Help us imagine and create a great game!

[Heline]

Edit Dec.03: Here is my latest creation for a wolf character! Don?t be fool by his fierce face, he?s really kind hearted in the inside and will always be here to give you a hand? or a paw!

Would you like to meet him as an NPC in the game? Check the model in 3D on sketchfab here!

You can also check my twitter (here!) to see regular updates of the development of the game!

Edit Nov.28: I would like to present our first character test! She is ready to take the train to her new home.

Edit Nov.25: Here is the new art test! This is quite different from the previous one, do you have a preference in terms of style, colours, etc.?

Edit Nov.11: Thanks for your votes and feedback! It?s greatly appreciated and very helpful!

Today, I would like to present a first concept art for the game! That?s the kind of style I would to go for.

You can check the full 3D model on sketchfab!

Can you see a whole village in this colourful cartoonish tone?


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Hi everyone!


I would like your opinion on a project that is dear to my heart.


I have been a passionate player for years and I have spent countless hours on Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley and more. I have always wanted to create my very own game; a new take on a cosy little world.

To reach the perfect feeling, I need feedback on the project. Animal Crossing being a strong influence, you are the best suited to help!


The game will be a 3D cartoonish life simulator in a welcoming village. The experience focuses on creativity: personalise your avatar, town, house, garden and much more. You have the choice between many activities: will you be a farmer, a fisherman or a zoologist? Maybe an architect or a stylist? Why not all of these!

Furthermore, online co-operation will let you share creations and trade resources. The game would be playable solo but would be best enjoyed with friends.


I want to design a ?back-to-childhood? feeling. Imagine?

... It is a bright day of summer; butterflies on flowers and cowbells in the wind. You are sitting near the calm river, fishing rod at hand.

Your friend is online! He is excited about a rare bird seen around his town. Pictures of it would be a great addition to your museums. No time to lose, you hop on your bicycle and take the airship to your friend?s place.

You devise a plan: you collect sunflower seeds to attract the bird while your friend grabs a perch from the village.You meet at the lake to set everything up and lure the animal. You hide in the bushes up the hill. The bird shows up quickly! You take pictures before it flies away. Back to town for a prize.

The curator is thankful for your invaluable contribution. You are greatly rewarded for your effort: this species will now appear more often, and new decorations to place around.

Tomorrow, you will remodel the market place for the upcoming Thanksgiving event...

How does that sound to you? What do you want to see in a game like this? Would you like to know more about certain aspects? It would be awesome to have your opinion!

Thanks for reading!

 

[MasterM64]

I think this is a really cool idea and I wish you the best of luck on developing it! Is there going to be a story/plot line to it or is it going to be very open-ended? I highly recommend trying to think of ways to make your game stand out from similar games to distinguish it. Also, I would recommend start thinking about a title and aspects that you need to receive copyright & trademark protection for. Hope this helps!

 

[abc123wee]

This idea sounds great! You've gotta keep us updated on the project.

For me, my favorite parts of these games are interacting with NPCs and special holidays.

 

[G0DFlesh_88]

I know that making a game is tough for one person, but these are things I would like to see in a AC like game or even the new AC game:
-co-op cave exploration
-amusement park events
-visiting friends and help them build a house
-Bike Riding

 

[Shellzilla_515]

This sounds like this is gonna be one big project! I'm not sure if you're gonna have other people to help you out on this, but with your great passion for Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, it shouldn't be much of a problem right?

If possible, you could work on family relationships as well! You could have a sibling who would get along with you or a caring mother who works non-stop. Just my thoughts.

 

[Heline]

Thank you all for your answers and for voting! It?s greatly appreciated and very helpful!

@MasterM64 : I?d like to keep the story fairly light and somewhat emergent: most narrative elements will be unraveled through NPCs. Regarding the title, the current proposal is ?Country Home?; can you think of a better name? I?d like to have your suggestion!

@abc123wee : I?ll keep you posted with updates on this topic! NPCs and regular events would definitely be in the game Though? How do you see seasonal characters working in terms of relationships?

@G0DFlesh_88 : riding your bike and visiting your friend : that?s the essence of this game! Interesting idea about amusement parks, it might be a great theme for festive events! What do you have in mind with co-op caves, how do you see the exploration working?

