Greetings curators!

Behold the spring cleaning update - an update dedicated to minor improvements and bug fixes that have been raised by the community. Let's take a look!

When playing with mods there can be a lot to research, and that means a lot of popups. Many Megaquarium players asked for a way to opt-out of research. Now there is a setting that allows you to do that. Options -> Interface -> Allow no research project -> On; Now the game will no longer force you to have an active research project.

Warning: Your ecology and science points will be wasted so unless you're playing with mods I'd recommend leaving it off!

Speaking of the research windows, I've also optimised them so they load quicker, especially when there is a lot of research.

This update brings improved support for scenery objects that are mounted on other bits of scenery for a more modular build-style. While not currently featured in any official content, there are mods that make use of this feature on our workshop and now they are easier to work with and appear correctly in tanks of all depths.

After the launch of Deep Freeze several players requested that the science consumption icon be changed from red to purple. Their justification was that, yes the science was lost, but it isn't a bad thing, as it is a deliberate choice by the player.

After some testing, I've decided that I agree. Science consumption is now purple.

There are many other tiny fixes, all listed below. If you notice any bugs while playing do let me know.

While this update is more of a tidy-up, I can reveal I have been working on more substantial things which I look forward to sharing with you in the future.

Thanks and enjoy!

Tim Twice Circled

• Feature: Added option to allow the game to continue without a selected research project.
  
• Feature: Improved resolution detection code across operating systems and added a "Detect Native Resolution" button.
  
• Feature: Added separate float up/down in 1st person mode hotkey.
  
• Feature: Added option to toggle anti-aliasing (always on before).
  
• Feature: Added autosave period option.
  
• Balance: Excluded Divider from levels 1 and 2 but added a tutorial to introduce them properly in level 3.
  
• Balance: Level 2, removed size requirement from wall tank objective. Any new wall tank will do.
  
• Balance: Level 3, allow any type of deep tank (including corner and observer) for the deep tank objective.
  
• Balance: Level 10, reordered objective rows in Builder Blackmail objective.
  
• UX: Slightly reduced start height of floating cost-text when you place a new item.
  
• UX: Science consumption from Abyssal Tanks is now purple rather than red.
  
• UX: Show active swimmer/flyer range in build menu (min-max).
  
• Fixed bug: Objective rows no longer get stuck red after flicking from complete to not-complete in quick succession.
  
• Fixed bug: Staff with power tools equipped caused all item toggles in advanced tab to be red.
  
• Fixed bug: Could not walk through tunnels in 1st person mode.
  
• Fixed bug: Fixed centre of 'u' tank.
  
• Fixed bug: Build menu refreshes when you unlock a new food via a merchant process, even if the staff tools window was the last one opened.
  
• Fixed bug: Raised parrotfish and triggerfish lower bounds by 5cm.
  
• Modding: Objects hosted on objects hosted by tanks now appear in the right place, both while placing and after placement.
  
• Modding: Objects hosted on objects hosted by tanks now appear in the tank's contents list and affect system chemistry and aquascaping. Animals will not function correctly unless hosted directly on the tank.
  
• Optimisation: Improved load time of research window especially with lots of extra animals from mods.
  
• Optimisation: Staff item/skill toggles on advanced tab reuse data structures to reduce memory allocations.
  
• Optimisation: Enabled Unity's incremental GC.
  
• Miscellaneous: Dumbo Octopus scientific name changed to: Opisthoteuthis Californiana.
  
• Miscellaneous: Upgraded Unity version to 2019.4.40f1. Should be no change in-game but mentioning it in case it introduces any bugs.

Greetings curators!

I want to say one last time, thank you all for the amazing response to the launch of Deep Freeze last month.

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/2574770/Megaquarium_Deep_Freeze__Deluxe_Expansion/

If anyone has enjoyed the expansion, please consider leaving a review on the store page. ːsteamthumbsupː

For the last few weeks I've been working on an update based on all the feedback I've received from the community. I've focused on frequently requested features that could be implemented in a reasonable timeframe. Let's take a look!

