[h2]Farming Fest Event Starts[/h2]

Steam Farming Fest has just launched. What impact does it have on you, what can you benefit from it?

[h3]Firstly, you can get the Farmer's Life game with the best discount ever 40%! You can even get it cheaper in a bundle:[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24981/Creatura_and_Farmer/


[h3]Secondly, we have just launched a much anticipated DLC "Pimp my Cottage DLC"[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2926840/Farmers_Life__Pimp_my_Cottage_DLC


Don't have or don't want to spend any $ today? Fine. We have an offer for that also.

[h3]Gardener Plant Creator has launched today. Try it, it's free. It's a unique "introduction" to the Gardener game.[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2813710/Gardener_Plant_Creator

Have fun!
FreeMind

Hello gamers,

[h3]In just a few days the Gardener Plant Creator, a free-to-play oasis of creativity will be launching on Steam on April 29th. [/h3]



We invite you all to immerse yourselves in the art of botanical design, where imagination knows no bounds. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or simply appreciate the beauty of nature.

[h3]Watch game trailer here[/h3] [previewyoutube=u_bp6n6odJk;full][/previewyoutube]

Want to know more? Check here

[h2]Wishlist now: [/h2]https://store.steampowered.com/app/2813710/Gardener_Plant_Creator

Be one of the first to unlock all gens and be ready to put your creative juices flowing from the very beginning in the full Gardener game!

Whether you're a seasoned gardener or simply appreciate the beauty of nature. Gardener Plant Creator is a simple yet useful and unique tool. You create and unlock countless plants that you can share and use in the upcoming Gardener game.

[h3] Remember: This is just a small fraction of the possibilities that await you inside the full Gardener game.[/h3]

Here is the full game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2052790/Gardener/

All the best,
Koksny and FreeMind

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

[h3]10 games from FreeMind, developed or published are now on sale during the Games Defying Gravity Sale has just launched - House Builder, Farmer's Life, Aquarist, and more![/h3]

Click here to find out more.





[h3]Starting now, it will last until 2nd of May.[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/781130/Creatura/




If you missed our latest announcements, check these


Three new DLC's for FreeMind games:

"The Atomic Age" DLC for House Builder just released
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2802330/House_Builder__The_Atomic_Age_DLC


Japanese Garden DLC for Aquarist has been announced
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2802320/Aquarist__Japanese_Garden_DLC/


Pimp my Cottage DLC for Farmer's Life is coming out soon
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2926840/Farmers_Life__Pimp_my_Cottage_DLC/


Happy shopping
FreeMind team

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

[h3]We have just launched [b]Aquarist[/b][/h3]

[previewyoutube=mB-oIIYRQK4;full][/previewyoutube]

A relaxing sandbox casual simulation game where you perform various, even strange, aquarium-related tasks on very diverse levels. As an Aquarist you must create and manage a home to amazing fish, sea turtles, sharks, octopuses, and more. Aquarium is their world and life. Make it worth...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1430760/Aquarist/


[h3]You can buy the game even cheaper in a bundle. Check it out:[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/26113/Aquarist_and_Creatura/

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

[h3]We have just launched Farmer's Father[/h3]

[previewyoutube=9bnxCvkLVss;full][/previewyoutube]

Imagine waking up in the middle of the snowy night to the sounds of a falling sky. Explosions, fire, chaos, the frightened whimper of your child. Its your turn: now or never, slip away from your enemies before it's too late

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1905980/Farmers_Father_Save_the_Innocence/


[h3]You can buy the game even cheaper in a bundle. Check it out:[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/31323/Farmers_Father_and_Creatura/


Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

Hello folks!

Here's a quick update for players looking for news about Creatura 2.0. As you may know, I'm currently working on another title called Gardener, which shares a backend framework with Creatura for generating plants - the Orchard Engine API. This new way of rendering plants and simulating their growth still uses Creatura's DNA system but is superior to its predecessor in every way.

In a couple of weeks, we will release Gardener Plant Creator, a free app that showcases the Orchard Engine and its possibilities. Everyone on Steam will be able to preview the next-gen plant simulation that will power Creatura 2.0 after Gardener's release.

To see what to expect from Gardener Plant Creator and Gardener itself, watch the latest Gardener devlog, where I briefly explain the plant editor software and how it works.

[previewyoutube=6ayzrgO15_Q;full][/previewyoutube]

Until the release, have fun, and hopefully see you all soon in the new and improved aquariums/terrariums!

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

[h3]We have just launched ServiceIT[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2194730/ServiceIT_You_can_do_IT

Fix electronics manage firm challenge the hacker... ServiceIT is a simulation game where you run a full-service IT company to engage in tasks like diagnosing, repairing equipment, network infiltration, programming, and server management while an Anonymous hacker keeps sabotaging it all.


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39237/ServiceIT_and_Creatura


Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

We want you to know that our friends from Creative Forge Games have just launched Builders of Greece


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Get it now and have fun playing:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/38737/Builders_of_Greece_and_Creatura


Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

[h3]We have just launched Medieval Machines Builder[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1584680/Medieval_Machines_Builder/

Here you can watch the Medieval Machines Builder launch trailer
[previewyoutube=-Pb-LMjte-8;full][/previewyoutube]


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/38614/Medieval_Machines_and_Creatura


Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

We want you to know that our friends from Creative Forge Games have just launched Colonize


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Get it now and have fun playing:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/38747/Colonize_and_Creatura


Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h2]Steam Next Fest has started![/h2]



[h3]We offer you the possibility to Cook and Build with the Restaurant Builder Demo on Steam Next Fest[/h3]


[h3]Download a demo that we have prepared for you now.[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2235490/Restaurant_Builder/



We also invite you to take a look at our upcoming game

Medieval Machines Builder
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1584680/Medieval_Machines_Builder/

Have fun

[h3]Hello gamers,[/h3]

[h3]Today is Snowplow Mailbox Hockney Day

To celebrate that we have launched a free prologue of Snow Plowing Simulator Snow Plowing Simulator - First Snow[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2639460/Snow_Plowing_Simulator__First_Snow/


[h3]Here you can watch new launch trailer[/h3]

[previewyoutube=X6O0xsq6b_4;full][/previewyoutube]


Sit back, download, relax, and start plowing. A lot of snow awaits you!

Have fun,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

[h3]"HOUSE BUILDER" has just fully released on Steam [/h3]



[h3]Watch the latest trailer here:[/h3]

[previewyoutube=63t3JV-_Gbo;full][/previewyoutube]

You can buy the game in a bundle:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24982/Creatura_and_House/


[h3]You can buy the game separately here:[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1244630/House_Builder/

We also have great bundles. Check some of them here:
1. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37968/Construction_of_Houses/
2. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37471/House_Flipper_and_Builder_Together/
3. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37966/Thief_and_House_Builder_2/
4. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/23647/Castle_and_House/

The World is Yours

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]PS. Today we have a lot of discounted games. Check them out here:[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/freemind/#browse

[h2]Hello Creatura fans,[/h2]

[h3]After so long we have at last arrived on Xbox. [/h3]



Those who want to try it on console. Here is the link for you:
https://www.xbox.com/games/store/creatura/9p10l2608550



Have fun

[h3] Free-to-play prologue of Medieval Machines Builder -[b]First Siege has just launched![/b][/h3]

Play now and start destroying everything with Medieval machines

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2669550/Medieval_Machines_Builder__First_Siege/

Here you can see its trailer: [previewyoutube=qH4l6Ys3Xf8;full][/previewyoutube]


[h3]Full game here[/h3] Wishlist it if you've liked the prologue
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1584680/Medieval_Machines_Builder

Have fun playing
Dev team

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

Today we have two announcements:

Firstly, we have just announced a new unique next-gen gardening simulation "GARDENER"

Watch the reveal trailer here:

[previewyoutube=eZweJcQumIo;full][/previewyoutube]

Wishlist the game here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2052790/Gardener/

Secondly, our friends from Creativeforge Games have launched game Beer Factory


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30306/Beer_Creatura/


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

PS. Our game Restaurant Builder is getting vital devlogs starting today, so if you are up for this kind of game, check it out now:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2235490/Restaurant_Builder/

[h3]A specific introduction to [b]ServiceIT game has just launched![/b][/h3]

CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian Introduction is out now and ready to be played (for free or on course).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2689130/CipherCraft_Cyber_Guardian_Introduction/

Here you can see its trailer: [previewyoutube=3qzdgGmrPgk;full][/previewyoutube]


[h3]Full game here [/h3]https://store.steampowered.com/app/2194730/ServiceIT_You_can_do_IT/

Have fun playing
Dev team


[h3]PS. We have two more free-to-play games coming in January.
Check it out[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2639460/Snow_Plowing_Simulator__First_Snow

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2669550/Medieval_Machines_Builder__First_Siege

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

13 games from FreeMind, developed or published are now on sale during the Steam Winter Sale - House Builder, Farmer's Life, Aquarist, and more!

Click here to find out more.



Starting now, it will last until 4th of January, 10 am Pacific time.



If you missed our latest announcements, check these

[h3]DEAL OF THE WEAK: [/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37471/House_Flipper_and_Builder_Together/



[h3]3 FREE PROLOGUES COMING IN JANUARY:[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2639460/Snow_Plowing_Simulator__First_Snow

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2669550/Medieval_Machines_Builder__First_Siege

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2689130/CipherCraft_Cyber_Guardian_Introduction


Happy shopping

Hello gamers,

We have just announced a new game Medieval Machines Builder - First Siege.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2669550/Medieval_Machines_Builder__First_Siege

Here you can see the announcement trailer.

[previewyoutube=qH4l6Ys3Xf8;full][/previewyoutube]









It is a free-to-play prologue of the Medieval Machines Builder game that will be coming out later in 2024.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1584680/Medieval_Machines_Builder



Wishlist it to be up to date with the news and support the dev team.


Have fun,
FreeMind games.

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

We want you to know that our friends from Movie Games have just launched Beyond Sunset


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36367/


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

[h3]Today first ever pirate real-time tactics stealth game "Frigato: Shadows of the Caribbean" that started in Early Access - now is finally Fully Released[/h3]


If you want to check how the game looks, here is the latest trailer
[previewyoutube=H923FwBbH-0;full][/previewyoutube]


[h3]You can buy it cheaper in a bundle[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/32661/Frigatura/

[h3]Or separately when it's 20% off![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1667750/Frigato_Shadows_of_the_Caribbean


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

[h3]Today is a very important day for our company.

