Alaska Gold Fever News

[p]

Hello, explorers and adventurers!

Building the mine in Alaska Gold Fever was never just about digging tunnels. A mine without proper lighting is either boring… or completely terrifying. And we wanted just the right amount of both.



Yes, that how it is called. We bake the main light sources - lanterns, lamps, and ambient bounce - directly into the environment. This gives us soft shadows, believable darkness, and stable performance, even when the tunnels get… ambitious.





Light Probes - This technique allows dynamic objects - players, tools, carts, and the occasional flying rocks - to blend nicely with the baked lighting.
For more complex areas, we’re using Adaptive Probe Volumes. These help dynamic objects react properly to changing light conditions





Lighting in the mine isn’t just visual. It affects navigation, mood, and awareness.
Light can be an important gameplay tool for maaany games.

If you feel slightly uneasy underground - that's good. That means it’s working ;)



In the next devlog, we’ll dig deeper into lighting effects in Alaskan overworld as well as on some effect used in mines.
Until then!





⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️
-----

Baked Games Team

Try our greatest hit!
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]

Hello, explorers and adventurers!

Today’s devlog takes us somewhere warm, loud, and permanently smelling of food - straight into the motel kitchen of Alaska Gold Fever. Because even in the middle of nowhere, after a long day of digging frozen ground, someone has to make sure you don’t starve.





This is our motel cook. He’s tired, slightly grumpy, and very serious about his job. Dressed in a well-used apron and a chef’s hat that has seen better days, he looks exactly like someone who’s been feeding miners for years while listening to the same stories over and over again.





The kitchen itself is small, practical. Pots hang from the ceiling, plates wait on the counter, and everything feels just a little too close together. It’s not fancy, but it "just works".



Just like our other NPCs, the cook went through the full character pipeline — sculpting, texturing, clothing, and integration into Unity. His outfit is a variation on our existing villager assets, adjusted to fit his role and environment.





This devlog is just a small taste (pun intended ;) )
In the next devlog, we’ll be taking a closer look at the motel itself



⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️
-----

Baked Games Team

Try our greatest hit!
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]

Hello, explorers and adventurers!

This devlog is all about new faces appearing in the world of Alaska Gold Fever. The village is slowly filling up, and while gold is important, a town without people is just a cold collection of wooden boxes. So let’s fix that!



We’ve added several new villagers, each carefully crafted to look like they’ve survived at least a few harsh winters, questionable life decisions, and one or two bad deals.



Every NPC starts the same way - as a rough 3D sculpt that slowly turns into a person with clothing, gear, facial features, and that distinct “I’ve seen things” expression.
From Blender to Substance to Unity, it’s a long journey, and sometimes the character changes along the way. Usually for the better. Usually.



For now, these villagers don’t have fixed jobs or schedules. They’re here to make the town feel alive - standing, walking, existing, and waiting patiently for us to give them proper tasks. Shops, dialogues, daily routines - all coming later.





Every town needs a bar and a bartender. Ours looks exactly like you’d expect - calm, confident, and fully aware of everyone’s secrets. He’s the kind of man who’s seen bar fights, gold rushes, and customers who swear they’ll “just have one drink.”



His outfit is a bit cleaner than the miners’, but not by much. Leather apron, rolled sleeves, and that posture that says “I’ve been standing behind this bar for years and I will outlive you.”

"How will gold seekers react to pumpkin spice latte?"

See you in town,

⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️
-----

Baked Games Team

Try our greatest hit!
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]
Hello, explorers and adventurers!

Today’s devlog is all about interior design!
When we started working on building interiors for Alaska Gold Fever, we had one simple goal:
make them feel like places where people actually lived, worked, slept… and probably complained about the cold a lot.




Wooden buildings are tricky. On the outside they’re just logs and planks. In the inside: they must fill a specific role.

All interiors are built using a shared modular asset set: wooden walls, beams, floors, ceilings, doors and windows that can be mixed and abused in many creative ways. The idea was to reuse smartly.





Most props are hand-placed. Yes, by a human. It pays off because that way nothing is perfectly straight or look "too good". Nothing is perfectly clean. This is oldtime Alaska. Perfection froze to death years ago.





The shooting range interior is simple, practical, and slightly threatening. Thick wooden walls, heavy support beams, basic benches, weapon racks and just enough clutter to suggest that safety regulations were more of a suggestion.


Fun fact - it is slighty based on the shooting shop/range from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly movie!






The hotel is where things get… optimistic. Wooden beds, small tables, rugs that have seen better decades, and walls decorated with paintings that may or may not be historically accurate.





Then there’s the shop. The heart of civilization. This interior is denser, more organized, and slightly more serious. Someone dropped coins here. Someone slammed the register too hard. Someone definitely hid something they shouldn’t have.



See you inside,

⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️
-----

Best regards,
Baked Games Team

Try our greatest hit!
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

We’re excited to announce that the secound round of closed playtests for Alaska Gold Fever officially begin today!
The playtest will run until December 31 2025, giving you plenty of time to dig in, test new features, and share your feedback before launch!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Simply click "Reqest access" on Alaska Gold Fever Steam page, and then wait for approval.




[h2]To thank all participating prospectors, we’re introducing a special in-game reward:[/h2]

Join the playtest and mine and filter 200 pieces of gold to unlock the exclusive Silver Pickaxe, which boosts your mining stats in the full version of the game!
You’ll also earn a unique Steam achievement available only during this event!





During the closed playtest, you’ll be able to:

-Try out new and improved gameplay mechanics

-Explore updated content and balancing

-Help us refine the game with your feedback
To provide feedback quickly while playing, simply press F5 in the game to report bugs or suggestions directly to the dev team!


[h2]Your insights are essential in shaping the final version of Alaska Gold Fever![/h2]

FILL A SURVEY

Thank you for joining us on this journey. Grab your gear, head into the wilderness, and show us your mining skills!

⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️⛏️
-----

Best regards,
Baked Games Team

Try our greatest hit!
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]