The Universim News

Hey everyone!

We might be fashionably late to the trailer reveal party, but hey, perfection takes time.

After 10 years in the making, we're finally gearing up to release The Universim V 1.0!

🗓️Release Trailer for The Universim drops on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15 at 10 AM PT

Hello everyone!

We're thrilled to invite you to join us for a live stream event tomorrow, November 9th, at the following times:

12pm CST | 1pm EST | 10 am PST

Catch the action live on Twitch as we dive into the fascinating world of The Universim, straight from the current public build on Steam.

What to Expect:

🎮 Raw Gameplay: No edits, no cuts – just us playing The Universim, demonstrating the game in its purest form.

🗣 Q&A Session: Have burning questions about the game or our development process? We've got answers! Let's chat and share insights.

📖 Storytime: Join us as we reminisce about the early days of development, sharing the highs and lows, laughter, and tears that shaped the game to what it is today.

🎉 What's Next: Curious about our future plans? Get an exclusive sneak peek at what we're working on for The Universim.

To ensure your questions get answered during the live stream, join our Discord community and post your queries in the #livestream-questions channel.

We can't wait to see you all there, ready with your questions and enthusiasm!

Sincerely,

Crytivo Crew

Hello everyone,

Today, we’re excited to update you on the progress of The Universim development. Our team is completely focused on the Full Game release - V 1.0. As we are getting closer to full release, we’re going to introduce less new, big features to the game. Instead we’re concentrating on Quality of Life improvements. This includes enhancements for old systems, balancing of new ones, new tutorials, and so on. A lot of our fans expressed their interest in learning more about our current progress and the work our team is doing.

We would like to honor that and provide you with a short update that will showcase some systems that our team has worked on and some things that are still in progress. If this short update finds your support, we will gladly share more of them on a frequent basis to keep you up to date.

Let’s begin!

The very first exciting change that we added (and are currently finishing up) is our new Building placement UI. As you know, in the construction site, we do list all of the information about the building, but due to a large amount of it, we noticed that a lot of players simply ignore or miss certain important elements. Especially the ones that are related to Crime | Happiness | Pollution.

In order to improve the visibility and give an overhaul of our outdated UI, we created and expanded the functionality of it.



We hope that these changes are more functional and will help players to better understand the information while playing the game.

With those changes, we did some additional functionality work. The current name for it is “Sample Building.” This name might change upon the full release, but we are keeping it for now internally.

This new functionality allows you to sample the building and produce an identical one!
By pressing a combination of buttons (CTRL + Middle Mouse Button) and moving your cursor over any building structure that you currently have within the world, you can instantly bring the ghoster of this building and place it without having to open the Construction menu. We hope that a lot of people will find this functionality extremely useful, especially at later stages of the game.



Next, we tried to tackle the issue that a lot of players experienced while playing the game: “Nuggets Drinking from Lakes.” This is something that we were battling constantly for quite some time. Initially, there was a bug related to that functionality that was quickly fixed, but the issue stuck. After studying over a dozen different save files from players, we realized multiple common factors: 1) there were not enough wells 2) wells were not scattered throughout the city and 3) wells were concentrated in one place. In order to tackle this issue, we decided to use 2 different approaches. One per each issue.



Now, each well will have a radius that will define and show how efficient it is. If the well is closer to another well, the efficiency of the well will drop. The further wells are from one another, the higher the efficiency of those wells. This efficiency visibility functionality aimed to help new players to better place their wells across the city and avoid the issue where Nuggets would have to travel a very long distance to the opposite side of a city to get some water. You are still able to place wells next to each other, but their efficiency will be lower.

The second improvement added to tackle this problem provides a better indication on the amount of water that is left.

We added a subtle visual effect to the water icon and, if you move the mouse over the icon, a tooltip will now display the aggregated amount of water your wells have. This should help to keep track of water in the wells across the city and warn players earlier if more wells need to be placed.



Now let's move to tutorials.

Multiple different tutorials were added to the game, but the most important ones we believe are: Creator Power Tutorial and a Builder Bot Tutorial.



