Imagine Earth News

Dear all, we have been working on improvements, fine tuning and bug fixes for quite a while now. This is the basis for us to offer innovative features for Imagine Earth again from now on! We are very excited about this and hope you are too. If you scroll down to the bottom of the post, you will have the opportunity to name your own planet name in the game.

We are always looking to lower the barriers to entry into the game and gather your feedback. The most common criticism is the chattiness of characters, especially that they seem to explain too many details about buildings and tools to players, interrupting the flow of the game. This is also addressed in this update. The player can consciously choose his difficulty level at the beginning of the campaign and also determine the story mode.

[h3]Minimalist Story Mode[/h3]



Now you can choose which difficulty level you want to play at the beginning of the campaign, and we've included a reduced story mode that allows you to experience the campaign exclusively with the dialogs relevant to the story.

[h3]Building Shader[/h3]



We have added more contrast to the rendering of buildings and forests. This should make them look more vivid, stand out better against the terrain, and give them more intense color depth and shadows. To do this, we turned up the Ambient Occlusion and made it dependent on the time of day and added an exception for metallic surfaces. Sunlight was made a bit stronger overall and more Exposure was added to the night side. Well, you never think what a well-rounded look causes for work.

[h3]New vegetation[/h3]



There is a new, third vegetation in two of the planet themes. Along with the terran forest and the mushroom forest, it is something between deciduous and flower forest. It is rather slightly alien and exotic. There is not much more to say about it, you just have to see it up close.

[h3]Balance of energy production[/h3]



To some players it seemed as if Imagine Earth was virtually trying to coerce them into using renewable energy sources, yet our goal is to represent global warming authentically and keep all avenues open to the player. In fact, the fossil sources in the game were disproportionately unproductive. Now they produce more, but also the deposits in the earth last longer and allow full productivity until the failure of the unit. After all, the main problem in today's world situation on Planet Earth is not that coal and gas are all going, but that we can't burn any more of them without driving global warming to dangerous levels.

[h3]Your opinion counts[/h3]

At this point I'd like to weave in a personal note from the development department. Myself and Martin have been working on this game passionately and dedicated for many years, but currently every update has the stale aftertaste that with every improvement we somehow only create new demands. Some people don't seem to realize that Imagine Earth is an indie game and already has a lot of features under the hood. If you like it, help us with your feedback and write a review, there is nothing that helps the project more.

[h3]Rouno's optimizations[/h3]



There is now a lower start and end goal for population growth in this mission so the challenge is not too demotivating. You can now no longer form an alliance with Joe Dectow, and he no longer builds department stores almost exclusively. The landing permit you get after the challenge can now only be used to build up the destroyed colony, which prevents a potential dismantling of the whole colony. All alien NPCs now have greetings out again when you visit their camps, cities or ships. Natives respond more directly to donations.

[h3]Uprisings and pandemics limited[/h3]

We have introduced a limit on negative events, while the emergence of riots in the colony illustrates a dangerous undersupply of the population or the spread of diseases makes too high pollution noticeable, these and similar events should not dominate the gameplay and make it annoying.

[h3]Frozen worlds[/h3]



There is no longer snow on active colony buildings. This doesn't look quite as great as a completely snow-covered cities, but it's worth its weight in gold for building recognizability.

[h3]World Editor[/h3]

This goes out to everyone who has already built their own planets with our terraforming editor and shared them via Steamworks. The editor has received a new briefing tab in the setup. In the future, when you create or update new planets, you will be able to write an introduction, mission description or story that the player will see first when downloading and playing the planet via Steamworks. So far you could already upload a script for planets, but the menu structure in Competition and Freeplay could not display it yet.



[h3]Modding preview[/h3]

The briefing is the first step. Soon you will be able to add your own mission objectives, events and dialogs to this script, use characters from the game as voice actors and possibly create your own characters as well as make buildings. And ultimately combine the planets into a campaign galaxy. This will be great, we just have to ask for some patience for this feature....

[h3]AI optimization[/h3]

We also fixed a funny bug: if the planet creator didn't specify their own faction, the game would assign them an AI faction, which would then blithely mess with players. We've also fixed some of the AI's biggest quirks.

• AI was prevented from actively defending against attackers with items through repairs.
  
• AI now builds fewer special districts and more normal ones.
  
• AI now builds its City Centers not so often next to each other.
  

[h3]Improved controls[/h3]

We made small many control improvements and user interface optimizations, as many newbies were still having trouble getting to grips with managing entire planets.

