Heyo, thank you, glad to hear it! Have you tried itch's launcher to download the game? I am pretty confident you can then launch it offline anytime you want to
Yes, I did try that out, but I was actually thinking that if we could have an offline build maybe we could port it to retro handhelds like TrimUI Brick with portmaster.
Another option would be to port it to gba (like for example, celeste classic and balatro) and almost any device can run it through emulation.
Do you by any chance have plans for porting? (I do understand that it could be somewhat difficult 😅)
One thing I really dislike about modern games is the amount of handholding done - to a point where game designers leave no respect for players’ intelligence. Lost Settlers was founded on the theory that letting players discover everything themselves (as obscure as some of the mechanics might be) would lead to a more engaging game. Since there is also no way to lose the game/progress, it also removes majority of frustration that would normally be present in majority of other cases. Hence why minimalism threw convenience out of the window. I don’t really know if this would have been a better experience if more descriptions were present/there was a tutorial, etc. Will find out soon :D
anyway, thank you for the kind words and thank you for coming to my TED talk <3
im so confused i either need a hug or need an explanation lol. Poppants, did Dawnfolk steal your art style and game code etc. The game is identical to yours...well it was..till DF added so much new content it overwhelmed the game. So was thinking they need their knee caps busted for this. And also I saw on your Steam page this game but its now in 3d? So there are 2 versions now of your game right? This original finished minimalistic and then the new version coming? Ok well lemme know if you want me to take care of the guys over at Dawnfolk. I GOT YOU BRO
I think a hug is a panacea for everything, so here is one in either case 🤗
Darren, the developer of dawn folk and previously Lueur, said that Lost Lands did indeed inspire him to make those games. At first I thought it was a blatant ripoff, so I asked around my friends and other fellow developers. The majority said that this would fall under the category of “heavily inspired by”. I still believe it is the latter, but I dusted it under the “you are just being paranoid” carpet. I will try Dawnfolk to see which one is true, but for now… yeah, I don’t know man.
Onto your other question - I am indeed working on the successor for Lost Settlers called Lost Lands which relies on the same philosophy of making a minimalistic, exploration and discovery based city builder (just in 3D). Hopefully it will be as good as the first one ^^
ps: thank you for posting, makes me feel less alone in my camp :D
Made this for fun. I love breaking the rules of the games I play, especially if the rulebreaking is creative or buggy or unexpected. (Subtitles on if you want to understand what Im doing)
Really loved this one. Wish there was an option to play with mouse (my index and middle fingers were asking for a break after a bit :P ), but that's just a nitpick. Really cool and relaxing micro experience; almost meditative once you get enough resources to forget about micromanagement and start building and "beautifying" your town.
Speaking of meditative, I gotta ask: What's the background music?! Did you compose it? LOVE IT!
Glad you liked the game! That was the whole idea with the game, so I am glad it worked for you :)
So, emm, I got the track off humble bundle quite some time ago, there was this gigantic pack of loops, sound effects, etc. Found one track I liked, adjusted the pitch so it sounded a lot more slow paced, and you got the track! No magic there I am afraid. I tried looking for it now, but can't find it :/
Kudos on making such good use of stock sounds and original art. It blends beatifully. And best of luck with the development of Lost Lands! On my wishlist already (;
While on the subject, and I know this is not the most orthodox channel to ask but, are you guys interested in localizing the game into Spanish? I'm looking to bring my years of translation experience to the videogames industry and I would love to collaborate with you guys on LL.
Nice graphics, interesting idea. There must be something that disturb you in the game. Some enemies, disasters? And exploring should show more than on tile of map to make it a bit faster. I’ll keep watching the game develops.
I removed all those "disturbing" bits on purpose, I wanted a very chill experience. I do agree that some changes to spice things up would work well, to change context for the player every now and then, so that is already planned :D
Hey Poppants! I just made my first devlog about Lueur. I'm talking a little bit about how Lost Settlers inspired me. Thank you again for making this interesting game.
hi, srry this is a bit late. first, very excited to see this spiffed up! one of my favorites.
alas, my first go produced this:
422×358png 14.5 kB
i don't think there's any way to advance that town. i have a disturbingly huge sample size of games (lol i played this a lot!) and none of them did that before.
also... i'm not really keen on how the windmills animation goes now? i know that's a nitpick but the previous animation was not jerk-y reality-glitch. the still pixel art might be neater but in motion it kind of interrupts the vibe.
i'd also humbly suggest a few adjustments in resource requirements, as usually you don't pay much of a resource X to build the thing that makes resource X. most of the game mechanic nails this; but in many cases, like with population, it's grindingly unbalanced. i estimate you need about 3 houses to achieve steady population growth, and with the cost list of each house ... ironically it's difficult to actually attract settlers.
what might put this over the top into legend mode would be more area effects bonuses, like woodcutter next to forest (or type of tree! i've farmed maps into one type of tree, just for the Aesthetic. mushroom farms are my favorite too.) or house next to apples or sheep next to open grass.
