Thrive 0.4.2

This is a less polished release than the previous one, but we wanted to get something out there as this release is already overdue by months.
We changed our graphics engine so there will be likely many issues regarding that. If you get crashes please send us crash reports. There's one especially rare crash that usually happens when entering the editor after playing for an hour.

Installation

For easiest installation, download the latest version of the launcher:
https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive-Launcher/releases/

Alternatively, download the relevant file above for manual installation.

Thrive system requirements

Windows: Windows 7 or Windows 10. Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable is required. Intel integrated graphics have issues. Hopefully bs::framework can add support for wider range of intel hardware.
Linux: glibc 2.28 (you can recompile the game with older glibc). Recent graphics drivers. Nouveau drivers for Nvidia may not work (untested)

Patch Notes

• New graphics engine (bs::framework)
• New audio library (Alure) which should help with sounds not playing. Also changed music volumes to make it more audible
• Patches. You can now move to different patches with their different conditions.
• Free build editor
• Auto-evo is now run in the background in order to reduce lag spikes
• Rebalanced reproduction times
• Reproduction progress bar
• Organelle models are now visible in the editor
• Help menu was improved
• Light is now a patch property and affects photosynthesis
• Added toxin organelle for prokaryotes
• Glucose concentration goes down every time you go to the editor
• All cells now descend from the player
• Reworked organelle models
• New organelle textures
• New flagella animation
• New editor hex texture
• Editor visual hex grid removed

Thrive 0.4.1.1

This is a release with a few new features, a few bug fixes and performance tweaks.

Installation

For easiest installation, download the latest version of the launcher:
https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive-Launcher/releases/

Alternatively, download the relevant file above for manual installation.

Thrive system requirements

Windows: Windows 7 or Windows 10. Intel HD graphics 4000 and older don't work. Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable is required
Linux: glibc 2.28 (you can recompile the game with older glibc). Recent graphics drivers. Nouveau drivers for Nvidia don't work

Patch Notes

• Performance increased by on average 30fps in our tests (50 to 80)
• Added nitrogenase and atmospheric nitrogen
• New model and Icon for rusticyanin
• Bacteria with cell walls are now the correct capsule shape
• Enabled cell walls for eukaryotes
• Player now starts with a cell wall
• New icons for CO2 and O2
• Lighting now varies by biome and more ways it can be altered per biome (But for now it only affects flagella and iron)
• Improved the look of iron significantly
• New biome
• Fixed bug where cells would have more compound then they should in various cases
• Fixed bug that prevented 1/2 of all possible AI cell starting organelle configurations from generating (AI cells will be less prone to dying immediately)

Thrive 0.4.1

This release was cut down from the initial plans for 0.4.1 to be able to release this now instead of in a few months.

Installation

For easiest installation, download the latest version of the launcher:
https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive-Launcher/releases/

Alternatively, download the relevant file above for manual installation.

Thrive system requirements

Windows: Windows 7 or Windows 10. Intel HD graphics 4000 and older don't work. Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable is required
Linux: glibc 2.28 (you can recompile the game with older glibc). Recent graphics drivers. Nouveau drivers for Nvidia don't work

Patch Notes

• Background texture loading should be fixed (aka the banana biome)
• Compound clouds should now work for players with AMD graphics
• Player starts now as a prokaryote and the nucleus can be added in the editor
• Membrane bound organelles are now locked without a nucleus
• Added new organelle for metabolising iron
• Added big and small floating iron chunks that emit iron
• Cells now break into chunks on death that slowly release compounds the chunks can also be engulfed (as can the iron chunks)
• Rebalanced organelles
• Reorganised organelles in the editor
• Fixed organelle placing being offset from the mouse in the editor
• Improvements to the AI
• Engulfing is now dependent on visual size instead of organelle count
• Osmoregulation and cell drag are now calculated per hex instead of per organelle
• Compound cloud visuals have been improved
• Cell graphics have been improved
• Backgrounds have been improved
• Auto evo step now runs every time you enter the editor.

Thrive 0.4.0.2

Here is another bugfix release, which hopefully this time will be stable for all players.

Installation

For easiest installation, download the latest version of the launcher:
https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive-Launcher/releases/

Alternatively, download the relevant file above for manual installation.

Patch Notes

• Fixed process system crash
• Fixed audio glitching in the intro videos

Thrive 0.4.0.1

This is a small, mainly bugfix release. This version should have better stability over 0.4.0

Installation

For easiest installation, download the latest version of the launcher:
https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive-Launcher/releases/

Alternatively, download the relevant file above for manual installation.

