Fig. 1 An example of the hidden bone structure (based on the MASSO gene) used to procedurally generate each creature's body in Vilmonic

So I'm still finishing up the next release which adds rock outcroppings (or mountains) and tweaks to island generation and some ecosystem balancing. I've been delayed a bit by a bunch of conferences (submissions and attendances) and other PR work.

The feedback I've been getting has been really helpful, and I think the next few releases will focus on making some of the hidden details of the game more easily discoverable.

For example, there's a bone structure underneath the Anims skin (i.e. "behind the scenes") that is controlled by the MASSO gene. The length and curvature of the bones determines the overall size of the creature, and thus affects its nutrient requirements and movement speed and stamina, etc.

There are a bunch of these hidden systems, and I really need to figure out how to make them visible in a fun way. In the bones example above, I think I may add a craftable X-Ray machine that you can push anims on top of to view their internal structure.

People have also asked for a control panel to allow changing the default attributes of islands (how much water, how much desert, etc).

In the meantime, I may just open up the hidden back-end in a "cheat mode" to allow players to tweak most of the attributes of the game, at the risk of giving away too many spoilers. Let me know what you think!

- Markus