Your comment made my day, thank you :D I honestly never considered the possibility of the starting point to be surrounded by the mountains, like in your case, so I already made myself a task to take care of that so that does not happen.
Regarding resources - noted! We also changed how some of the resources "behave" and what they are used for, so hopefully we can balance it out so there is no grinding.
And regarding the last part - you can expect more of those indeed! We aim to make a lot of building to provide new unique actions and changes to the game mechanics, and more chains (e.g. when upgrading or building next to each other). Also, perhaps not in early build, we will be adding "prettify"ing options for some buildings, allowing you to customize how stuff looks but also brings in some bonuses. So.. stay tuned ^^
PS: I really liked the concept of a mushroom farm, so I am stealing that one for the game :D
Hey ! I discovered your game a few months ago and it really sticked with me. Especially thanks to this minimalist approach.
I set myself the challenge of making a city builder into a 64x64 resolution for the LOWREZJAM.
Your game was a great source of inspiration. It allowed me to benchmark what works, what don't, and what's missing without having to prototype anything. Your visual style was also a big help, as I'm a real beginner in pixel art.
You'll see it's quite different in a lot of aspect, and I would love to know what you think of the game.
I really liked what you did with the "source material"! Really liked the illumination mechanic, and the end game is a lot more fun, can be challenging in the first run. The 64px limitation makes everything looks crammed, but that honestly works well with the darkness of the world that you've built.
For starting pixel art I think that looks quite good! I would advice you to look over at lospec.com for palettes and tutorials (artists Pedro Medeiros and Slynyrd are my recomendations). Even a tiny change, like applying a custom palette will breath a lot of live into the game.
Thanks ! I'm actually using a palette from lospec yes. I found out that saturated colors can be hard on the eyes so I choose the Waldgeist very desaturated and nostalgic color palette. The UI elements do not use it to make them pop out though, and the light 2d modifies the colors so that might be why it looks messy.
Awesome game, I usually don't like minimalistic games, but this is just so cool!
I would really like to see some more progress on this, my main suggestion would be a tutorial, since when I first played the game, I personally didn't understand the controls, I had to look at the description multiple times, and when I got to building, I didn't really understand why some things, like wheat fields, indicate that food will go up, and farms don't, aswell as the functionality of lumber mills.
Still, great game, I support the development process, and I hope it will be an even better game when it's finished!
PS: I don't think a final goal is needed, having an end goal just doesn't fit the vibe of calm, minimalistic gameplay. What I think would be great tho, is some longer gameplay, such as more Outpost upgrades. This does not mean stuffing the game with too much features tho.
Currently working on it! We did decide not to have an end goal, and a lot more content than present now, new mechanics, buildings, etc. Still same process of discovering new things as you go, but with more explanation of what is going on :)
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Really love the game!
Would it be possible for you to release an offline download for this version?
Heyo, thank you, glad to hear it!
Have you tried itch's launcher to download the game? I am pretty confident you can then launch it offline anytime you want to
Yes, I did try that out, but I was actually thinking that if we could have an offline build maybe we could port it to retro handhelds like TrimUI Brick with portmaster.
Another option would be to port it to gba (like for example, celeste classic and balatro) and almost any device can run it through emulation.
Do you by any chance have plans for porting? (I do understand that it could be somewhat difficult 😅)
Oh damn, as fun that would be I have absolutely no time for porting whatsoever :/
When you say offline build, what do you have in mind exactly? I could take a look at that sometime soon
Cute little time-killer. But I don't think minimalism should interfere with convenience.
I do agree with that, as funny as it might sound!
