Cowboy Life Simulator News

[h2]Howdy, partners! It's Playtest time![/h2]


Hello, friends! It’s finally happening! We’re kicking off another round of playtests for “Cowboy Life”.

This time we’re especially excited for your feedback regarding animal-related mechanics, and if the game’s flow is intuitive. To take part, simply go to “Cowboy’s” page here on Steam, hit the “Request Access” button!

Don’t forget to wishlist the game while you’re at it if you haven’t already. ;)

Record your experience, post it on your socials with the hashtag #CowboyLife, we're super excited to see it all!


We’re really looking forward to your feedback on our Discord channel! Here’s the link [https://discord.gg/C8qr3S6WwX]. Message us there, and most importantly – fill out the survey you’ll get the link to while playing the game.


So what do you think? Don’t hesitate to reach out, comment, suggest, or share a laugh! Follow us and shoot us a message at our Instagram – @odd.qubit.


Happy trails, friend.
[h2]Wishlist “Cowboy Life Simulator” today![/h2]

[h2]Howdy, partners![/h2]


Hello, friends!

Thanks for liking our updates! We’re so happy that we want to share more with you – more playtests are coming soon! No exact date yet, but make sure to click "Request Access" so you don’t miss it!

Why more playtests, though? Since receiving feedback after the last one, we’ve been working hard to make the game better for you! This time, we’ve focused on improving the gameplay, especially that related to the NPCs and the animals, and making the game easier to understand, an get into the flow of. We want to know what you think!



[h2]Here’s what’s new:[/h2]

– more NPCs and life on the level

All characters now have routines! You can talk to them and learn their schedules, and check this info on the map or in your journal. But, just like in real life (hey, it's a life sim after all) some characters are hard to catch because they move around a lot!




For now, the NPCs you'll be able to meet are the ones key to the story (about 20 right now). We’re now working on adding crowds (communities, in gamedev terminology) and runtime animations to make the world feel more alive.




– animals

We’ve added more animals! Now there are cows, goats, wild hares, foxes, and rabbits along with the chickens. These animals will become part of the game’s flow, and we need your feedback on how they feel in the game. They weren't available at the time of the last playtest, so we’ll be super grateful for any feedback on those.






[h2]Other changes:[/h2]

– expanded narrative

We’ve designed and implemented more than 35 quests that take about 8 hours to complete (if you know what you’re doing, that is). This is just for the early part of the game – there’s still more story to come!




We wouldn’t want you to devour everything in one bite, though, so for the purposes of this playtest, the narrative will be cut off at a certain point. Don’t worry though, you’ll still have plenty to do!


– map and exploration

All locations are closely tied to the story – they're not just pretty sights! We’ve added new areas and improved old ones.










And we’ve got a special treat! Bravestand, the main town in our story, which was not available for exploration at the time of the last playtest, will be all yours to experience this time! Discover all the content within all its stores, vendors, the Saloon, Town Hall, and much more.




– clothes

You can now buy or craft clothes, or just run around in your underwear! Right now, clothes are mostly for looks, but we’ll soon make them affect gameplay.





[h2]Progress from older devlogs:[/h2]

– the prologue

We’ve improved the cattle drive quest – it’s smoother now! There are also new dialogue options and a better tutorial, and new mechanics thanks to our addition of animals into this version.


– tutorials

We made the tutorials simpler, only showing tips when necessary. No more pop-up overload.




– construction

We improved building by adding object snapping and shadows to show placement. It’s now easier to build and decorate with fewer restrictions!




Something that we’ve currently got in the works now is the mechanic of rotating objects that are already snapped to the wall – we’ll keep you updated on that in the devlogs to come.


– new items

The expanded map has more things to find – items, collectibles, forage, and treasure chests galore! The map is anything but empty, and so many of the newly introduced forage items will be of use in the new crafting options.




Plus, you’ll be getting many requests from neighbors asking for items, and they’ll reward you with new quests or cool rewards! They will be sending you mail through your mailbox, so make sure to peep in there often!




– combat

Human enemy combat, well… it certainly is there… Just kidding, we know how much everyone was asking for some cowboy shootin’, and we listened. For now, the mechanic itself is quite clunky as a whole, but it’s the one of the areas of “Cowboy’s” development we’re the most focused on now.


– localization

Because we’re planning for “Cowboy” to ultimately be available in many different language versions, we’ve added some localization options. For now much of it sounds quite funny because it’s now done with AI, but we’ll be grateful for any help with catching those language mistakes if you encounter them while playing in other language versions than English.


That's all for now. Thanks for your support, and we can’t wait to hear what you think during the next playtest!



