Hello,
We have some big changes to announce for how players will engage with VirtuaCreature, as well as updates to the game itself.
Monetization Model
We tried our best to present a Free-To-Play model that was both fair and engaging for our playerbase, first with a more typical mtx-based model, and later completely replacing it with a single, simple DLC to unlock all features. Despite our efforts, this simply didn’t pan out. Even now, long after the dust has settled, Legacy Version regularly outperforms this current version of the game in sales – a much older build of the game with less content, little to no tutorialization and a worse engine holding the core of the experience back. What this clearly signals to us is that you guys, the playerbase, would much rather pay once and be done with it than deal with any type of F2P system, simple or not.
Frankly, we agree! So, that has guided our decision to convert VirtuaCreature to a regular paid product like most others on Steam. There are a number of key changes accopanying this conversion:
- The Premium Upgrade will be delisted and will no longer be purchasable.
- Any in-game features that were locked or limited by the Premium Upgrade will now be fully available to all players. This includes all storage boxes for creatures, inventory slots, the standard XP rate etc.
- Cosmetic perks, aka the borders and profile icons, will now be mostly available to all players – more details on this below.
Players who have already added the game to their account while it was free will get to keep it and will be receiving the above changes as well.
If you have already purchased the Premium Upgrade, or purchase it before this transition, you will be privy to a few exclusive perks:
- 7 XP Boosts, lasting 24 Hours each, will be available to redeem at any time. These will refresh on starting a new game as well.
- The “Ukiyoe” border, which will not be available to regular players, will be unlocked.
- A new “Statue” profile icon, which will not be available to regular players, will be unlocked.
We hope these changes will create the best possible experience for our players going forward.
Game Update
A regular update will also be pushed alongside these changes, mainly consisting of backend changes we’ve been building up over the last few months. However, there are some noticeable new things as well:
- The game will now use 64bit builds instead of 32bit. This will not affect the vast majority of the playerbase, however if by some slim chance you are running a 32bit OS, your system will no longer be supported.
- Rich Presence for Steam! Your friends can now see exactly what you’re getting up to, or if there’s space to join your multiplayer match.
- A small collection of fixes, including some user-reported issues.
We’d be interested in doing more “auxiliary” updates like this in the future, though that all depends on how smoothly this transition goes. We’ll keep you posted!
Legacy Version merge
We will be delisting the “Legacy Version” of VirtuaCreature from sale. If you’re still interested in playing this older version of the game, we have merged it into the current release on Steam! Simply go to the beta tab in the game’s properties and select the “legacy” branch and the game will update accordingly.
Android EOL support
The Android version distributed via Google Play will not be receiving any updates, as the costs of maintaining that release outweigh the benefits. All Android players will still be able to connect to the game servers and play without any issues, and we intend to keep it that way for a long time – that version will simply not be getting any of the above changes or fixes for the time being.