This is a major feature update that opens up some really big possibilities for power users, as well as some really helpful features for getting started in NeuraQuarium. Let's dive in.

Automated Settings Transitions

The new Settings Transition Manager allows you to load, customize, schedule, queue, loop, and even smoothly switch between different Simulation Settings profiles over the life of the simulated world. For example, you can:

• Start a simulation with cheaper reproduction, more food, and less wall damage, wait until the population grows to a set threshold, and then smoothly transition to "default" settings over the course of several hours
• Design "seasons" and schedule them to gradually blend into each other, looping back to re-start each "year"
• Apply any desired change to the environment slowly over time automatically, avoiding population shocks

Your transition schedule is part of your save game and will persist through saves and loads.

Save and Load Settings Profiles

You can now save your custom settings as a file and load the profile in another sim. You can also load saved settings profiles into the Transition Manager to schedule them.

New Settings

A number of new environment settings are available to adjust. 

• Partnered Reproduction Cost (% of base)
  • You can now adjust the cost of reproducing with a partner compared to asexual reproduction
• Maturation Multiplier
  • Scale the speed at which critters grow from eggs or juveniles to adults
• Metabolism Multiplier
  • Affects the energy cost of just about everything. Adjust this one with care!
• Temperature Tolerance
  • Lets you adjust the range within which critters don't feel the negative effects of being outside their ideal temperature
• Temperature Effect Multiplier
  • Scales how big those penalties are, as well as the bonus juveniles get for being close to their ideal temp
• Nut Nutrition
  • How much energy is in a maximum size nut
• Protein Efficiency Multiplier
  • Scales the bonus critters get for having protein in their system (keeping them full for longer)
• Weed Growth Factor
  • A new feature hidden behind this setting -- the weeds can now grow and multiply, or shrink and die away! Be careful with this one, though, as big numbers of weeds can both clog your CPU and cook your critters!
• Heat Diffusion Multiplier
  • Scales the power of heat sources -- makes it easy to create warmer maps without adding additional heaters or weeds, or cool the temp down in spite of having lots of weeds.

Due to the larger number of options, the settings are now divided into "Critters" and "Environment" tabs.

The Demo of the game has also been updated to include all these features. As ever, the only constraint on the demo is that you can't save your game or critters.