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Sou'wester Winds

Coming soon

Jonas Oppliger · Voronoi Studios

Planned release: Coming soon
Platforms
Last updated: 07 Sep 2026, 09:22 GMT

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6 posts

09 Jan 2023Developer post
Development Summary August - December 2022
Hey there! In this summary I will show you what I was working on in the past months and what you can expect to come in the future. Summary Dev Snippets - Build cost UI and functionality - Health System - An Underrated UI Element! - Synchronizing Bullets and Drops - Vertical Movem
Hey there! In this summary I will show you what I was working on in the past months and what you can expect to come in the future.
Summary

Dev Snippets -Build cost UI and functionality -Health System -An Underrated UI Element! -Synchronizing Bullets and Drops -Vertical Movement Solved! -Shipbuilder table -First Creature Revealed -AI for my Game
Concept Art -Mossy Forest Biom -Vertical Cloud Slice
Shipbuilder
Future of Voronoi Studios
Dev Snippets
This time around I tried something new, by packaging my updates in to videos. They are all quite short so it should not take you long to quickly watch trough all of them.
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
New Concept Art!
(Official concepts drawn by SubQuest)
MOSSY FOREST BIOM
VERTICAL CLOUD SLICE
Shipbuilder pitfall
For a long time, I have struggled with the pitfalls of early optimization and constant reworking in the development of my ship building system. I have realized that I tend to focus too much on the details and try to optimize everything right away, which has led to delays, many many reworks and a lack of progress. However, I am still struggling to adapt and change my approach.
I'm trying to learn that it is important to prioritize the completion of the system before focusing on optimization or the so called "juiciness". I need to keep the bigger picture in mind and focus on meeting my goals and priorities rather than constantly adjust and rework the system.
But yeah, I will talk more about that in a future blogpost.
A new beginning
I am pleased to announce that I have secured a part-time job in the industry thanks to my work on this project, which unfortunally also means I will have limited time for this project. However, I will still be working on it, just at a very reduced capacity. My main focus will have to shift to the upcoming game, Timekeepers Battleground, set to release in 2024.
I am grateful for the support from all of you and am excited to continue working on it. One exciting news is that there have been discussions with the project leader of Timekeepers Battleground about potentially collaborating on Sou'wester Winds, with him offering assistance in planning and organization. The possibility of making Sou'wester Winds, or at least the shipbuilder, open source is still being considered, but I have not yet received significant interest in this idea.
I will be taking on the role of main modeler and artist for Timekeepers Battleground, while also sparingly contributing to coding efforts. I am looking forward to the opportunities and experiences this new project will bring, and how it may also benefit Sou'wester Winds. Thank you again for your continued support.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2230780/Timekeepers_Battleground
Last but not least, thank you very much for reading!
Ps. I'm working on the next playtest and hope to slowly start giving access in the next months.
Join Discord
Original post
31 Jul 2022Developer post
Development Summary March - July 2022
Hey there! In this summary I will show you what I was working on in the past months and what you can expect to come in the future. Summary New Website Creature concepts Biom concept WIP Music Tech-Upgrades Experiments with Clouds Weapon System Other Stuff Behind the scenes The ne
Hey there! In this summary I will show you what I was working on in the past months and what you can expect to come in the future.
Summary

