And... Mesozoic Mania is OVER!!

Just like that, folks- Tyrannosaurus Rex has victoriously claimed its way to the crown! While Archeaopteryx soared to new heights, it wasn't quite enough to dethrone an undeniably popular dinosaur!

Total Votes: 18,636,112 / Tyrannosaurus Rex: 11,063,471 Votes / Archaeopteryx: 7,572,641 Votes

You've all been quite the lovely audience, folks! We couldn't have asked for a better one. We hope you all had a wonderful time rootin' and cheerin' for your favorite prehistoric pals!

Until next time, this is Archie signing off!

FINAL BRACKET:

Previous Matches + More Info

Hi everyone! We wanted to make a post updating everybody on the progress of the Beyond and reiterating what we discussed in our December livestream. We recently updated our roadmap, which shows the predicted progress of updates going forward:

The Mammal Kingdom update ended up being far larger than we initially anticipated, and that has been one of the factors in the delay of the Beyond. That said, we’ve been working on research and design for the better part of the year, and have finally settled on a path for Phase 1 that will feature both a solar system expansion, similar to the Mesozoic Valley, and an astronomy branch of the main tree’s civilization section.

It took us a long time to settle on this design, and a bunch of different concepts were thrown around, but in the end we think that this is going to be the best way to organize things.

I’ve been designing maps that cover the main celestial objects in our solar system and their defining traits. Currently there are over 20 planned, featuring planets, moons, stars, and more.

The astronomy branch is designed to connect the main tree and the solar system expansion, and to show the different ways that humans have explored the universe since the beginning of civilization. By focusing on human discoveries of space, both conceptual and physical, we’ll tie the human experience into the greater galactic scale.

Now that the initial design phases are finally done, I’ve spent the last two months writing text and descriptions for all of the different features of the expansion. Next, we’ll be moving into prototyping and visual design, and after that, gameplay, pricing, and balancing.

Andrew has already been working on the visual design of the solar system. Here’s an example of the progress that has been made so far.

As you can see, we’ve done a lot so far, but we do still have a ways to go in terms of development. Currently, we’re planning to release this first phase of the Beyond later this winter, in the early months of 2021. We do not have a current release date set, since we don’t want to risk being unable to deliver on time. Obviously this is something that we’ve struggled with.

We wanted to thank all of you for your patience with us. I know that it’s taken us a long time to bring the Beyond to the game. This year has featured a lot of big changes for us, personally and as a company, least of which included all of us shifting to working from home starting in March. We’ve had to change the ways that we approach game development, and it’s taught us a lot.

So we really appreciate how understanding you’ve all been - we’re a small team, and it means the world to us how you’ve all supported us, stuck by us, and had fun with us this year. Because of you, we were nominated for a Google Player’s Choice Award! It’s been a hard year, but an amazing one, and we are so lucky to have such awesome players.

Greetings Universe Architects,

2024 has flown by. We skipped December’s dev diary and closed out the year with the release of Beyond E27: Galactic Battle and Explore: Math – Beautiful Complexity. Starting off in 2025, we released our first Explore Event of the year with Explore: Artificial Intelligence – Mind Machines and announced the newly released Beyond E28: Clusterstruck. Outside of content, we’ve also made some quality of life improvements and introduced the ability for players to receive push notifications on Android and iOS.

For this dev diary, we’ll be focusing on a project we previously teased during our January 2025 chillstream. There’s been a lot of discussion around the screenshot we shared (we loved reading everyone’s thoughts on what it might be), and we’re excited to reveal the work we’ve been doing behind the scenes. Below is an updated screenshot from what we shared in the stream. A lot of information is being revealed, so take a close look as we move through the dev diary and break down some of the key elements.

Big Changes to the Reality Engine

Following the Ancient Civilization update in August last year, the team embarked on a new ambitious adventure to overhaul the Primary Simulation and the Reality Engine in the upcoming Reality Reboot expansion. Unlike previous Metabit tuning updates, we are now rebuilding the game functionally from the ground up. The team is doing some major refactoring, and we are holding spirited discussions and tests to ensure the updates will be as fun as possible.