[h2]!![/h2]
Remember to hit that “Request Access” button! We’d also love to have you over on our growing Discord server – here’s the [link]. During the playtest, this will be your opportunity to communicate with us, the devs, directly! We can't wait to hear from you.



So what do you think? Don’t hesitate to reach out, comment, suggest, or share a laugh! Follow us and shoot us a message at our Instagram – @odd.qubit.


Happy trails, friend.
[h2]Wishlist “Cowboy Life Simulator” today![/h2]

[h2]Howdy, partners![/h2]



Thank you so much for appreciating these devlogs! The likes and engagement we’ve been seeing is super motivating! So, let’s dive into today’s topic – creative decoration.

Our decoration mechanic has been a long time favorite among players (and ourselves too!). The description of “decoration” might be a bit misleading, though. It’s not only about placing books on shelves and the carpet at just the right angle. Most importantly, it’s about picking up and setting down ANY ITEM IN THE GAME, however strikes your fancy and suits your needs.

In a 3D game like “Cowboy”, not only can you make your farm look nice. You can forget crates and storages completely and just put your stuff around your home!

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take a closer look at what you can accomplish using our system.



[h3]First, moving items.[/h3]




[h3]Rotating objects horizontally.[/h3]




[h3]Rotating objects vertically.[/h3]




[h3]Storage and decoration mechanic interaction.[/h3]





[h3]A little fun never hurt anybody...[/h3]

You can go for some unconventional home decoration, and slightly chaotic level arrangements. Who wouldn’t want to climb a pyramid of pumpkins, or build a makeshift staircase using planks?




[h3]Wanna see something cursed?[/h3]




[h3]The reasons[/h3]

So what’s the purpose of all this? Two words: player freedom. We wanted to give you all a way to express yourselves as freely as possible. We are very excited to see what you all come up with – chances are, a great portion of those solutions we haven’t even thought of in our wildest dreams. And that is what it’s all about! Freedom of expression and creativity!




[h3]Our plans for this system[/h3]

Something that is definitely within our reach and would not cause so many headaches is the system in which a player would get some decorations as a complimentary gift of sorts when they build a building. Those objects would also be interactable the same way decorations and furniture is. Imagine building a workshop – wouldn’t it be cool to, once it’s built, also rearrange the position of the benches and tables inside it?


So what do you think? Don’t hesitate to reach out, comment, suggest, or share a laugh! Follow us and shoot us a message at our Instagram – @odd.qubit. We’d also love to have you over on our growing Discord server – here’s the [link]!


Happy trails, friend.
[h2]Wishlist “Cowboy Life Simulator” today![/h2]

[h2]Howdy, partners! [/h2]





It’s Odd Qubit here, and, as you might have noticed by the increase in these devlogs – we’ve really been loving this format to communicate with you all, and talk to you about the highlights of our work on “Cowboy Life Simulator”. Let’s roll in another one, this time about our open and living world, and the immersion they bring!


[h3]NPCs[/h3]

We’ve touched a bit on our NPC system in our last devlog (check it out at [this link] if you haven’t already!), but we'll expand on it more in this one. All of our NPCs, both main and secondary, have their own calendar – a table detailing their whats, wheres, and whens. They perform various chores and daily activities in their designated spots, and roam freely between places they’ve need to be.






NPCs can of course break out of their habits to take part in a quest of your choosing, or just meet with you to chat. This comes with widgets and map markers, reminding you which one of your neighbors has business to discuss with you.






Many NPCs also have location-specific dialogue options. The Tailor will for sure want to go over his newest clothing items while at his store, but when out and about will rather talk about the weather, or the latest town gossip. Their mood and attitude also change depending on what’s currently going on around town, and your actions. And once you’re done chattin’, watch out – there’s horsemen galloping through the map on their steeds at full speed!






[h3]Narrative[/h3]

The progression of the plot influences the world around you as well – not only metaphorically! To give you a peek behind the narrative curtain, the first big storyline and questline you’ll encounter in the game has a lot to do with a mysterious event leading to a drought.

The river has suddenly run dry – it appears something or someone has seen to it. If blowing up rubble dams is somehow up your alley, you’re in for a treat! This will alter not only the general vista, but the very lives of the characters too, including you. That means new places to fetch water, to fish, and even just to behold sights.






[h3]Environment[/h3]

A life sim would not be complete without a dynamic environment – a night-and-day cycle, as well as weather and fog.








