Eden Universe Playtest · public · first seen
This update marks one of the largest steps forward in the development of the game so far.
Over the past weeks, Eden Universe has received major changes to its world simulation, settlement systems, construction, God AI, miracles, economy, armies, interface, exploration and underlying technology.
The world is becoming larger, more reactive and increasingly alive.
Eden is awakening.
The world of Eden has undergone a significant expansion.
The global world map has increased from:
20 × 14 segments → 30 × 20 segments
This means the number of world segments has grown from:
280 → 600
The playable area has also been significantly expanded, giving settlements, armies and gods considerably more space to develop, migrate, explore and eventually clash with one another.
Two additional community-created lands have also been introduced:
Land17
Land18
The natural environment received another major expansion as well.
The game now includes:
60 additional tree variants
24 new shrub and flower clusters
new environmental decorations
additional terrain variety
significantly expanded vegetation distribution
One of the newest additions to Eden is a completely dynamic Tall Grass System.
Tall grass is no longer simply part of the terrain.
It physically reacts to the world around it.
Grass now responds to:
the Divine Hand
wind
the Water Miracle
nearby world interactions
Wind can move entire areas of grass, while moving the hand through vegetation causes nearby blades to bend dynamically.
The Water Miracle can now affect an entire area rather than only a single point, allowing vegetation within its radius to react simultaneously.
Tall grass can also be enabled or disabled through the game settings.
This system is designed to make Eden's landscapes feel less static and considerably more responsive to the player's presence.
Two additional gods have entered the world of Eden.
A new God AI capable of developing settlements, expanding influence, using miracles and commanding armies.
Another new god has also been introduced, bringing a different presence and development style to the world.
Their introduction further expands the foundation for conflicts involving several independent gods operating simultaneously across Eden.
A completely new God AI archetype has also been created.
Neutral gods behave very differently from traditional opponents.
They will normally remain peaceful until they or their followers are attacked.
Provocation can include both:
physical attacks
spiritual attacks against their settlements
Once provoked, however, a Neutral God can become an extremely persistent opponent.
Neutral gods are designed to:
remember hostile actions
react to aggression
adapt to the player's behavior
change their priorities when threatened
become increasingly dangerous when repeatedly attacked
In other words, not every god you encounter in Eden necessarily begins as your enemy.
Your actions can create one.
The underlying God AI system has received extensive new functionality.
Gods can now be configured with different development priorities including:
Splendor
Army
Faith
Satisfaction
Fear
Balanced development
No specific priority
A new Fair Play behavior option has also been introduced.
When enabled, an AI God must respect normal construction progression and development rules instead of bypassing them.
God AI systems can also be independently enabled or disabled for story purposes.
Individual systems include:
autonomous construction
autonomous miracle usage
military transfers
god manifestation movement
map claiming
settlement capturing
Gods can also be completely frozen during scripted sequences without permanently changing their configuration.
Story events can now directly control AI Gods.
New systems allow story sequences to force a god to:
manifest at a specific location
construct a specific building
transfer military forces
attack a selected settlement
Story events can also temporarily prevent specific world segments from being claimed.
These tools significantly expand what will be possible during campaign missions and scripted encounters.
Alpha-0.1.5 introduces several new divine powers.
Gods can now create a protective Divine Shield.
The shield establishes a protected area capable of interfering with hostile divine activity within its radius.
The visual appearance of the shield reflects the color of the god who created it.
A devastating new offensive miracle designed for warfare and the destruction of concentrated enemy forces.
A new direct offensive divine ability.
Another miracle has been added to the growing selection of divine powers available to gods.
Gods can now directly influence the emotional state of their followers using the Happiness Miracle.
The Water Miracle now supports an area-of-effect interaction.
Instead of affecting only a single point, water can influence a larger section of the environment.
The Storm Miracle has also been significantly improved.
Wind now affects the direction of the storm itself, making its behavior more dynamic.
Its visual presentation has also been substantially improved.
Several problems affecting the Airflow Miracle have been corrected.
An issue where the miracle could fail completely has been fixed.
Wind effects will also no longer disappear when the minimap is hidden.
Village prayer has received a major redesign inspired by the physical interaction systems of classic god games.
Each village has a central Totem located on its Agora.
The player can physically raise or lower the Totem.
The higher the Totem is raised, the more villagers will be called to worship.
This creates a direct relationship between:
population → worship → divine power
However, prayer comes with consequences.
Villagers participating in worship are temporarily removed from normal settlement labor.