New Website
Creature concepts
Biom concept
WIP Music
Tech-Upgrades
Experiments with Clouds
Weapon System
Other Stuff
Behind the scenes
The new Website is online!
Now finally we have a proper official website where you can get a more complete picture what the game will be about. If you did not already, then please check it out! https://souwester.voronoistudios.com/
Creature Concept Art
Here is a first look at one of the fearsome creatures that will live within the clouds. As you can see below he is only one of many creatures you will encounter in Sou'wester Winds.
Biom Concepts
First a big thanks to all Patreons, thanks to them I can now comission people from the community to do such awesome concept drawings! It is always so exciting to get an idea from my head into something others also understand.
CRYSTAL WASTELANDS (Official concept drawn by SubQuest)
Watch on YouTube
As you travel higher and higher with your airship, you will come across darker and darker clouds. Within the almost blackish stormclouds, there are some really unique islands which hold some very valuable resources...
To validate the process I tested the biom temporarily in the upcoming Landscape module for MOENTO.
Additionally here is a little treat for you guys, a fan concept by one of our comunity members for the...
MOSSY FORESTS (Fan concept drawn by Britzilla)
Very early look at the music side of things
This is a very early draft for one of the ambient tracks for Sou'wester and I think we are definitely going into the right direction. But what do you think? Maybe for some context, this track is made by using many different layers I can fade in and out. To showcase them all, I just added them as the track goes on. But in game they will be added or removed depending on how intense the current gameplay is. My goal was that the track is very atmospheric but with a touch of sci fi.
Tech-Upgrades
Watch on YouTube
Hey look, I just found some TECH-UPGRADES. Jet and Grapple are a really awesome combination, the Jet upgrade has just enough force to cancel out gravity so when combined with the momentum from sprinting or grappling you can achieve quite the air maneuvers. Ps, pls ignore the glitchy grappling wire, seem to have a bug there...
Experiments with Clouds
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Weapon System Rework
Other Stuff
The Shipbuilder is now nearly fully implemented again, I also updated some of the visual clues along the way. You see now more clearly if something can or can not be placed.
Worked on the electrical connections and made it work with my new input logic. I only used a helm in the demonstration as it was the only 2 axis Input device that is set up yet. On the other hand it also perfectly showcases the flexibility of the electrical connection system.
Behind the scenes
Show details
Personal / IRL
First of I would like to remind you all that I'm basically doing all this as a one man show at the moment, while still working nearly full time as an engineer. So in the past I was able to dedicate around 1 day of work per week to all of this. Whenever possible I also dedicate my weekend working, so that's all fine for now but with the newly gained fatherhood I will not want to sustain this grind. Enough personal stuff for now, I think you get what is going on; the limited time is getting more limited. But never the less I will use any remaining time to push forward this project!
Studio Name
As some of you might have noticed as of the 1. April I rebranded "bblessed gamestudios" to "Voronoi Studios". It was indeed not an April fools joke! I'm very excited about this change and have set up the new website and also dealing with all the legal stuff behind the scenes. I don't regret it in anyway so far and I'm excited about the possibilities it will enable us in the future.
Game dev / Playtest
We have now surpassed the 3 year mark, since the project was initially created! It was an awesome journey so far and I was able to professionalize my coding skills in this time significally... Which also means that some of the old code is a hot mess! And this leads us to the biggest time investment lately, I decided to start over with a completely blank canvas and carefully refactoring/reimporting only the code that is actually needed. I'm very happy with the progress I'm making with this, so much so that I did not need to cancel the playtest announced in the last blog. It was significally smaller than I initially planned though. But I can tell you that it was a very wise decision, I'm way faster now working on new systems and the old systems are magnitudes more reliable now! Last but not least also keep in mind that Sou'wester is not my only game, it is important to me to also keep MOENTO maintained and updated regularly and I'm also part of a dev team for a not yet revealed game. With that all said, thank you, the community, very much for the journey we had so far and I'm excided of what lies ahead.

TL:DR fatherhood + studio creation + refactor = not so much "new" work to show. The playtest was not canceled but was held in a smaller scale. Due to the mentioned fatherhood you might see me post some more comissioned work, which was made possible due to our awesome Patreons.
Last but not least, thank you very much for reading!
Join Discord
Original post
01 Mar 2022Developer post
Development summary January - February 2022
Ahoy! I have some exciting news to share with you guys, so let's get straight to the point! Summary Playtest! First flight Inventory UI Inventory and Main menu UI Widescreen support Character customization & Grappling UI Survival Playtest Playtest! After nearly a year we fina
Ahoy! I have some exciting news to share with you guys, so let's get straight to the point!
Summary

Playtest!
First flight
Inventory UI
Inventory and Main menu UI
Widescreen support
Character customization & Grappling UI
Survival Playtest
Playtest!
After nearly a year we finally had a playtest again. The main goal of the playtest was to allow dedicated fans to help me test stuff, find bugs and give feedback in general. You can find a video of the stream over on Youtube in case you want to see what we did.
First flight
Watch on YouTube
Inventory and Main menu UI
Here's another main menu concept for you guys, some things have changed since last time so let me know what you think about it!
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Widescreen support
I'm a big lover of widescreen setups, so you can bet I'll make sure my game supports it properly! No hacky FOV changes, no in-game UI that is way off to one side or even worse; stretched. None of that, if everything works out it will function out of the box.
Character customization & Grappling UI
Watch on YouTube
I reworked the crosshair to better show your grappling state and also finished up the character customization.
Survival Playtest
You missed the last playtest? Fear not, the next big playtest is already planned! It will show some first parts of the survival mechanics I have planned. If you have any ideas or suggestions in this regard, then let me know over on the discord. With that all said, here is the next playtest event to mark in your calendar:
Original post
22 Dec 2021Developer post
Happy Holidays - Development summary July - December 2021
The end of the year is nearing and on this occasion I want to take the time to tell you what I was working on the past months. I'm also happy to announce that early next year, we can finally continue with the alpha tests. The dates will be announced on our discord . Summary A new
The end of the year is nearing and on this occasion I want to take the time to tell you what I was working on the past months. I'm also happy to announce that early next year, we can finally continue with the alpha tests. The dates will be announced on our discord.
Summary

