Frisia News

[h2]Hi everyone![/h2][p]Welcome to another dev log for Frisia! Preparations for the Gamescom are running on maximum priority right now, so we have no time to waste for this one![/p][p][/p][h2]Steam Event & Gamescom[/h2][p]First of all welcome to the new players and people who found there way to Frisia! I am currently participating in the “Games forged in Germany” Steam Event and I’m happy to see new players try out the game![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]I talked about Gamescom before but here again: I will be at the Indie Arena Booth! Come by and say hello, collect some stickers and more importantly, try out the new demo version for yourself![/p][p][/p][p]August 20th - 24th 2025, Hall 10.2, Indie Arena Booth, Games made in Hamburg[/p][h2]
Upgrades[/h2][p]Now about gameplay: Today I want to talk about one of the main new features coming to Frisia: building upgrades! Previously new living quarters had to be placed next to already existing buildings, for example the simple hut.[/p][p]With the final version of Frisia you will be able to upgrade your building, one by one. Simple huts can be upgraded to bigger houses, docks and piers will be upgradeable along side with other buildings. I will also remodel the existing buildings for that purpose, so that the different upgrade stages have the same size and don’t cause any hiccups when your trying to build a beautiful village.
[/p][p][/p][p]Different Upgrade Stages of Living Quarters
[/p][p]I am currently unsure if I should make  the later stages of Living Quarters available for direct building or if the only should be achieved through upgrades. I will test this, when the new demo releases, but also let me know what you think about that![/p][p][/p][p]Living quarters will have an additional condition before you can upgrade them: you need to fulfill all of the villagers needs! This introduces different kind of inhabitants for your island. The higher the tier of the building, the more necessities and needs you will have to cover, making late game upgrades much more challenging.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The "Simple Hut" needs a steady suppy of mussels to be able to be upgraded to the Tier 2 Living Quarters[/p][p][/p][p]Higher buildings grant you more workers per building and generate more income, making them very important when settling on small islands with limited space. [/p][p][/p][h2]Island Ranks[/h2][p]To progress and unlock new buildings you will have to level up your island rank. Each island rank requires a special building to be unlocked. Starting with relatively simple buildings in the beginning, the late game buildings require more and more resources, that will be harder to come by and encouraging you to explore!
[/p][p][/p][p]"New Island Rank reached"-pop-up, displaying all the newly unlocked buildings[/p][p][/p][p]That’s all the news for today, stay tuned for more updates![/p][p]
[/p][p]Cheers[/p][p]~ Rouven[/p]

[h2]Hi everyone! [/h2][p]It’s time for another devlog, showing of some of the features coming to Frisia! Let’s get started![/p][p][/p][h2]Weather[/h2][p]First of all some visual improvements to the atmosphere and the environment: different weathers![/p][p]The north sea would not be the north sea if not for the ever changing weather. One time it was sunny and all of the sudden you got a serious storm at your hands. Currently there is a thunder storm, a cloudy overcast and a sunny atmosphere, with more different weathers on the way. [/p][p]I will also add more Post-Processing Effects and tweak the shader for a more atmospheric look and a moody style in the future, but here are some WIP Screenshots of the current state![/p][p]The diverse atmospheres of the north sea coast![/p][p][/p][h2]Fertilities[/h2][p]Now let’s talk some gameplay! Previously islands were pretty much the same, it did not matter too much, where you built your farms, fishermen etc. The only exception were trees, which you could only find on a single island. With the addition of separate island inventories I will introduce special island fertilities. On some you may grow crops, while on others you have plentiful fishing grounds or mussel banks. You will have to prioritize which islands to settle on first to meet your currents villagers needs. This will open up the game for much more strategic play and planning, as well as giving you an extra reason to go out there and explore the map and settle on more islands![/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]Fertilities are unique to each island. You will have to look out for the islands with the feritilities you need to progress in the game. [/p][p][/p][p]I can’t wait to get the demo ready and see what you guys think of the new mechanics! Until then![/p][p][/p][p]Cheers[/p][p]- Rouven[/p]

[h3]Hi everyone![/h3][p]Happy to get back to you with another insight into the development process of Frisia! I am currently planning to release one of these devlogs regularly every two weeks![/p][p][/p][p]So let’s get into it! Two weeks ago, I was part of the German Indie Showcase, a Stream-Event that featured many Indie-Games made in Germany, Austria and Switzerland! I am happy to see that apparently many people liked my new Trailer and wishlisted Frisia on Steam, and even better - played the demo! [/p][p]After the showcase german streamer Tobinator played Frisia live on stream, which I was lucky enough to join in time and exchange some words via the chat! Tobi being one of the creators I watched during my youth, this was of course amazing to see![/p][p]At this point I would like to say welcome to everyone who is new here and discovered Frisia! I hope you follow along and become a part of the development and the "Frisia" community![/p][p][/p][p]Now regarding the development: I have just released a small update for the demo, since some of you requested widescreen support. The previous version obstructed some UI-Windows, which made it impossible to play the game properly. These issues should be resolved for now and I will try to incorporate widescreen for the final version of the game and optimize it for a clean gameplay experience![/p][p]Special thanks to the players who pointed this out:)[/p][p][/p][p]And with that I wish you all a nice rest of the week! See you on the next devlog![/p][p][/p][p]- Rouven[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Also: Some north frisian cows for you guys to sweeten up this post...[/p]

Hi everyone!

It’s been a while since I posted an Update here, so there are lots of things to talk about! As I announced in my last post, I changed many things about the game loop of Frisia and I am happy to announce, that there has been some good progress! Some of the new features I am going to show you in the next Devlogs, today I will talk about the most exciting news!