Our first game "Farmer's Life" that started in Early Access - now is finally Fully Released[/h3]


If you want to check how the game looks, here is the latest trailer [previewyoutube=2P95PhreUCo;full][/previewyoutube]


[h3]You can buy it cheaper in a bundle[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24981/Creatura_and_Farmer/

[h3]Or separately when it's 20% off![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1137750/Farmers_Life


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

We want you to know that our friends from Movie Games have just launched Alaskan Road Truckers


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35885/Alaskan_Creatura/







Just to let you know, one of our most important games is getting a full release on the 20th of October. There will be a special contest with great prizes so maybe check it out:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1137750/Farmers_Life/

If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

[h3]Farmer's Life is coming out of Early Access on 20th of October[/h3]

[previewyoutube=FDyTHzktpcY;full][/previewyoutube]


A lot of new stuff you can see there. Check them here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1137750/view/3727347341067100298


Most importantly from the 18th of September, the price is going up to 19.99$. It's the last day to get the game cheaper.

You can buy it cheaper in a bundle
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24981/Creatura_and_Farmer/

Or separately
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1137750/Farmers_Life/

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

[h3]Painter Simulator has just came out of an Early Access[/h3]

[previewyoutube=5bPY8EX9cYg;full][/previewyoutube]


A lot of new stuff you can see there. Check them here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2052780/view/3648532445864593545


You can buy it cheaper in a bundle
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30914/Painter_and_Creatura/

Or separately
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2052780/Painter_Simulator/

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

We just want you to know that we have just launched our new game Pool Cleaning Simulator on Steam.

If you want to check how the game looks, here is the latest trailer [previewyoutube=Sy1iidNsZOk;full][/previewyoutube]

You can grab the game when it's 15% off!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2165620/Pool_Cleaning_Simulator/


We have prepared als a lot of bundles There is a bundle also with Creatura:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/34263/



If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

We just want you to know that Split has just got out of Early Access on Steam.

If you want to check how the game looks, here is the latest trailer [previewyoutube=Uq4guAaxMCw;full][/previewyoutube]


You can grab the game when it's 70% off!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/743380/Split__manipulate_time_make_clones_and_solve_cyber_puzzles_from_the_future/


We have prepared als a lot of bundles. There is a bundle also with Creatura:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/25468/Creatura__Split/



If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

Our friends from Fully Involved Game Studios are now having a daily deal on their game Into the Flames. What does it mean? Great discount


Cheapest always in our bundle offer
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/29631/Creatura_in_Flames/


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

PS. On the 31st of August are new casual and relaxing simulator "Pool Cleaning Simulator" is coming out on Steam. If you like the idea and want to know all ins and out of the dirties game of this summer, wishlist now.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2165620/Pool_Cleaning_Simulator/

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

The graveyard has more ships, as Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 has just launched on Steam!


For all fans of simulators we have prepared a bundle
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/34188/


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

PS. On the 31st of August are new casual and relaxing simulator "Pool Cleaning Simulator" is coming out on Steam. If you like the idea and want to know all ins and out of the dirties game of this summer, wishlist now.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2165620/Pool_Cleaning_Simulator/

[h3]Hello gamers[/h3]

Is anyone here who wants to go into space?


If you've watched "Gravity" movie you probably know it's not a walk in the park. Test your skill as a mechanic, feel the space, listen to great music and most of all relax in a new game of our friends from Atomic Jelly "Space Mechanic Simulator" that just launched on Steam!

We have prepared for you a bundle
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/32214/Space_Mechanic_and_Creatura/


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

PS. On the 31st of August are new casual and relaxing simulator "Pool Cleaning Simulator" is coming out on Steam. If you like the idea and want to know all ins and out of the dirties game of this summer, wishlist now.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2165620/Pool_Cleaning_Simulator/

[h3]Hello again[/h3]

We want you to know that our friends from Creative Forge have just launched Music Store Simulator



We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/29636/


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

We want you to know our friends from Movie Games have just launched Brewpub Simulator



We have prepared a bundle with Creatura Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/33049/


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

We want you to know Frigato: Shadows of the Caribbean has just launched on Steam.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1667750/Frigato_Shadows_of_the_Caribbean


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/32661/

If you want to know more about Frigato check two great trailers
[previewyoutube=H923FwBbH-0;full][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube=J9Ss2sSx7v0;full][/previewyoutube]

If you prefer to listen to music. Here you can get real pirates vibes
[previewyoutube=R9xkJ7GHQ10;full][/previewyoutube]

If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

Hello folks! Creatura 2.0, as previously teased, is more than just an update; it's a full-fledged upgrade intended to deliver a more polished and engaging experience. Following up on my last community post, let's uncover more about the tweaks and additions in gameplay, genetics, and the UI, starting with the significant revamp of game difficulty.

[h2]Taming the Wild - Game Difficulty Overhaul[/h2]
In the nascent stages of Creatura, back in 2016, my vision was straightforward - akin to a sophisticated "tamagotchi" game with realistic genetics and customizable environments. Over time, and due to various factors such as feature creep and certain gameplay diversions, this vision shifted, leading to a game where challenge and reward weren't always congruous. While it was rewarding to successfully use edyGene or create visually appealing vivariums, the challenge was often skewed more towards struggling with UI rather than meeting the game's objectives.

In Creatura 2.0, we're bringing the focus back to the original intent. We're restructuring the game to make creating, evolving, and discovering new animals the true objective through and through. In most cases, all animals will require only other animal orders to evolve, with exceptions for some early-tier creatures. While the environment will still impact animals' genomes (e.g., adjusting colors for better camouflage), no specific plant will be needed for evolution to occur.

This change will also address the current limitation where the visual appeal of your vivarium is tethered to your progress. We're ensuring that altering your tank's flora won't directly impact its fauna, leaving you with more freedom to aesthetically decorate your tank or concentrate on resolving animal dependencies to progress its evolution. While it may not be entirely realistic, this adjustment is designed to enhance enjoyment and reduce idle time. For example, you could use the waiting period for new animals to evolve to either get creative with plant decorations or discover new genome markers.

[h2]Genome Editing - Part of the Interface[/h2]
In Creatura 2.0, we're integrating genome editing more seamlessly into the user interface, removing unnecessary hurdles and making the process more intuitive and enjoyable.

The complexity of genetic engineering, although a realistic aspect of the game, has previously been an intimidating feature for many players, especially newcomers. To address this, we've worked on decluttering the genome editing interface, specifically the edyGene 2.0. For instance, the earlier versions displayed all genome base pairs which, while educational, often overwhelmed players with its complexity. In Creatura 2.0, we've removed this element to make the tool more accessible and user-friendly.

Another area of focus has been the genome editing tools themselves. Despite being a game producer, even I have found it challenging to explain the difference between using InVitro and Cas9 methods, while the X-ray method, with its intricate setup, was commonly misused as a "kill this specimen" button.

Here's how we've improved the tools:

• X-ray Tier: We've made this tool more streamlined. It will now require you to select a single codon to apply random value changes, removing the need for additional manual input.
  
• In Vitro Tier: This tool has seen a complete overhaul. Once you select a single codon from the active genome, it will copy values from the same codon of a selected stored genome (provided you have one).
  
• Cas9 Tier: While this tool will still allow for direct genome editing, it now comes with a unique interface equipped with new utilities and tools. This change will make the process more approachable for expert players without compromising the intricate manipulation of genes.
  

[h2]Any aspiring Martians around here?[/h2]

Today, our friends from Pyramid Games are releasing their survival simulation game Occupy Mars: The Game!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/758690/Occupy_Mars_The_Game/

To celebrate with them, we created a special bundle, which includes 4 FreeMind games

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/32174/Occupy_Mars_Launch_Celebration/

Become one of the first astronauts to settle down on the Red Planet. Make no mistake, though. Its not an easy task! Conditions on Mars are unforgiving and you will need to think on your feet in order to survive!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlLJdDhv3b0

The launch is at 6:00 PM CEST!

Will we see you on Mars?


By the way, if you are interested in different type of game featuring pirates, check Frigato, which will be coming out very soon
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1667750/Frigato_Shadows_of_the_Caribbean/

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

We want you to know Forest Ranger Simulator has just launched on Steam.


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/31716/

If you want to know more about Forest Ranger Simulator check the trailer and Steam card
[previewyoutube=armvnO_RIjY;full][/previewyoutube]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1185780/Forest_Ranger_Simulator/

If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]Hello fellow gamers[/h3]

We want you to know our friends have premiere of Coal Mining Simulator today on Steam.


We have prepared a bundle with Creatura. Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/31668/Creatura__Coal_Mining_Simulator/


If you want to talk with us, share your opinion, speak with the community, send feedback, or just goof around. Jump on our discord_server We are waiting!

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

Creatura 2.0 - De Integro Plantae Update

Hello folks! It's been a while since last update, and you're probably wondering what we've been up to. Although I've been absorbed in our new project, Gardener Simulator, I haven't forgotten the roots of the Creatura community. So, let's take a stroll through the blossoming world of Creatura 2.0.

As technology progresses and development skills improve, I've come to understand that maintaining the old Creatura codebase (with some remnants dating back to 2016) is like trying to grow a vibrant garden in depleted soil. To truly flourish, I'm transitioning the codebase to a new semi-engine that will nurture both Creatura and Gardener Simulator. We've made significant progress on both games and look forward to showcasing them in the near future.

To clarify, Creatura 2.0 is not a sequel, but rather a comprehensive and free update for our dedicated players. We envision games as services that evolve over time, just like streaming platforms that continuously receive improvements without releasing sequels. With this in mind, we're exploring different ways to introduce Creatura 2.0 to Steam, whether as a new title, a "definitive edition," or a simple update for the existing game. Regardless of our final decision, all existing Creatura players will have access to version 2.0 at no additional cost, while the original game will remain available for legacy purposes. Please be aware, though, that soon the pricing for Creatura will be adjusted upwards, and we don't foresee offering significant discounts for an extended period, as is customary with newly launched titles.

[h2]Features of Creatura 2.0:[/h2]

• Refined plant growth model: Our updated system allows for a more controlled recursive growth process, simulating not just annual but also perennial growth. You'll be able to cultivate various plants, including realistic trees.
  
  
  New perennial growth model showcase.
  
  
• Enhanced plant complexity: With an increased nodes limit, our new built-from-scratch rendering pipeline for plants paves the way for larger and more intricate flora. Get ready for a visually richer experience.
  
  
• Goodbye, awkward tree angles: Plants can now bend and grow in unique shapes, not just on a structural level. No more tree branches defying gravity at 45-degree angles.
  
  
• New ground system: Forget the old 5x3 grid. New terrain simulation allows for much more customization and should be less taxing on performance. A win-win.
  
  
• Upgraded camera controls, scenarios, and freeplay revamp: We're refining the "My Vivariums"/creative mode experience and providing you with more control over your virtual green space.
  
  
• Streamlined features and UI: We're pruning away confusing or subpar elements from the game and optimizing the overall experience for more intuitive and enjoyable gameplay.
  
  
• We're obviously working also on a few extra surprises to further elevate the Creatura experience, but we'll keep those under wraps for now.
  

