Whiskerwood News

Survival comes first in Whiskerwood. Your opening moves decide whether a colony takes root or stalls before winter. This diary walks through the early choices that keep your Whiskers alive: where to place the Trade Dock, how to anchor logistics with the Central Warehouse, and which starter industries to prioritize. You will see how taxes and trust shape your economy, how machinery gates early factories, and how seasons and sickness pressure food and warmth.

Of course, this is only a primer for your Whiskers' humble beginnings.

Here's the first Dev Diary in case you missed it.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2489330/announcements/detail/658207707628569428
[h2]Embark Phase: Founding the Colony[/h2][hr][/hr]Once your colony ship arrives at your assigned island archipelago, you must decide on a location for your Trade Dock. This trade dock will serve as your connection to the outside world.


All tax collectors, supply ships, new arrivals, and even pirates will conduct business with you through this dock. This dock will serve as the landing site for your initial colonists.

[h3]Placing the Trade Dock[/h3]
Selecting a suitable location for your dock is crucial to your early success. Consider the minerals, forests, and nearby forage when picking a location. In general, you should avoid barren islands, which might be rich in valuable ores but will lack the forests and berry bushes for an easy start. Unless you are attempting an advanced supply ship-driven build order, it's best to stay away from them initially.

[h3]Constructing the Central Warehouse[/h3]
Once your Whiskers have left the embark ship, they will need to construct a Central Warehouse.


Whereas the trade dock is the central nexus for ships, the Central Warehouse will be the nexus for your logistics network.

Pick a location near where you intend to build your town.


[h2]Early Buildings: Foundations of Industry[/h2][hr][/hr]We’ve talked about the Trade Dock and Central Warehouse, but the buildings you’ll use the most in the early game are the resource tier industry.

These are the Forage Hut, Logging Camp, Mining Camp, and, in time, the Farm.

Like all industries in Whiskerwood, these buildings, once constructed, require workers to operate. When assigning Whiskers to a building, consider their guilds and attributes.

[h3]Forage Hut[/h3]The Forage Hut’s workers will collect nearby wild Flax and Berries. For an island that starts with wild berries, this is the easiest method of keeping your Whiskers fed. You can use the Harvest Priority tool to mark Flax or Berries as the first to harvest. Flax is useful for paying taxes, but you may wish to focus on Berries early.


[h3]Woodcutter[/h3]The Woodcutter should be placed near a forest. Whiskers working there will cut nearby trees. Similar to the Forage Hut, the Harvest Priority tool helps identify which trees to cut first.


[h3]Mining Camp[/h3]Mining Camps allow you to mark Mine Shafts, which, when assigned, Whiskers will then dig up.

This can be useful for securing valuable Ores, Stone-based Housing, or building underwater tunnels to connect new islands. Often, islands will have unique ores -- and in general, the deeper you dig, the richer the veins get.


[h3]Farms[/h3]
Lastly, Farms allow you to turn useless open space into productive crop land. Farmed Berries are the quickest for feeding your colony.


Still, higher-tier crops can be unlocked over time. These crops are more effective, efficient, long-lasting, or can handle different environmental factors. We’ll have an entire Dev Diary on the Farm system in time.

Farms require planks to build, which gets us to the next category of buildings.

[h2]Early Industry[/h2][hr][/hr]When your colony makes a landing, the Claws include a set of Machinery in the setup package. Machinery is the vital parts that allow industrialization. Factories require machinery to be constructed, and they need replacements when that Machinery wears out over time.

[h3]The Role of Machinery[/h3]
Machinery can only be made by the Claws. It is a schematic that they protect with the utmost security. It has powered their kingdom and economic might. Machinery takes extensive espionage to steal. So until then, you must purchase new and replacement Machinery from Supply Ships or earn it as Tax Rewards.

Using your starter Machinery, you can choose between the Fishing Dock, the Sawmill, and the Stone Workshop. The choice you pick is a strategic one.

[h3]Fishing Dock[/h3]
The Fishing Dock can feed your colonists despite a no-berry start, and prevent them from starving.


[h3]Sawmill[/h3]
The Sawmill allows you to mill one unit of Wood into multiple Planks. Planks, in turn, are required for many essential buildings. Additionally, Plank Pathing allows you to speed up walking speeds for a lower effective Wood cost.


