Hello Universe Architects,

It’s harvest season here in the Northern Hemisphere. We’ve been spending the season celebrating human innovation from beyond the Stone Age. Which means…



The Civilization: Neolithic Age update has finally arrived! Join us for a quick trip through time as we prepare for the ultimate harvest together.


Did you know that the Neolithic Age is also known as the New Stone Age? While they may be similar at a glance, what sets the Neolithic Age apart from its stoney predecessor is human advancement in agriculture and animal domestication.

Now you can see those differences for yourself in the new Neolithic Age scene of the Civilization Garden! Follow a farmer steering his ox and plow, witness the invention of the wheel, and more.




Ever wonder how silk is produced? Or what caused the popularization of fired brick? Learn even more about the Neolithic Age with new nodes on the main tree, including:

• Nine new trait nodes with fascinating facts about Irrigation, Settlements, and more!
  
• Four new trophy nodes can be added to the tree— including the Metabit purchase, Çatalhöyük.

A Wonder of the World is practically sitting in your backyard. Unlock new trophy nodes from the Augmentation Store, including the Egyptian Pyramids, Sphinx and Cat Domestication. Which one will you choose first?

• Discover a new Neolithic Age secret achievement!
  
• The Logit Store has been Augmented. Welcome to the Augmentation Store:
  - Logit Prizes and Darwinium purchases are now officially known as Augmentations.
  - Venture through new tabs to better organize your Augmentation preferences.
  - Purchase the new Penguin 3D Profile Icon and Mammal Profile Icon Pack.
  
• Fixed: Giant Squid cutscene replaying after reboot.
  
• Research Race bug fixes and improvements.
  
• Additional Stone Age tuning and polish.

We hope you’ve been savoring these long-awaited Civilization updates. It may be obvious, but our team is gearing up for the overhaul of the Bronze Age. Look forward to it as we update its progress on our social channels and dev diary!

In addition to Civ’s continuation, we’ll also be releasing our newest Explore Event in just a few days! It’ll bring a beautiful sound to your ear as you Explore: Music — Good Vibrations, starting November 20th at 11 AM EST.

There’s even more to anticipate, but we’ll hold on to a couple secrets while you enjoy the new Neolithic Age update!

Happy harvest, and stay cellular!
The Cells Team

Salutations, Universe Architects!

Coming to you live from the outer reaches of our galactic neighborhood, we are ready to present the next chapter of the Beyond - Episode 20: Strange Worlds.





Semblance is looking for a new home that could harbor life. But it seems that Earth is extremely rare… will she find another? As we start the search, get ready to encounter very alien exoplanets— some terribly hot, others torn apart by gravity, all unfit to harbor the beginnings of life. What strange worlds will she find?



Players went on a widespread journey as we charted the lives of stars in the H-R Diagram through Episodes 18 and 19. With the full range of stars understood, players will be moving farther out into the milky way in search of distant systems with planets. Traverse and discover five new generators of exciting exoplanets—Fomalhaut’s Ring, WASP-12b, Awohali, Kepler-70b and Janssen.



You’ll notice some missions call back to earlier generators as we delve deeper into the story of finding another Earth-look-alike. Help Semblance learn about other star systems by upgrading some of the old generators




Put a ring on it with twelve new "Series II" trait cards including ‘Diamond Crust.’ Live on the edge with ‘Brink of Doom’ as we follow Semblance in her search for a new home. These strange worlds have fascinating traits, even if they wouldn’t be a great place to move into!






Space is expansive and so is our 3D garden! As we go beyond the stars, we’ve made more overall improvements to the garden.

• Distance units now change when zooming in/out in the Beyond garden.
  
• Improved models, textures and new particle effects were required for Episode 20’s exoplanet generators both on the tree and in the garden.

Of course, there’s more to uncover:

• Two new constellations join the night sky including a familiar companion - Canis Major and Ursa Minor.
  
• A cluster of ten new achievements have also made its way into the Beyond simulation.
  
• Fixed by popular demand: Alpha Centauri now appears correctly in the garden with all three of its suns present in one instance and in the correct distance.
  
• Lowered the taps required to unlock the Beyond from 400 to 200.
  
• Visual fix: Sedna doesn’t get enough sunlight on iOS.

