GREETINGS, CREATORS!



Welcome to the first of our monthly updates following the big launch on Steam! The team has been working relentlessly to fix the bugs and issues you fine people have kindly reported to us. We appreciate your help!

This patch includes some fundamental elements for a few major systems we’re starting to roll out. If you’ve been following our teasers and showcases, you’ve likely seen some of the cool stuff coming to the game. We will continue releasing patches every month, either on the 1st or the first Tuesday (if the 1st falls on a weekend).






LAWS AND LEADERS

We discussed this system in far more detail in a previous previous blog post, which you can read here. We’re rolling it out in today’s patch! However, please keep in mind that this initial implementation is far from perfect. We will be fixing issues and modifying the design/balance as we go. Here’s a small recap of what it does:

Once the first Leader of your civilization -- Adahy -- dies, your civilization will begin electing new Leaders based on the laws they propose. You can influence the vote by blessing your favorites, as Nuggets may not always choose the best Leader.

Leaders are elected for one seasonal cycle, which is equivalent to 40 minutes of playtime. The laws proposed by the Leader will go into effect and offer various positives or negatives.



We will continue tweaking this system based on your feedback and suggestions. It adds a new level of depth to the game that we believe will make the Nugget civilization appear even more alive and dynamic. If you have some great ideas for laws you’d like to see added to the game, let us know!


EXILE VILLAGES

Over time, non-believers that disagree with the views of their fellow citizens will leave the main city/village and form their own settlements. These settlements will grow as more non-believers leave. You can gain believers by answering their prayers (quests) or performing Creator Powers near witnesses (there shouldn’t be any witnesses if it’s a murder, though).



Aggressive Villages will periodically threaten your civilization with ultimatums

For example, they may demand food or other resources to maintain the peace. If you fail to collect enough in time or outright refuse to comply, the aggression level of the other village will rise. These villages may then attack your civilization when you least expect it.

Aggressive Villages might also raid your village for resources. However, they are quite sneaky, so pay attention to Nuggets exhibiting suspicious behavior. Keep an eye out for any weirdos walking around with a sack full of precious resources.




Neutral Villages will request aid from your civilization during times of need. Refusing to help them will raise their aggression level.

Friendly Villages will also request aid every now and then, but they will repay your kindness by offering gifts of resources if they notice a shortage in your civilization. Hey, what are friends for?

The buildings and appearance of citizens of exile villages will have their own unique colors, which should help you identify intruders.


FORESTATION CREATOR POWER

“When the planet begins to look less green and a lot more grim, consider planting a few trees of your own. Replace what your civilization uses and this world might survive the Nugget infestation after all.”




ELECTRIFY CREATOR POWER

“Pretend you’re an angry, toga-wearing god and toss lightning down from your throne in the clouds. Use this power to punish the unworthy, perform pest control, and generate electricity. However, the last part is known to be a bit risky.”




LUMBERJACK CHANGES

Lumberjacks will no longer be axe-wielding monsters who seek the destruction of trees everywhere; they will now return to deforested zones and plant new trees to ensure a sustainable supply. How splendid!




GRASS

Grass patches have been added to the game. Wait, maybe we should rename this update as the Grass Patch? Either way, move closer to your screen and you should be able to smell the soothing aroma of fresh grass.




UPDATED QUEST AND MESSAGING SYSTEM WINDOW

For a better experience and improved readability, we have updated the Notification/Quest window. We would love to hear your thoughts, especially if you’d like to suggest further improvements.




NEW MEDIEVAL ENGINEERS HUT UPDATE

You can now assign up to 3 Engineer Nuggets to the Engineering Building, in addition to an increased zone of influence. It will require electricity to run now, though.




NEW MEDIEVAL WATER PUMP

Further increases water output. It also makes a mean cup of coffee, if you ask nicely.




NEW VO NARRATION ADDED FOR THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS

- Nuggets assigned to work.

- Buildings in a state of disrepair.

- Electricity Generator built.

- Fishing Hut built.