[h3]Stone Workshop[/h3] Lastly, the Stone Workshop allows you to craft the most waste Stone dug out from the mines into beautiful Cutstone for higher-tier buildings.



[h2]Early Game Objectives: Answering to the Claws[/h2][hr][/hr]With the Central Warehouse constructed, you’ll start receiving quests from either the Claw administrator or your own Whisker colonists. Each has their own desires, and you do not have the time or resources to do everything.

[h3]The Tax System[/h3]
Your immediate concern should be securing a resource extraction economy so you can start earning the first tax payment. The Claws will send tax ships about every three days. Each ship will demand a Head Tax, an Administrative Tax, and a Production Tax, and will also collect the bill for any supply ship orders.


Failure to pay what you owe will call into question why the Claws even allowed you and your colonists this freedom.

This shows up as the Trust mechanic. When you fail to pay a tax bill, you will lose 3, 2, or 1 trust depending on how far you underpaid your bill. Paying your bill on time will slowly build trust and earn a reward from the Claws.



[h3]Overpaying and Rewards[/h3]
You also have the choice to overpay taxes by 150% or 200%. Overpaying taxes earns you trust quickly and gives you more rewards. Rewards are vital because mixed into the scraps, the Claws' rewards can include new Schematics which unlock new buildings or technology.


Until you establish contact with other islands and start smuggling, then begin an espionage program, these handouts are your primary way to secure new unlocks.

We’ll discuss ocean exploration, smuggling, and espionage further in later development diaries.

[h3]Balancing Whisker Desires[/h3]
Whisker colonists will have conflicting desires. They understand your need to appease the Claws, but this patience has limits. Whiskers will become increasingly accustomed to luxuries such as housing, decorations, and services.

Keeping your population happy earns you approval from the community.


Only with this support can you implement policies and welcome new Whiskers into the colony. Thus, if you want to grow a large colony, you must also grow a happy colony.

Give a Whisker a colony, and he'll want a place to sleep.


[h2]Surviving the Environment[/h2][hr][/hr]Whiskers require a minimum of food and warmth. Warmth is easy during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn, but during Winter, freezing temperatures will bring death to the unprepared colony. Likewise, food is easiest while the forageable berry bushes remain, but in time, you will need to secure either fish or farms. Farms grow best in Summer, slow in Spring and Autumn, and with only a few exceptions, stop producing during Winter.


[h3]Health and Sickness[/h3]
When Whiskers get chilled, injured, or breathe polluted air too much, they risk getting sick. Over time, if not healed, these negative impacts will accumulate, resulting in death. Dead Whiskers must be buried in a Grave site to reduce the otherwise severe depression, which will plummet your Approval.

While you survive the environment, you’ll also need to worry about surviving the Claws and Pirates. We’ll talk more about those factions in a later Dev Diary.

Thanks for reading!
Daniel Dressler
Lead Programmer on Whiskerwood

[h3]Join, Discuss, and Keep Informed About Whiskerwood[/h3][hr][/hr]You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also visit our website for more information.

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Welcome to the first dev diary for Whiskerwood.

We’ll be posting these every second Friday, each one focused on a different part of the game: mechanics, design choices, production systems, and colony survival. We want to cover everything we’ve been working on and explain why it’s built the way it is.

After each post, we’ll be available on Discord, /r/Whiskerwood on Reddit, and the Steam forums to answer questions and hear what you think.

[h3]What is Whiskerwood?[/h3][hr][/hr]Whiskerwood is a city builder set in a low fantasy world ruled by the Claws. You play as a community of Whiskers, industrious mice who are sent to settle dangerous new islands and ship resources back to their feline overlords.

Each colony is built on an island where space is scarce. You can build upward into towering wooden structures or dig into cliffs and mountainsides to carve out new layers. Verticality presents both opportunities and challenges, influencing how you plan your settlement.


Your settlers arrive by ship with a limited stock of supplies. From there, you must construct docks, set up farms, fell forests, mine ore, and begin weaving the production chains that will sustain your colony. The cats will always demand more. Your mice will always need food, shelter, water, and morale. Survival depends on keeping both sides satisfied.


