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1.12 Linux Support and Planet B Mission

Welcome to our latest update, with which we deliver nothing less than the long-awaited native Linux version. We hope for a good start on this new platform and serve you some more crisp features with update 1.12, but read for yourself. Summer greetings, Jens & Martin

[h2]Native Linux Support[/h2]



We have good news for all Linux users. After receiving a lot of requests to provide a native Linux version of Imagine Earth, the time has finally come.
We have ported all functionalities and tested the game on Ubuntu and SteamOS - so Imagine Earth can now be played as a native version on the Steam deck.
We appreciate feedback from all of you and hope you will enjoy the game!🚀🌎

[h2]New Challenge - Saving Planet B [/h2]



We have a special challenge for you this week, a new planet to basically explore the idea for a new game mode in Imagine Earth. Would be happy if you feel like thinking with us about how we can make this more interesting.

The basic idea is that the players don't have to build up a civilization first, but find a relatively heavily built-up planet with cities. So you become directly the rebuilder and improver of the world, which is an exciting challengel. The emissions balance is also already tipping into the negative, so climate change is imminent. So you have to consider with all expansion steps to compensate the additional emissions of the new buildings and additional supply buildings with reforestation and other methods.
In return, you'll find plenty of infrastructure and technology on the planet that you can take over and optimize through strategic realignment.
As I said, we're testing this out and seeing that we need to balance planets in this game mode to make it fun and challenging.

[h2]World Oceans Day Sale[/h2]



Help and get 55% off until June 15! The 2nd #WorldOceansDay Steam sale is LIVE to save whales and dolphins! Last year's Steam sale was our first attempt at a multi-title sale to raise funds for our conservation work, and it was a great success - we raised over ÂŁ40,000 and collaborated with over 20 developers.

[h2]New construction ring[/h2]



An amazingly simple, yet effective change. The build ring just got bigger and now includes all the available build options plus the tools, functions and inventory. We studied other simulation games and their gamepad controls to come to this conclusion. As a result, the building ring is now also much more distinct from the building options and the individual building categories.

[h2]Hitech building in technology panel[/h2]



This move was only logical since we put the Hitech special buildings for terraforming and geoengineering into one category in the build menu, making them so much more available, look in the technology panel for better what a wide variety of build options, Imagine Earth offers.

[h2]The Takeover Panel[/h2]



We have also redesigned this to make the acquisition of competing cities clearer. With the necessary majority of shares in a corporation, you can directly take over individual cities and bring them under your control.

[h2]Population free areas on the planet[/h2]



When we built the above planet B, we wanted to enable the scenario of finding more cities or soon maybe slums on the planet that could be taken over and transformed in an efficiency and environmentally friendly way. To do this, we first had to create the condition that even in areas not controlled by factions, people live in the cities and are supplied by farms and power plants in the surrounding area.

[h2]Gamepad - Major changes[/h2]



  • We have once again intensively rethought and optimized the gamepad controls for Imagine Earth. It should be almost more dynamic to control than with the mouse, give it a try.
    [Digitalpad controls the main UI elements: Tree menu, resources, building list, trader menu.
    [Left shoulder: research, tech, stocks
    [Right shoulder: city navigation
  • Select & Start: Navigation, game menu, journal, statistics
  • Therefore no more additional menĂĽring
  • Significantly more overlays directly in the UI


[h2]More optimizations and fixes[/h2]

  • Dialogs no longer overlay pause screens and other panels that pause the game.
  • Improved Storytelling - First entry in planetary journal reports that no story has yet taken place on untouched planets.
  • Bora Mission - Added direct rebuild target for city centers.
  • Unintended city placement basically disabled.
  • Jump to cities - buildings no longer appear with delay
  • Midras merchant, permanent icon is out of the game


[h2]Please vote for us in the Player's Choice Award[/h2]



The Green Game Jam has started! Many game studios have launched Green Activations to save the planet's most important habitats, and so have we. If you click on the image, you will be taken to Imagine Earth's contest page and you can support our project in this jam.