As I briefly introduced in last week's post, it's now possible to sort the staff management table by: status, zone, skills and accessory.

As this was a highly requested feature, I'm sure the community already has ideas on how to maximise this feature. Here's what I could come up with myself:

• Sort by highest active skill to make mass levelling up quicker. Just work your way through all the feeders, then the fixers etc. No more hunting for the right button to press.
  
• Sort by zone and then check the 'status' column to see if anyone is idle near the end of the day or visa versa. This insight can be used to rebalance your staff zoning so you're maximising each staff member's productivity.
  
• Similar to above, sort by 'status' to easily see if you have idle staff who can be put to better use.
  
• Sort by 'accessory' to quickly find staff who haven't been assigned an accessory yet.

In my own playtesting I found this feature especially useful when paired with...

Before now, it's not been possible to place the same area in more than one zone. When you added an area to new zone, it was removed from any zone it was currently assigned to.

With the latest update there is now a setting in the Options which, when enabled, will allow your zones to overlap.

I prevented zones overlapping in the original design because I thought having lots of overlapping zones might be confusing for players. Plus, if I'm honest, I didn't understand the use case for this feature... until now.

You see, zones are really useful for stopping your staff from wasting too much time walking. That's because, while staff do prioritise nearby tasks, if the only task available is far away, they'll still do it.

However, it can be quite painstaking to balance your zones perfectly so that staff idleness is minimised, especially for your fixers, because equipment breakdowns are semi-randomised.

I personally found overlapping my fixer zones helped deal with breakdown spikes, while retaining the advantage of zoning, that is: reducing the amount of time spent walking between tasks.

Not to mention, overlapping zones makes it easier to zone the separate jobs (gift shop, cleaning etc.) because each zone is essentially on its own layer, independent of all other zones.

So I'll say it: I'm a convert! And I suspect I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of what can be done.


A quick one to finish with. When you pick up and move a tank, any pumps, compressors and posters that were connected to it before you picked it up will reconnect with it when you place it down (assuming they are still in range!).

This will hopefully make tweaking your aquarium layout a more rewarding experience. :)


That's just the big hitters, as usual there are many bug fixes, balance changes and general improvements. Full changelog below.

Just before I go, there are still a few hours left to nominate Megaquarium for Steam's 'Labor of Love' award. If you haven't voted yet, please consider casting your vote using the link below.

https://steamproxy.net/games/600480/announcements/detail/3864713384553759932

Thanks and enjoy!

Tim Twice Circled

• Feature: You can now sort the staff management table.
  
• Feature: Added setting to the options to allow zones to overlap (default is off).
  
• Feature: Pump, Compressors and Posters reconnect automatically when you move a tank, if the tank is still in range.
  
• Balance: Abyssal animals can now be unlocked with Ecology in 'Everything Available' mode in Sandbox.
  
• Balance: Abyssal animals cost much more Ecology to unlock than regular animals.
  
• Balance: Improved several Deep Freeze Sandbox objectives so they are easier to trigger.
  
• Balance: Reduced the number of animals required to fulfil some of the hardest Deep Freeze Sandbox ARG objectives.
  
• Balance: Staff feed the lowest health animals first.
  
• Balance: However, animals do not regain health unless fully fed (partial feeding is not enough).
  
• Balance: Supplement Manual bonus increased from 40 -> 60.
  
• Balance: Dictaphone bonus increased from 20% -> 25%
  
• Balance: Deep Freeze level 2, otter objective, science requirement reduced to 190. Added '(Check end of message)' to the otter sub-objective.
  
• Balance: Deep Freeze level 1, the message about observation pops up as soon as you place the Antarctic Sea Pig.
  
• UI: Renamed Mirror Anthia -> Mirror Anthias. Purple Queen Anthia -> Purple Queen Anthias.
  
