If you've ever played SPECIES, it has a dynamic clade diagram feature that makes following evolution so much more digestible(which species are still alive, whose related to who, etc). It's something I really think would benefit the game. Either way I loved this little series, Tardatus definitely stole the show at the end lol. I'd like to see it return with future updates!
That actually exists in the game already, you can filter between algae, plants and animals, how many they are, whether they are extinct or not, when they came into the world and clicking on species will show you their lineage, both past and their children species. It is clunky and buggy, as all is within this game, but my general feeling with this as is the whole game, is that on completion it will be fabulous.
"The Bibites" has a "herding" instinct that causes the individuals to either move in the same direction as others at positive values or move in the opposite direction at negative values. This typically gets a negative value and makes them spread out evenly similar to the photoreceptor thing
Would be really fun if there was one last 4th episode where you conjoin the continents with a landbridge or two land bridges to show a crossover event or the effect of isolating a marine population within a big lake
Tell me please, can you create an attraction system in the future? For example, some animals will grow unwanted but attractive tails (like Peacocks), or some trait will simply instinctively scare away other species, like the false eyes on many Earth animals.
@@VelociraptorWithInternet I don't know how to properly describe. For example, there is a yellow predator, herbivores learn to be afraid of yellow, small herbivores turn yellow to intimidate competitors. It will probably be impossible to transfer a full-fledged camouflage in the conditions that we have now, my idea is rather to add new instincts and principles to preserve or disappear existing features
This was like watching a documentary of an alien world, it was very pretty and intriguing! Please, I would love to see more parts of this series, potentially even with different starting conditions and definitely longer! It was an exciting time so far! Amazing work, can´t wait to see more from The Sapling :)
Idk why, but I kinda wish animals could start out as like invertebrates or something like that, maybe even have a split and two different evolutionary paths, the one we have and one that’s more arthropod inspired or something. Anyways, amazing series ^^
It would be really cool if you could create Natural Disasters in the game that can either be random or controlleable by the Player. Just like it happened a lot of times on earth, Natural disasters could shuffle up the ecosystem a little and force the different species to go for interesting strategys. Potential disasters could be Hurricanes, Tornados, Earthquakes, Forest fires, Volcanic Eruptions that create Islands or tsunamis that seperate a Continent in two. Or similiar stuff.
maybe different species usage of different gasses like carbon dioxide and oxygen could change the climate and trigger the plannet to heat or have ice ages. this could make ice sheets that animals cross, but then melt creating diversity idk-can stop thinking of things that can be implemented into sapling, i wish i had a pc to run it on, only got the og xbox 1 lol.
I think the ability to cooperate (sharing resources, growing around each other, pollenisation) and interact socially (learning behaviours, hold grudges or gratitude, defend each other) would be a good add to the game as it could stimulate the appearance of actually realistic ecosystems and herds or packs of animals
I’ve loved this series! So many different and wonderful creatures, I’m pretty sure a lot of us would like to see more! Also I have a suggestion, can you add a root for land plants that makes them able to be semi aquatic, like mangrove trees.
This game is looking absolutely incredible! But I have a few suggestions. First of all, I think eyes should have a very high chance of evolving, especially early on in the game. If you consider that eyes evolved during the beginning of the Cambrian explosion, super early on in Earth's history, and evolved several times, it would make sense that the same thing would happen in the worlds of The Sapling. Also, venom would be a cool addition. Specialized fangs would allow an animal to produce venom. This would be especially helpful to predators. Or, an animal could become poisonous, and might evolve to be brightly colored to warn predators, like poison dart frogs do on Earth. I think creatures actually mating would be interesting as well. For instance, you might see two males fighting each other for the right to mate with a female, or you might see an individual showing off its giant tail appendages or colorful stripes. This would also add another element of natural selection, as being stronger, having longer teeth, being more colorful, or other traits would make an organism more likely to reproduce. And this addition would put a whole new element into the game and make it seem more realistic.
This is so fascinating I would easily watch a 40 minute version of this where you have a world with more extreme/diverse conditions and you let it keep evolving for longer
Following the development of this game is very pleasing. From the dev logs to the simulations I'm enjoying the videos. I'd definitely be interested in more episodes.
Two suggestions from playing: 1. update instincts, make more options instinct wise and make it easier for the animals to evolve instincts that aren't completely random. 2. make it easier for the animals to change shape or go underwater or in the air. I feel like every time I make one starter species it eventually reaches a road block where all the animals are just slight variations of the original. The only way to get past this roadblock is to wait a really long time and that usually isn't enjoyable, but this second suggestion isn't as important as the first for me. I didn't want this to come off as demanding or something, but i wanted to say these 'cause i would LOVE to see them implemented.
Hey Gordon, thanks for your input! Definitely not demanding, it's very insightful for me to know what players want :) . Without making promises, agreed on both... the instinct system in particular has barely changed since the first MVP version of the game.
This is exciting, thanks massively for the narration! Really love the story and pictures of the animals as the world stablized in the end. Good luck with the game!
This series could be so big, I don’t have the game, (even though I want it dearly) but it’s so interesting seeing everything adapt and evolve, this series alone made me subscribe, hope you make more episodes!
This- this right here is the game I've been waiting for. This is my dream game- I'm so excited. I gotta wait to play it cause my laptop died out on me so I'm getting a new computer. All I ever wanted in a game was to make a couple starting animals and see what they evolve into. Plus plants that's so cool honestly.
You mentioned in the last episode that it is impossible for a plant to spread to another continent. I think an easy fix to this is to use the already existing wind and have seeds adapt to spread with it. And might as well just add in other ways to spread like from animals. Idk, anyways, I love your work and am happy that you still decide to work on this!