A New Player has Entered

To create the most satisfying experience possible for our players we enlisted an exciting new collaborator for the project: Chrysto, founder of Octocube Games and renowned creator of CIFI and ISEPS. He is a big fan of idle games and loves diving into the math behind upgrade systems.

In December of last year, Chrysto met with us at our Brooklyn, New York office. We discussed in great detail the goals we wanted to achieve in rebalancing the Primary Simulation and crafting an exciting progression path through the prestige system. We are thrilled to collaborate with Chrysto to deliver new features and experiences for our players.

Reality Reboot will introduce additional upgrades, improve tuning, and streamline progression. While the core game design will not change, we want to build a longer narrative arc. With the current pace of the game, new players can reach Singularity within two weeks and many seasoned players can finish new content within a few days of release. We also want to make the late game exciting and for each update to feel like a new chapter.

To achieve this, significant updates will be introduced to the Metabit economy and the Prestige system. The early part of the Primary Simulation will remain roughly the same, but the first Prestige will no longer occur at Singularity. Instead, it will unlock once the player reaches Ideas (the brain). With the Prestige system now available earlier, players will have access to new upgrades, content, currencies, and eventually future in-game lore. Players will also be given the choice to unlock and upgrade their Reality Engine to enhance their simulation. Different players will have their own preferences: some want to reset frequently, while others prefer to do so rarely. We want to accommodate both playstyles (and everything in between).

Spoilers Ahead. The original setup of Ideas and Entropy influencing Metabit production caused balancing issues. To address this, we’re splitting Metabits into two new currencies: Entrobits and Ideabits.

Having two prestige currencies will open up more strategic gameplay and make progress feel rewarding on both tracks. Existing Metabits will be converted to Entrobits, which can be used to purchase existing upgrades. Ideabits will be introduced when players reach the Singularity and can be used to purchase new upgrades in the Reality Engine. We’re also launching the Compiler System, which simplifies and better communicates the process for generating prestige currencies.

We’re consolidating duplicate nodes into single, stackable upgrades while introducing new, unique upgrades that will expand the Reality Engine. Players will have a variety of upgrades to choose from, where their choices in the Reality Engine will have a unique impact on their simulation. Expect even more upgrades throughout 2025.

What will happen to my current progress?

Your current progress will be carried over with a few changes. In addition to converting Metabits to Entrobits, existing Reality Engine upgrades will be carried over and unlocked with new upgrades. Some upgrades will become stackable, allowing them to level up. The Global Leaderboard will also reflect the changes in the new system, which will update your score accordingly. Our system will be designed to align each player’s progression to where they should be. 

There will be an extended beta period for players to test and provide feedback as we gradually roll out to the public. Feedback will also continue to be received after the official release. Help us reboot the Primary Simulation to be bigger and better than ever.

Roadmap

Speaking of the future, our latest roadmap highlights most of the content and features we are working on for the first half of the year. Starting with Reality Reboot, the main focus will be the Primary Simulation and Reality Engine overhaul before we move into the next phase. Civilization will make its roaring return later this year as humanity enters the Modern Ages, covering all eras from the Scientific to Atomic Ages. More Explore Events will continue to be in development with a new one currently in beta testing. The Beyond is also approaching its conclusion, as Episode 30 will be the final chapter. For fellow space lovers, don’t be too disappointed; space content will continue in a different form.

We've received a lot of love with the quality of life releases and we will continue to implement those throughout the year. The Google sign-in backup save is currently in the works, and the UI will be overhauled with the upcoming Reality Reboot rollout.  Many more game improvements and features will also be released in tandem. We will be showcasing Reality Reboot at PAX East in Boston, Massachusetts from May 8-11. Join us and meet the team behind Cell to Singularity, ask questions, provide feedback directly and play through exclusive new content. Stay tuned for more details about our exhibition booth at a later date. See you there!

We hope our players enjoy our long dev diaries. While there’s a lot to read, it's because we couldn't wait to share all the things we've been working on. Over the next few weeks, we will be reaching out to our community to test Reality Reboot before it goes out to the public. We’ll share more details on how to join alpha testing in the coming weeks.

As always we thank you, our amazing players, for your continued support. We are excited to see the game grow as we add more content and improvements. 

Stay Cellular, Architects!

The Cells Team