[h2]Hello Gamers,[/h2]

[h3]Steam Next Fest has started[/h3]



FreeMind has prepared for you a lot of presents


[h3]HERE ARE 5 GAMES TO PLAY FORE TODAY (DEMO)[/h3]

FOREST RANGER SIMULATOR
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1185780/Forest_Ranger_Simulator

FARMER'S FATHER: SAVE THE INNOCENCE
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1905980/Farmers_Father_Save_the_Innocence/

PAINTER SIMULATOR
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2052780/Painter_Simulator/

SNOW PLOWING SIMULATOR
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2096030/Snow_Plowing_Simulator/

SERVICE IT: YOU CAN DO IT
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2194730/ServiceIT_You_can_do_IT/

[h3]KICKSTARTER[/h3]
Just to let you know our Kickstarter is ending soon. These are the last moments to grab your rewards.



[h3]DISCOUNTS[/h3]

Our games got new updates and a discount of 20%. So tell your friends to grab them while on sale:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1430760/Aquarist/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2052770/Aquarist_VR/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1244630/House_Builder/


[h3]NEW TRAILERS[/h3]

AQUARIST NEW UPDATE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWrcZnXnS0I

RESTAURANT BUILDER - NEW ANNOUNCEMENT TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idBGhRNzIGk

SERVICE IT: YOU CAN DO IT - NEW ANNOUNCEMENT TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3UUlXnMC-Y

FARMER'S FATHER: SAVE THE INNOCENCE - NEW DEMO TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgOph0Xun3c

PAINTER SIMULATOR - NEW DEMO TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caXv4VZl-jM

SNOW PLOWING SIMULATOR - NEW DEMO GAMEPLAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOqnFac-d38

Have a great time playing,
FreeMind team.

[h3]BOOOOOO!
Join us in this fantastic event and dive into world of Creatura during magical October! We've got several surprises for you! Don't hesitate to check them out! [/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/781130/Creatura/

[h3]Check out this fantastic bundle we've made together with our friends! Buy Ultimate Fishing Simulator and Aquarist and save 29%![/h3]

Are you a fishing fanatic? With Ultimate Fishing Simulator 2 you can prove it! Here's a fishing simulator with six picturesque locations where you'll catch more than 60 species of fish, including the giant tiger shark. Grab your rod, adventure awaits!


Get the best aquarium store in town! Create, renew, manage, observe. See if you can create an aquarium empire.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/27538/Ultimate_Fishing_Simulator_2__Aquarist/?fbclid=IwAR0L-X7wdJLHK3vGqTvXeSTKrt1EnNoHfgrxu1pLj0YqHAA3c3Erx3H-kM0
steamthissteamthissteamthis

[h3]We are very happy to announce that Creatura is now 20%!
Additionally, we are proud to present to you Creatura DEMO you can play for FREE and get to know Creatura's world better... [/h3]

Both Aquarist and Creatura are games created for dreamers who would love to develop lives of many beautiful creatures at home but for some reason - it is not possible. But what are games for? steamhappy

In regards to fullfilling need of any dreamer, we come to you with our new bundle - Aquarist and Creatura - check it out! Save 21% and make your dreams come true! steamhappy

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/26113/Aquarist_and_Creatura/
steamthissteamthissteamthis

Dear Players!

[h3]Weve just released a new bundle! Thanks to Dinosaur and Creatura Bundle you can now purchase our Creatura together with Dinosaur Fossil Hunter - a Paleontology Simulator made by our friends at Pyramid Games! [/h3]




[h3]Try both games in the unique bundle:[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/25776/

Now you can enjoy Creatura 20% OFF and with many new languages! steamhappy
We added to the game:

• Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• French
  
• Simplified Chinese
  
• German
  
• Spanish
  
• Italian
  
• Japanese
  
• Korean
  
• Polish
  
• Turkish
  

[h3]Check out our amazing bundle Creatura in the Aquarium[/h3].. and save 10% buying both Creatura and Aquarium Designer!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/25083/Creatura_in_the_Aquarium/

Implemented localizations
- Vsync can be now enabled in Options
- Auto-save intervals can be now set in Options
- Tall plants are now considered over 2 nodes tall
- Very tall plants are now considered 5 nodes tall
- Short plants are now considered under 3 nodes tall
- Auto inventory toggling can be now enabled in Options
- Reduced maximum plant complexity (From: 2/3/6 or 3/3/5, to: 3/3/5 max)
- Character dialogues can be now disabled when loading tutorial scenarios
- Simple DNA editor can be now enabled when generating new Freeplay tank
- Fixed animal misselection when creating new animal family
- Fixed time lapsing sometimes not working
- Fixed overview camera tank stand visibility
- Fixed random crashes while saving
- Fixed slot 125 in global inventory

Watch out stream on SimFest! steamhappy
https://store.steampowered.com/app/781130/Creatura/

Balanced DNA sequencing duration
- Balanced experience gains
- Balanced experience required for research levels
- Implemented scorpions
- Genomes are now 128 codons long
- Research level is no longer capped at 40
- Animals DNA can mutate now pack behaviour
- Plants DNA can mutate now leafs color gradients
- DNA sequencing is now required for each specimen
- Plants DNA can mutate now fruits and flowers color gradients
- Plant color mutations are no longer limited to 3 variants per plant
- Tutorial dialogues button references are now dynamically generated
- Almanac species now inherit name of parent species if it is discovered
- Animals DNA genome order is now unified and no longer affected by animal type
- Plants DNA genome order is now unified and structural mutations no longer affect it

Hello folks. Due to changes in the research system and genome length/mapping, a save wipe will be performed on the next update.

Old pre-1.1.3.1 .state files and Player.data files are unfortunately no longer compatible, and might cause unexpected behaviour if attempted to be sideloaded into Creatura saves directory. Your Steam achievements, statistics and in-game currency will remain unchanged.

If You wish to attempt using the old data anyway, backup the contents of "C:\Users\\AppData\LocalLow\Koksny\Creatura" before starting the game after update, and copy them back after first run of version 1.1.3.1."

Thank You for the continuous support, and hope to see all new tanks with the new expanded genetics, allowing much more customization and better gene editing experience! Have fun!

[h3]We are proud and happy to announce: from now on, Aquarist is in Early Access![/h3]

Get the best aquarium store in town! Create, renew, manage, observe. See if you can create an aquarium empire. steamthumbsup

Let us know how you like our Early Access version and don't forget to make some shots! steamhappy

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1430760/Aquarist__build_aquariums_grow_fish_develop_your_business/
steamthissteamthissteamthis

Hello beautiful Creatures!

[h3]We are happy to announce, Creatura - new game published by FreeMind - is now 20% off! Join this epic journey over epochs of evolutions, manage and recreate fully customizable vivariums and enjoy your creation!
[/h3]

In Creatura, design and take care of enclosed ecosystems full of animals and plants grown from scratch, using scientifically accurate natural/artificial selection and genetic engineering. Make an epic journey over epochs of evolution, from single cell organisms sharing water with algae, to complex animals living in lush gardens. Manage and recreate fully customizable vivariums, while carefully balancing biomes characteristics to sustain perfect ecosystems. Fulfill unique almanac with species yet to be discovered, and edit your own fauna & flora with authentic DNA editor, learning how modern tools and techniques like CRISPR and GMO work in detail.

Check it out down below! -20% only for a while

https://store.steampowered.com/app/781130/Creatura/

Implemented Steam Leaderboards
- Implemented transparent background screenshots
- Animal tissue type now affects species evolution depending on biome temperature
- Microbiome camera no longer blocks faster time lapsing mode
- Unlocked store items and tools are now displayed on level up
- Almanac displays now missing links between known species
- Evolution scenarios now reward tank stands on completion
- Reward chests contain now 11 new vivarium stand models
- Store items now require minimum research level to buy
- Camera edge rotation is now active on vertical edges
- Almanac stores now genomes usable in edyGene
- Fixed side reflections options sliders and toggles
- Improved sponge meshes and textures
- Improved plant base stalk scaling
- Refactored camera modes handling
- Refactored Almanac

Usual warning: Below text contains technicalities and developer insight. If You are just interested in playing Creatura - TL;DR: As always an update is coming, almanac has been replaced and now stores genomes for later use. Details are below, cheers!

Since the inception of the almanac feature in August 2018, it wasn't really part of any update cycle spotlight. In fact, the word "Almanac" on the changelog has been only a hero of a single category: "Fixed"; single handedly introducing many crashes and bugs into the game, as long as it was part of Creatura. Until now.

[h3]Keep It Simple, Stupid.[/h3]
Most of us, given a problem, will attempt to solve it with the most efficient solution. Some classical solutions, however, could be seen by an inexperienced naive newcomer, as deserving upgrade, or worse - inventing them from scratch. That's an unfortunate part of the Dunning-Krugger effect - our inability to assess the complexity of what we don't know. Lacking necessary knowledge, one often assumes things are deceptively simple, or can be easily improved. Unfortunately as a new and naive developer, I have fallen into this exact trap.

Taxonomic systems are hundreds of years old. The people who have designed ways to visually represent them either had scientific titles longer than my name, or have spent most of their careers working with taxonomic systems. The chance to improve something in a field that has been meticulously shaped by experts over decades is relatively small. The chance to make it better from scratch is basically none. The chance to make it an unintuitive, confusing mess - is exactly what I did while designing the old almanac.

[h3]Premature micro-optimizations[/h3]
While designing games, we are always limited by either computing power, or memory size. "Stuff" and "things" can be generally either calculated or stored. In 2018, my concern with designing the almanac was its possible size. After all, granting players the ability to create an infinite collection is a risk - inevitably a large enough collection of data will affect performance of any computer, no matter how good it is. That's why the old almanac would show only up to 10 entries from common ancestors to selected species.



Was it a reasonable fear? Probably. Will the large enough almanacs slow down older computers? For sure. Is it a good enough reason to artificially cap the players with better rigs to enjoy their unique evolutionary adventure in some sad, limited representation? Probably not. Why have I designed it to represent the entries in such a confusing way? I'm not sure, but I can say that the code behind it was even worse, as the almanac crashes have proven over and over again.

[h3]It's Trees All The Way Down[/h3]
After a couple years of working on Creatura and a lot of feedback from players perspective, it was clear that almanac not only requires fundamental change of UI, but also new features to improve the game flow. Is your inventory stacked with chests and cuttings, to the point of just using vivariums as storage rooms? Have You ever tried to map a gene expression You've handled already, only to realize that the specimen is now gone from inventory and the 5 edyGene genome slots? Or maybe You've just repeatedly crashed while filling up the almanac, asking yourself what's even the point of it? Well - meet the new almanac.



It's a simple tree graph. From top to bottom, it will represent not only all the species discovered in the vivarium, but also any major missing link between them and the common ancestors. No longer is it necessary to start the almanac from the very first fauna and flora to not miss on any species - the entries store now not only description and images, but also the species DNA, usable directly in edyGene. Just click on the genome in the bottom part of the almanac entry, and it'll be loaded verbatim, ready to get applied right into the active specimen unexpecting sudden genetic transformation.

