Crescent Loom

Devlog

• Changelog (HTML, PC, Mac) — Aug 1, 2023
  August 02, 2023 by Olive

  4

  Changelog Updated the version number on the main screen to 1.0.1 Fixed creature names in the public server from being cut off somewhere in the Ts; y'all have been making more creatures fast and it exc... Continue reading
• Officially hitting 1.0
  January 02, 2023 by Olive

  7

  The State Of Development Not going to bury the lede: with the start of 2023, I'm officially moving Crescent Loom to 1.0. Outside of funded projects (i.e. grant-funded work), I'm not planning on adding... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (HTML, PC) — Nov 3, 2022
  November 03, 2022 by Olive

  2

  Minor bugfixes: Fixed crash when deleting a neuron that you have selected Fixed selecting multiple muscle neurons at the same time... Continue reading
• Changelog (all platforms) — Aug 25, 2022
  September 25, 2022 by Olive

  3

  Version 0.7.21 I've brought all versions of the game (PC, Mac, Linux, HTML5) up to speed with the fixes over the last year or so. Highlights from this past year include: Support for private pools New... Continue reading
• Changelog (html5) — July 26, 2022
  July 26, 2022 by Olive

  3

  New race level! No longer can you just slap on a jet and pacemaker and call it a day. Presenting Lapiz Lanes : I also increased the limit of creatures being returned from the server from 1000 to 5000... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (html5 & PC) — Nov 11, 2021
  November 05, 2021 by Olive#changelog

  Features: The order of creatures in the race is now randomized. Creature names are shown above each one during races. New "Flex Neuron" with options to basically make any other type of neuron in the g... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (html5) — October 11, 2021
  October 11, 2021 by Olive

  1

  Features: You can duplicate ganglia. Sensory & motor neurons will become “ghosts” in the new ganglia, which you can drag a real sensory/motor neuron onto to replace. Added a instructions to make a... Continue reading

  
• Small bugfix (html5)
  June 26, 2021 by Olive

  3

  v0.7.16a I've uploaded a small bugfix on html5 for both the base game and Connectome Explorer . It will still exist on native versions of the game until the next normal update. Modifying a brain while... Continue reading
• Changelog (HTML5 & PC) — June 21, 2021
  June 21, 2021 by Olive

  1

  #changelog

  Version 0.7.16. I've deployed the HTML5 and PC versions and plan to do the same for Mac later this week. Options are saved to browser localstorage for html5 — you'll no longer need to uncheck the ma... Continue reading
• Wicklog 32: Refactors, race mode (again), and Loomapalooza
  May 25, 2021 by Olive

  3

  #wicklog

  Hi friends! It’s ya grl olive (they/she pronouns) As always, I am grappling with uncertainties regarding The Work. The basic cycle for making a game is to spend a number of years developing, make a... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (all platforms) — May 22, 2021
  May 23, 2021 by Olive

  1

  Version 0.7.15 This is an update to both the base game and the Connectome Explorer , for html5, windows, mac, and linux. Getting them all compiled & QA'd took me a good full day x_x I'm planning on wr... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (html5) — April 13, 2021 (race mode!)
  April 14, 2021 by Olive

  4

  Version 0.7.13 — Race mode! Race mode race mode race mode! You can select up to four creatures (local or from the server) and plop 'em into a short corridor. First creature that reaches the end wins... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (html5) — March 20, 2021
  March 20, 2021 by Olive

  1

  Version 0.7.10 This is a small update in preparation for CL being used in a biology course. Exciting! As such, it mostly focuses on UI and visibility of neuronal activity. Graphs have been changed to... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (html5) — March 8, 2021
  March 09, 2021 by Olive

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  Version 0.7.9 Lots of under-the-hood changes y’all won’t notice unless it broke something & triggers a crash, but my life is way better. Biggest visible change to note is a menu reorganization; th... Continue reading
• Changelog (html5) — January 19, 2021
  January 20, 2021 by Olive

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  For version 0.7.5: Render optimization; e.g. particles, creatures, decor are each drawn in a single step. Performance is tricky to tell if there's a difference, as always, but I think I'm getting fewe... Continue reading
• Small bugfix for Seewee Bay
  December 25, 2020 by Olive

  1

  Small update: I've uploaded a fix (for PC, Mac, html 5) to the cyan screen of death on Seewee Bay. Thank you to those who let me know something was going on. Also, merry Christmas! It's my birthday to... Continue reading
• Wicklog 31: Connectome Explorer for remote classes
  November 23, 2020 by Olive

  Hello, it is I, Olive, still alive. Since the last update, I’ve started HRT (or as I like to call them, my ~titty skittles~), restarted blasting my unsuspecting follicles with lasers (going back to... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (all platforms) — November 23, 2020
  November 23, 2020 by Olive

  For version 0.7.4: Major changes/fixes: Added modulatory synapse type — it increases/decreases the effect of OTHER nearby synapses. Added creature autosave — if desktop crashes/closes in a strange... Continue reading
• Wrist injury; update delayed
  July 31, 2020 by Olive

  4

  Hi all, I've been sitting on an update that's about 75% ready for a couple weeks now. It has some things I'm quite excited to share (60 FPS! Modulatory synapses! New body parts!) but, unfortunately, w... Continue reading
• Wicklog 30: Racial Justice & The Empowerment Of Manuals
  June 28, 2020 by Olive

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  #wicklog

  Soooo — the world is cooking and police are shooting people in the streets. I spent the first week of June incapacitated with guilt and shame for not doing more; not fighting, not putting my body on... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (all platforms) — June 16, 2020
  June 17, 2020 by Olive