They also require food to be delivered to the temple.
This means that generating large amounts of divine power can place significant pressure on a settlement's economy.
Inspired Worshippers have also been expanded.
They generate significantly more divine power than ordinary followers.
Unlike ordinary villagers called by the Totem, Inspired Worshippers can generate power passively and do not need to abandon their current activity every time worship is requested.
Their greater spiritual strength comes at a cost, however.
Inspired followers also have greater needs.
The settlement simulation continues to become considerably deeper.
Villagers can now communicate a growing number of needs, including:
wood
wheat
stone
iron
gold
new buildings
children
rest
protection
expansion
army support
Splendor
mercy
prayer fatigue
Needs can influence the overall state and development priorities of a settlement.
The balance of several villager needs has also been adjusted.
Military forces are no longer completely disconnected from the economy.
Armies now have their own supply requirements.
This creates an additional logistical layer when maintaining larger military forces and encourages players to prepare their economy before committing to extended campaigns.
Inspired Carpenters now accelerate the production of scaffolding inside settlements.
This strengthens the relationship between spiritual development and economic productivity.
One of the largest changes introduced during the Alpha-0.1.5 development cycle is the new construction system.
Buildings are no longer completed instantly.
Construction now happens gradually.
Each building can define its own construction duration.
Villagers assigned to construction can accelerate the process, while each structure can also define the maximum number of builders capable of working on it.
Resources must now be physically delivered to construction sites.
Buildings under construction receive visible scaffolding which gradually disappears as construction progresses.
This makes settlement expansion a much more physical and observable process.
A new eraser tool has been introduced.
Previously constructed roads can now be removed instead of permanently remaining part of the settlement.
A large number of additional structures have been introduced.
New construction options include:
Hut III
Hut IV
House I
House II
Mine
Smelter
Blacksmith Workshop
Jeweler's Workshop
Sawmill
Weaving Workshop
Tailor Workshop
Mill
Bakery
Apiary
Skyscraper
Left Direction Sign
Right Direction Sign
Colored Panels with 32 available colors
Wooden Spikes
Heads on Stakes
Fountain I
Fountain II
Large Lavender Garden
Small Lavender Garden
Market Stall decorations
Barracks
Ranged Barracks
Several existing buildings have also had their construction costs adjusted.
The Bakery and Mill were moved from the Colonial Age to the Settler Age.
The Watchtower was also moved from the Tribal Age to the Settlement Age.
Settlements now possess a dedicated Splendor system.
Splendor represents the visual and cultural development of a town and can influence the direction in which both players and AI Gods develop their settlements.
This also provides another long-term development path beyond pure population growth or military strength.
Several new resources have entered the economy:
Raspberries
Blackberries
Bananas
Mint
Aloe
The resource descriptions of several existing items have also been corrected and improved.
Miners and stonemasons have received a significant redesign.
Villagers can now actively search for resource deposits.
They gradually explore mountains and surrounding areas looking for valuable minerals.
Production lines related to minerals and valuable ores can become available as exploration progresses.
This gives geological exploration a more meaningful role in settlement development.
The Roman civilization has been added to Eden Universe.
This expands the growing selection of cultures available for settlements and future campaigns.
The Egyptian civilization has also joined Eden Universe in Alpha-0.1.5.
Horses have now been introduced into the game.
This lays another foundation for the future development of military and civilian units.
A completely new military unit category has been introduced:
Hero
Heroes are intended to represent especially powerful or important military units that stand above ordinary troops.
Capturing a settlement now triggers a dedicated fireworks effect.
The Agora has also received a new visual indicator showing which god is currently attempting to gain control over the settlement.
Colored particles above the Agora represent competing divine influence.
The particle closest to the center indicates which god is currently closest to taking control.
A completely new statistics interface is now available from the ESC menu.
The statistics panel provides information about:
settlements
followers
miracles
armies
Avatar-related statistics
This gives players a much clearer overview of the current state of their world.
A dedicated game profile management panel has been added.
This creates a stronger foundation for storing player-specific configuration and game preferences.
The ESC menu now contains a dedicated control settings section.
Additional descriptions have been added to explain available controls directly inside the game.
Players can now flip the Divine Hand orientation.
A dedicated setting has been introduced for left-handed players.
The minimap has received a new option:
Show / Hide Influence
This allows players to control whether god influence areas are displayed.
Several minimap-related issues affecting wind effects were also corrected.
A dedicated map system has been added.
Players can now use:
world map navigation
map markers
segment navigation shortcuts
Moving through the increasingly large world should now be considerably easier.