One thing I really dislike about modern games is the amount of handholding done - to a point where game designers leave no respect for players’ intelligence. Lost Settlers was founded on the theory that letting players discover everything themselves (as obscure as some of the mechanics might be) would lead to a more engaging game. Since there is also no way to lose the game/progress, it also removes majority of frustration that would normally be present in majority of other cases. Hence why minimalism threw convenience out of the window. I don’t really know if this would have been a better experience if more descriptions were present/there was a tutorial, etc. Will find out soon :D
anyway, thank you for the kind words and thank you for coming to my TED talk <3
Loved it ! Thanks!
Damn, what a bustling economy
fascinating. So simple yet so cheerful, truly indie strategies prevail any AAA
<3
im so confused i either need a hug or need an explanation lol. Poppants, did Dawnfolk steal your art style and game code etc. The game is identical to yours...well it was..till DF added so much new content it overwhelmed the game. So was thinking they need their knee caps busted for this. And also I saw on your Steam page this game but its now in 3d? So there are 2 versions now of your game right? This original finished minimalistic and then the new version coming? Ok well lemme know if you want me to take care of the guys over at Dawnfolk. I GOT YOU BRO
I think a hug is a panacea for everything, so here is one in either case 🤗
Darren, the developer of dawn folk and previously Lueur, said that Lost Lands did indeed inspire him to make those games. At first I thought it was a blatant ripoff, so I asked around my friends and other fellow developers. The majority said that this would fall under the category of “heavily inspired by”. I still believe it is the latter, but I dusted it under the “you are just being paranoid” carpet. I will try Dawnfolk to see which one is true, but for now… yeah, I don’t know man.
Onto your other question - I am indeed working on the successor for Lost Settlers called Lost Lands which relies on the same philosophy of making a minimalistic, exploration and discovery based city builder (just in 3D). Hopefully it will be as good as the first one ^^
ps: thank you for posting, makes me feel less alone in my camp :D
group hug? 🤗
the more the merrier 🤗
Made this for fun. I love breaking the rules of the games I play, especially if the rulebreaking is creative or buggy or unexpected. (Subtitles on if you want to understand what Im doing)
Fascinating, I guess I somehow incorrectly cleaned up the starting values for the map reroll :O
I like how by the end you basically had creative mode enabled :D
What a great game. I really enjoyed playing it :)
Thank you, glad you liked it ^^
Great game, love the graphics.
Can't wait to play again now that I understand the functions a bit better. One question is there a way to increase magic output?
Glad you liked it!
I do not think there is any other way to get mana but to build the Mage's Tower im afraid, did;t really think about it :D
Spam building the mage tower and tearing it down, and it will actually go up
Really loved this one. Wish there was an option to play with mouse (my index and middle fingers were asking for a break after a bit :P ), but that's just a nitpick. Really cool and relaxing micro experience; almost meditative once you get enough resources to forget about micromanagement and start building and "beautifying" your town.
Speaking of meditative, I gotta ask: What's the background music?! Did you compose it? LOVE IT!
Glad you liked the game! That was the whole idea with the game, so I am glad it worked for you :)
So, emm, I got the track off humble bundle quite some time ago, there was this gigantic pack of loops, sound effects, etc. Found one track I liked, adjusted the pitch so it sounded a lot more slow paced, and you got the track! No magic there I am afraid. I tried looking for it now, but can't find it :/
Kudos on making such good use of stock sounds and original art. It blends beatifully. And best of luck with the development of Lost Lands! On my wishlist already (;
While on the subject, and I know this is not the most orthodox channel to ask but, are you guys interested in localizing the game into Spanish? I'm looking to bring my years of translation experience to the videogames industry and I would love to collaborate with you guys on LL.
Thank you!
I was about to suggest you ping us over the email, but I guess you already have :D
Nice graphics, interesting idea. There must be something that disturb you in the game. Some enemies, disasters? And exploring should show more than on tile of map to make it a bit faster. I’ll keep watching the game develops.
Thank you!
I removed all those "disturbing" bits on purpose, I wanted a very chill experience. I do agree that some changes to spice things up would work well, to change context for the player every now and then, so that is already planned :D
Stay tuned!
very fun, kinda reminds me of dwarf fortress, i can't wait to see how this game grows, keep up the good work
thank you for the kind words ^^ will do our best
glitch: lumber mills stop working if you reset by pressing the g button
Welp, almost a year into the game since release you are the first one to find a bug :D
Thank you, I will take a look at it :)
oh lol, ive found plenty of bugs, but some of them I like XD.
Hey Poppants!
I just made my first devlog about Lueur. I'm talking a little bit about how Lost Settlers inspired me. Thank you again for making this interesting game.