This may be hard, but here are some ideas I recommend! 1, Sexual Dimorphisim: If you add animal genders. You should add sexual dimorphism. So where the genders look different 2, Armor Plating: Mostly for herbivores. A protection for them! 2.1, Saber Teeth: Maybe animals could evolve saber teeth can getting through thick hides. 3, Upright Stance: Basically just standing upright. Probably for a seeing predators or finding prey easier. 4, More 4 legged animals: It makes sense for more four legged animals. Because I’m evolution animals don’t really call for bipedalism. 5, Scavenging: Some animals good probably just eat carcasses without hunting them. 6, Brachiation: Don’t know if this one is even possible. But swinging from tree to tree, but I don’t recommend trying this.
I love the way you present these- it's really clear how interesting you find this stuff, and it's nice seeing how open you are to ideas in the comments :) I could watch this sort of thing all day!
A feature that would be cool, although possibly pretty hard to add, would be the ability to look at a diagram of all the species, kinda like a family tree but with different species instead of different people. (this might already exist, I haven't played the game yet so I don't know) Edit: it's called a phylogenetic tree apparenlty Edit (but not edit 2 because i did this in the same edit): nvm I meant something more similair to a family tree than a phylogenetic tree Edit 2 (actually edit 2 this time): It seems like this feature is in the game already. Edit 3: I have been editing this comment for 10 minutes
Hey Eskil, you can see basic family relations between species indeed, but I've seen quite a few people suggest it is too 'zoomed in', so there is still some room for game design exploration there.
@@TheSapling I prefer to have a much larger overview of most of the species related to it, and then we can zoom on a species to see its immediate relatives.
Oh, this is the official channel indeed. Thanks a lot for showcasing this, man. I bought this quite some time ago. I was running out of space for my work data, so I had to uninstall it. Also if you remember, there was a bug about extreme ice age where temperature changed drastically resulting in total annihilation. So yeah, I had to let it go at the time. Don't worry, there's no way I refunded it, tho. I had so many hours of fun. I hope you'll keep making more progress in this.
Wow...just wow...You appeared on my RUclips recommendations and I'm so happy you did...I find your work fascinating and do hope you continue pursuing this project....as it's truly beautifully crafted and very entertaining.....Good luck on further development and I will be looking forward to returning soon...
If your questio is whether the game already has that: not at the moment. If your question is whether I would be interested in adding that: out of curiosity, what kind of features would you like to lock?
This series is so educational as it explains evolution at its best - Brilliant, gorgeous and so interesting! I hope there are more planets to see in the future!
The immediate 180 from having vision was the best side narrative I’ve seen all year. It’s now part of the lore forever that this planet does not want the ability to see
It would be fun to see grass implemented into the game, if you were to add it the game would feel less barren, also you could make the sea have sand. as i dont think there is sand in the game.
How do you get it to run so smoothly? The moment I have so much stuff on the screen The Sapling freezes for me :( My PC is pretty beasty, it's pretty much the only game that gives me issues
High end video card, separate capture card, and even then I edited out quite a few recordings because the FPS was so low :/ . Like I say at the end, I'm always working on improvements for the the performance (a few months back a video like this wouldn't even have been possible)
Still alive, and doing nothing but working on the next big update; started working on the next series of devlogs yesterday! See twitter.com/thesaplinggame :)
my brother told me about this game today. i cant wait to see it evolve ;) i can see this being a great tool for biology education! what fun students would have designing their own organisms and watching them compete and develop. so cool
This was such a good series! I discovered it, watched it, and bought The Sapling in the space of 24 hours. Thanks for making something so cool appealing, I'm looking forward to messing around with it 😁
This series was amazing and I'd love to see more like it! I had an idea where you make the first known sea creatures of earth and the conditions at the time to see how differently the animals evolved than how it did on earth
This videos are really impressive. The AI and evolution mechanics are super impressive ( at least to me ) . Well done ! Also I think it would be interesting to potentially be able to create or have random disasters such as super volcanoe explosions, gamma ray burst or asteroid strikes and it could lead to some interesting scenarios
I really love this series and the game itself. I am really looking forward to seeing where this game goes. on a different note, I have 2 interesting ideas that i would like to see your take on and if you will be adding them because of my comment, feel free to subject them to as much change as you need / want to :) First is tail feathers. i often find that the birds in this game look really weird, and i have pinned down tail feathers as the issue. Tail feathers could use the same sort of code as for the fish tails (as explained in your dev log) and would just be horizontal rather than vertical. some could provide heat loss, while others would add heat retention. they could also increase air speed and manuverabiltiy to some degree. all in all, its up to you. another feature i thought about is filter feeders. It could be really awesome to see massive filter feeders evolve, as they are always such spectacular giants. this would likely come as 2 features; filter feeding mouths and an increase in the size cap. the increased size cap could have an increase in food cost, which the filter feeders (whose mouths effectiveness could scale with size) could achieve by eating constantly. the filter feeding mouths could vary as well. some having baleen like whales. some could be empty like basking sharks. you could even design your own unique filter feeding mouths for cool, unique niches. again, its all up to you P.S. in my opinion, the eyes in this game look really strange. the way that they are spheres that stick out makes them look really odd and unrealistic. if you blended them more with the head and made them smaller (modelling them after the eyes of real creatures) than the creatures in the game would look much more realistic and cool dont feel pressured to do anything of these to soon, take as much time as you need. I at least ask you to at least consider these as things to add later on as polish / bonuses. Thank you for this great game, much love!
Thanks for writing this all down! Without making promises, both filter feeders and tail feathers are ideas I really like. I also agree with you about the eyes: doing a more cartoony style was a decision I made long ago because it was easier to realize and cheaper computationally, but I'm still not sure if it was the right decision.
