- THE HEART IS STILL BEATING: MODDING, MULTIPLAYER & WHAT’S NEXT - 1 September 2026
Hi everyone! So well, Lifecraft has not been abandoned. We know that there have been some long periods of silence between updates. Development has been slowed down by the same personal and family circumstances we mentioned in previous posts. These circumstances are still affecting the pace of development, but work on Lifecraft is continuing. A lot of recent work has happened behind the scenes. Some of it may not immediately look like new game content, but it is building the foundations for several major systems that we have wanted to introduce for a long time. Most of the work has been done code wise, since the graphics-art part was struggling with life events (hence the delays). MODDING MAY ARRIVE SOONER THAN EXPECTEDWhile reorganizing the game’s internal systems, we prepared almost all of the underlying infrastructure required for modding. There is still work to do before modding…
- Circulation, Scale & UI improvements (again) - 3 February 2026
Hi everyone!We’re back with some updates on the development, here’s what we’re currently working on:PATHWAYS & DOCUMENTATIONWe are upgrading the Pathways, adding more details that hopefully will help everyone getting the hang of the complex game interactions, from basics to more intricate systems. Each system will have a pathway image explaining and linking to the more in depth documentation.EXTRACELLULAR CIRCULATIONW’re also working on the extracellular circulatory system. We are developing Heart Pumps and large vessels designed to transport massive quantities of materials between different extracellular zones. This infrastructure will be vital for managing resources as your organism grows larger and more complex.INTRACELLULAR AND EXTRACELLULAR GAME SCALE We are currently evaluating a potential change to the scale between the intracellular and extracellular layers. Our goal is to give…
- UI, Interactions & getting warm with lipids - 15 January 2026
Hi everyone,We’ve been reading your feedback, and it’s clear that the UI can be confusing and some mechanics aren't as intuitive as they should be. We are still working on finishing and fully integrating the Pathways with the in-game guide, but in the meantime, we wanted to implement some immediate solutions to help with clarity. PINNABLE TOOLTIPS & SYMBOLSTo help you navigate the complexity of the game, we’ve made tooltips pinnable and interactive. You can now hover over tooltips to click through and follow the flow of required items and recipes without losing track of what you are building. Additionally, we’re working on updating the tooltips to document and explain the various symbols used throughout the UI, so you aren't left guessing what an icon means. INTERACTION IMPROVEMENTSWe’ve added more flexibility to how you interact with structures. You can now use the Hand Tool to pic…
- Blueprints, Logic Refactors & Modding Prep! - 16 December 2025
MAJOR UPDATE Blueprints, Logic Refactors & Modding Prep!Hi everyone!We’re finally back with a Lifecraft update! First off, we want to apologize for the silence recently. We haven’t updated the game for some months because Silvio (XsX) had some serious personal family issues that slowed down development. While these issues are still present, work has fully resumed, and we’re eager to share the recent updates with you.This update brings the long-awaited Blueprint system, a complete overhaul of transport logic (both intra and extracellular), and prepares the ground for modding.ㅤㅤㅤㅤBLUEPRINTS & LABELSWe have implemented the Blueprint System. You can now create blueprints of your structures and share them with friends via a clipboard string. In Survival mode, you can use diffusers and dispatchers to construct these blueprints automatically, or simply place them freely to plan your layout. We…
- Lifecraft is evolving again! - 11 April 2025
HELLO EVERYONE! Here we are to update you about upcoming updates for Lifecraft! We spent a lot of time implementing a flexible system to manage and let organism live inside and outside your organism. Things started little but during the way we understood it was necessary to have a proper goal-oriented AI system to manage what the cells will do and how they'll handle their priorities so the system itself became HUGE. That's why at some point we changed our focus to start working on a very useful feature, both for us and both for you: a blueprint system together with library and a way to share the schematics beween players. BLUEPRINT SYSTEM The much requested blueprints system is coming! We plan to roll it out in the next 1-2 weeks on the nightly build. The first version will be available only on sandbox to be tested, then we'll add it to survival games too (which requires more work as bl…
- Lifecraft is now available on macOS! - 15 January 2025
Hi everyone! The macOS version of Lifecraft, supporting both Apple Silicon and Intel is finally here. It should play exactly like before, just on a different system! If you notice any issue, please let us know on Discord, just like always. Meanwhile, we’re continuing to work on hatching mechanics to defend against bacteria, boost your defenses by growing them, and prepare for future threats. We'll post soon more updates regarding that.
