All posts tagged in Building
Jul 26, 2023
In Millennials, you’ll create your very own college freshman. Experience the prime of your youth while also experiencing the ups and downs of college life. Attend classes, work, make enemies, and forge friendships. Even chill out and decorate your dorm room!
When you create your college freshman in Millennials, you have control over what type of person you make. Choose qualities and skills to create a hard-working bookworm or an extroverted party animal. Make time to network with those around you, as it can make college life more fun. Or go the lone wolf route and avoid making friends at all. Join a sorority or fraternity and take part in mysterious initiations. Even throw parties or arrange annual events. If that doesn’t appeal to you, though, you can join a club or just forge friendships and maybe even find love.
You’ll even have to find the perfect work-life balance while you’re at it! Partying is fun, but you’ll need to attend classes and study in order to pass exams. Mix in working part time to pay for tuition, and you’ll have to manage your time in Millennials really well! Just don’t forget to have fun, because all work and no play is dull. Oh, and don’t forget about your reputation on campus. Network with influential students, complete goals, and accumulate good grades to become a campus celebrity.
Coming Soon
You can Wislist Millennials on Steam now! There is no current release date listed.
Looking for more life sims? Check out Palia, an upcoming cozy MMO. There’s also the adorable Japanese Rural Life.
- Jul 13, 2023
I wrote about Gourdlets back in November when I first discovered the game. It’s an absolutely adorable little city builder game with no challenges, no quests, no resource management. You just unleash your creativity and build little cityscapes!
Since November, developer AuntyGames has added some great new features to the game. You can now enter buildings and decorate them! Build cozy homes for your Gourdlets and sweet little cafes for them to frequent. This adds another level of customization for players to create the cityscapes of their dreams.
Fences are now more intuitive to build, too. It’s easier to form corners and make enclosures with them. So, if you had been wanting to create tiny zoos or farm pastures, now it’s much easier! What’s also easier is placing land tiles. Gourdlets has a paint bucket tool that lets you create islands without the hassle of all the individual clicking. And my favorite addition is farming! Place tilled dirt tiles, plant seeds, and the Gourdlets will water them and pull weeds. They’ll even pick the mature crops!
You can find Gourdlets on Itch.io, as well as Steam!
- Jun 7, 2023
Renovate, Decorate, Plan, and Manage the Town
Congratulations! You’re the new mayor of Go-Go Town, a declining, rundown tourist destination. One short phone call was all it took, and now it’s up to you to not only take care of this crumbling place, but return it to the vibrant tourist town it used to be. Can you make Go-Go Town prosperous again?
Luckily, you’re not alone in your endeavors. The aging population of Go-Go Town will help teach you the ins and outs of being the mayor, starting with construction. Part of your job will be to collect materials and repair current buildings across town, or build new structures and shops. You’ll also have a number of power tools at your disposal, from chainsaws and drills to leaf blowers and trimmers.
Once you’ve repaired the town, you’ll get to decorate it, as well as plan how you want the town laid out and what shops will populate the streets. It’s your job to decide which types of shops to build, who will run the shops, how those shops will bring in money for Go-Go Town, and how to manage the supply chain. Will a new arcade with neon lights do well? Or perhaps a burger joint for tourists to grab lunch at will be better? Oh, but what about a souvenir shop? Everyone loves taking home a memento of their vacation!
Running a whole town will keep you busy, but the residents will help you out. Expand the industries in Go-Go Town by hiring miners, fishermen, lumberjacks, shopkeepers, and more. With the right combination of tools and people, the town will run smoothly. When you run out of room in your now prosperous town, you can expand. Unlock useful new tools and skills in the tech tree so you can build bigger houses, terraform the land, and much more.
Make Go-Go Town an incredible place to visit, and some of the tourists may even decide to stay!
Coming Soon!
Unfortunately, Go-Go Town! doesn’t have a release date available. However, you can Wishlist it on Steam!
For more cute life sims, check out Dinkum, My Time at Sandrock, and Wylde Flowers!
- Mar 15, 2023
Explore An Open-World and Compete in Courses
Some of you might be familiar with mobile game developer Foxie Ventures. They’ve put out games such as Virtual Sim Story, Wolf Tales, Dino Tamers, and Horse Riding Tales (which is also available for free on Steam). A few months ago they put out incredibly cryptic ads to sign up for their new game, Star Equestrian. Now, Foxie Ventures has released this new mobile game, and of course I’ve been playing!