I'd love to see randomized global events, meteor strikes, plate tectonics, volcanoes, etc. at some point in the future. I just found this game this morning and i already want to get on and try some stuff out. The potential is insane, keep it up dude
I really enjoy this game, you sold me before I could even play, evolution games are a huge niche, and It's really amazing some developers are tackling it! Hope I'll be able to play in the future
I don’t know if this is already in the game but a more precise terrain editor would be fun.For example be able to change terrain height and add “biomes”. An example biome could be a desert it has less rainfall and is hotter, or a rainforest that has more rainfall. 0:01
Hey burf, thanks for your feedback! While you can't sculpt the terrain (that part uses a random generator), it IS possible to 'paint' terrain statistics like you describe.
I don’t think any of us know what’s going on in your personal or business life, but the sapling is an INCREDIBLE game! I (and probably others too) believe in you, and think you can continue this game into an incredible game! Hope everything goes well for you and your future endeavors!
If you want to spice things up a bit, natural disasters and neural networks could make evolution continue for longer. Perhaps you could even make it so a species that has opposable thumbs or something similar and also has a decently sized neural network can start civilizations and go spacefaring, maybe to other planets you already have created?
I love this game and playing it is so fun, but sometimes trying to figure out which animals branched from which ones is hard. I think it would be a good and fun idea to add a sort of family tree, to look at how much some species branched out, look how much they differ from one another or quite the contrary, see how similar they are to one another despite their last common ancestor being one already exctinct millions of years ago.
@@TheSapling Ofcourse no promises. I never promise anything, and like my father used to say "I never promise anything, because afterwards people tug on my balls if I don't deliver". You'll do it if you have time or energy, or you will not, no pressure.
This game was the spore we always wanted but sadly never gotten. Spore seems more cartoonish while this game seems way too realistic. What a wonderful game the Sapling!
Have you considered allowing climate changes over long periods of time? It might be a good option to shake things up and keep the ecology from stabilizing. You could also add periodic natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, meteor strikes, and volcanic eruptions to help change the environments
Hey SurrealKeenan, without making promises, it's indeed an idea I really like. At the moment, the only thing you can do is change the global temperatures (so you get an ice age, for example)
Not possible yet, they all look like vertebrates at the moment ;). Although I like the idea of invertebrates, I'm not sure how it would work in the naimal editor.
You know how there's ice age and meteor scenarios? Maybe you could give us more things to test around with to see how animal evolve and adapt? Like add meteors or volcanos or ice age and other natural disasters? And an option to make it random spawn or only the player spawns?
@@TheSapling yea that was me on Twitter I didn't know which one you checked or replied to so I commented on both. It'd be sick if these ideas are added to the game
I am following the development of The Sapling for a few years now. I had it on my wishlist when it first came out for a long time, till I removed it and added it back again after Flight was released. So I am just a distant follower thus far. But I see the development with excitement. :) But what I am still waiting for and what I am missing in ALL of those simulation games (for example SPECIES: ALRE) is the emergence of a stable food-chain, beginning with smaller critters, eating biofilm or plankton or something. Right now in all of those games the critters (and plants) tend to just grow bigger and bigger, smaller ones completely disappearing, making times of big diversities only possible after some radiation from a few population pockets surviving a mass extinction event (but still maintaining their increased sizes). Me trying in Species: ALRE to get tiny creatures always failed for being an actual fight against creatures simply getting bigger. I do not know how that game calculated damages, but it looks like a simple thing like growing damage output and HP is the endgame. There is nothing like evasiveness or hit chances i guess? No paper-scissors-rock dynamic that would make it feasible to be small, besides growth cost as limiting factor. Since all those Sims tend to just play out on an one Size-Level to rule it all, there is never a chance that certain size-differences come into play, like tiny critters become insignificant or invisible to bigger ones or a predator specializing in eating smaller critters and avoiding everything bigger. Creature do not have different "weight" on the world or having a signature to be recognized or ignored by others and are treated as similar objects. Animals are often indifferently aggressive, passive or evasive, degrading the game more often to a arming race of increasing "damage" and "tankiness", since hiding, threatening/scaring others away, deescalation or simply fleeing is not a viable option. Furthermore, since this happens with plants the same way, there is only one or two food sources for plant eaters, where everyone has to compete with each other on "same terms" (beside environmental factors like temperature). Maybe it would add some dynamic to the ecosystems if there would be some sources of Energy and Biomass more basal/basic than the first proper Algae, like growing mattes eaten by small bentic animals or a Mycelial networks in the soil (changing some values) helping plants to get on land, and growing seasonal fruit bodies as food source for bigger animals. In my opinion there needs to be something where smaller critters thrive and can never be completely out-competed by bigger animals, since these would be too big to actually sustain themselves with consuming the most basal foodsource, that might even not be in their reach anymore. Evolving Plants is a good feature that distinguishes The Sapling from other, but in the end they seem to be just abstract values having only varying success due to some varying factors like temperature and the "anatomically" arrangement of efficient plants withstanding that temperature value and having the better income from light sources (not familiar enough with the game to know if I miss something). These are a bunch of things I would love to see one day, please consider this not as a pushy demand list for your game specifically but more a generalized bucklist of things I wanna experience in a Evolution centred Sandbox Game ^^: Filterfeeders! From smallest bentic (or sessile) versions to the size of a bluewhale (skipping most part of the ecotrophical chain like a power gamer). Plants having different parts like flowers for polination/feeding deal with polinators, seeds in fruits being eaten by animals spreading these over the map. Differences regarding nutritional value of different kind ofbiomass or body parts and their edibility/digestibility for different animals? (cellulose, soft tissue, bones, organs etc.) Strategies for plants to fend off their predators (poison, thorns etc.). Parasitic lifeforms, siphoning the energy of a host (without killing it) or even lay their offspring on or in them? A layer of "Destruents", eating away what can not be eaten by "normal eaters"? I hope my comment does not come over as snarly or something, I am just following the topic of artificial life, "real" evolution and ecosystem simulation for decades and had come to be pretty enthusiastic about it. I know in fact how hard it is to only conceptualize an Idea, let alone to try to make a "game" or emergent evolution simulation coming from basic principles. I have the highest respect for anyone doing this, and there are not many out there having the ambition to make those ideas into projects that are more than just a concept demonstration or proof of concept, or simply fiddling around with simulation in more abstract frames. You are one among only a handful who are making a full game! Just let me just end with these words: Keep up the work! You are already an inspiration!