[h3]Improvements[/h3]

• You can finally blast away giant mountains, just needs lots of ideon bombs and explosives.
  
• Laser cannons now let asteroids with precious metals through, if no house is damaged by them.
  
• We have been able to reduce the memory requirements per frame by at least half. Some out of memory problems should be history.
  
• We optimized the design of the faction and trade menus and threw out unnecessary buttons. Especially important for gamepad control.
  [We have reduced the size of the fossil fields so that you can see more of the landscape.
  [When you log in the Achievements will be reassigned.
  
• The icon selector was lost for a short time and is now back so you can better distinguish whether you are activating a building's option ring or a recommended quick action.
  
• Various improvements to the Tuto mission.
  
• Mining drones were too high over forests
  
• Supply pods are closed when they have been emptied.
  
• Midras speaker has been widened so it is no longer cut off.
  
• The calculation of deep ocean fields has been corrected.
  
• Reduced repair speed on uplink and similar units.
  
• Increased probability that a volcano erupted by Gaia force field will hit its target.
  
• Removed the player's faction indicator in the faction panel from Campaign and Endless because it is only interesting for competitions.
  [Hacking Tools - the radius in which you can use them has been increased and is now visualized.
  
• When too many small lights were in view due to drone processes, light irritation occurred. Hopefully we have solved this satisfactorily now.
  
• Empty models are no longer incorporated.
  

Soundtrack sales in this bundle will be donated to plant trees.



Join us on Discord for regular updates on ongoing development and to share your thoughts and ideas.

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Forest: Powers overlapped with deletion
  
• Intro was not played
  
• Field markers overlapped buildings
  
• Jungle Planet sometimes had bald spots
  
• Forest power did not show Gaia particle effect on target field
  
• Building menu: Selector was out of place
  
• Faction Speaker and Trader sometimes had truncated statements
  
• City shows radius incorrectly
  
• Sometimes placing did not work
  
• SaveEditorPlanet Illegal characters in path
  
• ArgumentException TradingOffer
  
• ArrayTypeMismatchException UpdateFactionAndLiftMeshInstance
  
• NullReferenceException Producer.GetInfluence
  
• CityCenter.Main: Could not find node 'Ufo'
  
• ".. does not exist in ..." - Unity/Xbox IL2CPP strange problem with string constants
  
• Crash: NullReferenceException CombinedString.Append ToolActionButtonRenderer.GetCaption
  [Crash: NullReferenceException Producer.GetInfluence
  
• Crash; at string_concat
  
• Crash in ResxFileResourceManager_GetString
  
• Workshop: Leaderboard not found == no score yet
  

There is a call on our Discord server right now. We invite you to suggest names for planets that we can include in Imagine Earth. We are working on a new game mode where you build a main space station while conquering procedurally generated galaxies. So we need names for all these generated planets. Can you think of names of planets from famous science fiction movies, comics and books that people would like to recognize? e.g. we already have Betelgeuse 7, Melmac, Altair, Kepler 186f.... in the game. We are looking forward to your ideas, post them in the General Channel on Discord or here in the forum!

Have fun with Update 1.02 and see you next time,
Martin and Jens

[h3]Hotfix 1.02.1[/h3]

• Fixed ArgumentNullException that appeared during missions
  
• Re-activated mass-mode for tool ring (alt key) and added it for the gamepad
  
• Moved "clear/repair/... all" buttons to top of building list columns and also introduced them for upgrades and city leveling
  
• Fixed position of "open hypergate" button
  
• Added missing alert for fires on non-colony buildings (e.g. gaian constructs) in your territory
  
• Gamepad: Added context info for fast ring selection
  
• Fixed chemical planet getting bonus from forests
  

Dive through the ocean, soar through the air, and hike through the forest in these extraordinary nature games!

Whether you're looking to design your own world or discover a new one, you'll be sure to find yourself immersed in the gorgeous games ahead...

Of course our environment and climate crisis simulator Imagine Earth is on board there with a 30% discount and a stream is running. World Nature Conservation Sale





And of course, a small update on the state of development should not be missing. We are about to release a new update August 9 that takes into account many wishes and your rich feedback.
[h3]
New Vegetation[/h3]

There will be a new, third vegetation. Beside terran forest and mushroom forest it is something between deciduous and flower forest. It is slightly alien-like and will be included in two of the six planet themes.

