Dear pack, The December update has just left the bug testing phase and is now officially released! A huuuuuuge thanks to everyone who helped with the testing! You are awesome <3 What is new? - Rivers have been added to some of the islands - New field types for beach, sea and river fields - New food system (animals eat 1 food per day, actions are free to perform) - Family tree that shows family relations for living tribe members - New island (Killer Island) has been added. Surviving there is VERY hard! - New grass biome genes (Spiky Body, Digging Paws) - New water biome genes (Gills, Webbed Paws, Fishing Tail, ...) - Horns and Snouts are now on separate gene slots - Adam and Eve are now partly randomized - Lots of big + small fixes and improvements such as more mouseover infos In case you want to keep playing with your 0.1.5 save states but the game updated: http://niche-game.com/updates/ Please share your feedback and suggestions about this update here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/440650/discussions/1/152391995424054677/

Up next: Jungle biome update in February :D Cheers, Team Niche

[ 2016-12-29 21:27:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Niche is a fresh blend of turn-based strategy and simulation combined with roguelike elements. Shape your own animal tribe and find an ecological niche for it to live in.
Keep your tribe alive against dangers, such as hungry predators, climate change and spreading sickness. Resource management and smart breeding based on real genetics are key in Niche. All worlds and animals are procedurally generated.

Niche is played from a top-down perspective, giving the player a god-like view over the board. Rounds are represented by a day cycle, in which the player controls animals to move and perform actions (collecting food, scouting a new field, mating, attacking a predator, etc). Animals have a limited lifespan, which makes procreation indispensable. An animal’s characteristics are defined by its genes, which are being passed on to the next generation. The player is rewarded with gene points for completing given tasks and for producing offspring. These points can be spent to unlock new genes, which increase the possibilities for evolution. Challenges come in form of animals dying and dwindling resources. The game is lost, when a player's tribe goes extinct. In the next game a new world is generated, but the previously unlocked genes stay in the world.

Games that inspired us
- The Creatures series
- Spore (mainly the first stage)
- The Curious Expedition
- Black & White
- Don’t Starve

Educational aspects
While playing Niche, the player is introduced to the scientific mechanics of genetics (featuring dominant-recessive, co-dominant inheritance, etc). The game also features the five pillars of population genetics (genetic drift, genetic flow, mutation, natural selection, sexual selection). All knowledge is interwoven with the game-mechanics. This creates the effect of learning by playing.