Since the last release planning thread, we have released 0.9.0. Originally the last release planning thread was for 0.8.4 so we’ve made great progress on the roadmap. And it is starting to look pretty barren now that I removed the done items (and some mostly done items that I think are unlikely to receive any further work). The roadmap now looks like:
Our goal still is to release the completed microbe stage, 1.0, by the end of the year. And to do that in a way that ensures the big 1.0 release is in a really good polished state, I think we need a couple of really small releases before then. So my idea is that we’ll only have 2-3 weeks for 0.9.1 and then a few weeks for 0.9.2 before putting out the 1.0.
So we should focus on the last few new features soon and then only focus on balancing and polishing things in the lead up to the microbe stage completion.
I think some high priority items are currently: further balancing changes (as we’ve received some feedback that most of the recent nerfs have been too harsh), and configuring the terrain system better.
Related to the terrain system it kind of seems like it might need more density. I could experiment soon with making the placement try much harder to fill in as many chunks as configured, as right now it just tries 10 random placements and if they all happen to be blocked it will just skip a chunk configuration. Instead the code could try “sliding” the chunks to not overlap and place them if it found a suitable position.
Other than that I think I’ll first focus on fixing the few saving and MP exploits that were reported just after the 0.9.0 release. And the new graphics presets. Then I’ll be freed again to work on the roadmap.
It seems that about for me that would mean making some kind of really basic cell division animation based on just starting things overlapping and then sliding them out. And maybe making that one more patch event to be able to call that system then done. Additionally at that time I might want to fix the underlying problem with patch events ending rarely not restoring conditions if @Patryk26g doesn’t finish that first.
So what are other people’s plans for this release cycle? And does it sound good to release 0.9.1 in maybe 3 weeks on the 22nd? Of course depending on how many critical bug reports come in, I kind of think a small patch for loading saves might be necessary tomorrow already (it would be 0.9.0.1).
I think the release schedule sounds good to me, and of course I’ll be continuing work on the remaining Terrain Chunks, which there are now only 6 mineral types left to do!
And to note, if anyone hasn’t already seen, in the document that I linked in the Microbe Stage Terrain Generation and Features topic, I have added a rough description of how the terrain could generate in each patch (inferred from various other topics talking about terrain stuffs).
On the coding side I’ll be busy trying to implement the remaining organelles into Auto-evo. Some of them are predation-focused and overlap with the toxin upgrades PU. So with those I am going to wait until that PU has finished going through review and correction. In the meantime Imight attempt implementing scoring for nitrogen/phosphate collection.
If I get all of that done, I also want to try having auto-evo take into account sprinting ability. That would provide some value to excess ATP production, thereby hopefully producing some more species that have the potential to support a nucleus.
On the design side, I’ll keep working with Deus to try to hammer out a cohesive design for the Multicellular stage. (I’ll also be giving some overviews of the literature I’ve been reading for that). That way once 1.0 is out there will hopefully be a clear path forward (maybe even something of a plan to show people?)
I hope I am not misinterpreting, but from the mockups @DevonHalstonDraedle initially made, I got the impression the models were actually expected to overlap?
In that case could ignoring overlaps and just placing them anyway be a nett positive in creating interesting terrain?
My primary focus will be on balancing changes. Once I feel we have solid efforts towards balancing, I will branch out into some discussions revolving around the Multicellular and hopefully some outreach efforts before 1.0.
They could look very glitchy if the terrain is allowed to overlap however it ends up. A few of the models due to the irregularity are already configured with slightly smaller area circles than they actually take up and can thus end up overlapping.
Also the terrain cluster configurations are totally free to overlap chunks however they want. So if anyone wants to, they could make a terrain cluster configuration where an interesting amount of overlap is put in manually.
I made a small patch to address the saving problems and 3 infinite MP exploits:
Though the MP system is still not very good, but I think the easiest infinite exploits are fixed. The downside is that I had to disable MP refunds in multiple cases which is not optimal.
So I think I need again to take time to properly rework the MP calculation to just finally take in two species and compare their differences to come up with a total MP cost, and that system should not be able to have any exploits or missing cases of MP refunds.
I’ll try to get the new events done this release as I didn’t have time and energy for it in the previous month. Hopefully my PR will also fix the events not finishing properly
I will mainly continue to work on the world generator, with a basic procedural parts prototype being a potential task I could work on as well. My main goal for the 1.0 release is to help present the future of Thrive by having the later stages (Macroscopic through to Space stage) either have expanded prototypes or if that would be too time consuming in the time we have left then at least have demos showing off what we want to achieve. I am fairly confident that I will be able to produce compelling demos using the world generator, which would primarily show off the Society to Space stages. This would leave the Macroscopic to Awakening stages a bit underrepresented in overall visuals compared to other stages appearance, so I have been considering how to best represent what we want the 3D Organism system to be capable of with the least development effort and so I came up with the basic procedural parts prototype idea.
For this specific release I will also continue to help out with testing, especially of the graphics presets, and can do further benchmarking of Thrive on different systems as necessary.
As part of the sound team, at one point I had ambitious plans to make a theme for every microbe stage biome, but with 1.0 releasing soon and the amount of microbe themes we have already, that feels unnecessary. In the spirit of having themes for unique gameplay contexts, we’ve already got a theme for the two starting biomes (Vents and Tidepool), and @QuantumCrab ‘s excellent theme for the Ice Shelf, the biome which probably has the most unique identity.
When I return to composing for Thrive, which may be before or after 1.0, I intend to focus my energy on Multicellular and Macroscopic stages, as these are upcoming and currently only have a few themes.
I also intend to maintain my Thrive Soundtrack Completion Tracker, which tracks what gameplay contexts are in need of soundtrack work. For example, Multicellular through Awakening stages have no editor themes.
I should actually have availability to code again until the end of the year, but I’m not sure what I would work on. I still have a hunch that denser patch terrain is going to cause lots of microbes getting stuck, so I was thinking about applying the focused prey system from microbe AI into the run-and-tumble, since there’s not enough time left to try getting actual pathing working. If there’s anything else anyone wants me to support, let me know!
If you are interested in a very small task to get back into things, there’s an item on the microbe roadmap about having a unique sound effect for the binding mode rather than reusing the engulfing mode sound effect.