Star Equestrian is a beautiful open-world MMO adventure game that centers around, you guessed it, horses. You play as a character you create, with a name you choose, and experience a traumatic riding injury. Once recovered, you don’t allow that accident to keep you from horses, and re-establish yourself as an experienced equestrian.
Explore an open world where you can collect items like carrots and lettuce to feed your horses. Go in search of your lost horse, Snowdrop, and complete quests for the residents of Evervale to see if they have any information on him, too. Ride around practice arenas, sprint across cross country courses, and participate in show jumping to improve your horse’s skills. You’re not only chasing down your lost horse, but chasing your dream of becoming the best rider, the Star Equestrian.
You’ll also get to build your very own ranch, where you can customize the interior of your home and build stables to house your horses. And what I think helps set Star Equestrian apart from some other mobile horse games is the ability to interact with your horse. You can pet them to help raise the bond level, which unlocks certain skills. It makes the game feel a little more personal and cozy. I have high hopes for this game, as so far it ticks what I want out of a horse game (quests, competitions, story, and interaction).
Available Now for iOS!
Star Equestrian is currently available for iOS devices through the Apple App Store. There are plans for the game to be available on Android via the Google Play Store. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when the game will be released for Android, though. You can pre-register on the Play Store to have it automatically downloaded when it is available!
You can also checkout Horse Club Adventures and Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch for more horsey fun!
- Mar 8, 2023
Create Castles and Transform Forgotten Meadows
Tiny Glade is a beautiful little builder game from indie developer and publisher Pounce Light. With its free-form building mechanic, the game is intended to be a purely relaxing creative outlet. So, there is no resource management, no goals, no combat, and no wrong answers! Just sit back, build some fancy castles and turn some abandoned meadows into incredible architectural scenery.
The game offers a unique building chemistry, too. Tiny Glade features a gridless building system, but also lets players watch as each brick and roof tile is assembled. You don’t need to painstakingly place each piece yourself. Simply draw a path where you want it. Click and drag to place a fence or wall. Want a path to go through a wall? An arch will appear. Want your walls higher? Just drag the top of it higher! And if you drop the wall lower, arches will turn into fences for you.
Tiny Glade looks to be a wonderfully dynamic sandbox, making it perfect for experimenting with builds. There are no wrong answers, after all. Did you build something you don’t like? Changing it is easy! Accompanied by a cozy soundtrack, lighting that changes with the time of day, and other small, cozy details, there’s a lot to love in the game. Ivy adorns buildings, fireflies light up the night, and adorable little sheep roam the meadows freely. Tiny Glade is the perfect little world to escape to.
Coming Soon!
Tiny Glade is currently in development, but will be coming to Steam eventually! There is no release date available a this time. However, you can add it to your Steam Wishlist now to keep up to date on it.
Gourdlets is another cute building game with no combat, no objectives, and no management!
- Dec 4, 2022
Farm, Craft, Explore
We introduced Meetlight and the Secrets of the Universe back in April, but now there’s so much more gameplay information to gush over. Currently located on Kickstarter, this gorgeous game has taken the word “wholesome” and run away with it. Inspired by Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Ori and the Blind Forest, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and My Neighbor Totoro, Meetlight looks to be a beautiful game with a comfy, cozy atmosphere.
You will play as Anna. Anna has faced a terrible tragedy and lost her spouse. Now, Anna has taken over her great-uncle’s forge and become the new blacksmith. You’ll build your house from scratch (and decorate it too!), customize your character appearance, and befriend animals, nature, and your neighbors (some are even romanceable!). You’ll even be able to complete quests for the villagers or trade with them.
That’s not all, however. With the loss of your spouse, you’ve gained the ability of clairvoyance, which you’ll slowly develop and perfect as you play. Enter the magical world of energy where you’ll meet new inhabitants, explore lost places, and discover the secrets of the universe. In this 3D open-world, with 19 places to visit on the map (so far), there’s just SO much to do and see.
