Nature And Life - Drunk On Nectar News

The next series of updates for "Nature & Life - Drunk On Nectar" is underway!

Today's update brings a vastly improved experience for the Praying Mantis Survival release.

The Mantis is now easier to play, control and survive with, so please do give the Mantis Survival another playthrough now :)

A full video series will be uploaded soon, but below is a summary of what this update brings.

• Mantis now emits far less vibrations, visibility to prey. This makes it easy for players to quickly fly from plant to plant and prepare to ambush prey upon landing.
  
• Flight speed increased - Mantis' minimum and maximum flight speed both have been significantly increased
  
• Flight acceleration doubled - Mantis can acquire its maximum flight speed more swiftly now!
  
• Flight stamina increased - for easier flying and more fun in the air!
  

• Ambush pose now confers significant strike range bonus! In addition to camouflage this now provides players with a great incentive for using ambush instead of direct attacks.
  
• Direct attacks (single left click) are now permitted for Mantis while at close proximity to prey. Players are no longer forced to use the ambush mechanic every time!
  

• Chemical odors (accrued from consumption) are now greatly reduced.
  
• Players are now provided with an explicit alert when a prey smells you, informing you that body odour levels are significantly high and that Grooming is needed :)
  

• Pressing the C key now allows players to filter out chemical visions to "prey only" for predators or between Fauna and Flora for others.
  
• The game now explicitly informs players of the active chemical filter through the HUD.
  
• New chem filters such as "Predator Only" are also arriving in upcoming updates :)
  

Several updates have been planned for the game, below is a quick roadmap:

1) Unlockable difficulty modes for Praying Mantis Survival
Players will be be able to unlock "Medium" and "Hard" difficulty modes once they finish the Survival challenge once. While the current update is designed to be friendly to new players, the higher modes will satisfy experienced players far more and will require players to fully master various gameplay mechanics and thus provide maximum challenge and fun! :)

2) In-Game Video Library update
A comprehensive in-game video library is planned that will allow player to easily look at reference videos for every single quest, mechanic or tutorial in the game. This will help players who may be stuck at a certain quest or are simply curious to learn the fastest or most efficient ways to complete a quest or lifecycle :)

3) Praying Mantis Lifecycles update
As the second installation of the game's Praying Mantis release Lifecycles for the Mantis is still planned and a top priority for the game at this time.



4) Subspecies - roster expansion update
New varieties of Butterflies, Jumping Spiders, Praying Mantis, Grasshoppers, etc will be added to the game introducing a "subspecies" concept that will add immense interest, depth and variety to the existing creatures and their individual survival or lifecycle modes.

Subspecies is not a purely visual or cosmetic update - major gameplay changes including body size, life behavior and other unique subspecies characteristics will provide a completely new experience of each existing major species :) This will be accompanied by a complete overhaul of the game menu, species selection screen as well.


That's it for this update, but stay tuned for more news as there's a lot of fun planned this summer for fans of Nature & Life - Drunk On Nectar! :)

Thank you for your interest, patronage and love as always! :)

With heartfelt Thanks, Gratitude and Love,
- Venugopalan Sreedharan (Developer Of Nature & Life - Drunk On Nectar)

Featuring the Praying Mantis, enjoy the best Survival experience ever presented in Nature & Life - Drunk On Nectar, to date!

Survive 7 days of Spring as an adult Mantis amid intense competition from prey and predator rivals, all set in a new "Mantis Survival" map preset producing a lush, beautiful and ever changing world.

Exciting new gameplay features have also been added along with the largest set of bugfixes and improvements added to the entire game this year.

Do not miss this update!

[h3]Release Video[/h3]
https://youtu.be/zKWaEAfJJaM



[h3]"Mantis Survival" - A New Random Map Preset[/h3]
Demonstrating the full power of the random map generator, "Mantis Survival" is a completely new map preset that looks, feels and plays quite differently from the existing maps.

Featuring the largest map size (play area) yet, this preset produces broad and expansive meadows with plenty of space for your Mantis to fly, explore and have fun!

The highest fauna population of prey and predators across all the map presets is also found here!



[h3]New Gameplay Features[/h3]
Ambush is a new predator skill added just for the Mantis!



Chemical grit accrual is another new feature whereby prey can smell chemical trails from your previous meal. So hunting becomes gradually harder unless you Groom yourself and clear the chemical debris regularly!



Flight Stamina is a new concept whereby the Mantis can recharge its flight ability while walking. For those players that dislike stopping completely for a Stamina recharge, this provides non-stop, seamless motion. Fly for a while, continue walking while your flight ability recharges and fly on again! :)



[h3]Comprehensive in-game tutorial for Mantis Survival[/h3]
Covering the basics, advanced skills and also new gameplay features (see above!), this Praying Mantis update features the most comprehensive in-game tutorial in the game yet.

New players are provided the opportunity to gain complete confidence in controlling the Mantis being plunged into the 7 day survival challenge!



[h3]Large number of Improvements, Bugfixes[/h3]
This update also includes a large collection of bugfixes and improvements that were made over the past several months.

From reworked Lighting to improved locomotion, AI behavior, fixes for player crashing reports to memory and performance improvements, this update brings the game much closer to a stable version for full release.

