It's been a while since we updated the public version, and we think we were overdue, so here it is! We have started doing a lot of background work, but we still have quite a bit to share this time around. Obviously, the Steam Workshop integration, but also many small improvements and quite a lot of bugfixes (and one small surprise )!

Let's go right to it!

The Workshop!

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/44903332/6b4d8d995bc6087ffd9b3d908ad82e627d6b7c09.png"][/img]

The people who bought the simulation on Steam (please do so if you haven't already <3, it helps the project a lot) will have a far easier time sharing bibites, scenarios, challenges, and saves! (and eventually mods!)

Downloading a bibite species is now as simple as clicking the "Subscribe" Button in the Steam Workshop! And it will automatically be added to your game when it next launches, and available to use like any of your own saved bibites!

The same is true for Scenarios, Challenges, and Saves!

Changes/Addition:

• Added Rotation Speed Node (as a Brain Input)

• Improvements to the Bibite Library

• Improved the collision equations (for damages) to be more realistic and based on the transferred impulse (big bibites won't be as sensitive to small bibites ramming into them)

• Void avoidance logic fixed so it always stay in the present existing zone, and won't privilege an outside smaller zone

• Added buttons to export an image of your bibites in the Bibite Library!

• Moved to Unity 6.44 and full URP Render Stack (small improvement to performances/stability)

• New Settings to block bibites from producing specific pheromones (Red, Green, or Blue)

• \[Ctrl+C] copies tag of selected bibite to the clipboard

• \[Ctrl+V] set tag of selected bibite from the clipboard (doesn't have to be from a previous bibite)

• Improved usability of one-time-spawn settings for bibite templates

• Made connection weight mutations having a relative impact on speciation (the relative change in weight is what contributes to speciation, not the absolute change)

• A secret feature soon to be announced

Fixes:

• Significant improvement to memory leaks

• Fixed a few sources of NaN propagation errors (causing singularity bug)

• Prevented all genes from going out of bounds

• Fixed the bibite's shader sometimes causing issues

• Fixed bibite sprites sometimes causing some sub-pixel artifacts

• Corrections to many text errors/Clarification of a few explanations

• Fixed lineage tree nodes placement (so parents are always above children)

• Not possible to open lineage panel anymore if there's no data to show (used to be possible but throw error and bug)

• Fixed Custom Bibite Sprite Renderer (and exporter)

• Fixed the one-time-spawn setting respawning the template bibites on load

• Fixed pellets sometimes rendering on top of bibites

• Fixed Field of view sometimes not detecting bibite

• Fixed issues when entering some settings values manually

• Fixed event call order when a setting is changed

• CanGoOutOfBound property of some settings now correctly enforced at all levels

• Fixed Internal organs preview (in Biology Panel), now should be a lot more solid, and work for Linux and Mac

• Fixed unattached node loops breaking the brain panel

• Fixed invalid scenarios creating empty scenario Items

• Fixed some bibites without inputless output nodes crashing the bibite brain editor

And finally, what can you expect for 0.6.3 ?

Like we announced previously, we have started the very hefty task of completely rebuilding the Bibites from the ground up, with a reinvented evolutionary algorithm called BIOME (Biology Inspired Open-ended Module-based Evolution), which I've been developing theoretically for the last few years, and using a new programming framework (Unity DOTS).

BIOME aims to significantly expand the possibility for evolution and revolutionize evolutionary algorithms as a whole. Moving to Unity DOTS for running the simulation promises incredible improvements to performance (x10 to x100) and multi-threading by default.

While this is exciting, it's gonna take a while (probably ~ a year), so in parallel, we want to still update the current branch every ~3-4 months with features that have been voted on by the community.

For 0.6.3, we have:

The Bibites 0.6.3: Seasons and Events!

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/44903332/a583c23a340637a816e26043300afde2bc4edf53.gif"][/img]

We want to add a lot more dynamism to the simulation, and the ability to have the simulation parameters vary over time has been a long-time request.

So in 0.6.3 (and in alpha releases on Patreon before that), you'll be able to create cycles/seasons, program changes, and trigger events!

Events would be significant things that could happen randomly, like a meteor hit, a sudden bloom of plant pellets, etc.

Seasons/changes will work by creating a settingsChanger, link it to as many settings as you like, and detail how they would change over time, starting when, and etc.

The nice thing is that we already unofficially added this last thing to 0.6.2... more on that at the end of this post.

Other potential additions I would like to include in 0.6.3:

• More towers (like the current Color Selector Tower)

  • Radiation tower

  • Pheromones tower

  • Genes selection tower

  • ... and more maybe?

• Modifiers for zones (changing some settings locally, like drag)

• A Notification System to track events, take notes, and track significant changes to the simulation (like die-offs, new species, etc.)

• A simple scripting language to interact with the sim

  • (I'd really like this one, but it would be a lot of work, so...)

Unofficial Seasons in 0.6.2 (Changing settings over time)

This is only a tentative implementation, so, for now, you have to manually modify the settings.bb8settings file in your scenarios/challenges, as detailed below.

This will allow the most experienced bibite engineers to play with varying settings over time automatically in new, unique, scenarios/challenges and share them with the wider community, RIGHT NOW IN 0.6.2! This will also help us test this feature a bit and gather ideas for the final implementation.

You simply need to add the "settingsChangers" list to any settings.bb8settings similarly to this example:

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/44903332/9871ba11f20e02c9435b5f57fc2ad665ad7bb47e.png"][/img]

A given settingsChanger instance can reference any number of settings, so that a singular instance can be used to control them all uniformly, akin to seasons.