[h3]To The Infinity, And Beyond Available System Memory[/h3]
This relatively small change has a huge impact on gameplay in general. Almanac can be now used as an infinite inventory for common plants, and a great help when mapping genomes. It also gives opportunity for completionists in the "end-game", and let's be honest - quite a cool widget to play with and appreciate the evolution of our vivariums (with the feature to 'screenshot' it as a whole into a file incoming soon).



The new almanac, as well as new sponges and a ton of bug fixes is a part of update 1.1.2, and should be live (with a soft-wipe of existing saves) in a couple days. Hoping to see many tree graph representations of evolution, just as it should be represented - in a simple, straightforward way. Have fun!

As You might have noticed, the recently released patch has been unusually large for the middle of the update cycle. While the version 1.1.2 is still brewing (and hopefully will introduce new animal species), the latest minor release brings changes to two quite neglected parts of the game - scenarios and tank parts.

Better Scenarios[hr][/hr]The complete set of evolution scenarios has been redesigned and improved. Quests and environments got rebalanced, and each scenario now grants a unique tank stand on completion, so even if You enjoy the game more in Freeplay, there might be a couple of new reasons to complete the current "Evolution Vivarium" campaign.



More Tank Parts[hr][/hr]In any game mode, looking for chests (or grinding credits to open them, in case your inventory is full of stashed chests) just got much more exciting. 11 new rare tank stands can be now collected from the reward chests, and the old rewards have been improved. With the new content, there are now close to 30 tank parts ready to collect, and even more are waiting to get introduced to the game.



While there are other gameplay features planned in 1.1.2 cycle (and obviously more fixes), those changes should ease a bit waiting for the first new post-release animals, as the new stars of the update are definitely coming. On many, many legs. Stay tuned!

Implemented new developer DNA editor
- Implemented legacy compatibility indirect renderer for DirectX 10 and OpenGL 4.3 GPUs
- Plants DNA can mutate now nodes tilt
- Plants DNA can mutate now nodes weight
- Plants DNA can mutate now leaf grow position
- Plants hover highlight is now visible only on selected nodes
- Plant nodes weight is now visibly bending plants
- Fixed plant roots visibility when handling active plant
- Optimized game startup and loading time by structuring transform data into discrete class
- Refactored growing plant caching to no longer use singleton method

Optimized rendering large amounts of plant nodes
- Refactored plants renderer to use indirect instancing
- Refactored flowers and fruits animations system

Warning: Below text contains technicalities. If You are just interested in playing Creatura - TL;DR: Update is coming, performance will be better, unique order of words and numbers achieved this. Thanks for the attention, now for the actual post:



When my work on Creatura started in 2016, the priority was to keep the game performance high. In a game where selecting plants is part of gameplay, the amount of plants that can be displayed at once becomes bound to difficulty level, giving advantage to people with rigs powerful enough to render millions of nodes without the simulation slowing down to keep the frame rate stable.

Over the course of 5 years between the prototype and 1.0 release, computer hardware got more powerful, the game gained many more features, and became more complex visually. While the performance would be considered good enough by ~2015 standards, now with screens capable of 300FPS+, Nintendo Switch release coming soon, and the GPUs limited availability, 60FPS is just not good enough anymore. An optimization was necessary.

[h3]Any framerate improvement in an already developed game is a success. [/h3]
A 20%-40% gain can be considered a huge optimization. Anything beyond requires a radical new approach to code functionality, since no simple solutions (like just reducing the number of operations per frame) can itself help that much. For computationally heavy tasks there is always the premise of multithreading, but in the case of Creatura, most of the weight was put on the GPU, required to render thousands of different plants, composed of thousands of unique nodes in various states of growth.

One of the solutions was to reduce the draw calls count. Instead of drawing each leaf and stalk, one after another, the game combined all of the growing and grown nodes from a plant into a single mesh, in theory cutting the need for a graphics card to just perform one draw call per each plant in the tank. However, this solution had many issues. Still growing nodes couldn't be efficiently combined, to avoid further increasing number of draw calls material variations in a single plant were considerably limited, and the whole system was incredibly complex, with a constant stream of meshes coming in and out of combine queue, and GPU memory was bogged down with moving around millions of vertices every frame. Countless hours went into creating and maintaining it, even more were required to fix the problems it caused, and frankly - it simply wasn't good enough.



[h3]Everyone likes grass. [/h3]
After the implementation of grass bags, the statistics were obvious - players were attempting to cover the ground with grass or algae, with thousands of simple, but still draw-call consuming plants. With some micro-optimizations, code reduction, or straight trickery, I could probably find an additional 10 to 15 more FPS, but that's just not much room for growth (literally). Even on fairly beefy computers, the built-in benchmark would bog down to around 80FPS, with many milliseconds short to achieve modern refresh rates. My initial approach to optimization was correct, reducing the number of draw calls was an answer to high draw calls count, but the original "fix" was too naive, and wasn't scaling up. I could however, stop batching plants, and start to batch unique node types together.

In Creatura, many plant nodes share the same mesh. The textures are different, giving them unique shapes and aesthetics, but the vertices positions are uniform. This allows mesh batching. While there are some variations (hardwood leafs have different shape to softwood, stalks use unique meshes, etc) the total number of unique plant meshes in game is still under 100, much below the number of plants an involved player can grow at once. Even in most complex vivariums, consisting of tens of thousands of plants, the performance should still be comparable to a tank with less than 100 plants. And that would be a massive improvement.


[h3]No solution is perfect. [/h3]
By skipping the rendering pipeline built into the engine and tapping directly into the GPU API, manual memory and render management is required. That creates overhead, and doesnt work on the very old machines without compute buffers support. Performance-wise however, the benchmarks seem to show improvement in order of 2x to 3x. This isn't the gain of a couple frames per second here and there - the frame rate realistically has at least doubled.

There are still quirks to iron out, and undoubtedly this solution will introduce many bugs to fix, but it seems to be more than worth it. Vivariums consisting of many more plants can radically change the gameplay experience, and allow new features to get implemented. Lower-end machine should be now able to play in comfortable, constant high frame rates, and the more powerful rigs will be able to run Creatura much smoother, with less energy consumed, perfect to let it run in a window on a side.

Creatura 1.1 should be available for testers on the nightly branch soon, and the update will get hopefully released early next month. Thanks, and hope Youll have soon a lot of fun with much more filled tanks.

Implemented Japanese fonts
- Implemented dialogue portraits
- Implemented 9 stored vivariums limit
- Implemented microbiome zooming indicator
- Animals have now minimal size
- Camera can be now rotated with keyboard
- Main menu has now Return to Vivarium button
- Store descriptions are now added for every rock
- Camera edge rotation is now disabled by default
- Camera can now move and rotate simultaneously
- Camera horizontal and vertical range is now extended
- Fixed biomes data not loading when more than one tank was stored
- Fixed research experience not increasing after sequencing genome
- Fixed crashes and issues when loading grown cached plants
- Fixed plants position drift in Seeds Inherit Mutations mode
- Fixed scrolling to next/previous species in Almanac
- Fixed research experience bar visually not filling up
- Fixed black screen on Mac after starting the game
- Fixed crashes on adding new species to Almanac
- Fixed objects visibility in extended parts of tank
- Fixed crashes in Seeds Inherit Mutations mode
- Fixed grabbing ground sometimes not working
- Fixed loading scenarios quests and states
- Fixed loading missing animals animations
- Fixed texts missing from localization files
- Fixed overview camera ground rendering
- Fixed vivarium animal cap not resetting
- Fixed overview camera controls
- Optimized algae seeding position raycasting
- Optimized plant stalk mesh generation
- Optimized growing plant handling
- Improved tutorial dialogues clarity
- Improved tooltip descriptions

Implemented lizards
- Implemented Seeds Inherit Mutations mode
- Active plants limit is removed
- Tooltips are now available for every button
- Leaf particles now fall from hardwood plants
- Eaten animals are now emitting particle effects
- Engine updated to Unity 2020 LTS

Balanced plant nodes prices
- Implemented nutritional values
- Implemented UI particle effects
- Implemented weight scale in research slot
- Implemented hold-to-scroll camera binding
- Implemented animals behaviour animations
- New stone landscapes added to store
- New wooden landscapes added to store
- Fruits have now chance to fall from plants
- Scenarios time to complete is now counted
- Fruits grow now after leafs in node are grown
- Fruits grow now bigger towards top of the plant
- Complex leaves have now more shape variations
- Thumbnails are now generated in higher resolution
- World fastest scenarios completion times are stored online
- Fixed animals getting stuck when moving over ground at no time lapse
- Fixed plant cache mismanagement when cutting grown plants at root
- Fixed edyGene reverting synonymous codons to default value
- Improved plant hitboxes accuracy with mesh based colliders
- Improved plant textures
- Refactored plants shaders into Amplify compatible
- Refactored plants color inheritance and mutations
- Engine updated to Unity 2020.2

Hello folks. Due to the incoming release of version Beta 0.5, a save wipe will take place with the next update.

Thank You all very much for participating in the beta! Over a year of your input has resulted in many, many great features, and an uncountable number of bugs found, reported and fixed.

To avoid any issues that might stem from old, corrupted save files, and to improve compatibility with future versions, all Your vivariums, settings, global inventory and player data will be reset.Global almanac and global statistics will also be reset. Your Steam achievements and statistics will remain unchanged.

Hope to see You all creating incredible vivariums soon, with all the brand new plants and decorations You'll find in update Beta 0.5, and all the future content incoming after release! Stay tuned!

Balanced rare plants prices
- Implemented insects
- Implemented evolution scenarios
- Implemented consumable bags of seeds
- Animal evolutionary tendencies now trigger particle effects
- Animal order lifespan is now displayed in collections menu
- Vivariums state is now permanent and auto-saved
- Store decorations have now color sliders
- Leafs grow now slower than stalks
- Fixed crashes and issues when loading mutating or growing cached plants
- Improved almanac save file compression and loading times
- Improved animals material textures

The Creatura Update Beta 0.4 community stream! Join us looking at new features, new animals and discovering all of recent changes to the game with Allenuhh!

Check more great streams from Allenuhh at https://www.twitch.tv/allenuhh
Follow Allenuhh at https://twitter.com/allenuhh1

The Creatura Update Beta 0.4 community stream! Join us looking at new features, new animals and discovering all of recent changes to the game!

Implemented bloom
- Implemented lizards*
- Implemented insects*
- Implemented collections
- Implemented depth of field
- Implemented color grading
- Implemented ruler in research slot
- Beta statue decoration added
- German and Polish localizations are now available
- Codon markers can be now removed with right-click
- Global inventory is now available from collections menu
- Options menu has now graphics post-processing settings
- Fixed DNA stored colors blue chanel precision
- Fixed keyboard base input in edyGene
- Improved in-game UI legibility with frosted glass backgrounds
- Refactored game controls to use Unity Input System
- Refactored vivariums into pooled instanced objects
- Refactored vivarium loading interface
- Refactored cheats input method
- Refactored rewards system
- Engine updated to Unity 2020.1*

* - New animals and fix that should add back the compatibility for older DirectX 10 graphic cards will be available as revision update later this week, as soon as new Unity version is released.