Patch Notes

• Physics crashes should be resolved
• The compound bars should no longer freeze during long play sessions
• Crashes now generate crash dumps which will help us track the causes
• New main menu backgrounds
• Compound cloud blending is better
• Few features that were supposed to be in 0.4.1 but basic implementations were done already

Thrive 0.4.0

After much anticipation we are proud to release Thrive 0.4.0. Having completed the Herculean task of switching to a new engine the game is much more playable, fun and can now be won and lost. So avoid extinction and struggle for survival in a world which now has prokaryotes, several new organelles and a completely revamped look and scale in the best Thrive release yet.

Installation

For easiest installation, download the latest version of the launcher:
https://github.com/Revolutionary-Games/Thrive-Launcher/releases/tag/1.0.3

Alternatively, download the relevant file above for manual installation.

Devblog

Read the latest Devblog for a detailed breakdown of all the new features:
http://revolutionarygamesstudio.com/devblog-18-thrive-is-alive/

Patch Notes

• Bacteria
• Darwinian Autoevo (Which affects prokaryotes and eukaryotes)
• Procedural Species names
• Improved AI
• The new AI has "behaviors" which determine how each species acts, and those behaviors can also mutate
• Winning and Losing has been added, will you go extinct? Or Thrive?
• Stability increases
• Massive Graphical Upgrades
• New Engine
• Many new Organelles
• Help menu now randomly gives tips and fun facts about microbiology
• Editor Tooltips
• Several new biomes, and all old biomes have been replaced.
• Massively Improved, faster paced, gameplay loop
• Reworked Process System
• New Compounds
• NPC members of your species now show up in game
• New Microbe Intro
• New Thrive intro

Thrive 0.3.4

Thrive 0.3.4 is here! Though a comparatively small release from a gameplay perspective, it represents a tonne of programming work on behind-the-scenes functionality and improved stability. It comes with a shiny new launcher to boot. Almost all these features are credited to hhyyrylainen and crodnu, two of our programmers.

In this release

• New Lua library. General performance improvements thanks to a restructured scripting system, fixing plenty of common crashes in the process. The console FPS counter is also fixed.
• A long standing bug that has caused some people to crash when they complete the tutorial has now been fixed (at least, it's fixed for those who've tested the release candidates).
• Loading saves should now cause fewer crashes due to audio errors.
• Overhaul of the microbial process system. Now, instead of draining ATP immediately, your cell will act smarter when allocating compounds towards different tasks and converting between them. This gives greater utility to the compound bars introduced in the previous release.
• Microbes drop a percentage of the compounds that compose their organelles on death.
• Different chance to generate each organelle in procedurally generated and mutated microbes (which means, among other things, less toxic vacuoles).
• Adjusted compound cloud densities to make the game easier. This area is still completely unbalanced, so it may not be much easier, but still.

Controls

• Point mouse to turn
• WASD to move around
• Mouse scroll wheel (or +/- keys) 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 game
• F10 to load previously saved game
• ESC to save a genus name change

Launcher

Perhaps the most obvious addition is the new Thrive launcher. If you don't already have it, download here. The launcher checks for new Thrive versions whenever it runs, running through the tedious and confusing downloading and unpacking tasks for you. It comes with handy feeds of new development forum posts and website updates, and future updates should give it greater utility.

Devblog

As ever, we have a Devblog explaining the release in more detail, including the extended functionality of the Thrive launcher. Check it out for the latest general news in the Thrive universe too.

Trailer

We decided to do something a little different for this release's trailer. Instead of some scenic shots of the game accompanied by thematic music, we used scenic shots of the game accompanied by thematic music AND a voiceover from developer MontySpud (with thanks to Naggorath for script assistance and video editing).

Engine changes

We're considering switching engine to the open-source Unreal Engine 4. You can read more about this in our Devblog. Here we'll leave only a link to the testing thread. We need as many people as possible to test the compatibility of this new version. If a future release using UE4 has errors on your machine, we'll gladly help fix them, but feel silently annoyed that you didn't test it out and tell us sooner.

Thrive 0.3.3

We might have missed the planned Christmas release date (and then the replanned New Years one), but we are finally here with Thrive version 0.3.3. It features a ton of frequently requested features, such as the reproduction and health systems and auto evo. Due to changes on the backend, we have also expanded our support for more players out there.

Lastly, I'd like to publicly acknowledge crodnu, our newest programmer, who's responsible for nearly half of the features listed below.

