Update 1.1.0 is the first major update for ReactionLab 2 since its release. It introduced three new elements, several new reactions, performance improvements, and bug fixes. These are looked at in detail below:
New Elements:
Clone Emitter:
Probably the most ambitious addition to ReactionLab 2, Clone Emitter will 'clone' the first element of any type that it touches and continuously emit copies of it. Clone Emitter thus functions as a spawner for nearly all of the other elements, allowing for even more complex contraptions. Endless waterfalls, oil wells, gas emitters, and continuous sources of anything are now possible.
Dry Ice:
A solid, extremely cold element. It slowly sublimates into carbon dioxide (a new 'hidden' element) when exposed to air. As well, when heated even slightly, the entire block of dry ice will rapidly sublimate into carbon dioxide and steam, producing a small flash in the process. Dry ice will also freeze nearby elements that are susceptible to cold. (It has been suggested to me that dry ice should freeze a greater variety of elements into a more brittle ice on contact, so this may be included in the next minor update.)
Sulfur:
A flammable powdery element with a distinctive yellow color. It burns differently from any other element, rapidly melting into a magenta liquid (as actual sulfur sometimes does). As well, sulfur can be added to gunpowder to increase its strength.
New Reactions:
Twelve new reactions have been introduced, increasing the total number of reactions to 89. The new reactions primarily cover some of the interactions possible with the new elements, from improving gunpowder strength, to cloning a number of different substances. 'Mass production!' is a particularly interesting addition; it's triggered when the player clones an element that is a product of two others. This allows players to produce large quantities of napalm, gunpowder, naphtha or others, which were previously very hard to create reliably. As well, salt has been tweaked slightly to melt ice and snow, and a reaction has been added for this new effect.
Additional Improvements:
Apart from the obvious content improvements, several behind the scenes tweaks have also been made. ReactionLab 2 should be about 5-10% more efficient on memory and CPU, leading to a smoother user experience. As well, some unused code has been stripped out, making the game ~20% smaller in size than it was at version 1.0.0.
Stay tuned for the next major update, and don't hesitate to send me suggestions at: hunter@hforsyth.com, and check out the game's homepage for more updates at: reactionlab.hforsyth.com.
ReactionLab 2 is available on Google Play here.