The construction panel now remembers the last category used.
Previously the panel always returned to the first construction tab.
The interface now reopens directly on the player's previously selected category.
A new Notes system has been added.
It supports:
advanced text formatting
timed reminders
This will also be used increasingly by story and quest systems.
A narrator has been introduced to announce the miracle currently held by the player.
Players who prefer not to use this feature can disable the narrator in the settings.
The internal settlement systems have undergone major expansion.
New tools allow settlements to be dynamically created during gameplay.
A new settlement can define the positions of:
the town center
storehouse
workshop
before the final layout is confirmed.
Settlements can also now be completely destroyed through story events, including their associated buildings, influence, miracle data, Totem and settlement information.
Story events can now:
open the civilization selection screen
lock individual civilizations
unlock individual civilizations
assign civilizations to settlements
assign civilization data to maps
This will be especially important for future campaign progression.
A significant amount of work has also gone into the systems operating behind the visible game world.
A new global quest timer system supports:
in-game hours
in-game days
checking whether timers are active
checking whether timers have expired
remaining time calculations
elapsed time calculations
timer reset and removal
Story systems can now dynamically detect objects located on both the current map and remote maps.
The system can check:
whether an object exists
whether an object does not exist
how many objects exist
whether enough objects exist inside a defined radius
This allows quests to respond directly to changes made by the player inside the world.
Additional systems now allow quests to keep track of player actions and object-based puzzle conditions.
Values can be:
created
increased
reduced
cleared
compared against required targets
This significantly expands the types of objectives that can be created without relying on traditional RPG-style event scripting.
Story sequences have gained direct control over several gameplay mechanics.
Individual systems can now be enabled or disabled during missions, including:
village Totems
Multi-Pickup
Divine Gestures
expansion and claiming
This makes it possible for mechanics to be introduced gradually as the campaign progresses.
Initial multiplayer functionality has also been added to Eden Universe.
This remains part of the game's ongoing experimental development and will continue to evolve alongside the core single-player simulation.
A new structure known as the Altar of Incarnation has been introduced.
It forms part of a larger system that will become increasingly important as development continues.
Alpha-0.1.5 contains a large number of fixes across the entire simulation.
Among them:
Fixed disappearing workshops on LAND2.
Fixed scaffolding being taken incorrectly during construction.
Fixed the incorrect Indigenous town center on Land 2.
Fixed the Airflow Miracle failing to work.
Fixed wind effects disappearing when hiding the minimap.
Fixed graphical issues affecting plantation fields.
Fixed the Divine Hand becoming stuck after placing scaffolding and picking up another object before placement was completed.
Fixed scaffolding duplication when moving between maps.
Fixed players being able to jump between world segments during cutscenes.
Fixed incorrect information displayed on Agoras.
Corrected Fear, Fanaticism and Satisfaction descriptions.
Fixed objects disappearing from the world.
Fixed scaffolding becoming permanently stuck when placed outside a valid settlement area.
Scaffolding is now returned correctly when construction cannot begin.
Fixed visual layering between villagers and plantation structures.
Fixed military groups being incorrectly classified as LOCAL or GLOBAL.
Fixed several incorrect resource descriptions.
Improved settlement construction costs and progression.
Improved villager routines.
Improved save-system handling for the growing number of gameplay parameters.
A substantial amount of work has also gone into optimization.
As Eden's world grows, increasingly large numbers of villagers, military units, settlements, environmental systems and AI decisions can exist simultaneously.
Several systems have therefore been reworked to reduce unnecessary processing and improve overall performance.
Optimization will remain an important focus as Eden Universe continues to expand.
This update is not simply about adding more buildings or more miracles.
The systems behind Eden Universe are beginning to connect.
Villagers work.
Settlements grow.
Resources move.
Armies require support.
Gods develop their own cities.
Followers worship.
Miracles reshape the environment.
The world remembers what happens inside it.
And increasingly, different systems are able to influence one another.
There is still a lot of work ahead, and many systems will continue to change during development.
But Alpha-0.1.5 represents another major step toward the game Eden Universe is intended to become.
A living world.
A world shaped by gods.
A world shaped by you.
Thank you to everyone participating in the Playtest, reporting bugs, sharing feedback and helping shape the project.
Every report, suggestion and test session genuinely helps move Eden Universe forward.
See you in Eden.
| Depot | New manifest | Previous manifest |
|---|---|---|
| 2017501 | 5637415263801222073 | — |