0.5.1 Features Discussion

Gameplay
#1

Now that we have switched over to godot there is alot of potential for adding more features. Let’s discuss our options or ideas and decide on what we should all focus on as a necessity for this next version!

The release map generated from this discussion will be what we point to when anyone asks what’s gonna be in the next version, what’s coming, etc. Note that I will only place things on this WIP list if someone states outright that they intend to work on it in this discussion to reduce the chances of having to remove any features from our plans just before release.
Release map so far:

  • Bugfixes
  • Game saving
  • Reworked models for marine snow, and oxytoxysomes.
  • Segmented ATP balance bar

Since the update before this engine switch dropped, I have been searching for and compiling a list of potential features from here and the community to help us decide on what we should do next.

Below is the list of items that could be rather straight forward to implement and or require very little discussion. Note that the placement of items in this list are only based on my own perception on how much discussion they might require.

Plausible List
  • Introduce DonGororo’s Report Menu concept
  • Behavior Editor
  • Environmental Events
  • Upgraded/Remodeled Patch Map
  • Game saving
  • Planet Generation and Customization
  • Achievements
  • Thermoplasts
  • Radiotrophs
  • Organelle Upgrades
  • Introduce free movement for camera in editor
  • Allow player to play any species occupied patch upon death/reproduction
  • Player Population Change Rebalance
  • Limit to number of cells engulfed at once
  • Make newly placed organelles fully refundable before entering play mode
  • Rename predatory pili to a more neutral term
  • Add audio or visual cues to indicate invalid actions (Such as attempting to place parts with insufficient MP)
  • Check and correct for spelling errors in game text (For instance, Bathypalagic in the patch map should be Bathypelagic)
  • Rename Oxytoxy NT to reflect real world toxin
  • Improve cell AI
  • Implement new damage effects to better convey cell is being harmed
  • Introduce water currents
  • Fix placement issues in editor
  • Cell statistics overview (All cell stats in one panel or menu for analysis.)
  • Implement Narotiza’s design for editor UI
  • Rework player starting compounds to allow for more flexibility
  • Investigate balance of membrane types and ensure they are strategically distinct
  • Introduce Narotiza’s options menu UI
  • Built-in screen capture
  • Viewable clade diagram for your world.
  • Automovement hotkey
  • Togglable ingame notifications window for events

Next is a list of items and features that may require a great deal of discussion before being implemented. It is unlikely these will be chosen for our release plans yet but I am posting them here incase someone decides to start discussion on them or disagrees with their placement in the list.

Debatable List
  • Remove or rebalance Oxytoxy from prokaryotes
  • Damage delay or knockback for offensive pili
  • In-game Tutorials
  • Cilia and Stuff
  • Templates and Exportation
  • Agents Customization
  • Addition of seperate forms of a cell for lifecycle stages or interchangable “modes”
  • Gene Transfer
  • Compound Toxicity
  • Endosymbiosis
  • Patch addition or rebalance
  • Radar in the form of chemoreception or eyespots
  • Investigate current balance of nucleus
  • Implement diffusion of compounds and gasses between patches
  • Add hydrogenase
  • Biolumenesence
  • Begin work on transition to multicellular
  • Implement in-game encyclopedia
  • Unlockable Organelles
  • Marine snow
  • Environmental events
  • Cell Healing Rework
  • System for Enzymes and Proteins
  • Mobility altering gas vacuoles
  • Allow customization and functionality for photosynthetic spectra
  • Environmental variables effect cells
  • Procedural backgrounds and lighting effects

So now that we have these lists, we can trim out what we dont want to work on, and single out that which we do. Let me know what you think, I’ll post my own thoughts at a later time.

3 Likes
#2

I want to work on new models for marine snow and the oxitosome so we finally get rid of the X placeholder.
I can also tidy up the UI, there are some things that look off, but i dunno if that would require knowing some programming.
I’m busy with finals now, but i should be more available after the 30th.

2 Likes
#3

One big question for everyone: should we aim to have a bugfix release 0.5.0.1 or not?
I think we should have one if we can get some of the big crashes, as well as balancing problems fixed in the next few weeks.
We can also include any new features that happened to get done before that.

