Greetings, I uploaded a small update: Fixed terraforming controls, which were not working properly if you opened the colony info interface with a hotkey and then returned to terraforming Updated Unity3d version to fix a potential vulnerability the engine had Andriy
Greetings,
I uploaded a small update:
Fixed terraforming controls, which were not working properly if you opened the colony info interface with a hotkey and then returned to terraforming
Updated Unity3d version to fix a potential vulnerability the engine had
Greetings 🙋♂️ I’d love to tell you about my new game, Super Loco World , which just launched! It’s all about trains, automation, and cozy vibes. It’s a bit of a departure from what I did in Farlanders , but as always, the game offers depth and replayability. Please check it out
Greetings 🙋♂️
I’d love to tell you about my new game, Super Loco World, which just launched! It’s all about trains, automation, and cozy vibes. It’s a bit of a departure from what I did in Farlanders, but as always, the game offers depth and replayability. Please check it out — and grab a copy if you like it!
Hello, we've added French localization, big thanks to Sykhasamann for the translation! Also, I made a couple of small fixes to UI to display text correctly. Andriy
Hello, we've added French localization, big thanks to Sykhasamann for the translation! Also, I made a couple of small fixes to UI to display text correctly.
Whoops, for some unknown to me reason hardware cursor stopped being visible on Steam Deck. I fixed it, so now you see a beautiful handmade cursor that I found on the internet (thanks to kenney.nl).
Whoops, for some unknown to me reason hardware cursor stopped being visible on Steam Deck. I fixed it, so now you see a beautiful handmade cursor that I found on the internet (thanks to kenney.nl).
Welcome a new major update to Farlanders. It features: Full gamepad support Bigger font size and some UI readjustments German localization (thanks to Martin Winkler) Few minor bugfixes Farlanders now has an official Steam deck verified status. It wasn't easy to achieve, because t
Welcome a new major update to Farlanders. It features:
Full gamepad support
Bigger font size and some UI readjustments
German localization (thanks to Martin Winkler)
Few minor bugfixes
Farlanders now has an official Steam deck verified status. It wasn't easy to achieve, because there are lots of menus and small text in the game. But I'm very pleased with the result, so please enjoy.
Also, recently I announced my new game Super Loco World, it's about building and automating a railroad. Take a look!
Greetings, I made some fixes and improvements. Daily challenge & Sandbox: After completing the daily challenge and returning to the leaderboard, the result wasn't properly highlighted. Now fixed 65 instead of 70 turn limit for daily challenge Added a slider in the sandbox for
Greetings,
I made some fixes and improvements.
Daily challenge & Sandbox:
After completing the daily challenge and returning to the leaderboard, the result wasn't properly highlighted. Now fixed
65 instead of 70 turn limit for daily challenge
Added a slider in the sandbox for free terraforms frequency adjustment
Added randomize map button in the sandbox which generates map settings using the daily challenge algorithm
More resources on smaller maps in the daily challenge
Easy terrain complexity is now harder in the sandbox
Bigger maps in the daily challenge will have harder terrain complexity on average
Sandbox and daily challenge panels position for various aspect ratios
Fixes:
Added a description to the noise filter module that factories no longer dehydrate adjacent fertile soil
The terraforms shop was sometimes not displaying the correct listings which led to the wrong terraform delivery
Greetings 🙋♀️, I'm happy to announce a major Farlanders update together with the discount as a part of Ukrainian Games Festival (go see it!). Limitless play update introduces 2 new game modes that were promised earlier. Sandbox Customize level generation and game rules the way
Greetings 🙋♀️,
I'm happy to announce a major Farlanders update together with the discount as a part of Ukrainian Games Festival (go see it!). Limitless play update introduces 2 new game modes that were promised earlier.
Sandbox
Customize level generation and game rules the way you want and play with no limitations. You can make a tiny map with super deep caves (up to depth -20) to play vertically; a giant map with flat terrain, no obstacles, and unlimited construction to test colony layout ideas without the need to worry about resources or terraforming; or just make a regular map, but remove some of the game rules (e.g. colony morale) to have a more chill game experience. The only limit is your imagination, and customization tools that I made 😜.
