On the topic of “game where you have fun doing nothing”, I don’t think it’s the necessarily a bad thing. When I play your game, I can spend up to an hour editing plants and creatures, and then another hour just watching evolution unfold. I think that’s just the nature of simulation games, where a lot of enjoyment comes from watching a system evolve naturally, and with no human intervention
I think many people who are interested in this kind of games also like and are interested in nature. Which yes it would be interesting to try and create something similar yourself as well, but much of the charm comes from it having evolved by chance. Those games only give us the chance to see the whole process happening right before our eyes in way less time.
Yup! Personally I don't see myself really playing much of the scenario side of this game (it's cool, just not my thing). But leaving the simulation running all day and checking in with what's going on in it? That is exactly my idea of a fun time. I also just watched a really good video on mass extinction events a day or two ago so this video happened at the perfect time!
I hope that a bunch of these disasters can be made "naturally" occurring as well. It would also be cool to have them tied to arbitrarily long periods (think of Trisolaris in The Three Body Problem).
Maybe you can place the volcano to erupt every set’s amounts of years , also I think the land where the lava flow show get depopulated than has very good soil
I mentioned in a previous comment how your grass implementation could work for "pioneer species" which raise soil fertility and such. Similarly, certain plants could help with water capture which ought to make the system more resilient to fires. In real life, a lot of trees actually managed to not just produce fire seeds but actually *survive* flames. They get charred on the outside but readily continue after. These typically have especially thick bark, including specially adapted bark such as that of cork oaks. But additionally, charcoal is typically rather fertile, so after a fire there ought to be a soil fertility boost too. Volcanoes aren't gonna be survivable in the same way but their ash - which may distribute independently of lava as it's dependent on winds rather than topography - will also be a fertility booster (but also contain some toxins so not everything would benefit from that) - in fact, active volcanos can lower overall temperatures and seed clouds for quite a long time, though they also spew out CO2 which, once the soot has left the atmosphere, is going to have the opposite effect. Ideally, meteorites ought to be able to change topography.
Thanks for your input! The game doesn't really have a concept of soil fertility, but this comment makes me think it should (as always, no promises ;) )
You can do it already just by making the season sliders go insane (it just don’t have much of cool look, and notice after certain points some plants start to survive it)
It happened in real-life since when chiclux caused the dinosaurs to die out mammals did not have to be small anymore so they took over the world they were rat-like creatures in the jurassic and centrus periods
"The over 50 known bugs and who knows how many unknown..." That's my cue to get geared up for bug hunting! So excited to see everything play out with the new systems in place, Wessel.
Yes! Variable sea levels open up so many options for interesting scenarios! So cool that they can be toggled by seasons as well! All in all, the update looks awesome! Can't wait to try things out on the beta branch next week!
This update sounds so interesting! Also, I love having fun doing nothing! It's really cool that the game gives you control over initial parameters but then goes ahead and lives its own life. Gives me that feeling of creating a truly alive world.
you have officially added all my suggestions that i found really interesting, all i have left as an infection system, kind of like the poison system where life forms can have multiple immunities and weaknesses so diseases and life forms compete as well, though before i suggest anything i think its just time to fix up the game and polish for the future sense so many milestones have been accomplished
Ever since spore I have been waiting for a high quality evolution inspired game, and I think this is it! Honestly some incredible work and I’m not how you manage to upload at the rate that you do, it’s crazy to think this all started just a few years ago
The natural disasters are very cool! Though I'd like to see volcanoes to have a more long-term impact than just causing a huge forest fire. Obviously when the ash settles, it fertelizes the soil, so if you'd have time you could add that after the end of stage 4 of eruption landmass in a certain radius gets an increase in fertility (i don't remember how the terrain parameter is actually called in the game, but I think its already an existing feature). Also it should cause some dust to appear too while the eruption is ongoing, as some big volcanic eruption can cause just as much sunlight to be blocked as meteorites.
6:30 Take that as a compliment! The Sapling is insanely fun even when youre doing nothing just because of how good the evolution systems are! It's jut fun to see the animals diversify!
Great job man! Love this season. Of course, like everyone else, I have my ideas for the game 😅. I would love to see fire and volcanoes giving nutrients or something to plants as that is what happens in real life. I've seen a lot of things recently on regular fires that reinvigorate ecosystems and are necessary, which would the the thing I would like to be added most.
Historically my tribe has triggered controlled forest fires to burn out old growth and fertilize the soil, rather than waiting for one giant fire that burns and restarts miles of land as is common currently in my country It's a lovely process of nature when stewarded correctly or allowed to unfold correctly :)
I suggest that every epoch the climate shifts a little based on the amount of plantlife and its distribution, would allow for more pronounced differences between epochs
I like the idea of pronounced differences! Shouldn't it be the other way around though? So you change the climate, it causes an extinction event, and automatically a new epoch starts?
@@TheSapling however playtesters prefer, i think that calculating climate changes after an extinction event would be less of a burden on the computer but you know more than me on this
love the work! it is appreciated how much you care about this game. you've added so much content just in the past update! it's truly impressive that this is a solo project.
