App 4248790 · Update history

Substrate: Emergence

Official Steam announcements identified as patches, hotfixes, changelogs and game updates.

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Patches

34 tracked updates
  1. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.4a/b/c

    v0.4.4a:* Added skip button to tutorial section* Fixed various tutorial hard-lock bugs* UI layout bug fixes* UI navigation improvementsv0.4.4b:* Improvements to the first Bionet map: - Improved balance (the rival side had a major advantage) - Fixed bug where victory condition would be met without ever encountering the rival germinal zone* Cryobank behavior fixes. Strains are now deducted from the Cryobank immediately when deployed in a culture* Improved plasmodia branch behavior and greatly reduced crawl speed (should be nearly stationary)* Fixed various tutorial hard locks* Fixed various cryobank hard and soft locks* UI fixes and consistency improvements* Other various bug fixesNOTE: The current rival AIs are dumb prototypes. More advanced opponents will be trained. v0.4.4c:* Added maps: METAMORPH-I and METAMORPH-II (Note: while I am updating the bionet, they won't be easy to find; o...

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  2. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.4: Divide & Conquer pt. 2!

    Hey everyone! I am here once again to share a new update for the demo. I have been focusing a lot on improving the onboarding and accessibility of the game and in that spirit I have fleshed out the tutorial much more with dedicated tutorial levels for each mechanic. I am still adding levels, but the core lessons should be enough to teach the foundations of the game. I think it will be a massive improvement over the last version. I also have been finding areas where the mechanics have gotten a little bit bloated and confusing. I decided to cut nutrient completely because they added complexity without much benefit. I also clarified the core game loop in career mode to be an arena-style RTS where you capture your opponent's germinal zone to win. A player must hold a germinal zone or will be eliminated after 30 seconds. The compound system is still being built but it's already functional...

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  3. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.3a

    * Mutations reworks: - Background mutation rate is lowered - Increased magnitude and prominence of rare, large single gene mutation "divergence events" - Divergence events are named* Cryobank strain cap can be increased via biomark unlocks, converted to list instead of honeycomb display* Cells with no mitochondria now produce much more heat from metabolism* Plasmodia growth buffed so they no longer stall after just a few division* Added more spawn guards to protect against specimens being dropped

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  4. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.3: Divide and Conquer!

    Hey everyone! I am very excited to share another Alpha build, this time built around territorial domination! A lot has changed, and some things will be a bit rough while I patch the holes.The biggest challenge that I have been facing is that the game is confusing. Previously, I thought this was just an issue with the tutorial and onboarding, but over time I have realized that the tutorial is confusing because the game is pretty disjointed right now. I have been trying out lots of different ideas, and that means that there hasn't been a single coherent direction. I am changing that now. I have pushed back the Early Access release date to September 17th since I want to take my time getting these changes right.The Substrate is rich in precious trophin. Cells spread zone to zone to extract it. Feed your cells trophin and they will rapidly mutate.Territorial domination helps focus the game...

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  5. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.2a: UI refinements, tutorial pacing, nerfed contaminants and more

    v0.4.2a:* Gameplay & Balance: - Creative mode only: Place cells on demand in cultures. Ctrl + space opens the cell placer - Tool consistency changes: particle density is now consistent across all tool radii and is set by intensity - Improved effectiveness of antibiotics and viruses at high bacteria counts - Reduced amount of dense substrate left behind by dead cells - Motile cells have longer life spans - Gentler contaminant events* Legibility: - Changed economy tickers to show strains rather than genes - F1 now toggles all HUD panels off without hiding the HUD fully. ctrl + F1 hides the HUD completely (for screenshots/cinematics)* Other: - Improved optimization for the strain registry - Added WASD/arrow key panning to lineage tree views - F1 now toggles all HUD panels off without hiding the HUD fully. ctrl + F1 hides the HUD completely (for screenshots/cinematics) - Re-drew HUD icons...

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  6. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.2: Major tutorial, UI and Gameplay Updates!

    Hey everyone! I've just updated the demo and main app to v0.4.2. This will be one of the last major demo updates before Early Access starts. This is a big update.Tutorial overhaulI've attempted another rework of the tutorial, with improved pacing and details. I hope that it helps clarify the game for anyone who found the learning curve too steep to get started. Gameplay changesOne of the biggest gameplay changes is the new compound system. In career mode, you no longer have an endless paintbrush/particle/crystal tool. Instead, you have to harvest compounds from the cells that you can then use to modify the environment. In creative mode you can fully customize the compounds, so it is basically the same tool as before except with a wider range of options for the paintbrush, particles and crystals.In addition to this, I have reworked the economy a bit so you should notice more consistenc...