• UI: Changed "Roles" to "Skills" on individual staff window.
  
• UI: Squeezed out a bit more width for skill name in staff management table (helps non-English localisations).
  
• UI: Slightly increased the height of the staff window.
  
• Fixed bug: Plant Destroyer and Breeding function in Passive Mode when they should be disabled.
  
• Fixed bug: Wrong tooltip on light icon on tank window.
  
• Fixed bug: Incorrect access points on Medium Beach Tank, Island Beach Tank and Small Polar Dome.
  
• Fixed bug: Too many overlapping containers on Medium Beach Tank and Island Beach Tank.
  
• Fixed bug: You could place underwater decorations under the cliffs on Small Polar Dome and Mega Polar Dome.
  
• Fixed bug: You could build a bridge through a Large Abyssal Tank.
  
• Fixed bug: Lines to connected Compressors were not shown when you hovered over the tank.
  
• Fixed bug: When placing a new Compressor, invalid tanks were highlighted when they should not have been.
  
• Fixed bug: 'dev mode' level up staff button works again.
  
• Fixed bug: freeze when you try to connect a pump or compressor to a tank before it has finished animating in.
  
• Misc: When mods are copied from Steam's folder to My Games\Megaquarium\ we do the copy and rename in one method call rather than 2. Hoping this reduces chance of permission issue occurring.

Hello all, I've been delighted by the response to the release of Megaquarium's latest DLC: Deep Freeze last month.

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/2574770/Megaquarium_Deep_Freeze__Deluxe_Expansion/

But today I'm here for a different reason. I'd like to ask you to consider nominating Megaquarium for Steam's 'Labor of Love' award. Thank you!

In other news, I've been working on a QOL update for you all based on the feedback I've received since Deep Freeze's release.

There's been a tonne of good ideas coming from the community, but I've focused on the things mentioned by the most players that I could add in a reasonable time-frame.

The headline new feature will be the ability to sort the staff management table!

You'll be able to sort by status, zone, highest skill and accessory. You'll also be able to reset the order back to the default (the order staff were hired), by clicking the button again.

There'll also be some bug fixes, balance changes and a few other things too. Watch this space!

Until next time,
Tim Twice Circled

Hello all! Just a quick post from me to promote a Steam Festival that, as players of Megaquarium, you might be interested in.

Cosy Quest is an event dedicated to cosy games. As the cold nights draw in (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) it's nice to have a few games you can relax with after a tough day.

You can check it out here:

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/sale/CozyQuest2023


Until next time,
Tim TwiceCircled

The latest expansion for Megaquarium: Deep Freeze, is out now!

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/2574770/Megaquarium_Deep_Freeze__Deluxe_Expansion/

I've tried to pull out all the stops on this one. I really hope you enjoy it!

If you're a day-1 buyer, please consider leaving a review on the DLC's store page, once you've had a chance to check it out.

DLCs don't tend to get many reviews and it can be really helpful for prospective players to hear other players' thoughts on them. ːsteamthumbsupː

One final request: The game has gone through rigorous testing but if you notice any bugs while playing, please let me know via the Steam forums.

To celebrate the launch, I've added two new sandbox achievements to the game:

Sandbox Trials - Limited Veteran - In Sandbox mode, have 80 different species of animals in your aquarium using the Limited Supply preset on hard difficulty or higher.

Sandbox Trials - Quick Start Veteran - In Sandbox mode, reach 10,000 Prestige using the Quick Start preset on hard difficulty or higher.

The theme of this pair of achievements is to give veteran players something to reach for in Sandbox mode especially when playing with one or more DLCs. Good luck!

The game has also got a significant update alongside the launch of the expansion. For a more in-depth look at some of the new features check out last week's post:

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/news/app/600480/view/3705957146504027925

This time around I have a full changelog to share with you (see below). This is of course in addition to all the brand new mechanics and features within Deep Freeze itself!

Thanks and enjoy!