I'll make a post in the future to better detail how it works and how to implement it.

[ 2025-06-25 18:51:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Go vote for your favorites here. Voting closes 3/30 Now that we are a few weeks past the Steam launch, we are entering the next phase of The Bibites roadmap, version 0.7!!!! We are FINALLY working on implementing the innovative BIOME algorithm, a complete rework of the underlying bibites framework that will allow for more exciting and emergent behaviors and will serve as a foundation as we incorporate future system reworks such as to vision, digestion and reproduction (sex update). BIOME will be built with the new highly performant, Unity ECS/DOTS technology stack (multi-threading by default) which could increase performance by 10-20x. We are very excited for these features and work on them has already begun. That being said, 0.7 requires a lot of background rework that will not be conducive to public releases. So, in order to make sure we are providing our community with fresh content over the next year, we will be releasing "Community Selected" features in 2-3month cycles on the 0.6 branch. With assistance from our Patreon community, we have generated a list of 10 features that could be added in the next 0.6.X update. (See poll link above) The top feature will be added in the next public release along with some others already requested by our Patreon such as programmable settings(seasons), bibite corpses, radiation towers and more. Check out our Trello board for more details on what's to come. Don't worry if your favorites aren't selected this time around! We will recast the vote right after the next public release.

[ 2025-03-24 19:16:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some people reported a bug where time couldn't be unpaused after loading a save it's fixed

[ 2025-03-08 00:14:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Small Hotfix for the sim, adding a bit of polish we didn't have the time to add before the launch as well as a few fixes to the limited numbers of bugs reported since the launch (we've been seriously impressed by how good the last release was overall and how few bugs have been reported)

Changes

• Reworked credits panel (and added it back to the build)
• Added Bibite Research Conglomerate Link (to "Additionnal tools" panel in menu)
• Balance to some challenges
• Added arguments, allowing to launch the game independently from Steam
• Reworked min FPS settings, set to 15 by default (from 0/disabled)
• Enabled keyboard control by default (but beware, controllers can cause weird stuff when plugged in)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed achievement error when completing a non-official challenge
• Fixed target time speed slider moving all over the place when min fps is in effect
• Pausing the game won't cause time slider to be thrown into wack because of min FPS system
• Fixed Achievements displaying as locked if they were unlocked both locally and on steam (I know lol)
• Fixed bibites rendering bellow pellets
• Fixed Bibite Library button taking you to bibite editor with empty bibite instead
• Fixed Ancestral Lineage Panel's settings being shown twice (and only working once)
• Fixed error in displayed value of Effective Species Span (in Species Lineage Panel)
• Fixed complex brains completely freezing the game when bibite is selected (might still freeze for few seconds lol)

SO, what can you expect in the short term?

Steam Workshop Integration (soon-ish)

A big priority for me starting now will be integrating the steam workshop to allow you all to share bibites, scenarios, and challenges easily! (and who knows, maybe mods at some points)

Stronger/Stabler Linux support (soon-ish)

We've got a few reports by some linux users for whom the game didn't work/ boot properly. Although many Linux users reporting the sim working flawlessly, we're aware that the vast diversity of distros makes our previous approach of "Trust the Unity build process will magically make it work" was lacking to catch some more minute details and errors. So I'll be repurposing an old computer to run linux and test everything more thoroughly. In the meantime I've been told Wine and Proton makes the game work perfectly without any issues!

Evolutionary Algorithm Redesign (the famous BIOME algorithm) (far future)

Although that probably won't make it to the Steam branch for a long long while, the next step is to basically... start over (at least for the evolutionary algorithm powering the sim) to unlock the next step in emergence. I don't think you'd believe it if I would tell you my full plans (okay you might) And in the same time address a lot of the core performances issues that hold back the sim right now So.. yeah! Stay Tuned, and thanks a lot for everyone's support thus far <3

[ 2025-03-07 01:22:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join us in Celebrating The Bibites Early Access Launch

Woooo Hooo! YEAH! Its here. The early access release is upon us after 8+ years of development. With it, we hope to welcome a new wave of Bibite Engineers, Caretakers and Enthusiasts as we start a new chapter of The Bibites project. The journey has just begun.

For Veteran Supporters and Users

To all those that have already played the early versions of the game on itch.io or followed along through our YouTube channel, thank you for participating. We hope you continue to enjoy this project as much as us as we move forward. Here is a quick summary of new features to expect in the release since V0.6. For a detailed list check out the full V0.6.1 Devlog (to be posted shortly)

• In-Game Bibite Editor
• 4 Official Challenges
• Achievements
• A whole bunch of tuning and bug squashing

For New Arrivals to The Bibite Community

Welcome! Glad to have you here. As you are probably discovering, The Bibites is not really a game. It does have challenges for those with a competitive side, but at its core, this software is an ALIFE evolution simulator, and its pretty complex! We recommend you check out our YouTube channel to catch up to speed on the project happenings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7Ry9ofdRo After, participate in the discussion in one of our various communities. The public discord channel or subreddit probably being the most active. A full list of our socials can be found on our website

Big Thanks to our Patreon

The true backbone to the this project is our Patreon supporters. Without them, this wouldn't be possible. Consider lending your support here where, in exchange, you can join a private discord with the Devs, get access to alpha releases and more.

[ 2025-03-04 21:16:32 CET ] [ Original post ]