Looking Through the Past
2025 was an exciting year for ShantyTown!
At the start of last year, ShantyTown looked something like this:
It was darker, colder and simpler, but atmospheric and interesting none-the-less.
Now there are more object varieties, more color, more light and more details!
This is the same map, by the way, and it looks drastically different!
Steps of Progress
In February of last year, closed playtests began and the public demo then launched in June. It went through a few iterations, but you can still play it now!
I hope to keep a demo available forever for players to try out ShantyTown and see if it's right for them :)
Publishing and Polishing
In November I teamed up with Kine Phantom to help with the publishing and marketing of ShantyTown and together we've created quite a bit of buzz around this little game!
What's Coming in 2026:
So... What's the plan for 2026?
Well, ShantyTown is the plan! As was mentioned in a previous announcement, ShantyTown is launching April 16th!
So mark you calendar, tell your grandma to wishlist, and get ready to explore each unusual location, place each odd item and create beautiful dioramas in just a few months!
What's being worked on?
At the moment I'm working on controller support. I think this would be a great game for handheld devices like Steam Deck and I'd love to see the game working there. It's a lot more work to retroactively add controller support, but I can do it!
Other features like achievements, full localization, optimization, polish and balance are also being worked on. I have my weeks and months ahead full but couldn't be more excited to see the game in your hands and hear your reviews!
I'll keep you updated as April 16th, the release date, gets closer!
Until the next one,
-Erik