Time seems far more constrained than I thought (though this a good sign of course for overall development rate). I have been thinking over the 1.0 Roadmap and posted a more detailed version of my thoughts in Evaluating Thrive 1.0 Release Goals.
I will summarize what I said here:
Summary
I think that, with Version 1.0 being such an important milestone it might be preferable to add in more than the completion of the microbe stage. Having a more complete 3D organism editor and world generator will greatly increase the visual development of the later stages as well as Thrive as a whole.
The Microbe stage being complete plus visible progress in the later stages would set a good scene for Thrive’s success in the eyes of potentially new audiences reached, or even old members who left when progress was slow. The release of version 1.0 is a unique opportunity that we should try to make the most of as it is the version that is most likely to have a good reception than any other release will. If we rush through it too quickly than we might not be able to take full advantage of the potential for wider audience, more engagement with current audience, attracting new devs, and helping financially. In short: version 1.0 will be the version with the most potential to build hype for the game, and we should try to fuel the fire as much as we can.
I have singled out the 3D organism editor and the Planet Generator as the two features that will increase Thrive’s perceived development the most, as they are the major features still missing for Thrive to be visually complete. The 3D organism editor has been worked on relatively recently and I am feeling confident about developing the world generator, so I think there is a good chance that these features can be done in time.
However, I think that it would not be worth it to wait overly long on releasing Thrive 1.0 once microbe stage is finished. If it is determined that the additional features would take too long to add or the plan otherwise changes, then we could revert to the current plan of releasing 1.0.
We don’t have to decide on this for a while longer I think. In any case, development would remain the same except for the decision of either updating the current patch map generator or postponing the planet customization until a later release.
If Version 1.0 does end up being released in Q2 2025, then I would estimate a good chance of that being too soon to replace the current patch map planet generator with the full world generator. I would still expect the world generator to make it into a prototype stage, but it would be unlikely to be tested long enough to be confident in replacing anything important, especially for the 1.0 release.
If we do decide to extend the release of Thrive 1.0, then I would feel more confident in the ability to implement the roadmap described previously.
I would want to work on the current patch map generation code before starting the full world generator integration into Thrive anyhow. Unless I am mistaken, the current version creates the patch graph at the same time as the patch map, so this will need to be separated out so that the patch graph generated by the world generator can be displayed. Having a transitional stage where Thrive uses a general patch graph display algorithm using the current patch graph would be a good idea. I was originally planning on working on that later though, so if the timeline is fast then I might not be able to get to it quick enough for the 0.9 release.