Imagine Earth News

Hi guys. Short time ago, our Steam deck was finally delivered, and we immediately tried out how Imagine Earth runs on it. Somehow, the folks at Steam noticed it right away and promptly tested IE. Except for some text that is displayed a bit too small in the game, it was perfectly playable. One player wrote us that Valve's powerful handheld even runs our world simulator smoothly in 3K when he connects a monitor in desktop mode. Have fun with the latest changes and enjoy playing. Jens & Martin



[h3]Improved readability[/h3]

We have immediately enlarged the texts. So you can look forward to improved readability on PC as well. Then we have directly resubmitted Imagine Earth for compatibility testing and has just been verified.



[h3]Proton compatibility[/h3]

I'm no expert, but this should mean that the Windows version of Imagine Earth is smoothly playable on Linux systems thanks to Proton. Because this is something that players keep asking for, we'd be very interested in your feedback.

[h3]Vital life in the oceans[/h3]



Along the way, four new species of fish have been discovered swimming around the planets and providing more hustle on it. Next time I think we'll discover birds, I'm optimistic about that.

[h3]Meteor shower defense[/h3]



Since the Xrathul Palace exists, meteor showers can also be targeted. At the same time, we had to increase the destructive power and then again make sure that defense lasers and pulses can shoot them.

[h3]Indiecade Everywhere[/h3]



By the way, Imagine Earth is also in the Indiecade Sale right now and can be had for a hefty 50% off. Feel free to spread the word ;)

[h3]Optimizations & Fixes[/h3]

• Button and control layout for Steam Deck integrated
  
• Buttons on popups enlarged so that font fits again
  
• improved placement of mountains in editor mode
  
• Victory Points in the faction panel are now clickable
  
• Dialogs to controls no longer play twice
  
• Trade menu overlap removed
  
• Fixed gamepad menu showing options that are not available
  

[h3]Update 1.9.5[/h3]

• Fixed bug that lead to crash in cannon logic
  

[h3]Update 1.9.6[/h3]

• Fixed laser cannons not destroying asteroids with one shot (e.g. on Lorian)
  
• Improved visibility of tooltip for traded items and resources
  

Greetings colony managers, welcome to our latest Imagine Earth update - it feels great to deliver once again! We have decided to bring you one of the new buildings and a new bonus mission to give you something while our main efforts still go into finalizing the Open Space DLC. Please have a look at the complete roadmap at the end of the post, everything we have already achieved since release and what we still want to create for version 2.0. As always we would appreciate your feedback and if you support the project with a review on Steam.

[h2]Xrathul Planet[/h2]



A new Planet has been discovered in the Udoxia Galaxy and a brand new mission awaits on Omicron Persei 9. To quote the briefing “Strange building complexes have been spotted here. Apparently they can release powerful forces. This could become even more dangerous for us if they fall into the wrong hands.

[h2]Xrathul Palace[/h2]



This palace was built to worship the Xrathul. The built-in technology can summon their giant locust spaceships and lure them to a specific destination reckless opponents for example. The following forces are available in this giant building.

Xrathul bait - This device spreads Xrathul pheromones and is therefore an irresistible target for Xrathul and lures all ships on the planet. It also doubles the probability of new Xrathul coming to the planet.

Meteor shower - The Illumati developed the technology to tear down some meteors from their orbit around the planet and let them rain down purposefully.

Indoctrination - Indoctrination of the guards in towers and buoys allows you to take control of the building and radius.

[h2]Two New Gaming Modes [/h2]



You can now choose between the following two game modes when starting endless and competition game rounds. This can be changed whenever you start a new game.

[h3]Sci-Fi Mode[/h3]

Experience all the adventures that a future colonization of space could hold in store for us and technology we can only dream of today. Use Gaian force fields or intergalactic space trade and get ready for space pirates and alien invasions.