[h3]Reduced Story Mode[/h3]

Also, at the beginning of the campaign you will be able to choose which difficulty level you want to play and we have a reduced story mode in the works, because again, another faction of players felt annoyed by too much info and popups.

[h3]Enhanced controls[/h3]

There will also be a lot of improvements to the controls and interface optimizations, as many newcomers still had problems getting to grips with the management of entire planets.

This article highlights and explains the important role of climate and environmental in Imagine Earth. Our simulation game visualizes the conflict of economic growth and sustainability by putting the fate of a globalized society in the hands of the player.



[h3]Air and soil pollution[/h3]

Every building causes exhaust fumes and also soil pollution during operation. This spreads over the surrounding fields. Over time high ground pollution reduces the general fertility of a field which is bad for trees and for farming. A too high density of industrial factories or fossil power plants causes such a high level of local pollution that it contaminates the soil. This makes complex and costly cleaning necessary in order to be able to use the fields again. Every building can be equipped with extensions that either increase its efficiency or its sustainability. These extensions fit the content of the respective technologies and address various of their positive and negative aspects.



[h3]Global emission balance[/h3]

The balance of emissions plays a crucial role in Imagine Earth. The different corporations that operate on a planet have different levels of emissions of CO² and other greenhouse gases. They are collectively referred to as emissions and when this balance becomes negative on a global scale, exceeding the level that the planet can compensate for as an ecosystem (land, ocean and forests), the greenhouse effect occurs, causing global warming with catastrophic consequences.



[h3]Contamination and the consequences[/h3]

Soil pollution lowers the quality of life in neighboring cities, reduces farm productivity and, in severe cases, attacks infrastructure. This can cause crop failures and disease outbreaks and make entire areas unusable. There are oil spills, chemical and nuclear contamination, among others. All contaminations have a different half-life.



[h3]Emission compensation[/h3]

If a company operates in a particularly polluting manner and relies primarily on fossil fuels rather than sustainable production methods, it must pay its competitors compensation for emissions, otherwise ecological management would not be competitive.



[h3]Quality of Life[/h3]

The quality of life in cities plays a decisive role. It declines with insufficient supply of energy, goods and food, but also with pollution and dirty industries in the surrounding areas. Forests and coasts on the other hand increase the quality of life, which is linked to how well the population can grow and flourish. An intact environment therefore has a direct influence on the level of tax revenues and is therefore also of decisive economic interest.



[h3]Global warming[/h3]

Global warming is causing the polar ice caps to melt and the sea level to rise. In addition, local temperatures change and the probability of natural disasters increases. Forest fires, desert formations, tornadoes and storms occur more frequently.



[h3]Exploitation of limited resources[/h3]

Large deposits of oil, coal, gas and uranium promise a cheap and rich yield of energy and raw materials. In a competitive economic system, it can be tempting to rely on the use of these fossil resources as they allow for faster and cheaper expansion. However, as the game progresses, the reserves in the settlement area of a corporation will be depleted and the more dependent it is at that point, the more difficult it will be to restructure supply and, accordingly, to ensure competitiveness. Ultimately, the restructuring must succeed at the latest before a climate catastrophe makes the planet uninhabitable in the final analysis…



[h3]Biomes and forests[/h3]

The land mass and the height of the terrain are in relation to the amount of polar ice that exists. When the poles melt due to global warming, the precious coastal areas are flooded. The world simulation in Imagine Earth distinguishes eight essential biomes. The vegetation has different characteristics in terms of compensation for air pollution and resilience to soil pollution.



[h3]The World Congress[/h3]

The World Congress is a democratic body with wide-ranging powers, to which each faction on the planet sends a representative. The factions have voting rights in the congress that correspond to their share in the galactic population. In the voting process, they decide on taxes and subsidies, funds for projects, penalties for rule breakers, and emergency aid. In addition, a representative of the United Space Nations USN is always present.



[h3]Proposal round[/h3]

At the beginning of a session of the congress, each delegation can propose new resolutions, which are then voted on. When resolutions are passed they apply to all factions.

You can see who benefits from your resolutions, as well as who stands to lose out. This data will help you make calculated political decisions.



[h3]Voting round[/h3]

Once the proposals submitted by the delegations are ready for voting, each faction pursues its own interests. The symbols on the representatives indicate whether they are more likely to vote in favor of or against a bill. Voting behavior is also influenced by a faction’s agenda, strategic advantages and by loyalty in alliances. However, nothing is certain until the final vote is counted. Diplomatic tensions abound!