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  7. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.1: New tools and controls!

    v0.4.1:* Improved controls (need testing): - Selections can now be filtered via the inspector - Right-click sets a waypoint for your selected cells to follow, up to 128 cells per order - Waypoint orders persist when selection changes - Apoptose order moved to Delete (rebindable) - Shift + select adds to selection, ctrl + select removes (works with box select) - alt + left-click dettaches plasmodia from their network, reattaches them to a nearby network, or makes them grow a new network depending on the context - double-click now works on plasmodia too, forcing them to spend energy to grow faster* Added automatic strain naming: - Tag distinct genes. Defaults to one gene, but more can be added. Preferences should persist - Customize shorthand for genes in the glossary - M and E now confirm, so double tap either to quickly register/preserve cells from new strains* Improved lineage trees...

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  8. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.0b

    v0.4.0b:* pH tolerance and temperature tolerance gene mutations changed from multiplicative to additive to try to improve the bias of cultures towards acidification* Replication cost now scales with population density so overcrowding should be less of an issue* Added the ability to remove crystals. Right-click while holding the crystal tool deletes any crystals near the cursor. NOTE: The dense substrate and remaining environmental effects persist. It is just the emitter that gets removed* Fixed contracts that require culturing cells in specific environment presets* Fixed sugar specialists never appearing* Increased visibility of diet specialization* The Objectives HUD now favors showing completed objectives that are ready to be claimed Something that you may notice if you play a lot is that cultures almost always acidify. The intended design is that there is a dynamic mixture of pH th...

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  9. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.0a

    v0.4.0a:* Improved HUD behavior for different aspect ratios* Cursor tooltip hides on drag (F2 to show/hide)* Added attribute examples to "show me" guides* Blocked killing cells during tutorial to prevent accidentally breaking it* Compacted nucleus inspector display* Fixed plasmodia particle production stopping prematurely* Fixed plasmodia immortality bug* Minor description tweaks* Substrate visual adjustments - neutral substrate is a soft violet, pH coloring takes priority, and nutrients now just add a subtle tint As always, if the new version causes any issues, you can switch over to the previous branch for the previous build.

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  10. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.4.0

    v0.4.0:* Tutorial overhauled to be goals-first* Contracts reworked with new objective types* Widened cell temperature tolerance bands* Added strain valuation breakdown on strain tree with per-gene value* Added proper DPI resolution scaling to all UI elements* P to pause now works while tools are active* Seeding from the Cryobank now correctly exits menus to the dish and arms placement. Escape to cancel* Various bug fixes and visual tweaks

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  11. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    Substrate: Emergence Demo - v0.4.0 "Synthesis"

    Hello everyone! I have just updated the demo and base app to v0.4.0. I will be closing the playtest now that Next Fest is starting, but don't worry! The demo is the same build and I will still be updating it as usual. This just gives it a permanent home on the store page. If you haven't wishlisted Substrate yet, now's the moment, it really helps the game get seen during the fest. And if you can hop in during the first day or two, that early activity is what pushes it in front of new players. Thanks again to everyone who has been participating in the playtest, I really can't say enough how grateful I am to see anyone engaged with something I made the way that this community has been engaged.

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  12. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.3.5

    v0.3.5:* Bacteria rebalanced to reduce the amount of active attention they require. Bacterial blooms are more rare* Reduced maintenance cost burden so labs can comfortably afford significantly higher cell counts* Biomarket, contracts, Cryobank, and glossary panels all merged into one "Manage" screen with tabs* Scaled down culture sizes significantly for improved population dynamics* Improved plasmodia lifecycle to be more dynamic* Adjusted mutation rates for improved variety* Tuned strain classifier to hopefully improve strain coherence. Watching results* Added substrate brush. Allows for direct modification of the environment* Substrate nutrient composition is no longer static* Various Amoeba fixes aimed at making them viable. Previously, Amoeba almost never would appear and wouldn't survive due to various issues* Increased bacteria base size for visibility* Increased digestive enzym...

