Townseek News

[p][/p][p]It’s the witching hour, and something wicked is brewing! 🌙 Sorcerer Moe and his sidekick are cooking something mysterious, and it requires the nastiest ingredients. Whiskey, giving a hand, is mixing the dreadful candy corn into the magical pot so that- wait, what? Blubbie?! That’s not a jacuzzi! Ah, well, anything goes in Whaloween night! 🎃[/p][p]It’s Halloween season, and we’re tricking and treating with brand new artwork to celebrate! ✨ Over the past few years, we've featured Townseek locations in our Whaloween artworks. This time around we wanted to show a bit more of characters, featuring a fan favourite trio of tricksters! And scarecrow Whalechan is also there for good measure! We couldn't let our mascot character be missing from one of our artworks, could we?[/p][p]Fetch your best ingredients, since it’s time to brew some good times! 🪄[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Last year, our artwork hinted towards a mysterious, dark location on the horizon. While its secrets and the town are yet to be discovered, that didn’t stop Capt. Jawline from hiking with a camping crew of werewolves. This year, we banded up Mr. Moe, Whiskey and Blubbie to set up a fun scene, showcasing what makes them so fun to have around. Whiskey’s always up to be of help, Blubbie enjoys her time in moist environments, and Mr. Moe is just standing there, as he’s known to do. [/p][p]If you're unfamiliar with any of the characters that we just mentioned, we've introduced Whiskey and Blubbie in our Tour of Explora, while Mr. Moe's town is up next! Our characters are genuinely one of the most fun aspects of our game and getting familiar with them is a treat of their own! If you want to know more about Whiskey visit Meowosville and if you want to know more about Blubbie visit Driplands![/p][p]If you’re curious and haven’t tried it yet, why not treat yourself to playing our demo? Just like in our artwork, our demo is rich in character dialogue, so you’ll get to know a lot more about Whiskey, Blubbie and all of our other characters in it! It’s just a small taste of what the world of Explora has to offer! You can play our demo here, and all of your progress will carry over to the full version of the game! 🧭[/p][p]Speaking of the game, we've been brewing some surprises for the coming months! ✨ We're going to continue going on our Tour of Explora and introducing you to the many towns of the game, and we also have a bigger update coming soon! We've never been this busy with development and talking about the game! We can't thank you enough for being on this trip and waiting for the game alongside us. 😊[/p][p][/p][carousel][/carousel][p][/p][p]While we're here, we also wanted to take the opportunity to showcase some of our past seasonal artwork! It’s great to see our characters continue to breathe and have a great time throughout the years. What kind of adventures will they get into next year? Whether you're seeing these pieces for the first time, or are a returning regular, we hope you enjoy our collections of celebrations from over the years! 🥰[/p][p]As we prepare everything for the upcoming months, we're taking things a bit slower during the season. Over on our Discord Server, we've opened up the Campfire Corner channel for all talk about the spooky season! Share your favourite seasonal movies with us, talk about which candy is the best, share your seasonal artwork, or simply sit together as we watch the unmelting of the holiday's biggest singer together in unison. 🧊[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Additionally, we have also extended our Happy Tree quest! Many people have already submitted their artwork, and we've got a huge variety of paintings across original characters, mascots, cultural icons, self-portraits and more! We think it’ll be amusing to see many of the different paintings on each playthrough of the game. Anyone casually checking them might end up thinking “Just how many paintings are there?” and that’s funny to us. The deadline is now until the 10th of November, so feel free to come and submit your own artwork! 💫[/p][p]That’s about it for now. We’ll continue to brew some fun stuff with Townseek, so keep your eyes peeled and at a safe distance from the pot! Cheers! ✨[/p][p]– Whales And Games 🐳[/p]

[p][/p][p]You’re going to need a big bowl for this salad! 🥗 Nature has a way of giving us some big surprises every now and then, and few things are bigger than the carrots that you can see in the horizon. In these forests, these vegetables grow very large. And if you stick around for dessert, there’s a lot of chocolate to be had as well! 🥕[/p][p]It’s time for our Tour of Explora to take a healthy stroll in the woods! If the bandits of Lawride Town were too rowdy for your liking, then you might want to meet some cuddly friends instead. And none are cuddlier, fluffier and full of life than the bunnies from Burrowburg! [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Built alongside huge forests and farmlands, Burrowburg is a town where the residents' hearts are as big as their giant carrots! During the season, their crops grow to enormous heights, which allow the bunnies to carve them for materials, to make homes out of them and, of course, eat them! While they can quickly wither in winter, the fresh soil and water guarantee a bountiful harvest for the next season![/p][p]If you have a sweet tooth instead, then head up to the Chocolate River! Completely natural, safe and clean for the consumption of any species in this world (not for bunnies in real life), and, obviously, delicious! If you're lucky, you might even find a giant brown carrot roaming around! Isn't that sweet?