Lifecraft Steam release trailer
As you might already know, Lifecraft will be released on April 16th, and we’re very proud of it!
Here’s the latest trailer showcasing the gameplay of the game.
See you soon in the nearest cell!
Lifecraft Beta #5 is available on Steam!
This beta is introducing another game mode which is adventure, in which you can control a character (which will be customizable in the future). It’s not finished so for now it’s just a WIP. Enjoy!
- Added experimental adventure mode with a character that can be controlled
- Added a placeholder door structure necessary to let players move between zones in adventure mode
- Added connexon to build gap junctions between different intracellular zones
- Dispatchers can’t be placed on cell membrane anymore (to simplify)
- Pickers can’t be placed on extracellular tissues anymore
- Multiple item drag is now implicit on structures which only act as source
- Advanced new game options have been moved in their own view
- Added tooltip to warn when a recipe can’t be produced inside a zone
- Added world generation setting for darkness intensity
- Added option to disable auto pause on load game
- Added fix to sensibility of pickup while dragging with right mouse button
- Force pickup modifier now doesn’t alternate dropping item when hand is full
- Added validation of starting area to avoid locked out situations
A lot of engine code has been changed for future features so it’s possible there could be some issues, don’t forget to report them in Discord!
Lifecraft Alpha #6 is now available!
Hello everyone!
We’ve just released v0.0.1f – alpha #6 of Lifecraft! This version contains a lot of QoL fixed and ehancements and it’s focused toward balancing the early game play and provide a more flowing experience.
You can download here: https://pixbits.com/lifecraft-builds/lifercraft-v0.0.1f-alpha6-win.zip
We hope you’ll enjoy it! Feel free to provide any feedback by joining our Discord(you’ll find us there!)
Changelog
- Added overlong picker which can transport items across 2 tiles
- Added starting size setting when generating new game
- Added heat generation to energy suppliers and crafters when they’re working
- Changed algorithm which manages slowdown of oxidable buildings to allow slow functioning until they’re exhausted
- Enhanced oxidable building information window to show status
- Tweaked a lot of energy and heat related values to have a more balanced experience (still deeply WIP)
- Reworked tutorial
- Fixed item balancer which was stucking the game under certain conditions
- Added bright/dark cycle
- Added game status bar
- Added larger disposer which requires energy
- Added DNA Nuclease and plasmide heap to provide stable source of nucleobases for research
- Added mk1 and mk2 energy supplier to have a cheaper one and a more expensive but more effective one
- Now small disposer has finite uses like small cytostome
- Added hover on structures when item is held
- Reworked early gameplay to be simpler and more flowing
Lifecraft updates
Hello everyone! We’re sorry for the lack of updates, we’re super busy developing and refining the third alpha version of Lifecraft, we’re absorbed by designing gameplay features!
We’re a bit more active on Discord though, where you can find dev updates and discussions, and soon the next Alpha free for download.
It will contain many bug fixes, QoL enhancements, gameplay tweaks and possibly it will come with the evolution enabled, so you’ll be able to research for new structures and objects to enhance the gameplay, you’ll be able to get the feeling of starting with nothing and grow little by little!
Next Alpha
We’re working hard to deply the next alpha. A lot of core mechanics got into place, many things have been redesigned or polished to slowly converge to a more definitive gameplay!
How energy is distributed inside the cells is totally rewritten, extracellular power network has been implemented, some circulation flow algorithms issues were fixed (but not all of them 😤), transporters have been added and implemented in a way similar to catalyzers.
Mitochondrion has been added and it’s literally the powerhouse of the cell!
The alpha is almost ready, but today we’d like to share the current evolution tree which has been improved and redesigned, many of the recipes will be tweaked according to the feedback during time but we wanted to structure it in the meanwhile.
New veins and arteries graphics
Here’s the new blood vessels graphics I’ve worked hard these days. It’s almost finished, but I still need to work on some smaller sizes. I think it looks really good now!
Flow Graph Algorithms
While working on alpha v0.0.1b (you can get alpha 0.0.1a in Discord just in case you are interested, we didn’t go totally public because it’s not ready for the outside world yet 🫣), I’m also spending some time in studying how to move substances between vessels, let them be blood (circulation, food (digestion), air (respiration), and such.
Each subsystem will work in a different way but there must be consistent way to define how things will move inside the network of vessels, especially because there will be freedom for the player to build any kind of layout they want. In addition there are multiple dimensions for each kind of pipeline, which adds to complexity.
It’s really hard to have something consistent and efficient at the same time, but it’s so cool to see the result directly draw inside the game!
Gameplay video preview
Hi everyone, sorry for the silence, we’re busy fixing the bugs and making the game ready for the alpha release. Meanwhile I’m preparing a video that shows the gameplay of Lifecraft. Here’s a sneak peek of it!
Chemical Reactions
Chemical reactions play a crucial role inside cells, likewise in Lifecraft. Many biological reactions would require a lot of time to take place naturally, that’s why enzymes are required to catalyze reactions.
This translates into a simple gameplay mechanics: a special building called catalyzer is a special intracellular building that accepts and enzyme which will define which reactions the building will be able to perform.
Reactions can have multiple input, multiple outputs and even different steps, each reaction will be different! You can see a prototype of a (simplified) glycolysis reaction which will produce energy inside cells!
Delivering with dispatchers
One of the main aspects of the game is expanding and building structures outside cells.
This can be done through dispatcher which can deliver materials directly to growing zones or to extracellular structures.
In this example we’re building some collagen helices with ribosomes, which are then assembled into collagen flooring and delivered outside (that’s that floating bubble!).