I am really happy I was able to inspire your next project, it looks absolutely lovely!
Ps: really liked the devlog, I should do something that too ^^
Thank you!
This was just what I was looking for, a relaxing little game and more complex than might seem at first. Loved it!
Well thank you ^^ I am really happy to see people enjoying it
hi, srry this is a bit late. first, very excited to see this spiffed up! one of my favorites.
alas, my first go produced this:
14.5 kB
i don't think there's any way to advance that town. i have a disturbingly huge sample size of games (lol i played this a lot!) and none of them did that before.
also... i'm not really keen on how the windmills animation goes now? i know that's a nitpick but the previous animation was not jerk-y reality-glitch. the still pixel art might be neater but in motion it kind of interrupts the vibe.
i'd also humbly suggest a few adjustments in resource requirements, as usually you don't pay much of a resource X to build the thing that makes resource X. most of the game mechanic nails this; but in many cases, like with population, it's grindingly unbalanced. i estimate you need about 3 houses to achieve steady population growth, and with the cost list of each house ... ironically it's difficult to actually attract settlers.
what might put this over the top into legend mode would be more area effects bonuses, like woodcutter next to forest (or type of tree! i've farmed maps into one type of tree, just for the Aesthetic. mushroom farms are my favorite too.) or house next to apples or sheep next to open grass.
Hi there!
Your comment made my day, thank you :D
I honestly never considered the possibility of the starting point to be surrounded by the mountains, like in your case, so I already made myself a task to take care of that so that does not happen.
Regarding resources - noted! We also changed how some of the resources "behave" and what they are used for, so hopefully we can balance it out so there is no grinding.
And regarding the last part - you can expect more of those indeed! We aim to make a lot of building to provide new unique actions and changes to the game mechanics, and more chains (e.g. when upgrading or building next to each other). Also, perhaps not in early build, we will be adding "prettify"ing options for some buildings, allowing you to customize how stuff looks but also brings in some bonuses. So.. stay tuned ^^
PS: I really liked the concept of a mushroom farm, so I am stealing that one for the game :D
Hey !
I discovered your game a few months ago and it really sticked with me. Especially thanks to this minimalist approach.
I set myself the challenge of making a city builder into a 64x64 resolution for the LOWREZJAM.
Your game was a great source of inspiration. It allowed me to benchmark what works, what don't, and what's missing without having to prototype anything. Your visual style was also a big help, as I'm a real beginner in pixel art.
You'll see it's quite different in a lot of aspect, and I would love to know what you think of the game.
https://darenn.itch.io/lueur
I'm working on a complete version as we speak, so feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks again !
Hi Darenn!
I really liked what you did with the "source material"! Really liked the illumination mechanic, and the end game is a lot more fun, can be challenging in the first run. The 64px limitation makes everything looks crammed, but that honestly works well with the darkness of the world that you've built.
For starting pixel art I think that looks quite good! I would advice you to look over at lospec.com for palettes and tutorials (artists Pedro Medeiros and Slynyrd are my recomendations). Even a tiny change, like applying a custom palette will breath a lot of live into the game.
Looking forward to the final version!
Thanks !
I'm actually using a palette from lospec yes. I found out that saturated colors can be hard on the eyes so I choose the Waldgeist very desaturated and nostalgic color palette.
The UI elements do not use it to make them pop out though, and the light 2d modifies the colors so that might be why it looks messy.
Awesome game, I usually don't like minimalistic games, but this is just so cool!
I would really like to see some more progress on this, my main suggestion would be a tutorial, since when I first played the game, I personally didn't understand the controls, I had to look at the description multiple times, and when I got to building, I didn't really understand why some things, like wheat fields, indicate that food will go up, and farms don't, aswell as the functionality of lumber mills.
Still, great game, I support the development process, and I hope it will be an even better game when it's finished!
PS: I don't think a final goal is needed, having an end goal just doesn't fit the vibe of calm, minimalistic gameplay. What I think would be great tho, is some longer gameplay, such as more Outpost upgrades. This does not mean stuffing the game with too much features tho.
Currently working on it! We did decide not to have an end goal, and a lot more content than present now, new mechanics, buildings, etc. Still same process of discovering new things as you go, but with more explanation of what is going on :)
PS: Thanks for the kinds words ^^
Really excellent game, very relaxing, very calm, love the pixels and the vibes. Very well done.