Hi Universe Architects!
It’s been some time since we last made a dev diary. It’s the busiest we’ve been for a while, and we hope everyone is enjoying all of the updates we’ve been working hard on. Thank you for your continued feedback for these updates, especially to our beta community for replaying our test builds multiple times. We would not be able to do this without everyone’s enthusiasm and support.
Get your tea ready and let’s take the time to recap all the content that’s been out before we take a look into what’s coming up next.
Warning: It’s a bit of a long read.Take a sip as we take a step back
We released our second limited time event of the year Explore: Tea — A Journey of Serenity.
We are still figuring out our process for bringing more events to you at an increased cadence while also gauging topics that would resonate with our players. Although we aspire to incorporate a 3D garden for each Explore Event, the reality is that even a simplified version demands too much time for production. We currently face a dilemma between accommodating player demand and managing our internal team's bandwidth. We aim to deliver enjoyable experiences for our players, but when stacked up against potential delays, we'll need to review the necessity of Explore Event 3D gardens once more moving forward.
We’ve also received a lot of questions on why we chose tea as a topic. It is very different from what we’ve done in the past, and it was mainly an internal decision based on the team’s love for tea. In January, we created a poll asking our players what topics they would like us to pursue for future events. Out of the many topics that were suggested, tea was the only topic that seemed to gain widespread interest within the team. And so, what was once a conversation starter became a project that led to the creation of a new limited time event! It was led by a two person team with different members floating in as needed during its development. We even surprised players at PlayNYC (learn more:
link) as Tea made its debut to the public as a beta feature.
If players are still curious about the process and want to learn more, our Discord ‘Let’s Play’ event during Tea’s launch can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/b0WxdtFoVwY
We hope players enjoyed Explore: Tea — A Journey of Serenity, and we will be using your feedback to help us improve future events.
Civilization wasn’t built in a day
The Dawn of Civilization is in full swing! With the release of the Stone Age Civilization update, we introduced seven new research nodes and four unique trophy nodes to the Main Simulation tree. Göbekli Tepe, Dog Domestication and Lascaux are three new prizes that appear in the Civilization Garden once unlocked from the Logit Store. Players will need to save up Logits and Darwinium in order to acquire these exclusive new items. We also added a new hidden achievement. Many players should have already found it. If not, it is tied to a special interaction with a certain canine companion.
You may notice that the Stone Age Garden is bursting with life! We’ve added animated characters and other decor to make the garden feel more complete. It doesn’t come without restrictions, though. With each new 3D model we add to the garden, it increases the size of the game app while also reducing the ability for older phones to enjoy the new content. As a result, the characters and environment went through multiple iterations to reduce its poly count so that the game can continue to grow. We are constantly optimizing our assets to ensure that our game requires less space and can be played on older phones.
As we go further into the Beyond
Discover strange and bizarre exoplanets as the simulation takes an alien twist with
Beyond Episode 20: Strange Worlds taking the stage very soon. Follow Semblance as she explores strange solar systems to find an exoplanet that could support terrestrial life. Will she be successful? There will be five new exciting exoplanet generators based on recent NASA research to explore, with twelve Series II trait cards to boost the Beyond simulation.
At a technical level, every new episode of the Beyond requires us to rank up our 3D visualizations, and Episode 20 is no exception. In Episode 19, we added exoplanets, which required us to make planets independent of the generator that they were unlocked with. For Episode 20, we needed to flip that - make planets orbiting a star where the
planet is the generator. A lot of surprising technical changes came out of that one small change. When you click on a star to focus on it, the camera needs to know to zoom in on the planet, not the star. The name that appears in the garden should also be the name of the star system (“Wasp 12”) rather than the name of the planet (“Wasp 12 b”). When you tap the “-” button to unfocus the generator, it needs to focus on the star in the system it is in. As we add fascinating new generators to the Beyond, Semblance isn’t the only one leveling up her simulation.
With the story of the Lives of Stars concluded, we’ve been exploring our branding to give the next episode a unique look and feel while still connecting it to the overall Beyond expansion. There were a lot of design favorites but ultimately we picked a direction that reflects the story’s progression. Do you have a favorite?
It’s the race towards discovery
We’ve made a lot of changes and progress towards the revamped leaderboard system. Some of it is very confusing and has broken along the way. We’re really grateful for our players' feedback as we polish this system. It’s unfortunate that some unexpected bugs popped up with each fix, many of which are tied to the complexities of developing a multiplayer system that affects the relationship of data between our server and the game.