Hi Chareidos, I rarely see thoughtful essays in RUclips comments, love it :). A lot of the features you suggest are indeed ideas I love and hope to add one day, but I should admit I doubt it will lead to the complex, layered ecosystems you mention, both for hardware reasons (already like it is right now the hardware has to work pretty hard) and software reasons (to simplify things, the game works on a grid, so only 1 plant and animal is possible on 1 tile). Perhaps the next iteration of the evolution games will give us this ;)
@@TheSapling hm... I see. Are plants and animals present on a tile handled the same way? Like do their placement exclude each other? I am not that knowledgeable about your game, but I remember flying creatures landing on trees is a thing since their introduction? Maybe it is possible to make arboreal niches available to smaller animals that could climb and that the creatures have ways of protecting themselves from those who can not climb due to their size. You could also add a "slot" for "hiding" within certain vegetation, only available to smaller ones. Other categories of "sessile" lifeforms could be Corals or anemones having such "hiding" slots for small swimming creatures, that are immune to their toxins. Just some wild ideas. I see that the limitations of hardware will put this out the window i guess. In general I would love to see more features that allow small creatures to thrive next to big species. :)
Great series! I'd love to see more episodes of this, or an update on what you're working on at the moment! Keen to grab the game but want to know you're still engaged and developing. Hope you're well thank you for your efforts!
I'm really loving this series, seeing how your game can simulate so many different conditions and react to it is very fun! 😄
If you've ever played SPECIES, it has a dynamic clade diagram feature that makes following evolution so much more digestible(which species are still alive, whose related to who, etc). It's something I really think would benefit the game.
Either way I loved this little series, Tardatus definitely stole the show at the end lol. I'd like to see it return with future updates!
That actually exists in the game already, you can filter between algae, plants and animals, how many they are, whether they are extinct or not, when they came into the world and clicking on species will show you their lineage, both past and their children species. It is clunky and buggy, as all is within this game, but my general feeling with this as is the whole game, is that on completion it will be fabulous.
It's really nice to see the SPECIES dev is feeling well enough to restart its development !
Thanks for the input Reece!
@@FireTurkey oh, I thought it was simply abandoned and left to die... well I know what game's returning to my steam wishlist.
i need the game i cant find it how do i download
"The Bibites" has a "herding" instinct that causes the individuals to either move in the same direction as others at positive values or move in the opposite direction at negative values. This typically gets a negative value and makes them spread out evenly similar to the photoreceptor thing
Would be really fun if there was one last 4th episode where you conjoin the continents with a landbridge or two land bridges to show a crossover event or the effect of isolating a marine population within a big lake
My thoughts exactly
No promises, but definitely a fun idea for a future episode
Like the real life north/ south land bridge exchange?
Then the animals with luminescent eyes go extinct 💀💀
@@XyRakoeyer69life Will find a way
Tell me please, can you create an attraction system in the future? For example, some animals will grow unwanted but attractive tails (like Peacocks), or some trait will simply instinctively scare away other species, like the false eyes on many Earth animals.
Like camouflage ?
greatest idea in this comment section
Hey Tanzim, without making promises, it's an idea I really like indeed!
@@TheSapling maybe it could stem from the glowing parts
@@VelociraptorWithInternet I don't know how to properly describe. For example, there is a yellow predator, herbivores learn to be afraid of yellow, small herbivores turn yellow to intimidate competitors. It will probably be impossible to transfer a full-fledged camouflage in the conditions that we have now, my idea is rather to add new instincts and principles to preserve or disappear existing features
This reminds me of watching documentarys about dinosaurs when i was younger thank you for this great series
This was like watching a documentary of an alien world, it was very pretty and intriguing!
Please, I would love to see more parts of this series, potentially even with different starting conditions and definitely longer! It was an exciting time so far!
Amazing work, can´t wait to see more from The Sapling :)
Idk why, but I kinda wish animals could start out as like invertebrates or something like that, maybe even have a split and two different evolutionary paths, the one we have and one that’s more arthropod inspired or something. Anyways, amazing series ^^
Without making promises, fully agreed.
It would be really cool if you could create Natural Disasters in the game that can either be random or controlleable by the Player. Just like it happened a lot of times on earth, Natural disasters could shuffle up the ecosystem a little and force the different species to go for interesting strategys. Potential disasters could be Hurricanes, Tornados, Earthquakes, Forest fires, Volcanic Eruptions that create Islands or tsunamis that seperate a Continent in two. Or similiar stuff.
and ice ages!
I mean with the seasons mecánica you can already make both ice age and "hot ages" by making extremely hot or cold seasons
I think it would be interesting if the game simulated a sort of crude carbon cycle and albedo feedback that could create biogenic natural disasters.
Hey Desu, without making promises, very much agreed that would be cool!
maybe different species usage of different gasses like carbon dioxide and oxygen could change the climate and trigger the plannet to heat or have ice ages. this could make ice sheets that animals cross, but then melt creating diversity idk-can stop thinking of things that can be implemented into sapling, i wish i had a pc to run it on, only got the og xbox 1 lol.
