Len's Island News

October is coming to an end, Halloween is approaching, and it’s time for another community wrap-up! What’s on your agenda this spooky season?

[h2]Happy Halloween![/h2]
Last weekend our lead dev Julian got a taste of pumpkin farming in real life! It got us thinking… Should we add spooky items like jack-o-lanterns and scarecrows to Len’s Island?!



[h2]Update on Multiplayer Testing[/h2]
We’re full steam ahead developing co-op multiplayer at Flow Studio! With help from some dedicated alpha-testers we’ve been able fix a bunch of bugs, make quality of life improvements, and gain first hand insight into how major multiplayer will be for Len’s Island gameplay!

We want to give a big thank you to everyone who has helped test multiplayer so far. The pool of testers will be expanding very shortly as a new test is set to go live in the next week or so. If you are on our Discord waiting to test multiplayer, we appreciate your patience.



[h2]Fishing Build Challenge[/h2]
Last week we asked our Discord community to share their most creative builds inspired by Fishing in Len’s Island, and we were not disappointed! Community member, wendercharles won the challenge with their wonderful pagoda fishing hut filled with fishing decorations on a cherry blossom island. We just love the colours and creativity in this one!



[h2]It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature[/h2]
Our beta tester Wombat (James) graciously demonstrating how to leave Len’s Island in a hurry!



[h2]Creator Showcase[/h2]
We loved watching Project Gamer ID’s latest video where they fight their way through the mega spawner cursed dungeon!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Get Juicing![/h2]
Check out this awesome fan art by community member Toenes! They said that their juicer creation is intended to combine fruit into a juice that when drunk, can boost the health and hunger of a player much more than if the fruits were eaten raw. Such a creative idea to expand on the cooking in Len’s Island!



[h2]Show me the Stuff![/h2]
If you made something cool or saw something cool, reach out! Tag us on X or share it on the Discord.

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!