Daily challenge
Once a day a new random map is generated for everyone. You have one try and a turn limit to compete with other players for the best score (colony population). I tried to make a big variety of possible maps in the daily challenge, some you might find unfair and too difficult, while others are more chill. My personal favorite is playing on a small or tiny map with deep underground caves, that's something that wasn't exploited during the campaign.
Be aware, that the Daily challenge is not currently working on MacOS, due to 3rd party tools limitations.
3 New statues
There are 3 new statues designed by our Kickstarter backers. Each of them has a unique description, so don't forget to read it if you'll have one.
Greetings, I'm presenting you another QoL and fixes patch for Farlanders. Next, I'm planning to work on new game modes that were announced earlier: Sandbox, and Daily Challenge. UX, Quality of life Don't let building the base when there is not enough space for expansion In the ca
Greetings,
I'm presenting you another QoL and fixes patch for Farlanders. Next, I'm planning to work on new game modes that were announced earlier: Sandbox, and Daily Challenge.
UX, Quality of life
Don't let building the base when there is not enough space for expansion
In the campaign, a little delay after the typewriter effect was skipped, during which you can’t skip more text to avoid missing text by accident
Setting to disable videos in the building preview panel
Clearer description of the scanner effect
Resize 'book interface' when its not fitting the screen on more square resolutions and larger UI size
Change depth with shift+1,2,3... hotkeys
Show ‘to be revealed’ text as an objective during the gameplay when there are more objectives to come
Gameplay
Option to change campaign difficulty
Added ability to set a specific RNG seed for campaign mission
Sounds
Dust storm sounds get quieter as you go deeper underground
Misc
Added Crytivo splash screen
Removed ‘Jack of all trades achievement’ it was buggy and also the process of unlocking it seems tedious
Easier to unlock 'Not a Single Drop Wasted' achievement
Fixes
‘Normal prices’ text was missing on the trading screen
Do not show the winter announcement if there is no winter
An error was sometimes not triggered when purchasing a terraform with no free slots available
Remove terraforming infographics from the map when deselecting with a mouse click on a terraforming card
Correct terraforming preview during winter, when there is a dome over water
Missing localization words
Hide building preview panel when deselecting building category
Building preview panel was sometimes outside of the screen space in the technology tree
Make sure that it's impossible to research technology locked by tutorial in-between animations
Fixed cargo fall animation
Modules description was sometimes displayed as unavailable when selecting a technology
Factory had shadows underground
Block hotkeys during the loading screen so that it's impossible to skip dialogue accidentally
UX, Quality of life Display 'max' caption near the depth number when you’re on the lowest possible depth Added video explaining area movement for Public Space In the building selection popup auto expand effects description for better readability when there are no area controls In
UX, Quality of life
Display 'max' caption near the depth number when you’re on the lowest possible depth
Added video explaining area movement for Public Space
In the building selection popup auto expand effects description for better readability when there are no area controls
In the building selection popup display building development bonuses breakdown by default
In the colony level-up popup display explanation that you need to pick a specialist before continuing
Auto-save the game when closing the application
Removed italics and better text readability in some tooltips
Added undo turn option in the victory popup
Gameplay adjustments
Smaller happiness decrease when going above 350 population. It will be possible to have 3+ colony morale with a population of 500 or higher.
Added refined metal cost (6) to bacteria, grass, moss, and fungi to avoid confusion when you are getting a negative refined metal value after demolishing life
New building development bonuses: fungi receive +2 from the underground house, the underground house receives +2 from the robotics gallery, the food silo receives +2 from a hydroponic farm
Reduced base income from Grass
Decreased science points price by 33% when selling them, fewer science points as the bonus from the latest colony level
In general, more hidden under-ice anomalies on the surface that give science points
Made Mycelium, A Step Toward Breathable Atmosphere, Left bank of Kyiv achievements a bit easier
Specialists adjustments
Scientist: gives 3 instead of 5 free science points
Botanist: gives bonus only to bacteria and fungi
Entrepreneur: x2 more income from unemployed colonists
Comedian, Musician: 0.25 happiness bonus instead of 0.15
Engineer: minerals lifecycle bonus reduced from 20% to 10%
Campaign
Revisited experience required for Marco to level up. Always show caption (with required manager level) on locked story files so that there is more sense in leveling up and going for side objectives
Mission 4: easier to find water underground, slightly less metals
Mission 5: a bit better starting positions, geothermal power on the surface, more passages underground from the surface
Mission 6: more rare metals, more time to complete objectives, more geothermal power on the surface, lower pop goal, easier to discover underground level, a bit more stalactites
Mission 7: no time limit in side objectives, slightly higher population required, more time to complete the main goal, slightly more resources underground, a bit more superquarks, more clear objective description
Free play mode
Do not lock free play difficulties
A bit less time for objectives in 'First metropolis on Mars' mission, added geothermal source on the surface for ‘martian utopia’ and ‘pioneers of cave agriculture’ missions.
