Hi there,

Thanks for reading this devlog, hopefully the first of many.  As an introduction, Wild Haven is a nature builder about rebuilding the forest to its once flourishing state. You, the spirit of a small shrine, are tasked with cleaning up your damaged land and bringing back the plants and animals. As you explore and grow, you’ll discover new wildlife and decide how you want to shape the landscape.

You can check out the game here: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven

My brother and I started building Wild Haven at the start of the summer as a fun project.  Our development got to the point where we asked ourselves the question why not release this as a full fledged game and away we went.  And now one summer later, we’ve gotten the game to a point where we are quasi-confidently ready to release a version to the world and hopefully receive some feedback. Our goal with Wild Haven is to create a sandbox where you as the player can build up the natural landscape while making trade offs based on the placement of resources.  Each unit you build is a potential resource for another unit down the road.  In addition, we want players to experiment and be happy with just spinning up a new run if they want to try something different.  We are still in the early days of hopefully realizing that goal but that is the plan!

For this first release, we’ve built out the core game systems of exploring the map, building wildlife on the map, a resource tree for adding more complex wildlife, and managing your resources.  We added some simple graphics, sound, a save system and procedural map generator but plan to flesh these systems out more in the future.  To help get you going, we also added an in-game tutorial and a how to play on the Itch game description.  Again, we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc. 

Developer Log #2 - Version 0.2.25

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read through this.  From the feedback we've received on our demo, https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven, we spent the last couple of weeks on two main areas; the first being the end game and the second being the build tree for the game.  

Each run has an ending once you’ve reached 100 turns but it was pretty unclear how to compare your runs. To answer that, we’ve worked on building out a scoring system.  Now when you reach the end, you’ll receive a score based on how many and what kind of plants, and animals you’ve built.  You receive a higher score for adding more complex animals and for filling up the map.  We plan to iterate on the scoring system with bonus modifiers and a task system that is to be implemented later.

The second piece of feedback was on the balance of the build tree.  It felt like some wildlife was super important to place on the map such as Beehives but other wildlife went nowhere (Birch).  We feel like this is going to be a long work in progress as we iterate through the game but we took another pass with a focus on how plants interact with one another.  We’ve separated them into three groups, brush, grasses, and trees.  Brush and grasses affect the type of trees with brush growing Oak trees and grasses growing Maple trees.  Additionally, we wanted to make the choice of types of plants that grow on toxic soil more impactful with specific ones unlocking different parts of the build tree.

Developer Log #4 - Dec 8th, 2024 Version 0.2.35

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog!

With this update, we’ve added a bunch of quality of life improvements(QoL) to the game.  A number of ideas which we incorporated based on feedback! The biggest being the ability to reset the turn.  If you don’t like the placement of specific wildlife, cleared something you didn’t want to or changed your mind you can reset to the beginning of that turn. 

To keep with the trend of QoL changes, we’ve added another step in the build process to make it easier to understand the requirements for building wildlife, and we’ve frozen the soil informational bar when you select a tile.  We’ve also added tooltip information to both the build requirements informational pane and soil informational bar and added tooltips to the build button to explain why you can or can’t build specific wildlife.  Finally, we moved the clear wildlife button to the soil informational bar to show that the option is tied to the tile and not to the wildlife.

With our next update, we plan to make major updates to the how tiles are generated, what is placed on tiles and how large the map can be.  Right now with every run you are fixed to a 11x10 grid, which is a good size, but what if you want to explore in a specific direction and just want a larger map?  With this next update, we plan to add those options!  Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Log:

Updates:

• Add an undo button to return to the game to beginning of the turn.
• Freeze soil informational bar when tile is selected either on top or bottom.  Provide on hover tooltip information.
• When out of turns have next turn button be animated.
• Add two step process for building wildlife to make it easier for player to understand what wildlife’s requirements are.
• Move clear button to bottom away from wildlife build options.
• Show total coins per turn gained per turn.
• Add tooltip info for why player is unable to build wildlife.

Bugs: 

• Fixed pixel font for readability.
• Some wildlife outside of a tile's influence/range was not correctly showing up as dependent on said tile.
• New wildlife builds aren't correctly registering for some wildlife requirements.
• Update coins icon and animation to match coins per turn icon.

Developer Log - Jan 12th, 2025 Version 0.2.40

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog; the first of 2025!  

You can check out the game here: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven

As a brief recap, we are the two person dev team building Wild Haven, a nature ecosystem builder.  Per our previous devlog, with v0.2.40 we wanted to create a larger update focused on more choices for you when setting up the game.  