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  13. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.3.4a - Hotfixes

    v0.3.4a:* Fixed sterilization not blocking bacteria spawning* Rebalanced contamination rates to be less demanding* Fixed bug where abandoning contracts could result in net positive Biomarks* Mutagen now unlocks upon tutorial completion* Fixed bug where specimens wouldnt be added to Cryobank from Biomarket orders* Updated contracts to reflect recent changes

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  14. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.3.4: More gameplay changes!

    Hello! For this update I was mainly focused on fixing and refining the central gameplay loops and removing some frustrating aspects. In my opinion it is a noticeable improvement over the last build, especially now that insta-death is no longer really a thing for labs.Culture maintenance felt too punishing so I've flipped it, and now there is a reward for keeping your populations low. You are meant to be able to afford high population maintenance for a time, but I want the focus to be on playing with the sandbox tools to keep populations low while driving interesting evolutionary outcomes. The Colony count in the HUD is sort of like a golf score, its how far below the "par" population count you are.I also removed a lot of the unnecessary (and annoying) Biomark costs. Biomarks are basically just your score, so I've tried to simplify it a lot. Costs purely come from the upkeep cost of yo...

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  15. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.3.3: New tutorial!

    Hey everyone! I have been working on updating the tutorial and reinforcing the game loops, so I hope this update helps to clear up a lot of the confusing aspects of the game. I look forward to hearing everyone's feedback!v0.3.3:* Added guided tutorial (WIP)* Cryobank rework - now limited to 7 unique specimens preserved at a time* QuickStart moved to new lab option* Harvesting cells with G now immediately sells them for scrap. Selling cells is far easier* E to preserve cell (will prompt you to name the strain if untracked)* Increased initial funding to $10,000* Population maintenance scaling is harsher and now you must actively manage your population* Creative mode fixes* Visual tweaks* Various bug fixes

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  16. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.3.1c

    v0.3.1c:* Bug fixes and balance tweaks to improve cell viability

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  17. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.3.1b

    v0.3.1b: * Bug fixes * HUD improvements * Tutorial improvements * Visual tweaks

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  18. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.3.1: Major gameplay changes

    Hello again! After collecting the first bits of feedback from v0.3.0, I've made a few big changes that I wanted to announce here.To give career mode a clearer and more challenging goal, I've made Biomarks more important, in a few ways. Now, cultures will have an ongoing maintenance cost, which scales with culture size. This means that there is no longer an infinite money loop where your cultures can just explode in population without consequence. You'll have to think more about population scaling and make pruning decisions in order to maintain your culture. Other actions will also cost Biomarks, such as harvesting your cells. I might have to buff cell values to compensate, but this should make Biomarks and carefully curated collections feel like something actually meaningful rather than just "number go higher". I also want to emphasize agency by making the placer tools more of a focus...

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  19. Community AnnouncementsBy neb_

    v0.3.0 "Pathogenesis" is here, with a new tutorial and UI! (WIP)

    Hey everyone! It's been exactly a month since the last update, and there is a lot to share. Most of the feedback has been from playtesters who are confused, so I have been working on a new tutorial to hopefully help out with that! I also have been working on streamlining the UI and improving clarity wherever I can. This is still a work in progress, but it's enough of an improvement over the last build that I've decided to release it so that I can start getting feedback. The tutorial is definitely not finished, but the start should be much, much better than what was there before. The new UI is a much different style than the old one: I'm especially fond of the New Culture screen: There are also a bunch of new features to discover, and a glossary that I've been drafting! Unfortunately, older saves will likely be broken. I recommend deleting all labs, cultures and saved strains, and then...

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  20. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.8 is Live!

    Hey everyone, v0.2.8 is here! There is a new UI, as well as a bunch of improvements and new features. While some of the newest features and cell types are still WIP, there are plenty of improvements that enable more selective evolution and creative lab shenanigans. The tutorial format has also been reworked, so I am especially looking for feedback on ways to improve the tutorial's content to be easier to understand and navigate. v0.3.0 will be the next major feature update. Until then, I'll be working on polishing and finishing the existing features. Here is the full changelog: v0.2.8:* Added crystal system: persistent environmental generators* Balance tweaks: - Reduced organelle maintenance cost - Reduced movement cost by 10x (was previously 5x+ base maintenance cost) - Increased collector attraction speed - Plasmodium branches take damage from enzymes - All cells now have some basal...