Fun fact: Did you know? The production time and quantity for generators roughly corresponds to the mass of the celestial body. Van Maanen’s Star is small, and has a quick production speed - but it doesn’t produce as much stardust as the much slower, larger Arcturus. Overall it produces more per second - but the timer corresponds to its mass.




Driven by her need for continued survival, Semblance is on a mission to find a new home. So far, her observations have not been fruitful. What’s missing … or is she looking in the right place?


This build also contains improvements and fixes for some recent challenging bugs:

• Possible fix: We’ve had a major issue where ads cannot be closed on Android - this has been blocking some people from watching any ads. We’re introduced a fix in this version, let us know if the issue continues to persist.
  
• Neural Network functionality now works across multiple devices.

If you’ve been following the dev diary and livestream, there’s more content planned before the end of the year. Look out as we release more information over time. Thank you to all of our players who are providing continuous feedback to help iron out some of the issues we’ve been having. We are able to tackle them fast the more support we receive to reproduce these bugs. We appreciate each and everyone’s help!

Always stay cellular!
– The Cells Team

Hi Universe Architects!

It’s been some time since we last made a dev diary. It’s the busiest we’ve been for a while, and we hope everyone is enjoying all of the updates we’ve been working hard on. Thank you for your continued feedback for these updates, especially to our beta community for replaying our test builds multiple times. We would not be able to do this without everyone’s enthusiasm and support.

Get your tea ready and let’s take the time to recap all the content that’s been out before we take a look into what’s coming up next. Warning: It’s a bit of a long read.



We released our second limited time event of the year Explore: Tea — A Journey of Serenity.
We are still figuring out our process for bringing more events to you at an increased cadence while also gauging topics that would resonate with our players. Although we aspire to incorporate a 3D garden for each Explore Event, the reality is that even a simplified version demands too much time for production. We currently face a dilemma between accommodating player demand and managing our internal team's bandwidth. We aim to deliver enjoyable experiences for our players, but when stacked up against potential delays, we'll need to review the necessity of Explore Event 3D gardens once more moving forward.



We’ve also received a lot of questions on why we chose tea as a topic. It is very different from what we’ve done in the past, and it was mainly an internal decision based on the team’s love for tea. In January, we created a poll asking our players what topics they would like us to pursue for future events. Out of the many topics that were suggested, tea was the only topic that seemed to gain widespread interest within the team. And so, what was once a conversation starter became a project that led to the creation of a new limited time event! It was led by a two person team with different members floating in as needed during its development. We even surprised players at PlayNYC (learn more: link) as Tea made its debut to the public as a beta feature.


If players are still curious about the process and want to learn more, our Discord ‘Let’s Play’ event during Tea’s launch can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/b0WxdtFoVwY

We hope players enjoyed Explore: Tea — A Journey of Serenity, and we will be using your feedback to help us improve future events.



The Dawn of Civilization is in full swing! With the release of the Stone Age Civilization update, we introduced seven new research nodes and four unique trophy nodes to the Main Simulation tree. Göbekli Tepe, Dog Domestication and Lascaux are three new prizes that appear in the Civilization Garden once unlocked from the Logit Store. Players will need to save up Logits and Darwinium in order to acquire these exclusive new items. We also added a new hidden achievement. Many players should have already found it. If not, it is tied to a special interaction with a certain canine companion.



You may notice that the Stone Age Garden is bursting with life! We’ve added animated characters and other decor to make the garden feel more complete. It doesn’t come without restrictions, though. With each new 3D model we add to the garden, it increases the size of the game app while also reducing the ability for older phones to enjoy the new content. As a result, the characters and environment went through multiple iterations to reduce its poly count so that the game can continue to grow. We are constantly optimizing our assets to ensure that our game requires less space and can be played on older phones.



Discover strange and bizarre exoplanets as the simulation takes an alien twist with Beyond Episode 20: Strange Worlds taking the stage very soon. Follow Semblance as she explores strange solar systems to find an exoplanet that could support terrestrial life. Will she be successful? There will be five new exciting exoplanet generators based on recent NASA research to explore, with twelve Series II trait cards to boost the Beyond simulation.