Tim Twice Circled

• Feature: You can now toggle each DLC individually during Sandbox setup. Rank up levels will be adjusted accordingly.
  
• Feature: You can toggle on/off care requirements and equipment breakdowns in Sandbox mode.
  
• Feature: Added 'Passive Mode' preset to Sandbox. (Same as Creator mode but has care requirements and breakdowns switched off)
  
• Feature: Basic Divider is now available in base game.
  
• Feature: You can press Page Up/Page Down to levitate in first person mode. You fall back to earth if you move.
  
• Feature: Added latin names for every official animal. Hover over the (i) or the animal portrait to find it.
  
• Feature: U-Shaped tank is now extendable.
  
• Feature: Every object's rank is now shown within it's description (hover over the (i)).
  
• Balance: Staff start with 15 skill at level 1 and gain 30% every level.
  
• Balance: Lemon Shark max size reduced to 75
  
• Balance: Copperband Butterflyfish now eats Live Mysis.
  
• Balance: Clownfish now worth +2 Prestige if with an anemone.
  
• Balance: Prestige reduction for animals with large aquascaping/land requirements
  
• Balance: Prestige increase for combinations of the following factors: large size, greedy, skill required, live food and expensive food.
  
• Balance: Starfish moved from Other Inverts to Echinoderms
  
• Balance: Jellyfish moved from Other Inverts to Jellyfish
  
• Balance: Leopard Clam moved from Anemones, Gorgonians and Clams to Bivalves.
  
• Balance: Capped positive prestige from cheap vending machine and gift shop sales to 6 prestige points.
  
• Balance: Improved flexibility of many sandbox objects to work better when playing on 'limited supply' and 'everything available' presets.
  
• Balance: You are not offered breeding objectives in sandbox if you cannot currently unlock the 'light' required (if any).
  
• Balance: U-shaped tank is now unlocked when you start Carbon City level.
  
• Balance: Large tunnel tank can now support lights.
  
• UI: Level up staff on the management window and their individual staff window.
  
• UI: Option to disable staff level up messages.
  
• UI: Schedule multiple talks at single podium.
  
• UI: Added 'Not in aquarium' toggle which has the same effect of count=0 in the search.
  
• UI: Added range highlight on hover.
  
• UI: New 'enclosed' paperclip icon for messages that have objects inside.
  
• UI: Search by rank, ecology, science and prestige.
  
• UI: 'Skill required' icon is now incorporated into the task icon.
  
• UI: Hide warnings now hides all warnings, even deadly ones.
  
• UI: Reduce maximum search text.
  
• UI: Stop control characters in input boxes.
  
• UI: You can now see if a supplement needs doing today (0/1) or has already been given (1/1).
  
• UI: Breeding parents are stated on Breeder icon at all times.
  
• Graphics: Added shoaling/grouping behaviour to many animals across base game and all DLCs.
  
• Graphics: Reduced water wave in 1st person mode.
  
• Graphics: Improved animals transition between land and water.
  
• Graphics: Fixed minor issues with sponge, broom and mic headset animations.
  
• Fixed bug: You cannot set vending machine and gift shop prices negative.
  
• Fixed bug: Water continued to ripple when paused via entering menu.
  
• Fixed bug: Highlight flickers when hovering near the edge of an object.
  
• Fixed bug: Green Pellet Dispenser was called Greens Pellet Dispenser.
  
• Fixed bug: Hovering over a zone button in the zone menu and pressing escape caused all the zones to remain shown.
  
• Fixed bug: You are no longer offered tanks as "aquascaping" for breeding purposes by Emmanuel Tosh.
  
• Fixed bug: Game froze if you removed the last empty tile within 20 tiles of a guest.
  
• Fixed bug: Podium contribution to ecology/science income estimate is more accurate.
  
• Fixed bug: OSX resolution changes made by editing global.data take effect first time now.
  
• Fixed bug: in some resolutions, the main menu would not return to the centre after it moved to the left at least once.
  