[h3]World status[/h3]

This screen is always accessible and provides an overview of the state of the planet. Here you can see how different global trends develop in relation to each other.

[h3]Intention of the game[/h3]

Imagine Earth puts the player in the position of a global economic player. He has to build up and supply his civilization, produce and trade goods into space and compete against other corporations. In order to preserve quality of life for his inhabitants and to avoid a global climate crisis, he has to find a balance between growth and sustainability.

Imagine Earth focuses on the conflict between globalization and global warming. Corporations that compete economically will have to work together at a certain point to maintain the environment as their economic base. In this context the game deals with business ethics, corporate power and the economic growth spiral in contrast to sustainability, environmental destruction and climate change.

[h3]Green Planet Bundle[/h3]

This Bundle contains the Game + Soundtrack. The Soundtrack Sales go to Eden Reforestation Project.
Until February 2022 we where able to plant 34.520 Trees with your help!



The Soundtrack sales in this bundle are donated to plant trees. A story we are very proud of and which would not have been possible without your support. Shortly after the release, we also released the Green Planet Bundle, which additionally includes the official soundtrack of the game. The profits of the soundtrack sales from the first month of release have been donated to Eden Reforestation Projects, an organization that plants trees all over the world and also employs local people to protect and preserve these trees.
As a result of our donations, 25,640 trees can already be planted. If you want to participate, you can complete the bundle by buying the soundtrack. We are very excited that not only virtual worlds are saved by our simulation game, but that it can also have an impact in the real world. So we proudly present this certificate, thanks are owed, of course, to all backers of the campaign.

So, just as you're used to from seven years of Early Access, we continue to make Imagine Earth better and add new features. You can be curious about what is still to come and please do not stop to contribute your feedback, ideas and wishes to the development.

[h3]Auto-Mining Function[/h3]

We want to move further in the direction of making automation work better. An important step in this direction is the auto-mining function for warehouses named in the title.
When you activate it, your harvester drone automatically flies off and harvests valuable resources. The system even makes sure that different resource loads are collected evenly and prioritizes those that you have reserved for storage. The previous mining tool then also serves as a way to manually prioritize a resource for mining.



[h3]Overlay for Resources[/h3]

It is now possible to activate overlays for rare resources, fossil resource deposits, fertility, temperature and building types via the building menu on the left side of the screen. Some will recognize these from an earlier version. Back then they were immature, but we have revised and brought them back.



[h3]Optimized Gamepad Controls[/h3]

We've optimized the gamepad controls and now you can use the directional pad to jump directly to your spaceports to trade, jump to workshops to craft, or jump to the cities or gaia constructs in your area of influence.



[h3]World Editor: Control other Factions[/h3]

When you build a new world in the world editor, you can now click on the factions at the bottom right to switch to them and build buildings for them. Another step in the direction that you can soon script entire missions with story.

[h3]Mixed Feelings[/h3]

Personally, after the particularly brilliant start of the final version of Imagine Earth, we currently have mixed feelings about the feedback we get. Regarding the reviews, it just feels like the game is being torn between two fronts. Some complain about too many dialogs and constant explanations, while the other front is unhappy about too little tutorial and too weak, incomprehensible instructions. Looks like this is really a tricky topic and we have to admit that the idea of making it a challenge to explore and understand the game itself doesn't have the necessary appeal for everyone.

Anyways, we would really love to have a broader picture, so if you have played Imagine Earth already and normally don't feel like writing reviews for games, we warmly invite you to take a few minutes and give Imagine Earth a review.

[h3]New Features[/h3]

Added: Uncover rare resources with scan even when paused
Added: Highlight new Goals with animation
Added: Bonus missions: End Competition after completion. Other competitors will leave the planet to you
Added: Interactive context infos for gamepad controls
Added: Gaia forces to the ring whenever there’s place
Improved: Make shallow ocean look better
Improved: Difficulty "Hard" - Reduce Colony Payout (AIs go bankrupt)

[h3]New Fixes[/h3]

Fixed: On Bora you could pre-activate the great pyramid
Fixed: Terraform item sometimes did not work
Fixed: Harvesting of rare resources is cancelled when loading a savegame
Fixed: Magni unable to complete as can't decontaminate
Fixed: Undiscovered rocks show their resource type in the description
Fixed: Colony rating layout
Fixed: Wrong gamepad description dialogs taken out to reduce messages
Fixed: Gamepad controls: If renaming cities the game menu was opened
Fixed: Bora: Mission script error if player takes over other city ruins