Update 1.11.5

  • Improved AI behaviour in serious mode, by relying less on resource harvesting and trade
  • Fixed re-sell pricing of landing permits and tech licenses
  • Doubled self-cleaning time of Xrathul pollution
  • Fixed Magni Xrathul pest clean-up goal not working anymore when all pollution is gone
  • Display remaining time for Xrathul pollution
  • Fixed campaign completion not considering Omicron Persei 9 and thus showing more than 100% completion
  • Fixed UI overlap bug in highscore
  • Fixed research queue endless loop related to construct licenses
  • Fixed some links to external websites not properly opening when clicked
  • Fixed game asking for review again
  • Fixed target values for competition achievements in Steam UI
  • Fixed remaining graphic issues of frontier buoy
  • Fixed great illumati pyramid being plunderable and destructable at the same time


Many thanks to i-dot, John-Red, Azylaans, Wingheart and booiiing

1.11.4 - They speak to us again

Almost unbelievable, but we managed to get a serious bug taking down voice overs in the game and in the story based campaign while having our biggest and most important sale on Steam ever since. I'm wondering how many of you had to read everything themselfes without knowing that our characters do speak ;) Hope it didn't brake your gameplaying experience too much and hopefully adds some replayability ;) now. At least they are back for good since three days already.



That's what comes from testing without sound on, still curious why nobody mentioned it earlier. But to visualize what we did within a week I listed the fixes since last Tuesday. Please remember that it's just Martin and me, improving this world builder since the release. If you like what we do keep given us constructive feedback and think about supporting the project with a review! It means a lot for us!



[h3]Update 1.11.4[/h3]
  • Fixed multitalent achievement no longer working due to satellite hub
  • Fixed ocean terraforming not correctly blocked for city centers
  • Difficulty panel no longer clickable before it’s even visible
  • Victory point related goals on bonus planets are correctly closed when then mission is finished
  • Fixed frontier buoy graphics bug
  • Prevent saving logic from corrupting savegames


Many thanks to booiiing, Mesa, SageVonAwesome and Krakkenox!

[h3]Update 1.11.3[/h3]
  • Fixed voice acting no longer working
  • Rounos: Leen does no longer leave before idean goal is finished
  • Fixed rare error loading old savegame
  • Fixed rare crash previewing screenshot of old savegame


[h3]Update 1.11.2[/h3]
  • Keep resource panels in trading panel visible
  • Only display error for damaged profile file once
  • Fixed shortcuts of functions and items no longer working
  • Fixed error related to loading still no longer existing gaia construct items
  • Fixed error related to updating deco meshes on planet
  • Fixed clickable areas of Technology panel still being usable in main menu
  • Fixed error when using ion cannon in sandbox
  • Fixed random complete crash of game


[h3]Update 1.11.1[/h3]
  • Satellites are no longer attackable with items
  • Fixed IndexOutOfRange exception when updating item prices
  • Fixed error related to loading no longer existing gaia construct items
  • Fixed crash when targeting a unit with two items and saving
  • Fixed translation error in Japanese version and UI problems


[h3]Charity Sale Event[/h3]

Even though the ongoing sale only lasts for 20 more hours it's worth saying, that we will donate the 10% of the income from the running sale from April 4th to April 11th to WDC to save whales and dolphins. This might remind you of our Nature Update 1.8, in that we brought whales and other sea creatures to our planets as the first animal life forms.



1.11 The Satellite Hub

Greetings space colony managers. The next technological update is ready to optimize your world building workflow. As promised, we are now releasing the new Hi-Tech buildings to shorten your wait for the DLC. As always, we look forward to your feedback and hope you enjoy the latest features and changes! Cheers, Martin & Jens

[h2]Relay Station for Orbital Satellites[/h2]



The satellite is a mobile space unit in a lower orbit, which has the following functions integrated.

[h3]Ion Cannon[/h3]

It can be used to defend against invaders or to blast mountains to expose raw materials.

[h3]Espionage[/h3]

Allows to copy and use the researched building upgrades of other factions. This is achieved by scanning an upgraded building.

[h3]Scanner[/h3]

Scans an area for rare resources that may be contained in rocks.



Watch your brand new satellite launch into space straight from its hub.

[h2]Charity Sale Event[/h2]



We will donate the 10% of the income from the running sale from April 4th to April 11th to WDC to save whales and dolphins. This might remind you of our Nature Update 1.8, in that we brought whales and other sea creatures to our planets as the first animal life forms.