At a technical level, every new episode of the Beyond requires us to rank up our 3D visualizations, and Episode 20 is no exception. In Episode 19, we added exoplanets, which required us to make planets independent of the generator that they were unlocked with. For Episode 20, we needed to flip that - make planets orbiting a star where the planet is the generator. A lot of surprising technical changes came out of that one small change. When you click on a star to focus on it, the camera needs to know to zoom in on the planet, not the star. The name that appears in the garden should also be the name of the star system (“Wasp 12”) rather than the name of the planet (“Wasp 12 b”). When you tap the “-” button to unfocus the generator, it needs to focus on the star in the system it is in. As we add fascinating new generators to the Beyond, Semblance isn’t the only one leveling up her simulation.

With the story of the Lives of Stars concluded, we’ve been exploring our branding to give the next episode a unique look and feel while still connecting it to the overall Beyond expansion. There were a lot of design favorites but ultimately we picked a direction that reflects the story’s progression. Do you have a favorite?





We’ve made a lot of changes and progress towards the revamped leaderboard system. Some of it is very confusing and has broken along the way. We’re really grateful for our players' feedback as we polish this system. It’s unfortunate that some unexpected bugs popped up with each fix, many of which are tied to the complexities of developing a multiplayer system that affects the relationship of data between our server and the game.

Whenever we do beta tests for the leaderboard race, we are essentially testing whether the data feedback call between the server and the game is working as intended. Playtimes need to be accurately recorded to show the correct time passed to complete the race and earn rewards. Each tier is divided into a group of at most 15 players (after the most recent update). Players are grouped according to their tier rank as well as their place in the race.

For example, if you are a player who started the race on Day 2 of the event then you will be placed with other players who are also starting the race on Day 2. All of you are in the same tier rank too. Similarly, players who cheat will be grouped in the same tier with other cheaters. They will not be seen with non-cheaters. However, if a player follows someone who is a cheater, they will also appear in your list even if you are in a tier with non-cheaters.

We also test some of the profile and icon customizations we’ve added to ensure that they are working properly. We hope that this information gives a better understanding to our players on how the leaderboard race works. We admit that it is not perfect and we are iterating it constantly based on player feedback. We are getting there, and we appreciate your continued support.



We’ve been having a lot of discussions on how we can make the new leaderboard system integrated in other simulations with more improvements over time. We are even in talks about removing cheaters from the leaderboard race to prevent them from participating in the future. For now, we will continue reviewing player feedback and gauging excitement over this existing feature.



Halloween is around the corner, and something supernatural has invaded the simulation once again. The dodos are back to haunt the simulation! Semblance needs help to capture these ghostly nuisances.



Since we’ve debuted the Dodo Ghost Hunt in 2022, we’ve received a lot of requests to bring back this fun and popular event, particularly for those who have missed its secret achievement. This year, with the revamp of the Civilization Garden, the Dodos have migrated to new locations and it will be up to the players to find their new hiding spots.

The Dodo Ghost Hunt will run from October 18 to November 8, 2023. Can you find all 66 dodos? 🦤

Fun fact— the Dodos have periodically escaped their graves and have run amuck during development over the past year. We’ve had to stamp them out a number of times and have wondered if they’ve become a bug or a feature. Ourgameishaunted





It’s been an eventful year so far. We've released more content than we’ve done in past years, but it’s also come with its difficulties. It should come as no surprise that balancing for Metabit production has been challenging.

We wanted to re-balance Metabit production since we planned to add more nodes and Logit prizes with the launch of the revamped Civilization update and more. But the main reason this became a bigger focus was due to the introduction of the Giant Squid Logit prize. An error in its curve exploded the game economy and caused players to finish the game faster. As a result, the game’s retention began to drop and we’ve been working hard to fix that. Unfortunately, we were not successful and our retention began to drop even more as the game became harder to play with the slow Metabit production. With the 5th Metabit tuning iteration we are able to see a small recovery in our retention, but only time can tell before we can determine if there was any meaningful impact.



Balancing of Metabit production is going to go through multiple iterations over time as we add more content. We'll be going beyond eight iterations from what we have initially stated in order to ensure that the game's economy is balanced. We are thankful for all the feedback we’ve received from our players as it helps us pivot in the right direction. It’s been a rough ride, and we thank you for your patience and continued support.





