Devblog #50: Microbe Stage Complete!
Welcome all to this very special devblog celebrating the release of Thrive version 1.0! This release marks the completion of the Microbe Stage, the first stage of the 9 planned. The Microbe stage will continue to be supported with balancing and bug fix updates, and volunteers are welcome to continue to make contributions to it. But our main development efforts will now focus on our second stage, Multicellular.
In the time since version 0.9.0, we've mainly been focused on fixes, adjustments and balancing to make this release the best it could be. But that still included some more notable features. This includes: new map events to mix up compound amounts, a visualisation of your population on the patch map, a slight re-work of the functioning of the pilus and more of each species' characteristics being taken into account by our auto-evo system. Graphically, a big bug was fixed that made all our release versions less bright than intended, and improvements to the visuals of the terrain chunks.
As always the update is available for free with our launcher, or you can support development by purchasing on Steam or Itch.io. If you already own a copy of Thrive, you can also get the soundtrack. We really need your support in order to continue development at the current pace into the Multicellular and Macroscopic Stage development.
Read on for more details, or visit the download page linked below to get the new version.
Thrive 1.0.0
See our patch notes for full details, or read on for some of the highlights.
Reflecting on the Journey
As those who have been with us the longest know, Thrive’s development has gone through cycles of stagnation, highs, lows - and ultimately - grit. For a significant portion of our project’s history, there was uncertainty on whether we would reach this point in the first place.
The earliest times of Thrive’s history are before the time of even most of the current developers, but it was an era where competing visions and ideas met intense manpower limitations. Thrive’s scope grew to an otherworldly size, a wishlist of a game aiming to represent something as wonderful as the endless forms of life.
From this point, development was refined until a more centralized development team was organized. From this first generation of development onwards, the fundamentals of Thrive’s Microbe Stage were hammered out. And after several years and successive development generations, it became obvious that Thrive as a game can genuinely be fun and true to its goal as a scientifically accurate evolution simulator. Numerous eras of development have passed, each with their own contributors, challenges, and successes.
What can be said is that the current development team stands on the shoulders of giants. And that everything is possible only through the support of our beloved community. Without you, the reader, Thrive could have easily fizzled out years ago. And now - through collaboration, community, and the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, working towards an often-times impossibly distant horizon - we welcome a feature-complete Microbe Stage.
Terrain Visual Improvements
The terrain chunks have been given baked-in ambient occlusion maps, which gives them more visual depth. Some chunks have also been made appropriately shiny. For example the chunk of pyrite on the right, also known as fool's gold.
New Events
Several new patch events have been added. Runoff in coastal patches and upwellings in ocean patches increase the the amounts of a selection of compounds. Dilution, on the other hand, reduces the amount of compounds available. This makes the world more dynamic, as compounds you are relying on may suddenly become less common, even as other opportunities suddenly arise.
Additional Features
- Overhaul of the MP calculation system, eliminating many bugs and exploits.
- Added player population visualization dots on the map.
- Auto-evo now considers the usage, collection and production of Ammonia and Phosphate.
- Ammonia levels are now dynamic, consumed by life, and produced by species with the right parts.
- Thermosynthesis has been re-implemented as producing glucose instead of ATP, making it a much more viable energy source.
- Auto-evo now evolves and calculates for many more things, such as different toxin types, turning speed, sprinting speed and health.
- Added graphics preset options.
- The pilus has been reworked and now deals continuous damage on contact.
- Microbe movement speed now impacts how loud the movement sound is for the cell
A full list of changes is available in our release notes on GitHub.
What’s Next
As said before, this release concludes the main development of the Microbe Stage. Finally, we can look to the future, and are shifting focus to the Multicellular Stage. The good news is that the next Stage makes use of a lot of the same mechanics that the Microbe Stage does. With that, we hope that total development on the Multicellular Stage will only take one year. Which would mean that in about one year, we would be announcing the release of 2.0, and the beginning of development on the Macroscopic Stage. Let's work to make that happen!
A bit different from the usual, our developer Thrivestream will be on Saturday instead of today on the release day. We'll celebrate the release on the stream, but also answer the usual question of what's coming in the next releases. You can visit our feedback thread to give your thoughts on this release.
Watch the stream:
