All posts tagged in Village Life
Oct 27, 2019
Hokko life is an adorable town-building simulation game heavily inspired by Animal Crossing and created solely by developer Robert Tatnell. We previously posted about the most recent updates and changes made to the game which you can read about here. Robert Tatnell was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to do an interview with myPotatoGames! We are truly excited to have sat down with yet another indie developer to talk about what matters most to us – adorable, fun, cute and exciting games!
We just can’t wait to dig into the game and start gardening, fishing, decorating our homes with crafted furnitures and more. Furthermore, much like Animal Crossing, you can befriend all of the fluffy villagers and have them move into your town. Who wouldn’t want to live in a town filled with cutsie animals?
Robert has recently put together a little Hokko life hub where you can check out some new screenshots and more to be added in the future (so we hope). Make sure to check back weekly, daily or (like us) hourly, in hopes to get some more news about the game. You can also follow him on Twitter to share your excitement and send some support his way!
While Robert was kind enough to share some exclusive early look at Hokko Life we know that the game is still in early development, and as excited as we are about this indie title, features, visuals, gameplay and everything else is not final and subject to change during the development cycle.
Q&A with Robert Tatnell – Creator of Hokko Life
[su_service title=”What made you decide to create a simulation game? What are some of the games you love to play or took inspiration from?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
The decision I suppose wasn’t really a decision in itself, I kind of naturally gravitated to this type of game. Hokko Life started very much as a hobby project in my spare time while I was working at Arrowhead; one that I continued after leaving the studio. I really enjoy more creative, relaxed simulation games. Personally, I sunk who knows how many hours into Rollercoaster Tycoon and The Sims and loved being able to create the park I wanted to in RCT, often planning layouts and ideas on paper before taking them into the game.
I suppose it goes without saying that Animal Crossing has been a big inspiration for Hokko Life; the cozy, “escaping to another home” feeling one gets with that game is something I think is very special, and something only games can deliver. I often play games as a means of escaping to another world and I wanted to bring that feeling into Hokko Life too. I have a whole bunch of other inspirations, it’s a long list, but those are the stand-outs.
[su_service title=”Can you talk about the process of getting new villagers to come to the town and move in?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
Villagers in Hokko Life start out as visitors, there may be one or two already living there when you move in, but the majority of the characters will start off coming to town on a day-trip. There’s a train station in town and at various times during the day characters will hop off the train. My intention is to have your town, and your achievements affect the animals that come by. After you’ve met a visitor a few times, helped them out with tasks they have, and become friends with them, you’ll open up the option to ask them to move to town. You’ll need to build somewhere for them to live, and once they’ve moved into their new home, it’s up to you to decorate it in a way they’d love.
[su_service title=”You had mentioned some characters will offer quests to accomplish. Will there also be an overall reaching storyline to complete or goals to progress the game?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
I wanted to keep Hokko Life pretty open and not really define a set storyline for the game. I want to let players be free, pretty much from the beginning, to decide what they want to do with their time. There’ll be a loose story tying things together, but don’t expect an epic story-driven “main quest” or anything like that! As you play you’ll be unlocking more features and upgrades based on what you’ve been doing, and these will often be book-ended with a small quest and story.
[su_service title=”Is there a backstory to our main character? How much character customization is there for the player?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
Similar to not locking the player to a set main story, I wanted to keep the player character pretty anonymous. Your avatar in game should be a representation of you the player, or a character you want to role play as. In this way your character is pretty much a blank slate for you to customize how you wish. Customization wise the obvious basics are available: hair style and color, skin color, clothing, shoes, hats, accessories etc. Clothing is non-gender-specific, so you’re free to wear whatever you want too. If I have time I’d really like to explore adding more options for body types.
[su_service title=”Since there will be a day-and-night cycle, weather, and seasons, will the calendar be in real-time or will the game have its own internal clock?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
I’ve toyed quite a bit with whether the game should be in real-time or not; it’s a tricky decision I think, as both options feel quite different and give different types of play. As I’m currently targeting PC & Mac I feel a real-time clock doesn’t quite fit with those players’ play styles. I think if you’re sitting at a computer or laptop you’re often playing for a reasonable amount of time, and you want to feel like things have progressed and that you’ve achieved a lot during your time there.
