Hi everyone!
Welcome to our Holiday Special Devlog!
First of all, Thanks to your votes Farmwand has made it to the top 100 for this year's Indie of the Year awards on IndieDB! Thanks!
There are however very few days left for the 2nd round, so if you want to help us get closer to being the Indie Of The Year 2022, we really would love it if you leave us a vote here!
This time, for our very last devlog of the year, we bring you lots of updates about the game, our plans for 2023 as well as a small bit of Holiday cheer...let's begin!
The wild outdoors and the cozy indoors
One of the big things we've been working on recently is the transitions between the outdoor and the indoor sections of the game. The world of Farmwand is big and it has so many interesting areas to explore, some of them big landscapes and some others interesting buildings, dungeons or caves. But to explore them all, we had to work out exactly how to take you, the player, from one to the other.
After a while, we finally came up with some neat code that allowed us to do so easily and quickly :
While these transitions are still a bit of a work in progress (as you may have noticed, we don't have doors yet! :P) they already give you an idea of how things will look in the game :)
Speaking about how things look...
Yet another new UI!
This is the last time, we promise! If you have been following us for a while you may have noticed that while the style of the game has been very consistent from the beginning, the UI has changed dramatically every few months.
This has been quite necessary in our opinion, since with every new version we try to find a style that matches the game itself, that can be easy to use, easy to read and fun to interact with.
First we went with a more mechanical, almost steampunkish design that didn't last long. Then we moved into a more hand-drawn style full of rocks and little vines, inspired by old school RPG titles, as Farmwand has RPG elements all over.
But then, in the end, none of them really matched the cozy-ness and charm that we wanted to show.
At last, we think we got it :D
This new UI is simpler, cleaner, but it also has a lot of little details and animations that make it pop a lot more. It is bigger ( a lot bigger!) so it is easier to read and use on any screen (something that my wife and I, proud glass wearers, feel thankful for), and it works great with either gamepad or mouse. It has been inspired, as some may notice, by Animal Crossing and other Nintendo-style titles, with some design elements that carried over from every previous iteration we did. We can't wait for you to try it!
And as a last re-visit to an older piece of content...
Old faces in a new way
We have started making our romanceable characters and other NPCs as 3D models that will populate the game. Soon we will give them houses, towns, entire lives...but for now, let us reintroduce you to Cecilia!
And another old fella that has received a very needed makeover...our bear model!
They are now 25% more fierce looking, and 100% fluffier :)
And that takes us to the very last part of our very last dev log of the year...
A bit of Holiday cheer...
We couldn't leave without showing you some of the seasonal things we've been working on. The ultimate winter flower, the poinsettia (or as they call it in its native lands, Nochebuena flower), has arrived to Farmwand!
And to bring more variety to the forests of the game, especially in those cold and snowy regions far north, where the Frostward raises, we have added spruce trees!
...and happy wishes for all!
It is time now to talk about this year, as it comes to a close, and the new year that is just around the corner. During 2022, which has seen most of the development of Farmwand, we have made lots of progress with our dream project but, more importantly, we have managed to form a growing community of people that are just as passionate about it as ourselves.
Having all of you accompany us through this journey has made it a wonderful experience, hearing your thoughts as we show little bits of the world falling into place, what you like and what could be improved, the ideas and wishes you want to see come true in Farmwand, and the excitement you have to see it complete.
This year, we launched our Discord server, our subreddit and our Patreon, and you all have poured so much support and kindness our way that we can't help but feel deeply moved by it. And even more committed to making this game the very best it can be!
What are our plans for next year? Early on, we hope to have our Steam page ready so you can finally add Farmwand to your wishlist. Development-wise? The first showcases of actual magic, spells and potions in the game, and lots of new places, towns and people!
And later on, before the year ends, if everything goes well, we would love to have enough so you can try the game, either as a small demo or an Early Access. Our team is small, but our dreams are big, so we will try our hardest to get it done!
To finish, we can only thank you all for being here with us, and for being so nice towards our work. It has been the best.
Happy holidays, and cheers to you all, for a much better 2023!