Farm animals like cattle now have their own behavior styles, and can be interacted with. Without proper fences around their pastures, cattle can run into crops and trample all over days’ worth of your hard work! As an anecdote – even one of the QA Analysts at our Pubisher’s was actually quite startled to see their produce going missing as a result of forgetting to set up these fences! He was wondering where all the corn he planted had gone – it then turned out that three little chickens ate it all. We have it balanced a little more now, worry not.


And yes, Cowboy is cozy, but with a little thrill – stray too far out of your farm’s bounds and you’re sure to run into a wild animal or two. Or a whole wolf pack! You’d best make sure to keep those in good condition if you don’t want your Bessie or Lucy to become their next shared dinner.






It’s not like they’re just mindless killing machines, though. They too have their own routines, gathering around water sources to drink, or hunting for food at different points of the day – at nighttime when it comes to wolves, of course. Going to the woods to forage is not all sunshine and rainbows either, because even during the day the wild boars can jump out right at ya from the tall bushes.






So what do you think? Don’t hesitate to reach out, comment, suggest, or share a laugh! Follow us and shoot us a message at our Instagram – @odd.qubit. We’d also love to have you over on our growing Discord server – here’s the [link]!


Happy trails, friend.
[h2]Wishlist “Cowboy Life Simulator” today![/h2]

[h2]Howdy, partners! [/h2]




It’s Odd Qubit once more, here to talk to you about another topic near and dear to our hearts – feedback!

This spring has been a time of some increase in the community sphere for us, full of attending industry events, conferences, and kick-starting our brand new Discord server. These led to connecting with players on a more hands-on level, allowing us to receive fresh, new feedback.

As game developers, the feedback we receive is usually either exchanged between ourselves here at the studio, or with fellow devs. And while this type of critique offers an in-depth view provided by specialists in the field, it’s not always impartial – it’s the players’ opinions that will be the final verdict after all. As such, bringing “Cowboy Life Simulator” to them directly at indie zones at conferences or through playtests is the ultimate test – and the ultimate chance to receive their raw, honest opinions head-on.







We then carefully analyze all these observations, which often leads to new features being added, and old ones being iterated upon.

[h3]Here’s what we've already implemented![/h3]

- We transformed the flow of the prologue!
It's a cowboy game, so we amped up the cowboy atmosphere, and made the whole intro much less overwhelming, and more fun! A cattle drive as your first objective? Coming up!


- We revamped to the tutorial system.
We reduced the amount of widgets popping up on the HUD, making the game way more approachable.


- We introduced key decoration input changes.
Many players found grabbing items and placing them back to be confusing. Pick it up with RMB, place it back down with LMB while still holding RMB… Enough is enough! Now it’s all done with just RMB – fixed!


- We brought some mechanics tweaks.
The absolute top 1 suggestion by the playtesters – to put it mildly, consuming water from sources of questionable quality now inflicts undesirable intestinal issues.


- More stuff to pick up!
Let’s be real here, Cowboy Life Simulator is a game about picking up stuff. And players complained there’s not much to pick up. So we’re adding more: stones, flowers, branches, herbs and the likes!




That’s not all, though.
[h3]There’s much more currently in the works![/h3]


- Adding a “new game” option
The single-save slot is no more – start a new game whenever you wish, and load saves from previous slots.


- The ability to change the player character’s clothes
Personalization is at the heart of “Cowboy” – we’re now bringing it to the player character as well! Drop by the tailor’s store over in Bravestand and get the best cowboy looks money can buy.


- More NPCs and more life on the level
The more the merrier! Observe your neighbors’ daily and weekly habits, unique to their social standing, profession, and even mood and personality. Not only that – there’s now hares, birds, butterflies… More life all around!


- Expanded narrative with more quests
Get out of the ranch for a cowboy adventure! Delve deep into what this strange land has to offer by exploring all the newly added quest-specific locations all throughout the map.


- More tweaks to the decoration mechanics
Simply placing a carpet under furniture was troublesome to say the least. No more of that! It’s now much easier to maneuver, and place it under other stuff, but also upright on a wall (Wild West this, cowboys that, but hey, we’re Slavs).

The furniture floating around as you’re holding it will now also cast a shadow on the ground,
so that there’s no mistake as to where it will actually land once you release that RMB.

We also have plans to make the furniture being held snap to the walls – that’s much easier
said than done though. But we do love a challenge!



So what do you think? Don’t hesitate to reach out, comment, suggest, or share a laugh! Follow us and shoot us a message at our Instagram – @odd.qubit. We’d also love to have you over on our growing Discord server – here’s the link! [https://discord.gg/C8qr3S6WwX]


Happy trails, friend.
[h2]Wishlist Cowboy Life Simulator today![/h2]