Kasi news & patch notes

Kasi version 1.4.0 adds local multiplayer and changes the way plant growth works.

Local Multiplayer

Kasi can now be played by multiple people on the same machine. To do this, go to Settings > Gameplay and turn on Multiplayer. Once multiplayer is enabled, each connected controller, as well as the mouse and keyboard, will get its own cursor to grow and manipulate a plant independently. The camera can only be moved or zoomed when no one is growing the plant.

Growth Mechanic Changes

The way in which plants grow has been completely overhauled. Plants require water and light to grow. Bigger plants require more of these. The energy bar has been replaced with the growth bar. Growth is gained by satisfying both the water and light requirements of a plant. The growth bar will rise quickly when water and light are plentiful, and it will fall slowly when they are not. Growth affects both the speed at which branches thicken as well as how many branches can fit on one node. For example, previously, all normal tree branches could hold 4 leaves. Now, in order to have more than 2, you need a medium amount of growth. In order the have 4 your growth must be almost full. If you manage make your growth exceed 100%, it is even possible to have 5 or 6 leaves on one branch. The net affect of these changes should be to normalize difficulty across plant sizes. It will be much easier for smaller plants to grow than before, while it will be slightly harder than before for larger plants.

New Achievements

There are a few new achievements to get. One achievement, "kama wawa", has been removed, as it does not make much sense with the new growth mechanics.

Palette Documentation

Palettes are a feature of the game that is unknown to most players. They are effectively color packs that can be created and used for different plants (a bit like a Minecraft texture pack). A few people had asked how this feature worked, so I have created full documentation. The documentation can be opened from the game by going to This Plant > Palette > Palettes help. You can also visit the page directly here.

Full Changelog

Version 1.4.0 (2021-03-07) - Overhaul growth mechanics - Add local multiplayer - Add more achievements - Fully document palettes - Flowers have petals - Flower circles on leaves are considered UI - Bugfixes

Kasi version 1.3.0 adds aquatic plants, lighting improvements, and many other small changes.

Water and Aquatic Plants

When creating a new plant, you can now generate a world with pools of water. The wetness slider determines whether it will just be a few small puddles or a great lake. Branches and roots that grow into water become seaweed. Seaweed stems have leaves that absorb light like regular leaves, and seaweed stems absorb water. Seaweed leaves glow in darkness. Bring seaweed to the surface to create a lily pad. Lily pads absorb light, and some have flowers. Lily pads also allow the spider to cross water.

Lighting Changes

Kasi's lighting system has been overhauled. Lighting should be a bit more consistent and realistic. Rock and ground will cast nice shadows in water, and this will actually affect seaweed light absorption. The new system may be too slow for certain slower machines. In this case, you can turn down "Lighting Resolution" in the graphics settings, or just turn off "Fancy Lighting" altogether to use to the old lighting system.

Plant Shaping Changes

When making new branches, you can now press E (R1 on controller) to end the branch early and change directions. Hold the same button while creating new branches to make them all half as long. This allows you to make plants with finer detail, especially in creative mode. In creative mode, you can now press F (R3 on controller) to change a leaf, needle, or lily pad into the corresponding type of flower. You can also use it to change flowers back into their equivalent leaves. These changes are just the first in a set of improvements to plant shaping that will be the focus of the next major update.

Full Changelog

Version 1.3.0 (2021-03-01) - Add water and aquatic node types - Improve lighting engine - Branches can be ended early (press/hold E/R1) - Add world presets - Fruit has full physics - Fruit decays over time - Rain is quieter underground - Add specific volume sliders - Creative mode growth is faster - Flowers can be toggled in creative mode (press F/R3) - Add Spanish and German translations - Performance improvements - Bugfixes

Kasi version 1.2.2 adds language support for Toki Pona, improves rock performance, and fixes some bugs.

Language Support

For this version of Kasi, I have added an internal framework for allowing menus and such to be available in different languages. As a proof of concept, I have added support of Toki Pona as well as English. Toki Pona is a constructed language that only has 120 words. Kasi's name and the name of its achievements have always been in Toki Pona, but now everything else can too. However, this translation is just a test of the system. I will be hiring people to translate Kasi into other languages. This will be a need-based effort, so the languages I prioritize will be based on the countries in which Kasi gets the most sales. The next major release will contain support for Spanish and German. Russian and French may be further down the line.

