Nature And Life - Drunk On Nectar News

Various improvements have been made to Lifecycles Act 2, here's a summary!

But before that...


Act 2's release increased the game's peak number of simultaneous players by nearly 300% to the previous month! An enormous amount of feedback mail has been pouring in as well.With more milestone releases like Act 3 around the corner, this is certainly a future trend for the game!

On to Patch 1:

• Auto Saving
  We've all been there; forgetting to save just at that crucial moment when you really needed to! Now the game has your back with an Auto Save feature that periodically saves your progress.
  
  "Continue" menus has been added as well for easily resuming your game. If you are undone by a predator the game now presents you with a continue menu so you can quickly jump back.
  

After studying the massive amount of community feedback that has been brewing over the past week a number of bugfixes has been made to the game:

• Ballooning now works consistently on flowers (even after saving & loading)
  
• Blue Mud Dauber stamina recharge issue fixed
  
• Blue Mud Dauber spider nest provisioning logic fixed
  
• Grasshopper leg kick (Act 2's new feature!) now properly gives a quick reflex warning before you (as a spider) are about to get crushed
  
• Grasshopper leg kick htitbox tweaked
  
• Nocturnal Wasp attack during silk tent construction's final stage no longer causes a crash :)
  (thanks to community member Dinoman for providing a very clear description of this bug so I was able to reproduce it!)
  

• "Rushdown" hunting mechanics made much smoother and more consistent; a lot more fun now! :)
  
• Performance Friendly mode swarm supply rebalanced
  
• Grappling made easier on the default difficulty preset
  
• Swarm chem trails distance increased
  
• 4th instar quest logic fixed (no more details provided to prevent spoilers :))
  
• Players now enjoy increased predator cooldown time after escaping from an AI predator (psst... use this to flee to your silk nest for safety!)
  
• ...and that cooldown is increased even more so for nocturnal snatches (mostly by the wasps).
  
• Dart input tap interval decreased to prevent interference with Sprinting based on reports by a player.
  

More improvements are on the way! Please let me know if you face issues of any kind at all :)



With ❤,
Venugopalan Sreedharan

The Lifecycles party has begun!

With 4-6 hours of new content and absolutely unique gameplay never seen or done in any game before, Drunk On Nectar's biggest Steam update is here at last!




With unprecedented features such as
1) Prey and Predator Lifecycles running simultaneously,
2) Massively Populated Swarms of thousands upon thousands strong and a
3) Plethora of Hunting Skills and techniques for you to master,

Lifecycles Act 2 is Drunk On Nectar's most technically impressive and gameplay rich experience:




Act 2 is very long for a single playthrough, so Youtubers are recommended to record multiple parts; each life stage take around 20-30 minutes to complete with a total of 9 such instars.

With over 10 million views on Youtube there's never been a better time to join Drunk On Nectar's growth story, so keep those videos coming! :)



With carefully balanced Simulation, Sandbox and Unique Quests, Lifecycles Act 2 provides hours of fun and addictive gameplay in perhaps some of the most colorful backdrops you will have seen yet.




Auto-save feature is only coming next week so until then please save frequently! There are many obstacles you'll need to overcome in Act 2 so make good use of saved games; you can also Quick save (F7) and Quick Load (F9)


There are various known issues that need to be sorted out and will take around a week or so to fully resolve.

Notable issues:
1) Ballooning on some flowers doesn't work in the later parts of the game.
2) Gamepad controls for climbing on plant stalk need reworking
3) Blue Mud Dauber player stamina stops recharging at a certain point

Pending:
1) Auto-Save feature is coming next week (you can Save/Load manually as always)
2) Linux build is coming next week.

As a single developer it's been rather challenging to QA this giant release single-handedly so kindly allow for 1-2 weeks for stability to be attained :)

In the meantime, please report any issues you face and they will be looked into immediately :)


Thanks to all of you for waiting so patiently for Act 2 to emerge. Over the coming weeks of bugfixing, polishing and other improvements, I believe Act 2 will set the golden standard for DoN that the rest of the game will successfully follow in its unique depiction of nature and life.

With Much ❤,
Venugopalan Sreedharan
Developer of Drunk On Nectar - The Nature Simulator

Drunk On Nectar's biggest Steam update - Lifecycles Act 2 - The Great Outdoors, with 4-6 hours of new and exciting content, is releasing this weekend!

This Saturday, on 22nd September 2018, come experience life in an astonishing 0.1 mm living, breathing world, where you, as a tiny Jumping Spider among 25 others, must Survive, Grow and Conquer, The Great Outdoors.



With standout features such as Parallel Lifecycles (prey and predator growing together!), Massive Swarms (several thousands with lifecycles!), New Species Abilities and several other unique surprises, Act 2 provides several hours of unique and unprecedented gamplay that has never been seen or done in any other game before.
~~

If you're hungry to know more about Act 2, check out the article below!

https://www.indiedb.com/games/drunk-on-nectar/news/lifecycles-act-2-releasing-on-22nd-september-2018

Come, Join the fun this weekend! :D

With ❤,
Venugopalan Sreedharan

Several game-changing features have been added in the run up to Lifecycles Act 2's release, this video takes an in-depth look at them!

https://youtu.be/uQPXsRhPuEM

~

Below is a quick overview: (for more in-depth commentary check out the video above!)


Ballooning, the iconic spider dispersal technique which gained mainstream attention in recent years, is now a part of the game!

Pull your lucky strand of silk out of those spinnerets and up into the air we go!






Massively boosting the number of creatures in the map, the population density system depicts large populations of various lifegroups across the map.

These are not props, but creatures that exhibit full lifecycles of their own!





Drunk On Nectar now supports a theoritically unlimited number of creatures in a map thanks to this system! :)

Over time this feature will continue to expand and cover more areas of the game, but for now its main purpose is to ensure Act 2's 25 strong Jumping Spider family has enough to go around for everyone.


The species featured in the images above is the Leafhopper, a new species added for Act 2! Watch the video to learn more!


DoN has a new smallest creature! The 1st instar Leafhopper comes in at a mere 0.66mm and is barely visible unless you're paying attention!

Hint: They're smaller than the smallest creature that's visible in this pic :)

Few more Act 2 pics:

Climb atop your elder siblings with the new "universal mounting" support!

The new swarms attract a lot of attention, so be careful out there!


All the basic systems are now in place and the A.I. is now able to complete its entire lifecycle along with the player.

These core gameplay systems now need to be distilled into a more coherent experience with things like quests, a structured roadmap, etc for guiding players along Act 2's rich palette of features and creatures. Finally, Aphids and Springtails are being mooted for possible inclusion.

One way or another, Act 2 will release this month, that is now certain :)

Thanks again to everyone for being a part of Act 2's storied development effort; the wait is almost over now!

With ❤,
Venugopalan Sreedharan