Sipho News

Hi everyone,

We are releasing a hotfix build for growth issue that has been introduced in last patch.

It appears that scaling physics time is required for stable fade-in to growth mode. It wouldn't manifest as destructive explosion but actually leave the physics world in a different state than portrayed in game when having entered growth mode. This would result in weird Sipho deformations when ungrowing parts and inconsistent placement of new parts. This is now fixed.

We have reverted changes for this exact case while leaving kill-slowdowns deterministic. Best of both worlds it appears.

Some additional changes have sneaked in that would have been introduced in later patches. Reacting to your feedback, we have partially tweaked Vagorian breed. Check out full changelist for details:

Fix bug in The Matrix 2
Select Dialog button only when it's shown rather every frame
Optimize Matrix2x2 accessors, speeding up deformable
Still change fixedDeltaTime when pausing the game - deformable needs to fade-to target positions
Disable Wind package
Buff Peapod health to 6 and make it half as slowing as expected
Killed bombs explode at half range with half damage
Slow down Burstopod weapon animation so it is only visibly ready when actually ready and make it scale with skill speed
Use Particle System Force Fields to move ambient particles instead of Wind Zones
Disable many unused built-in packages - this time for real

Greetings!

Following a Vagorian release we took our chance to dive down to tech behind Sipho and upgrade our Unity engine version from 2017.4 to 2018.4. That means we are now able to use year's worth of improvements.

One of new engine features is the new Input system which we are going to use to implement controller support. We will first focus on basic support such as movement direction rebinds for controller. That should reach you in future updates. Then we will start improving experience with hotkey-based controls of our UI. Navigation hotkeys will have to be implemented for menus, growth mode and aquarium spawning. In the end, we would like to have game playable on any kind of input setup.

Content will not be forgotten - there will be more new zooids in the future. We have yet to decide if they will come as a new breed or as breedless zooids. New breed would mean a new area is required as there can only be one Wanderer. Breedless zooids would be added to the drop pool, possibly made available after completing a special challenge. Let us know what you prefer!

As for today's matters, we have improved stability of kill slow-downs which should not result in explosive physics simulation at a cost of loss of precision of real-time time as opposed to game-time. Game-time precision stays deterministic which possibly makes more sense as kill slowdowns is rather eye-candy or juice rather than gameplay-impacting mechanic.

Per one of our user's request we have added size control to Aquarium spawn system which will allow spawn solid objects and decorations in various sizes. For that extra unleashment of creativity!

• Disable many unused built-in packages
  
• Quick fix for ambient particles to have same behaviour as in 2017.4
  
• Do not change fixed delta time when changing time scale. This should fix explosive physics instabilities caused by time slowdowns
  
• Use icon instead of text to control spawned object size
  
• Fix flower prefab scaling
  
• Allow changing size of spawned objects in aquarium
  
• Upgrade to Unity 2018.4 version:
  
• Touch all prefabs
  
• Bump project settings
  
• Enable threaded physics
  
• Fix Spike error when ignoring dead targets
  
• New project settings files
  
• Update package manager manifest
  
• Image effect API update
  
• Bump project version
  
• Remove privacy plugin - it's now handled through Analytics package
  

Specimen of this mysterious breed have been sighted in all inhabited areas. We have called them Vagorians.


They have a utility zooid called Twister that creates small swirls which pull in and carry objects over distance. These swirls merge together in size and strength, becoming capable of moving significantly large objects or even Sipho colonies. We suspect this zooid might have been used as a long distance colony transport.


Vagorian colonies are held up with Peapod zooids which seem to be smaller than typical structure zooids. They allow more compact zooid growth and require less nutrition to sustain. Other colonies which adapt these zooids can become a real threat to all of living marine life.

Burstopod zooids are used for offence and defence. They release an enclosed shell filled with high-pressure unknown substance. The shell breaks with great force, damaging all creatures within small radius.


For local travel Vagorian colonies use Drifter zooids. They provide great colony turning force, but are less effective while strafing. They might have evolved to withstand or embrace great turning forces of swirls and whirlpools.

Our simulations for Aquarium have identified Vagorian environment as highly unstable. Their optimal environment is expected to be found somewhere between different areas where strong currents flow. It is littered with fragments of destroyed habitats brought in by strong currents flowing through.

• Make ambient particles get destroyed on all collisions except for obstacles
  
• Handle when there are no Layouts available for level wealth
  
• Fix incorrectly inverted ifs in Enemy Spawner
  
• Fix swirls not appearing over lower rocks
  
• Rename vagorian whirlpools to swirls
  
• Add Zooid ID upgrading
  
• Twister skill icon and name update
  
• Updated vagorian head ui icon
  
• Burstopod skill description updated
  
• Cheapie renamed to peapod
  
• Vagorian head description
  
• OneOfEach achievement now awarded for having zooids from 4 different breeds (including vagorian)
  
• Updated some vagorian descriptions and names
  
• Undo accidental Burstopod id change
  
• Added a Vagorian enemy sipho that drops 7 DNA on death
  
• Add a vagorian breed unlock achievement
  
• Vagorian Eater twister graphics
  
• Make Vagorian mover sprite larger
  
• Vagorians are now automatically spawned through all the levels
  
• Crafted a bunch more vagorians
  
• Don't allow using skills when in level transition
  
• Fix all layouts that use Vagorian structure
  
• Vagorians should not be forced to stay in the level after it ends
  
• Vagorian part balance
  
• Randomise rotation of explosion effects
  
• Make Vagorian structure 50% of normal size
  
• Enemies get annoyed by running away from dangerous things so they just attack
  
• Normalise vagorian mover size
  
• Added a simple vortex shader
  
• Remove vagorian mover energy bonus
  
• Proper stacking logic
  
• Add extra drops list for Sipho death
  
• Implement buff stacking
  
• Make Current poolable
  
• Add various Vagorian Layouts
  
• Prevent ear pain
  
• Change Burstopod sounds
  
• Add Vagorian support for Head selection
  
• Add a Burstopod explosion effect
  
• Correctly scale zooid regrowth ghosts
  
• Remove lingering prefab
  
• Change how currents look. Tone down Vagorian aquarium environment ambient particles to not clash with currents particles
  
