Progress Update 09/16/2023

We've had a burst of activity this week due to the sudden contributions of some unaffiliated programmers, so we are happy to say we've got a nice devbuild for this week as a result.

Unfortunately, the resulting onslaught of PRs that needed testing and approval ended up slowing down our work on the physics integration. We are lacking in dedicated playtesters and reviewers, so the task falls upon the shoulders of our programming team. Nonetheless, we've still made some headway.

Progress Update 09/09/2023

New feature development continued this week for 0.6.4 with the new feature of allowing chemoreceptors to be customized to detect cells. This will allow some interesting gameplay options like finding prey or predators that might be a threat to the player.

The performance related microbe stage reworking is still ongoing. Hopefully it won't be too long before this work is complete enough that we can share what kind of performance to expect with the changes and when we are able to finis…

Progress Update 09/02/2023

It's a brand new month, and progress continues to be made behind the scenes with the physics integration. Microbe movement has been reintroduced in the performance benchmark, and it currently shows a 100 fps increase compared to the normal performance at the same benchmark stage. Note that this result isn't final as the changes are still ongoing.

It's important to mention that until the integration is done, many features our volunteers contribute will immediately be subject to chang…

Progress Update 08/26/2023

The physics simulation integration continues as the primary focus, which should ultimately result in significant decreases in processing time related to physics handling. Our programming lead reports a roughly 20-50% faster processing rate for what has been integrated so far, which is very encouraging. Unfortunately this means there's not much else to report this week aside from another change to our AI.

• New DevBuild for our patrons:

  • The AI will now usu…

Progress Update 08/19/2023

This week we've had a bit of progress behind the scenes as our programming lead focuses on the performance refactor, which should hopefully free up enough resources to make for a more stable gameplay. Analysis on the state of AI is ongoing to determine what needs to be improved, so you may notice AI related github tasks begin to emerge.

And finally, a returning programmer has taken the time to put together a video explaining Thrive's autoevo and related matters! More on that below.

Progress Update 08/12/2023

The devbuild might be a little quaint this week as there is not much yet ready for release on the programming side of things, but we have had some substantial activity on our forums as some developers attempt to push forward some otherwise stalled discussions.

• New DevBuild for our patrons:
  • AI will now wait until it is pointing at its target before firing toxins to ensure it is more likely to hit.

• Nothing Substantial

• Resumed discuss…

Progress Update 08/05/2023

We are back in business this week as our primary programmer and employee is now back from vacation. This means progress will resume a steady pace as we are no longer solely relying on volunteer development.

• New DevBuild for our patrons:

  • Added an icon for oxytoxisome so that it no longer needs to share the icon that's for agent vacuole

  • Tweaked the colour of the editor confirm button warning badge

  • Updated our code checking tool version

Progress Update 07/29/2023

We've had a burst of activity this week, with a new icon design for the oxytoxysynthase, some new concept dsicussion, and some progress in the game's programming.

Unfortunately no patreon devbuild for this week, but development should considerably pick up with the return of our employee on the 31st this coming week. Thus it can be reasonably expected that we will begin to see devbuilds emerge.

• Nothing Substantial

• New oxytoxysome icon by Mirrormonkey12.

Progress Update 07/22/2023

Unfortunately no substantial progress to report this week. We've had some new concepts posted by our resident game designer, Deus, but efforts have otherwise stalled for the week as our volunteers largely find themselves busy with life. Rest assured, we just have one more week of this before our employee returns and development proceeds as normal.

For those of you here for our poll results, scroll down to the outreach section below!

• Nothing Substantial

• Nothi…

Progress Update 07/15/2023

This week we've begun to return to making headway now that we have a few returning programmers on hand to get the gears of progress turning! We'll continue to be running on volunteer work until the end of this month, so expect the changes to be quite gradual, but development will always continue. It's incredible how much of a difference a single paid developer can make, isn't it?

Last week we released a public poll to assess everyone's thoughts on Thrive's difficulty and complexity,…