We received a lot of requests from the community and we heard a lot of people saying that they were struggling with using the creator powers or figuring out how to use the builder bot. Both of those systems will now be accompanied with a tutorial that will teach players how to utilize those features of the game.



Previously, we shared WIP Nugget clothing with you. Our talented artists were working pretty hard to make them stand out among other Nuggets and bring some more variety during later stages in the game. All of those Nuggets were finalized and now you can see them as their colorful selves in the game.




Lastly, we would like to share some visual improvements to our new planets. These changes may not have a functional implication, but they create a completely different atmosphere for your planets. We expanded our initial orbital system to have many different objects such as multiple suns, asteroid belts, rings, other planets, etc. This should diversify the look of the planets and bring joy to your eyes. Here are some examples of these effects:



All of these changes are just one portion of what was added to the game. We do have more things to share and if this is something that you guys enjoy seeing, we will surely make these updates more frequent as we near the end. So please, let us know in the comments below if this is something that you would enjoy seeing or if you would rather be surprised!

Things that our team is working on currently:

3D Art Department:

• Additional variation for tanks and helicopters for another civilization
  
• Orbital objects for the planets
  
• Variation of clouds
  
• Space map objects
  

Programming Department:

• Cinematics and final planet improvement scene
  
• New tutorials
  
• Reworking Space Trading
  
• Addition of all new Nugget clothing to the game
  
• Optimization
  
• Additional improvements to the game UI
  
• Credits screen
  

2D / UI / UX

• New UI panels for new building
  
• Improved UI / UX experience for some old systems
  
• New Icons for the Research menu
  
• New Icons for the Construction Menu
  
• New Space Trading Panel UI / UX
  
• Final Encounter UI
  
• Credits
  

Game / System Design:

• Rebalance of the main planet
  
• Balance of new planets
  
• Rebalance of the crime / happiness system
  
• Localization improvements
  
• Addition of new sounds
  
• Balance of the final encounter and series of quests and tutorials
  

Important.
We also would like to remind our community to keep expectations reasonable. We’ve seen some fans making over the moon speculations in regards to what is going to be possible in the full game. We’ve seen some talking about full blown war with aliens which is something we never promised. Combat/war overall was never planned to be in the game, but we listened to the community and implemented elements of it in the game already.

In being an extremely small team with a limited budget, we are not planning to expand combat systems at this time. However, you’ll have deeper interactions with the “aliens” and invasion that we’ve shown in the trailer. You will also learn more about the game world and how it works. We're working on a game finale and we think you’ll be surprised! After the final scene, you will be able to continue playing your game indefinitely, colonizing other planets and establishing trade between them.

We hope you will enjoy this short update and we would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support and encouragement. You are the best.

Best Regards,
Crytivo


https://store.steampowered.com/app/352720/The_Universim/

The last mile is always the longest.



Hello, The Universim game community! We're here to update you on our progress as we wrap up the game's final touches. It's been a while, and we want to communicate with our fans. Here's our message:

First and foremost, thank you so much for being a part of our journey. It's been hard, it's been challenging, but we've made changes, improvements, and we're thrilled with the results. The Universim has been an incredible journey for our team. We've learned so much about game development and game communities, and we're incredibly proud of our achievements – we hope you are too.

The Universim is a truly unique game, unlike any other. It was an immensely challenging experience due to the complexity of the idea, technical limitations, and our rookie knowledge at that time. But no matter what, we kept pushing and pushing. We know it took us a while to get here, but if you ask us if we would do anything differently if we could start over, the answer would be no. We did what we could with an extremely limited budget. With a game like The Universim and its scope, you need a lot of financial support to make it happen. We managed to deliver almost all of our promises, but it took some time.

Today, we want to let you know that the game is almost complete. We're T minus 5 minutes from an epic gaming experience. Our development team has confirmed that all game systems are nearly a 'go' for launch. We've completed our final level checks, graphics are looking out-of-this-world, and the soundtrack is ready to blast off. Our game control check is complete, and player guidance is now internal. Communication channels between players and the game are crystal clear. The fun payload is secure, and we're ready to embark on this incredible gaming adventure. Strap in, gamers, and prepare for an exhilarating ride!