Full Changelog

Version 1.2.2 (2021-02-14) - Add language support for Toki Pona - Improve rock loading and rendering performance - Fix a crash on machines without controller support - Fix the "kasi linja" achievement - Other bugfixes

Kasi version 1.2.1 adds a proper How-to-Play menu and some other small changes.

How to Play Menu

Kasi was originally intended to be a game that you learn by experimenting, with simple visual hints to guide you in the right direction. However, I acknowledge that not everyone likes to approach games this way, and many people have wanted certain mechanics better explained. To this end, he Hints menu has been replaced with a How to Play menu. This is a comprehensive explanation of all the game's mechanics. I will add to it as new mechanics are added in the future. While I still recommend people play Kasi for the first time without it, hopefully this menu can be a nice reference or a helpful resource for any mechanics you may have missed.

Full Changelog

Version 1.2.1 (2021-02-08) - Replace Hints menu with How to Play menu - Sap requires pollination to grow - Palettes control more colors - Fix a crash that occurred with certain to audio devices - Bugfixes

Kasi version 1.2.0 adds pine plants, rocks to grow around, and full controller support. You can find the full changelog at the bottom of this post.

Pine Plants

You can now make plants that have needles instead of leaves! Needles produce much less energy than leaves, but they also require less to grow, and you can fit more of them on a branch. To get started making pine branches, you first have to overlap two roots in the same way you would make moon leaves. This makes a new kind of thin root which becomes a pine branch when it reaches the surface. Pine plants have their own type of flowers and drip sap instead of growing fruit. This sap can be enjoyed by a certain four-legged friend.

Rocks

When making a new plant, you can now choose to have rocks in the world to grow around. You can also configure the density of rocks in the world from just a few pebbles to deeps crags. This is a simple change, but hopefully it makes the world around you plants a little more interesting.

Controller Support

Kasi now has full controller support! You can now play while sitting on the couch I guess.

Smaller Changes

• Vines have been changed to have much more weight. They should behave more realistically now.
• The growth algorithm has been improved to make plants a little more natural looking.
• Leaves are much less likely to fall during fall and winter. They will still fall enough for you to feel the season, but not enough that you have to scramble to replace them.
• More in the changelog below

Developer Note

I just wanted to give a quick thanks to everyone who has bought and played my game. Since its full release, I've gotten so much positive feedback, and it really means the world to me. I promised continued updates, and while this is one, it is not the last! I already have other ideas in the works for future features, so look forward to that! - Kaikalii

Full Changelog

Version 1.2.0 (2021-02-06) - Add new node types for pine plants - Add optional rocks to grow around - Add full controller support - Vines are much less floaty - Animate starlight absorption - Improve growth algorithm for more natural-looking plants - Add node adjustment range indicator (can be turned on in Settings menu) - Many colors have more variety by default - Left/right-click panning can be disabled - Add community menu - Nerf leaf fall chance by about 60% - Made it harder to accidentally make vines - Deleted plants go to the recycle bin instead of being deleted - Bugfixes

This small patch changes the rendering engine that Kasi uses from Glutin to SDL2. Glutin had problems creating a window on some graphics cards, particularly certain AMD cards. This change should make Kasi work on more computers. While this patch adds no new features, I have a much more substantial update in the works, which you can expect to come out in the next few weeks.

Kasi version 1.1.0 adds creative mode, which removes resource requirements and greatly speeds up growth of plants.

Creative Mode

When creating a new plant, you can now toggle creative mode as well as whether leaves fall off during the fall and winter. Once the plant is created, creative mode cannot be toggled. Creative mode removes all requirements for light, water, energy, and pollination. Creative plants always grow as much as they can, and the rate of growth is greatly increased. Fruit on a creative plant will always form as long there is at least one flower. If you want to make a vine instead, you can hold shift when pointing the leaf down. Leaves falling off in fall and winter can be toggled on and off in the "This Plant" menu, but only for creative plants. I can't wait to see what people make with no restrictions!