With this update, we added a new game selection option where you can choose between Classic Mode and One More Turn mode.  Classic Mode is the current version of the game with limited turns, and the ability to accumulate experience to unlock talents (coming in a future update).  With One More Turn mode, the game has an unlimited number of turns and all wildlife is unlocked at the start, but you won’t accumulate experience to use between runs.  For the demo, only Classic Mode will be available for now.

The second major feature for this update is new game map sizes.  With this update, you have three options: Normal, Large and Jumbo.  Normal maps are 11x10 tiles, Large are 23x20 tiles and Jumbo are 33x30 tiles.  Each map size also increases the number of turns you get respectively.  For the demo, only Normal and Large maps are available.

With the next update, we plan to update the types of structures you will encounter during a game and take another pass at the game map’s procedural generation.  Currently, you can find Derelict Sheds and Abandoned Houses as you explore.  We plan to add to these polluted landmarks and also let you find beneficial landmarks on the map.  This will also naturally result in more wildlife options and combinations.  Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Log:

Updates:

• Add game selection mode for Classic or One More Turn game mode
• Provide normal, large and jumbo map sizes with different game lengths.
• Right click, hold and drag to move the camera.
• Camera re-centers on selected tile.
• Add ability to end the game early.
• Custom default mouse cursor and when moving the map.

Bugs: 

• Explore build tooltip now says Explore not Grow.
• Moved tooltips for Next Turn and Undo Turn to prevent overlap with respective buttons.

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog; another one that took a lot longer than planned!  As a brief recap, we are the two person dev team building Wild Haven, a nature ecosystem builder.  Per our previous devlog, we wanted to create an update focused on updating the visuals from 8x8 pixel art to 16x16 pixel art.  

With this update, we started with the goal of upscaling the graphics to improve visual clarity and make it easier for players to see what they were building.  But we underestimated how long it would take, which seems like a running theme as first time game devs!  To add a caveat, we haven’t upscaled all the animations for animals so we plan to keep adding new animations with future updates.

To add to the challenge of getting out this update, we decided to introduce three new structure tiles: Junkyard, Metal Heap, and Trash Heap that you can discover as you rebuild your woodland forest.  With these three new tiles, we are also introducing 14 new wildlife tiles!

We hope our next update will be out sooner and are planning to introduce a bonuses mechanic for wildlife and improve our UI’s readability.  Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Log:

Updates:

• Update wildlife graphics from 8x8 to 16x16 sprites.
• Add Junkyard, Metal Heap and Trash Heap structure tiles.
• New Wildlife Tiles:
  • Protected Shelter, Field Mice, Woodland Vole, and Opossum tiles.
  • Entangled Vines, Yellow Trumpet Vines, Purple Heart Vines, Clematis Vines, and Honeysuckle tiles.
  • Compost Heap, Vining Tomatoes, Honeynut Squash Vines, and Field Pumpkins tiles.
  • Protected Hovel, Rattlesnake Nest, Chipmunk Burrow, Lynx Den, and River Otter Burrow.

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog!  As a brief recap, we are the two person dev team building Wild Haven, a 4X nature ecosystem builder.  Our goal with this release was to release the bonus system for wildlife tiles.

With this update, certain wildlife will have bonus requirements that when met will result in the wildlife providing additional coins per turn.  These bonus requirements can be other wildlife being placed nearby or for plant life certain soil requirements.  There are three levels of bonus: Bronze, Silver and Gold and each level provides an additional coin per turn.  For animals with bonuses, meeting the bonus count against the available capacity and the system will intelligently prioritize meeting a wildlife's requirements over another wildlife's bonuses when available capacity is limited.

Our next game update may take a little while as we have something special planned for the end of March/beginning of April!  Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Log:

Updates:

• Implemented bonus system for wildlife.  Wildlife may have up to three bonus levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold.  Each level provides an additional coin per turn.  Animal’s with bonus requirements are impacted by the available capacity requirements.  Bonuses can be soil requirements or wildlife requirements.

Bugs:

• Available Capacity for prey and predators was including certain plants.
• Fixed UI issue where if tile had more than one requirement it would show as buildable even when all requirements weren't met.

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog!  As a brief recap, we are the two person dev team building Wild Haven, a 4X nature ecosystem builder.  

We wanted to do something special for this release and so we are happy to show off our new illustrated key art for the game and our official announcement trailer!  We are excited to have gotten to the point where we could officially announce the game and excited to keep building to launch!