We're currently going through just a few final touches, addressing some areas that need balance checks, and then it's all in. The Universim will be FULLY COMPLETE. We estimate no more than 3 months of extra work before takeoff. So buckle up, Creators – it's been an amazing adventure, and we love you all. Expect a game trailer with the release date soon'ish.

Meantime, we are releasing a small update to improve some game aspects.
This small update provides Bug Fixes and improvements to the game.

Improvements:

• Lightning Strike: It now deals more damage to the Combat Units (tanks and helicopters)
  
• Combat Distance and Relationship with the Exiles: Previously, Exiles would attack you regardless of their relationship with you. Now, the system will consider your relationship with the Exiles in order to determine if they can attack you or not. The detection distance of Exiles was also reduced in order to prevent attacks from across the map.
  
• Exile Warning: A warning was added to notify the player if they are building too close to Exiles. The player can still proceed with building, but this will reduce the relationship level with Exiles, which might lead to an armed confrontation.
  
• Added tooltip descriptions for resources needed for the traps in the hunter’s hut panel
  
• Forbid the use of God powers on imprisoned Nuggets through building panels and Nugget list icons
  
• Forbid the use of God powers through the Nuggets list and building icons on Nuggets picked off the ground by a UFO
  
• Auto assignment: Changed the auto assignment system so that the town hall won't assign a new Nugget while you are manually selecting to assign a new Nugget yourself
  
• Hospital Telekinesis: Added the ability to drop a Nugget into the hospital. Now, dropping a Nugget into the hospital will make the Nugget a patient.
  

Bug Fixes:

• Twitch Integration Connection: Due to some major changes within Twitch itself, the Twitch integration stopped working for a period of time. We had to restructure some code within the game related to Twitch Integration in order to make it work for everyone.
  
• Exile Village Barracks and Hangars: They contributed to overall happiness and crime. This is fixed and no longer contributes or interferes with the player.
  
• Riots: An error was happening when rioting Nuggets were unable to find valid targets
  
• Sarlacc Error: Certain situations where the Nugget was being exiled or was dying and the Sarlacc grabbed this Nugget that exact second
  
• Mail Delivery Quest: Sometimes, mailboxes would spawn near Exiles.
  
• Cloud Saves: Some people experienced issues with cloud saves. This was due to the limited space provided by Steam for save files on the cloud. Now, the system will check for the oldest files on the cloud and overwrite them with the new ones. Therefore, the cloud will keep only relevant and the latest save files. All of your local save files will still be available.
  
• Collapsing certain buildings into builder bots would result in an error. This is no longer the case.
  
• Faith: In certain conditions, while traveling between planets, the Creator power generation was failing to update correctly
  
• Drones in Hangar and Barracks: Added a system that prevents drones from being assigned to military buildings
  
• Builder Bot Construction Site: Ensured that builder bots will cancel their building if their construction site was removed/destroyed
  

Over and out!
Crytivo Crew

https://store.steampowered.com/app/352720/The_Universim/

Hello, Creators!
It’s almost time for the holidays!

This year was challenging and difficult for many people. From our entire team, we hope that everyone has a great holiday season. Let your close ones be next to you to share some amazing moments and create new, wonderful memories. We hope that next year will bring plenty of good times for you and your families. Thank you to everyone who stayed with us and supported us regardless of the circumstances. It means the world to us. We have the best community ever and we are happy to have you all with us. Happy holidays!



At this moment, we are relieved to say that we are at the finish line. We just finished with 4 main events that will lead to the ending of the game. We are left with the task of balancing a portion of those events as well as the main event taking place on another planet. After that, we will enter a polishing stage which will involve work such as fixing bugs, visual issues, localization issues, gameplay issues, and balance tweaks. This is the final update before we go live with 1.0. It is hard to believe that we are almost there. It was an amazing time and we are happy to see everyone who stayed with us through the years and helped us grow. Once again, thank you!