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  21. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.7a

    I've continued working on getting the simulation stable in the long term. Performance still drops but I'm pretty sure that it's from slime mold's being unbalanced now, so I'll be working on that next. I ran the simulation over night last night and found some more GC leaks, and fixed most of it today. I haven't had a chance to run it for very long, but so far memory use is noticeably lower and doesn't climb nearly as much, so I think it's a big improvement there. I'll have to run it again overnight to confirm. New in v0.2.7:* Balance rework and fixes: - Plasmodium network maintenance costs increased. Networks are no longer effectively immortal, overextended branches prune naturally - Substrate nutrient generation adjusted to produce more of a patchwork with greater nutrient variation - Explosive enzymes now deal damage at all pH levels - Crystalline + explosive combo now deposits subst...

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  22. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.6b

    v0.2.6b:* Stability improvements: - Fixed memory leaks causing gradual degradation over long sessions - Fixed various death/spawn lifecycle edge cases that could cause errors* Performance improvements: - Significantly reduced CPU cost of slime mold networks at scale - Fixed GPU upload path running at full cost every frame - Particle system now scales to actual cell count instead of fixed max* Consistency improvements: - Fixed moving cells becoming unclickable - Fixed strain renaming creating duplicate entries - Fixed strain naming prompt appearing when harvesting on already-tracked cells - Fixed first plasmodia not growing branches in some cultures - Untracked strain variants now count towards contracts* Balance tweaks: - Added nutrient sliders for finer tuning of nutrient composition. Nutrient diversity slider now controls variation, 3 sliders control amino/lipid/sugar. - Sparser def...

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  23. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.6 - Improved Lab Mode

    This is a bigger update than usual that improves the functionality of Lab Mode. Contracts are more functional now and serve to guide you in exploring the simulation. The Strain Registry is also more functional in tracking your own collection of discovered strains. Changelog: v0.2.6:* Major contracts rework: - Improved coherence of objectives, progression and rewards - Better integration with player's strain registry - Fixed impossible objectives and display bugs - Still highly WIP, but much more functional* Major rework to the strain classification system to improve consistency* Added first Mutagen: UM-1x. Each dose increases the culture's mutation magnitude by +1x* Added rare cryochondria mutation to mitochondria. Blue mitochondria that cool the environment. (0.5% mutation chance)* Unblocked blastocysts: transmembrane organelles that are launched as projectiles that burst on contact....

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  24. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.5

    v0.2.5:* Reworked contract system to offer more depth and variety (Still very WIP, needs feedback and testing)* Adjusted weighting and masking for automatic strain grouping* Increased digestive enzyme damage* Fixed contract timer bug where time-based objectives would be impossible due to their timer being too short* Fixed major performance bug where hidden panels were being redrawn every frame* Fixed cells losing size, strain identity, and division progress on save/load* Fixed various Theoretical Lab bugs caused by stricter Lab Mode rules* Fixed bug where explosive enzymes would set dense substrate to 30% regardless of initial value* Implemented suspected fix for desynchronization between interaction areas and visual position of cells and organelles at high cell counts (monitoring result)* Gated "kill all cells" hotkey behind warning* Visual tweaks

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  25. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.4

    v0.2.4:* Expanded tutorial and adjusted explanations for clarity (need feedback)* Added pop-ups to major panels on first open with WIP drafts of explanation blurbs* Continued work on contracts. Fixed some contracts being impossible due to the culture lacking prerequisite cells, tweaked progression and available objectives. Contracts now automatically detect if an objective is completed on acceptance. (Contracts still highly WIP, contain placeholders)* Continued work on cell portrait rendering (WIP, slightly less broken)* Added live valuation counters to strain cards* Fixed duplicate starter strains appearing in registry* Made drag-to-move more forgiving* Cell collision improvements. Should reduce snapping behavior.* Added single-save-per-culture enforcement to lab mode* Tutorial objectives should no longer reset on save/load while in-progress* Fixed Biomarket panel flashing whenever a...