[h3]Serious Mode[/h3]

Experience a more realistic gameplay that corresponds to the technological level of development on Earth in the 21st century. The focus is on solving the problems of economic growth and resource consumption and coping with the related environmental and climate impacts.


[h2]New Animal - Manta Ray[/h2]

Another fish species has been sighted. Now the manta ray enriches the biodiversity on our planet. Once we have cultivated even more animals on our planets we will make biodiversity an important thing in the environmental climate simulation of the game.

[h2]Improvements[/h2]

• The Xrathul Palace and the Great Pyramid are now destructible giant buildings
  
• Entering the bonus galaxy will now always provide two planets, to give you a choice
  
• Meteor shower and Xrathul bait have become more powerful
  
• City building is now cancel-able until the capsule lands
  
• Supply capsules now come more often and are shown in the bookmark panel
  
• Items are now cancel-able until the drone is on site and has activated them
  
• You can now get up to 50 new city permits through population growth
  

[h2]Interface Improvements[/h2]

• We gave the main character Alia an eye surgery because some people felt she gave them an uncomfortable look
  
• Only resource deposits of relevant size are now displayed
  
• Gaia constructs: Active conversion is also shown in the waiting bar
  
• New speech of Eko at the invitation to the world congress
  
• New cursor when closing the ring
  
• 8 great interface improvements that are way too hard to describe
  
• Country specific subtitles in the main menu
  
• Popup renamed: "Mission successful" instead of "Campaign successful"
  
• Added a notification for game beginners to try the tutorial first
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed buildings not showing up immediately when jumping between cities
  
• Fixed galaxy screen layout for 4:3 resolutions
  
• Fixed planet being briefly lit differently on exit
  
• Joma: Fixed completion logic of "use power" goal before
  
• No longer show Whales in navigation view
  
• Fixed sandbox planets not working
  
• Don't show trade options for natives that are not close to your territory
  
• Move tool-tips closer to ring
  
• Colony value chart limit for quality of life
  
• Spell-checking EN
  
• Decrease audio range of ocean animals
  
• Fixed bookmark buttons not correctly opening tool ring for units
  
• Fixed ruins collapsing every time a generated planet is restarted.
  
• Fixed navigation icons overlapping message panel
  

[h2]Update 1.9.1[/h2]

• Optional minimized mode for build panel on left side
  
• Added visual hint for new serious game mode
  
• Added missing translations
  
• Added option to disable automatic progression to next message
  
• Fixed manual bug reports no longer being reported
  
• Fixed on screen keyboard not opening the second time on steam big picture mode
  
• Fix: Changing difficulty when restarting mission from campaign screen does not work
  
• Fix: Pirate warning shown even when no pirate is available
  
• Fix: Pirates should still go on a rampage, even when a city is protected by a shield
  
• Fix: Gamepad control jumps over checkboxes in options
  
• Fix: Illuminati Temple Ruin caption too long for info panel
  
• Fix: Two reported crashes
  

[h2]Roadmap[/h2]

Hello dear ones, we wish you all a wonderful World Oceans Day! Together with WDC - the Whales and Dolphines Conservation Organisation we doing a charity event offering a weekend deal with 40% discount and 10% of the net income from Imagine Earth sales from June 8 - 13 will being donated to this organisation and their noble cause of saving sea life.

[h2]Whale Watching[/h2]

Originally on the occasion we brought some wildlife into Imagine Earth. Whales are the giants of the seas and from now on you will also find them on the worlds in Imagine Earth. This is in line with our desire to bring more life to the worlds of Imagine Earth. However, the population is decreasing due to water pollution, oil spills and fishing. Animals resp. biodiversity are of great importance to the biosphere. In the future this will also be the case in our environmental simulation and more species will follow to populate the seas and the sky.



[h2]Green Game Jam still on![/h2]

In parallel, the Green Game Jam 2022 is already running since June 3 - 17. Together with many game studios we try to do our bit to save the Worlds Forests. We made a new Steam achievement that plants real trees in-game and 10 trees planted for every copy sold in the Steam sale that just started. Please vote for our activation campaign, thanks for supporting us!