- Lifecraft 0.2.0 Digestion update has been released! - 19 December 2024
Hi everyone! The Lifecraft 0.2.0 Digestion update has been released! This update focuses on the much talked digestion and extracellular updates going finally public! We've also introduced a lot of user interface changes and quality-of-life improvements, making the game much easier and more streamlined to play. We’ve implemented many suggestions (including those from negative reviews—yes, we’re listening). Here's a bunch: Pick and drop multiple items with shift Better microtubule placement Drag and drop items Automate Intracellular building It also marks the beginning of our first extracellular expansion: digestion! You can now expand your cell with extracellular digestive tissue on a much larger scale. Exchange digested materials with appropriate stoma, tanks, vessels and anus structures, and then use them to further expand your cell. We also wanted to add new organisms that are current…
- The road to digestion - 2 December 2024
Hi everyone! In recent weeks we’ve been working on many features, we’re going to list some of the major ones below. Pathfinding system has been completely revamped, which is laying the groundwork for more advanced features like hemocytes breeding (more on that later). Previously, bubble paths were zig-zagging between chunks, which didn’t feel quite right. We’ve reprogrammed them so that bubble paths are now direct, making them look more organic and move faster. We’ve introduced hemocytes (tiny defensive creatures) as a new type of extracellular defense. You’ll need to breed and grow them. They have their own unique minds and automatically decide where to patrol, defending your extracellular zones from bacterial activity. This brings new extracellular structures: the incubator, the feeder and the niche. Almost all the extracellular structures have been redrawn in much more detail to keep…
- Lifecraft big (literally) updates - 24 October 2024
Hi everyone! We've been a bit quiet lately, but time has flown by as we've been hard at work on the digestion update, which is also laying down big foundations of the game core system. As we were working on the extracellular systems we noticed that there wasn't enough distinction between the intracellular and extracellular zones, it didn't felt right! That's why we reprogrammed it from the ground so that the extracellular zones now operates on a much larger scale compared to the intracellular gameplay. Integrating these two different mechanics seamlessly required significant rework of the engine but we're finally satisfied with the results! We also have huge extracellular tissue stacks. We've also worked on the extracellular building and dispatch system. Using tiny bricks you will see the structures grow. It looks really nice and is highly configurable. Defending against bacteria in the…
- Lifecraft Primordial Digestion Nightly - 16 August 2024
Hello everyone! We're moving toward the first big update of Lifecraft, that will add the first subsystem: digestion! This first part of digestion will include small intestine and it will be a simple way to consume food that will get more complicated over time with future updates. We spent last 2 months working on a lot of core features of the game that will be used for all the extracellular systems that will come. This update allows a first primordial digestion through specialized buildings which absorb and dispose of food and a special tank building which is able to digest nutrients and will be used in the future in other subsystems. We're quite satisfied with the result so far but we had to lay infrastructure for core mechanics like: extracellular buildings, which are not directly build but must be build through dispatchers vessels which can join to structures and can have flows which…
- Lifecraft Modding - 10 June 2024
Hello everyone! In these days we're working to the new update but meawhile we're investing some time in exploring how modding would integrate with the game. The game already supports a basic modding infrastructure but to properly make it work a lot of steps must be taken. Mind that the game is developer on a custom C++ engine so we don't have anything out of the box! define a native interface which "exposes" to modders all the feature of the game, this would allow efficient compiled mods as DLLs choose a scripting language to write mods, to provide a less efficient but easier to use interface define the bridge between native and scripted interface to bind all the calls define how to properly manage mods in save games (how to enable/disable them, how to keep track of versions and interactions and so on) finally implement the functionality on SteamWorks (or even better a custom in game in…
- v0.1.0e - Lysosomes and polarization - 30 May 2024
Hello everyone! Welcome to our newest patch, v0.1.0e. This version comes from the nightly branch to bring to everyone lysosomes and a new algorithm for item transportation on tubules! Lysosomes can be used to recycle structures and they will have future purposes with next upcoming big update (someone said digestion?). The microtubules flow, as explained in a previous devlog, has been changed to behave more naturally, with less intervention and frustration from your part. We feel like this new mechanics can override the existing one and it should work out of the box on your existing worlds, with just minor issues. We also added a pathways view (can be opened with P) which show how elements of the game interact between themselves, to give you a overall idea of what you are supposed to do. It's still experimental and we plan to expand it with all the included mechanics to be a navigable ma…
- Microtubules, these strangers - 20 May 2024
