Hi all!

I’ve released a new update, which features:

New Buildings and Decorations

I’ve added additional buildings and decorations — all assets that I personally created in Blender.

Reorganised UI

I’ve worked on creating new, improved icons for the UI, covering both resources and buildings. I ran out of time for some, so a few still appear as plain names for now.

This will be the final update before the end of the game jam. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to do much more or release further updates tomorrow, as I’ve run out of time — and to be honest, I’ve enjoyed spending time with family, so I stepped away from the PC a bit!

Known Bugs

Here’s a brief list of the bugs I’m aware of:

• If you try to buy something you can’t afford, the UI buttons may become disabled. You can work around this by clicking on the decorations tab, then clicking on the ground (although you can’t place decorations without cutting the grass first). This will reset the placement system and allow you to return to placing buildings.

• I don’t yet have a tooltip system set up to show the prices of the items.

Buildings

I am not aware of any other bugs at the moment (though I’m sure there are others), but for now, that’s all I’ve found.

Here’s a plan for the project — consider this a rough timeline:

The 0.1b build (both WebGL and downloadable versions) will continue to be available going forward. I will make updates, but please note that future updates will be placed behind a small paywall, with the hope of generating some income to support my solo developer studio.

Here’s a general idea of what I hope to achieve in the next 1–2 months:

• A new, overhauled UI with icons and a better setup. Game jams are a great chance for me to practice my art, but if I’m asking you to pay for it, I want to make sure it looks as good as possible — that’s only fair. I’ve already invested in some professional assets, so I’ll see which ones are suitable for this project.

• Add functionality to remove buildings, allowing players to change and rearrange their islands as they wish.

• Introduce roads to the islands, if possible. (I’ve never done this before, so it will be interesting to figure out how to incorporate it.)

• Add a hover-over system so that players can see the costs and requirements of buildings when they hover over them in UI.

• Create 4–5 additional islands, all in different shapes and sizes, so players can choose from a variety of layouts. Each island will have its own unique music and sound effects to help players relax.

• Add a “build your own island” mode, where players can design islands from scratch. (I’ve never implemented something like this before, but it would be really exciting to explore. I imagine it would involve buying tiles and placing everything piece by piece.)

Overall, I have many ideas I’d love to bring to life, but ultimately, I’m just a very small business — so a lot depends on the amount of attention the game receives, as well as donations and purchases once the paid version goes live. I need to find ways to support myself and my family while continuing to develop this project. If not sadly I would have to move on to the next project and hope that I can maybe revisit it in the future. So if you do enjoy it please share it on with others would help a lot! 

In any case, I hope you’ve enjoyed my little game jam project! I look forward to hearing your feedback. Wishing you all the best, and I’ll see you in the next update!

— Silviu