A new look - in to the skies - New Trailer
July to August - Many concepts - Modular Engines - Linkage axles - Fuel concept - Helm Concepts
September to December- Game changer - The crew - Main menu concept - Inventory
Shipbuilding - The core mechanic - Rework Nr.5 - Multiplayer capability
A new look
Watch on YouTube
In the last dev summary I explained the direction change, the steam page was now updated to reflect that change. We also got a new temporary trailer for the game, until the more extensive one is complete, which will feature some of the footage of the upcoming alpha playtests.
July to August
Modular Engines
The concept is that the engine assemblies will consist out of 3 main parts: Engine, gearbox and a prop. Additional attachments can be added to further modify the stats of the engine assembly. The engine and prop can also be stacked to a certain extend to multiply some stats. This is just a rough concept and all of the models shown in the picture are only for a rough reference.
Linkage axles
These functional axles will allow you to "move" rotational power to certain areas of the airship. For example you might not want the engine to be exposed on the outside of the hull as they can get damaged by shooting enemies. These axles will allow you to have the engine inside the ship and "move" the power outside to the props.
Fuel concept
Watch on YouTube
Your engines will need fuel to run. These pipes and tanks will allow you to have a centralised fuel system as this might be safer then just having the tank exposed on the outside...
Helm Concepts
Alot of work is also gone into creating some concepts and ideas for the interaction with the ship.
Watch on YouTube
September to December
The crew
Meet the crew. Taz, Ari and Jed will be the main 3 characters you are going to interact with in your playthrough of Sou'wester Winds and I'm thrilled to finally announce them to you. A lot of thought has gone into them and this is not all, you can even talk to them over on my discord in their #the-cave channel! So make sure to visit them and see what they have to tell you...
Main menu concept
Watch on YouTube
This is a first look at my draft for the new main menu. I love the transitions, the UI itself is really only a placeholder at the moment, but I think you get the idea what I'm going for. 😄 And yes the transitions can be turned of/shortened in the settings if a player wants that.
Inventory
Watch on YouTube
The base of the Inventory is now working as well
as the hotbar. Different weapons as well as the
multitool can be selected and used.
I also added some dummy enemies/resources
which can be shot at and will spawn some items
to pick up. The damage numbers are a mess at
the moment and I will rework them heavily.
Shipbuilding reworks and multiplayer
Rework Nr.5
The final and last rework of the save system is finally nearing completion .😅 One of the main features is the complete separation of data and visuals. This allows me to make multiple "visualizers" of the same blueprint, in the same game and even on different clients. And that is also the second main change; it is now finally multiplayer capable
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Multiplayer capability
Last but not least I was able to test the multiplayer capability of the new buildsystem, I'm very happy at how it feelt and as it seems all changes where correctly shared over the network.
Watch on YouTube
That's all for now, thank you very much for reading until here, you are a hero!
Original post
18 Jun 2021Developer post
Development summary December 2020 - June 2021
Hello! Glad to see you again. It was quite some time since you last heard from me here on Steam. Anyway, I’m happy to inform you that I was working on Sou’wester Winds tirelessly, just maybe a little bit different than you might have expected. Summary A “small” development tool -
Hello! Glad to see you again. It was quite some time since you last heard from me here on Steam. Anyway, I’m happy to inform you that I was working on Sou’wester Winds tirelessly, just maybe a little bit different than you might have expected.
Summary

