Len's Island News

Welcome to our first-ever community wrap-up! At the end of every month, we'll share a Steam post dedicated to keeping the community updated on all things Len's Island! We'll cover a range of topics including upcoming events, sneak peeks of exciting 1.0 content, community announcements, and we'll also showcase awesome creations made by the community. So let’s get into it!

[h2]We Want Your Feedback![/h2]
It's been two weeks since we released the Controllers & Steam Deck update that improved the controllers and Steam Deck experience - we know many of you have been waiting for this!

About 90% of the work is now complete and in the game, however, we still need to tweak it a little further in order for it to be perfect. If you have any ideas on how we can further improve the controller
and Steam Deck support, please recommend them in the Discord Server or Steam Forums. We'd love to hear your feedback!



[h2]Join the Testing Team[/h2]
In case you've missed the big news, a closed Alpha test for co-op multiplayer will become available via our Discord in early October. If you'd like to participate make sure to join the official Len's Island Discord for more information!



[h2]A new Sea Creature?![/h2]
We held a vote on Discord to see what new sea creature the community expects to see at 1.0. We were saddened find out that the community don't want a sea cucumber with a top hat by any means!

Surprise! Here's a sneak peek of the new shark that'll be added to Len’s Island at 1.0 launch. What do you think, will it be a friend or foe?



[h2]Farming Build Challenge[/h2]
Last week we held a fun build challenge on our official Discord where we asked the community to share a screenshot of their best farms in Len’s Island. We’re pleased to announce the winner, community member Wendercharles for their grand seaside farm!



[h2]Creator Showcase[/h2]
We had a lot of fun watching this video from Friendly Craft. Follow him as he discovers Bridgewater town, survives his first night on the island, and builds a massive home for Len!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Shield, Axe & Sword Hotel Resort[/h2]
Look at this unbelievable build made by Discord community member, Myke Van Dyke! He said in his post, "I spent hours and hours experimenting with unusual and probably unintended building techniques within this lovely game and this is what I came up with: A modern Hotel Resort."




Follow us on Twitter: https://x.com/LensIsland
Join the Conversation on Discord: https://discord.gg/lensisland

Hey all! A minor update today to change over some of the new controller/Steam Deck controls and building.

We received feedback that the X/Y or West/North buttons for the hotbar didn't feel good. We have changed the hotbar controls to be on the d-pad instead and made the left and right arrows scroll the hotbar, up arrow equip and long hold up arrow to unequip. You can now equip items quicker, and to unequip you need to hold for a lot longer so you don't accidentally do it.

We've also re-added the inventory automatically opening to the build page when entering edit mode. We didn't realise that people use edit mode as a way to quickly enter the build menu too. So we've added this back in and we also improved the controller inputs and general handling of this. Now the menu won't annoyingly go away when going from build to edit mode, or cancelling a build item.

We will continue to make tweaks and changes to the new controller and Steam Deck inputs as we draw closer to full release. So please continue to provide feedback on how we can make things better!

~ Julian

[h2]! New additions and changes:[/h2]

• Build menu will now open when to enter edit mode, and consistently stay open during edit and build mode
  
• Moved hotbar controls to the d-pad on controller, and changed their layout slightly, making the hotbar easier to navigate.
  
• Moved edit mode, inventory, and compendium controls to the buttons on controller
  

We’re now one BIG step closer to completing co-op multiplayer for Len’s Island and we want to share this progress with you!

As you may know, we’ve spent many months implementing multiplayer into Len’s Island in preparation for 1.0. It’s been a massive undertaking for our small dev team. However, we know how incredible it’ll be to see all of you play Len’s Island co-op with your friends and family very soon!

A closed Alpha test for co-op multiplayer will become available via our Discord server in early October, so if you’d like to participate please follow the steps below. This is the first of several tests we will be running over the next few months. We will let in as many players as we can, if you don't make it through in the first round don't be discouraged, there will be more testing rounds to join soon!


[h2]How to Join:[/h2]

1. Join the official Len’s Island Discord.
   
2. Opt into the Tester role in the #get_roles channel to access the new tester's waiting room.
   
3. You will be notified when the closed alpha test is released on this channel!
   (Make sure you have notifications enabled)

We will post on Steam and Discord whenever a new round of testing starts. All communication to testers beyond these announcement posts will happen in the tester's waiting room channel, so make sure you keep an eye on it!

PLEASE NOTE: While we do our best to offer multiplayer testing to everyone interested, there may be limitations as to who can participate due to player capacity.

Thanks again to the community for all of the love and support throughout Early Access. With your help, we hope to make Len’s Island the absolute best it can be at 1.0!

The time has come, we have spent the past couple of months completely overhauling the gamepad and Steam Deck controls for Len's Island!

Len's Island is now far more enjoyable, easier, and more accessible to play on various devices. We will still be tweaking and making some changes to the gamepad controls and Steam Deck support for the 1.0 launch, however, 90% of the work is now complete and in the game :)

If you have any ideas on how we can further improve the controller support and Steam Deck support, please recommend them in the Discord Server or Steam Forums. We would love to hear your feedback!

This update also includes some tweaks to rebalance some of the base-defense mechanics. I think we went a little too far in recent updates, making the enemies at night and during harvest moons a little too difficult. We have done a lot of balancing and testing and have found a much better format and difficulty for everyone.

~ Julian

[h2]+ New Features[/h2]

• Completely remade the gamepad and Steam Deck controls across the game
  
• Overhauled all UI and cursor navigation for gamepad and Steam Deck across the game
  
• Added various new systems for selecting the hotbar, navigating through inventory, and moving the camera, specifically for gamepad and Steam Deck
  
• Added ability to choose to respawn at dungeon entrance or bed whenever you die inside a dungeon
  

[h2]~ Balancing Changes[/h2]

• Enemies no longer target beds, and will only ever target the player. Making it easier to defend your home and build outposts
  
• Removed ammo requirements from small and large ballistas
  
• Lowered enemy spawn rates during night and harvest moons
  
• Decreased the difficulty ramp of enemies during night and harvest moons
  

[h2]! Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Added safety check to stop rare bug allowing players load position to be out of bounds (would cause infinite loading screens in the caves)
  
• Fixed bug with fish items disappearing from the hotbar
  
• Fixed rotation speed curve during attacks not correctly applying
  
• Fixed rare bug with spawning under the map