In my opinion a real-time clock lends itself better to more portable platforms, where you can come back several times during a day easily, and play as little or as much as you’d like; for me, if you’re sitting down on the PC, it’s a bit more of a dedicated session. To be honest though I’ve not settled 100% on my decision; I think it’ll be something that will remain quite up in the air until early testers get their hands on it and I can see how players approach it.
[su_service title=”Will you be creating special events for holidays? Will the town continue to change?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
I would absolutely love to do special events for holidays; they’re a lot of bespoke work, with each event needing its own unique content, which means unfortunately they might slip from first release and have to be added as an update later. We’ll see though; it might be a case that simpler events that happen more often are included initially with special events coming after; right now I can’t promise though! As for the town changing, that really centers on the player. Meaning, you’ll be the one placing buildings and other items to decorate your town how you want, so hopefully over time you’ll end up with a town that really represents you and your creativity.
[su_service title=”You can build items for not only inside the homes, but for the town on the outside. Will players or characters be able to interact with those items?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
Yep! When you start designing your own items, you’ll choose what base you’d like to start from; whether that is a chair, a table, etc, and it’s from this base that behaviors are applied to the furniture. This then defines what types of interactions are available to the player and to the villagers too.
[su_service title=”What are some of the shops we can expect for the town? What items will be purchasable?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
There’ll be a handful of places you can purchase items from in town. These will include a general store, selling furniture items, as well as things like backpack upgrades, and some resources you’ll need when crafting. There will also be other stores selling clothing and customization options; as well home decoration items like roofing, wallpapers, flooring etc.
[su_service title=”How can we make money in the game besides fishing and mining?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
There’ll be a few ways of making money in the game. As well as fishing and mining, villagers will often come to you with requests for items or custom furniture, and you’ll be rewarded when you help them out. Any materials you’ve crafted will also be able to sell. Over the coming weeks I’m going to be looking into what other activities to add to the game, a lot of these would provide other means of income too.
[su_service title=”How much freedom do we get for creating and placing furniture, buildings, etc?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
Creating furniture is really open for you to design whatever you want. It’s designed around a simple but flexible “piece” system, where you combine different shaped pieces in any configuration to make an item. These pieces vary in material, can be rotated, scaled, painted etc. It’s pretty exciting, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what players create! As for placing furniture and buildings, well, I’m trying to go with the mentality of “if there’s space, it can be placed there”. Generally, I think it should be up to the player to place things wherever they want.
[su_service title=”We had previously mentioned that there will be an online aspect to the game. Will players be able to buy items from other players?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
I want to let players upload and share their creations with one another online; as such a big part of the game is letting players create what they want I think it would be a terrible shame if creators weren’t able to share what they’ve made with others. At this stage nothing’s really fleshed out, I have a few prototypes up and running and some pretty grand plans for what I’d love to do, but nothing concrete right now. As for players buying items from others I’m not sure how well that would play out. I think the whole community atmosphere would shift, you’d end up with an online economy of sorts; I think things get messy when money gets involved, even if it’s virtual. I’d much rather build a friendly and open platform for creators.
[su_service title=”What are the next aspects of the game that you will be working on?” icon=”icon: star” icon_color=”#8300ff” size=”32″ class=””][/su_service]
Right now I’m in a bit of a direction phase, where I sit down and try and figure out the direction for certain parts of the game. There’s a whole bunch of design questions, as well as art direction that’s been a bit floaty up until now that I’m looking to dedicate some time to figuring out. I was recently away on vacation, and getting some distance from the project really helps you come back to it with fresh eyes. When I’m done with planning and direction stuff I’ll most likely be focused on getting some new activities in the game to give the player even more fun things to do in town.
It seems we will have a great deal of freedom to create furniture and customize our own avatar and village! The art style is also shaping up and looking real crisp with beautiful colors. The game is still in development but we’ll be sure to let our fellow Potatoes know as soon as there is a firm release date for PC and Mac as the first platforms.