Featuring Customization, Farming, Blacksmithing, and More
If you’re not feeling like exploring, don’t worry. Meetlight and the Secrets of the Universe also has farming. Plant and care for your own set of crops, and perhaps even a fairy will drop by to help you out with them. You’ll be able to create your own farm layout and decorate your fields how you wish. Also available for your farm are animals! You will choose a companion (a cat, a dog, a rabbit, a goat, or something else!) when you start, but you’ll also be able to tame wild animals like foxes and crows. It will take time to get close to wild animals, but eventually they’ll learn to trust you. Breed your animals and collect things like wool from them to use in crafting. It appears there’s at least one horse, too, that you’ll be able to explore the map on.
You’ve also taken over as the local blacksmith, so naturally you’ll be able to create things in the forge. Your uncle left his trade secrets behind. Of course, you’re new to blacksmithing, so you’ll have to practice the skill to get better and make greater quality items! You’ll also be able to discover new blueprints as you play the game.
Cooking and alchemy will be in game, too. Cook over 50 different dishes, each one giving its own buff to help you. When cooking isn’t enough, though, there’s alchemy! You’ll learn how to make potions that can also help you. For example, you can learn to make a potion that increases the duration of your clairvoyance.
With all of the crafting and cooking that can be done in Meetlight, it is only natural resource harvesting is a feature. Much like everything else, you’ll have to work on your gathering skills too in order to gather a higher number of resources and higher quality resources. You’ll have to craft tools to help you harvest, too.
Kickstarter Stretch Goals
Meetlight and the Secrets of the Universe is currently only for Steam. However, should the Kickstarter meet certain stretch goals, the game will become available for Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and Playstation. What’s perhaps even more exciting, are the other stretch goals. One goal is for MORE map areas, expanding the already big map. There’s also a goal for total character design control where you’ll be able to choose gender, the name, and the shape of the character’s face and body. And the one I’m most excited about is the goal for co-op. If that stretch goal is met, Meetlight will have co-op for up to 4 players AND cross-platform play. How cool is that?
Coming 2023
The game is successfuly funded on Kickstarter with multiple stretch goals met, which also means it’s not yet available. Unfortunately, we’ll have a while to wait as Meetlight and the Secrets of the Universe only lists 2023 as the release date. You can also wishlist it on Steam. Meetlight will come to Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and Playstation.
Chek out Kitaria Fables for another beautiful farming sim, or even Aka, where you play as an adorable red panda.
- Jun 11, 2022
Manage Your Own Zoo
Continuing with IGN Expo 2022, a new and exclusive trailer has been released for Super Zoo Story, a Stardew Valley meets Zoo Tycoon sim. Build and manage your own personal zoo by constructing your park and caring for your animals.
Super Zoo Story has over 70 different animal types which include exotic animals and dinos, all with different requirements to their enclosures. Combining DNA of animals with dinosaur species will create different colours and patterns! However, you’ll have to go exploring to find those fossils!
Keeping the townspeople happy is just as important as keeping your zoo animals happy. The island will have over 40 different characters. Not only can you befriend them, but you can even start a family with them!
Releasing in 2023 on Consoles and PC
Developed by Super Zoo Story Team and Published by Crytivo, Super Zoo Story will be launching sometime in 2023 for Switch, PS, Xbox, and PC. You can Wishlist the game on the new Steam Page here.
- Jun 8, 2022
Town Building, Exploration, Combat, Looting, and Villagers to Befriend/Romance
Solo developer Vasilis at Kappa Bits and publisher Merge Games just announced their new game Pixelshire. This 2D farming and life-sim reminds us of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, especially with the newly added feature of terraforming.
When you settle into this town on the continent of Arcadia, you not only get to build your home, but also get to design the homes of your neighbours. However, like us, you’ll probably spend most of your time carving out rivers, creating hills, and making paths with the landscape.
Aside from forming and growing the population of the town, you can master skills and trades. For example, tending to livestock, growing crops, mining, woodcutting, fishing, cooking, and brewing. To sell these items you’ve made or collected, you can put them in your own shop!
While exploring through procedurally-generated islands with enchanted forests, mountain jungles, and more, you’ll fight enemies, find hidden treasure, and clear dungeons. On these adventures, you can even get the villagers you have befriended or romanced to join you!
Coming to PC and Consoles Sometime in 2023
Pixelshire will be releasing sometime in 2023 on PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, and Xbox. You can Wishlist the game here right now on Steam. If you’re looking for another game that combines farming and exploring with building friendships and/or romance, check out Blue Oak Bridge.