- Water Pumps freezing in winter.

- Gas Plant Built.

- Hunters Hut Built.

- Incorrect usage of Creator Powers.

- News message comments.

- Electricity shortage comments.

- Buildings without Nuggets comments.

- Comments on water shortages.

- When a Nugget sustains an injury.

- Comments on spying on Nuggets during mating.

- Matchmaking quest commentary.

- Name a Nugget quest commentary.

- Backbreaking quest commentary.

- Dead Nugget quest commentary.

- Numerous random thoughts.

- FInd lost Nugget quest commentary.

- Heal a Nugget quest commentary.

- Punish My Nemesis quest commentary.

- Upon Windmill construction.

- Watchtower construction.

- Wolf attack commentary.

- Nuggets getting sick from lakewater commentary.

- Same-sex marriage.

- Research completion commentary.

- Research queued commentary.

A number of these comments are designed as an additional way to notify you of events or issues that you may have missed. Please let us know your thoughts on narration and how we can improve this system in the future.


PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATIONS

- Major performance improvements due to a complete rewrite of the object culling system.

- Available resources checking by Nuggets optimized and improved.

- Save and Load System optimized. No more freezes/hitches when opening the panel.

- Optimized materials/textures used for buildings and villages props.

- General UI optimization.

- Upgrade flags no longer shown on buildings that are already being upgraded or on those that are upgraded automatically.

- Research screen optimized for a more fluid experience.



BUGS AND ISSUES FIXES

- Stagefright: fixed an issue where Nuggets and wolves froze during wolf attacks.

- Bookworm: Research screen optimizations and minor bug fixes.

- Heavenly Fruit: Fixed an issue where dropping fruit on a Farm would cause panel issues.

- Casual Stroll: Nugget movement speeds during storms were way too slow, so we gave them more pep in their step.

- Remembrance: Fixed numerous issues with the save & load system, including saves not loading. Please note that older save files will no longer work with the new system.

- McWhat: Fixed an issue where Mac users were experiencing flashing textures on certain objects.

- Broken Record: Fixed an infinitely-repeating sound effect when certain UI elements were opened.

- Hospital Etiquette: In rare cases, two Nuggets could occupy the same hospital bed. We refuse to discuss the details of what they may have gotten up to, but it should no longer occur.

- Who Put That There: Fixed a bug where Nuggets were dying when walking over stones that were previously picked up by the player.

- Dehydration: Fixed an issue where Nuggets were getting stuck when going to drink.

- Clumsy Mechanic: Fixed an issue where placing a Battery in Creator mode was breaking certain subsystems.

- It’s Been 84 Years: Fixed an issue with long save times or not being able to save at all.

- That Never Happened: Fixed an issue where an active tornado would break the save system.

- Harsh Words: Fixed an issue where certain Narration triggers were bugging the game.

- Ascension: Fixed an issue where dead animals weren’t triggering physics (gravity) properly and would fly upwards instead.

- Lucky Accident: Fixed an issue where the chance for Nuggets to get infected by rotting corpses was not working properly.

- Missed Your Cue: Fixed an error with the Narration trigger for an approaching tornado.

- The Sin of Sloth: Fixed an issue with the Backbreaking quest where Nuggets would refuse to build the hut even after the player delivered the requested resources.

- Pathfinder: Fixed multiple issues with Nugget pathfinding.

- Purple Haze: Fixed an issue where godray textures were appearing as purple on Mac.

- Failure to Launch: Fixed an issue where some Linux and Mac players were not able to play the game (black screen) or experienced horrendous crashes.

- Seasick: Fixed a bug where Fishing Nuggets were getting stuck after loading a game.

- Delayed Forecast: Fixed a bug where Forecaster Nuggets were getting stuck after loading a game.

- Mysterious Stranger: Fixed missing Nugget portraits on Mac

- Unusual Affliction: Fixed a bug where diseased Nuggets were creating weird textures on Mac.

- Frozen in Time: Fixed an issue where the game was not saving while paused.