@Shellzilla : Indeed, it can be an ambitious project! That?s exactly why I need your feedback so much, to make sure I focus on the right bits ! To you, in which way would interactions with relatives differ from the other NPCs?

Thanks again!

 

[MapleSilver]

I think an important thing with this game, and with any games inspired by another game, is to make sure this game is a different enough experience to be worth playing over whatever other games may be available. This is especially true in your case since you seem to be a small indie developer. I see a lot of games that try to replicate an established franchise (the countless "WoW killers" come to mind), and they always fail. They simply do not have the resources to compete with an entire company. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm trying to discourage you, because you do seem to have a lot of passion for this project. I just hope you are able to create a unique enough experience that I am not left asking myself why I wouldn't just play Animal Crossing instead.

Personally, one of the reasons I really enjoy New Leaf is the amount of customization that is available, and how each town is unique. I like the feeling of having a town that feels like my own, instead of some pre-built world that the developers made.

Anyway, I wish you luck on your project, and I hope my feedback was helpful in some way.

 

[Shellzilla_515]

@Shellzilla : Indeed, it can be an ambitious project! That’s exactly why I need your feedback so much, to make sure I focus on the right bits ! To you, in which way would interactions with relatives differ from the other NPCs?

Honestly haven't given much thought but to answer your question, interactions with your relatives would have an impact to your charachter's morale, mental state, choices, etc. Having a positive mindset would make you get things done more quickly and efficiently while a negative mindset would be the opposite. We all lived with our family members at one point so it's clear that having these aspects would make your character feel more human.

I'd also like to add one more suggestion. Why not have different types of transportation that is available to you? For example, you could ride on buses or trains for public transportation. Or you could have your own car or truck (lol) to drive to your destination. In bodies of water, you could have a ship! And maybe perhaps have a plane as an option as well?

Okay, this idea just popped into my head. Why not also have cultural references in the world? Adding to my transportation idea, you could add in different vehicles that can only be found in that country. For example, in The Phillippines, people hop on and off of Jeepneys to get to their destination. Of course, you're not limited to having cultural references only through vehicles so stuff like dances and clothing can be a thing!

Well, I hope this helps you in some way. As well as some encouragement!

 

[Heline]

@MapleSilver : Thanks for your feedback! Those questions are really important, you’re right. I play a lot of games inspired by Stardew or AC since three years and none took my heart like AC did.

So yeah, making this game unique is a big challenge! That’s why I want to take the right amount of time to think about how the experience should be. I also take inspiration of my childhood on the countryside to design all the feelings the game drives.

For example AC has a very restricted camera. For ? Country Home ?, the camera should be less constrained to let you explore your world with the feeling you’re a part of it. One of the key word is ? immersion ?!

In any case, thank you for this reflexion! If you have any suggestion about it, I would be glad to hear about it



@Shelzilla : Wow, this a really interesting idea! Though I’m concerned that having an avatar with its own mindset doesn’t let you transpose your emotions onto it. That’s the reason why Link or your pokemon trainer don’t have dialogues. But what I like in your suggestion is this idea of having an ? emotional interaction ? with NPCs!

Focusing on cultural aspects of the different people across the world would be so cool! That being said, creating all the necessary assets could be difficult. It might be introduced progressively with themed events. Speaking of the vehicules, I was thinking about this too! I love the idea that you can ride your bike as well your car or ship.

 

[MasterM64]

@MasterM64 : I?d like to keep the story fairly light and somewhat emergent: most narrative elements will be unraveled through NPCs. Regarding the title, the current proposal is ?Country Home?; can you think of a better name? I?d like to have your suggestion!

Ah, I see. So you mostly want the story to mostly be composed during the intro of the game and then the player learns more details throughout the game? Depending on what you decide to do, having a more apparent story could be beneficial, but at the end of the day, you are the one who has the ultimate vision for this game. When it comes to the title, I like it, but my biggest question for you is the following: is there anything unique or specific about this game that you envision that could define the title for you/make it a unique title from other games?