Misc
il2cpp compilation for Windows builds which might lead to performance improvements
Fixes
Fixed broken achievements: Mycelium, A Step Toward Breathable Atmosphere, Jack of All Trades
In the campaign, on relaxing difficulty, the experience that is used for leveling up wasn’t calculated correctly
Fixed a situation when in-game dialogues were locked and you had to undo the turn
I think I found and fixed the occasional problem with dust storms in mission 7. Apologies to those who have encountered it.
The text was sometimes missing in the game when using a certain OS language. It should be all working now
Converted videos for building preview to another format and codec, which should hopefully fix problems with videos for every platform
Inconsistent demolish tool behavior. Sometimes it was deselected after the use and sometimes returned cost wasn’t displayed.
Correct font for a letter in the campaign for non-Latin fonts
Had to remove ‘research flora under the dome technology’ from the checklist in mission 7 because it sometimes lead to cutscenes not working correctly
Made it impossible to double-click the next turn button
In the building selection panel, the module section occasionally displayed info from the previously selected building
Disable the escape menu when a popup is showing or the turn is changing
Reworked campaign progress saving system, to be 100% sure that the game is saved when you’ve completed the mission
Greetings, a new patch that I've been working on for the last week is now available. From now on, I will be making game updates using the normal procedure, meaning that first they will be tested on a beta branch. I'm making an announcement when an update is available on the beta
Greetings, a new patch that I've been working on for the last week is now available. From now on, I will be making game updates using the normal procedure, meaning that first they will be tested on a beta branch. I'm making an announcement when an update is available on the beta branch on our discord.
UX, Quality of life
‘Undo turn’ button in the escape menu. I think it was the most requested feature, so I had to make it.
In the migration popup highlight in red color the reason why new people can’t join your colony
Videos in the building preview popup with explanations for Factories (Factories dry fertile soil nearby!)
The building preview popup show info that plants require time to fully grow
Tip in mission 4 about installing a Water Conveyor module after you are getting underground
Button to show the next tip on the loading screen
More loading screen tips
Confirmation buttons for ‘abandon run’ and ‘restart game’ in the escape menu
Gameplay adjustments
Slower happiness decay (decrease). This should make it easier to build and support bigger colonies.
Leave sand tile after the silicon deposit is exhausted
Slightly reduced income from life
Added inflation for terraforming shop prices linked to the population size. It would slowly grow after your colony hits 200 population. This should make a late game, when you have a huge economy, a little more challenging
Easier to scan solid walls (same speed as for regular walls), and harder to scan mountains on the surface
Mission 7 changes:
- Mini objective to research the technology required for the artificial sunlight module - Bigger breaks between dust storms - More visible passages on the surface - More good starting positions on the surface - Instead of 1 big rare metal deposit, 2 smaller rare metal deposits on depth [-1] - Bigger room with a passage to the depth [-5] - Slightly fewer wastelands on the surface
Misc
Keep running the game after switching to another program
When failing to load a savefile, show a dialogue with possible solutions
Fixes
‘Max Power’ achievement is fixed
‘True Legend’ achievement extra check when in the main menu
‘And That's a Wrap!’ achievement extra check when on the campaign screen
Save file corruption because of the wrong technology research objective serialization
Farlanders is a turn-based city-builder from Andriy Bychkovskyi and publisher Crytivo that has you colonize and attempt to terraform the red planet. Read the full article here:
Farlanders is a turn-based city-builder from Andriy Bychkovskyi and publisher Crytivo that has you colonize and attempt to terraform the red planet.
Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/01/turn-based-city-builder-set-on-mars-farlanders-has-launched
Greetings, A new patch has been released to make the game more accessible and smooth out the learning curve. Among changes, there are improvements to mission 3 and 4 balance. More clear descriptions for colonists' migration popup, and terraforming buildings (they are 1-time use o
Greetings,
A new patch has been released to make the game more accessible and smooth out the learning curve. Among changes, there are improvements to mission 3 and 4 balance. More clear descriptions for colonists' migration popup, and terraforming buildings (they are 1-time use only). This patch should also fix most of the localization issues.
While Farlanders may appear to be a simple game at first glance, it does have its own complexities. If certain mechanics are missed or misunderstood, it can lead to difficulties while playing the game. For example, if players don't realize that they can create water by placing a water terraform into a canyon, and instead are creating ice by placing it on a flat surface, they will have a hard time providing food and water for their colony. Or if players don't build scanners underground, the exploration process becomes tedious and not enjoyable.
So my top priority, for now, is to improve the game balance and provide a better experience for everyone. If you have any feedback or questions, you can join our Discord server where you can get a quick answer about the game. I'll also try to reply to the comments on Steam forums whenever I'll have a bit more time.
Overall, I'm happy that the game is finally released, even with some rough edges. Thank you all for the support, that means a lot to me!
Cheers, Andriy
P.S. Here is an interesting video that I used as an inspiration for plants mechanic in Farlanders.
Dear Farlanders community, I am thrilled to announce that Farlanders is officially being released! It has been a long journey, and I couldn't have done it without the support and encouragement of all of you. I want to express my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for
Dear Farlanders community,
I am thrilled to announce that Farlanders is officially being released! It has been a long journey, and I couldn't have done it without the support and encouragement of all of you.
I want to express my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for being a part of our community and for your patience during the development process. Your feedback and suggestions have been invaluable in helping me create the best possible game experience.
I can't wait for you to experience the world of Farlanders for yourself. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to your continued feedback as we continue to develop and improve the game.
Have you ever been in a relationship with somebody who surprised you in all the right ways at the beginning, but eventually frustrated and disappointed you so deeply that it all ended in a messy breakup? Farlanders is my messy breakup. It's a space colony city builder with a puzz
Have you ever been in a relationship with somebody who surprised you in all the right ways at the beginning, but eventually frustrated and disappointed you so deeply that it all ended in a messy breakup? Farlanders is my messy breakup.
It's a space colonycity builder with a puzzle game mentality - and set on Mars to make things even more enticing. The best part of Farlanders is its story, and while it’s not quite a full-blown commentary on colonialism, it examines what you’re doing and why you’re doing it with a self-awareness that I did not expect at all. That being said, annoying difficulty curves, awkward terraforming, and frustrating progression systems stop this space colony sim from really taking off. A graph charting my enjoyment over time would look like a child’s drawing of a mountain.
I'm a sucker for strategy games which boil their mechanics down until they almost become puzzle games, particularly if they also involve building rather than war. I'm thinking of games like Concrete Jungle , Slipways , Terra Nil and now, maybe, Farlanders. That last game may be l
I'm a sucker for strategy games which boil their mechanics down until they almost become puzzle games, particularly if they also involve building rather than war. I'm thinking of games like Concrete Jungle, Slipways, Terra Nil and now, maybe, Farlanders.
That last game may be less familiar. Farlanders is a turn-based strategy game about terraforming Mars via building placement and adjacency bonuses, and it's due for release next month.
We're happy to announce that Farlanders is going to be released on January 17th, 2023 on Steam. Lead the charge in establishing a colony on Mars in a new turn-based strategy game with a nostalgic loot but very fresh gameplay! Also, you already can play the new Farlanders demo for
We're happy to announce that Farlanders is going to be released on January 17th, 2023 on Steam. Lead the charge in establishing a colony on Mars in a new turn-based strategy game with a nostalgic loot but very fresh gameplay!