Implemented advanced and expert tutorials
- Implemented consumable growth hormones and antioxidants
- Balanced animals growth time and lifespan
- Plants now generate oxygen
- Tutorials have now dialogues
- BioCord statue decoration added
- Herbicides and pesticides are now growth inhibitors
- Biome humidity/acidity affects now organisms lifespan
- Consumables use on decorations effect now fades over time
- Biome oxygen affects now organisms mutation rates and size
- Fixed animal pathfinding

Implemented basic tutorials
- Implemented freeplay mode
- Implemented scenario mode
- Implemented online almanac
- Tutorials are now scenario based
- Plant root nodes can now mutate
- Monocots are now single node plants
- DNA values can now roll over on reaching limits
- Codon markers are now independent from vivarium
- Plants with hollow tissue can now mutate tissue type
- Plant seed DNA is now inherited from recessive gene pool
- Fixed plants not responding to hovering and clicking
- Refactored DNA and almanac into discrete controllers
- Refactored main menu default background animation
- Refactored biomes into discrete controllers
- Refactored quests and dialogues
- Refactored taxa systems

Hello folks! Over years of work on Creatura, it has evolved from basic, almost clicker/mobile game, into complex DNA and evolution simulation, spanning multiple gameplay mechanics. Even year ago, with only couple animals swimming around in our tanks, progression system was oriented towards unlocking new plant mutations. Sight of first leafs or flowers was a massive achievement for players, often requiring hours of gameplay. Mainly as a side effect of missing animals content.

Meanwhile, Creatura is supposed to cater for 3 main gaming "styles":
- Evolving animals and experimenting with ecosystems
- Designing sandbox aquariums/terrariums
- Changing genes using realistic DNA editor

...And truthfully, none of above necessarily includes watching green stubs grow for hours until desired mutation pops up. Players would use cheats, developer editor or global inventory to jump-start the game into point where it became fun for them, and while it was viable solution for people already experienced with Creatura - it also turned the game into grass watching duty for other, with many resorting to the very late-game DNA editing tool as progression mechanism (And the alpha tutorial introducing DNA editing in one of first objectives certainly didn't helped).

While realistic DNA simulation and manipulation methods are fundamental parts of the game, those are optional features for players interested in genetics or other educational aspects of Creatura, and aren't fun for players just interested in designing tanks and evolving animals.

To make the game more entertaining for them, starting with first revision (and update cycle) of version 0.32, Creatura implements freeplay vivarium generation. Customize any tank creation conditions, decide on spawning flora composition and colors, all with proper live preview. Whether You want to start the evolution from basic algae, or with nightshades and clovers of your favorite color, new freeplay generator got You covered.

Along with the more customizable generator, scenario vivariums are introduced. Gradually over next weeks You'll see patches adding more tutorial scenarios, explaining in much more accessible and predictable environment all the aspects of the game, and moving the DNA editing out of the way for new players. The feature will not be however used only for tutorials - hopefully before release of 1.0, scenarios will be the best way to experience ecosystems evolution in Creatura, with objectives to sustain environments and emerge species under pre-specified conditions.



Upcoming changes will also affect game balance. Mutagens price will be decreased, while structural mutations rate for plants will be increased, hopefully resulting in faster flora progression. There is also now a guide on Steam describing every animal evolution tree and requirements in game. It's far from perfect solution, but should help until proper scenarios for each evolution tree are implemented. Public list of cheats is also coming soon, along with many, many revision update waves. Until then, stay tuned, and stay safe!

PS. Last month Creatura broke the daily players record, by basically doubling it up to over 100. Great, great thanks to each and every one of You, nothing of this would be possible without Your support!

Implemented sea scorpions
- Implemented ground tessellation
- Implemented ultra wide screen support
- Animals spawn now with different possible eye types
- Animals decompose now and turn into skeletons
- Amoebas can form now into sponges
- Fixed consumables duping when loading game
- Fixed crashing when saving on slower hard drives
- Optimized plant ground imprinting shader calls
- Optimized main menu idling vivarium animation
- Optimized rarity textures to utilize texture array
- Optimized DNA editor by culling out of screen codons
- Optimized animals rendering by combining skinned meshes
- Optimized animals family list by culling out of screen families
- Optimized animals and plants materials property management
- Optimized animals pathfinding by sharing paths for common targets
- Optimized animals rendering by disabling animations when time lapsing
- Refactored animals pathfinding to discrete global pathing controller
- Refactored platform dependencies for Nintendo Switch support
- Refactored plants loading into discrete loading controller
- Refactored vivarium state saving into discrete coroutine
- Refactored particle effects shaders

Hello folks! Last year (especially December) moved Creatura popularity up a notch, and to keep up with hopefully upcoming soon development - we had to migrate, replace our backend, and modify a bit how we do our day-to-day operations here.

You've probably seen already that for the past half of month not much has happened development-wise - that was caused by quite a lot of administrative work and changes around here, necessary to upscale the whole project.

While i'm deliberately sparse with details, don't worry - normal development cycle should resume in week or two, as soon as we are "adapted" to the new enviroment, with the old-pipeline rocking new hardware. The game is still fully developed by me, i'll be still helping You with game support and hanging out on Discord/Steam, and Creatura is still fully independent, without any corporate publisher entity backing us.

For players already running Creatura on PC not much should change - development cycle stays the same, with 1.0 and end of Early Access hopefully before end of the year. However, the MacOS version is now officially on the roadmap (Should be expected around 0.4 release), along the Nintendo Switch release (with optimistic estimations of release the same date as 1.0 Steam version). The mobile version is still in-works, but has no ETA at this point, and lowest priority of all ports. Steam wallpapers, collectible cards and emoticons for Creatura are coming soon.

Thank You all very much for great support the game got so far, for the patience to the crashes and bugs, and first and foremost - for spending combined thousands of hours already in a game that no publisher deemed viable to release couple years ago.

While the game is still relatively very small and has yet to break record of 50 daily players - the recent uptick in popularity definitely gave it so much needed fuel to keep going with development. I can just now hope to keep on going, and maybe some day break that record, with people worldwide having fun while getting experienced and familiar with gene editing, evolution and ecosystem dependencies.

Keep on, and thanks for the support again!

Implemented silverfishes
- Implemented microbiome
- Amoebas float now in microbiome
- Animals families limit (8) has been raised (to 100 families)
- Animals families list can be now scrolled
- Fixed animals randomly not moving
- Fixed blackwater not generating outside of small tank
- Fixed animals pathfinding outside of home biome issues
- DNA editor slots now display stored species thumb and name on hover
- Improved decorations physics after loading and changing ground level
- Improved ground shaders and textures
- Refactored plant cutting methods into plant controller
- Refactored plant cuttings mesh combiner
- Refactored plants mesh combiner

Hello folks, in one of last updates for 2019, i'm finally adressing visual fidelity of vivarium grounds. Substrate model (and big chunk of its shader) was designed back in 2016, and hasn't changed much - until now. As always with that kind of improvments, please expect slight performance impact, but one that hopefully is worth it. Changes presented below are live and already implemented in-game as You read this.



Over next couple days please expect more revision updates that will clear out glitches with new grounds, and address crashes reported in last week. Thank You very much, have fun playing with the sand, and happy new year!

Hello folks! Last revision starts the 0.3 update cycle with raising active animal families limit from 8 to 100, resulting in possibility of simulating 600 active animals at once (from old limit of 48). Please remember that while it's possible, and Creatura is decently optimized even for it's beta stage - high animal counts can (and will) take toll on your CPU.

Performance improvments for high animal counts should be expected later in beta. Stay tuned for first amoebas and cellular lifeforms coming soon into Creatura, and get to overbreeding tanks now!

Implemented sea snails
- Launcher has been removed
- Pen statue decoration added
- Plant textures are now normal mapped
- Online features migrated to new server and API
- Plant stalk scaling is no longer affecting plant height
- Resolution and fullscreen mode can be now set in Options
- Plant mesh limit (64k vertices) has been raised (to 4b vertices)
- Fixed animals predating on other animal families to extinction
- Fixed crash when starting game in offline mode
- Improved hardwood trunks meshes and textures
- Refactored holdable objects position bounds into discrete method
- Refactored animal overlay management
- Engine updated to Unity 2019.3
- Engine backend replaced to use ahead of time compilation

Hello folks, we're in process of migrating Creatura engine, scripting backend, and server backend. Due to severity of the changes - stuff can (and will) occasionally crash on startup over next couple days, but don't worry, we're on it.

The large (130MB) update is related to those changes, and is fully expected. Once the migration is over, i'll update this post with more details. Stay tuned!

PS. All Closed Alpha/Alpha/Beta rewards will be awarded again, this is expected.

Hello folks! Some of You with vivariums heavier on trees might notice slight performance drop in this revision update - this is caused by couple changes i've done to plants in Creatura:

- Plant models can now exceed 65k verticles, thanks to dropping legacy Unity 16 bit mesh addressing.
- Plant stalk/trunk width scaling is now no longer affecting plant total scale/height.
- Plants have now proper per texture normal mapping.
- And finally, thanks to those features - trees trunks got visual rework, that You can compare below:



All of those changes are live as of Creatura 0.21 Revision 5 (along with couple crash and bugfixes), so go and have fun with planting new trees!

Implemented amphibians
- Stand model (Terminal) added
- Fixed toggling tutorial
- Fixed toys falling out of tank
- Fixed plant ground imprinting in extended tanks
- Fixed ground/ambient colors saving and loading
- Fixed time not pausing when saving/loading game
- Fixed crash when grabbing plant from global inventory
- Fixed crash when adding species without name to atlas
- Fixed plant spawning range change not applying to growing plants
- Refactored animal materials management to use property blocks
- Refactored animal spawning into discrete class
- Refactored animal AI, pathing and behaviours

Balanced store prices
- Balanced experience gains
- Balanced experience required for levels 1 - 40
- Implemented rewards
- Implemented daily tasks
- Implemented chests and keys
- Implemented tank part objects
- Implemented decoration paints
- Rare skins for existing lid, rims and stands added
- Task list can be now collapsed
- Tasks can be now removed from task list
- Global inventory can now keep any item type
- Player currency is now stored in Steam Cloud
- Player currency is now independent from vivarium
- Consumable paint can be now used on decorations
- Very rare decorations are now emitting particle effects
- Decorations have now 4 basic and 2 rare material skins
- Decorations have now 5 basic shades available in store
- Tutorial UI highlight and blinking color is now in high contrast
- Reward chests are now granted randomly every 30 - 45 minutes
- Rewards have been awarded to closed alpha, alpha and beta players
- Refactored player data management into discrete class
- Refactored thumbnail generation into extension class
- Refactored decoration spawning into discrete class
- Refactored save file format and data structure

Hello folks! After an expected terrible start of beta (and 15 revision fixes for the update 0.1), we're in stable branch, so let's talk about next major patch. While official development roadmap (...from 3 years ago) planned balance update for first beta release, in practice the big balance pass is incoming in Beta 0.2.