 

[G0DFlesh_88]

@G0DFlesh_88 : What do you have in mind with co-op caves, how do you see the exploration working?

I see a fossil or item hunt in the caves. Maybe catching bats inside to. you would also need a oil lantern or flashlight to explore the caves.

 

[Heline]

@MasterM64 : Absolutely! That?s the way I see it working; details about the world and NPCs would be exposed through relationships, progression, certain activities, etc.
Initially I wanted the title to be inclusive not to restrict players and have the world be opened to imagination. Nevertheless, uniqueness is a strong argument! I?ll keep that in mind in case anything better comes to mind.

@G0DFlesh_88 : Thanks for clarifying! I understand better how it could work; it?s not obvious how exploration would fit, but I?m trying to find ways how it could be integrated :-?

Today, I would like to present a first concept art for the game! That?s the kind of style I would to go for.

Check the full 3D model!

Can you see a whole village in this colourful cartoonish tone?

 

[Shellzilla_515]

Today, I would like to present a first concept art for the game! That’s the kind of style I would to go for.

Check the full 3D model!

Can you see a whole village in this colourful cartoonish tone?

Holy chiz, that's cute! The outlines I noticed on the chickens reminds me of Mr. Game & Watch's outline from Smash Bros.! I want to squish them to be honest. <3

 

[lars708]

Wow is this really cool! Are you experienced in making games/coding?

 

[Heline]

@Shellzilla : Thank you, I’m glad you like it! Squish the chicken… beware they don’t behave as the Zelda ones!

@lars708 : Thanks, I am eager to show more! I keep exploring styles, it’s going to be interesting to have your feedback to help narrow the final art vision.

Are you experienced in making games/coding?

To some extent! I’m aware of the challenges I will face with such a project. I have an artistic background and I’ve been experimenting with game creation for a while; I began to learn more specific tools that will be useful to create the game: art software (Blender, Krita, etc.), game engines (Unreal, etc.).


Additionally, I have partnered with someone who has industry experience and who can provide insights of the technical and production sides. It’s great working together

Nevertheless, considering the scope of the project, we will need to team up with additional contributors and secure a budget to develop a prototype and make the game happen.


I will back soon to show more visual concepts!

 

[rhinoo]

I really like the idea of this! It kinda seems like Animal Crossing-Sims-Stardew Valley merged. I always wanted to see multiplayer in The Sims and Stardew Valley. Hope this is going well for you!

 

[Stella-Io]

Okay, those chickens, esp the Grey and brown one.

Super CUTE.

I would love to play a game that looks like that, the style looks unique. As for advice, I would say a game definitely needs variety. Using your pic as an example, you have different colors of chickens. Variety for animals, (like a jersey cow making jersey milk, compared to the regular cow making regular milk, and even regular cows in different colors) people/interactions, plants, farm crops, stores, terrain ect... would really make the game more interesting.

In life Sim games like HM & RF, I'm very big on cooking, crafting and foraging. In HM: Tale of Two Towns, I cook ALOT and go foraging in the mountains to make money. In RF4 I dungeon crawl and cook. So changes in terrain is a def must for me. I love going in caves to underwater temples to deserts and everythin in between.

Overall, I think you have a good basis for what you want to include in your game, and I would love to one day download it.

 

[rhinoo]

also... what will this be published on?

 

[Heline]

@im_the_rhino : Thank you! You?re right, multiplayer will definitely be essential to the experience. For the release, we would like to publish mostly on the Switch, because of the community and indie store. Nevertheless we will be developing on PC, therefore there is no reason not to include this platform as well; last, using a cross-platform engine could make PS4/XBO an option, but only as side goals. I have to confess that the Switch is my favorite console for this type of game.

@Stella-Io : Thanks a lot! Giving a unique look to my game is really important to me, I?m glad to hear that I?m on the right way. And I totally agree, variety is the key.

And your game experience is very useful, thanks for sharing! It helps us greatly to understand the feeling behind those game mechanics.

Here is the new art test! This is quite different from the previous one, do you have a preference in terms of style, colours, etc.?

​

 

[Midoriya]

I think this is a neat and great idea! I don’t have any feedback to contribute aside from a bump for the thread.