[h2]Drones follow the construction queue[/h2]



Previously, the construction drones liked to take care of the construction site closest to them, and in the process it could also happen that they overlooked some construction orders and left them unfinished.

[h2]Gaia Powers are renamed as Functions[/h2]



We have also renamed the Inventory to Items and the Multi tools are now simply called Tools. This makes a lot of things easier and more understandable.

[h2]UI hiding for Trade Panel[/h2]



To leave you more visual space to think about the trades you are making we hide the surrounding user interface while you're in this panel.

[h2]Hi-Tech Constructs in Buildmenu[/h2]



In this new category you will find more buildings in the future as well as the gaian constructs which we also wanted to rebrand as high tech buildings with strategic functions. We also adjusted the building descriptions to make them sound less mythical.

[h2]Examination of ruins[/h2]



Now you can also unlock ruins by exploring them. This will allow you to build these special technological buildings as soon as you have enough artifacts.

[h2]Fixes[/h2]
  • Build menu with gamepad
  • Updates to Korean translation since the release version retranslated
  • Icons for all languages fixed
  • Speaker less chopped off in menus
  • Maximum influences from fields not in construct description
  • Point at research in technology panel
  • Only Gaia temple should still give quality of life
  • Xrathul temple have a negative impact on life quality
  • water-building and coast-building kept their production when water is removed from them via terraforming
  • Rare error in Joma and Rounos: DefineField/DefineArea 'LeenHome'/'PlaceA' was not yet executed


[h2]Update 1.11.1[/h2]

  • Satellites are no longer attackable with items
  • Fixed IndexOutOfRange exception when updating item prices
  • Fixed error related to loading no longer existing gaia construct items
  • Fixed crash when targeting a unit with two items and saving after the first item has destroyed the unit
  • Fixed translation error in Japanese version and UI problems


[h2]Update 1.11.2[/h2]
  • Keep resource panels in trading panel visible
  • Only display error for damaged profile file once
  • Fixed shortcuts of functions and items no longer working
  • Fixed error related to loading no longer existing gaia construct items (not properly fixed in 1.11.1)
  • Fixed error related to updating deco meshes on planet
  • Fixed clickable areas of Technology panel still being usable in main menu
  • Fixed error when using ion cannon in sandbox
  • Fixed random complete crash of game


[h2]Update 1.11.3[/h2]
  • Fixed voice acting no longer working
  • Rounos: Leen does no longer leave before idean goal is finished
  • Fixed rare error loading old savegame
  • Fixed rare crash previewing screenshot of old savegame


See all the changes of the last few years and the remaining future steps on the Open Space DLC roadmap by clicking the image.

Imagine Earth Update 1.10 is here

[h3]Dear Civilization Manager Guild,[/h3]

finally we have the update announced for February in the box. Due to the long waiting time, the blog post has become quite a few pages long, stuffed with optimizations of game mechanics and interfaces, plus a performance turbo of up to 100%, which we had to bring forward for the implementation of the game on consoles. That's why this time there are only a few small goodies that make Imagine Earth more interesting from a gameplay point of view. Please keep in mind that there are still only two of us working on our complex world simulator, but rest assured that we won't give up until it is complete in our eyes.
There is still a big add-on on the horizon that will be accompanied by some great new features for the main game, so stay tuned.

[h3]Fusion Power Plants[/h3]



Power plants of this class no longer consume lithium constantly. Only a certain amount is now needed to build them. Thus, we have ended the absurd special status of this building. It was the only one ever that required a rare resource in operation. In exchange, we reduced the overall power of this unit a bit and gave it a special bonus when placed next to lithium deposits. Looking forward to see how you think this power plant is used best.

[h3]Forests are Back in the Build Menu[/h3]



For a game that is not least about climate change, we have to note that the function for planting forests and reforestation was surprisingly difficult to find. Although we had built a very convenient control option that automatically plants the best fitting forests, this was unfortunately hidden in the sub menu Tools. Quite occasionally the feedback came "why this function is so strangely difficult to use". All forests are pretty crucial buildings in the game and we have now combined the forest menu with the automatic forestation tool so that you can automatically see which appropriate forest is placed and what individual values the tree species has.