As some of you may have noticed: the name changed. No more cozy villages, Frisia embraces what it's really about: the tides and the epic (and maybe ssometimes still cozy) tales of Friesland!

[h2]Frisia x German Indie Showcase[/h2]

The first announcement will be most interesting for everyone from Germany, because I will be part of this summers “Deutsche Indie Showcase”, which is hosted on the Twitch-Channel of “YouTube-Papa” Gronkh himself!



The Stream will take place on Sunday, June 08th, at 6pm, so be sure to check out brand new footage of Frisia and many other awesome Indie Games!

https://www.twitch.tv/gronkh

[h2]Frisia at Gamescom Cologne[/h2]

Just like last year, Frisia and myself will be present at this years Gamescom in Cologne! But this time for the whole duration and with my own game station at the Indie Arena Booth! If you're there, come by and say hello!

August 20th - 24th 2025, Hall 10.2, Indie Arena Booth, Games made in Hamburg

[h2]New Feature: Better ships[/h2]

But now, lets talk Gameplay! One huge change from the current demo version to the final game will be that ships and islands have actual inventories and resource storages. So no global resources anymore. You now can dock your ship on an islands harbor and load and unload cargo. You then ship them to your desired location and can start building!



Select your ship and right click on an harbor to dock your ship and be able to exchange cargo.

[h2]Better ship visuals[/h2]
I have also upgraded the visuals of the ship, with moving sails. I found an amazing shader asset, that let's you control the rigging, sail furl and many more awesome things! I also updated the ship to a more historically accurate model, featuring a very commonly used ship type during the 18th century.

New ship model under full sails.

Your starter ship is a so called “Ewer”, a ship that was very typical for the waters and rivers of Friesland and northern Germany. Its shallow keel enables it to maneuver in shallow waters and allows it to fall dry during low tide without problems.

Ewer "Windsbraut" fallen dry in the northern frisian wadden sea.

There will be more info on ships, seafaring and trading in the near future! I'll also get back to you about when the next demo update releases! There are so many exciting things, that I can’t wait to share with you! Until then, let me know what you think and see you soon!

- Rouven

It is time fellow settlers! I am happy to announce that as of today the new Update 0.0.16 is live!
With this update there will be sailable ships, new buildings and new gameplay mechanics arriving! Let's take a short dive into the new stuff!

[h2]The Map[/h2]
First, let's talk about the new map! I have completely reworked how the world is set up. You have now much more smaller islands. Trees are scarce, you will probably have to rely on other source of harvesting wood! To settle on an island you now have to claim it first. You can do this via a cute little flagpost, situated near every islands dock!

[h2]Old Savegames[/h2]
Since the way the game is played changes quite drastically, I have decided to remove the previous map from the game. Therefore your old savegames sadly won't work anymore. I will move the current state of the game to another branch, so if you would like to access your old savegames, you can downgrade your version. You can do so by right clicking Frisia Demo in your library and selecting the "Beta"-Tab. There you can choose the version "0.0,15" and select it. Not that this version is the old state of the game and does neither include the new feature nor will be able to load your new savegames!

[h2]New Mechanic: Fog[/h2]
With Update 0.0.16 the whole map is covered in dense fog. You will have to explore the map by ship, activate buoys and place lighthouses to permanently uncover the map, Which brings us to the next major addition of the patch:

[h2]Ships![/h2]
You are now able to sail your very own little ship. You will need it to strive through the dense fog and uncover the islands who are ready for settlement around the map. But be aware: your ship can run aground if you are cought by the ebb at the wrong place. No need to worry though, as the next flood will free your ship and you will be ready to go once again. Don't forget, that you can customize your ship in terms of colors!


[h2]New Buildings[/h2]
Now to the last big addition, the new buildings. Since most of the new islands don't host any trees you will need a new primary woodsource. For that I have added the Driftwood Collector! This building will passively generate wood without needing a forest nearby. It works much slower than a lumbercamp though.

Another new building is the new Simple Hut. It gets unlocked before the house that is currently in the game. It's comparibly cheaper but hosts less workers.

To keep your villagers fed, you can supply them now with a new ressource: mussels. You can gather them with the new Beach Fishing Hut. This building needs to be placed in the tidal flats, so you will have to wait for the ebb to place it.

Last but not least, our lighthouse gets a tiny litte friend: the Crossmarkfire. This unique maritime building uncovers a smaller amount of the map than the lighthouse, but is also much cheaper.

[h2]Various additions[/h2]
Another part I have poured a significant amount of time into, is overhauling the UI. I increased the readability by changing the font, I changed the look and added new juicy animations! Let me know what you think.

As always I would be happy if you share your thoughts in the forum. If you stumble across technical issues also let me know in the Forum dedicated for bugs. Since I am a Solo-Dev every help is greatly appreciated.

[h2]The future[/h2]
I would like to conclude this announcement with a small amount of info about the future: I am currently reworking the game in all of its mechanics, to keep the scope and development timeframe realistic. For that I am going back to the drawing board. I hope I can give some more details on the FRISIA will be moving in the following weeks!
Thanks for the input from all the people around me and especially you, the players who tried out the demo so far. I was able to get FRISIA to a point I could never have hoped for! So thank you all, I am really excited for the future and would be happy to have you follow me on my way there!

With that, happy settling, strong winds und immer 'ne Handbreit Wasser unter'm Kiel!* ;)

Best wishes
Rouven

*(and always a hand's breadth of water under the keel)