Phew, that was a lot to review! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading along. As the year is coming to an end, we want to share an updated roadmap of everything we’ve accomplished. We are proud to say that we’ve fulfilled our aspirations and goals for the year and are excited for more to come. Coupled with a monthly dev diary, our future goal is to release two roadmap updates a year.

We are currently ahead of schedule as we have three Beyond ranks in development. There are also three updates planned to expand Civilization and its garden. We’ve just released the Explore: Tea — A Journey of Serenity limited time event, and we have another one currently in the works. It will be a great melody in our symphony of events. We also have other topics lined up and want to thank our players for always sending us suggestions.

That is all, everyone! Thank you again to all of our players, especially the beta community. We hope the sentiment is shared when we say that we listen to your feedback. Our game continues to improve and grow due to our players’ time and support for us. Keep an eye out as we announce the launch for Beyond Episode 20: Strange Worlds in the near future.

On Friday, October 20th from 1 - 2pm EST, we will be live on Twitch for another livestream. Join us as we talk more about the Civilization update, Beyond Episode 20, and plans for tuning the leaderboard system. A new Darwinium code will also be waiting for you to redeem.

Stay Cellular!
- The Cells Team

In August, the Civilization Garden went through a complete overhaul and we’ve received a lot of love with the new revamp, even in its bare form. We are excited to share that with the release of the Stone Age Civilization update:

• We’ve introduced seven new trait nodes on the Main Simulation tree.
  
• Add four unique trophy nodes to the Civilization tree: Stonehenge, Göbekli Tepe, Dog Domestication and Lascaux.
  
• Purchase the Stonehenge glitch node with your hard earned Metabits.
  
• Göbekli Tepe, Dog Domestication and Lascaux are three new prizes that can be purchased in the Logit Store. They will appear in the Civilization Garden once purchased.

Delve into the Stone Age garden with keen eyes, players might find something hidden waiting to be discovered.



Animated characters have begun to appear in the Civilization Garden, bringing new interactions to a growing age of humanity. Observe the life of early humans in the Stone Age:

• See classic Trait Nodes brought to life in the Civilization Garden, including Fire, Burial and more.
  
• Enjoy the animated glory of new trophy nodes in the garden, including Lascaux and Dog Domestication.
  
• Watch new human 3D models perform unique actions when you click on them.

Our new competitive leaderboard feature, the Research Race, has undergone a couple major iterations now. We've collected a lot of your feedback and are looking ahead at long term quality of life improvements. Before we can get there, this update is on the smaller side. Here's what to look out for in this patch:

• Research Race party size has been decreased to 15 players.
  
• Now you see me, now... you still do! Players should now be able to see themselves in their participating Research Race, as well as the correct ranking of participants in the side tab.
  
• Ordering of players in the Research Race is now fixed to properly represent progress.
  
• Minor UI bug fixes.

In other news, Beyond Episode 20 will be making its appearance to the public very soon. It is in the final stages of polish and tuning. We will be moving away from the stars as we begin to chart strange territory. I wonder what Semblance will find…

On Friday 10/20 from 1:00 - 2:00 PM EST, we will be holding another livestream as we dive more into Beyond Episode 20 and details regarding the Research Race feature. Stay tuned for a long dev diary coming to you soon.

Thank you for your continued support and remember to stay cellular!
- The Cells Team

This 20.27 build includes changes to the research race along, leaderboard, and some small changes to the main game.

• Fixed: Issue where playtimes were not being shown correctly.
  
• Improved Intro with new popups when starting the Research Race.
  
• Added more information and graphics to Info Tab.
  
• Improved Research Race Localization.

• Added tier icons in the tier tab next to player's name in the leaderboard.
  
• Showing badge count in player profile.

• Lowered metabit cost for Neural Network in Reality Engine.
  
• Simulation prestige number changed to how many metabits you own in scientific notation.

Sep 29th 2PM EST
+ Research Race Anti-cheat measures implemented/Bug Fixes
+ Improved Research Race UI/ Updated icons. Get ready to race with the new Flag icon.
+ Improved Research Race Localization.
+ Profile pictures are now great looking circles


Sep 27th 4PM EST

Research Race:
+ No longer able to unfollow researchers
+ Translation Fixes
+ NEW Status updates for active players
+ Button on player profile that switches between event status and other information
Bugs:
+ Ad bug fixed
+ Losing mission progress on mutagen when upgrading cards in Mesozoic Valley

------------

Hello, Universe Architects!