[h3]Upgrade for Thermo-Generator[/h3]



The thermal generator plays a central role in colonizing and terraforming inhospitable planets. Therefore, this has now received a range upgrade that you can unlock via research.

[h3]Sounds and Ambience[/h3]

We've worked through an age-old feature list and added 14 new sounds to the game to make the game world more vibrant and atmospheric, such as when you're upgrading towers, having incidents, or clicking on a ship and a foghorn sounds. When there are riots in your districts, you will now hear an angry protesting crowd and when the probe comes to pacify the riot, a siren.

[h3]Title Screen[/h3]



We always wanted to show you a beautiful sunrise on the start screen of the game, but this meant that the whole planet was in front of the shadows at first. Now the game starts with a beautiful day and shadows are allowed behind the mountains.

[h3]Performance optimization[/h3]

If any of you were wondering why the latest update took so long, it's partly because of how labor-intensive the game's performance optimization has been specifically for the Switch console. It was worth it though - resulting optimization of processes and graphics provides a big performance increase on older systems without dedicated graphics card it can be to 100%. On current systems it feels a lot more smooth now.
This improvement is accompanied by a few new graphic options that allow you to adjust the quality of shadows, lights, clouds, meshes and the planet shader.

[h3]Achievements[/h3]



  • We have decided to significantly lower the requirements for the competitive achievements down to 50, 100 and 200 victory points achieved in competitions and the weekly challenge. As a result, you may simply have already completed certain objectives the next time you restart the game.
  • The "multitalent" achievement is working again.


[h3]Research Filters and Bonus[/h3]



We have included an additional visualization for meta-research. To highlight the overarching benefits of having a fully completed research lane.
With an improved filter in the research area, you can now see even better which researchable upgrades have certain positive effects.

[h3]Shop and Trade[/h3]
  • Merchants that are in the approach are now directly cancelable outside the ring. Especially useful if you didn't call them at all or just misclicked.
  • Merchants now always bring 20 items instead of just 12 when they come over.
  • To adapt to systems with smaller resolutions, we have made the icons of items in the trade panel more concise and recognizable.
  • Traders now have more storage space to buy your goods.
  • Resource usage info is now on the side outside the panel instead of underneath where they liked to overlay the controls.
  • Merchants now have a spaceship preview graphic that makes it a bit easier to distinguish them.


[h3]Crafting Optimization[/h3]



  • Auto Crafting is now possible with gamepad and you can see by default which items are available for selection.
  • In the Victory Panel we also cleaned up a bit - line breaks when describing the essential victory points are reduced to the minimum.
  • Crafting Panel no longer remembers which build category was previously selected, so you always see all options when you open it.


[h3]AI Learnings[/h3]

Working with AI is a challenge in itself, it's a lot about balancing and finetuning there. Feel free to let us know how you perceive their behavior and how it could be made more plausible and authentic. We've felt for some time that your competitors go broke too quickly and could pay a little more attention to money earning and spending to make for more interesting competitions.

  • Also, the regularity and frankness with which they carelessly squandered their entire share packages seemed to us uneconomically unwise.
  • AI factions have so far been too fixated on capturing large temples, neglecting other goals and duty to do so.
  • In one of the last updates, we introduced whales as living creatures into the ecosystems. The AI considered them threatening and, as it does against pirates or insects, built noisy towers when they swam by.
  • The AI corporations are now exploiting the ruins of temples to get the valuable artifacts.


[h3]Serious vs Sci-Fi Mode[/h3]



  • Sci-Fi Game Mode, which includes all game features, is always default from now on.
  • Whether Serious Mode is enabled, which restricts the game to city building and climate change, is displayed in the top right corner of each game from now on.
  • If you change the difficulty level in the game, you no longer have to reselect the game mode as well.
  • In addition, in the campaign, instead of the serious mode, it will be displayed whether you have activated the additional help dialogs.