There are forty commodities to gather and craft, ranging from raw resources like timber and ore to processed goods such as candles, fabrics, and prepared meals, and finally to luxuries like tea and furniture. Conveyor belts, ramps, elevators, and pipelines connect it all into a network of automation and supply. Exploration adds another layer, as ships can venture into unknown seas to discover new lands, resources, and the threat of pirate raids.


[h3]When to Expect Whiskerwood[/h3][hr][/hr]Whiskerwood is planned for release before the end of 2025.

That’s the window we’re confident in. The complete feature set is in place. Every major system has been implemented.

Currently, our focus is on internal playtesting, iteration, and fine-tuning. These final stages take time because balance only makes sense once all systems are working together. We’ve reached that point, so we’re now running repeated tests, working through edge cases, and smoothing interactions.

When will playtests begin?

When we're ready, we’ll begin closed playtests with external players. To participate, join the Discord. That’s where we’ll post updates about applications.

[h3]
Opening the Gates: Early Access[/h3][hr][/hr]Yes, Whiskerwood will launch in Early Access.

With our first game, Railgrade, we released a complete game and continued to add new systems, structures, and missions. Many players assumed it was still in Early Access due to the steady stream of updates. That created confusion, and we understand why.

This time, we want to avoid that.

We’ll share a public roadmap at launch that outlines the major features we plan to add during Early Access. These are the current goals, not hard limits. Once players begin engaging with the game, feedback will help shape the next steps.

Now, for a little about the setting in which Whiskerwood takes place.

[h3]Whiskerwood's World: Life Under the Claws[/h3][hr][/hr]Whiskerwood takes place during a period of industrial expansion in a low-fantasy world ruled by the Claws. You play as one of the Whiskers, a caste of mice living under the control of a dominant cat empire.


There is no tradition of independence. No memory of rebellion. Whiskers serve. The Claws take.

That has always been the arrangement.

In this era of factories and seafaring trade, the Claws send Whiskers to uncharted islands to build colonies and extract resources. Timber, ore, and farmland are all there for the taking. Your job is to collect it and send it back.

If you fall behind, someone else will be sent in your place.

You begin in a favorable position. How long that lasts depends on how well you manage what comes next.

[h3]Why We’re Making Whiskerwood[/h3][hr][/hr]Each person on the team came to this genre in their own way. Some care about logistics. Others are drawn to deep simulations. For me, it started with Banished in 2014. I was running it through Wine on an old Linux laptop. I still remember the first winter.

The food was gone. I didn’t understand the systems yet. I wasn’t sure anyone would survive. That feeling stuck with me.

Whiskerwood is built around that experience. The challenge of managing something fragile, where the rules are clear but the results are uncertain. When a system fails, you should be able to trace the cause and circumstances of the failure.

You’re not here to build a comfortable village. You’re here to keep the colony alive long enough to create something that lasts. Heat, hunger, morale, pollution, labor. Each system presses in from a different direction. You aren’t solving one problem. You’re trying to stop twenty small ones from spiraling out of control.

That’s the game we want to make.

That’s it for now. We’ll see you in the next dev diary. Thanks for reading.

Daniel Dressler,
Lead Programmer on Whiskerwood

[h3]What’s Next[/h3][hr][/hr]The next diary will look at the Embark Phase, where you decide where to place your first dock and how to survive the earliest days of the colony. After that, we will turn to vertical construction, production chains, climate and survival, and the pressures of pirates and the demands of the Claws.

Of course, if you have any questions, please be sure to ask them, and we can answer them in future dev diaries as well.

[h3]Join, Discuss, and Keep Informed About Whiskerwood[/h3][hr][/hr]You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also visit our website for more information.

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[p][/p][p]Hello Fellow Whisker Colonists![/p][p][/p][p]My name is Daniel, I'm the lead programmer on Whiskerwood and it is my pleasure to share that we've been accepted into Tiny Teams 2025![/p][p][/p][p]We indeed are a small team, but we're going to continue dig to bring to the surface Whiskerwood's full potential! This year you can find ours and all the other games featured here: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/tinyteams2025[/p]