Progress Update 9/26/2026

Hello and welcome to your weekly Thrive Progress Update! Our lead programmer had fewer working days this week, so our patch notes are shorter this time. The major feature I hinted at last week did get implemented in its basic form, though more refinements are likely to come next week.

That feature is our new gameplay cell layout preview and adjustment system! One of the most consistent complaints about the Multicellular Stage has been that the algorithm translating the cell hex layout into something that works in-game does not always provide the most good-looking (or even logical) results. This really is a fundamental problem with trying to fit a bunch of irregular- and differently-shaped objects into a hexagonal grid without leaving gaps or taking way too much processing time.

But now, you can see while still in the editor what the result is, and you can switch to manual mode if you want to put in the extra effort to get it to look exactly like you want. The editing itself is as simple as clicking a cell to pick it up, and clicking again to place it down in another location. Of course, you cannot place overlapping cells, but there are also other restrictions such as having to place each cell fairly close to most of the cells it is adjacent to in the hex layout. Placing new cells or editing cell types is quite likely to invalidate the layout you make, in which case you need to adjust it manually or re-generate an automatic layout.

There were also some smaller changes, though again not as many due to the shorter week. The hotkey for deleting things was not working in the Multicellular Editor, now it is. A contributor from outside the team added some new models that make the Society and Industrial Stage prototypes look a bit better. Meanwhile, over on the Development Forums, there was discussion on environmental tolerances, axon theory, design of Awakening and Society stages, and on implementing an option to reset the environment whenever you leave the editor.

Look below for additional details and screenshots if you're interested, and we'll see you next week for more updates!

Programming

• New Devbuild available to our Patreon Supporters:
  • Added a viewer and editor for the full multicellular colony layout to give players insight into why their colony is shaped the way it is and optionally to change it (while keeping the overall structure)
  • Changed the visuals of the society stage buildings and added separate visuals for the factory
  • Fixed the delete hotkey not working in the cell body plan editor
  • Added OpenGL compatibility to the prototype cloud renderer code
  • Updated git settings to specify a few file types to always use LF file endings. This should help with some persistent files changed problems on Windows.
  • Improved safety of the code handling starting of auto-evo run and publishing the background operation results
  • Updated AngleSharp from 1.8.1 to 1.8.2
  • Increased Godot-using unit test connect timeout to try to make them more reliable in CI
  • Fixed a problem in organelle removal tests
  • Updated translations

Graphics

• Updated placeholder models for the Society and Industrial Stage prototypes:
  • Improved model for Society Centre:
  • Improved model for Hunter/Gatherer Lodge:
  • New model for the Steam Factory:

Gameplay

• Cell layout preview and manual adjustment:
  • In the Multicellular editor, you can now see a preview of the layout your organism will have once you actually exit the editor.
  • If desired, you can switch to manual mode to adjust the exact positions of cells. There are some restrictions though:
    • No disconnected cells (at any point in the growth order).
    • Each cell still needs to be directly adjacent to at least one cell that it is adjacent to in the “basic” layout.
    • Each cell also needs to be “close enough” (maximum two hexes in between) to the other cells it is adjacent to in the “basic” layout, but you can break this rule twice for each cell.
  • This feature will likely still have adjustments made before release, as is the case for the automatic placement algorithm. Right now for example, the automatic layout does occasionally break rules 1 and 3.
• Game design discussions:
  • Announcement of a prototype for the environmental tolerance rework.
  • A decision on how to implement patch/environment resets.
  • A proposal on dynamic systems in the strategy Stages.
  • Continued discussion on Culture systems, particularly for the strategy stages.

UI

• A new tab was created in the Multicellular editor for using the new layout preview and manual mode:

Sound

• Nothing substantial.

Theory

• A quick summary on neurons/axons.

Outreach

• The second loading screen art contest is still ongoing. Art submissions of any level of quality or experience are welcome!

Other

• Nothing substantial.