Greetings 🧐, I’m presenting you the final major update to Farlanders before the release. We have 1 more major update planned which will introduce Daily Challenge & Sandbox game modes but that’s after the release. Campaign & Narration My main focus in this update was the
Greetings 🧐,
I’m presenting you the final major update to Farlanders before the release. We have 1 more major update planned which will introduce Daily Challenge & Sandbox game modes but that’s after the release.
Campaign & Narration
My main focus in this update was the campaign. This means implementing the story and working on actual missions. That’s a huge challenge to make missions not only interesting and diverse but also with the right difficulty and learning curve.
We will have 7 missions in the campaign, currently, 3 are available (I’ll be adding the rest soon). It would be the good old “desktoppunk” (my invention 😛) that you had a chance to experience in Farlanders: Prologue but this time with:
Various media (chat messengers, emails, video blogs, video calls, and even actual offline meetings between characters)
Mars colonization, mystery, secrets, and a little bit of drama 😏
Not sure why I decided to present info in this section as it is some kind of an ad, but I believe that’s a huge step forward to what was done in Prologue, and you will enjoy the story. And btw, some of the media would have a voiceover.
Sound design & Music
A lot of work was done on the game sound. So now we have a complete soundtrack and sound design, by which I mean:
Visiting sounds for most of the buildings which is played when you select or construct the building
Sound loops synced with building animations
New SFXs and updates to old sounds so that everything sounds good together
That’s the first time I’m putting so much effort into game sound, but it seems it was worth it and I’m proud of the result. All credits to Danil Dunets and Ivan Turmenko! Ah, and you can check the game sound yourself in the video below.
I decided to go back to the old building upgrade mechanic. This means that instead of gradual growth (wait for a few turns for the building to develop) buildings will be developed immediately if conditions are met. It just feels better and fits the nature of the game which is about direct dependencies between terrains and buildings.
But it’s not a simple revert to the old mechanic. First, we have a new animation for buildings upgrades.
And second, we took the good part from the old-new mechanic. Buildings might have more different bonuses from various types of buildings. For example, Greenhouse gets bonuses from both Greenhouses and Food silos, although Food silos give fewer points. This creates more possible interactions between buildings which leads to more possible game scenarios. Imagine you need to build a Spices greenhouse for which you need to have Greenhouse level 3. You can achieve level 3 by constructing 3 greenhouses nearby, but that might be tricky, so instead, you can build 2 greenhouses + 2 food silos nearby.
Other changes
As the game gets closer to the release we get more and more tasks in the polishing area. I’ll try to mention the most important changes from what come to my mind:
Complete revisit of the game text; new names and flavor text for buildings and terrains
Robotics gallery, a new underground happiness building
Adjustments to the plants (and other life forms) logic according to the changed buildings upgrade system. Plants require time to grow to the highest level
Reworked technology tree; no more building level-ups in the tech tree, when you research a new building you get all the levels that are available
Updated main menu; campaign difficulty selection
Level generator improvement: rooms that are generated on the surface have softer edges, which means that there might be a passage between rooms that are not blocked by a canyon or mountain
Release date & final notes
I’ll be honest with you I feel burned out and tired of working on this game for so long. That’s mostly because the game scope become too big. Now I understand that it was too ambitious for the budget and experience that I had. When I started working on Farlanders I never thought that the game would grow so much. But my conscience is clear, I think currently every game mechanic is in its place. And we got the most out of the original concept.
As for the release date, it will be announced after:
Playtests are complete and we’re sure that the tutorial is properly implemented and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the game
Trailer is complete
The localization process is started
Also, I made a feedback and bug report thread on our forums. They would especially make sense after we release a new demo. And as always, join our discord.
Farlanders demo is available for a limited time during Steam Next Fest. The demo features an introductory mission with a smaller set of available mechanics and no random map generation. It might take 1-2 hours to complete. Be aware that the demo doesn't have a proper tutorial, so
Farlanders demo is available for a limited time during Steam Next Fest. The demo features an introductory mission with a smaller set of available mechanics and no random map generation. It might take 1-2 hours to complete.
Be aware that the demo doesn't have a proper tutorial, so if you want to have a more refined experience I suggest trying Farlanders: Prologue which even has its own story.