Please please please, once this project is finished, or even before, please release the soundtrack! Your music is so beautiful and sounds super pleasant, yet grandiose at the same time! While the game of course takes precidence, your music-work alse deserves a praise. Amazing work all around!
Hey, you can already find the music among the other installed files on your computer... but other than that, what would releasing mean? RUclips music? Spotify? Thanks :)
@@TheSapling Oh, that is very nice to know! I am not a player of the game yet, so it´s nice to know that once I would get the game, I´ll have access to your wonderful music too! Thank you for the information :D By releasing I more so meant sharing them on your channel here as well, but I´m sure there are other outlets which could make your work more wide-spread and appreciated :)
Quick update on this topic: several players are suggesting I use Steam's features to sell the soundtrack for a small price, which I'm considering seriously
@@TheSapling That´s a wonderful idea :D I think that´s a great way to both share not only your intriguing game, but also amazing music! I think, if you have the option, to do so :)
Yeah it could be really fun, like imagine making an hand made pangea, and then cut it in pieces with river and just watch species evolve in each island
For completeness, one thing the game desperately needs is better communication around the fact that you need to complete only the very first level to unlock the sandbox
It would be cool if there was a way to make some of these disasters happen naturally and randomly, like having meteors come down every few millions years or so, or having volcanos form over time and active on their own.
Honestly, you have basically been doing all of the things I have wanted. The only major things I can think of for a future update is maybe making baby and adult animals have slightly different traits, a better simulation saver (I am thinking like the world menu in Minecraft), and maybe making the world bigger, but I can understand you not doing that. I can't wait for you to add the ability to simulate conscious species and entire civilizations, totally a realistic thing to expect from an indie dev!
every update you make the game keeps looking more fun! could you add a darker texture around the burnt down plants, this may act as fertilizer as it does irl!
A scorched color like grey or black on the ground would look cool after a high temperature event like wildfires and volcanos Also maybe make a volcano erupting event that happens very rarely that causes a black cloud across the planet and also causes a “meteor shower” (debris falling from the sky or something, lava and whatnot)
Suggestion: For optimization ideas, I heard of a game (rain world) that only *renders* (textures, sprites, etc) things when you’re in the same room. This could be optimized and added to the sapling, but it would require some quick computer speed. There could also be some way to add fog? Like things that are farther away seem hazy and blurry, hiding the weird half-rendered creatures. I honestly don’t know, but it is definitely a nest idea.
Hey, it already more or less works that way (you only see organisms close the camera, the rest is made invisible)... BUT the underlying game objects are still built. I'm thinking of not even creating these objects, but I haven't figured out how that would work exactly yet.
I feel like it would be cool if next update allowed the physical terrain to slowly change due to forces like erosion, the meteors or the volcanoes. Life on earth evolved in a dynamic and constantly changing world so it would be cool to have in the sapling.
I just bought the game and was thinking about suggesting you to add seasonal tides, what great coincidence! Also, I like the "Ant farm" aspect of the game, just watching silly creatures move and change
A lot of people are commenting on volcanoes giving off ash, adding land, etc., but I think it's also worth noting that the biggest impact that volcanoes have over geologic time in the real world is climate change. Volcanoes release very large amounts of aerosols and CO2. The aerosols cause cooling in the short term, then the CO2 causes warming in the long term, which contributes substantially to extinctions. Even more pertinently, the CO2 also causes ocean acidification, which wipes out coral reefs and oceanic primary producers, decimating marine food webs. Of the five known mass extinctions in earth's history, at least four were most likely caused by very large eruptions taking place over hundreds of thousands of years dumping ridiculous quantities of gunk into the atmosphere (and even the fifth, with the asteroid, had a concurrent massive eruption happening that certainly didn't help things).
Hey, thanks for this insight! The relation between volcanoes and mass extinctions is what made me add them. On the one hand, I like the idea of implementing all of these extra long term effects, but on the other it definitely would be a UI/UX challenge to communicate what is going on in such a way that it is clear and makes sense for the player
@@TheSapling If you solve how to make the link between CO2 emission and climate change obvious, please do let the climate science community know lol. They've been struggling to communicate that for decades... (so yes, I completely understand that there's a UI/UX issue there).
There a game called worldbox, and in it has earthquake item you can unleash into your sandbox world where creates a crack that can either increase or decrease the sea, land level. This would be a really cool way of making land bridges!
PLEASE add aquatic eggs that only hatch after being dried out beforehand, this would work really well with the new seasonal water level. Imagine an aquatic creature that can only survive in a certain lake (maybe perfect weather conditions or something) BUT every third season that lake dries out, so they evolve eggs that can survive drying out, maybe predators venture into the dried lake to eat eggs? Sorry if I didn’t explain this well, I hope you see what I’m getting at!