• changed Vagorian color
  
• Make Alien aquarium use correct background prefab
  
• Add Vagorian Aquarium
  
• Forgot to push Vagorian mover
  
• Experiment with directionality - make Sea mover very bad at turning whole sipho and Vagorian good. Also tweak their movement powers
  
• Make Vagorian skills cost 30 energy
  
• Balance vagorian weapon and utility - effective, but expensive utility and many small bombs
  
• Make bombs have HP and set it to 2
  
• Fix bombs not registering kill statistics
  
• Added a zooid size setting, for scaling UI ghosts
  
• Vagorian head material
  
• Adjust ghost previews according to zooid scale
  
• Adjust Burstopod launch animation and skill icon
  
• Make vagorian movers and head animate
  
• Enable mipmaps for Vagorian sprites. Change structure scaling to fit collider. Adjust connector placement
  
• Vagorian breed uses new sprites
  
• Treat projectiles as an obstacle if far away from target. Always face target when in Attack state
  
• Treat all mines and bombs as Projectiles. Make projectiles collide. Why haven't we had mines as projectiles before?
  
• Report saved unknown zooid IDs to log
  
• Tweak twister. It now shrinks while having an object to pull and will gradually absorb smaller twisters instead of instantly
  
• Underwater level now spawns a single vagorian enemy with the new layout selection system
  
• Add the ability to select enemy layouts based on the level wealth
  
• Update disabled zooids to also contain buff managers
  
• Add an enum for layout selection when spawning enemies
  
• Push missing meta file
  
• Attempt to balance twister to synergise with bombs and projectiles
  
• Reduce time to live of projectiles to accomodate for lifetime per velocity increase
  
• Make twister swirl force omniclockwise - always increase velocity of objects inside
  
• Rotate projectiles according to their velocity. Add significantly more life when they're over top speed
  
• Move vagorians out of development
  
• Start tracking the progress of new breeds
  
• Add a new "Vagorian" breed. It should be the wanderer breed that has no homeland
  

Dear Parasite Designers,

We are happy to announce an updated of 0.3.5 version! This will hopefully be last minor update in 0.3 phase as we are working on the new breed in parallel. As you might have noticed, we are experimenting with two-week release cycle which keeps the updates flow. All of this means that the new breed is coming in two weeks!

One of the things we're seeing is that Queen boss seems to take a toll on many player's lives. Buginis breed is brittle, but deadly. That is why we have placed several powerups in the way to Queen itself to give a little encouragement for you to engage.

We have noticed that procedurally grown Siphos do not plan well enough their growth and get blocked by growing non-structures all around their perimeter. We have addressed this by allowing them to ungrow Zooids to enable themselves to grow further. Procedural growth is not what we have focused on in development, but if it proves to be interesting for you, let us know what would you expect from it.

Aquarium object multi-spawning should be more convenient and less ridiculous. We have limited rate at which multi-spawns happen over time. That fixes Multiple spawns at the same spot, but makes "drag fast to spawn many" break. To address that spawn rate is increased when mouse pointer is moving faster. So the first Aquarium experience of spawning many many many nutrients is still there.

• Add additional powerups to Queen area to guide players to a fight
  
• Make environment spikes less deadly
  
• Limit Aquarium multi-spawn by time, distance and size of spawned object. Also make frequency independent on framerate
  
• Fix non-highlight shaded zooids becoming dark when being color blended. Also remove unnecessary color brightness property and use HDR colors instead
  
• Ungrow zooids when procedural growth gets stuck
  
• Limit how many Heal and Stunned status effects play at the same time. Fixes game getting muted at large Sipho encounters
  
• Extend audio player to support limiting audio plays over time
  

Hello everyone!

We are happy to produce another update that improves quality of underwater life aspects.

You may wonder how do we decide to fix these random unrelated to each other things. We have a long backlog of changes that we want to do. This list has been gathered over time by just playtesting Sipho, by seeing someone else play live or through help of Youtubers and by reading your feedback. Some small things that require little attention shift are perfect for "getting into the development zone" before starting to work on larger things. Working on new features requires to have whole game source code "loaded up into the brain" which these small tasks help to achieve. Some of these tasks are also experimental implementations of new Zooids...

... which we are going to use to design a new breed! We currently have an exotic new breed in the works. It will feature four unique Zooids and will be available to learn about in all currently existing areas. We are tweaking new Zooid skills to be as versatile and synergetic as possible with other breeds without being too powerful.

• First level enemies won't dash and be annoying easy targets
  
• Dash skill now dashes forward even if the player is not already moving
  
• Make projectiles last longer if they're at their top speed
  
• Don't zoom the camera when mouse is over UI elements
  
• Fix Buginis ambience volume depending on player's position
  
• Re-enable faster Zooid growth by not recreating Layout with each zooid addition. Also fix lingering ghost issue after adding new zooids fast way
  
• Explicitly add BuffManager to each zooid prefab instead of adding the component in runtime. This slightly improves zooid growth performance