The store prices will change (mostly for cheaper), the experience required to get level 40 will be orders of magnitude smaller, and all player data will be stored within Steam, independent from vivarium state - your currency is now global, usable across all saves (and in future, hopefully devices).

Daily objectives are incoming. Little tasks (like planting number of flowers, cutting some plants) rewarding a chunk of currency should help a bit with grinding for mutagens, decoration rarificators and new paints.

Color selection of decorations in store has been restricted, but all new shades are now available after painting decorations with consumable paints (with color You can fully customize and choose in shop). Unique (animated) decorations can be now "created" randomly with very, very low chance when applying rarificator. New rarity modification for decorations (and toys) is now available - an epic modifier with particle effects, available only from random rewards.

Rare tank parts (lids, rims and stands) can be now kept in inventory and traded or used for customization. Expect new part variations in upcoming updates.

Rewards are now part of game. On special event and holidays, players will be granted special gifts. All players from closed alpha, alpha and beta will be awarded unique decorations and toys. Randomly, every 30 to 45 minutes, a reward containing high-end consumables, rare/unique/epic decorations and toys or even tank part will be granted to player.

However, due to all the changes, the save file format had to be changed, resulting in incoming (hopefully last in beta) saves wipe. Your research level should be however restored from Steam on first logging in to beta 0.2. I'm looking into possible solutions to convert old saves at least partially, but please be prepared that it might not be possible to keep them.

Amphibians (and more tier 2 animals) and trading are planned respectively for updates beta 0.21 and 0.22. Mac version and first translations coming "soon". More fixes when 0.2 is live - but expect the update itself in at least 2, 3 weeks. It's a big one.

Implemented toys
- Implemented amphibians
- Toys tab in Store has been added
- Fixed consumables not saving/loading properly
- Fixed eaten plant cuttings not unloading properly
- Fixed grown plant flushing data when cutting at root
- Refactored plant spawning methods into discrete class

As the Beta Release Candidate is now live, the last revision update has implemented localization systems, and the game is now prepared for translations. In upcoming weeks, this feature will support both German and Chinese languages.

At the release, Creatura should be available in German, Chinese, Japanese, French, Russian, Spanish, Korean and Polish.

If You are native German or Chinese speaker, and want help localizing Creatura - contact me at gorny@creaturathegame.com . English localization template file is available in link below.

Wenn Sie deutscher Muttersprachler sind und Hilfe bei der Lokalisierung von Creatura bentigen - kontaktieren Sie mich unter gorny@creaturathegame.com . Die englische Lokalisierungsvorlagendatei ist ber den untenstehenden Link verfgbar.

Creatura - gorny@creaturathegame.com

http://creaturathegame.com/Locale_en.txt

Implemented large tanks
- Implemented free camera rotations
- Implemented unlockable water filters
- Ground type can be now customized
- Ground textures are now normal mapped
- Wooden decorations in water now emit filterable tannins
- Water filters can be now unlocked and selected for cleaning in vivarium tab
- Refactored camera controls into discrete class

Hello folks! In last days You've probably noticed achievements starting to show up in Creatura Steam library page - and now full support for Steam features (Steam Achievements, Steam Statistics and Steam Workshop) is implemented and live in Creatura.

Remember to not only start now your achievement hunt, but also look for rare animals and plants, as those are now fully implemented too. Basically, get to grinding!

No achievement/stats reset is planned between alpha/beta/release. And we're really close to them... Have fun!

Implemented cheats
- Implemented rare plants
- Implemented rare animals
- Implemented unlockable water filters
- Implemented trading tab in inventory menu
- Herbicides can be now used on environment
- Plants DNA can mutate now resistance to herbicides
- Wooden decorations in water now emit filterable tannins
- Water filters can be now unlocked and selected for cleaning in vivarium tab
- Fixed unloading growing nodes when cutting cached and grown root node
- Fixed tutorial dialogues not skipping to next objective on task progress
- Fixed crash when camera is in out of bound position
- Fixed glitched out plant meshes after loading game
- Fixed research slot lock-out after loading game

Work on Creatura started back in March 2016. The still unnamed project evolved over next year, and decision to make the game more customizable, with focus on shaping the environment and breeding procedural plants, has been made. Those changes resulted in starting from scratch, and by March 2017, a first playable build of what the game is today has been compiled. Half year later, first closed alpha testers from Reddit got access to first public release, Creatura Alpha 0.1.




Another year later, in October 2018, Creatura Alpha 0.5 got released on Steam Early Access. Hundreds of players since then have bought the game, and helped to develop it either by giving direct feedback or crashing it. Now, in 2019, Creatura is finally stable*. The game is almost feature complete, and all of missing content is scheduled for future updates. With the addition of trading, rare specimens, unlockable utilities and obviously much, much more animal types - Creatura is going beta!



Right now Creatura is ready to be played if You don't mind missing content, and some odd crash here and there. The tutorials explaining the game are in place, first 5 animal types can evolve, millions of plant combinations can be grown in fully customizable tanks. Biomes have controllable climates, DNA of animals and plants can be fully edited, and consumables allow for better vivaria management. As long as You are interested in "creative-like" bonsai mode - the game is here. If You are here for animals - it's good point to get used to Creatura, before more complex animal evolution paths are available.



Because of incoming beta phase, in next week Creatura price will rise to 15.99$. As all of players who bought the game over the course of alpha, and had bet on the game eventually getting stable, got the chance to buy it for much cheaper - the same will happen in beta. Once the game is content complete and out of Early Access - the price will rise again, to 20.99$. For now - if You want to buy Creatura cheap or support it while still in alpha, the 10.99$ price (not including Steam discounts) still stands, until 21 May 2019.

Have fun, post screenshots, give feedback, stream and play the game. Thank You all very much for the support so far, and for making the development of this game a possibility. Now let's finally make some neat looking aquariums!

* - Your experience with "stable" may vary. It still can and will crash, just won't crash for no reason.

Implemented ambient occlusion
- Implemented high definition shadows
- Implemented plant shaders variations
- Biome characteristics are now permanent
- Decorations affect now water acidity levels
- Credits are now depleting when buying items in shop
- Textures and shadow quality can be now set in Options
- Items can be now bought only if player has enough credits
- Refactored system options and settings into discrete controller
- Fixed crash when saving on accessing temporary file

EDIT: New shaders are live in latest revision update. Have fun.
Hello folks. In upcoming this update, the performance might drop a little bit. This is because of new shaders, the comparision with current old You can check below:

[table]
[tr]
[th]

[/th]

[th]

[/th]

[th]

[/th]

[th]

[/th]

[th]

[/th]
[/tr]
[/table]

Hello folks, the case of following crash...

ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Argument is out of range. (...)
CAT_XriumController.CAT_PlantCombineMultimaterialMeshes (...)

Balanced plants values on sale
- Balanced plants DNA mutation chances
- Balanced consumables and decorations prices in shop
- Implemented consumable carcinogens and mutagens
- Implemented consumable aqua biomes pH modifiers
- Implemented consumable herbicides and pesticides
- Animals eyes are now expressing emotions
- Fixed plants color mutation inheritance unpredictability
- Optimized plants shader to use single-pass rendering
- Improved plant cuttings hitboxes accuracy
- Refactored materials management to use property blocks instead of pooling
- Refactored plant root materials data into discrete class

Linux version is now available
- Implemented texture pack support
- Implemented animal predating behaviours
- Save states are now stored in Steam Cloud
- Save states are now compressed into ZIP files
- Animals family list highlights now selected specimen
- Last genome changes can be now re-applied in DNA editor
- Genome store button highlights now if genome slot is empty
- In-game menus transparency changes now when hovered with cursor
- In-game menus transparency is now customizable in Graphics Options
- Fixed visual glitch when plant in active research slot was visible in distance

NINJA UPDATE: It seems most issues are fixed, but for reasons i don't fully understand - please go to Creatura properties and select "Verify Integrity of Game Files", or else textures can glitch out.

NINJA EDIT: Hey folks, i'm aware of the wall of crashes on startup, in the upcoming hours please expect revisions to fix that terrible mess. Sorry to everyone affected!

With update 0.6, Creatura has been ported to Linux and SteamOS systems, without missing any features from Windows version.

If possible in future, the default renderer for Creatura under Linux will be Vulkan, however right now Creatura starts in OpenGL mode. Vulcan mode can be forced as command line argument, if your GPU supports it.

In case of any issues, feel free to report them on our official Discord channel, and any discovered platform specific crashes should get resolved in upcoming updates.

Implemented slugs
- Implemented crustaceans
- Implemented horseshoe crabs
- Implemented area based biomes
- Vivarium tab has been added
- Vivarium lid model (Default) added
- Vivarium rims model (Brass) added
- Vivarium stand models (CRT, Industrial Wood) added
- Animals pathing and motion can be now groundbound
- Tank lid, rims and stand can be now changed or disabled
- Flatworms can now evolve into slugs, horseshoe crabs and crustaceans
- Ground and background colors can be now set with hex values in alt-click menu
- Fixed bloating size of save state file over time
- Fixed plants not interacting with cursor at acute camera angles
- Fixed vivarium not interacting if loaded from save state select screen
- Fixed side reflections bottom edges flickering at acute camera angles
- Optimized plants object management by translating transforms without parenting
- Optimized plants object pooling by more aggressive grown nodes disabling
- Optimized mesh data management by utilizing array instead of dictionary
- Improved fishes and flatworms textures
- Improved interface scaling for 4:3 and custom screen ratios
- Refactored tank generation menu to support new features and live previews
- Refactored vivarium meshes, materials and transforms into discrete class

Pre-release of update 0.6 is now live for beta testing. If You are interested in checking it now, please contact me on Discord ( https://discord.gg/RJMcUmE ) to get beta access password.

If You have access to beta version, simply select "prerelease" branch from BETA tab in Creatura properties (in Steam library) to download the 0.6 pre-release.

EDIT 14.02.19: Second pre-release is now available!

!!! Please backup your saves before downloading 0.6 pre-release !!!
Pre-release as of now (14.02) does NOT contain Crustaceans and Horseshoe crabs!

To see full live-changelog, please check https://goo.gl/4rDfif

First of all, thank You very much to everyone who bought the game on Winter Sale! I hope that recently released 0.53 is smooth/crash free enough that You'll be eager to wait and see what's coming in development soon.

Update 0.6 will bring 4 important changes (alongside many other, obviously):

- Much higher maximum active plant limit, possible thanks to new optimizations.
- Vivarium tab, allowing for much easier tank customization and first implementations of features like temperature or water acidity simulation.
- Full first tier of animals. Crustaceans, slugs and horseshoe crabs will join flatworms and fishes.
- And many fixes to still happening crashes, mostly related to using DNA Editor/Almanac.

