Adding Factory Mechanics to my Indie Game (Devlog)

In this indie game devlog I finish up Lumbermill's plot system for automating the harvesting of trees, add a new machine called the Nursery and continue work on improving the Employee AI. I'm finally getting back into a flow with the game's development, so keep an eye out for future devlogs.

All the music in Lumbermill devlogs is from the game's soundtrack.

⮞ About BWDev ⮜

If you're new to the channel, welcome! I'm an Indie Game developer working in Unity 2D. Lumbermill is my main project - a management/factory builder game, which I began work on in Feb 2019. I make videos to share the development process and also get feedback - so let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments!

⮞ Socials ⮜

⮞ Links ⮜

⮞ Timestamps ⮜

0:00 - Intro
0:16 - Plots
0:45 - Tree Stumps & Clearing
1:50 - Lazy lumberjack Bug
3:00 - Overlapping Sprites Bug
3:15 - Updating Tree Designs
4:20 - Lumberjack AI for Clearing
4:30 - Lumberjack telekinesis bug
5:18 - Nursery & Planting
5:58 - Arborist AI
6:35 - Seedlings
7:14 - Overlays Window
7:38 - Nursery Design
8:14 - Plots fully working

#devlog #unity #madewithunity #unity2d #indiedev #bwdev #gamedev #indiegame

[RaphaelOnofre]

please don't give up on Lumbermill, this game has so much potential

[TECHN]

Lol, love how you named the generator for just maple trees "Canada"

[shijikori]

make the maple-only island an easter eggs. something like if you name your company/mill something that has "Canada" or "Canadian" in it makes it so you get only maples.

[FailRaceFan]

Guys wake up! BW posted!

Thank you so much for coming back to this project. I know how hard it can be to get back into a functioning rythm, balancing work and free time. That's especially the case with self employment. We'll be always here patiently waiting for the next devlog, seeing the game grow more and more every time. You were partially responsible for my addiction to simulation games and choosing to study software development. Thank you for being part of my adolescense.

[CrystalCoding-oyqh]

i am so grateful that you are making videos again, please continue your devlogs are always fun to watch

[isto_inc]

Oh ya. Hell ya. Love me some lumbermill devlogs

[enigmaticcat]

Love how you named the all-maple island Canada 😂 Great job with the development! I'm excited to see where it goes next 👍

[isaacdachtyl]

Babe, a new Lumbermill devlog just dropped.

[donkeydong]

One interesting feature could be to add the 4 seasons to the game, which could either be entirely visual or even add small features like conveyor belts freezing in the winter as an example 🤷‍♂️

[TheShelfman]

Great devlog! Love the progress, and I gotta say your art looks as beautiful as ever

[mbln]

When making a game like this, your respect to Chris Sawyer skyrises. Not only did he make amazing timeless and quite complex games (Rollercoaster Tycoon, Transport Tycoon, Locomotion), but he made them in assembly -- you can't make a game more from scratch than that -- and it all works perfectly on ALL systems. Meanwhile, we're struggling with "basic" stuff with an engine that exist purely for game development.

[popcorny]

So glad to see the core gameplay loop complete!
Having a MVP to iterate from is such a good motivator

[pwyounggamedev]

I completely missed your last video and just saw this pop up on my feed. I'm so glad to see you are back on this project and going back to the isometric style. I am trying to develop game stuff myself in an isometric style and there are a LOT of headaches, especially with a simulation game like this. I'm glad to see you're back at it. Hopefully we can both finish projects that we really like without driving ourselves crazy! Haha

[mchsprod]

4:05 naming the maple island Canada gave me an idea of how you could include different generation settings in the game. Maybe at the start of the game you could choose a country or location and that would affect the difficulty, or just be a visual change. It brings it mind Rollercoaster Tycoon, where the different levels had different aesthetics, maybe you could do something similar with Lumbermill?

[irazander]

i feel making it clear what the lumberjacks are doing would help, when they kept going to drop off logs i thought they were just going home

[TheTrueJaxlyfe]

I'm so damn happy to see you back at it dude!

[fracker]

Just looked up the last video again this week, and now there is a new one. Love it ❤
Much appreciation for your hard work ^=^

[ThePixelMan]

i have missed these devlogs SO MUCH thank you for posting these again!

[imaginify]

Honestly so happy this series is back, I absolutely love your content in particular when it comes to the "devlog" genre and I love watching the development of Lumbermill. Seems like you're making good progress and I can't wait for the upcoming videos!

[lastSKYsamurai]

You could try out a bit of dirt around the stump so they read better as a whole/from a distance. Though I suspect you’d need to carry the dirt texture over to seedlings else the visual switch would look wired once a seedling is planted. Then you might have to try fading out the dirt as the tree grows back into a full tree.

Or just start with a dirt patch under every tree from the beginning & just have the stump texture read slightly different with some slightly darker soil or something.

Just some armchair thoughts 😬