Craftlings News

Greetings all,

We’ve got a lot to talk about! First, we have a new name, logo and Key Art to share with you. Just announced during the PC Gamer Most Wanted Showcase, Craftlings (formerly known as The Settlings) will launch in 2025 on Steam from ARIANO Games. We even have a new Developer logo!

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You’ll notice right away Craftlings has an updated visual style with renewed pixel art, updated animations, an improved UI, and a lot more going on underneath the hood. We’ll talk more about that soon.

Another significant development - we’ve signed with Raw Fury! We’re honored to be working with the publisher to help optimise and improve the Craftlings experience and aim to reach new heights with the game when we release next year. This is a huge milestone for Craftlings and one we’re very excited about.



While we wait for launch, you can now check out a brand new Craftlings demo! This features all of the visual changes and developments we’ve highlighted above, but also includes a very special, time limited Winter Challenge Map available during Rawcember, Raw Fury’s month of announcements and activities.

The Winter Themed Challenge Map can be accessed from the main menu and is available to try right now. Set in our Winter Themed Biome, the demo features updates to the Craftlings, their environment and buildings, as well as giving you new things to try.



Your goal for this Challenge Map? Simply, build snowmen and launch them to the moon in the true festive spirit! Let us know how you get on and post your best scores and reactions in our Discord Server.

If you do encounter any issues with the demo, you can report them here or on the Steam forums.

Want to keep up to date with all things Craftlings? Aside from Wishlisting on Steam for all the latest news, you can get updates on our brand new website which can be found right over here

Thank you for all of your enthusiasm for Craftlings over the years, we genuinely appreciate it and are excited to share much more about the development journey as we head into 2025, including more behind the scenes peeks on the game and updates to the demo.

For now, check out the all new Winter Challenge Map for yourselves before it disappears and let us know how you get on.

And if you like what you see, be sure to wishlist Craftlings, we’re so grateful for your support!

Hello everyone,

Firstly, I wish you all a Happy New Year!

What a year it has been - 2023 surpassed all my expectations. We went from 4k WL to 44k WL. Thank you for your support!

Now, let's get back to business.

In honor of the ongoing Steam Capitalism and Economy Fest, I've created a new challenge for you. You can access it from the main menu, and you have 1 hour of in-game time to collect as many coins as possible with your central bank account!



A brand new map has been specially designed for this challenge.

On the map, you'll find a newly added quest building - the Central Bank - which you can interact with!

Every 180 seconds, you'll receive a 5% interest on the money you've deposited. You can use this interest to expand your settlement or deposit it directly into your bank account!



If you successfully complete the challenge with a minimum of 500 coins, you can submit your score on Discord and receive a unique role!

To get the legendary "Market Shark" role on Discord, you must demonstrate your skills!

Will you venture into selling wood or planks? Perhaps engage in gold mining or sculpture production? Or will you send your soldiers to battle skeletons, collect bones, and sell them in the local market?

The choice is yours. Good luck and have fun!

Don't forget to wishlist ;)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1771110/The_Settlings

Hi,

I just released a new version of the demo over the weekend.

The main focus of my work was on the Save & Load System, and I'm happy to say that it's now implemented and working well. The game automatically saves when you exit to the main menu, and you can load it from there. Please note that the save feature only works for the regular game, and challenge maps are not saved.

Additionally, I've added a small progress system within the game. This system gradually unlocks new buildings, items, or spells. At the beginning, each player can only build a few buildings until a Townhall is constructed. The Townhall has 4 levels, and with each upgrade, more things are unlocked.



There are some changes in crowd control as well. After considering your feedback and having several discussions, I've decided to remove the limitation of having only 1 Settlings on ladders and bridges. I understand that this restriction felt a bit unintuitive.

While the limitation served a specific purpose by dividing Settlings traffic in different map areas, I recognized the need for a more flexible approach. To address this, I've introduced an automatic splitter dummy. This dummy reacts and changes its states on each interaction, preventing every second Settling from passing.

