed controls when first vehicle spawns, if before tier 3
Click behind handbook to close it
Clicking on background of seed bank closes it
Fix bug where you can close handbook while it's opening
Add monorail dirt transport vehicle for dredging
Fix: bamboo nursery changes to skyscraper correctly on undo
Fix a bug where water would show at the wrong height when excavating a cliff tile
Fixed a bug where building can sometimes have ghosts

Join the Beta Branch!

As we ramp up on Terra Nil work again, we’re setting up a beta branch on Steam where we’ll release patches and updates prior to them being officially approved and released publicly. Eventually these changes will make their way to the public build on Steam and other platforms, but if you’d like to see the latest things we’re working on before everyone else, you can opt-in to this branch right now!

Note: by opting in to this branch, you do so “at your own risk.” We test these builds internally, but not as thoroughly as the public builds, so there is a chance a game-breaking or save-corrupting bug sneaks in. We advise backing up your save games manually before using the branch.

You can opt-in by right clicking on the game in the Steam client, selecting “Properties…”, Betas, and then the “beta” branch. These builds will often only have English translations, with other languages coming later.

We always value feedback, but we’re especially keen to get feedback on the beta branch builds. We’d love it if you can join our Discord and give us feedback on the beta in the #🐾-terra-nil-public-beta
channel. We’ll also post patch notes of the beta builds to Discord as we release new builds.

Right now there’s a slightly newer build on beta with some bug fixes and polish. We’ll be updating it more over the coming weeks as we have things to share :)

We're back!

Hey all,

We're back! We appreciate your patience and understanding while we took some very necessary time off to recover. Burnout is a real issue, and taking care of the mental health of developers is not typically something the games industry does very well. We're trying to do that better at Free Lives.

Our team is ramping back up, and, to help us make Terra Nil even better, the amazing folks at Clockwork Acorn are going to be joining the team.

To give you a rough idea of our current priorities, we're currently tackling bugs, optimization, and native Mac & Linux builds (we know you have all been waiting a long time).

Thereafter, we're going to start experimenting with some new ideas that didn't make it into 1.0 and start figuring out what new content the game is asking for.

Thank you all for coming along on this incredible journey with us, and we look forward to making Terra Nil even better together.

Take care,
Free Lives

We've donated $95,000 from Terra Nil to the Endangered Wildlife Trust

[h2]Short Film | The Nature of Gaming[/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thanks to all of you who played Terra Nil, we've donated $95,000 to the Endangered Wildlife Trust!

We travelled to see their conservation efforts firsthand and had this short film "The Nature of Gaming" produced to continue highlighting their work. It was a humbling experience. We wish more people could see these majestic creatures in their natural habitats but also see how human disruption puts them at risk.

The EWT do amazing work to combat that disruption by protecting local wildlife and their environment.

This is what you contributed to by playing Terra Nil.

[h2]'Most Innovative Game' at Games for Change[/h2]

We also attended Games for Change in New York! It was a genuine honour to be included among many developers who are making games for a real world impact.

And to not only be featured, but win the 'Most Innovative Game' award!

When all of this started as a pixel art prototype, we didn't imagine that it would go this far. Who would have thought that our little game would be recognized by our peers AND contribute to real environmental conservation?

[h2]Future Updates[/h2]
Along the way, we're still working on adding more to Terra Nil. We will let you know when we have more to share!

Thank you for all of your support and we hope Terra Nil can provide a little bit of hope.