There’s been a lot of hustle and bustle in our past few updates. It’s now time to settle down with a nice cup of tea. Get ready to Explore: Tea — A Journey of Serenity!



From ancient rituals to modern teahouses, the allure of tea transcends time and borders. Discover how a simple leaf transformed societies, sparked revolutions, and calmed souls. Will you steep yourself in the traditions of the past or brew a new understanding for the future?


Did you know that tea leaves need to be dehydrated after harvesting to avoid rot? How about modern tea farming being revolutionized by AI? There’s much more to tea than meets the eye.

• Sip through 9 new generators and 60 trait nodes as you discover the wonders of tea.
  
• Redeem a burst of currency with the new Teapot Quantum Charge.
  
• Follow tea’s journey from the first budding leaves to its current cultural effects… and watch the tree unfold.

Summer has passed and the weather is turning brisk. What better way to warm up than with a piping hot cup of tea straight from the teapot?

• Tap the teapot in a simplified 3D Garden while earning two new types of currency: Tea Leaves and Tea Cups.
  
• Release clouds of steam from the teapot with each tap.

While the teapot won’t be changing forms after each generator unlock, we’re excited for the return of Explore Event 3D gardens in A Journey of Serenity! In our previous limited-time event we tested the lack of garden to boost our efficiency in releasing Explore Events, but after taking player feedback into consideration, we’re bringing them back in a pared down format.


Three new Explore Event badges are available for collection! Gather them all for a 3% total Main Simulation progression boost.

• Sample all the perks each badge has to offer, including Harvested Serenity, Tea Of Life, and a new badge that may be hard to believe.
  
• A Journey of Serenity Logit Prize is available to purchase! See the fruits of your labor blossom in the Beyond garden.

Have you joined the Neural Network yet? If so, we’d appreciate your feedback on this feature.
The leaderboard has received another hefty update in the form of the Research Race, allowing you to compete with fellow Universe Architects for a chance to win Logits.

• Compete with up to 20 other select researchers for the fastest play-through of any Explore Event! Track everyone’s progress as you purchase new nodes on the event tree.
  
• Be in the top five to win Logits:
  
  1st Place

  2nd Place

  3rd Place

  4th Place

  5th Place

  25 Logits

  10 Logits

  10 Logits

  5 Logits

  5 Logits
• Customize your Neural Network profile with new icons available in the Logit Store, as well as new options for border and background designs!

*NOTE: The Neural Network is only available if you have unlocked its respective node in the Reality Engine. This feature is still undergoing development and is subject to substantial changes in the future. This is just the first stage of the Research Race, so we look forward to hearing your feedback in order to better improve this feature!



If you’re a member of the Cell To Singularity Discord, join us for a special Let’s Play AMA of Explore: Tea — A Journey of Serenity on Wednesday, September 27 @ 11AM EDT!


We hope this new Explore Event brings you some peace of mind as we contain our excitement for upcoming releases. The Civilization: Stone Age and Beyond E20 updates are preparing for simulation, so look forward to even more new content for you and Semblance to discover next month.

As always we can’t wait to read your feedback, and remember to stay cellular!
- The Cells Team

Greetings from Interstellar Space, Universe Architects!

We are back with another installment of the Beyond. In Episode 18, Semblance learned about the lives of stars from their birth to the prime of their lives. But now she is curious about how they will age and what they might become.




Observe aging stars in Episode 19: Sunset Years as players watch their elegant development into the final stages. Some stars go out with a bang while others linger on longer as the universe grows older. And some leave stardust, preparing the birth of new stars and planets.




We continue to follow the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram in charting the course of these stars’ lives. In E18, we learned that stars are categorized based on their mass and emission spectrum, which corresponds with their age and temperature. As stars grow older, their density is affected by the type of nuclear fuel they burn from Hydrogen to Helium and finally to Iron. Depending on their fuel, some have enough heat, pressure, and energy to grow bigger into a Supergiant. Eventually all dying stars will burn out and explode, thus creating the perfect breeding ground for future stars. The new “Advanced Stars” in the Stellar Nursery shows these stars’ transitions into their late lives.