I think the ability to cooperate (sharing resources, growing around each other, pollenisation) and interact socially (learning behaviours, hold grudges or gratitude, defend each other) would be a good add to the game as it could stimulate the appearance of actually realistic ecosystems and herds or packs of animals
Thanks for your suggestions! Without making promises, there are indeed quite a few ideas in here that I really like :)
I have started to fall in love with the concept of evolution and this game of yours is really tickling that part of the brain of mine
Loving the final recap showing all the species on the map. That's a lot of biodiversity, and it looks quite stable. Very much impressed!
I would love another of these series over an even longer time scale, im curious just how diverse the world can get
I’ve loved this series! So many different and wonderful creatures, I’m pretty sure a lot of us would like to see more! Also I have a suggestion, can you add a root for land plants that makes them able to be semi aquatic, like mangrove trees.
Without making promises, indeed an idea I really like!
Wow he is going to add that nice prediction!
An idea that I had: I noticed that a lot of animal phyla have a worm-like bodyplan. Would it be possible to do such a thing in a future update?
Hey Samuel, do you have any animals in mind specifically?
@@TheSapling annelids and flatworms
This game is looking absolutely incredible! But I have a few suggestions.
First of all, I think eyes should have a very high chance of evolving, especially early on in the game. If you consider that eyes evolved during the beginning of the Cambrian explosion, super early on in Earth's history, and evolved several times, it would make sense that the same thing would happen in the worlds of The Sapling.
Also, venom would be a cool addition. Specialized fangs would allow an animal to produce venom. This would be especially helpful to predators. Or, an animal could become poisonous, and might evolve to be brightly colored to warn predators, like poison dart frogs do on Earth.
I think creatures actually mating would be interesting as well. For instance, you might see two males fighting each other for the right to mate with a female, or you might see an individual showing off its giant tail appendages or colorful stripes. This would also add another element of natural selection, as being stronger, having longer teeth, being more colorful, or other traits would make an organism more likely to reproduce. And this addition would put a whole new element into the game and make it seem more realistic.
Without making promises, I like every single one of the ideas you descibe :)
They wouldn't have the life span to do all that 😂
This is the game ive been waiting for for decades amd recently picked up Godot to begin programming. Love what you're doing. Please do keep it up!
This is so fascinating I would easily watch a 40 minute version of this where you have a world with more extreme/diverse conditions and you let it keep evolving for longer
Following the development of this game is very pleasing. From the dev logs to the simulations I'm enjoying the videos. I'd definitely be interested in more episodes.
Continental drift could be hard to implement, but it could be an idea.
Please continue this series! It was very interesting to see how everything evolved, why, and you explaining precisely why. All my support to you!
please keep these kinds of series up once and a while they are so fun to watch.
Two suggestions from playing: 1. update instincts, make more options instinct wise and make it easier for the animals to evolve instincts that aren't completely random. 2. make it easier for the animals to change shape or go underwater or in the air. I feel like every time I make one starter species it eventually reaches a road block where all the animals are just slight variations of the original. The only way to get past this roadblock is to wait a really long time and that usually isn't enjoyable, but this second suggestion isn't as important as the first for me. I didn't want this to come off as demanding or something, but i wanted to say these 'cause i would LOVE to see them implemented.
Hey Gordon, thanks for your input! Definitely not demanding, it's very insightful for me to know what players want :) . Without making promises, agreed on both... the instinct system in particular has barely changed since the first MVP version of the game.
It’s honestly sad how it’s rare to find YT videos on this amazing game. It deserves more love
This is exciting, thanks massively for the narration! Really love the story and pictures of the animals as the world stablized in the end. Good luck with the game!
This series could be so big, I don’t have the game, (even though I want it dearly) but it’s so interesting seeing everything adapt and evolve, this series alone made me subscribe, hope you make more episodes!
This- this right here is the game I've been waiting for. This is my dream game- I'm so excited. I gotta wait to play it cause my laptop died out on me so I'm getting a new computer.
All I ever wanted in a game was to make a couple starting animals and see what they evolve into. Plus plants that's so cool honestly.
This some good stuff man even 2 months later. Can’t wait for the next Evolution Simulated 👍
Every few months i remember this channel, is it fine if you can tell me why you stopped uploading suddenly? Also still, amazing to rewatch!!
Currently working on the next big update; I expect to announce something at the end of August!
This series and game are both insanely good! Keep going, you made history, literally!
Very cool! I should finally try this game out someday.
You mentioned in the last episode that it is impossible for a plant to spread to another continent. I think an easy fix to this is to use the already existing wind and have seeds adapt to spread with it. And might as well just add in other ways to spread like from animals. Idk, anyways, I love your work and am happy that you still decide to work on this!
Without making promises, I was thinking the exact same direction ;)
You clearly puts a ton of work into these videos and deserve way more subscribers, which I hope you get.
I cant wait for the next devlog! ( get ready for, probably pretty bad, ideas)
This may be hard, but here are some ideas I recommend!
1, Sexual Dimorphisim: If you add animal genders. You should add sexual dimorphism. So where the genders look different
2, Armor Plating: Mostly for herbivores. A protection for them!
2.1, Saber Teeth: Maybe animals could evolve saber teeth can getting through thick hides.
3, Upright Stance: Basically just standing upright. Probably for a seeing predators or finding prey easier.
4, More 4 legged animals: It makes sense for more four legged animals. Because I’m evolution animals don’t really call for bipedalism.
5, Scavenging: Some animals good probably just eat carcasses without hunting them.
6, Brachiation: Don’t know if this one is even possible. But swinging from tree to tree, but I don’t recommend trying this.