- Cold Feet: Fixed a bug where the Gravedigger would get stuck while trying to collect a corpse.

- Secret Society: Fixed a bug where Nuggets would remain invisible when leaving Tudor houses.

- Off the Hook: Fixed an issue where the Punish My Nemesis quest wasn’t showing at times.

- Unmarked Grave: Fixed an issue where corpses delivered to the Cemetery by players were not generating gravestones.

- Quarantine Zone: Fixed a bug that caused Nuggets to refuse to occupy certain Tudor houses.

- Nani: Fixed numerous translation issues.

- Seeing Double: Fixed an issue where two Epicenter placement buttons were displayed in Creator Mode.

- Late Bloomer: Fixed an issue with the Healthy Malina Fruit in Farms taking hours to grow.

- Not Open for Business: Fixed a bug where players were able to drop dead Nuggets on Cemetery construction zones.

- What’s Your Name Again: Fixed an issue with Nugget names not displaying correctly in certain quest messages.

- Rough Terrain: Fixed an issue with the radius around buildings being cut short by uneven surfaces.

- Fixed the issue when Fishing Hut research could have been skipped

- Fixed the issue when Metal Mine was not being unlocked by Geology research

- Fixed the issue when Gas Mine was not unlocked by Mining research

- Fixed multiple issues with quests text

- Fixed multiple missing tooltips

- Fixed multiple sound issues with the failing state of the quests

- Fixed missing Archivist thought while working



GENERAL BALANCE CHANGES


- The Farm quest is no longer triggered during winter.

- Increased the amount of wood one tree gives from 2 to 3.

- Players will now receive Creator Points upon accepting a quest to ensure they can actually complete them.

- Defense tower max working range changed from 20 to 25

- Defense tower accuracy changed from 70% to 85%

- Temple water consumption was removed

- Medieval Cemetery water consumption added

- Stone age water reservoir capacity increased from 10000 to 30000

- Pre medieval reservoir capacity increased from 25000 to 45000

- Medieval reservoir capacity increased from 25000 to 60000

- Rebalanced tornado

- Disasters rebalanced



ART

- Gas Pile has a new texture: yellow-purple.

- Medieval Water Pump has been implemented.

- Engineering Buildings have been upgraded to the Medieval Era.

- Five new Exile Village houses have been added.

- Exile Village Epicenters have been implemented.



UI DESIGN

- Electricity generation building panels: fixed the Battery info text locations to be more intuitive.

- Wiki screen: fixed missing localization.

- Improved tooltip font sizes.

- Updated status icons for buildings not working.

- Implemented the new Election Panel when clicking on the Evolution Tower.

- Evolution Tower: new status icon progress for elections.

- “Leader died” election banner implemented.

- “Election started” banner implemented + new animation.

- “Election ended” banner implemented + new animation.

- New quest panel design with text split into pages.

- Fixed a bug where baby traits were in the incorrect section of the Nugget ID panel.

- Fixed a bug where a spouse’s name was too long. Rearranged a few elements in the Nugget ID panel.

- Warehouse panel: fixed missing name.

- Main Menu: fixed missing animation for Locked Creator Mode.

- Nugget ID card: updated the renaming box visuals.

- Forestation Creator Power UI implemented.

- Main Menu: sign-up form implemented.

- Building list panel: added a new column for building upgrades.

- Exile Village Panel implemented.

- Exile Village Nugget ID cards implemented.

- Nugget ID card: added believer icon indicator.

- New Panel added for the Temple building.

- New icon for Lightning Strike god power.

- New icon for Forestation god power.

- Laws have new individual icons.



MISCELLANEOUS

- Now when the question mark is clicked on supported UI elements, players will be redirected to the related Wiki page.

- Skip opening scene countdown timer added.



KNOWN ISSUES

- We will continue to monitor and investigate any Save & Load issues that may occur. The save system is enormously complicated, largely due to it needing to save tens of thousands of procedural objects and simulations. Please note that older save games will not work in the latest version of the game. We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but the addition of these new features and optimizations will require you to start a new game.