[/p][p]But if you want some peace and quiet after a day of hopping around, head up to Nibble Grove, where Nibbles himself will give you a tour of his farmlands, where he grows, what else? Carrots! And if you go south west, you’ll reach the Stone Bunny. A natural rock formation in the form of a big bunny. It’s tradition to hop to the top, although not many are as nimble as the bunnies. Don’t try it at home![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]You better like company, since the local babysitter, teacher and merchant Fluffyroll always has a party with her! Aside from keeping an eye on the kids and educating them, she somehow still has the energy to also run the main store for visitors and merchants from abroad. Always lively, always patient, always caring, that’s Fluffyroll! Make sure to check her wares for all kinds of bunny, plushie and carrot paraphernalia! 🐰[/p][p]Fluffyroll is very well educated in the surroundings of Burrowburg, so she’s a natural at teaching. Explora has a ton of different cultures and environments to explore, so she keeps the kids entertained with tales and stories that she hears from other merchants. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]While you’re likely to be fascinated by the Stone Bunny and the Chocolate River in Burrowburg, the rest of Explora is also rich with awe-inspiring sights! Previously on the tour, we’ve already visited the surface of the ocean, plains, farmlands and even a colourful swamp! If you want more than blue and green in your life, you can find the Golden Forest on this side of the world! Despite its perpetual-autumn vibes, its forests are flush with foliage and life. And bees have even taken home at its outskirts! Don’t get stung! 🐝[/p][p]At the west side of the Golden Forest, some witches have set up a firefighting base, known as Firewatch Witches. They’re allegedly preventing fires from happening in the zone. But if you’re lucky or rather, unlucky, you might see them at work, trying to put down a fire they very likely caused themselves. You might also sometimes spot a bee playing video games while resting atop the tallest tree in the forest.[/p][p]Those are only some of the various curiosities that can randomly occur around Explora! Keep your eyes peeled, for locations that you have seen before might change every now and then. Does the marsh frog play the banjo all the time? Can crabs take a rest and party down? Fun stuff is always happening all around the world. You just got to see it for yourself as you explore around! Don't forget to snap a picture to remember too! 🧭[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]For our behind-the-scenes section this time, we're going back to the Townseek archives! For the first time, we wanted to show some concept art of our early character selection process. After we settled on the idea of turning Townseek into a full game, we sketched a bunch of characters and possible candidates for town hosts. We don't want to show all of them here, as to not spoil which characters did or did not make it in, as there's still a lot of surprises to come![/p][p]However, as you can see, we made concepts involving a wide variety of shapes, forms and races. We didn’t want to bind Townseek to a single concept like fantasy, furries, or magic. Yet, we also wanted everything to make sense and be connected in the setting and world-building, so a lot of our ideas for towns began with quickly designing characters and then figuring out their place in Explora’s vast setting.[/p][p]Fluffyroll was designed specifically as a “welcome to our game” character, without many design frills or narrative baggage. Given her simplicity, we needed to make her visual design say more at a glance. And unlike characters that immediately show their race and personality, she displays a lot more about her lifestyle thanks to the presence of the bunny children in the picture. Wouldn’t you think of her as a caring aunt? 🐇[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]If you enjoyed your visit to the Burrowburg and the Stone Bunny, then you’re going to love where we’re going next! Unlike the people of Burrowburg, don’t expect a fuzzy reception from our next stop, as the citizens of the rocky town of Stonehedge don’t really move that much to begin with. So let’s head over there, slow but steady! 🗿[/p][p]Before we wrap up the tour, we remind you all that our Art Quest is live on our Discord Server! If you got a knack for digital art, and haven't given it a shot, come give it a try and have your art featured in the game, credits and all! And, as usual, let us know if this tour stop had everything you wanted! Or let us know if there’s anything else we can do to improve the experience! 🖌️[/p][p]Well then! Time to head towards the stone metropolis next. Let's rock and roll! Cheers! 🪨[/p][p]– Whales And Games 🐳[/p][p][/p][h2]Check the Tour of Explora for other towns! 🗺️[/h2][p]Sharkdwell 🦈 • Meowosville 🐱 • Driplands 🌈 • Lawride Town 🍉[/p]

[p][/p][p]Artists, grab your drawing tools! 🖌️ North of Lawride Town, the latest town that we've featured on our Tour of Explora for Townseek, there's a Happy Tree landmark that pays homage to a well-known, beloved painter. Those who've travelled far on our demo might have noticed already that the tree's paintings and art change over time as you explore around. You might have spotted a friendly yellow labrador, our mascot, and even the cover art of the game itself. What's going on there?[/p][p]Turns out the paintings do change! Our team has drawn a handful of different paintings which change as you pass by every few minutes. We designed it as a fun easter egg, with canvas with different artworks, referring to the game, our characters, and various things from our past and present. However, like everything else in Townseek, there could always be more canvas being drawn by the happy tree. 