Thanks for your ideas! Without making promises, I like all of them :). Quadrupeds are already possible, they just didn't evolve in this run
@@TheSapling I’m glad you do! I do Java script learning so if Java script is hard for me. Unity must be so much harder. Take your time man!
its so cool to see that within a year a significant amount of these have been implemented
I love the way you present these- it's really clear how interesting you find this stuff, and it's nice seeing how open you are to ideas in the comments :)
I could watch this sort of thing all day!
Pssst. The description is wrong. It says this is the second video. Can't wait to watch though :)
Thanks, just updated it!
Finally RUclips recommended some good stuff
A feature that would be cool, although possibly pretty hard to add, would be the ability to look at a diagram of all the species, kinda like a family tree but with different species instead of different people. (this might already exist, I haven't played the game yet so I don't know)
Edit: it's called a phylogenetic tree apparenlty
Edit (but not edit 2 because i did this in the same edit): nvm I meant something more similair to a family tree than a phylogenetic tree
Edit 2 (actually edit 2 this time): It seems like this feature is in the game already.
Edit 3: I have been editing this comment for 10 minutes
Hey Eskil, you can see basic family relations between species indeed, but I've seen quite a few people suggest it is too 'zoomed in', so there is still some room for game design exploration there.
@@TheSapling I prefer to have a much larger overview of most of the species related to it, and then we can zoom on a species to see its immediate relatives.
Can you change planetary conditions midway through the game to shake up a stabilized ecosystem? Kind of like an extinction event?
I love this series ive been waiting so long for part 3 and not its here i wanna see more 😁
Oh, this is the official channel indeed. Thanks a lot for showcasing this, man. I bought this quite some time ago. I was running out of space for my work data, so I had to uninstall it. Also if you remember, there was a bug about extreme ice age where temperature changed drastically resulting in total annihilation. So yeah, I had to let it go at the time. Don't worry, there's no way I refunded it, tho. I had so many hours of fun. I hope you'll keep making more progress in this.
I've fixed hundreds of bugs since then, if I'm not mistaken the bug you mention is one of them ;)
I’d love to see another series like this 😊
Wow...just wow...You appeared on my RUclips recommendations and I'm so happy you did...I find your work fascinating and do hope you continue pursuing this project....as it's truly beautifully crafted and very entertaining.....Good luck on further development and I will be looking forward to returning soon...
Could you make an option to kind of lock in features of your animal so no matter what they will keep that feature.
If your questio is whether the game already has that: not at the moment. If your question is whether I would be interested in adding that: out of curiosity, what kind of features would you like to lock?
@@TheSapling things like instincts
This series is so educational as it explains evolution at its best - Brilliant, gorgeous and so interesting! I hope there are more planets to see in the future!
Never clicked on a video so fast
The immediate 180 from having vision was the best side narrative I’ve seen all year. It’s now part of the lore forever that this planet does not want the ability to see
It would be fun to see grass implemented into the game, if you were to add it the game would feel less barren, also you could make the sea have sand. as i dont think there is sand in the game.
Thanks for your suggestion! Without making promises, I too feel this game needs grass.
make a new series when the new update comes out !!! this series was a w
How do you get it to run so smoothly? The moment I have so much stuff on the screen The Sapling freezes for me :( My PC is pretty beasty, it's pretty much the only game that gives me issues
whoops, should have watched the entire video before posting, will try a smaller planet. :)
High end video card, separate capture card, and even then I edited out quite a few recordings because the FPS was so low :/ . Like I say at the end, I'm always working on improvements for the the performance (a few months back a video like this wouldn't even have been possible)
I finally had aquatic animals evolve into land animals today!! Thankyou Sapling 😍
Bro are you dead ? We have no news about you and your interesting project. I played your game and I leave a comment on it. Please answer
Still alive, and doing nothing but working on the next big update; started working on the next series of devlogs yesterday! See twitter.com/thesaplinggame :)
my brother told me about this game today. i cant wait to see it evolve ;)
i can see this being a great tool for biology education! what fun students would have designing their own organisms and watching them compete and develop. so cool
Haha I am indeed approached by biology teachers every now and then ;)
This is the perfect game!
I literally looked for a game like this for years!
This series is gold, please make more episodes or more series like this!
i know its possible for algae to turn into plants but what about plants going to algae?
An interesting thought! Or (without making promises) plants going to aquatic plants maybe.
This was such a good series! I discovered it, watched it, and bought The Sapling in the space of 24 hours. Thanks for making something so cool appealing, I'm looking forward to messing around with it 😁
2 DAYS😀😀
This series was amazing and I'd love to see more like it! I had an idea where you make the first known sea creatures of earth and the conditions at the time to see how differently the animals evolved than how it did on earth
This videos are really impressive. The AI and evolution mechanics are super impressive ( at least to me ) . Well done ! Also I think it would be interesting to potentially be able to create or have random disasters such as super volcanoe explosions, gamma ray burst or asteroid strikes and it could lead to some interesting scenarios
I really love this series and the game itself. I am really looking forward to seeing where this game goes. on a different note, I have 2 interesting ideas that i would like to see your take on and if you will be adding them because of my comment, feel free to subject them to as much change as you need / want to :)
First is tail feathers. i often find that the birds in this game look really weird, and i have pinned down tail feathers as the issue. Tail feathers could use the same sort of code as for the fish tails (as explained in your dev log) and would just be horizontal rather than vertical. some could provide heat loss, while others would add heat retention. they could also increase air speed and manuverabiltiy to some degree. all in all, its up to you.
another feature i thought about is filter feeders. It could be really awesome to see massive filter feeders evolve, as they are always such spectacular giants. this would likely come as 2 features; filter feeding mouths and an increase in the size cap. the increased size cap could have an increase in food cost, which the filter feeders (whose mouths effectiveness could scale with size) could achieve by eating constantly. the filter feeding mouths could vary as well. some having baleen like whales. some could be empty like basking sharks. you could even design your own unique filter feeding mouths for cool, unique niches. again, its all up to you
P.S. in my opinion, the eyes in this game look really strange. the way that they are spheres that stick out makes them look really odd and unrealistic. if you blended them more with the head and made them smaller (modelling them after the eyes of real creatures) than the creatures in the game would look much more realistic and cool
dont feel pressured to do anything of these to soon, take as much time as you need. I at least ask you to at least consider these as things to add later on as polish / bonuses. Thank you for this great game, much love!
