Dev log · 22 October 2026 · version 2026.10.22

The gas gauge now shows both halves: CO₂ and O₂

The second slot on the quick bar used to read "Oxygen 56%". It now shows a single ring split in two: carbon dioxide on the left, oxygen on the right. The line between them moves up and down like a balance.

This came from a comment on our OzBargain launch thread: the original orb.farm had CO₂, so where did ours go? It never left. In the simulation, oxygen and carbon dioxide are two halves of the same sealed gas pool. Every breath moves a little from one side to the other, and every patch of lit algae or grass moves it back. The old gauge only showed one half, so the trade-off between them was invisible.

We kept it to one ring instead of adding a second gauge. The numbers are still there for screen readers, but on screen there are no percentages. The point is to see which way the jar is leaning, especially at night, when photosynthesis stops and the left half creeps up.

Also in this update: every time EcoJar updates, the daphnia will now tell you what changed, the first time you open the app. New players get the tutorial instead, so nobody sees two pop-ups at once. This dev log is where those notes are written out in full.

The tool buttons now carry icons instead of colour swatches. They come from game-icons.net (CC BY 3.0) by Delapouite, Lorc and Sbed, tinted with each species' own colour; the credits are on the About page and in the third-party licences.

This version also adds anonymous usage statistics, which changes what our privacy policy says. The app sends a handful of events (first open, tutorial finished, Pack page viewed, purchase tapped or completed, share) to our own self-hosted Plausible server. There is no SDK, no device or advertising identifier, no account and no cookie, so a person cannot be followed from one day to the next. Purchases themselves are handled by Apple and Google, as before. The full list of events is in the privacy policy.

And the app has a new icon: a corked, round pixel jar with one goldfish, against a dusk sky. The old one was an open cartoon fishbowl, which was the opposite of what EcoJar is about. A sealed jar needs a cork.

EcoJar is free on the App Store and Google Play, or you can play it in your browser.