Big thanks to Robert for sharing some exciting insights with myPotatoGames on Hokko Life – we can’t wait to get playing! We wish Robert all the best.
- Aug 12, 2019
Littlewood is an adorable pixel simulation game is created by solo indie developer Sean Young. Customize everything from your avatar, to the town, to inside the homes! We previously had a chance to sit down with Sean Young and ask him some questions. If you’re interested in that interview, you can check it out right here. We’d also like to thank him for providing us with a Steam code to beta test his game before his Early Access launch June 18th, 2019! See below for our review and gameplay footage!
You’re Already a Savior!
When you first meet the only two characters in your village, they already know who you are. They call you the Hero of Solemn that saved them all from the Dark Wizard. However, you do not remember who you are so we assume that the Dark Wizard has wiped your memory. I find this to be quite a nice and refreshing change to the farming simulation genre to have such an interesting story to uncover other than the typical one of you moving in and restoring the farmland to its forming glory. It also sparks some great conversations with the villagers.
Dalton talking about the Dark Wizard Building & Maintaining Your Town
Every once in a while when you speak to your friends, they’ll tell you that the next day they will have something for you. These great ideas are blueprints for buildings or decorative items to help make the town a better and visually-pleasing place. Travelers will start to appear and ask if they can move into the town but you must first build them a home to interact with them more. This reminds me of Staxel although there’s no need to physically build the homes piece by piece but rather you must gather materials. You can decorate your home of course, as well as the homes of the villagers! Some villagers need to be found by exploring different areas and pushing the story along.
My house As for the other buildings, every one of them adds to the things you can do in your town. For example, build a Tavern and you can cook with your crops and make dishes for the villagers. This will reward you some money (dewdrops) if they buy the dishes. Most importantly, you need to build a Marketplace to sell your foraged items, fish, or bugs. You can even sell those nasty weeds that will occassionally pop up all around town! Every time you build something or “clean up”, you can go to your Office, once built, and get the town appraised. You can even do your mayoral duties by adding some decrees/town wishes ‘a la Animal Crossing: New Leaf’.
Tavern and cooking Events, Activities, Quests
The Town Square (which includes a glorious statue of the Hero) is where you’ll go to take part in events and some mini-games on specific days that you can view in the calendar. There’s a fun little chicken-catching game you can play in the Spring but other activities are still a work-in-progress. Next time I will be better at winning some items now that I’ve remembered you can and should run. Adding a Quest Board to your town gives you even more tasks to complete by fulfilling the wants/needs of your villagers and getting extra rewards. Another way to please your villagers, make a desk for their home and read their requests for their living arrangements.
Chicken Madness event Every single action you take, including chatting to the villagers, will take up some “stamina”. At first I thought my day was just progressing on its own, but as it turns out, it will become nighttime when you reach your max amount of energy. This is a new way of doing things that I find a lot more relaxing because you aren’t as pressed for time. You can take your time building and walking around without worrying that the clock is ticking. You can do quite a bit in a day and also not have to worry about needing certain things in specific seasons to progress the game.
Nighttime Getting to Know Your Villagers
At the start of every new day, you can check out your mailbox for rewards from the villagers based on your level gains with them and through leveling up via tasks such as mining, fishing, woodcutting, etc. Aside from those pretty handy rewards, I’m not sure what other advantages there are to gaining more experience but it may be too soon for that.
Mailbox rewards You can talk to the villagers every day and sometimes even compliment them or “Hang Out”. By hanging out with them, they will follow you everywhere and occasionally award you with extra items that you are currently working on gathering. The developer has confirmed that there will be a romancing option with all of the villagers so I can’t wait to start courting! I’m personally thinking Ash, the hard-working miner, is the one for me.
Hanging-out with Ash There are so many interesting characters and I’m looking forward to having more conversations with them once they are more fleshed out. Without giving away too much, there’s a witch with magical powers and a half-orc character. Therefore, there are supernatural elements to this game. Look forward to upgrading your Air Balloon Platform so you can access new places and meet new people!