I think the implementation of coral could be really fun and make underwater i lot more interesting maybe add a feature certain skin types are hurt by coral and others can go through it just fine giving animals who adapted to live in coral reefs a place to hide from predators who aren't capable of swimming through
In this update I loved the edition of insect mouths. However I think it would at more variety to add insect body parts as well such as an armoured shell or water skimmer legs for running on water
Man first of all, thank you a lot for your amazing work! I should say I m sooo hyped with the idea and you realization of it. For many years I speculated about how great and interesting it would be to see evolution simulator in a game form. Like SPORE, but more scientific. And that's it! I ran into your video and ended up watching all them in a row! As a physicist I also would be really glad to see more influence of Space on your planets and not only in terms of disasters but in more complex way - the type of a Sun, distance from it, size of the planet and its gravity, Moons and tides as a result, maybe even different atmospheric composition and its influence on the planet and life. In general the idea is "introducing a bit of Stellaris". It would give gamers way more combinations to try and made evolution even more unpredictable and diversed. Thanks you again! Gonna keep watching each your new video and certainly going to buy the game!
Thanks a lot! And totally agreed about 'influence of space'; it's what caused me to make the planet tilt when you add seasons. I couldn't really find a good resource on things like the distance from the sun and the available of moons (and possible planet rings) would affect life... do you happen to know some?
Do you believe that you'll ever add arthropod style jointed limbs to the sapling? I've noticed that a lot of this update has been adding additional variety to the mouthparts to make them less vertebrate focused, yet the overall body shapes are still very tetrapod feeling. The evolutionary paths for them could start off as tiny shrimplike swimmerets which are able to diversify into various crawling, swimming, climbing parts, and even wings since a part of the segment of crustacean legs is what led to insect wings. Of course things like claws could also develop as an equivalent to hands in the vertebrate tree also. It opens up a lot of variety and possibility for the game.
To stop a wildfire from completely destroying an entire continent, you could put in a mechanic that causes the fire to have a chance of going out before spreading. Say every 5 seconds the fire either spreads to a nearby plant (with let's say a 75%) chance, or burns out (with let's say a 25% chance)
Wohoooo! This just got a whole lot more interesting! The way disasters may affect the evolution of life is immense. There are some insects that use hurricanes to spread around and plants that develop a way to retract moisture from the sensitive parts of their bodies to handle cold nights, hot days, sand storms, and blizzards. Not to mention the animals who develop instinctual behavior to handle storms, droughts, and so on. This is a way to develop herding behavior when large groups of animals move away during dry seasons or when there is a drought.
In my opinion, volcanoes seem rather redundant when you already have wildfires since they just have the same effect. I guess volcanoes may serve as land barriers since plants don't seem to grow on them, but for me I think volcanoes should have been added later when plate tectonics are a possible feature in the game wherein not only do volcanoes cause fire, but their eruptions can increase land area as well. And like a lot of other users, I also espouse a way to make these features automatic so that players have a choice whether to actively cause effects in the game or just enjoy observing it passively.
Fully agreed about the volcanoes! My thinking here was that it could be interesting to have fires always start from the same place, but I'm not sure if it actually will be. Without making promises, I like the idea of volcanoes creating extra land!
(Pre video release) Nice touch to the game An idea of mine: you already introduced random mutation to the game (one of the key things for evolution) but you didn’t add individuality(also very important) every animal of the same rase is an copy it would would be a nice touch if every animal has distinct properties like smaller or bigger mouth , eyes, and stuff like that, but still is the same animal/race
That's actually what's happening already, although it's nearly impossible to see! The game only counts larger changes as a new species, individuals with small changes like body shape or color are still considered the same species.
I can't wait for the full release! Although I tried the beta and there were many bugs with the algae, the animals and plants did perfectly fine, all the disasters and clouds were also fine, it was just the algae both big and small. The big algae didn't want to stay on the floor sometimes so they were floating with their roots fully sticking out. And the algae particles started growing above the water. So I did a land playthrough with no algae.
well do cant wai for seasen 2 of evo simlated hope for it soon and also for the evo simltion idea mabye add the seasen tide to show abit of your theory for flooding seasens and mabye volacnos and also you know
i kind of like chilling and doing other stuff while casually looking back at the simulation sometimes, i think you should add a toggle for random disasters if that's not something you've done already
i have an idea for the update after this one, tectonic plates and land erosion, you can simplify as much as you like but it will probably go like this: when you generate a world the land will be seperated into tectonic plates and every 100 or 1000 years the land will be slightly changes based on the calculated tectonic plates movement, this will help a completely land species to be able to eventually reach new land and not be forever seperated from the rest of the world, or maybe even creating new land with a volcanic eruption, or an island slowly eroding away pressuring the inhabitants to slowly become aquatic animal.
hey actual forest fires! spore had prototypes for forest fires in a couple of.. prototypes but never actually did anything with them in the final game. so this is neat to see
I remember how you said that when you created the game you thought the scenarios mode would be the main way to play. I think I get what you said now and I think you should add a survival mode. Survival mode would be just like sandbox mode but there is not planet editor, new things are constantly happening, and there is no form of natural selection. You only manage one species and your goal is to make sure that species survives. You only control that one species' evolution. No control of natural disasters or the planet. But full control of your species. But who knows I may have misinterpreted it when you said like during season 2 or 1 that you thought scenarios would be the main way to play.