Everything above should get implemented with release of 0.6, somewhere in first half of February. Soon after, a 0.61 should follow with first implementations of Steam Cloud, Linux native client and long postponed texture pack support.

No further hotifxes for version 0.53 are planned right now, and as i'm pretty far into 0.6 development, fixes to all crashes reported in last 2 weeks are aimed to get released with 0.6 too.

EDIT: I've issued tonight revision to hotfix crash on startup for people who've used persistant inventory.

Implemented new main menu background animation when no tank is loaded
- Balanced animals growth time and lifespan
- Active plants limit can now reach 1000 (from 400)
- Active plants node data limit can now reach 64k (from 20k)
- Fixed game logic, mechanics and animations ties to framerate
- Fixed plants not inheriting direct parent node DNA for subparented nodes
- Optimized game startup time by utilizing discrete pool filling coroutine

Hotfix 0.53a:
- Disabled sounds effects in main menu
- Active decorations limit can now reach 100 (from 50)
- Objects traversed by animals limit can now reach 1000 (from 500)
- Fixed context menu not disappearing when selected node is eaten by animal
- Fixed almanac not generating proper dropdown menus for animals
- Fixed crashes when plants would exceed complexity of 720 nodes
- Fixed plants not resetting mortality flag after loading game
- Fixed sound and music interfering and glitching out

Over last weeks, automated bug reporting service have received logs with couple startup crashes due to lack of DirectX 11 support. Those were mostly from computers using ~10 year old notebook GPUs (more or less Windows Vista era).

Support for those and DirectX 10 GPUs is now implemented. Creatura should now run fine on legacy graphic cards (Like GeForce GT 330M), with couple of visual features disabled and some calculations moved to CPU due to lack of Compute Shaders support on those older platforms.

Other players can now select in Graphics option whether they want to enable plant ground imprints and tank side reflections. Disabling those can give a minor performance boost on lower end machines.

Steam Survey shows around 5% of userbase still using DirectX 10 cards. Playerbase for DirectX 9 cards is below 1%, and Creatura will not support those Windows XP era GPUs. While technically possible, the performance losses from using older DirectX9 API would probably make the game barely playable.

Sorry for everyone who bought the game with older GPU and had to wait for compatibility. On the bright side - the latest version (0.52g Rev. 4) looks finally pretty stable, with very moderate amount of problems reported, so it's probably best time so far to get into Creatura!

Hey everyone, i've just released hotfix 0.52f, however - due to change in plant caching, old saves (and options) have been wiped. Sorry for the inconvenience, but because of current bug-tracking process the wipes might happen from time to time.

In future version i'll implement an option to try and convert old save to current version, but since the last release was still pretty unstable, i've preferred to just quickly release the fixes. Hope they'll work, sorry again!

I want to remind everyone that we have an official Discord server running at https://discord.gg/RJMcUmE , and while bug/crash reporting is automated process and doesn't require any input/screenshots/pasting the crash report - it's the perfect place to ask for help, suggest a feedback or just hang out with other players and testers!

Also, we're slowly drifting into stable version territory, the couple of last hotfixes should more or less close out the 0.52 version, hopefully. If You are interested to see what's coming up in 0.53 and later, check our official changelog document at https://goo.gl/4rDfif

Implemented tasks and tutorials
- Implemented algae and grass type plants
- Implemented research experience and leveling system
- Plants with hollow tissue are now enabled
- Animals family list can be now ordered by drag & drop
- Animals can be now selected to create new active families
- Algae mutates now into grass if its not growing underwater
- Algae spawns now randomly, and when no other algae is growing
- Plants spawn now from algae when there are no other growing plants
- Plants can now mutate tissue type (softwood/hardwood) only on leaf nodes
- Animals spawn now with different possible material overlay (skin/scales/fur)
- DNA sequencing duration and completeness is now research level dependent
- DNA appliance tools have now different properties and are research level dependent
- Fixed crash when opening research tab without any specimen selected
- Fixed sponges and eucariotas not saving/loading in research atlas
- Optimized object pooling by utilizing pool states queues
- Optimized memory allocations by pooling plant material arrays
- Optimized memory allocations by caching time returning methods
- Optimized memory allocations by pooling plant spawner operator arrays
- Improved framerate by generating plant colliders only on demand
- Improved responsivity by decreasing default resolution of grass imprints
- Refactored plants collision data and methods to use local space coordinates
- Refactored plant caching to something hopefully making more sense
- Refactored cursor states into discrete method

Hotfix 0.52a:
- Fixed tasks and dialogues counter not resetting when generating new tanks
- Fixed plant colliders not working properly when cutting from context menu
- Fixed plant colliders not generating without mouse-in/mouse-out
- Fixed reshaping ground while holding shift not working

Hotfix 0.52b:
- Implemented exceptions/crash handler and automated bug reporting
- Fixed sponges keeping highlighted state after cursor hovers out
- Fixed crash when highlighted plant changed material count
- Fixed animal families living in already occupied safespot
- Fixed tutorial tasks toggle option not working
- Fixed cellular species generation in almanac

Hotfix 0.52c:
- Enabled Steamworks
- Fixed crash when decaying animal without family searched for home
- Fixed plant spawner int/bool pools not depooling for childless plants
- Fixed plant cuttings floating around after animals start eating them
- Fixed global inventory slots not generating plant meshes on load
- Fixed crash when saving plant growing from unloaded decoration
- Fixed sponges not resetting their position after being dropped
- Fixed dropped consumables not being possible to grab again
- Fixed crash when plant cutting collider has no game object
- Fixed crash on storing items in last global inventory slot
- Fixed issues with moving growing plants

Hotfix 0.52d:
- Sponges cant be now kept in inventory
- Fixed crash when trying to move plant without matching collider
- Fixed crash when handling plant cuttings while animals eat
- Fixed handling plant cuttings and animals in Research tab
- Fixed crash when handled sponge lost highlighted state
- Fixed animals not storing almanac species ID

Hotfix 0.52e:
- GPU name is now reported on crash to resolve compatibility issues
- Fixed crash when using already open context menu after handling new object
- Fixed crashes when flower/fruit animator did not get unloaded on depooling
- Fixed selecting always first animal in family when clicking on live animal
- Fixed sponges retaining original planting position after colony dies off
- Fixed crash when generating new tank after setting up DNA markers
- Fixed crash when setting up DNA markers after generating new tank
- Fixed plant cache ID mismanagement resulting in various crashes
- Fixed animals sharing found objects list while pathfinding
- Fixed crash when using consumable with one use left
- Fixed crashes when cutting grown plants
- Refactored grabbing and dropping objects into discrete methods
- Refactored growing plant caching to singleton method

Hotfix 0.52f:
- Implemented new default plant templates
- Ordovician spawn live complexity is now enabled
- Saved states from previous versions have been wiped
- Plants can no longer grow on decorations, unless they are algae/grasses
- Fixed crash when plant targeted by animal for food changed cache state
- Fixed various crashes related to plant caching and cache management
- Fixed decorations not resetting home status on animal family death
- Fixed reflections in main menu not generating on camera transition
- Fixed possibility of applying DNA change without active specimen
- Fixed crash when resizing decorations using context menu
- Fixed low framerate when animal died with enabled overlay
- Fixed order of handling plants when using context menu
- Fixed animal UID assigning by using discrete method

Hotfix 0.52g:
- Implemented legacy compatibility support for DirectX 10 and OpenGL 4.3 GPUs
- Side reflections can be now toggled from graphics menu options
- Plant imprints on ground can be now toggled from graphics menu options
- Fixed crash when generating new tank with active plant cutting in research tab
- Fixed crash when loading game state with non-consecutive animal family IDs
- Fixed crash when clicking on decoration after handling consumables
- Fixed crash on startup for platforms not supporting compute shaders
- Fixed crash when loading game state while/after using research tab
- Fixed plant cache mismanagement causing multiple crashes
- Fixed crashes related to animal handling in research tab

Fishes use now updated model
- Flatworms use now updated model
- Animals can be now selected by clicking on them
- Animals can be now edited in developer DNA editor
- Animals species are now discoverable in research atlas
- Animals DNA can be now edited in research DNA editor
- Decorations can be now rotated in shop preview window
- Active specimens in research tab slot can be now rotated
- Active animals list shows now icon if family has no available homespot
- Fixed animals not using any animations
- Fixed sponges not reflecting in tank sides
- Fixed plants mutating non existent node types
- Fixed animals always spawning in center of tank
- Fixed thumbnail renderer overwriting handled object layer
- Fixed animals not falling to ground when dead and decaying
- Fixed animals navigating to parts of plants that stick out of water
- Fixed animals freezing in place if underwater home position is not underwater
- Fixed animals navigable terrain not updating topology after changing water level
- Fixed animals getting stuck due to terrain pathing/mesh colliders Y-axis differences
- Fixed decorations showing up covered in moss when held after buying them in store
- Fixed plant cuttings not displaying top tapered part of nodes and node cuttings after cut
- Fixed plant cuttings DNA not matching the cut node DNA when animals were feeding
- Fixed research tab active plant cutting repooling when new tank is generated
- Refactored animal family data structures into discrete serializable class
- Refactored thumbnails renderer
- Engine updated to Unity 2018.2

Implemented fishes
- Implemented GCAT DNA editor
- Implemented research discovery system
- Research tab has been added
- Flatworms can now evolve into fishes
- Animals mutations are now environment dependent
- Animals can now spawn in up to 8 different families
- Animals search now for new homespot if old is unreachable
- Animals eat now all parts of the plant, not only leafs and fruits
- Plant cuttings left in Research tab slot are now stored in save file
- Plants species can be now discovered and browsed in research tab
- Plants are now categorized and belong to one of 8 orders and 23 families
- Main menu animates now through default/last played tank in background
- Animals family homespot is now highlighted by hovering family on animal list
- Consumable to prevent selected animal families from reproducing added
- Fixed animals home positions saving
- Fixed animals colliding with held objects
- Fixed plants animating when time is stopped
- Fixed visual issues with single node multiplier plants
- Fixed time resuming always to 1x speed after shifting ground
- Fixed plant cuttings immediately disappearing after taking a cut
- Fixed sponges sometimes spawning heir in wrong position after loading game
- Optimized interface by decreasing draw calls/object count per canvas
- Optimized plants mesh combining coroutine timings between frames
- Refactored all DNA editing functions and variables into discrete controller

In the preparation for Natural Selection & Research 0.5 Update, all of claimed alpha keys without any reported alpha feedback have been pruned.

To our great surprise, the removed part was minority of claimed Creatura activations, and almost 60% of You have helped in some way by reporting bugs or giving other feedback. Thank You very, very much, we hope that special, Early Adopter version You'll keep, will be worth the time spent in early alpha Creatura releases!