Meeting Zana the half-orc Once you’ve unlocked the ability to travel to other areas via the Air Balloon Platform, you can immediately access a forest and a mine once a day which is filled with trees and rocks respectively. This saves you from having to keep a ton of trees in your village unless it’s for fruit. My favorite part, when you use your tools you can use them automatically! Meaning, no more scrolling through all your tools and having to equip the right one. For example, if you have an axe, just walk right up to the tree and go for it.
Air Balloon Platform Traveling to Different Areas
Every time you collect the ‘fruits of your labor’, you can always use those items to grow more of the same thing (if you have the required amount). Have a bunch of apples? Grow another apple tree. Have tons of the same crop such as carrots? Use them to plant another batch in your garden plots. Gardening is quick and easy and so far there’s no need to water your plants! Just harvest your goods whenever they are ready and keep repeating the process as the “seeds” will always remain there.
Planting carrots Gardening, Farming, and Changing the Terrain
I accessed a new town area, Port City Deluca, where there were merchants that sell different goods every week. There, I was able to purchase a sheep and a chicken. I’m sure I can fence them in at some point but it’s pretty cute to see them wonder my entire town. You can talk to them and occasionally grab their bi-products such as wool from the sheep. However, I’ve noticed that it doesn’t sell for very much so I’m hoping that will change.
My first sheep Your overall town is pretty easy to navigate and with the overview angle, you will never get lost. I find it absolutely amazing that you can actually go into “Build Mode” and affect the terrain just like Zoo Tycoon! Elevate and lower the ground to your heart’s content, and create slopes and even fishing ponds/lakes wherever you please. This took me a while to get right and align my paths properly but you can always destroy everything and get your materials back for a redo. You need Dirt for your paths, Tilled Soil for your crops, and so on.
Creating ponds and fishing I had a pleasant experience playing this game and want to keep meeting these strange and adorable characters and listen to their stories. All while learning about my own for that matter. You’ll also want to discover these amazing and magical areas and new buildings for yourself! Stay tuned with myPotatoGames for the release date of the Switch version of this game!
- Aug 10, 2019
Alchemy Story is coming to Steam Early Access this August 22nd and you’ll be able to transmute six villagers and complete the first part of the storyline. Meaning, there will be some adorable animals walking around town that were former humans but have been cursed by the Witch. They need your help to remember who they are! You’ll also get to farm, fish, garden, forage, chop some trees, mine, and brew potions. See below for Éloïse Laroche’s, the sole creator of the game, newest update which includes one last spellbound character and some other amazing new additions.
Devlog – July 2019
After helping this mysterious cat complete his transmutation, all spellbound villagers will be liberated from the Witch’s curse! While the village will be restored, this doesn’t mean the end of your quest. On the contrary, a new chapter will begin once you meet the Witch…
Luckily, a few villagers weren’t spellbound and this fisherman, Aiden Luckywave, is one of them! You’ll be able to chat with him to get your first fishing pole, learn some fishing tips and complete deliveries to earn some gold.
Research and brew six new potions, such as the Forester Potion which will increase your luck when cutting down trees, or the Golden Brew to gain a random amount of gold when you drink it!
Unlock different outfits and hairstyles in the villager’s shops! Once an outfit is purchased, it’s placed in your dresser and you can change clothes from home. The plan is to add more clothes you can unlock from quests and secret areas around the village later on.
If you missed the last update for Alchemy Story, you can read our article here: Snacko, Alchemy Story, Ooblets, & Button City Indie Updates. You can also view some of our gameplay footage of an earlier demo of the game here: Alchemy Story – Demo Version Summary. Something that was mentioned in our demo was how adorable the chicks are with their little red bows so naturally we here at myPotatoGames will be all over that new in-game T-shirt.