Thanks for writing this all down! Without making promises, both filter feeders and tail feathers are ideas I really like. I also agree with you about the eyes: doing a more cartoony style was a decision I made long ago because it was easier to realize and cheaper computationally, but I'm still not sure if it was the right decision.
@@TheSapling thanks for your input, My take on they eyes is simply my opinion, so dont get to hung over about it. Cant wait for you next update!
I hope you continue this series as I have been enjoying it!
I'd love to see randomized global events, meteor strikes, plate tectonics, volcanoes, etc. at some point in the future. I just found this game this morning and i already want to get on and try some stuff out. The potential is insane, keep it up dude
Please make more of this series! In REAL evolution it does not stop abruptly, it continues until the world is destroyed.
Haha it's a good argument :P
Idk if you know the game 'Birthdays the begining', the concept is very much the same and i think it may give you some ideas
I've heard of it but never played it, thanks for the recommendation!
I really enjoy this game, you sold me before I could even play, evolution games are a huge niche, and It's really amazing some developers are tackling it! Hope I'll be able to play in the future
I don’t know if this is already in the game but a more precise terrain editor would be fun.For example be able to change terrain height and add “biomes”. An example biome could be a desert it has less rainfall and is hotter, or a rainforest that has more rainfall. 0:01
Hey burf, thanks for your feedback! While you can't sculpt the terrain (that part uses a random generator), it IS possible to 'paint' terrain statistics like you describe.
Thanks, I was wondering. If it isn’t too much work maybe a terrain sculpting feature could be in a future update.
I'd love to see more Evolution simulated I'd love to see more of this type of videos.
I don’t think any of us know what’s going on in your personal or business life, but the sapling is an INCREDIBLE game! I (and probably others too) believe in you, and think you can continue this game into an incredible game! Hope everything goes well for you and your future endeavors!
Thank you for this heart warming comment
Virtual nature is absolutely beautiful! I love seeing the twists and turns evolution takes, especially the bioluminescent species without eyes.
If you want to spice things up a bit, natural disasters and neural networks could make evolution continue for longer. Perhaps you could even make it so a species that has opposable thumbs or something similar and also has a decently sized neural network can start civilizations and go spacefaring, maybe to other planets you already have created?
Please, you must continue the series! It is so good.
You could Manually create a Carnivore possibly. Or cause some catastrophic event.
Bought the game because of this video series. So far I really like it. Good job, keep up the good work.
The fact that you went from a single algae and some fish and got this is amazing
I finally found an evolution game with good graphics, land and sea, and a great variation system.
I love this game and playing it is so fun, but sometimes trying to figure out which animals branched from which ones is hard. I think it would be a good and fun idea to add a sort of family tree, to look at how much some species branched out, look how much they differ from one another or quite the contrary, see how similar they are to one another despite their last common ancestor being one already exctinct millions of years ago.
Without making promises, fully agreed. All information there is is really 'zoomed in', there's no way for players to see the bigger picture.
@@TheSapling Ofcourse no promises. I never promise anything, and like my father used to say "I never promise anything, because afterwards people tug on my balls if I don't deliver". You'll do it if you have time or energy, or you will not, no pressure.
This game was the spore we always wanted but sadly never gotten. Spore seems more cartoonish while this game seems way too realistic. What a wonderful game the Sapling!
Have you considered allowing climate changes over long periods of time? It might be a good option to shake things up and keep the ecology from stabilizing. You could also add periodic natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, meteor strikes, and volcanic eruptions to help change the environments
Hey SurrealKeenan, without making promises, it's indeed an idea I really like. At the moment, the only thing you can do is change the global temperatures (so you get an ice age, for example)
I love seeing new videos showing off this game on my timeline. Makes my day!
great series
Found one of my new favorite evolution game
Lovely game, looked for something like this FOR YEARS now, keep it on!
This advanced so much compared to when i last watched you, i hope you never stop!! 🎉
Keep it up dude, dont Stop.
I love your game so much thank you!
WAHOO UPDATE IS ALMOST HERE😄😄
Small correction: the DEVLOG is almost here ;). First experimental release of the next update is planned for October
It would be cool to have plants that have seeds that go across water (like coconuts) so plant families can invade other areas
Without making promises, it's indeed an idea I really like.
i hope you continue making series like this. also you should ad something like grass or moss so the land is less plain
Thanks for suggestion! Without making promises, it's an idea I like indeed
I love the glowing eyes fish. I'll be rooting for their survival in future episodes!
I love this series
I don’t know if that’s already possible,but could you put invertebrates like arthropods? They wouldn’t have a spine so they would be different xd
Not possible yet, they all look like vertebrates at the moment ;). Although I like the idea of invertebrates, I'm not sure how it would work in the naimal editor.
@@TheSaplingmaybe you can add around the bottom right a option that says "Arthopod editor" 😊 just trying to help!
Omg i love this! You need to make more episodes
You know how there's ice age and meteor scenarios? Maybe you could give us more things to test around with to see how animal evolve and adapt? Like add meteors or volcanos or ice age and other natural disasters? And an option to make it random spawn or only the player spawns?
