Closed Beta Update — What We're Changing Before the Next Test

Hello everyone,

First of all, thank you to everyone who played the first closed beta of Captain Contraption’s Safari Park. And an extra thank you to everyone who took the time to send feedback.

We received around 40 detailed comments and survey responses, and they’ve been incredibly helpful.

Over the past week we’ve been going through everything and turning it into a development plan for the next beta. A few themes came through very clearly:

• Players want the core systems to be easier to understand

• The GOOP economy needs clearer feedback

• The early game needs to move a bit faster

So those are the areas we’re focusing on for the next build.

Main Changes Coming to the Next Beta

Clearer Systems & Tutorial

We’re reworking the early experience so the game teaches how the ecosystem works, not just which buttons to press.

Changes include:

• Breaking onboarding into smaller contextual steps

• Making the objective of a run clearer

• Improving how system interactions are explained

Better Information & Control

We're adding more ways to see what's happening in your park.

New features include:

• A context-sensitive inspector window when clicking creatures, buildings, or visitors

• Clear visibility of GOOP income vs consumption

• Building panels showing resource usage and earnings

Improved Simulation Feedback

One big piece of feedback was that players couldn’t always see what the simulation was doing.

We’re improving that with:

• Creature information and behaviour states when inspected

• Visual indicators showing view distance for creatures and visitors

• Clearer tour satisfaction feedback

Faster Early Game

Some players felt the early game had too much waiting, so we’re adjusting pacing.

Changes include:

• Increased starting money

• The ecosystem simulation running faster overall

• A 3× speed option for time acceleration

Plus Lots of Smaller Fixes

Alongside these larger changes we’re also addressing various issues from the test:

• UI tweaks

• Tour path fixes

• Camera improvements

• Quality-of-life updates

Next Closed Beta Weekend

Our goal is to have these changes ready within the next month.

Once the build is ready we’ll run another closed beta weekend, and I’ll post an announcement about a week before it begins.

If you took part in the first beta, your key will be sent to you again so you can jump straight back in. Grab a key over on our website -> https://www.pillbug.zone/

Wishlist the Game

If you’re enjoying following the development, wishlisting the game on Steam really helps us out. It makes a huge difference for a small team and helps more players discover the park.

Thanks

Sean