Nature And Life - Drunk On Nectar News

Bringing improvements to the entire game across both gameplay and visuals, here is a quick overview of this release.



~ Monarch Butterfly ~

• Caterpillar locomotion improvements
  
• Mating minigames for male and female butterfly improved
  
• Mating interactions (snatch) made easier
  
• Mating UI improvements - cleaner and simpler
  

~ Ladybug ~

• Ladybug Lifecycle major rebalancing - it's much easier to complete now!
  
• Ladybug egg hatching SFX added
  

~ Jumping Spider ~

• New feature: Super Rushdowns! A new hunting technique for all predators - Sprint all the way upto your prey and trample them over for a "Super Rushdown".
  
• Rusdhowns fixed! A timing issue that was affecting this game mechanic has been fixed.
  
• Loading save files fixed - There was an issue that made save files of long playthroughs freeze upon load. Now fixed :)
  
• Silk Tent entry/exit state transitions fixed for certain edge cases.
  
• Tiger Beetle's ability to snatch smaller Jumping Spider instars fixed. A bug was previously preventing the beelte's strikes from landing!
  

~ Misc ~

• Feedback tool fixed. The form submission was broken earlier, but should now be working again.
  

...and various other improvements to visuals and gameplay that haven't been listed here.

For those wondering about the large download size, this update includes a game engine upgrade, visual assets for the "Red Forest Squirrel" prototype (this is not released yet) as well as a large number of improvements to the game made over the past year, but not released until now.


The current goal is to resume periodic updates for the game to the point where larger updates can be taken up.

One of the larger goals is to bring the game closer to exit from Early Access by polishing the existing product further and resolving any outstanding visual or gameplay issues.

Appreciate the support of all the game's players through the past year leading up to this point of a new DoN release again :)

Though the past year has been challenging on multiple fronts, I will continue to keep building this game to the best of my abilities. I am very grateful to all of you for your goodwill, best wishes and wonderful encouragement.

Thank you so much!

- Venu
(Developer of DoN)

Watch DoN's Red Forest Squirrel bound across a carpet of colors in the preview video below!

https://youtu.be/gk3p9FlGcvo

This video also features a Storyboard and special dev message for fans of the game.



The Adventures Of The Red Forest Squirrel is the first prototype for Venu's Nature Stories - a new Adventure / Story mode for Drunk On Nectar and a complete reimagining of the game with brand new visual arts, environments and more.



Watch the video above in its entirety in case you haven't already, to learn more :)


The video above also features a special message from me for those who love this game and would like to know more about its current development status.

In this part of the video I discuss the reasons why the game hasn't seen many updates so far in 2020 and ways in which you can help the game (even without monetary contributions to the fundraiser!).

The video also features additional concept art that hasn't been posted elsewhere :)




To quote from the video above, there is nothing I would love more than to add a lot of new content and updates to this game, however this has been a very challenging year.

As always I will do my utmost to garner momentum for the next update, but will also greatly benefit from your good will and best wishes for the game :)

Thank you for your interest and participation!

With Love,
- Venu
(Developer of Nature & Life - Drunk On Nectar)

As part of the ongoing fundraising campaign for Drunk On Nectar, Episode 2 of the Venu's Nature Diary series has been released.

Let's take a look!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeJ6B2JbfQE

Link: DoN Shop


As a reminder, you can download for free by simply visiting drunkonnectar.com/Shop and ordering these videos for the default price of $0, or you can provide any contribution of your choosing, whenever you feel like.

4k resolution downloads are being uploaded as well and should be available soon :)


You can participate for free in this fundraiser, just as a show of support. Your mere participation is a very powerful vote for the game and will fulfill the larger goal of this fundraiser so don't hesitate to download the videos even without any monetary contribution :)

Ultimately the goal of this fundraising campaign is to raise awareness about the game and to generate momentum, be it fiscal or motivational, both of which are very useful! :)


That's it for now, but expect to hear soon about the game's next nature adventures!

Watch this Pill Millipede in action in Episode 2!

With Love,
- Venu

Hello! This is Venu, the developer behind DoN :)

I've been building this game by myself for the past 6 years now and most certainly intend to keep going so long as this world needs a Nature Game - which it most certainly does, now more than ever :)




Inspired by a recent forum post where a wonderful person asked if they could provide monetary contributions to support the game's growth, I've decided to share some of my nature documentaries with the fans of the game as a means of raising awareness and raising funds for the game.

Purchase Venu's Nature Videos at www.drunkonnectar.com/Shop

Visit the DoN Shop where you can purchase these nature diaries (for a price named by you) as a means for providing monetary contributions towards the game.

But you can also watch these videos on Youtube for free, learn more below!


Without any further ado, here is the first episode!

https://youtu.be/Ug-VNm1Lvys


By purchasing these nature videos you can

1. Support the game's ongoing development
   
2. Download 4k resolution versions!
   
3. Watch offline without buffering (without using any finicky 3rd party download sites!)
   
4. Use the videos for Relaxation, Mental Rejuvenation, etc - Try it for yourself!
   
5. Motivate the creation of more interesting nature videos! :)
   

Episode 1's price is set at $0 - pay what you want! You can grab the video from DoN Shop for free if you like, or you can choose to provide any amount of contribution you feel like as well :)


As revealed in the latter half of my nature diary, the game's next update is a bold mammalian depiction of The Adventures Of the Red Forest Squirrel - a story/adventure take on Drunk On Nectar set in a completely new environment with new plants/species/etc.

Follow the adventures of a female red forest squirrel as part of "Venu's Nature Stories" - a new Adventure/Story mode for Drunk On Nectar with a complete reimagining of its gameplay, art and environments

A red radiant shrub from the "Adventures Of The Red Forest Squirrel"

This update has been under development for a while now and will hopefully be out soon with just a bit more momentum generated for the game!

Again I request interested folks to support the game through any manner you like; you can now provide monetary contributions via the DoN Shop as well if you like by purchasing amusing nature documentaries about our favorite animals :)


I'm also pleased to announce that the game now has reached 100 reviews on Steam with an overall 91% positive review score! :)

Clearly the game is doing better than ever before, so I thank everyone who has greatly believed in me and the game all these years. Your trust and support in the game is what has resulted in the realization of this great milestone, so once again I thank you all from the bottom of my heart :)




As I emphatically proclaimed at the conclusion of Episode 1's diary (from the middle of a rainforest amidst a great downpour of rain! :)), humanity needs nature now more than ever before.

Getting more of Nature in front of People's eyes (games, videos, images, anything really) can massively alter the world stage forever in my humble opinion and I firmly believe that this game - "Nature & Life - Drunk On Nectar" can step up to play such a role if enough people support it.

That's it for Episode 1 of Venu's Nature Diaries!

The next few episodes are being produced right now and will be released soon as well :))

Thanks as always for your faith in me and the game! Thank you :)

With Love,
- Venu
(Developer of Drunk On Nectar)

A major bugfix has been released which fully resolves the sudden FPS drops reported by multiple players since the last update.

Also fixed is the Monarch Butterfly's pupation and emergence animation sequences; these were inadvertently broken during the Ladybug's Metamorphosis development.




Big thanks to the players who persistently sent feedback mail and forum posts on this subject. Through your combined efforts in highlighting this issue, the root cause was finally diagnosed and understood earlier today.

Apologies to the players whose experience of the game was greatly hampered during recent weeks on account of this bug. You should now be able to resume from any saved games you may have from previous playtrhoughs, all should now be well :)

Appreciate everyone's patience on this!

Thank You :)

With ❤,
Venugopalan Sreedharan
(Developer of Drunk On Nectar)