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  26. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.3a

    v0.2.3a:* Lab Mode fixes: - Removed spacebar spawner from lab mode - Added main menu button to resume last active lab - Made button to open saved labs more obvious, now says "LOGIN" - Improved lab save structure, fixes culture bleed between labs* Strain tracking fixes (formerly species tracking): - Strain Registry now correctly saves marked strains across *all* labs (excluding creative lab, that should use the catalogue) - Starter strains auto generate in the strain registry upon lab creation - True cell portrait rendering (WIP, currently broken) - Improved stability of automatic groupings* UI tweaks* Tutorial mission fixes - need to be verified* Minor Contract fixes (Still very WIP and contains placeholders)

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  27. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.3 is on the Alpha Branch

    # v0.2.3 is on the Steam Alpha branch!I had some fun with this update and went pretty deep with the biomarket simulation and contract generation. Contracts come as either grants, which are upfront funding and a penalty for failure, or standard contracts which payout on completion. The biomarket has some calculations to simulate the value of cell strains based on their individual genes and some archetypal weights that respond to market demand.Contracts need some work but they should progress with you as you complete themI also added a little more to the tutorial (you can reactivate it under the advanced settings tab) and changed some names to better match the theme. v0.2.3:* Lab Mode: - Tutorial additions - Biomarket: buy and sell strains with supply/demand simulation * Cell value based on gene traits and archetype value (simulated) - Contracts: procedurally generated objectives with d...

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  28. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.2.1

    v0.2.1 Preview is Live!Hey everyone! I just put v0.2.1 up, which polishes up from v0.2.0. Both the Alpha and Default branches were updated. I moved v0.1.10a to a new "Previous" branch too.v0.2.0 had some big changes:NutrientsI've replaced generic energy particles with three nutrient types: aminos, lipids and sugars. There is a new world creation slider, "Nutrient Diversity", which controls how evenly nutrients get distributed in each generated zone (setting the slider to 100 makes the distribution ~33% for every nutrient everywhere, setting it lower creates zones that are rich in one or two nutrients). Nutrients are denoted by color: aminos are green, lipids are yellow and sugars are blue.The current nutrient system flows as follows: collectors (typed or generic) -> vacuole (untyped, can store only one nutrient type at a time) -> mitochondria (different efficiency per nutrient) -> cyt...

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  29. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.1.9a is live!

    v0.1.9a hits a few major milestones: I observed some interesting and unique cell strategies emerge when a species of cells evolved that used the heat generated by their mitochondria to kill other cells and feed. Eventually, these cells replicated too much and killed themselves off, being replaced by stationary, bulky cells with large energy reserves. This is exactly the kind of unexpected emergent behavior that I have been hoping to see happen since starting the project. Also, I finally got culture saving and loading to a functional state, as well as manual placing of saved species. Finally, all world types have been consolidated into one chunk mode with dynamic sizing, and world creation sliders have been improved. I feel more confident than ever that development is on the right track and I can't wait to continue building. Up next is the nutrient overhaul which will introduce typed n...

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  30. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.1.6

    v0.1.6:* Major performance improvements* Enzyme combat improvements* Energy particles visual adjustments* Slime mold fixes* Experimental new game settings (Placeholder UI)* pH and temp deposits updated* Memory usage improvements* Various bug fixesKnown issues:* Mitosis jitter during fission* Enzyme particles buggy* Population balance off (boom/bust cycles)* Performance degrades at high cell counts* Save/load broken (inconsistent)* Chunks worlds broken (large/open)

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  31. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.1.5b

    I am pushing v0.1.5b to the alpha branch, it's got a few new sliders for new games but the UI is a bit broken. I wouldn't go above ~20 cells per species yet, and starter mutation rounds will also stall startup. v0.1.6 might take a bit longer than usual but I feel like there are just a few remaining blockers to having a stable simulation 🤞

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  32. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    v0.1.5

    v0.1.5:* Fixed bug causing blank substrate with DX11* Performance improvements

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  33. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    Alpha v0.1.4

    v0.1.4 - Stability MilestoneThis update focuses on simulation stability. Cells now maintain correct phenotypes, survive and die as expected, and ecosystems can run for extended periods with real emergent dynamics.Key improvements:Major phenotype bug fixesMajor simulation stability fixesHardware compatibility adjustment for integrated GPUsPerformance and stability improvementsThe build is still rough, and there is still a lot of work to do, but I'm now able to focus more on new mechanics and content instead of chasing fundamental bugs. I'm pretty excited :DIf you'd like to help test, join the Discord and fill out the play tester application form: https://discord.gg/VpTJbH2h9X

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  34. Community AnnouncementsBy Nebuchadnezzar

    Alpha v0.1.2

    * Major fixes for bugs blocking cell life cycles* Initialization bug fixes* Visual tweaks and improvements* Minor performance improvements* Adjusted chunk loading in large & open world modes

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