As You might have noticed, the gap between version 0.46 and 0.5 is much longer than between earlier updates. This is mostly due to two huge new features in Creatura, GCAT DNA editor and specie discovery system, but also due to change in way we'll deliver updates from now on, focusing on big feature blocks followed with bugfixes and content updates, instead of small, and almost weekly incremental releases.



This time the big features are, as mentioned earlier, GCAT DNA editor, based on actual, state-of-the-art real life gene editing software, and a very robust and easy to use specie discovery system. While the later doesn't require any knowledge and just adds some flavor (and XP points), the DNA editor will test your aminoacids knowledge and general understanding of genome sequencing and editing process. We are serious, You'll need Wikipedia, gene editing is powerfull, but not easy.



Oh, and the natural selection is now enabled, there are reports of some new fancy finned flatworms swiming around. One would call it very fishy indeed...

Balanced plant growth rate
- Implemented startup load screen
- Animals DNA now mutates
- Animals and sponges are now saved
- Animals eat now only foods from their edibility list
- Animals families and specimens have now names visible in overlay
- Animals age, generation and current behaviour is now visible in overlay
- Active animal list displays now fatigue and hunger for each specimen
- Plants animation maps have been replaced with vertex color mapping
- Alpha testers and supporters are now credited on startup load screen
- Fixed non-node root plant cuttings offsets in thumbnails and plant editor
- Fixed underwater animals idle pathing only to ground bottom positions
- Fixed placement position of held objects when cursor was over water
- Fixed plant editor not working properly with single-node plants
- Fixed non-node root plant cuttings scaling & collider offsets
- Fixed subsequent sponges spawning only in middle of tank
- Fixed animals trying pathing to out-of-water targets
- Fixed camera misplacement after loading game
- Fixed camera edge scrolling in fullscreen mode
- Fixed plant fruits stalks rendering in fruit colors
- Improved plants wind & underwater animation

Implemented active animals list
- Implemented detailed information overlay
- Sponge DNA now mutates
- First sponge DNA is now randomly generated
- Water surface is now reflected in tank side reflections
- Animals inherit now DNA from common ancestor sponge
- Plant textures support now HD resolutions (not included, up to 4k)
- Plant textures can now exceed (ad infinitum) old maximum limit of 64
- Plant textures are now stored in texture arrays instead of texture atlases
- Fixed visual differences between reflected ground shader and ground shader
- Fixed plants edges visual issues when camera is highly zoomed out
- Fixed animals not updating safe-spot if new decorations is available
- Fixed animals feeding on plants that are out of pathing reach
- Fixed crash when editing DNA of only fruit/flower with stalk
- Fixed decorations not showing up in tank side reflections
- Fixed reflected ground seams visibility on edges
- Fixed sponges transparency issues
- Improved back ground reflection depth and opacity gradient

Hotfix 0.45a:
- Fixed animal DNA scrambler using plants value tables
- Fixed cleaning sponge showing on decorations on every left click
- Fixed crash when moving decorations with growing uncached plants
- Fixed animals color not being read properly from DNA after mutations
- Fixed animals overlay UI misalignment on resolutions other than 720p
- Fixed plants growing on moved decorations visually glitching out after taking cutting

Hotfix 0.45b:
- Sponges will now die off if out of the water
- Fixed crash when expected animal path is too short
- Fixed camera locking up and misbehaving after alt-tabbing
- Fixed ground navigation mesh not generating after loading game
- Fixed sponges Z-index issues when rendered over or under water
- Fixed crash when trying to store decorative objects in permanent inventory
- Improved pathing lookups for random underwater positions

Flatworms now reproduce
- Flatworms feed now on plants
- Flatworms have now life cycle
- Flatworms rest now when fatigued
- Flatworms generate now homespot for resting
- Flatworms spawned from sponges have now spawning animation
- Sponges spawn now only underwater
- Fixed plants sometimes visually duplicating some nodes after taking cutting
- Fixed decorations being uncleanable after using utility to stop algae growth
- Fixed crash when using DNA editor without plant loaded into it
- Fixed flatworms not moving properly at high time speeds

Hotfix 0.44a:
- Implemented new AI for animals
- Animals are using now character controllers instead of rigid-bodies to move
- Animals pathfinding is now based on Dijkstra algorithm instead of Unity build-in navigation
- Fixed animals getting stuck on corners and ground
- Fixed flatworms pathing to plants that dont grow underwater
- Fixed decorations not settling up correctly after touching ground
- Fixed plant cuttings not retaining previous cut visuals from cut plant
- Fixed crash when sponge would spawn flatworms when other were alive
- Fixed plant cuttings sometimes visually not removing cut node from plants
- Fixed multiple crashes when quickly taking consecutive fruit/flower cuttings
- Fixed crash when fruit/flower got disabled after the node it was growing from
- Fixed animal home position not updating properly after changing ground shape
- Optimized animals target defining by utilizing callback coroutine pathfind computation

Hotfix 0.44b:
- Fixed animals not checking for possible decoration safe zone
- Fixed flatworms pathing million years prematurely out of water
- Fixed cached root node visually disappearing after taking cutting
- Fixed animals moving to food path start after reaching end on medium time speed

Implemented basic flatworms
- Decorations can be now cleaned with left mouse button, without holding CTRL
- Fixed default settings not loading correctly
- Fixed sponges rendering always over water
- Fixed interface hiding button/key not working
- Fixed permanent inventory to work with new save data format
- Fixed multiple issues with taking cuttings from other cuttings
- Fixed random crashes after taking cutting due to bad caching
- Fixed crash if game state data file was empty or not compatible
- Fixed load slots position displacement when opening Continue menu
- Fixed single node plants appearing cut at top after completing growth
- Fixed camera not acting properly after alt+tab until pressing key modifier

Hotfix 0.43a:
- Fixed crash when clicking in decoration context menu outside of decoration
- Fixed plants sometimes visually glitching after moving

Time speeds have now customizable keybindings
- Sponges reproduction cycle is now more scientifically accurate
- Structural mutations now trigger particle effects for better visibility
- Decorations can be now picked on double right-click
- Plants now generate family ID based on DNA
- Overview camera now shows plants spawn range
- Stored data is now formatted as human readable Json file
- Fixed multiple crashes and issues when saving/loading game state

Hotfix 0.42a:
- Fixed plants not continuing to grow after load
- Fixed sponges not loading properly
- Fixed crash caused by sponges pooling issue

Implemented right click context menu
- Plant root node scale now doesnt affect consecutive nodes
- Sponge now spawns if no other sponge or animal is present
- Consumable to prevent sponges spawning added
- Sponges now reproduce
- Fixed camera locking up after alt-tabbing
- Fixed plants not rendering in right tank reflection
- Fixed decorations rendered always on top of water
- Fixed crash when sometimes buying consumables
- Fixed cleaned decorations cleaning too fast on first click
- Fixed plant cuttings colliding with growing plants preventing access to ground

Implemented overview camera
- Implemented consumable utilities
- Implemented visual guide showing plant seed spawn range
- Implemented multiple save slots allowing choice of tank to load
- Plant spawn range can be now modified while holding SHIFT and scrolling up/down
- Plants now visually affect the ground around plant root
- Sponges now spawn experimentally in Cambrian life complexity stage
- Consumables tab in Store has been added
- Consumable to prevent algae growth on decorations added
- Decorations can be now cleaned by rubbing them while holding CTRL button
- Tank back-reflection is now tied to opacity of side reflections
- Fixed camera scrolling on edge when game window is out of focus
- Fixed possibility of putting held growing plant into DNA editor resulting in crash
- Fixed crash when cutting was taken from cached root just after spawning heir
- Fixed cached plants not changing seed spawn position when moved
- Fixed plants visually glitching top part of plant when decomposing
- Fixed plant root collider displacement when moving growing plant
- Fixed colliders displacement after editing plant in DNA editor
- Fixed crash when buying new decoration after selling old
- Fixed plant caching frequency to avoid performance loss
- Fixed UI elements not matching color to ambience
- Fixed plants spawning in front of tank
- Improved memory management by removing unused pointers
- Improved plant cuttings stalk collider placement
- Improved editing plant spawn range limits
- Improved stability of placed decorations
- Improved interface responsivity

EDIT: Ninja hotfixed issue with loading saves if other state was loaded already. Sorry!

Fellow players, after half year of closed alpha our game has finally reached stable and playable version. Artificial selection system is fully implemented, and as core game-play feature, requires now a lot of balancing and testing (that hopefully doesn't involve as many crashes as it did) to make it fun and captivating mechanism.

In preparation for next update (coming March), that will bring first living animals in form of Flatworms and Sponges (0.4: Dawn of Living), we're doing last call for closed alpha testers.

If You are interested in play-testing Creatura right now, follow us on our official Twitter, @CreaturaTheGame or Discord to get in contact for alpha Steam key.

Please remember that all players directly involved in play-testing alpha will get Early Supporter key on release, providing the game and all future DLCs if we ever choose to release such.

Thanks, and hope to see your aquariums from 0.37!
Koksny

Notcat of 37 statue decoration added
- Enabled plant structural DNA mutations
- Enabled plant decomposition visuals and implemented related textures
- Ambience and ground color are editable by clicking on color preset while holding Shift
- Fixed auto-saving when no vivarium state is present
- Fixed plant material sometimes not covering whole plant
- Fixed plant cuttings colliders not reflecting plant structure
- Fixed loaded plants misplacement if grown from decorations
- Fixed loaded plants colliders not initializing if plant is already grown
- Fixed loaded plants not growing due to not loading PlantRootBornTick value
- Fixed decorations sometimes falling through or gripping to ground when scaling them
- Fixed plant cuttings colliders displacement when cutting is taken from loaded plant
- Fixed crash when editing plant cuttings taken consecutively from same plant
- Fixed crash when plant combiner uses mesh belonging to combine instance
- Fixed plants not showing up in mirrors on load
- Improved plant cuttings hitboxes

Hotfix 0.37a:
- Fixed plants rendering depth glitching out
- Fixed plants not initializing colliders after loading
- Fixed crash when used cache count exceeded 300
- Fixed plants not growing from original planting position
- Fixed plants decomposition visual progress glitching out
- Fixed crash when taking cutting of non-cached structurally mutated plant after loading
- Improved leaf cuttings colliders hitboxes

Hotfix 0.37b:
- Fixed heir of plants that have been cut not growing in places when parent cutting has been taken
- Fixed crash when planted cutting taken from cached plant, while instanced plant was still live
- Fixed crash when editing cutting taken from plant that was grown from edited cutting
- Fixed plants DNA inheritance when non-structural node mutated structural change
- Fixed colliders not initializing for cuttings taken from previously edited plant
- Fixed plants not inheriting DNA when the mutation is fruit/flower
- Fixed colliders not initializing for single node plants after load
- Fixed hardwood plant cuttings spawning with wrong colors
- Fixed plants shadows disappearing on plants edges
- Fixed plants visually always rendering over water
- Fixed colliders displacement after editing plant
- Improved branch cuttings colliders hitboxes
- Improved saving precision for plant position, rotations and colors