A “small” development tool - The start of something big
MOENTO - Create unique structures
December to January - Devlopment continued
April to June - The new era of Sou'wester Winds
Multiplayer - A big deccision
As you might remember from my last development summary, I informed you that I just started with the survival part for the game. This was in fact true and I included some pictures of my (now redundant) progress further down.
A “small” development tool
Watch on YouTube
The main reason why the development seemingly slowed down was, because during the development for the survival part, I built a little tool to help me create structures faster to populate the villages I was working on. As I posted some early pictures of this tool on our discord, various other developers showed interest in using this tool for their games too.
MOENTO – Modular Environment Toolkit
Dedicated to make the development tool I was working on, into a standalone thing, I remembered the “Worlds Adrift – Island creator” which allowed users to submit islands to the main game. With this inspiration in mind I decided to choose a similar approach, just game independent. The aim is that other devs can use it for their game but we can also use it for Sou’wester Winds. With the goal that you, the community, will be able to assist me in creating unique content to populate the game world.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1548870/MOENTO__Modular_Environment_Toolkit/
Now as you can see above the fist segment of this tool is actually already released! You can not yet create content specifically for Sou’wester Winds but the general tool is out now, so feel free to check it out.
December – January
Now let’s get in to the actual development summary! Before I paused the development on Sou’wester Winds to focus on MOENTO for some time, I actually got some stuff done:
Watch on YouTube
A lot of this is now obsolete. Why you might ask? Well, the time away from Sou’wester Winds actually made me notice that it was going into a direction I don’t really like it to go. Some things where just how they were because I did not want to copy some other games…
To summarize a long thought process I did go though, I eventually decided to scrap these unwanted things and make Sou’wester Winds the game I wanted it to be deep in my heart.
April – June
After the first segment of MOENTO was released, I picked up the development of Sou’wester Winds again. Now what will change?!
The good news is that the main thing you were able to test until now, the shipbuilder, will stay nearly as you know it. The main change is that later on in the game you will be able to leave the water beneath you and head for the skies. Everything will get a slight sci-fi touch as you can see it shown in the most recent concept arts below:
Multiplayer
This is a big and currently still undecided topic. The only thing that is already decided is that if it is going to have multiplayer then in form of a co-op experience, to probably max. 6 players. A poll in our discord (which you should definitley join if you've read until here!) showed that the community is roughly 50/50 split about this topic. Half of the people want a singleplayer game and the other half wants it to be multiplayer game, even if it will "delay" the release. So fo now I am prototyping some multiplayer stuff in order to get a feel for it. Below you can see some videos of these tests as well as a group picture of our first multiplayer test event.
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
That's all for now, I thank you very much for reading until here, you are a hero!
If you want to see new concept arts right when they are created or want to participate in future tests, make sure to join our discord!
Original post
30 Nov 2020Developer post
Development summary October - November
Nearly three months ago the first tweet about Sou'wester Winds was posted. It marked the start for this truely ambitious project but since then we were already able to celebrate some of the first milestones! Summary Playtest - Sign up now! Ship Builder - Furthest devloped Surviva
Nearly three months ago the first tweet about Sou'wester Winds was posted. It marked the start for this truely ambitious project but since then we were already able to celebrate some of the first milestones!
Summary

Playtest - Sign up now!
Ship Builder - Furthest devloped
Survival - Devlopment startet
Roadmap - What lies ahead
Playtest

If you can't wait then this is not a problem, go ahead and download the playtest application. As I aim to devlop this game together with the community it is very importatnt to involve you as soon as possible. Test it, break it, and I will fix it. We also have a Discord server now where you can talk and hangout with me as I devlop this game. If you have any suggestions or wishes, let me know via twitter or Discord.
Join Discord Server
Ship Builder
The ship is your home and place of calm to prepare your next adventure. As you will sail the endless oceans it needs to be cozy, right? This is why you have the opportunity to build your ship from scratch where I want to provide as few restrictions as possible. As not everyone is an expert ship engeneer I already added the Steam Workshop to the game for your usage. There you can share your amazing Creations and also subscribe to Blueprints of others to use it in your own play trough.
Here is one I created to test how big you can build your ship, I had to notice the limit is not easy to reach so this only marks a middle ground of size. I can now savely say that the limit will mostlikely be your imagination rather than the build limit.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2301574043
Survival
As stated above the Shipbuilder is already in the hands of the alpha testers, this gives me time to work on the survival mechanics. All you see below is heavy work in progess but you can see we're progressing faster than I ever Imagined!
Roadmap
Here you can see how far the devlopment has progressed so far.
Thank you for reading you are a real hero!
Original post