Anyway for 0.5.1 these are the things I’d like to work on:

  • Saving, this is probably going to take a lot of my time, but will be worth it to finally have saving properly
  • Making automated devbuilds again, so that it is much easier to ask other developers to test your changes as well as entice more patrons as there’ll be many more devbuilds to play
  • Improving our CI to have additional code style checks and checks for unused variables.
  • And then of course some bug fixing, but I’m feeling pretty burned out by churning out endless fixes, so I may have to stay away from bug fixing for a while to recharge.

So basically that’s probably at least a month if not two of work for me (considering that I’ll work full time next month before I take time off during the summer). I’ve been putting way more time into thrive in the past two months that I can in the near future.

Much Of the GUI should be editable without touching any of the code. There are some places in the code that use hard coded paths, but many of the places use NodePaths which automatically update when you edit the nodes in Godot.

Seems like many people have finals ATM. Maybe that means that we can’t make a quick fix release?

For now I’ll close the 0.5.0 milestone and move the remaining issues to 0.5.1 milestone. I’ll also dump some of the bug fixing issues there. These can be changed later.

And yeah let’s get this discussion going. Let’s not be too ambitious otherwise we’ll just need to cut features from the release once we reach the approximate date when we should release.

3 Likes
#4

I made the milestone on github: https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive/milestone/15
and added the left over issues from 0.5.0, I also included some of the high priority fixes that should be done ASAP there.

Edit: I added some more bug fixing issues there that I think should be prioritized as they greatly affect the playability.

1 Like
#5

Sounds great to me, I personally havent noticed any issues with the UI but I admit I also havent really payed much attention to it

Something like that is definately in order, 0.5 is a maze of bugs and issues right now and cutting those down would make for a much more enjoyable experience.

If there is one thing I would like to see added in the next version is the cell statistics overview, being able to see how much of each resource your cell consumes and produces, how much health you have, etc. I imagine a decent place for it would be collpased into the ATP balance bar until you click to expand it. I understand if it’s complicated though so it’s not a necessity to prioritize.

Ideally I would have liked to see a new cell part added to the game soon to give players some more variety which is always wonderful, but I don’t think now is the time as balance is well, not balanced. But hopefully I will be able to sort some of that out in a bugfix update or the upcoming one.

2 Likes
#6

I mean this is kinda difficult to just flat out include, we don’t have any concepts for this yet. The closest feature is the process panel that has been discussed way back as a way for the player to visualize what’s going on in their cell.

This time it seems that we have only a few new features suggested to be added to 0.5.1, I guess everyone is feeling the need to fix what we have instead of trying to add more. Which I definitely agree as the spawn system fixes for example need to be done before balancing. So the current issues affect a lot of things.
I think I’ll add at least a few more bugs to the milestone, but I think we should include at least something that the art team could work on, perhaps planning out these features with concept art would be suitable.

2 Likes
#7

I’ve done that now. So we now have the milestone with 46 open issues (https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive/milestone/15).
I’d like to especially point out 2 issues I added:

This is the issue for adding a process panel to check what your cell is doing


And this is an issue for the graphics team to make new graphics for the ice biome particles.

For releasing a small patch 0.5.0.1 I think (and I’ll mark this in my calendar), we should consider the amount of fixes already done by 6.6.2020 and if the most important issues are solved, a release can be made so that people can get their hands on the fixes earlier.

2 Likes
#8

What about working on the planet editor? A lot of work has been done on it already, but i think it still was coded in C++. Plus Narotiza and others made a lot of concepts for it, the stats panel has a couple of them too:

Concepts

1920×1080 625 KB

And this has atp bars

342×648 95.2 KB

2 Likes
#9

I’m not against including that, but that seems to be one of the cursed features, whenever someone tries to work on the planet generator and the GUI for it, they disappear.

I’ll add the segmented ATP balance bars to the milestone. I don’t want to include too many of the cursed / eternity features that no one seems to get finished, as they either need to be thrown out of the release or I need to do them.

2 Likes