Our next game update will be a bit more focused on bug squashing and building out a proper tutorial!  Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Log:

Updates:

• Official cover art
• Announcement trailer

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog!  As a brief recap, we are the two person dev team building Wild Haven, a 4X nature ecosystem builder.  This is a smaller release focused on fixing bugs that were discovered during play testing and from feedback!

Our next game update will be focused on a much requested feature, building out a proper tutorial!  Currently, we have a series of short clips to try and show off the main game mechanics but this is a very static and not that interesting way to learn to play a game.  Our goal with the tutorial will be to provide players with a campaign experience with each section of the campaign focused on learning and using different game mechanics.  

With the tutorial, we hope to lay the groundwork for the scenario builder feature within the game.  When each run is started and as the player goes through the run, the scenario builder will give the player different events/quests to complete.  The design goal with the scenario builder is to provide memorable experiences for the player through each run as they discover and interact with the game world. 

Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Log:

Bugs:

• Players couldn't select bottom right tile in small map mode.
• On loading a saved game you couldn't undo actions on the first turn.
• On loading a saved game the map size defaults to large even for medium sized maps.
• Fixed so bonuses show up on tiles when the game is loaded.
• Corrected water tiles interaction with dry grass.
• Wildlife will now only spread to other tiles when that tile meets the wildlife's requirements.
• On undo turn, if undoing an explore action the tile will now show correctly.
• Ground is still showing as toxic in certain scenarios even when not toxic.
• On mouse hover over the locked build options UI incorrectly changed its border.
• Fixed screen tearing on hidden tiles when the camera moves.

Developer Log - Aug 2nd, 2025

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog!  As a brief recap, we are the two person dev team building Wild Haven, a 4X nature ecosystem builder.  Firstly, we want to apologize for how long it’s been since our last developer log.  Even though we’ve been quiet, my brother and I have been working diligently on the game for the last several months.  We wanted to take this developer log to catch up on what we’ve been working on and what our plans are for the game!

To start with the long and the short, we’ve been driving to improve the game in two sometimes competing directions: increasing depth and refining our existing system.  To do that, we’ve been working through the feedback we’ve received on not only the core mechanical loop, but gameplay depth, visual clarity, UI flow and general quality of life requests.  

Balancing both the feedback we’ve received and the limited time and budget we have as indie developers, we’ve decided: 1/ to reduce the scope of the game by removing the Jumbo map size and alternate biomes.  This will help reduce the pure volume of content and additional systems required to make a Jumbo map size fun and wildlife for biomes such as wetlands/mountains/deserts feel alive. 2/ to focus on adding depth to our current gameplay systems by adding more variations on existing wildlife from different combinations, providing a more impactful questing and story system during runs, and reducing the number of talents but making each talent more impactful to the gameplay.  3/ to help align our game more with the 4X genre, we intend to change how pollution works to become a more active challenge for players. Additionally, in the spirit of the genre we intend to add multiple win conditions for a run outside of just the final score. 4/ Finally, we made the hard but logical decision to postpone the games launch till 2026.  We do not believe we have the bandwidth for an Early Access game and so want our first release to be the v1.0 release.

As for next steps, we believe constant but targeted feedback is important to understand if we are on the right track.  In that spirit, we intend to launch a limited time playtest of the game on Steam in August.  The playtest will focus on the introductory(tutorial) campaign and provide players with a much clearer understanding of Wild Haven’s core gameplay mechanics.  We will post a developer log update when we launch the playtest and hope to see you there!

Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Developer Log - Sept 24th, 2025

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog!  As a brief recap, we are the two person dev team building Wild Haven, a 4X nature ecosystem builder.  We want to begin by announcing our September Playtest!  If you are interested in trying out the latest build of Wild Haven please head on over to Steam to try it out!

Steam Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3157420/Wild_Haven/

The goal of this playtest is to get feedback on the tutorial and game systems.  The Tutorial takes the player through three separate levels with each level explaining different game systems and how to incorporate them into your play.  The tutorial ends with a free play level where you can try out each of the game systems, and build in whatever way you would like!

We hope this will be the first of two playtests that will culminate in the launch of a demo by the end of the year.  With each playtest, we would like to explore different aspects of the game to see how they resonate with players and how we can improve in the game.  For our next playtest, we will incorporate the talents system into the game, provide for additional win states and explore more of the characters you’ll meet in Wild Haven.

Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R