Click here to vote for Imagine Earth in the Player's Choice Award

[h2]Further Down the Road[/h2]

Also we're slowly closing in on the goals marked on the DLC Roadmap until Open Space Version 2.0



Thanks for your attention. Let us knows you ideas and thoughts on the progression. Martin and Jens

Green Game Jam 2022 just started.
Together with many games studios we try to do our bit to save the Worlds Forests.
We made a new Steam achievement that plants real trees in-game and 10 trees planted for every copy sold in the Steam sale that just started. Please vote for our activation campaign, thanks for supporting us!



We just did the same a month ago for the global Earth Day and were able to plant 11,000 trees with our partner Eden Reforestation Project. That makes a total of 45,520 trees planet by our initiative and of course your help! Thx a lot!

Welcome to update 1.8, we have pushed some necessary optimizations in between.



At the very bottom, at the end of this update we have again mapped the current position on the complete roadmap, which should still lead us to the big 2.0 Open Space DLC later this year.

[h2]Whale Watching[/h2]

Whales are the giants of the seas and from now on you will also find them on the worlds in Imagine Earth. This is in line with our desire to bring more life to the worlds of Imagine Earth. However, the population is decreasing due to water pollution, oil spills and fishing. Animals resp. biodiversity are of great importance to the biosphere. In the future this will also be the case in our environmental simulation and more species will follow to populate the seas.



[h2]Best Expert Game at the German Game Awards[/h2]
Geoff Keighley himself presented us with the German Computer Game Award.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

It was with great pleasure that we received the official award for "The Best Expert Game" of Germany 2022 a month ago. This award was presented by none other than Geoff Keighley, the internationally known host and producer "The Game Awards" And the "Opening Night Live" show of Gamescom.



[h2]New rule for space traders[/h2]

Space traders can now be turned off in competitive and endless games. This change is to allow games that have a more realistic scenario. Without Gaia forces and Space Invaders, we have a constellation that largely dispenses with science fiction elements and is technologically comparable to the post-industrial age on Earth. This makes the plot framework and the confrontation with climate change more plausible and authentic. At least as an option, we felt it was important to offer this gameplay experience to focus on Imagine Earth's core theme.

[h2]The Forester Achievement[/h2]

There is a new achievement in Imagine Earth on Steam that you unlock when you plant more than 20 forests on a planet. We track how many players earn this achievement and plant a tree for each one. This activation is part of an initiative called Green Game Jam, which seeks to have an impact on the world through actions in games.



[h2]The strategic view[/h2].

The victory points panel in competitive mode revealed a lot of interesting information about the status of the other corporations and especially about your own. This view is now available without victory points in endless play.



[h2]Bookmarks[/h2]

The display of which merchants just landed in which of your cities is back, some of you have sorely missed it. In addition to this the functionality to define your own bookmarks by keeping a number key pressed is back.



[h2]Improvements & fixes[/h2]

• The system voice now also warns you when there is a low supply of food, goods or energy.
  
• Intact asteroids are not automatically harvested.
  
• Cannons and shield upgrades are not available if you have disabled asteroids and comets
  
• Trade panel no longer closes accidentally
  
• Biome brush - You can also delete biomes when pressing Ctrl.
  
• We made the light around the cursor brighter so you can see more on the downside of the planet.
  
• In the tutorial, we are now making sure you don't miss control instructions
  
• Improved mouse control in the resource panel, you can no longer accidentally hover over the panel to click on the planet.
  

[h2]Update 1.8.1 - 2022/06/30[/h2]

• Fixed game and campaign intros not working
  
• Updated Czech localization
  
• Ruins of fossil/nuclear power plants should not upset volcanoes
  
• Frontier towers with shield should not protect mountains from bombs
  
• Seedbombs give wrong "can only use on unoccupied tiles" message when used at border fields
  
• Can't get last research of physics when traders turned off