- Aug 3, 2019
In our last article here on this life simulation game about owning your own sushi restaurant and getting to know your customers, created by indie studio Catch & Release, we had mentioned that the crafting mechanics were getting an overhaul. Now when you make your sushi, the flavor, richness, and complexity will change when you switch ingredients. With the most recent Patreon post, Matthew Taylor goes into details with the revamped Customer I.D. card and the “Mood” section.
Customer I.D. Card
As stated, “All of these changes are in an effort to make furniture, food, and customer interactions (both with you the player and with other customers and the environment) as meaningful and interesting as possible.” See below for everything that will affect your customers’ moods and expectations when visiting your sushi restaurant. We’re also loving the wicked name of this wizard character if you catch our drift.
Comfort
Has the customer been standing for a long time waiting for a seat? You’ll see their comfort level fall steadily. Look for some comfy furniture when you’re shopping in town. Customers will be thankful!
Environment
Although the act of expressing yourself through customizing the restaurant’s interior is already fun, knowing that your customers appreciate the carefully crafted ambiance is a big plus.
Fun
In Rolling Hills, you serve a wide variety of customers. That includes children (and playful adults) who value having fun and being entertained. The most obvious examples here are music coming through a jukebox or a pinball machine in your waiting area, but even chatting with customers and serving extravagant dishes can make things more fun for your clientele.
Food
Saved the best for last! Managing a customer’s hunger is your #1 priority in Rolling Hills. Richer dishes will fill this bar even faster, so keep this in mind when crafting your next masterpiece!
Mood
This combines all of the previous stats, weighing food a little more heavily than the rest (it is a restaurant, after all) so that you can see at-a-glance how your customer is feeling.
Appetite and Budget
They are similar in that they determine how much a customer can consume. When a customer has a full belly or an empty wallet, it’s time for the check!
Expectations
These are kind of like the customer’s difficulty level. The reason we display each subcategory is because different customers expect different things. The Caveman character won’t be too concerned about the ambiance of the restaurant, but he’ll have high expectations when it comes to food. After all, he’s used to the freshest ingredients possible!
The developer has noted that there is an “Info” and “More” screen where the former is a summary screen with all the things you’ll want quick access to, and the latter is a secret for now which you’ll unlock as you level up the customer. We’re definitely looking forward to trying this game out on either Steam or through the PlayStation Store whenever it releases!
- Jun 4, 2019
Indie games are more often than not the hidden gems of gaming and Lil Tribals makes no exception. This indie title is all about making friends, building a community and creating your own village.
Lil Tribals is created by a tiny indie studio which consists of three passionate developers, Jesse Toyota, Jenny Luu and Shirley Tong. The indie title follows Bumi and Jamu who were left by themselves after a disaster struck that destroyed the surrounding villages. The two friends then decided to start building a whole new village to welcome all the people affected by the event.
This is where the story starts off and the player will have to create a whole new village for other characters to find a new home. You will need to gather resources and play a new village, that will hopefully become the new sanctuary for many new villagers to be recruited along the way.
The indie game already features many activities such as collecting resources, building, and even painting you very own tribal mask, a feature that reminds us of the clothing creation/painting tool in Animal Crossing: New Leaf – something we can pour hours into!
Lil Tribals is currently in Alpha, which is an early stage in the games development cycle. Many new features will be added going forward, and bugs can still be expected to be part of the game at this point. The developers have already made an early version available which you can start playing for free on PC today. The game also supports (and recommends) the use of a controller. Check out the cutesie gameplay trailer below and make sure to follow the developers on Twitter to stay up to date on Lil Tribals!
About Lil Tribals
After disaster struck the surrounding villages, the tribes were left without homes and searching for shelter. While searching for a new home, Bumi and Jamu discover a deserted campsite. Instead of leaving, they decide to start a new village, welcoming all the villagers without homes. It will take a lot of work, but maybe one day their little village will become something great.
A 3rd person village management game with city building, survival, and social elements. The game is currently in alpha, but provides the player with the core concepts:
- Paint your mask!
- Layout and build your village!
- Recruit a variety of unique villagers and assign them roles!
- Watch your villagers form relationships and engage in special events!
For more simulation fun, check out Snacko and the latest on the cat-tastic game!