In this release:

• This release features a new GUI. We've been working on it for the last couple of month and it looks absolutely amazing. Many of the unnecessarily clunky elements have been removed to create a minimalistic and intuitive GUI. It is still a work in progress with some of the buttons not working, but it is a base that we will be able to expand on for the next releases.
• Mass—Previously, large cells weighed the same as smaller ones. Now, each hex has a given mass, and as a result, larger cells move slower and need more flagella to propel them.
• Auto Evo's primitive cousin: Random Evo. The tide pool is now filled with new creatures that will try to kill you with agents and phagocytosis and will mutate every time you exit the editor. Currently, there is no intelligence behind their decisions, so it's easy to get abominations of nature, but it's a step in the right direction.
• Reproduction System. Reproductase, a fictional compound and one of the main critiques we have about the cell stage, is finally gone! To reproduce you need to divide each of your organelles into two and then duplicate the DNA in your nucleus. Each organelle currently needs 2 glucose and 1 amino acids (made from 1 glucose and 1 ammonia) to split in half. In other words, make sure your glucose (white clouds) store is always above 16 and your ammonia (yellow clouds) store is above 12 and you'll be fine.
• Health System—you can now replenish lost health by getting amino acids and glucose. Damaged organelles will shrink and healthy organelles will grow.
• AMD graphics card support. We changed all of our shaders to glsl, so all those of you who don't have NVidia cards can finally enjoy the game's graphics. This broke some features (such as membrane tinting) that we couldn't fix for this release, but glsl shaders will allow us to create much better graphics in the future.
• Minor changes in compound availability between biomes.
• Linux is now simpler to set up.
• We're aware of occasional random crashes. We're not sure what's causing them and they appear fairly infrequently. If you have one, take a screenshot of the console and send it our way so we can work on fixing them for next release.

Controls:

• Point mouse to turn
• WASD to move around
• Mouse scroll wheel (or +/- keys) 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 game
• F10 to load previously saved game
• ESC to save a genus name change

Devblog:

Click here to read a more in-depth devblog about this release. It talks about everything we've been working on, as well as other unrelated stuff.

Trailer:

As usual, we also have a trailer showing off some of the new features. If your version of the game has a significant graphical difference to this, it's a bug so you should notify us by posting here.

Future:

Version 0.3.4 will focus on fixing many bugs and ironing out current game play. We will add a freebuild editor (unlimited mutation points) and allow you to change your membrane color. However, the main feature will be moving much of the lua code to C++. This will reduce lag and prepare everything for agents and a CPA system in 0.4.0 and beyond. A second focus will be to fix the process system, which doesn't work as quick and isn't as robust as it should be (which you will probably notice while trying to reproduce).

Thrive 0.3.2

Finally, the awaited end-of-summer release is here! It's a couple months after the beta that was released back in March, but we managed to squish in a bunch of new features since then and fix 12 game breaking bugs, some of which were here since pre-0.2.3. That means you should have very smooth gameplay with relatively few crashes compared to the old versions. But don't forget to save often (I spent over a week fixing that functionality)!

In this release:

• Compound Clouds! Enjoy the fluid compounds as they drift through the currents instead of the ancient, discrete particle emitters
• Continued Linux Support—Ubuntu, Arch, and Fedora should all work
• Colored Organelles—organelle materials are now tinted to be the same color as the membranes
• Damage Indicator—the membrane and all organelles now flash red when you take damage
• Process System—no longer spend hours trying to get 5 reproductase to reproduce only to have your cell get rid of it once vacuole storage are full!
• Engulfment Indicator—the membrane flashes blue when you engulf another cell (or another cell engulfs you)
• New biomes—whenever you die, you will be randomly placed into one of 5 new biomes. Discover them all!
• Endosymbiosis—engulf free-floating chloroplasts and toxin vacuoles repeatedly until you manage to assimilate them and use them for yourself
• Gameplay Tuning—less MP in the editor, better steering, less ATP consumed, and others...
• A bunch of bug fixes—most importantly, the save/load button actually works this time, and won't crash the game on you!

Controls:

• Point mouse to turn
• WASD to move around
• Mouse scroll wheel (or +/- keys) 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
• Symmetry button between undo and redo in editor

Devblog:

Click here to read a more in-depth devblog about this release. It talks about everything we've been working on, as well as other unrelated stuff.

Videos:

This time, we have both a release trailer and a play through video. The former shows off the various new features, while the later goes into an in-depth discussion of how to play the game.

Have fun Thriving!

Thrive 0.3.1

A couple months after the release of 0.3.0, we are proud to announce the newest version of Thrive: 0.3.1. Although this update is not as major as the last one and does not have any new gameplay, it is full of features that make it a lot more fun to play.

In this release:

• Linux Support
• Parallax Background
• Colored NPC Microbes
• Symmetry in the Editor
• Flipped Player Cell (Forward is now up in editor)
• New .exe Icon
• Cytoplasm
• A bunch of bug fixes (Audio, Broken Membrane, No Chloroplast, Flagellum, Species Name)

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
• Symmetry button between undo and redo in editor
• (Cheat: if you ever get frustrated by reproductase, just press ‘p’)

Devblog:

Click here to read the more in-depth devblog about this release. It talks about everything else we've been working on.

Release Trailer:

Thanks to oliveriver, we also have a release trailer.

Have fun Thriving!