• Fixed bug: if an animal eats another animal when it's been hungry for at least a day, the health loss is not reset correctly.
  
• Fixed bug: staff portrait would sometimes be invisible in zoning menu.
  
• Fixed bug: level file name was shown when first saving after starting a new level.
  
• Optimisation: Animal ledger was updating even when closed under some circumstances.
  
• Optimisation: Sped up sandbox objective generation.

The latest expansion for Megaquarium: Deep Freeze, is coming out next week on the 18th October!

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/2574770/Megaquarium_Deep_Freeze__Deluxe_Expansion/

In this post we're going to check out some of the improvements that will be added to the base game alongside the new DLC's release. These improvements affect all players, whether or not they own any of the DLCs. ːsteamthumbsupː

For starters, it'll be possible to level up your staff directly from the staff management window.

A single click and bam - levelled up!

By default you can continue to level up your staff via the message log as well. However, you can toggle this off and do all your levelling up in the staff window if you like. Very useful in big aquariums!

Next we have a balance change. Currently all staff skills start at 10 and increase 10 every time you level them up. This is simple and easy to understand but leads to a bit of a strange improvement graph. At level 2, they are twice as quick, then gain another 50% at level 3. From there on it's diminishing returns.

This has made the first couple of level-ups much more important than subsequent ones, which I think is a missed opportunity.

With the new update, skills will start at 15 and improve by 30% each level. This makes every single level up important.

In addition levelling all the way to 10 now rewards you with a base skill of 159 (+60% compared to current build). This should go some way to alleviating feeding bottlenecks in huge aquariums.

Salaries will adjust for the changes in skill, so it won't change the economic balance of the game.

This one has been on players' request list for a long time! Some animals will now form groups in the tank.

This is a purely aesthetic change. I'm really pleased with the variation it creates in the display. As an added bonus I've made animals with the 'wingman' tag follow a large animal in the tank, just like symbiotic pilotfish do in the wild!

You will be able to schedule different talks on different days at a single podium thanks to its updated UI.

In addition I've tweaked the simulation/balance a bit: The more valuable the talk, the higher the skill required to give it. Any staff can attempt any talk but if they are not skilled they will take a lot longer to give the talk.

What's more, guests will get bored and wander off mid-talk, leading to less points. On the flip-side, skilled talkers will complete talks in less time while generating their full value.

Since the release of the Architect's Collection I've come to rely on dividers (half walls) to create soft divides in the aquarium. I've decided to make the basic divider part of the vanilla game while all the fancy ones still remain part of the Architect's Collection.

The 'requires skill' icon will appear on top of the task icons, rather than separately. This small change makes it easy to grasp all the important info without looking in multiple places.

This is quite big news! Passive mode is a new sandbox preset which turns off care requirements and equipment breakdowns. You can build an aquarium almost like you're painting a picture.

It's up to you whether you let guests in or if it's a private creation for your eyes only!

Ever wanted to pin down the exact species featured in the game? All official animals will have their latin name listed when you hover over their (i) icon.

The range of an object will be highlighted by hovering over it e.g. Tanks, vending machines, seating, toilets, posters. This can be very helpful when planning your aquarium layout!

Believe it or not, there are still many more improvements I didn't get a chance to mention. Discover them all when the update goes live next week!

Until next time,

Tim Twice Circled

In case you weren't aware, Megaquarium is getting a new expansion: Deep Freeze.

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/2574770/Megaquarium_Deep_Freeze__Deluxe_Expansion/

This time we are focusing on the polar dome, a brand new tank with a whole lot going on.

Polar domes are the first tanks in Megaquarium to have roofs (strictly speaking the abyssal tanks from last week's post share this honour). This deceptively simple addition opens multiple possibilities.

For starters we can keep seabirds. You might not think of these as aquatic creatures but the Atlantic Puffin spends most of its life at sea and only needs land to breed!