- Potential issues with Exile Villages. This is a massive new system that will require further testing and development. Please report any bugs you discover on our forums.


Thanks for being so awesome! Don’t forget to Sign-up for updates to never miss an announcement or special news (we never spam). We will be diving right back into development to bring you many more exciting updates. Please leave us your thoughts and comments down below. We hope you love the patch!


All the best,
The Crytivo Crew

Crime is inescapable. As your civilization advances, Nuggets will continue to evolve their way of thinking, giving them more individuality and free thought. However, a consequence of this is the birth of criminals who go against the flow of society. You can’t prevent it, but you can minimize it. Here are a few things that may increase crime rates: a lack of Schools, too much pollution, the introduction of certain laws, and a lack of utilities (no water, electricity, or so on for a long period of time).



Once the Law Enforcement Station is constructed, it’ll reveal how many criminals are running rampant in your city. However, there will be no easy way to distinguish these individuals until they commit a crime. The severity of crimes is entirely dependent on the overall Crime Level in your civilization. You can try and take things into your own hands by selecting suspicious Nugget to be arrested and interrogated, either in Prison or a Rehabilitation Center. Arresting an innocent Nugget will lead to a general decrease in Happiness, though. Nuggets despise injustice and will be very vocal about it.



Assigning Law Enforcement Officers can lead to a significant decrease in criminal activity, but adding too many officers will make Nuggets feel oppressed and controlled. The more officers you have, the more unhappy they may become.

Crime Levels

• Very Low
  
• Low
  
• Moderate
  
• High - Creates Dangerous Criminals
  
• Very High - Creates Dangerous Criminals

Each level will also change how often criminals are spawned.

Types of Criminals

Thug - Vandalism and thievery.
Dangerous Criminal - Terrorists who constantly seek to harm the civilization and their fellow Nuggets. They can destroy food supplies, poison Wells, or even create large explosions to destroy buildings and nearby Nuggets.

Criminals have individual skill levels, with every successful crime increasing this level. As they level up, they become more difficult to catch. They will be smarter and more calculated with how they perform their crimes, making them less suspicious to Law Enforcers. Criminals perform a certain animation every now and then when doing something illegal. These animations are longer and more noticeable with low-level criminals.

These animations give you a chance to spot criminals while you’re surveying the civilization. You can then have these criminals arrested by marking them in their ID cards (remember, arresting innocents will drop Happiness and possibly make you lose Believers, so be careful). Law Enforcers will also notice criminals, if they perform these actions within range of an officer. Law Enforcement Officers are very suspicious, which leads them to take pre-emptive action and arrest certain citizens they believe might be criminals (criminal profiling). Only 20% actually turn out to be criminals on average, meaning that only 2 in 10 arrested Nuggets will be criminals. This is why general Happiness may be affected. You can control the arrest rate by lowering the amount of officers, but that can increase overall criminal activity. It’s a tricky balance.



Prisons have plenty of cells to hold suspected Nuggets to increase the likelihood of catching criminals before a crime is committed. Interrogation takes a certain amount of time. Upon completion, the Nugget is either released, executed, or placed in a Rehabilitation Center, based on your preferences (indicated by your research choices). Executions are brutal, but they will generate enough fear to lower crime levels for a while.



Effects on Crime

Increases

• No Schools
  
• Low Happiness
  
• No Law Enforcement Stations
  
• Certain Research Perks
  
• Certain Laws
  
• Unnatural Nugget Death/Nugget Sacrifices
  
• Buildings with high pollution levels
  
• No Rehabilitation Centers
  
  Decrease
  
• Schools
  
• High Happiness
  
• Law Enforcement Stations
  
• Certain Research Perks
  
• Certain Laws
  
• Prison

We will be putting this system into full production next month, which means we'll hopefully have it ready in a month or two. Remember that the design isn't finalized and everything may change depending on how it plays. We would also love to hear your thoughts on the system, including anything you'd like to see added to make it even better. Like most things in the game, you'll have the power to intervene or allow your Nuggets to catch criminals on their own.