I saw this comment on Twitter earlier, but I'll reply here as well: without making promises, I like these ideas :)
@@TheSapling yea that was me on Twitter I didn't know which one you checked or replied to so I commented on both. It'd be sick if these ideas are added to the game
I could watch these for weeks
I really liked this series, would like to see more
I’d wish this series was weekly!
it is.
@@Thenoobyone2981 No, this was the last part.
I am following the development of The Sapling for a few years now. I had it on my wishlist when it first came out for a long time, till I removed it and added it back again after Flight was released. So I am just a distant follower thus far. But I see the development with excitement. :)
But what I am still waiting for and what I am missing in ALL of those simulation games (for example SPECIES: ALRE) is the emergence of a stable food-chain, beginning with smaller critters, eating biofilm or plankton or something. Right now in all of those games the critters (and plants) tend to just grow bigger and bigger, smaller ones completely disappearing, making times of big diversities only possible after some radiation from a few population pockets surviving a mass extinction event (but still maintaining their increased sizes).
Me trying in Species: ALRE to get tiny creatures always failed for being an actual fight against creatures simply getting bigger. I do not know how that game calculated damages, but it looks like a simple thing like growing damage output and HP is the endgame. There is nothing like evasiveness or hit chances i guess? No paper-scissors-rock dynamic that would make it feasible to be small, besides growth cost as limiting factor.
Since all those Sims tend to just play out on an one Size-Level to rule it all, there is never a chance that certain size-differences come into play, like tiny critters become insignificant or invisible to bigger ones or a predator specializing in eating smaller critters and avoiding everything bigger. Creature do not have different "weight" on the world or having a signature to be recognized or ignored by others and are treated as similar objects. Animals are often indifferently aggressive, passive or evasive, degrading the game more often to a arming race of increasing "damage" and "tankiness", since hiding, threatening/scaring others away, deescalation or simply fleeing is not a viable option.
Furthermore, since this happens with plants the same way, there is only one or two food sources for plant eaters, where everyone has to compete with each other on "same terms" (beside environmental factors like temperature).
Maybe it would add some dynamic to the ecosystems if there would be some sources of Energy and Biomass more basal/basic than the first proper Algae, like growing mattes eaten by small bentic animals or a Mycelial networks in the soil (changing some values) helping plants to get on land, and growing seasonal fruit bodies as food source for bigger animals. In my opinion there needs to be something where smaller critters thrive and can never be completely out-competed by bigger animals, since these would be too big to actually sustain themselves with consuming the most basal foodsource, that might even not be in their reach anymore.
Evolving Plants is a good feature that distinguishes The Sapling from other, but in the end they seem to be just abstract values having only varying success due to some varying factors like temperature and the "anatomically" arrangement of efficient plants withstanding that temperature value and having the better income from light sources (not familiar enough with the game to know if I miss something).
These are a bunch of things I would love to see one day, please consider this not as a pushy demand list for your game specifically but more a generalized bucklist of things I wanna experience in a Evolution centred Sandbox Game ^^:
Filterfeeders! From smallest bentic (or sessile) versions to the size of a bluewhale (skipping most part of the ecotrophical chain like a power gamer).
Plants having different parts like flowers for polination/feeding deal with polinators, seeds in fruits being eaten by animals spreading these over the map.
Differences regarding nutritional value of different kind ofbiomass or body parts and their edibility/digestibility for different animals? (cellulose, soft tissue, bones, organs etc.)
Strategies for plants to fend off their predators (poison, thorns etc.).
Parasitic lifeforms, siphoning the energy of a host (without killing it) or even lay their offspring on or in them?
A layer of "Destruents", eating away what can not be eaten by "normal eaters"?
I hope my comment does not come over as snarly or something, I am just following the topic of artificial life, "real" evolution and ecosystem simulation for decades and had come to be pretty enthusiastic about it. I know in fact how hard it is to only conceptualize an Idea, let alone to try to make a "game" or emergent evolution simulation coming from basic principles.
I have the highest respect for anyone doing this, and there are not many out there having the ambition to make those ideas into projects that are more than just a concept demonstration or proof of concept, or simply fiddling around with simulation in more abstract frames. You are one among only a handful who are making a full game!
Just let me just end with these words:
Keep up the work! You are already an inspiration!
Hi Chareidos, I rarely see thoughtful essays in RUclips comments, love it :). A lot of the features you suggest are indeed ideas I love and hope to add one day, but I should admit I doubt it will lead to the complex, layered ecosystems you mention, both for hardware reasons (already like it is right now the hardware has to work pretty hard) and software reasons (to simplify things, the game works on a grid, so only 1 plant and animal is possible on 1 tile). Perhaps the next iteration of the evolution games will give us this ;)
@@TheSapling hm... I see. Are plants and animals present on a tile handled the same way? Like do their placement exclude each other?
I am not that knowledgeable about your game, but I remember flying creatures landing on trees is a thing since their introduction?
Maybe it is possible to make arboreal niches available to smaller animals that could climb and that the creatures have ways of protecting themselves from those who can not climb due to their size.
You could also add a "slot" for "hiding" within certain vegetation, only available to smaller ones.
Other categories of "sessile" lifeforms could be Corals or anemones having such "hiding" slots for small swimming creatures, that are immune to their toxins.
Just some wild ideas. I see that the limitations of hardware will put this out the window i guess.
In general I would love to see more features that allow small creatures to thrive next to big species. :)
Great series! I'd love to see more episodes of this, or an update on what you're working on at the moment! Keen to grab the game but want to know you're still engaged and developing. Hope you're well thank you for your efforts!
'Still working on it' would be an understatement ;P . If all goes well the devlog series for the next update will be in 2 weeks!
Idea: You could add a way to make our own scenarios so we can do new challenges whenever we want.
I also just got the game and I’m really enjoying it!