January Devlog!

Welcome! I hope 2020 has been good to you so far. We've done our best to hit the ground running this month. We've got an excuse to work extra hard right now as we continue to prepare Rolling Hills for a big, still-unannounced opportunity. It's a really weird and nerve wracking feeling to know that the stars are aligning and all you have to do us uh... make sure you've made a good game.

So yeah, let's get this post finished so I can get back to work!

🏡 My Kind of Town

If you follow us on Twitter then you know we've been steadily improving the town. This month things progressed much faster thanks to help from environmental artist Ryan Pocock. In the past we had only worked with contractors on an item-by-item basis, and then it would fall on us to assemble everything in the scene. Ryan's work represents the first time we've actually handed the Unity project to someone else and let them dig around.

New:

Old:

Woah, those are two very different towns! Please keep in mind that many elements are still a work-in-progress.

Overall, we wanted the town to feel less developed. If you enjoyed some of the more urban elements of the old version like the paved pathway and street lights, don't fret! You'll have the ability to customize and upgrade your town as you progress through the game.

Hopefully you're as eager to shape this beautiful natural landscape as we are!

💬 Opening the Vault!

Discord is the only part of our social media presence that I'm not in charge of. James has been using message boards since our family got a computer in 1995, so it doesn't surprise me that Discord has become his new stomping grounds.

A few days ago he revamped our server to make things more active and inviting. That includes adding micro updates on our development to "The Vault", a channel just for our Patreon backers. If you haven't already, we hope these updates will encourage you to join the Rolling Hills server!

Some character emotes. So far this is my biggest contribution to the server 😅

🎙️ Wholesome Games

As you might guess, James and I are very passionate about the emerging trend of "wholesome games". We decided to make Rolling Hills because we're fans of so many games in the genre, and in order to help others find those great games, we started Wholesome Games. I handle the Twitter account while James and his pal Jacob started the Discord.

All this backstory is just so I can tell you that James will be part of a panel on Wholesome Games at PAX East. If you're attending then I hope you'll stop by to support him! I'm super proud to see his name among all these other amazing people and I'm sure the panel will be very fun and informative.

🛒 A Fresher Fresh Market

As we improve the town itself, we're also redesigning the buildings. I spoke about this with regards to the cafe and shared some images of its evolution here. Next up is the fresh market! 

Our mission with the cafe was simply to make things cuter, smaller, and more detailed. Those same principles fueled the fresh market redesign, though we were also eager to change the old sign/logo (a red apple) to something more easily identifiable as a market. We think Aender did a wonderful job, especially with that basket of fresh ingredients!

As a sushi chef, you can expect to make a lot of trips here to stock up on ingredients and even to learn some new recipes. You'll want to check in often to see if anything is on sale!

Finally, it makes me happy to see it in front of our new water. Maybe one day you'll see a boat dock to bring in the fresh catch!

❤️ Thank you for supporting us!

From our perspective it seems like momentum is building and more people are finding out about Rolling Hills. We sincerely hope that we're smart and talented enough to make the most of the opportunities we've been given, and that includes your time and money. Whether you're a patron, following us on social media, or just came across this post because Rolling Hills seems like your kind of game, we are thankful for you!