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  #changelog

  For version 0.7.1: Major changes/fixes: Made step-by-step pattern guides for four creatures (press "H" to bring up the window; it also opens by default on a game start). I'm really interested in heari... Continue reading
• Wicklog 29: (Galaxy) Brain Expansion
  April 15, 2020 by Olive

  2

  #wicklog

  Hope all's as well as it can be with folks. I'm in a solid quarantine-crew and was able to keep my day-job, so I'm about as safe as one can be. This international crisis has let me take a lot of press... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 28: Scaling down & personal revelations
  October 30, 2019 by Olive

  1

  I'm going through the BART turnstile and look up — and who is it but Mattias Lehman, an old friend who recently left Riot games to work as an activist in the Sunrise Movement . We talk and catch up... Continue reading

  
• Mac hotfix
  July 13, 2019 by Olive

  1

  I got a heads-up that the mac build was broken on Mojave, so I tracked down a Mojave machine to re-compile it. Seems to have worked like a charm! If it was instantly crashing for you on Mac before, th... Continue reading
• Wicklog 27: NO DICE
  June 12, 2019 by Olive

  The grant-folk didn't go for it, not even close. The submission got a score of 65 out of 100. I have two reactions: Me: This is disappointing, but par for the course. Getting grants is hard, and it's... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 26: educational grant submission!
  April 22, 2019 by Olive

  Grant! Woof, the last wicklog was in January? I really let these slip. However! I have been writing. A lot. Out of the avenues for getting funding , I think that grant-writing is the best choice for C... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (html5) — January 13, 2019
  January 14, 2019 by Olive#changelog

  I'm going to start trying to post consolidated changelogs whenever I update the files, in addition to the longer-form wicklogs . I'll tag these with the platforms I'm deploying on in the title. For ex... Continue reading
• Wicklog 25: load it faster, draw it fewer, show it better
  January 11, 2019 by Olive

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  #wicklog

  Happy new year! It's been a good start for me, especially compared to the emotional wasteland of the last few months. I've started seeing a therapist, am surrounded by housemates who care about me, st... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 24: neuroscientists, new build, and the fossil record
  November 17, 2018 by Olive#wicklog

  Taking a break from development has hardly felt like a break. I attended a handful of conferences (XOXO, Intentional Play, and Society for Neuroscience) and life always finds a way to fill any empty s... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 23: Here's the plan
  August 30, 2018 by Olive

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  #wiklog

  Back in the states. Stugan was great, friendship is the real treasure , etc. Reflecting, one of the things I heard the most from visiting industry professionals & Stugan alumni was: "I came here think... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 22: Friendship is the real treasure
  July 26, 2018 by Olive

  1

  #wicklog

  Twenty game developers in the Swedish woods for six weeks. How has that been going, huh? Turns out a lot can get done in a focused, community-supported environment. People are helping me! Background:... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 21: Emotional Loops & Summer Roadmap
  June 26, 2018 by Olive#wicklog

  Stugan Hello from Sweden! Today's my first day at the Stugan summer workshop, where 20 game devs (including myself) are going to be working on our respective projects for two months. It's a beautiful... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (html5, PC, Mac, Linux) — June 26, 2018
  June 26, 2018 by Olive#changelog

  Notable bugs: Sound is broken. I think this is due to me upgrading to windows 10. (windows) I changed the options system for neurons, so if you load an existing creature you won't be able to change th... Continue reading
• Wicklog 20: Exposing hidden mechanics, backwards compatibility, and Stugan
  June 01, 2018 by Olive

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  Stugan I'm going to Sweden!! Stugan is a 2-month workshop for about 20 developers to focus on a goal while in a cabin out in the woods. They bring in mentors, and there's a focus on collaboration & ma... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 19: Level editor & ghost bugs.
  March 18, 2018 by Olive

  First, quick note: while asking around the edu tech community about how to proceed with CL, I met Mikael Uusi-Mäkelä, one of the people responsible for MinecraftEdu , and he asked if I wanted to wri... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 18: Minecraft & Language Change
  February 18, 2018 by Olive

  Minefaire At my very first showing of Crescent Loom, a child walked up to my booth and said, "Is this Minecraft?". "Not quite!", I replied, launching into my pitch. "It's a game where you can build a... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog 17: New Trailer & Orientation Sensor
  January 17, 2018 by Olive#wicklog, #trailer, #content

  For the indie fund application, I finally cut together the first trailer since before the Kickstarter. It's satisfying to look back and see how much I've refined my pitch for the game: For your refere... Continue reading

  
• Wicklog #16: Avenues for ca$h, school visit, GUI improvements
  December 18, 2017 by Olive

  Govt Grant: Turns out asking for free money from the government is really hard . The National Science Foundation has a program called the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant , whose "fundi... Continue reading

  
• Changelog (html5, PC, Mac) — November 14, 2017
  November 14, 2017 by Olive#changelog

  Heya, small update; I’m giving a guest lecture & demonstration of CL at Reed College tomorrow morning. Updated html5, windows, and mac. I’ll get linux on the next one, promise. Changelog: Removed... Continue reading
• Open Development!
  November 01, 2017 by Olive

  With the wrap-up of my Kickstarter campaign , Crescent Loom is now in open development . This means that the game is far from being done -- so it's not technically a "beta" or early access -- and stab... Continue reading
• Wicklog #9 - Fancy graphics, avoiding invisible functionality, and game juiciness.
  July 18, 2017 by Olive

  “I’ve added most of the systems,” I said to myself. “There’s not that much left to add to the basic engine, right? Make some objectives, polish the tutorial, iron out the physics bugs. It’... Continue reading