No I think you interpreted correctly what I tried to communicate :) . Without making promises, I like the idea of a survival mode; from what you write, you could also think of it as a random scenario generator, where the generated scenarios can have disasters and scripted organisms.
I hope it isn’t too late for one final suggestion! Even after following your advice on stable colors, it’s extremely picky with the colors. Maybe you could do plant colors the way you’re doing the instinct overhaul, with the sliders? Thanks, and I can’t wait for the update!!!
I’m looking forward to when you finish squashing all those pesky bugs and the update is released as an official version, while I could just play the experimental version I’d prefer to wait and enjoy the update when it’s complete, but overall I love The Sapling so far and I wish you much success with the game, it’s very impressive that you’ve done so much as a single man working on the game, I love Speculative Evolution so this game is great and I’ve even completed all the current scenarios, anyway, good job so far and let’s hope for a bright future for The Sapling
While watching the development of food and mouths i always have deer, sheep or horses snacking on baby birds in mind. Giraffes actively searching for bones to nibble on. Hippos hunting in packs despite abundance of vegetation. Which makes me want to see more complex interactions in the food chain of the simulation. As true obligatory herbivores or carnivores are rather rare, it would add a lot of realism into the game. Thank you kindly for your work! Stay healthy and strong.
Definitely! If I'm not mistaken, leglessness evolved mostly for underground creatures, so that would be the first challenge (as always, no promises) ;)
On the topic of “game where you have fun doing nothing”, I don’t think it’s the necessarily a bad thing. When I play your game, I can spend up to an hour editing plants and creatures, and then another hour just watching evolution unfold. I think that’s just the nature of simulation games, where a lot of enjoyment comes from watching a system evolve naturally, and with no human intervention
I think many people who are interested in this kind of games also like and are interested in nature. Which yes it would be interesting to try and create something similar yourself as well, but much of the charm comes from it having evolved by chance. Those games only give us the chance to see the whole process happening right before our eyes in way less time.
Yup! Personally I don't see myself really playing much of the scenario side of this game (it's cool, just not my thing). But leaving the simulation running all day and checking in with what's going on in it? That is exactly my idea of a fun time.
I also just watched a really good video on mass extinction events a day or two ago so this video happened at the perfect time!
Agreed. That was an obvious compliment and actualy a big part of the apeal of this game
Fuck the channels that said that
I hope that a bunch of these disasters can be made "naturally" occurring as well. It would also be cool to have them tied to arbitrarily long periods (think of Trisolaris in The Three Body Problem).
He could make it so the game announces the disater, and you could choose to let it happen or not
Maybe you can place the volcano to erupt every set’s amounts of years , also I think the land where the lava flow show get depopulated than has very good soil
That should be an option though
@@chimera9818Yes now your thinking!
@@paolosquitti8496I really like this
I mentioned in a previous comment how your grass implementation could work for "pioneer species" which raise soil fertility and such.
Similarly, certain plants could help with water capture which ought to make the system more resilient to fires.
In real life, a lot of trees actually managed to not just produce fire seeds but actually *survive* flames. They get charred on the outside but readily continue after. These typically have especially thick bark, including specially adapted bark such as that of cork oaks.
But additionally, charcoal is typically rather fertile, so after a fire there ought to be a soil fertility boost too.
Volcanoes aren't gonna be survivable in the same way but their ash - which may distribute independently of lava as it's dependent on winds rather than topography - will also be a fertility booster (but also contain some toxins so not everything would benefit from that) - in fact, active volcanos can lower overall temperatures and seed clouds for quite a long time, though they also spew out CO2 which, once the soot has left the atmosphere, is going to have the opposite effect.
Ideally, meteorites ought to be able to change topography.
Thanks for your input! The game doesn't really have a concept of soil fertility, but this comment makes me think it should (as always, no promises ;) )
i can’t wait to wipe a species completely off the map with one click
You already can
Yes, like dogs.
I wish i can do that in real life with 6,000 bird species so only 4,000 would be left
You can do it already just by making the season sliders go insane (it just don’t have much of cool look, and notice after certain points some plants start to survive it)
bro what did birds do to you? why not the tens and hundreds of thouasands bug species???@@megazillasaurus
It’d be cool to see an underdog species of animal rise to the top because a mass extinction causes the bigger organisms to go extinct
It happened in real-life since when chiclux caused the dinosaurs to die out mammals did not have to be small anymore so they took over the world they were rat-like creatures in the jurassic and centrus periods
mammal moment
Earth reference??
You and me think alike ;)
dinosaur reference?
"The over 50 known bugs and who knows how many unknown..." That's my cue to get geared up for bug hunting! So excited to see everything play out with the new systems in place, Wessel.
TAKE OUT THE (virtual)BUG SPRAY!
This is like my dream game, I have wanted nothing more than a good evolution sim for so long. You are a true hero.
yep
YUP!!!!!!!!!!!