🌳[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]That's where you come in! If you're an artist or have a knack for digital artwork, we want to feature some of your art on the Happy Tree canvas! We've prepared a template for you to draw over on our Discord Server! Draw something on the small template, and submit it on the townseek-your-art-in-game channel, and we'll add it to the game! 🎨[/p][p]You can draw anything you'd like! It can be original characters, your sonas, something you've got close to you, a landscape of your country, your pets, or anything that comes to mind! Don't worry if you don't nail the Townseek style perfectly. It's not the easiest style to replicate! Once you submit your art to our Discord Server, we'll adjust it on our end. We'll pass it by you to make sure it's ready to add into the game, including making sure it fits the game's palette, art style, etc. The template and the assets themselves are small, but limitation often leads to creativity! 🙌[/p][p]There's only two guidelines that we've to ask you to follow. The first is that you can't draw something that doesn't belong to you. You can't draw, for example, a popular mascot from another videogame franchise. The second is that all art must be generally acceptable for everyone, meaning we can't accept suggestive art, not-safe-for-work pieces, or artwork featuring divisive or controversial content. If the artwork wouldn’t fit Explora or the tone of the game, it won’t make it in. We’ll evaluate each piece and provide clarification case-by-case if necessary. 🙇[/p][p]As examples, here's some examples that were drawn by our artist and by our community manager that have been turned into canvas already![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Artwork submissions are open until the 26th of October! 📌 Please make sure to submit them over on the channel on our server. No other channels or socials are applicable.[/p][p]Just like the pets contest, if you're not an artist either, there'll be more Townseek quests and contests! We'll continue providing fun activities that people can participate in, both for things inside and outside the game in the future. For now, look forward to continuing our Tour of Explora, as we head into the adorable bunny-hopping town at Burrowburg! 🐰[/p][p]Well then, we look forward to seeing your artwork and what you draw! Cheers! ✨[/p]

[p][/p][p]Whoa! Watch out, explorers! 🙌 As we approach the next town, you'll notice that life in the simple, rural lands is not as quiet as one would expect! With fishing bears, crow pirates, bandits and even aliens, you might get more than you bargained for! 👀[/p][p]But now that we're here, we've arrived at our next destination in our Tour of Explora! After the sharks, cats, and slimes, it's time we land at the otherwise normal and quiet Lawride Town! Its humble rural life has everything a seasoned farmer needs! 🍉[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]It’s time to slow down and enjoy the simple life! Lawride Town is well known in the zone for having everything that farmers need. Just head to The Farming Farm south-west from here and they’ll share some sowing lots with you! 🌱[/p][p]Life is good and straightforward, until you step out of the town that is. If you want to get your own fish, travel south to Minty Bear’s Lake. Who is more professional at fishing than a bear? Go even further, and you’ll reach the Pirate Cove at the beach. That place should be self-explanatory. And if you head north, you might see some Crop Circles in the wheat fields. Those were written by aliens. It’s kind of their thing, you know.[/p][p]But while Lawride Town is good at growing crops, the local group of bandits is great at stealing them! The town is regularly terrorised by a group of meddling hooligans in masks that raid the place and bring chaos to its inhabitants. Or so they say. They mostly do petty crimes like taking vegetables and the occasional graffiti. At worst, they’re a minor inconvenience. 😅[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Since everyone else seems to be busy, you will have to take your business to The Mayor. After such curious folks in previous towns, it's almost weird to see a human around! Given that the town basically runs itself, he’s been re-elected mayor multiple times, mostly as a formality. But with age, he’s got experience to spare, so listen to the elder, and you might learn a thing or two about life. 👴[/p][p]However, he’s also known to have a very frail backbone. He'll be the first to hide at the smallest sign of a bandit raid. It’s almost as if they got into robbing specifically to tease him. So try to not make him worry, alright? He's trying his best, even if some of his quests and ideas for the town can sometimes be a bit dubious.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]While we’re visiting the farmlands, let’s talk about farming! Once you get the proper equipment for the job by purchasing a Hoe, you can plant any seeds, which you come across in towns and earn from town quests, in different farming spots all across the world. Like we mentioned before, there are some spots available at The Farming Farm, so feel free to help yourself![/p][p]Farming is quite easy, but you’ll notice that seed packs work in different ways. Most farmers in Explora sort their seeds in four different groups: Crop, Exotic, Extravagant and Bizarre. Whatever type of seed you intend to plant will grow differently depending on where you plant it. For example, the Crop Seeds that you plant to grow a carrot in one place might grow a melon somewhere else. 🍈[/p][p]Once you have your seed packs and a suitable farming spot, just plant it and wait for a while. Go for a trip, keep doing trades and quests. After a while, the crop should be ripe and you can simply come back and pick them up! It's that easy! Also, just between us. There are rumours about some special water that can make the seeds grow faster. One has to wonder if there’s any truth to that...