Today we want to explain some mechanics regarding microtubules. In our initial (and current) design, microtubules have no direction, only items have it, this means that the same microtubule can be used to move items in any direction as long as an item is moving in any direction over it. So once an item has momentum it will keep moving, but if you pick and drop it again in the middle of a tubule then it won't start moving again (unless there's a kicker beneath it). This is quite different from the similar games you're used to and it seemed to have thrown many of our players off course. That's why we're experimenting a new algorithm which simplifies the management through an automatic polarization of microtubules according to how pickers are using them. Let's show this with an example picture which is definitely cleared: As you can see, microtubules now have a direction which is dynamical…
- Nightly Branch - 17 May 2024
Hello everyone! We're working on a lot of additions to the game but in the meanwhile we thought it would have been nice to let you peek and play the content! That's why we enabled a nightly branch which can be accessed without any password directly from your Steam clients. We will use this branch to deploy unfinished features and let you test them, currently we added: lysosomes to recycle structures and materials a new microtubule flow algorithm which automatically decides the flow for your items a pathways view which explain the main interaction between things in the game, that will be expanded to cover all the game mechanics You can verify the current nightly changelog directly within the game from the changelog button in main menu Meanwhile we're working toward first breedable organism (a scout cell!) and more refined heap management for expansion and possibly internalization of them…
- v0.1.0d - 30 April 2024
Hello everyone! This patch addresses some usability issues reported by the players.We uniformed all the overall game window scale so that you can customize them altogether with the global interface scale setting, which now affects also main menu. Some interactions(namely : stash and assemble) has been moved to opposite mouse button compared to now to avoid confusion, a setting to swap left / right mouse buttons with respect to world / item interactions has been added. Tutorial has been improved and what you can do with the mouse is now shown near the cursor. We started working on a feature which will guide you in a visual way throughout the progression of what you can do, we'll update you with more info shortly! Meanwhile have fun with this update! Changelog: Improved tutorial to add more informations Doubled starting aminoacid heap content(temporarily) Fixed mouse cursor alignment at h…
- v0.1.0c - 23 April 2024
Hello everyone! Following your feedback (especially your merciless reviews) we implemented a more readable and clearer font which will hopefully solve many readability problems! Some of you had problems in distinguishing items, so we added a colorblind mode too. Please provide us some feedback regarding the new font, which it's still work in progress. In addition we fixed some crashes, enhanced some gameplay aspects and improved overall UI controls, we still have a lot of things to do, we'll slowly get there! Here's the changelog: Added colorblind mode(options->gfx) Added ttf font(option->ui) which should solve all readability problems Added viewport scroll to mouse when zooming in (options->controls) Added viewport scroll to mouse when zooming out (options->controls) Added viewport scroll at window edge (options->controls) Map generation shouldn’t create isolated resources anymore Fixe…
- v0.1.0b - 17 April 2024
Hello! We tracked down all the issues reported in reviews, steam community and Discord and we tried to fix as many as possible to improve the overall gaming experience. Thank you for your support, mind that this is an Early Access release so some patience is necessary to smooth all the things. We kindly encourage you to allow yourself some time to grasp the mechanics of the game to fully enjoy it! Here's the changelog: Improved some images in the quick guide to explain how to use pickers Oxidation uses are now 4x on primitive buildings Disposable buildings now drop themselves if their oxidation is
- We're proud to announce that Lifecraft has been released on Steam! - 16 April 2024
We're proud to announce that Lifecraft is finally out on Steam! This Early Access release is just the beginning of this long journey. We're really excited to see where this will bring us! If you find bugs or have questions, make sure to join our Discord. https://discord.com/invite/QVkwT3nm2U (Thanks to our Discord community for the great feedback and suggestions you gave us in these months, you helped us to make the game ready for Early Access launch!) See you in the microworld!
- macOS and Linux support - 5 April 2024
Hello everyone! You may wonder if we intended to leave macOS and Linux users behind, well the answer is no! The game is already compiling and working natively (even on Silicon architecture) on both these platforms so expect prompt support after the Early Access release. We are deferring these operating systems after launch to first be sure that everything is enough smooth and stable. Here there are two screenshots to show you what we're talking about:
- Lifecraft development roadmap - 24 March 2024
Hello everyone! Here's a glimpse of what's in the future development pipeline of Lifecraft. Keep in mind that nothing has been set in stone, but we would like to expand every part of the game systems in a very detailed and fun way. Depending on the game reception we'll also consider multiplayer and modding, which are two important milestones for the project, we think those will make the game complete in every way. Who doesn't want to build cells with their friends? Or maybe plants cells? See you at release!