I like the idea of manually being able to control disasters but it would be cool to have them happen randomly without player input
Thanks for this feedback :)
@@TheSapling create one uptete in adicione artropods legs
Imagine just minding your own business but then a fire just comes out of nowhere and kills all your animals
this is what we like, though we have flashier options with the volcano and meteor
Which is why it's always good to be able to turn it off.
you should add the ability to rename seasons and epochs
and also an fps cap so that the game doesn't needlessly use up resources
Thanks for your input!
just wanted to add that comment
@@ruudvandenhove6905
You didn't write this comment?
no i was watching the comments section and then i stumbled upon this comment@@mooncandlelight3968
Yes! Variable sea levels open up so many options for interesting scenarios! So cool that they can be toggled by seasons as well! All in all, the update looks awesome! Can't wait to try things out on the beta branch next week!
The fact that you are spreading awareness of your competitors shows that you are honest. I like it.
The fact that he is so willing to take bug reports is how you know he is a developer willing to making this dream game
LET'S GOOOOOOOOO
This update sounds so interesting!
Also, I love having fun doing nothing! It's really cool that the game gives you control over initial parameters but then goes ahead and lives its own life. Gives me that feeling of creating a truly alive world.
you have officially added all my suggestions that i found really interesting, all i have left as an infection system, kind of like the poison system where life forms can have multiple immunities and weaknesses so diseases and life forms compete as well, though before i suggest anything i think its just time to fix up the game and polish for the future sense so many milestones have been accomplished
Your rate of updates is astounding dude, keep at it!
Thanks, but this'll be the last one for some time though ;)
Ever since spore I have been waiting for a high quality evolution inspired game, and I think this is it!
Honestly some incredible work and I’m not how you manage to upload at the rate that you do, it’s crazy to think this all started just a few years ago
The natural disasters are very cool! Though I'd like to see volcanoes to have a more long-term impact than just causing a huge forest fire. Obviously when the ash settles, it fertelizes the soil, so if you'd have time you could add that after the end of stage 4 of eruption landmass in a certain radius gets an increase in fertility (i don't remember how the terrain parameter is actually called in the game, but I think its already an existing feature). Also it should cause some dust to appear too while the eruption is ongoing, as some big volcanic eruption can cause just as much sunlight to be blocked as meteorites.
Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated :)
Makes me think of diseases but thats a whole different can of worms to figure out. Love the game. Stay awesome :)
6:30
Take that as a compliment! The Sapling is insanely fun even when youre doing nothing just because of how good the evolution systems are! It's jut fun to see the animals diversify!
:0 Guys, IT'S GETTING OUT OF HAND, and I.... Love it
I'd love to see another Evolution Simulated series!
One thing I would change is that volcanos and the increase and decrease of sea level should be random and/or manual
Thanks for your input! A few others have mentioned this as well indeed
@@TheSaplingforgive me, but the volcanoes seem a little off putting
Great job man! Love this season.
Of course, like everyone else, I have my ideas for the game 😅. I would love to see fire and volcanoes giving nutrients or something to plants as that is what happens in real life. I've seen a lot of things recently on regular fires that reinvigorate ecosystems and are necessary, which would the the thing I would like to be added most.
Without making promises, it's an idea I like indeed!
Historically my tribe has triggered controlled forest fires to burn out old growth and fertilize the soil, rather than waiting for one giant fire that burns and restarts miles of land as is common currently in my country
It's a lovely process of nature when stewarded correctly or allowed to unfold correctly :)
I suggest that every epoch the climate shifts a little based on the amount of plantlife and its distribution, would allow for more pronounced differences between epochs
I like the idea of pronounced differences! Shouldn't it be the other way around though? So you change the climate, it causes an extinction event, and automatically a new epoch starts?
@@TheSapling however playtesters prefer, i think that calculating climate changes after an extinction event would be less of a burden on the computer but you know more than me on this
love the work! it is appreciated how much you care about this game. you've added so much content just in the past update! it's truly impressive that this is a solo project.
This is the best update the game could ever have!
Please please please, once this project is finished, or even before, please release the soundtrack!
Your music is so beautiful and sounds super pleasant, yet grandiose at the same time! While the game of course takes precidence, your music-work alse deserves a praise. Amazing work all around!
Hey, you can already find the music among the other installed files on your computer... but other than that, what would releasing mean? RUclips music? Spotify? Thanks :)
@@TheSapling
Oh, that is very nice to know! I am not a player of the game yet, so it´s nice to know that once I would get the game, I´ll have access to your wonderful music too! Thank you for the information :D
By releasing I more so meant sharing them on your channel here as well, but I´m sure there are other outlets which could make your work more wide-spread and appreciated :)
@TheSapling OK thanks I will check the music file since I like the music
Quick update on this topic: several players are suggesting I use Steam's features to sell the soundtrack for a small price, which I'm considering seriously
@@TheSapling
That´s a wonderful idea :D
I think that´s a great way to both share not only your intriguing game, but also amazing music! I think, if you have the option, to do so :)
Really hope he adds customizable terrain
Yeah it could be really fun, like imagine making an hand made pangea, and then cut it in pieces with river and just watch species evolve in each island
yeah that would be cool
@@Meefteack ye I loved the idea of separating and mixing different ecosystems
If volcanoes act like they do in sim city, you could use those to make islands and stuff
@@liamflanagin7134 that would ne awesome
Been watching these dev logs for a while now - just bought it - looking forward to playing it - great work so far :D
Cannot get past the second quest of the tutorial T.T
Eventually got it...