[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As for our behind-the-scenes this time, we get to highlight another game of ours, The Farming One! Made back over ten years ago in RPG Maker, it was the first game our team ever worked together on, and it was the first time that we mentioned Lawride Town in a game. As the tour continues, you'll notice that we actually lifted some more towns and landmarks from our previous projects. For us, it's a fun way to expand our cast, while also paying homage to how we got here. 🐳[/p][p]The Farming One was a hybrid of incremental and farming games. Our idea was to turn otherwise calm, cosy experience into a frenzy of automated growth, taking staples of the farming genre and distilling them to their most basic aspects. Despite being developed in a single month, it included several upgrades, marriage candidates, and even multiple endings![/p][p]Up to a point, we consider Townseek feels like its natural evolution. After developing The Farming One, we wanted to develop a game where you could meet different species and characters while doing various activities. While we never quite nailed down the game design we wanted at the time, mostly due to the lack of experience and know-how, we feel that Townseek has captured a lot of the same vibe that we wanted from that concept. Creative ideas are always shifting around! 🧭[/p][p]The Farming One is available on Steam Workshop. We plan to preserve it in more ways in the near future, as there's not many ways to play it right now.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Check for your belongings before we depart towards our next destination. If the bandits took your carrots, let it slide this time, since we’ll be heading next towards Burrowburg, the land of fluffy bunnies and gigantic carrots! 🐇[/p][p]We’ve also got one more surprise incoming. A new community quest will soon be upon us! While the previous one appealed more to pet owners, this new one is more aimed towards artists, though everyone can participate. We can't tell you just yet about it, but let’s just say that you should get your creative engine roaring up! Keep an eye out on our Discord Server on how to participate, and let us know what your thoughts were about this stop of the tour![/p][p]That’s all this time around. See you at the bunny burrows! Cheers! 🐇[/p][p]– Whales And Games 🐳[/p][p][/p][h2]Check the Tour of Explora for other towns! 🗺️[/h2][p]Sharkdwell 🦈 • Meowosville 🐱 • Driplands 🌈 • Burrowburg 🐇[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]Hey there, explorers! While our Tour of Explora continues, we also continue participating in events! Townseek has been going on quite an adventure and we're not stopping any time soon! ⛵[/p][p]This time, we're having the opportunity to feature the game in three amazing events at once! All these events are happening at the same time over this week and the next, so please, check out the sale pages for each of them. You might even find something you could play while waiting for Townseek! 🧭[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]First up, we're participating in the Mexican Entertainment System! If you've been around a while, you'll know that we've already participated in it a few times already. Our team is half Mexican and half Portuguese, collaborating from across the ocean and in-person at times. Add in our publisher and media partners, and the game truly is a multicultural effort, just like the game portrays! 🪅[/p][p]The event is a perfect way to celebrate Mexican culture and its indie scene! While we haven't reached the stop that represents each of our cultures as developers in the game during our tour yet, rest assured there's plenty of inspiration from Mexico, Portugal and a bit from all over the world throughout it! We can't wait to show you those towns! ✨[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Next, we're participating in the Six One Indie Showcase, a big celebration of indie games! Our publisher at Super Rare Originals is debuting some exciting announcements including a first look at Moros Protocol! It's a fantastic opportunity to see Townseek alongside other amazing indie games and get a taste of what's coming next in indie games. 🐦[/p][p]Finally, we're also heading to the Tokyo Game Show, where our media partner at Gamersky is taking us! While we'd love to visit the city in person, they'll be handling the showcases of the game for us there. We're still confirming the details with them about how the game is going to be presented in person at the event, but if you're headed to Tokyo, you have the chance to try out the game for yourself too! 🗼[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]While we're participating in these events, the Townseek demo continues being ready for you to play on Steam! Explore new towns, trade over 200 items, upgrade your airship, discover landmarks, encounter random events, and enjoy all the new features we've been working on. Your demo save will carry over to the full game so you'll be able to pick up right where you left from! 🦈[/p][p]Like we've mentioned in previous posts, we continue to work on implementing some new features and language support in the demo. That update is coming really soon, so thank you for waiting so far! 🙏 Meanwhile, like always, you're free to share your feedback or reviews here on Steam, or join our Discord Server and tell us what you think, or what you're looking the most forward to![/p][p]Set sail, explore and look out for the adventures that await you this week. The whole world is your sea now! Cheers! [/p][p]– Whales And Games 🐳[/p]