Thrive 0.3.0

Almost a year since our last release, and a month since the first release candidate, we finally bring you the awaited version 0.3.0.

In this release:

• Upgrade to Ogre version 2.0
• Brand new opening cutscene (and video support, in general)
• Cell Membrane (no more honeycombs!)
• Organelle models
• Organelles take up multiple hexes and can be rotated
• Microbe editor revamp: green highlight if you can place an organelle and red if you cannot
• Organelles can only be placed next to existing ones
• Compound storage should be slightly less worse (still not ideal, though)
• Tooltips

Controls:

• Point mouse to turn
• WASD to move around
• Mouse scroll wheel to zoom
• E to release toxins (if you have any)
• G to engulf other cells (you must be bigger in size)
• ESC to bring up menu.
• F2 to switch between microbe stage and microbe editor
• F4 to save your current gamestate
• F10 to load your previous saved gamestate
• F12 to save a name-change
• (Cheat: if you ever get frustrated by reproductase, just press ‘p’)

Future plans:

This graphics update has made Thrive look a lot better than before, but we still have a long way to go. The main goal for next release, 0.3.1, is compound clouds and fluid dynamics and to get a working linux build. We are hoping to release sometime this year unless something unexpected comes up… which most likely will. We have already implemented different microbe coloration (you can change every single cell’s color by going into the Membrane.material file), but we are currently lacking a GUI for doing this. Speaking of which, we currently have a couple people working on designing a better GUI.

For the remaining 0.3.x releases, we want to implement bacteria, a moving background, an options menu, and a couple other minor things (see the dev forum for in-depth information on the upcoming features). Although this hasn’t been discussed much and is completely my opinion, I think that 0.4.0 will be the release where we implement agents, toxins, and in-depth combat gameplay. This should make Thrive an actual fun game that you can actually play (it’s more of a simulation currently). 0.5.x will probably be the release with an in-depth AI, and 0.6.x will feature compounds, population dynamics, and auto-evo and will basically conclude the cell stage. Again, this is just my speculation on what could happen.

To finish everything off, here is a series of images of Thrive evolving through the years.

Thrive 0.2.4

Another half-year, another release! And this one brings you the long-awaited GUI update, which we kept promising soon while we were too busy to work on it! But it is done! And so we release! Yay!

Note, the linux release this time is on mega, thanks to issues uploading to GitHub.

New Features

• All the features from the previous release
• A super-awesome new GUI! Yay!
• New microbes, new behaviours!
  • Some microbes are now toxic, so be careful who you kill!
  • Others will hunt you down and shoot at you. Choose your battles wisely.
• Revamped reproduction! Swim, eat, metabolize, reproduce!
• Sound effects for everything, from button-clicking to microbe death!
• New compound models, for ammonia, amino acids, and reproductase!
• An arrow in the editor so people will remember which way is forward!
• Name your species! Click on your species name in the editor, write something, then hit F12!
• Thanks to the pre-release, we have fixed a whole lotta bugs!

Controls

• Point mouse to turn
• WASD to move around
• Mouse scrollwheel to zoom
• E to release toxins (if you have any)
• ESC to bring up menu.
• F1 to toggle alternate reality (Debugging feature)
• ` to bring up console (Debugging feature)
• F2 to switch between microbe stage and microbe editor
• F4 to save your current gamestate
• F10 to load your previous saved gamestate
• F12 to save a name-change

Known Issues

• The save button in the editor to save your creation is working, but the load button does nothing. Instead you can open the console with '`' (the key left of 1) and enter: loadMicrobe("MyMicrobeName") and hit the enter key
• For other less major things, go see our Issue List.

Thrive 0.2.3

That's right, as promised, here is the long-awaited midsummer Thrive release!

For the Windows release try the mirror: https://mega.co.nz/#!JEZw2RCR!trX-_MyZZwrFL0xx7CxW9siEqAb8DVQDFEc93fae7kY
And for the Linux release scroll down.

New Features

• All the features from the previous release
• Multiple AI species! Other types of microbe all swimming around, and it's easy for modders to add new ones too!
• Predation! Feed on the flesh of murdered microbes!
• Saving and loading microbes! Wanna share your latest and greatest creations? Well now you can send your friends more than just a screenshot!
• Mutation Points! Now making it slightly more annoying to make a giant microbe!
• Photosynthesis! A new Chloroplast organelle that converts CO2 from new CO2 emitters (and water, from our invisible water infini-emitters) into Glucose and Oxygen, for all your energy needs!
• Zooming in and out! Wanna keep an eye on the microbes spawning near you? Need more space to make ever-larger microbe monstrosities? Well, we've got the zoom for you!

Controls

• Point mouse to turn
• WASD to move around
• Mouse scrollwheel to zoom
• E to release toxins (if you have any)
• P in editor to place chloroplast
• ESC to bring up menu.
• F1 to toggle alternate reality (Debugging feature)
• ` to bring up console (Debugging feature)
• F2 to switch between microbe stage and microbe editor
• F4 to save your current gamestate
• F10 to load your previous saved gamestate.

Coming Soon

Work is on progress on a new GUI, which isn't ready yet, which is why there is no Chloroplast button in the editor. Expect another release in a few weeks with the new GUI, sound effects and whatever else we manage to do in the meantime. For the more distant future we are working on updating microbe graphics with a dynamic cell membrane, population dynamics and more!