[h3]Interface improvements[/h3]



  • Display and alignment factions in game setup has become fancier.
  • When looting temples now you also get a warning if the warehouse is full or not, namely why looting artifacts was sometimes prevented in an unexplained way.
  • On-screen keyboard optimized for PC with gamepad.
  • Optimized tutorial and story on Planet Tuto.
  • Delete mode for game and save states made nicer.
  • Laser and pulse animations optimized.
  • How to store goods was not explained so comprehensibly in the 1st mission and was completely unclear with the gamepad.


[h3]World improvements[/h3]



  • Space Pirates, Natives, Illumati, Xrathul, Midras Burrowers, and Assimilators now have one thing in common. They will talk to you again in endless and competitive games. We've written them an extensive set of greetings, some of which respond to diplomatic mood and your actions.
    [In the World Congress, the factions now vote in a jumbled fashion with sound, making it much livelier.
    [Extraterrestrial threats no longer work when the planetary shield is activated. Because then you would just waste asteroids and pirates.
  • We have reduced the basic ground pollution of nuclear power plants.
  • The NPC tribes on Rounos can now be relocated after mission completion.
  • Leen flies away on Rounos and Bora as soon as the planetary shield disappears.
  • On Omicron Persei in the Bonus Galaxy, there were mission objectives that could fail due to other circumstances. These now don't count towards the overall score, so no one gets annoyed because they have to replay the mission.


[h3]Bug Hunt[/h3]



Glitch of the month

  • In the building list, you clicked through to the planet behind it.
  • The radius of the energy shield of cities was displayed too large.
  • The shield helps against tornado again, basically it reduces the destruction by disasters, sabotages and invaders to 5%.
  • Fixed incorrect voice output when explaining research in the tutorial.
  • After completing Mission or Weekly Challenges, opponents will rave about their successes again.
  • Sometimes mission objectives hung out of the bottom right of the screen.
  • Editor crashed when removing all buildings on a planet.
  • Display of effects on buildings made whole again.
  • Licensing button with gamepad is above the other buttons again.
  • On-screen keyboard display with gamepad in PC version is no longer buggy.


[h3]Players of the month[/h3]

Our very special thanks in this update go to our ultimate players of the month Matts and Phoenix Flag for their enthusiastic and merciless bug hunting, which enabled us to find and weed out the most bizarre detail bugs. Also, feel free to come to our Discord to learn and discuss the latest developments first.

Thanks for your interest & support!
Jens & Martin

[h3]Update 1.10.1[/h3]
  • Fixed Spaceport interaction causing errors on some systems
  • Fixed Omicron Persei mission start no longer working
  • Fixed “Steamworks is not initialized” crash that appeared on a few systems
  • Fixed error during generation of new planets
  • Fixed error related to loading old savegames with rare mountain constellations
  • Fixed error in mission script logic
  • Fixed errors related to updating graphics while placing buildings


[h3]Update 1.10.2[/h3]
  • Fixed denial not correctly working when trying to harvest resources
  • Fixed error caused by multiple drones trying to automatically work on the same field
  • Fixed an error that occured when hovering the preview for the ice amount on a generated planet
  • Fixed rare error in highscore UI
  • Fixed bonus UI in detailed research panel


[h3]Update 1.10.3[/h3]
  • Drones sometimes didn't fly to a construct that was supposed to be built
  • Mining drones could be redirected - the previous rare resource would still be mined at the same time
  • Welcome voice in start screen was missing
  • Fixed a few texts related to Gaian forces
  • Fixed random script bug in Joma
  • Fixed random error in planet graphics update
  • Fixed concurrency error in auto harvest logic
  • Fixed concurrency error in assimilator logic
  • Fixed concurrency error in drone logic
  • Planet info panel sometimes had one overlapping row
  • Animations of traders and some buildings sometimes stuck
  • Spaceport: Draw icon of current trader when hovering


[h3]Update 1.10.4[/h3]
  • Fixed research panel showing scrollbar
  • Fixed denial highlights in research showing unclear icons
  • Fixed production bonus from fossil fields not correctly updating while the resource decreases
  • Fixed error when navigating between traders in the tool ring using the gamepad
  • Fixed rare error in tech panel
  • Fixed error that lead to the game completely crashing
  • Fixed a few concurrency errors


[h3]Update 1.10.5[/h3]
  • Fixed game freezing when changing landmass for new planet