Attribution: R.N. Bailey, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons


There are four new star generators to discover— Polaris, Rigel, Arcturus and Van Maanen’s Star. These ‘superstar’ stellar neighbors are in the late stages of their lives and have been added in the 3D garden. These stars vary differently in size as they reach their conclusion in their own special ways. Fun fact: Rigel is the largest part of a four star system and may have once been a Blue Supergiant before evolving into a Red Supergiant and back to Blue again.

• Collect nine new "Series II" traits cards to continue the story of our new superstellar generators.
  
• With the inclusion of Rigel, one new constellation— Orion— will be making its debut in the night sky of the Beyond.
  
• In addition, eight new achievements will be available for players to collect.

Episode 19 is a continuation of Episode 18 and will mark the conclusion of the ‘Lives of Stars’ arc. As a reminder, players need to complete Episode 18 in order to play Episode 19.

We hope you continue to enjoy following Semblance's journey through the stars. Observing the end will help prepare Semblance for what’s to come… With the simulation of the star systems completed, her next course might delve into stranger territory. Where will she be headed next?


Thank you for your patience as we continue to balance Metabit Production. We are aware that late game Metabit production feels slow. And so with the 5th iteration, we have made improvements to the Mined Metabit Earned Curve to increase Metabit production!

Old Mined Metabit Earned Curve:
Bonus = (50000 / Math.Pow(1 + 5.5 * Math.Exp(-0.07 * Math.Log(("Research Level" ))) , (1 / v)));

NEW Mined Metabit Earned Curve:
Bonus = Math.Pow( "Research Level" , (1d / 3d))/3 - 0.3d;

This new powerful curve will allow endgame players to make more progress on their Metabit production after earning around one million Metabits. This is effective immediately after updating to this latest version. This change comes in preparation as more content is being added in the future. We are very excited for what is to come and we hope you are too!



Coming soon, we will be releasing our new limited-time event— Explore: A Journey of Serenity, where we delve into the history, technology and culture of tea. We are still in the process of fine tuning it, and we appreciate our beta players’ continued feedback.

Thank you once again for your support as we strive to bring you more content to enjoy.

Stay cellular!
– The Cells Team

Hello Universe Architects!

Beyond Episode 19 is coming soon! While the Beyond preps for launch, we have a set of changes and bug fixes in this latest update. You may have already caught a sneak peek if you've been following our dev diary.


The Civilization garden has gone through a major overhaul as the Dawn of Civilization is upon us. This is the first stage as we set up a series of upcoming updates to celebrate the first six Ages of Civilization. The garden is bare but the first six generators are still available to unlock and have been updated! For those that have already unlocked the generators, they are still available in your garden. More will come as we delve deeper into the history of each era in the coming weeks.

• Goodbye, high scores! The leaderboard is now a global, tiered system based on personal progress, achievements and badges collected.
  
• How is all of this calculated? Your progress is tracked in Research Points (RP), which is the new overall XP. More details are provided in the dev diary.
  
• Climb up the progress ladder to earn new titles. Each title has a max of ten levels per tier!

Keep in mind, all leaderboard content, RP calculations, and tuning are still under development as we continue to iterate on production tuning. Title art and names will also be subject to change in future updates. We need more live production data to keep polishing the leaderboard. We appreciate your feedback throughout this process.





In this round, we're back to focusing on Metabit production. We wanted the Mesozoic Valley, Beyond and the Explore badges to contribute to Metabit production. With these re-tuning changes, Metabit production should more fairly reflect your progress across all in-game content.

• We’ve added 9 new Metabit upgrades— 3 each for Mesozoic Valley, Beyond, and Explore Badges. These will boost the Metabit production for the Main Simulation.
  
• Each upgrade is available after unlocking its respective content for the first time, and the next upgrade will be available after unlocking the former.
  
• New highlighted views are included to view their effects from the total production view in the Reality Engine. Please see the dev diary for more details.
  
• The Metabit cost has also been lowered and increased production boost for Ape and Mammal research nodes.