For completeness, one thing the game desperately needs is better communication around the fact that you need to complete only the very first level to unlock the sandbox
This is the game Im most excited for to update right now.
very happy about water level changes
Super excited to see this update- especially liking the sea level option!
It would be cool if there was a way to make some of these disasters happen naturally and randomly, like having meteors come down every few millions years or so, or having volcanos form over time and active on their own.
Without making promises, it's an idea I like!
Honestly, you have basically been doing all of the things I have wanted. The only major things I can think of for a future update is maybe making baby and adult animals have slightly different traits, a better simulation saver (I am thinking like the world menu in Minecraft), and maybe making the world bigger, but I can understand you not doing that. I can't wait for you to add the ability to simulate conscious species and entire civilizations, totally a realistic thing to expect from an indie dev!
Haha thanks a lot for your feedback, much appreciated :)
As someone with a shitty laptop, I'm very excited for the optimization phase haha
Thanks for the mention! Keep going, your game is amazing!!!
every update you make the game keeps looking more fun! could you add a darker texture around the burnt down plants, this may act as fertilizer as it does irl!
A few others have suggested this as well! Without making promises, I like this idea!
Awesome job dude! I can’t wait to finally watch the update drop!
A scorched color like grey or black on the ground would look cool after a high temperature event like wildfires and volcanos
Also maybe make a volcano erupting event that happens very rarely that causes a black cloud across the planet and also causes a “meteor shower” (debris falling from the sky or something, lava and whatnot)
Without making promises, I like these ideas, thanks :)
Bro I love your little irl moments, the scenery is so beautiful and you explain things so well!
4:30 AH YES, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. THANK YOU
Very quickly has become one of my favorite channels! just super neat
Every time there is a new trailer im surprised cuz my gawd i was not expecting all of this
i did not expect to see you here lol
@@millhousesmelly290
This is genuinely awesome, bought the game like 6 months ago and I can't wait for this update.
Suggestion:
For optimization ideas, I heard of a game (rain world) that only *renders* (textures, sprites, etc) things when you’re in the same room. This could be optimized and added to the sapling, but it would require some quick computer speed. There could also be some way to add fog? Like things that are farther away seem hazy and blurry, hiding the weird half-rendered creatures. I honestly don’t know, but it is definitely a nest idea.
Hey, it already more or less works that way (you only see organisms close the camera, the rest is made invisible)... BUT the underlying game objects are still built. I'm thinking of not even creating these objects, but I haven't figured out how that would work exactly yet.
Your dev logs are always so interesting and fun!
Loving these videos! Keep up the amazing work!
Great dev blogs! I’m looking forward to the game’s progress! I will have to buy it when I can afford it.
I feel like it would be cool if next update allowed the physical terrain to slowly change due to forces like erosion, the meteors or the volcanoes. Life on earth evolved in a dynamic and constantly changing world so it would be cool to have in the sapling.
Without making promises, it's definitely an idea I like!
Idea: a volcano sometimes If it’s big enough it can drop the planet into a deep winter since the smoke blocks the sun
been a while since i watched a the sapling video, and it's worth it watching now! i hope that one day the sapling becomes more known, it deserves it
Btw, your game is super awesome, and I really love the music. It is always so relaxing watching your videos, they make me smile :)
I just bought the game and was thinking about suggesting you to add seasonal tides, what great coincidence! Also, I like the "Ant farm" aspect of the game, just watching silly creatures move and change
I love seeing the new content, Game has advanced a lot!
YESS, thanks for listening to my comment!! I'll watch this after school, definitely.
Excited to see all this new stuff coming to the game
Can not wait for the next video of actual game play with all these features absolutely amazing game
A lot of people are commenting on volcanoes giving off ash, adding land, etc., but I think it's also worth noting that the biggest impact that volcanoes have over geologic time in the real world is climate change. Volcanoes release very large amounts of aerosols and CO2. The aerosols cause cooling in the short term, then the CO2 causes warming in the long term, which contributes substantially to extinctions. Even more pertinently, the CO2 also causes ocean acidification, which wipes out coral reefs and oceanic primary producers, decimating marine food webs. Of the five known mass extinctions in earth's history, at least four were most likely caused by very large eruptions taking place over hundreds of thousands of years dumping ridiculous quantities of gunk into the atmosphere (and even the fifth, with the asteroid, had a concurrent massive eruption happening that certainly didn't help things).