- Dec 11, 2018
We recently made a post informing readers that the Multiplayer update for Stardew Valley on Nintendo Switch was imminent.
We are delighted to announce that a set release date for the free patch has finally been confirmed.
The update is being released tomorrow, 12th December 2018.
Yep, you heard right. As of tomorrow, if you own Stardew Valley on Switch you’ll be able to invite 1-3 friends via Switch Online and local play. You can then decide whether you want to create a brand new farm together or use an existing save file.
About Stardew Valley:
Initially released on Steam back in 2016, Stardew Valley is a Harvest Moon-reminiscent RPG farming simulation with pixel graphics. Developed by ConcernedApe and published by Chucklefish, the game was very well received. It currently holds a 10/10 rating on Steam where it also has ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ reviews.
Game features include:
- Raising animals, growing crops and improving your farm
- Improving skills in 5 different areas (farming, mining, combat, fishing, and foraging)
- A variety of complex characters, places, enigmas, and secrets to discover
- Diversity in character customization and dating
- Over two hours of original music.
Stardew Valley has obtained a 10/10 rating on Steam, received numerous ports for a variety of platforms, and is still a chart topper on the Nintendo Switch eShop. It’s, therefore, safe to say that the game is highly regarded and popular.
The highly anticipated multiplayer update for the PC version of the game was released on 1st August 2018.
Multiplayer update features include:
- The ability to play with up to 3 others in online co-op
- A 3-day travelling festival where farmers can come and go as they please
- A mysterious new winter event that enables farmers to start a new ‘secret’ collection type
- Farmers who have made great progress will be given the opportunity to help out a townsperson
- New character events
- Changes to the Skull Cavern
- Ability to change your profession
- Ability to craft signs
- New outdoor decorations
- Introduction of the auto-grabber, an expensive item that automatically harvests milk and wool
- Introduction of garden pots. Garden pots allow you to grow any crop inside year-round
- A new crop that only grows indoors
- Fireplaces and new furniture
- Ability to put a hat on your horse
- Dec 1, 2018
Initially released on Steam back in 2016, Stardew Valley is a Harvest Moon-reminiscent RPG farming simulation with pixel graphics. Developed by ConcernedApe and published by Chucklefish, the game was very well received. It currently holds a 10/10 rating on Steam where it also has ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ reviews.
Game features include:
- Raising animals, growing crops and improving your farm
- Improving skills in 5 different areas (farming, mining, combat, fishing, and foraging)
- A variety of complex characters, places, enigmas, and secrets to discover
- Diversity in character customization and dating
- Over two hours of original music.
Stardew Valley has obtained a 10/10 rating on Steam, received numerous ports for a variety of platforms, and is still a chart topper on the Nintendo Switch eShop. It’s, therefore, safe to say that the game is highly regarded and popular.
The highly anticipated multiplayer update for the PC version of the game was released on 1st August 2018.
Multiplayer update features include:
- The ability to play with up to 3 others in online co-op
- A 3-day travelling festival where farmers can come and go as they please
- A mysterious new winter event that enables farmers to start a new ‘secret’ collection type
- Farmers who have made great progress will be given the opportunity to help out a townsperson
- New character events
- Changes to the Skull Cavern
- Ability to change your profession
- Ability to craft signs
- New outdoor decorations
- Introduction of the auto-grabber, an expensive item that automatically harvests milk and wool
- Introduction of garden pots. Garden pots allow you to grow any crop inside year-round
- A new crop that only grows indoors
- Fireplaces and new furniture
- Ability to put a hat on your horse
The solo developer of Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe) has previously announced that the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch versions of the game will also get a multiplayer update eventually. The developer has confirmed in tweets and updates that the co-op will not be cross-platform. As disappointing as this is for fans to hear, the decision is understandable.
Whilst an exact date hasn’t been given, the game’s publisher (Chucklefish) has recently confirmed that Stardew Valley for Switch will be next to receive the Multiplayer update. Having been submitted for final approval, it is expected that the update will be available either by the end of the year or in early 2019.