An imporant bugfix benefiting all flying creatures in the game is Smooth Flight - flight controls no longer jutter / spin around in relation to FPS fluctuations; this provides a significantly better flying experience for players!

Another crucial bugfix relates to video memory optimization, this fixes a large number of related player issues, including freezing, crashes and low performance, all particularly related to long playthroughs.

[h3]Praying Mantis - Lifecycles[/h3]
Lifecycle of the Praying Mantis will indeed be the next update.

While vast majority of the work is already complete, certain unique aspects of the Mantis lifecycle (like the Mantis egg case), early instar gameplay and gender dimorphism depiction, need to be completed.

In the meantime I hope that you enjoy this Survival take on the Praying Mantis :)

Praying Mantis Lifecycles - Also Coming Soon!

[h3]Thank you[/h3]
As always, thank you so much for your interest, patience, love and support!

Nature is forever beautiful, awesome and fun!

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

Thanks as always to the game's loving fans for your keen interest and enquiries about the Praying Mantis update!

My sincere apologies for the extended delay and lack of news in the past month. On a personal front I've been in the midst of major life changes and engagements that have made focus on development challenging, hence these delays which are understandably disappointing for the game's wonderful players and indeed for myself as well.

As thanks for your mails and wonderful inquiries, here are some images of the upcoming Praying Mantis:

Mantis seizing prey with its iconic raptorial limbs

A body built to conquer the insect world!

Fully grown adult with wings!

Praying Mantis now a Flying Mantis!


Mantis character and hunting gameplay are already complete. while Lifecycle depiction, rival predator interactions and overall flow need to be designed.

Everything possible is being done to get back to developing the game and only a few week's worth of dev effort is needed at this point.

Your best wishes and good will for the game will be of great assistance at this time to the game and personally to me as well, so you really can give this update a big boost simply with your love, enthusiasm and belief in this game! :)



I'm deeply grateful to all of you for your patronage and interest in "Nature & Life - Drunk On Nectar".

Thank you!

Stay tuned for further news as the Praying Mantis update nears release at last!



With Love & Thanks for your boundless patience,

- Venugopalan Sreedharan
(Developer of Drunk On Nectar)

Dear players,

The much awaited Praying Mantis Lifecycle is game's next update and it is almost there!

Players will experience the complete lifecycle of the Praying Mantis across multiple generations with new gameplay mechanics and strategies completely unique to the Mantis.

Preview image - A first Instar Praying Mantis espies a massive world awaiting exploration!


An update was released for DoN today that the sets the stage for the Mantis release by bringing vast improvements to the overall game.

Below is a gist of what today's update includes:


Unlike the Lifecycle mode which puts emphasis on species depiction, the Creature Quests mode offers a more traditional gameplay experience and currently features two unique challenge maps for the Jumping Spider and Ladybug respectively.

In response to player feedback that the Creature Quests were too difficult or prolonged, this update adds a new Checkpoint system.

Players who fail to complete a challenge map (by falling in water, etc!) can immediately resume at the latest checkpoint and try again! The leaderboard timer counts the duration of all your attempts together of course.

Checkpoint system in action for the "A Curious Triad" Ladybug Creature Quest!

Creature Quests, in my personal experience as the developer of this game, offers some of the most unique and enjoyable experiences the game has to offer. If you have previously tried this mode but were put off by the difficulty level or perhaps found it tedious to repeat an entire challenge map for just a single fall, do try Creature Quests again as this update enables players to freely explore the challenge maps for any desired duration.

Falls are now not punished with a restart, but with a safe return to the latest checkpoint from where you can experiment freely again! :)

Notable mention for the Ladybug challenge map which contains several checkpoints hidden away in unique locations (can you find them all!?), along with a "Giant Mantis" prop honoring the imminent Praying Mantis release :))


Until now trees in the game did not cast any shadows at all due to size constraints (each tree is absolutely massive relative to a tiny insect!).

With this update however, high-end PCs will enjoy full tree shadowing to take DoN's nature scenes to a new level of visual richness!

Just make sure the Shadow quality slider in "Video Settings" is set to the maximum as that is what selectively enables and disables tree shadowing in the current version.

Trees are expected to become more and more important as gameplay elements for DoN, so eventually trees with active gameplay will indeed have shadowing enabled for lower end PCs as well.

Below is a visual comparison:

Without Tree Shadows



With Tree Shadows




Currently body visuals and gameplay prototyping for the Mantis is still underway, but with DoN's powerful lifecycle frameworks ready at hand, the overall flow is already nearing completion.

Approximately 2 weeks, i.e. late September or early October, is the expected timeframe based on the current trajectory :)

Thanks to everyone for your great patience in waiting for the Mantis update since the original announcement.

I greatly look forward to playing as the Praying Mantis along with all of you, hopefully very soon :)

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

This update includes the following changes:


Custom keyboard inputs now save correctly, this was broken in a previous update.

Players will now be able to remap controls again without issues!





Fauna selection screen for Monarch Butterfly now combines the Lifecycles and Survival entries (which were formerly separate for the Monarch) into a single species entry for better consistency.

Players can still choose to play as the adult Monarch straight away by simply choosing "Survival" instead of "Lifecycles" in the species menu :)


The next content update is close to release, stay tuned :)

Thank you for your support, interest and love for this game. It is deeply appreciated! :)

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