After a bit of a delay, Thrive 0.9.0 is nearing a state it can be released in. Usually we put out a Release Candidate build, however this time the build is being just called a beta, because it is in much rougher shape than usual, but we are putting it out anyway as we don’t want to delay 0.9.0 further. The most major omission in the build you are likely to notice is that it is not possible to save the game while in the editor. Saving has been only reimplemented for the swimming around portion of the game. Besides the background work the most major visible new feature is the microbe terrain system that adds bit of inert terrain in many patches and the tweaked current particles and some other visuals. There are also major balance changes and new features added to auto-evo.
This build had to be delayed a few weeks due to the saving reimplementation, which took much more time than expected, but hopefully it will be worth it in the long run as it will act as a base as we move development to further stages. And cutting down saving time to just a lag spike should make saving feel at least a bit better.
To access the beta build, you need to select the "beta" version in the Steam client for Thrive. Right click Thrive in your Steam library and then in the properties select "beta" as the version.
Please provide any feedback you have on this test build. We are especially interested in hearing about the new game balance and how auto-evo feels. If you can manage to break saving in the microbe stage, we are very interested to hear how you did that, and if possible the save file you have if the problem occurs during loading, so that we can have saving fully working for the 0.9.0 release.
You can leave feedback below in the comments, or on our forums in this thread: https://community.revolutionarygamesstudio.com/t/0-9-0-beta-testing/8710