Since the 0.2 update that we launched at the end of July, we’ve been hard at work on the next major update, which will be available on November 27th!
However, since a good part of the new content has already been implemented in-game, we’d love to gather your feedback if you’d like to try out what’s coming early!
Please keep in mind that the latest version, available on the [b]experimental_public branch, is still in an early stage[/b], meaning you may encounter bugs, balancing issues, or placeholder text and visuals.
We’ve made this version available for those who want to help, as gathering feedback from our experienced players will allow us to deliver the most stable and exciting update by the end of next month.
In advance, thank you so much to everyone who tries it out and shares their feedback on our Discord server!
Here’s what you can expect in the latest update, available on the experimental_public branch.
To access it: right-click the game in your Steam library → "Betas" → select the experimental_public branch → update the game.
Featuring
New Districts System
We’ve made major changes to the District System, placing it at the heart of your city-building experience. The updated system now plays a crucial role in shaping your city’s progression and unlocking important bonuses.
At the start of the game, you build the new Founders’ Square and plan your city around. This square can later be upgraded into one of six specialized squares.
Each of the six distinct districts now has its own unique theme and corresponding square. As your city advances, you’ll unlock these districts at key moments, integrating them into your city’s progression. Constructing and upgrading these districts is essential for expanding your city’s potential and following the natural flow of your development.
Districts now come with significant unlockable bonuses that are tied to district development score thresholds. Each threshold has been carefully designed to align with key stages of the game, ensuring that bonuses arrive when they are most impactful. These bonuses can increase maximum satisfaction, boost Science and Legacy point caps, or apply powerful effects across your entire city.
Districts start with a basic square area, but you can extend their range by placing markers. The first marker is available right away, while subsequent markers require more advanced resources.
We’ve also added some helpful new feedbacks, including the district preview when placing buildings and the projected district score increases.
New Satisfaction System
The revamped Satisfaction system is no longer just a number but a key component of your city's growth. Satisfactions provide significant boosts across your city, affecting key actions such as production, construction speed, and Science/Legacy point generation.
Each satisfaction score starts with a maximum of 10, which can be increased later through district bonuses. This ensures that the maximum score is attainable at any stage of the game.
As you cross each threshold, the power of satisfaction bonuses increases significantly, making every milestone impactful. This makes satisfaction a natural progression goal throughout the game.
Buildings now apply satisfaction modifiers with levels that correspond to satisfaction thresholds. Late-game buildings apply higher-level modifiers, which can replace those from earlier buildings but not vice versa, making your city evolves as you progress.
To add more depth to the city, we've added a new City Events mechanic. Citizens will present you with narrative scenarios that offer objectives that you need to achieve. Failure to meet these objectives could result in some citizens leaving or negative impacts on your city.
This system is mainly focused on satisfaction for this update, with plans to expand it in future updates.
New Research System
We’ve completely reworked the research system to make it more accessible and responsive, driving the progression more clearly while removing the pressure of constantly managing research.
The core mechanic is straightforward: research buildings generate points, and once you have enough, you can instantly unlock the desired research. This gives you the flexibility to engage with research when it suits you, while allowing you to adapt to a situation if you’ve stored enough points.
In the early game, the Field Lab takes the place of the Research Center, producing the initial Science Points through environmental analysis. This encourages exploring and analyzing the environment, delaying the need for more advanced buildings while smoothing the learning curve.
Research now revolves around two distinct types of points: Science Points and Legacy Points. Each research item requires one or both of these to unlock. It removes division between cultural and technological research, making the tree more intuitive and easier to navigate, while keeping the original intention.
To help you manage your goals, we’ve added a Pin feature. You can pin up to four research items, and the game will notify you when they’re ready to be unlocked. Pinned research is visible in a dedicated UI near your objectives. Additionally, any research tied to a quest objective is automatically pinned, so you never lose track of critical progress.
Tablets have also received an upgrade: tablet-specific researches are now visible in the tree but they remain locked. When you use a tablet, you can choose which research to unlock, offering more strategic control over your progression.
Beyond these updates, the research tree has been revamped for a more streamlined experience, with a global rebalancing to enhance gameplay. This rework is designed to give you more clarity in your research progression, making progression smoother and more rewarding.
Detailed Changelog
[expand type=showmore expanded=false]
Main Features
Research:
● Building a Field Lab now unlocks access to the research tree.
● Science and Legacy Points are mainly generated passively by assigning citizens to the Research Center or the Hall of Wise.
● Analysis actions now also generate Science Points.
● Researches are unlocked immediately upon acquiring the required research points (Science/Legacy) and resources.
● New pinning functionality:
○ Players can pin up to 4 research items and will be notified in-game when the necessary points and resources are available to unlock them.
○ Research linked to quest objectives is automatically pinned.
● Tablet changes:
○ Added new research to unlock via tablets.
○ Tablet researches are now visible within the research tree.
○ Using a tablet allows players to either choose a research to unlock, or increase Science Points or
Legacy Points.
● The research tree layout has been revamped, and all research costs have been adjusted.
District:
● New Buildings:
○ Founders’ Square
○ Sand Furrows’ Square
○ Fountain Square
○ Observatory Square
● Founders’ Square is meant to be placed at the start of the game, and can be upgraded into one of 6 specialized squares.
● New District Bonuses System:
○ Bonuses are unlocked upon reaching district points thresholds.
○ Some bonuses apply globally to the city, while others affect only the specific district.