Hey, thanks for this insight! The relation between volcanoes and mass extinctions is what made me add them. On the one hand, I like the idea of implementing all of these extra long term effects, but on the other it definitely would be a UI/UX challenge to communicate what is going on in such a way that it is clear and makes sense for the player
@@TheSapling If you solve how to make the link between CO2 emission and climate change obvious, please do let the climate science community know lol. They've been struggling to communicate that for decades... (so yes, I completely understand that there's a UI/UX issue there).
There a game called worldbox, and in it has earthquake item you can unleash into your sandbox world where creates a crack that can either increase or decrease the sea, land level. This would be a really cool way of making land bridges!
PLEASE add aquatic eggs that only hatch after being dried out beforehand, this would work really well with the new seasonal water level. Imagine an aquatic creature that can only survive in a certain lake (maybe perfect weather conditions or something) BUT every third season that lake dries out, so they evolve eggs that can survive drying out, maybe predators venture into the dried lake to eat eggs? Sorry if I didn’t explain this well, I hope you see what I’m getting at!
Oh yeah like those woodland shrimps who only hatch during the wet seasons! the so called vernal pools
Without making promises, I was indeed thinking of making 'be underwater' a second egg condition besides temperature, and regardless of egg type
I think the implementation of coral could be really fun and make underwater i lot more interesting maybe add a feature certain skin types are hurt by coral and others can go through it just fine giving animals who adapted to live in coral reefs a place to hide from predators who aren't capable of swimming through
This is exciting!
In this update I loved the edition of insect mouths. However I think it would at more variety to add insect body parts as well such as an armoured shell or water skimmer legs for running on water
Without making promises, I love the idea of water skimmers!
No..nnooo its all burning who let the pyro in here
One's shudders to imagine what inhuman thoughts lie behind that mask
*DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC*
*I fear no man...*
this man is making the best evolution simulator ever.
All the new additions are very exciting and sound like great additions to the game, can't wait to try them out!
Man first of all, thank you a lot for your amazing work! I should say I m sooo hyped with the idea and you realization of it. For many years I speculated about how great and interesting it would be to see evolution simulator in a game form. Like SPORE, but more scientific. And that's it! I ran into your video and ended up watching all them in a row! As a physicist I also would be really glad to see more influence of Space on your planets and not only in terms of disasters but in more complex way - the type of a Sun, distance from it, size of the planet and its gravity, Moons and tides as a result, maybe even different atmospheric composition and its influence on the planet and life. In general the idea is "introducing a bit of Stellaris". It would give gamers way more combinations to try and made evolution even more unpredictable and diversed. Thanks you again! Gonna keep watching each your new video and certainly going to buy the game!
Thanks a lot! And totally agreed about 'influence of space'; it's what caused me to make the planet tilt when you add seasons. I couldn't really find a good resource on things like the distance from the sun and the available of moons (and possible planet rings) would affect life... do you happen to know some?
Do you believe that you'll ever add arthropod style jointed limbs to the sapling? I've noticed that a lot of this update has been adding additional variety to the mouthparts to make them less vertebrate focused, yet the overall body shapes are still very tetrapod feeling. The evolutionary paths for them could start off as tiny shrimplike swimmerets which are able to diversify into various crawling, swimming, climbing parts, and even wings since a part of the segment of crustacean legs is what led to insect wings. Of course things like claws could also develop as an equivalent to hands in the vertebrate tree also. It opens up a lot of variety and possibility for the game.
To stop a wildfire from completely destroying an entire continent, you could put in a mechanic that causes the fire to have a chance of going out before spreading. Say every 5 seconds the fire either spreads to a nearby plant (with let's say a 75%) chance, or burns out (with let's say a 25% chance)
It's an interesting idea indeed! Fire will go out in colder/wetter areas, but perhaps hot and dry areas should also be lucky sometimes ;)
Wohoooo! This just got a whole lot more interesting! The way disasters may affect the evolution of life is immense. There are some insects that use hurricanes to spread around and plants that develop a way to retract moisture from the sensitive parts of their bodies to handle cold nights, hot days, sand storms, and blizzards. Not to mention the animals who develop instinctual behavior to handle storms, droughts, and so on. This is a way to develop herding behavior when large groups of animals move away during dry seasons or when there is a drought.
Without making promises, these are very interesting bits of info :)
In my opinion, volcanoes seem rather redundant when you already have wildfires since they just have the same effect. I guess volcanoes may serve as land barriers since plants don't seem to grow on them, but for me I think volcanoes should have been added later when plate tectonics are a possible feature in the game wherein not only do volcanoes cause fire, but their eruptions can increase land area as well. And like a lot of other users, I also espouse a way to make these features automatic so that players have a choice whether to actively cause effects in the game or just enjoy observing it passively.
Fully agreed about the volcanoes! My thinking here was that it could be interesting to have fires always start from the same place, but I'm not sure if it actually will be. Without making promises, I like the idea of volcanoes creating extra land!
YAHOOO ANOTHER DEV LOGGGG
You give me so much motivation from your videos man keep it up 👍
(Pre video release)
Nice touch to the game
An idea of mine: you already introduced random mutation to the game (one of the key things for evolution) but you didn’t add individuality(also very important) every animal of the same rase is an copy it would would be a nice touch if every animal has distinct properties like smaller or bigger mouth , eyes, and stuff like that, but still is the same animal/race
thats pretty useless though. it would be bad for performance and just not be that important
That's actually what's happening already, although it's nearly impossible to see! The game only counts larger changes as a new species, individuals with small changes like body shape or color are still considered the same species.