In addition, the following features are new in this version:

• In the Beyond, Trait Cards now appear in tabs and with better sorting to be more accessible
  
• Constellations in the Beyond got some polish
  
• Fixed: locked generators could be focused in the Garden
  
• Fixed: translations for some strings were missing or wrong for some languages in Beyond Episode 18
  
• Fixed: mouse scroll wheel moves very slowly on some menus

Version 19.33 will be available to all players in Steam today and mobile on 08/21/23. Join us on Twitch on Friday 08/18, 1pm EDT where we showcase more of the updated Civ Garden and answer questions about the leaderboard and tuning updates. We hope everyone is excited with these new updates! We look forward to your reactions.

– The Cells Team

Hi Universe Architects!

We're back from PlayNYC and ready to share what we’ve been working on. Here’s a sneak peak of what will be coming out in the next production build.

The Dawn of Civilization is upon us— starting with a base update to the Civilization Garden. For this release, we've set the stage for the first six Ages of Civilization. The garden may feel empty initially, but this is just the first phase of many to come! In an upcoming series of updates, expect to unfold new scenes that delve deeper into the history of each era— starting with the Stone Age!



The leaderboard has also gone through a complete overhaul. Say goodbye to high scores, and say hello to the new tiered leaderboard system. In this new iteration, your total progress in the game will be tracked using Research Points (RP). You will only see other players that share your current tier, with tiers being based on player progression. We wanted to make leaderboards fair where players are ranked globally based on overall personal progress, achievements and badges accumulated.
Keep in mind, all leaderboard content and tuning are still under development as we continue to iterate on Metabit production. On the bright side, players who cheat will no longer be placed at the top of your leaderboard.



RP is the new overall XP and there will be new titles given per rank. Each title will have a max of ten levels per tier and must be achieved before the next title upgrade. Title art and names will be subject to change in future updates. We hope you're looking forward to progressing through the entire game with this updated system! It was designed with your feedback in mind.



It’s been some time since our last tuning update, and we are happy to share the 4th Tuning iteration, soon to be available in-game. In this round, we’ve been focused back on Metabit production. We wanted the Mesozoic Valley and the Beyond to also contribute to Metabit production since players spend a lot of time there prestiging and ranking up. With these re-tuning changes, Metabit production should be reflected more fairly across all in-game content.

• We’re adding 9 new Metabit upgrades— 3 each for Mesozoic Valley, Beyond, and Explore Badges that will affect the Metabit production for the main simulation. They all give a 10X increase to the base power of 0.01
  
  No upgrade:

  0.01 per rank

  Level 1:

  0.10 per rank

  Level 2:

  1.00 per rank

  Level 3:

  10.00 per rank
• These new upgrades will boost Metabit production for each extinction for Mesozoic Valley, each episode of the Beyond, and each Explore badge earned.
  
• This is reflected in the new highlighted views from the total production view in the Reality Engine.
  
• The first Metabit upgrade will be available after unlocking its respective content for the first time, and the next upgrade will be available after unlocking the former.
  
• The Metabit cost has been lowered for Ape and Mammal research nodes while also increasing production boost.

After a break from events, a new limited-time Explore Event will debut soon! We have been exploring ways to reduce production time so that we can bring more to you at a faster cadence. The new Explore Event will be focused on the history, technology and culture of tea. It will include a new tree with achievements, music and after reading your feedback, we are re-introducing the garden but in a far more simplified form. Look forward to Explore: A Journey of Serenity in the coming weeks!



Beyond Episode 19 is almost here! There are four new star generators to look forward to as we continue our exploration of The Lives of Stars. In addition, we'll be adding nine new trait cards and one constellation. For those who are part of the beta, please continue to give us feedback as we finalize tuning.

We will also have a livestream on Friday 08/18, 1-2pm EDT to show you more of the updated Civ Garden and to answer your questions about the leaderboard and tuning updates. Thank you for your patience and support. We hope to see you in our upcoming livestream!

Stay cellular!
– The Cells Team

We’ll be…
💁 Showcasing our progress on the updated Civilization Garden.
🗺️ Demoing a new Explore Event.

Try never before seen content. If you’re near NYC, we hope to see you there!


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From August 4-8, Cell to Singularity has been highlighted as a featured game on Steam for PlayNYC.