I believe this is a powerful tool that not only helps in dividing traffic into different areas but also allows control over the amount of traffic in those areas. It can be combined with other items for even more effects. I encourage you to test it and find creative ways to use it.



[h3]What is comming next:[/h3]

In the upcoming weeks, my main focus will continue to be on improving the game. I'll be adding quality-of-life features, necessary items for better automation, and fine-tuning the game balance for current demo.

I'm considering removing the tutorial map and instead integrating a simpler tutorial directly into the main game. Given the Townhall mechanic, I'm thinking of incorporating a straightforward tutorial that guides players through the initial phase of the game until the Townhall is constructed.

This is the plan, and I'm eager to see how it unfolds :)

Thank you, everyone, for being around!

Best,
Ariano

Before I talk about the changes I made in the recent update and what the next steps are, I have to share with you this one picture. This has been made by a player from the Discord server, and as I saw it, I became speechless! Crazy things happening...



Despite bug fixes, I've made some changes to address some of the issues you reported recently:

1.) The Vegetable Beds can now be turned off/on like other small constructions. This should help to manage the vegetable load in the settlement.

2.) Regarding hammer softlock: On destroying the building, the player will get a hammer in addition to the blueprint. I introduced it to reduce frustration, especially for new players.

[h3]Full changelog:[/h3]

• fixed bug where resources / tools disappear from settling after changing vegetable type in vegetable bed
  
• added option and a sprite to allow closing a vegetable bed
  
• added text to miner shed and builder house explaining how to get carrots
  
• added text to hammer tool-tip explaining that destroying building with dynamite gives you a hammer back
  
• fixed bug where only cargo goods could be set as filter on bridge placement
  
• fixed bug where on the demo "small island" map there was one invisible block where nothing could be build on.
  
• fixed bug where clicking on the top bar opens old, broken shop menu
  
• fixed bug where Settling could walk on a button appeared over the building
  
• fixed bug where blocks remains blocked after killing Octopus boss
  
• reduced the probability (not shore if fixed) Settling stuck in jump animation after receiving a tool
  
• fixed bug where settling parachuting with the item above a balloon will stuck in air
  
• potential fix for Trees areas getting rarely blocked by invisible things where no new trees can be spawned from saplings (potential because I can not reproduce it)
  
• added small victory screen for finishing the demo map objectives.
  

[h3]What is comming next:[/h3]
Probably, some of you already know that I am developing this game alone, and everything, including marketing and finding ways to finance the project, is on my shoulders. That is why things may take some time, and I cannot always dedicate 100% of my time to game development.

I can share with you at this point that I have made some significant steps toward becoming a full-time indie developer. I want to achieve this to be able to focus only on producing a great and fun game. As soon as I have some concrete things I can share, I will do it immediately. So stay tuned.

This does not mean I won't do anything for the game or update the demo. My current focus is to address some issues that have been reported on the Discord server. I want to make the game experience great for any type of player: the veterans, and we have plenty of them, but also new players to make the path of becoming a veteran an enjoyable experience.

One big thing that is missing is the Save & Load system. I want to do it as soon as possible, but I also have to refactor a bit of the code and add necessary functions that will support this whole system.

My focus in the next weeks would be to build the Save & Load System, add necessary new player features and Quality of Life (QoL) features, and improve the overall quality of the game.

This means that there will be no big content updates/new resources/buildings/game mods, or new levels in the near future.

Thank you, everyone, for being around!

Best,
Ariano

The Tiny Team Event has recently started and will run for the next 7 days!

This event is specifically dedicated to small developer teams and solo developers like myself. I am incredibly proud to be a part of it and excited to introduce The Settlings to a new audience.

However, there are many other fantastic games out there that deserve greater visibility. I encourage you to check the official steam event page to explore and support these amazing creations!



If you would like to show support to the organizers of the event, Yogscast, and enjoy well-structured and entertaining streams with an awesome community, make sure to check out their Twitch Channel!

If you haven't played The Settlings demo yet, you can downlod it here.

Best,
Ariano