Nature And Life - Drunk On Nectar News

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)

Drunk On Nectar's milestone Planetary Ecology update has been released!

In an exciting new direction for the game, players can now Create Planets and Design Biome Landscapes all while learning about Planetary Ecology and Life, thus vastly enhancing its existing offering of animal life and nature simulation.


Here's a brief gist of what this update contains :)

1. Create Planets, set basic planetary parameters like Rotation speed, Axial Tilt, etc.

2. Create landmasses, oceans and choose from various Biomes for your planet.

3. Tropical Rainforest, Grasslands, Deserts, Temperate Mixed Forests, Coniferous Forests, Polar and Oceanic are the biomes you can literally paint onto your landmassess!

4. Sculpting of landmass with simple earthing / unearthing.

5. Saving & Loading of your Planets.

6. Sharing Planets is possible via exchanging planet files which begin with the name "DoN Planet"; these are present in your Saves folder.


There's an incredible range of possibilities from here.

Ultimately, convergence of "Planetary Ecology" into game's unique "Life Of Animals", the full-scale animal life experience, is the lofty goal. This can certainly be attained with your lovely feedback, enthusiasm and support for the game. Thank you :)

Please voice your opinion on this update in whatever manner pleases you the most! :)


As always, thank you for patiently waiting for this update.

It is always my sincere goal to provide more content to you in a timely fashion. As best as I can, I will continue to do so :)

Hope you enjoy the Planetary Ecology update :)

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

An exciting revision to Drunk On Nectar's roadmap is now underway!

Planetary Ecology, Biomes and Plant Life are the game's new focus; these exciting additions will provide a larger context for the game's existing attractions while greatly enriching the surrounding flora, landscapes and the Nature Sandbox mode's untapped potential as well.

Your enthusiasm and ideas are greatly encouraged for this exciting new direction :)

A picture from DoN's original Dev Prototype, depicting the game's early vision :)


Thusfar Drunk On Nectar "The Nature Simulator" has provided a detailed treatment of invertebrate life, but with only minimal depiction of the larger macro level habitats which its creatures inhabit, such as landscapes, biomes or even planetary ecology.

To bridge this obvious gap between the game's larger vision (and subtitle!) and its current focus, the time was now deemed ripe to shift gears, zoom out and add broader perspectives as part of the game's already unique offering.

This will provide a larger context for the game's existing attractions while allowing a more free and relaxed growth of the game's overall natural world depiction.

Time to zoom out a bit, as our little Grasshopper (see left) clearly inferred! :)


This initiative is still in very early stages, so there is enormous scope and interest in your own ideas, creativity and contributions. Please use this Inspirations Thread for sharing your inspirations.

Any pictures and inspirations of the Natural World/Landscapes/etc, personally taken by you are particularly welcome in this thread along with your thoughts, commentaries and suggestions :)

For those wondering what this means for the eagerly awaited Praying Mantis update, that update has currently been indefinitely postponed. The current plan is to pick up that thread again at an opportune time; I appreciate both your enthusiasm and understanding in this regard :)


As always, a heartfelt thanks to everyone for your patience, kindness and support in helping the game grow and thrive all these years. Please join me on this exciting new adventure by posting your inspirations in the official Inspirations Thread :)

That's it for now, but stay tuned for more Nature Goodness!

With ❤,
Venugopalan Sreedharan
Developer Of Drunk On Nectar

Finally!

It's time to flex those raptorial limbs, groom those sharp mandibles and strike from the shadows!

The most iconic predator of the invertebrate world finally makes its way to Drunk On Nectar's colorful glades!

Stealth, Camouflage and Ambush find their supreme exponent in the very beautiful and accomplished Praying Mantis as players will experience the complete lifecycle of this very unique creature.




Development for the Praying Mantis lifecycle begins next week!

The Pink Praying Mantis is currently the most favored candidate for its striking good looks, though other suggestions of your favorite Mantis species are very welcome in this early stage.

The gameplay prototype is expected to revolve around stealth, camouflage and ambush while visual depiction will revolve around the lifecycle itself and the various life stages. The overall presentation format is expected to be similar to other lifecycles currently depicted in the game.


Thanks to everyone for your enthusiastic mails and votes for the Praying Mantis which has finally won this unique creature a place in the game.

It's time to strike a pose!





Here's a round-up of recent Drunk On Nectar videos by various Youtubers!

First up, Draegast covers the Ladybug's Lifecycle in this entertaining overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=933Q-OcRDRs

For other videos of Drunk On Nectar from Draegast check out his very memorable Monarch Butterfly lifecycle which has crossed over 1 million views on Youtube while opening up a new audience for the game, and also his recent Grasshopper Lifecycle video.

And for DoN's French audience, Youtuber Dan Field covers the Jumping Spider lifecycle in French!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJTgttx7tJs


That's it for now, but the beautiful Praying Mantis is poised to strike and will quietly, but very strikingly, arrive on your screens, soon!

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