Hi everyone - or at least, the few of you who ventured onto an actual website like it's still the 90s,

As part of the development process of Iron Village, I've decided to start a dev diary. This is partly to track my progress & keep me honest, and partly to discuss and share how things are going. I’m aiming for an update every Friday, starting in 2024. This is entry 0, covering the gist of the game and its goals.

The ultimate goal is to become a full time independent game developer. This is probably unlikely to happen, but there are smaller goals along the way that are more feasible, including making indie gamedev a part time job. (Right now it's just a spare time thing, of which there is vanishingly little.) Iron Village is the first step of that indie gamedev journey, making a relatively small game and actually completing and releasing it. It also serves as an opportunity to learn Godot. I have professional experience in Unity, and I had just started this project when the company behind Unity dropped its insane new pricing plans with no basis in logic or law. So, this made it the perfect time to learn something new.

So that’s all well and good, but what exactly is the game going to be? The idea of Iron Village is a town building game where the town and a railroad are tightly linked. Trains come by to supply you, but the town exists to supply the trains as well, and opportunity exists for additional trade beyond the basic supplies. As you develop your town, the railroad expands as well, which helps you grow further, and so on.

The setting is what I think is called “urban fantasy” - that is, fantasy elements exist alongside the relatively mundane. So eventually, you’ll be able to make bread, but also potions. There’ll be steam engines, but later there’ll be more magically-powered locomotives.

Anyway, that's all for now. The actual diaries start next year, but here’s a “gameplay” screenshot of the current state:

Art is composed from the excellent Minifantasy asset collection by Krishna Palacio.