From a gameplay perspective, there are two new quantities to track:

• Air Volume - Required for "active flyers" who need plenty of space to swoop.
  
• Perch Capacity - This works similarly to Land Capacity, giving a place for your flying friends to perch between dips in the water.

The other feature of an enclosed tank is that it can be air conditioned. This is necessary for the polar animals who spend some of their time out of the water and are used to chilly conditions!

Air conditioners can be located remotely from your tanks using compressors. These act like pumps but for air instead of water.

Polar animals also introduce a brand new type of aquascaping - enrichment! These objects provide mental stimulation so your animals don't get bored.

Enrichment has unique mechanics compared to other aquascaping: the first object of each type is worth more than subsequent objects of the same type. In other words, variety is key when it comes to meeting enrichment needs.

Each enrichment object is a different size and shape, so there's never a 'one size fits all solution'. In summary: the tank design puzzle just got even more satisfying!

I'm sure many of you will be delighted to read that breeding makes a return in Deep Freeze. This time the focus is on polar mammals and birds.

As you might expect, breeding these animals has its own feel compared to the breeding in Freshwater Frenzy. For example, many of these animals lay just one or two eggs; so it's really important to ensure the tank parameters stay on point.

On the other hand, predation is easier to avoid because the eggs are out of the water limiting the number of hungry animals that have access to them!

Enrichment is not the only aquascaping requirement in Deep Freeze to break with convention. Some of your animals like ice floes to sit on. The only way to create these is to cool the air down to freezing temperatures using extra air conditioning!

But don't worry, there is an unexpected upside! Freezing the floes creates additional land capacity allowing you to create even more stunning polar dome exhibits!

One of my constant goals when designing Megaquarium is to give players as much creative freedom as possible, but with plenty of interesting mechanics to shape that creativity.

With this in mind, I'm really pleased with how polar domes have come together for Deep Freeze. They are the most flexible tank yet - with scope for land, sea and air animals to all live together. Within that flexibility comes so many interesting decisions:

• Will I freeze the ice to create extra land capacity?
  
• Will I build the tank big enough so that flyers have adequate air volume?
  
• But that will increase the air conditioning needs - especially if I'm freezing the ice floes...
  
• And what mix of aquascaping will I spread across the substrate to fulfil the needs of the various fish, mammals and birds I include in the tank?

While the abyssal animals we learned about last week demand a lot of attention from your aquarists and staff management skills, the polar animals demand it from your design skills! My hope is that, together, they'll combine to create a gameplay experience you will really enjoy!

Until next time,

Tim Twice Circled

In case you missed it, Megaquarium is getting a new expansion: Deep Freeze.

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/2574770/Megaquarium_Deep_Freeze__Deluxe_Expansion/

Today we take a deeper look at some of the new abyssal species and the tricky challenges associated with looking after them.

In Deep Freeze you gain access to a new style of tank: The abyssal tank!

These tanks are designed to recreate the conditions found in the abyssal zone so that your creatures feel right at home.

But there's a catch. For the first time in Megaquarium history, these tanks consume science points.

But remember, science points are also used to unlock new equipment. Build too many abyssal tanks and you'll find your research progressing at a sea snail's pace!

Another Megaquarium first! Many abyssal creatures require observation, some as often as every single day.

This means some animals need to be fed, observed and given a supplement in a single day. Thankfully there are some accessories that can help with this - more on that another time!

On the bottom of the ocean, under 3000m of water, there's not enough light for plants to survive. In this region, carnivorous corals thrive, lending crucial aquascaping and decoration to your tanks.

The monstrous Bubblegum Coral grows to 3m tall and needs a constant supply of live mysis shrimp to keep it fed!

You'll only have access to abyssal animals in limited numbers, and that might be a good thing! They need high water quality, have awkward compatibility issues, tricky tank requirements and many eat nothing but live food!

However, if you manage to build a collection and look after them well, they'll reward you and your guests with a show like no other!

Until next time,

Tim Twice Circled