Don't forget to Sign Up for news to never miss an update and receive early testing invites. Join our Discord server to discuss the game with the community and offer feedback.



❤ Crytivo

Hello Everyone,
Today we merged an experimental branch to the main branch due to seeing some positive feedback about that branch. Just as a recap we would like to include the full list of issues that were fixed on experimental and now applied to main:

- Tornado NRE's (Null Reference Exceptions) fixed
- Fixed issue when nuggets would freeze when Fishing Hut was placed
- Added missing Steam DLL for Linux
- Fixed multiple save & load issues
- Fixed Save & Load issue during a Tornado
- Fixed the “Fly To” message not disappearing
- Fixed Healthy Malina Timer. It was not set correctly
- Crop Timer adjusted on certain crops
- Happiness decrease adjusted
- Added a message to the intro scene on how to skip the intro
- Shortened the number values for water & electricity.
- Fixed an issue with the Kinetic Generator’s UI slider being displayed incorrectly
- Removed a non-existent language from the database (fix for “missing translation” issue)
- Added a number of new tips to the game
- Fixed multiple sound issues (further testing will be performed to ensure sound issues are resolved)
- Lumberjack was not working correctly
- Issue where nuggets would stand still and do nothing
- Looping sound issue
- Issue where music was cut during the play
- Geology did not unlock metal mine
- Mining did not unlock Gas Mine
- Smoke particles optimization
- Bodies that were dropped into the cemetery manually were not always registered
- UI Optimization
-Fixed an issue where rocks/trees that landed not properly considered to be in the air and killed the nuggets that were passing by.

Sincerely,
Crytivo Crew

Hello everyone,
Thank you a lot for your patience and your support. We know that the last couple of days were pretty rough for you due to save issue. We apologize for that. Currently, experimental branch should not have the save issue anymore. Along with the save issue, with that hot fix we also fixed:
- Lumberjack was not working correctly
- Save issue
- Issue where nuggets would stand still and do nothing
- Looping sound issue
- Geology did not unlock metal mine
- Mining did not unlock Gas Mine
- Smoke particles optimization
- Bodies that were dropped into the cemetery manually were not always registered
- UI Optimization

Hopefully the issue with the save won't appear again.
Please leave your feedback about the changes in the experimental branch. If major issues are resolved there, it will be moved on a main branch.

Thank you again for your patience and help. You guys just an awesome community!

Guide how to switch to the experimental branch: https://steamcommunity.com/games/352720/announcements/detail/1692679423636146620

Sincerely,
Crytivo Crew

Hotfix to the rescue! We apologize for the inconvenience some sneaky bugs caused you over the last few days. We have been listening and working hard to get them sorted out. For now, this hotfix will be uploaded to a new branch called Experimental. In order to switch to that branch you need:



- Right click on the game and select Properties.



- Once you are in properties, switch to the BETA tab
- From the drop down menu select Experimental branch
- Download of the new Hot fix patch should start



- If you see next to the game name, branch name then you are good to go.

Please let us know if it resolves some of the more pressing issues you’ve experienced. If all goes well, we’ll be merging these fixes into the main branch soon after.

MEGA WARNING: Your old save games will no longer work with the hotfix applied. We performed a number of rewrites on the save/load logic to fix multiple issues and make the system more stable. We’re sorry for the trouble!

- Tornado NRE's (Null Reference Exceptions) fixed
- Fixed issue when nuggets would freeze when Fishing Hut was placed
- Added missing Steam DLL for Linux
- Fixed multiple save & load issues
- Fixed Save & Load issue during a Tornado
- Fixed the “Fly To” message not disappearing
- Fixed Healthy Malina Timer. It was not set correctly
- Crop Timer adjusted on certain crops
- Happiness decrease adjusted
- The autosave timer has been limited in order to solve some of the issues with autosaves. You can still press F7 to autosave (quicksave) at any time.
- Added a message to the intro scene on how to skip the intro
- Shortened the number values for water & electricity.
- Fixed an issue with the Kinetic Generator’s UI slider being displayed incorrectly
- Removed a non-existent language from the database (fix for “missing translation” issue)
- Added a number of new tips to the game
- Fixed multiple sound issues (further testing will be performed to ensure sound issues are resolved)

Let us know how these fixes feel!