Whenever we do beta tests for the leaderboard race, we are essentially testing whether the data feedback call between the server and the game is working as intended. Playtimes need to be accurately recorded to show the correct time passed to complete the race and earn rewards. Each tier is divided into a group of at most 15 players (after the most recent update). Players are grouped according to their tier rank as well as their place in the race.
For example, if you are a player who started the race on Day 2 of the event then you will be placed with other players who are also starting the race on Day 2. All of you are in the same tier rank too. Similarly, players who cheat will be grouped in the same tier with other cheaters. They will not be seen with non-cheaters. However, if a player follows someone who is a cheater, they will also appear in your list even if you are in a tier with non-cheaters.
We also test some of the profile and icon customizations we’ve added to ensure that they are working properly. We hope that this information gives a better understanding to our players on how the leaderboard race works. We admit that it is not perfect and we are iterating it constantly based on player feedback. We are getting there, and we appreciate your continued support.
We’ve been having a lot of discussions on how we can make the new leaderboard system integrated in other simulations with more improvements over time. We are even in talks about removing cheaters from the leaderboard race to prevent them from participating in the future. For now, we will continue reviewing player feedback and gauging excitement over this existing feature.
Dodos are back to haunt your simulation
Halloween is around the corner, and something supernatural has invaded the simulation once again. The dodos are back to haunt the simulation! Semblance needs help to capture these ghostly nuisances.
Since we’ve debuted the Dodo Ghost Hunt in 2022, we’ve received a lot of requests to bring back this fun and popular event, particularly for those who have missed its secret achievement. This year, with the revamp of the Civilization Garden, the Dodos have migrated to new locations and it will be up to the players to find their new hiding spots.
The Dodo Ghost Hunt will run from October 18 to November 8, 2023. Can you find all 66 dodos? 🦤
Fun fact— the Dodos have periodically escaped their graves and have run amuck during development over the past year. We’ve had to stamp them out a number of times and have wondered if they’ve become a bug or a feature.
Ourgameishaunted
Metabit tuning continues to be a challenge
It’s been an eventful year so far. We've released more content than we’ve done in past years, but it’s also come with its difficulties. It should come as no surprise that balancing for Metabit production has been challenging.
We wanted to re-balance Metabit production since we planned to add more nodes and Logit prizes with the launch of the revamped Civilization update and more. But the main reason this became a bigger focus was due to the introduction of the Giant Squid Logit prize. An error in its curve exploded the game economy and caused players to finish the game faster. As a result, the game’s retention began to drop and we’ve been working hard to fix that. Unfortunately, we were not successful and our retention began to drop even more as the game became harder to play with the slow Metabit production. With the 5th Metabit tuning iteration we are able to see a small recovery in our retention, but only time can tell before we can determine if there was any meaningful impact.
Balancing of Metabit production is going to go through multiple iterations over time as we add more content. We'll be going beyond eight iterations from what we have initially stated in order to ensure that the game's economy is balanced. We are thankful for all the feedback we’ve received from our players as it helps us pivot in the right direction. It’s been a rough ride, and we thank you for your patience and continued support.
What’s coming up next?
Phew, that was a lot to review! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading along. As the year is coming to an end, we want to share an updated roadmap of everything we’ve accomplished. We are proud to say that we’ve fulfilled our aspirations and goals for the year and are excited for more to come. Coupled with a monthly dev diary, our future goal is to release two roadmap updates a year.
We are currently ahead of schedule as we have three Beyond ranks in development. There are also three updates planned to expand Civilization and its garden. We’ve just released the Explore: Tea — A Journey of Serenity limited time event, and we have another one currently in the works. It will be a great melody in our symphony of events. We also have other topics lined up and want to thank our players for always sending us suggestions.
That is all, everyone! Thank you again to all of our players, especially the beta community. We hope the sentiment is shared when we say that we listen to your feedback. Our game continues to improve and grow due to our players’ time and support for us. Keep an eye out as we announce the launch for Beyond Episode 20: Strange Worlds in the near future.
On
Friday, October 20th from 1 - 2pm EST, we will be live on Twitch for another livestream. Join us as we talk more about the Civilization update, Beyond Episode 20, and plans for tuning the leaderboard system. A new Darwinium code will also be waiting for you to redeem.
Stay Cellular!
- The Cells Team