Now, let's talk a little bit about this update. This update brings some of the most requested content to The Universim. More military and combat. We reworked our exile system in order to support the combat along with our flying units system. It was a large scope addition and it took a bit longer than we expected, but it is finally here. You are now able to build your military Nuggets alongside Tanks and Helicopters. Exiles will do the same. Make sure you are staying on their good side. Not feeling friendly? Destroy the exiles before they can even get a chance to build and expand their forces. Up to you. This update also introduces new buildings to support new units along with bug fixes and some improvements.

Let's get to details now.

Tank Hangar & Heliport



Both buildings will help Nuggets to start the mass production of Tanks and Helicopters, respectively. Each building is able to contain a maximum of 5 units. More units can be built with the addition of extra Hangars and Heliports. You will be able to build up to 5 buildings, totaling the amount of Tanks and Helicopters to 25 each.

Bomber Building



Bombers have received their own building. Each Bomber building can contain up to 5 bombers, similar to the Hangar & Heliport. Previously, Bombers were unlocked along with regular soldier Nuggets. This time around, they were moved towards the Modern Age and will be unlocked along with Modern Age upgrades for the Soldiers.

Combat System



Overall, the combat system works similarly to the rock, paper, scissors approach. Tanks are quite strong against Soldiers and Buildings with their main power being the destruction of ground units. Helicopters, on the other hand, deal a great amount of damage to Tanks and other Helicopters but tend to be weaker against Soldiers. Soldiers can easily eliminate a squad of Helicopters, therefore punishing forces that have a limited amount of heavy military vehicles.

New UI Panel



Along with the new additions to combat, we also reworked the entire panel. Now, every military building can be placed within one panel, eliminating the tedious process of adding a new building via the construction panel. Along with this newfound functionality, you will be able to see all exiles on a radar, their creator, and their military power. Through this panel, it is also possible to send all units from the Barracks, Hangars, and Heliports to attack or send only a single squad to be selected for the attack.

Improvements:

• Looks like the button for upgrading all buildings in the building panel just got a brain transplant! Now, it not only tells you how many resources you'll need for the upgrade, but it also serves as a warning system to prevent any unintended consequences. For example, if you try to upgrade water pumps all at once, it will alert you if it will cause a shortage of water. If you try to upgrade all power generators, it will warn you if it will lead to an electricity blackout. Talk about a smart button! But I guess that's what happens when you upgrade your brain.
  

• The research panel received some restructuring, making it more versatile during the Modern Age and providing earlier unlocking to some perks.
  
  
• Health bar indicator for an animal. Now, when the animal is being attacked, you will see a health bar above it, indicating how much health it has left.
  
  
• Tooltip for the ministers. Each tooltip displays the list of buildings that particular minister is responsible for.
  
  
• Hunted animals will now have an icon above it indicating which animal in particular is being hunted.
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed: Prevented Nuggets from being dropped on top of the Sarlacc hole and being stuck midair
  
  
• Fixed: Optimized clouds in order to provide better performance
  
  
• Fixed: Unobtanium Extractor on the other planet would continue extracting resources despite resources being completely depleted
  
  
• Fixed: Building icons and clouds jitter issue
  
  
• Fixed: Error that was breaking the game during Sitting On Powder quest
  
  
• Fixed: Sitting On Powder quest always selected the candidate with a green colored background
  
  
• Fixed: Missing localization for the Cattle Farm
  
  
• Fixed: Blowing up the Nuclear Plant during certain circumstances caused an error that was breaking the game
  

We are extremely excited to be on the final stretch to 1.0! This patch is the last one before 1.0. We might release some hotfix patches here and there in order to improve the overall stability of the game, but the entire team will concentrate on finalizing and polishing The Universim in order to provide everyone a great experience upon the full release of the game. With the push to 1.0, you can expect new unique planets, challenges to colonize them, an evolved story that will open to a different view on the Creator, new buildings, tutorials, and events.

Thank you for your support and we wish you an amazing holiday season! Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Discord!

Sincerely,
Crytivo Crew

https://store.steampowered.com/app/352720/The_Universim/