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[Tilla]

Today I am not word good. Man word good. Game good:

Townseed is a strategy/simulation RPG where you take the role of a survivor of a shipwreck on a terrifying unexplored land. Your goal is to gather resources, build, attract other survivors, and turn this inhospitable place into a home, where people can be safe and happy.

Townseed was born out of my enjoyment of sandbox games like Minecraft and Terraria. I've always loved the "Play around, do what you want" approach to games, but at the same time, I felt like that play style left a gap, a sense of purpose. Build a house, or a castle, sure, but what about when you move on to your next project? Or what about when you've already attracted all of the predetermined NPCs to sell you things?

In Townseed, building has a purpose. Every space you create can become someone's home, someone's livelihood, and the happier and better accomodated your people are, the more they contribute to your growing town. Although you control a single survivor, in many ways, your Town is the true hero of the story.

Townseed has been in development since August 2011.

I've been playing with the development build presently released and it is rather interesting, although some of the controls are a bit odd. The art style is pretty gorgeous as well (the guy is a traditional animator by trade whose worked on many tv shows, ads, etc).
Ultimately it sounds like the goal is to build a nation or town worthy of taking on others in the world from the ground up - kind of what I'd hope Unreal World's eventual path might take it down, but with a less intense simualtionism. You can grab the latest version for free from the guy's blog: http://townseed.blogspot.ca/ There are also youtubey things here and there like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4PvtUOdgt0 (actual gameplay doesn't start for 8 or 9 minutes) and a preorder page at http://8bitfunding.com/project_details.php?p_id=313

I'd definitely describe it as a less simmy realtime Unreal World, but with the city/nation building becomes much more akin to DF, Towns, etc

[Girlinhat]

That guy on the video is incredibly boring...  Fast-forwarding.  Skip to about 12:00 to see him actually start playing.

K, this guy is lame.  But the game looks cool, I'll give it a try.

[Neonivek]

*Watches townseed showcase*

*Hits head on desk over and over again*

Honestly am I the ONLY one who gets the idea that the point of a show case is to showcase the GAME?

That guy on the video is incredibly boring...  Fast-forwarding.  Skip to about 12:00 to see him actually start playing.

K, this guy is lame.  But the game looks cool, I'll give it a try.

12 minutes? 12 minutes!?! DEAR GAWD!

I have to say, I never seen a person successfully make me dislike a game that could actually be good... with just the force of their personality.

[Girlinhat]

Poked it.  Boring.  Come back when there's stuff to do

It's got a solid foundation, already got a lot of animations and images, so adding content should be relatively easy since the engine is already in place.  It's just, now there needs to be content.  So, I'll wait for content.

[Jacob/Lee]

Does the crafting table even do anything?

[Meta]

I tested it quickly. Looks nice, but as it's an alpha it lacks content.

You can create your character (a lot of optons, nice!), wander around the world and harvest (timber, stone and other things like bushes), build 5 things (fence, table, firepit, wood and stone totems). And that's all. But overall the realization is great and it looks really professional.

And I didn't even have to watch the video to find how the game works, unlike certain games.

TL;DR Avoid the video, just download and play!

[Neonivek]

Unfortunately as a demo that alpha doesn't really help me.

In fact it does the opposite. Some of the most frustrating parts about the alpha are things that likely won't change.

[Girlinhat]

Unfortunately as a demo that alpha doesn't really help me.

In fact it does the opposite. Some of the most frustrating parts about the alpha are things that likely won't change.

What things?

[Neonivek]

Unfortunately as a demo that alpha doesn't really help me.

In fact it does the opposite. Some of the most frustrating parts about the alpha are things that likely won't change.

What things?

Build a fence around your settlement. You should notice the tedium almost immediately.

[Girlinhat]

That's the sort of things that become a balance issue rather than a core gameplay mechanic.  Just watching the video I saw that you needed to deforest a lot to get any lumber.  Which is rather awkward.  Historically, man has taken down trees to claim land.  You clear a few acres of forest and you have more than enough land to build a home and fence in some pasture, and still burn wood to keep warm in winter.  Townseed seems to make trees very small and make construction very large, as if treating each tree tile as a single log almost.

My solution would be to make forests thicker, impassably thick, and make construction require less resources.  Then you'll find yourself clearing out woodlands to build a house, and end up with a pile of logs beside your cabin.  This is a change that would change the balance, but not alter the core gameplay.

[Neonivek]

That's the sort of things that become a balance issue rather than a core gameplay mechanic.  Just watching the video I saw that you needed to deforest a lot to get any lumber.  Which is rather awkward.  Historically, man has taken down trees to claim land.  You clear a few acres of forest and you have more than enough land to build a home and fence in some pasture, and still burn wood to keep warm in winter.  Townseed seems to make trees very small and make construction very large, as if treating each tree tile as a single log almost.

My solution would be to make forests thicker, impassably thick, and make construction require less resources.  Then you'll find yourself clearing out woodlands to build a house, and end up with a pile of logs beside your cabin.  This is a change that would change the balance, but not alter the core gameplay.

As your gathering increases you actually get more wood per tree AND I think you even cut them down faster.

Its one of those "YOU SUCK SOO MUCH at the start!" games.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Reminds me of Unreal World.

[Tilla]

Unfortunately as a demo that alpha doesn't really help me.

In fact it does the opposite. Some of the most frustrating parts about the alpha are things that likely won't change.

What things?

Build a fence around your settlement. You should notice the tedium almost immediately.

Didn't DF have this exact problem a few long versions back? It's certainly not something that is insurmountable. Eventually you will have citizens to help you out as well with the various chores.

I think Unreal World does it this way but it is even more tedious there.

[Neonivek]

It was even easier to build long walls in DF then it was in Townseed.

[Girlinhat]

It's inspired by UnReal World.

It's also extremely early alpha.  Let's not make any judgements here.  Yes, it kinda sucks, but it's early alpha!  Right now I presume the creator is just trying to add things and make the code work, not balance things.  You can currently build walls, that's good enough for testing purposes.  When the guy starts working on balance, resource amounts, proper inventory system, etc. then you'll see things tweaked to a reasonable level.

Plus, the difference in 12 and 14 is hardly "you suck".