All the best,

Crytivo

Woah, what a launch! We are absolutely stunned, a bit teary-eyed, and visibly blushing over the outpouring of love you have offered across all of our social platforms.Twittter , Facebook, Reddit, and especially Discord completely blew up, and we’re so happy to welcome more friendly faces into our awesome community.

If you haven’t picked the game up yet, there’s a 10% launch discount currently running on Steam. Come join in on the fun!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/352720/The_Universim/ [img

Buy The Universim Here

The launch was a bit bumpy at first (we will never forget the sight of those fires, nor the people who were consumed by the inferno), but we’re happy to see that you’re all finally able to enjoy The Universim in its best form yet. We were over the moon upon seeing that The Universim had hit the top sellers list, and were soon completely floored when it reached the very top. Thanks for making our first day on Steam so phenomenal!

What’s next for The Universim? Well, right now we are gathering feedback and processing all of the bug reports sent in by the community. We will be jumping on those immediately and returning to our monthly update schedule. Releasing new content and features every month struck the perfect balance in the past between giving us enough time and ensuring things are always clean and fresh, so we wanted to keep that train rolling.

Here’s what you can expect in coming patches:

Exile Villages



Exile Villages have been in production for a while and we’re planning to release them within the next few updates. Exile Villages are formed by non-believers or those who disagree with the direction of the civilization. These villages can be aggressive or neutral. As you’d expect, aggressive villages will threaten or attack your civilization, while neutral ones might want to trade or offer other benefits. You can read more about this here.



Nugget Leaders and Law System



This system enables Nuggets to vote for Leaders when elections pop up. Leaders will have certain agendas and propose unique laws that will bring changes to your civilization. For example:

• Elderly Assisted Living (Elders mate and eat 2x more and no longer work. 30% chance of elderly couple dying during mating. +2 to Happiness. )
  
• Food for all - Increase the amount of rations per Nugget by double. (Happiness +10. Food consumption +100%.) Read more about this system here.

You can sway public opinion in different ways, but you’ll find out more about that when the time comes. Read More Here

We will also continue working on improving our planet generation system, as we’re getting closer to the Exploration Era -- the age of galactic exploration and colonization. The Modern Era and Space Age will bring customizable Satellites, Rockets, and Rovers that will help you scout for planets and determine if they're worth colonizing. There will be more info on this in future updates/blogs.

Lastly, we would like to thank you all again for the amazing reception and your help in getting The Universim to the top of the lists. Your love and support is a constant inspiration for the team. It truly warms our hearts and drives us to make the coming content as epic as it can be.

Please continue sharing the game with your friends and family. Also, if you love us as much as we love you, then please consider dropping us a review on the official Steam page. It helps enormously.

With the biggest of hugs,

❤ Crytivo

Greetings, Steam friends!

It’s happening! We are so incredibly proud to share The Universim with all of you today. Our little baby is growing up, and we’re ushering it out the door to play with the big kids for the first time ever. We’ve been working day and night to bring you everything you see in this update, as well as all of the good stuff heading your way in the coming months.



As proud as we are of The Universim, there is still far more work to be done. Please keep in mind that the game is currently in Early Access, so there will certainly be a few bugs and missing features. If you come across anything nasty, or would like to make a suggestion, let us know via our Steam group or Discord server .

We will do our best to update the game on a monthly basis with new content, bug fixes, and a few surprises. Our community has always been an essential part of our development process, so we truly look forward to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If you love everything that you see in this latest build, we want to assure you that we’re only getting started. Let’s make a brilliant game together!

If you’d like to chat with the devs and stay updated, our Discord server is definitely the place to be.

Thanks again for your patience and support!

All the best,
❤ Crytivo