I can't wait for the full release! Although I tried the beta and there were many bugs with the algae, the animals and plants did perfectly fine, all the disasters and clouds were also fine, it was just the algae both big and small. The big algae didn't want to stay on the floor sometimes so they were floating with their roots fully sticking out. And the algae particles started growing above the water. So I did a land playthrough with no algae.
This is the "City Skylines" of evolution sims that's been long needed
I am so hyped!
well do cant wai for seasen 2 of evo simlated hope for it soon and also for the evo simltion idea mabye add the seasen tide to show abit of your theory for flooding seasens and mabye volacnos and also you know
Indeed currently working on getting the game stable and balanced again so a long run is possible!
so you know how long it takes for the seasen 2 of es@@TheSapling
Currently working on it; I aim to have it finished February or March, but it's always hard to tell when I'll be satisfied ;)
Huh for some reason i thought that fire was going to be a surprise for us
thank you so much this is gona be the best update yet
i kind of like chilling and doing other stuff while casually looking back at the simulation sometimes, i think you should add a toggle for random disasters if that's not something you've done already
Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated :)
i have an idea for the update after this one, tectonic plates and land erosion, you can simplify as much as you like but it will probably go like this: when you generate a world the land will be seperated into tectonic plates and every 100 or 1000 years the land will be slightly changes based on the calculated tectonic plates movement, this will help a completely land species to be able to eventually reach new land and not be forever seperated from the rest of the world, or maybe even creating new land with a volcanic eruption, or an island slowly eroding away pressuring the inhabitants to slowly become aquatic animal.
Without making promises, indeed interesting ideas!
thank you Wessel, you are a really good dude
This game looks really good! Also - A suggestion - Maybe add a function so if the meteor hits the water, a tsunami occurs. (just a suggestion)
Without making promises, it's an idea I like!
hey actual forest fires! spore had prototypes for forest fires in a couple of.. prototypes but never actually did anything with them in the final game. so this is neat to see
wait they old potrypes of forest fire i dint about that
Didn't know that! Do you happen to remember the source of this info?
I remember how you said that when you created the game you thought the scenarios mode would be the main way to play. I think I get what you said now and I think you should add a survival mode. Survival mode would be just like sandbox mode but there is not planet editor, new things are constantly happening, and there is no form of natural selection. You only manage one species and your goal is to make sure that species survives. You only control that one species' evolution. No control of natural disasters or the planet. But full control of your species. But who knows I may have misinterpreted it when you said like during season 2 or 1 that you thought scenarios would be the main way to play.
No I think you interpreted correctly what I tried to communicate :) . Without making promises, I like the idea of a survival mode; from what you write, you could also think of it as a random scenario generator, where the generated scenarios can have disasters and scripted organisms.
LETS GOOOOOO!!!🎉🎉
I hope it isn’t too late for one final suggestion! Even after following your advice on stable colors, it’s extremely picky with the colors. Maybe you could do plant colors the way you’re doing the instinct overhaul, with the sliders? Thanks, and I can’t wait for the update!!!
Without making promises... hmm, interesting suggestion
I’m looking forward to when you finish squashing all those pesky bugs and the update is released as an official version, while I could just play the experimental version I’d prefer to wait and enjoy the update when it’s complete, but overall I love The Sapling so far and I wish you much success with the game, it’s very impressive that you’ve done so much as a single man working on the game, I love Speculative Evolution so this game is great and I’ve even completed all the current scenarios, anyway, good job so far and let’s hope for a bright future for The Sapling
So this is why it's called the food and fire update😊
Words can not describe how gorgeous this game is
Volcanoes, sea level changes, meteorites. Sounds like a brief summary of the Mesozoic era
8:11 I think Polish languich
Haha yeah that's when I will add support for Polish (joking, there are no plans for localization features atm)
Imagine giant sequoia sized trees
FIRE
looking forward to this update! mass extinctions could dramatically Fire (lol) up the unique situations that can happen in the sandbox mode!
While watching the development of food and mouths i always have deer, sheep or horses snacking on baby birds in mind. Giraffes actively searching for bones to nibble on. Hippos hunting in packs despite abundance of vegetation.
Which makes me want to see more complex interactions in the food chain of the simulation.
As true obligatory herbivores or carnivores are rather rare, it would add a lot of realism into the game.
Thank you kindly for your work!
Stay healthy and strong.
Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated!
you know what would be cool (maybe): snakes
a leg part that allows legless animals in your world
Definitely! If I'm not mistaken, leglessness evolved mostly for underground creatures, so that would be the first challenge (as always, no promises) ;)
Ever since finding this channel I’ve been trying to find Planetary Life! I used to follow that project closely
I appreciate the increased frequency of uploads.
Thanks, but this was the last one for some time ;)