A Quick Dev Message

Hi all. I know that when I released the game a week ago, I said that development was basically stopped. However, the full release of the game brought a lot more players. It has inspired me to keep working on the game, albeit at a slower pace, as I still have a separate full time job. You can probably expect small updates like this one from time to time :) - Kakalii

A Message from the Developer

Hello, So, I recently got a full-time job, and I have a lot less time to work on the game. After staring at code all day for work, I found myself feeling really unmotivated to do the same in my free time. I didn't want the game to sit in early access forever like so many games on Steam. It is currently in a state that I think is complete enough, so I released it. If you find any bugs, I will certainly try to fix them. Other than that, development is basically stopped. Who knows though. If enough people take an interest, I'd be more than happy to add more features. Thanks for enjoying my game. - Kaikalii

Kasi version 0.5.0 adds flowers that can manipulate time, as well as a few other small changes. The full changelog is listed at the bottom of this post or in-game in the "What's New?" menu.

Major Changes

Clock Flowers

Overlapping two flowers now creates a clock flower. Clock flowers have three hands that tell time. The short hand goes around once per year, the big hand goes around once per day, and the little hand goes around 10 times per day. Clicking a clock flower will stop time around your plant. Clicking again will resume time. While the world around you may stop including the sky, birds, spiders, and general physics, your plant does not. It can still absorb water and sunlight and can still grow. Strangely, the bees that pollinate your flowers are also not affected. You can pause time during the perfect light angle for maximum energy, or during the day for more pollination. Rotating a clock flower clockwise around the branch to which it is attached will speed up time around your plant. You can skip a rainstorm, a night, or a whole season. Maybe you want your spider to grow up faster, or you want to test out the seasonal colors of a custom color palette. While time can be sped up, it cannot be reversed. That's thermodynamics. Manipulating time does have a cost. Stopping time or accelerating it will slowly shrink your clock flowers until finally they wither and fall off. However, flowers grow along growth paths, just like leaves, and bigger flowers can affect time more before dying.

Minor Changes

Feedback Menu

The feedback menu just contains useful links to places where you can provide feedback on the game, which I am eagerly accepting. However, if you are reading this on the Steam community page, then you are already in the best place to do so.

Multiple Colors for all Leaves in Palettes

Previously, custom color palettes could only use multiple colors for fall leaves. Now, the leaves of any season, as well as vine leaves, can be as many different colors as you want, and they will automatically blend between seasons. You can finally have that rainbow tree you always wanted. Or a ghost tree, because any color can also be set to be transparent.

Full Changelog

Version 0.5.0 (2020-11-19) - Add clock flowers, which can control time - Color palettes can use multiple colors for vine leaves as well as regular leaves in non-fall seasons - Add feedback menu - Minor performance improvements for larger plants

Kasi version 0.4.0 adds a helpful animal which eats your fallen fruit and fertilizes your plant, as well as improvements to save-file browsing. The full changelog is listed at the bottom of this post or in-game in the "What's New?" menu.

Major Changes

Ground Spiders

The ground spider is a helpful little creature who will eat any fruit that falls from your plant. As long as there is fruit to be had, it will hang around your plant. Even if there is no fruit on the ground, it will still come back to take shelter when it rains. As the spider eats, it will slowly grow. It will also leave...leavings, which will be absorbed by the soil and fertilize your plant. Fertilization is shown as a new brown bar. It allows your plant to grow even without full energy, which means it can grow even during the night or with few leaves, as long as you have enough energy at all.

Better Save Browsing

Previously, the "Plants" menu was pretty simplistic. It only showed a few pieces of information about each plant, and they were always sorted by number of nodes. Now, plants can be sorted by a number of different metrics, defaulting to most recently played. Also, hovering over a plant file will show you a preview of what the plant looks like.

Minor Changes

Halloween Color Palette

During the week leading up to Halloween, all new plants will use a new color palette with warmer, darker colors and bats instead of birds! To disable this palette for a new plant (or enable it on an old one) you can modify it in the "This Plant" menu.

Clarity Improvements

Previously, plants that were much taller than they were wide (or vice versa) could not be viewed in their entirety without panning. Now, you will always be able to zoom out enough to view an entire plant. In addition, there is a new node selection indicator. It appears as a dotted circle on the plant node that will be modified when you click. It spins if a new branch can be created from the node and is visible even if the node is behind others. It can be disabled in the "Settings" menu.

Unlimited Growth

There was previously an limit on the maximum size of a node. Because the maximum size of child nodes depends on the size of their parent node (to make the plant look natural), this also limited the maximum height and depth of a plant (without using vine balloons). This limit has been completely removed. This allows a plant to be arbitrarily tall, deep, or wide, as long as your computer can run it. Reach for the heavens!