○ District bonuses are linked to the research progression: Certain district bonuses increase the maximum Science and Legacy Points the city can hold.
○ District bonuses are linked to the satisfaction progression: Some bonuses boost maximum satisfaction levels.
● New District Shapes:
○ Default district shape is a square.
○ Players can unlock markers to extend the district area.
● District Feedback Improvements:
○ District areas are now previewed when placing buildings.
○ District point increases are displayed when placing buildings or plants.
● District concepts (names, visuals, and building points) have been fully revamped.
● A district overpopulation threshold has been added. If overpopulated (based on district points), housing satisfaction is reduced by half.
Satisfaction:
● New Satisfaction Bonus System:
○ Satisfaction now significantly boosts various actions such as production, construction, and Science/Legacy point generation.
○ Satisfaction boosts increase considerably at each threshold.
● New Threshold System:
○ At the start of the game, each satisfaction's maximum is capped at 10. The maximum is achievable using only early game buildings.
○ Maximum satisfaction can be increased through district bonuses, which will then require mid or late-game buildings to reach the new maximum.
● Housing:
○ Introduced the Rustic Tent for early-game housing, with a satisfaction cap of 10.
○ Housing outside districts has a satisfaction of 0.
○ Housing in overpopulated districts has its satisfaction halved.
● Satisfaction Buildings:
○ Mid and late-game buildings consume resources to operate, with the resource amount now based on the number of houses in their range.
○ Maintenance costs for buildings that affect satisfaction or terrain properties are now displayed in their construction tooltip.
○ End-game buildings may consume Science or Legacy Points to operate.
● Satisfaction Modifiers:
○ Satisfaction modifiers now have names. Named modifiers are non-cumulative, allowing for clearer identification of cumulative modifiers.
○ Modifiers have been fully revamped to match the new system.
○ Buildings now apply satisfaction modifiers with levels that correspond to satisfaction thresholds. Late-game buildings apply higher-level modifiers, which can replace lower-level ones from earlier buildings, but not the reverse.
● Citizen Acquisition:
○ Child spawning now depends on the satisfaction percentage relative to the maximum, making full child spawning achievable in the early game.
○ Child spawning now considers available spaces in global housing, allowing faster catch-up.
○ Citizens gained from exploration and quests follow the same catch-up formula.
City Events:
● New City Events System:
○ Citizens present scenarios through narrative events, providing objectives to achieve. Failure to meet these objectives may result in citizens leaving the city or maluses being applied.
Resource Flow:
● Several adjustments have been made to:
○ Ensure early-game resource objectives are clearer and achievable.
○ Make progression smoother and more rewarding.
○ Provide meaningful resource sinks, making the establishment of production lines more engaging and rewarding.
● Added new resources, mainly intermediate ones.
● Revamped many recipes and added new ones.
● All maps have been reworked, maintaining the original design intentions but with adjustments such as plant placement, points of interest, district space, shadow presence, and temperature heatmaps.
● Construction costs for all buildings, research costs, and recipes have been rebalanced.
Consequential Changes:
● Adjusted automatic citizen distribution in housing.
● Revised the prosperity score formula.
● The tutorial has been completely revamped.
● Quest objectives across all three campaign scenarios have been adjusted.
Other Changes
Content:
● Founder’s Square: new default square
● Sand Furrows’ Square: new advanced square
● Fountain Square: new advanced square
● Observatory Square: new advanced square
● Rustic Tent: new early game housing
● Cutting Station: new production building
● Science Exposition: new late game satisfaction building
● Cold Bathhouse: new late game satisfaction building
● Auditorium: new late game satisfaction building
● The Arborist Workshop can now perform the "Seed scattering" action on trees.
● Reduced the number of Rocky emanations per map and the amount of Boreal rocks obtained from ripping out Rocky amalgams, but increased the frequency of Rocky amalgam spawns.
● Citizens can now carry more resources (20, up from 10), with the Carrier Tower bonus increasing this limit to 50 (up from 20 in total).
● It is now possible to build over all environmental props sized 2x2.
● All Starting stocks now include 2 technological artifacts, streamlining the game's start by enabling immediate construction of a Field Lab.
● Trees no longer spread naturally, except for the Volcanic Tree.
● Invasive plants now spread a little bit more randomly.
● Expeditions can now be launched with a minimum of 3 citizens (reduced from 4).
● Culture rewards from exploration have been replaced with Legacy Points.
● The Sandglider now requires resources to operate.
Feedback:
● Added feedback for insufficient transporters or storage capacity in production and harvest buildings.
Bug Fixes & Performance Optimizations:
● Optimized performance when updating satisfaction and terrain properties during building placement or destruction.
● Fixed performance issues when opening building tooltips or moving district-related structures.
● Fixed a bug causing citizens to stop working in harvest buildings.
● Fixed an issue where harvest building feedback remained indefinitely.
● Fixed research tooltips not displaying properly.
● Fixed satisfaction bonuses not being reapplied after loading a saved game.
● Fixed multiple issues with building placement and highlighting.
● Fixed a visual bug with an environment prop taking more space than intended.
● Various other minor bug fixes and improvements.
Other Changes:
● Added game credits accessible from the main menu.
● Added new achievements:
○ Have all research point production buildings in your city simultaneously.
○ Have 6 different districts at maximum score simultaneously.
○ Have at least 150 citizens with all satisfactions at 30.[/expand]