Full Changelog

Version 0.4.0 (2020-10-25) - Add ground spiders, which eat fallen fruit and fertilize plants - Fertilized plants grow faster and don't require full energy - Remove all height and size limits - Add a selection indicator (can be disabled in Gameplay menu) - Show a preview when browsing saved plants - The Plants menu can be sorted - An entire plant can always be seen by zooming out, even for very tall or very wide plants - Sun and moon colors can be changed in palettes - In the week before Halloween, new plants will default to an appropriately-themed color palette - Bugfixes

Kasi version 0.3.1 fixes a bug that made very large plants completely unplayable as well as adding an fps cap setting. Some players informed me that at some point, the game's graphics completely froze. I had also experienced this myself. This was due to a misuse of the rendering engine that Kasi uses, and the bug has been fixed. Very large plants may still run slowly, but they will be playable.

Full Changelog

Version 0.3.1 (2020-10-12) - Add framerate cap setting (default is none) - Fix a bug that made very large plants completely unplayable - They may still run slowly, but they do run - A byproduct of this fix may be minor performance improvements for plants of any size

Kasi version 0.3.0 adds physics to vines and flushes out their place in the game, as well as improving performance and quality-of-life. The full changelog is listed at the bottom of this post or in-game in the "What's New?" menu.

Major Changes

Vine Physics

Previously, vines had an approximation of physics, and only when they were being created. Now, vines have a full rope physics system. They can now be dragged around, stretched, bunched up, and hung on branches.

Vine Balloons

In the same way that overlapping regular leaves makes moon leaves, overlapping vine leaves now makes vine balloons! Vine balloons quickly increase in buoyancy after being created, and they can pull up connected vines, suspending them. You can use multiple balloons for more lift and create plants entirely of a network of floating vines.

Vine Leaf Tracking

Vine leaves now try to track the sun. This makes them much more efficient, so to balance them out, they now absorb less maximum sunlight and you can fit fewer on the same node. Plants with many vine leaves can really feel alive!

Visual Hint Improvements

The hints that teach new players to play the game now look better, and there are more of them. If you ever get tired of seeing them on new plants, simply disable them in the settings menu.

Minor changes

In addition to the bigger changes listed above, this update also has performance improvements, several bugfixes, quality-of-life improvements, and some graphical changes. You can read about all of them in the changelog below.

Full Changelog

Version 0.3.0 (2020-10-10) - Vines have proper physics - Add vine balloons - Vine leaves absorb less light but track the sun - Vine leaves are easier to tell apart from regular leaves - Custom palettes can use transparent colors - Hold Left-Shift to disable retraction - Hold Left-Shift to force a vine instead of a fruit - Improve rain lighting and color - New plants start paused - Add subtle shimmer to moon leaves and root ends - Improve and add more visual hints - Performance improvements - Bugfixes

This update to Kasi adds a few small things as well as big performance improvements.

Major Changes

Custom Color Palettes

You can now define custom color palettes that plants will use. You can set a default palette in the "Settings" menu, which will be used for all new plants. You can set a plant-specific palette in the "This Plant" menu. To manage your palettes, go to either of the palette-selection menus and click "Open Palettes Folder". You will start with the simple default palette, "default.toml". Inside, you will see a list of color names and RGB hex codes associated with them. To get started making your own palette, simply copy the default, rename it, and change the color codes. Most colors only allow a single color assignment. However "fall_leaf" takes a list of colors because leaves turn different colors in the fall. You can put as many colors as you like in this list, so go crazy!

Thunderstorms

If it rains hard enough, thunder and lighting can occur. Count the seconds between lighting flashes and thunderclaps to tell how far away the lightning is.

Performance Improvements

I got complaints about big frame lag with really big plants, and I have experienced this myself. I have found a performance optimization that should improve framerates on large plants by up to 2x. The side effect of this is that plant outlines no longer scale with zoom. This makes the general aesthetic ever so slightly different. You may like it, you may not, but I think it makes the plants look a little more crisp.

Full Changelog

Version 0.2.1 (2020-10-04) - Big performance improvements - Pollination particles can be disabled Version 0.2.0 (2020-10-03) - Add customizable color palettes - Add thunder and lightning - Cursor no longer changes flower colors - Bugfixes