Groundwork
Building Groundwork, a city builder about farms, factories and the people who run them.
A devlog, one day of progress at a time.
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Nothing is free any more
Buildings cost planks and wood, haulers carry them to the site, and builders hammer while it rises out of its blueprint.
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Paths where people walk
The ground turns to flat pixel grass, sandy paths wear in where people actually walk, and people get a soft shadow under their feet.
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A place to rest
Idle people stroll, nobody walks through anybody any more, the town gets a graveyard, and a long talk about what comes next.
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People at last
The capsules are gone: men and women, kids and grandparents, each family in its own colours, and a day in Groundwork is now a year of their lives.
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A HUD made of blocks
After a week of clocks, the HUD got one look: soft cream blocks, a ring clock with the work hours on it, alerts as tags and cards for buildings and people.
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Dusk to dawn
One night in a Groundwork town at ten times speed: lit windows, street lamps, glimmers out of the old shaft and the towers that keep them off.
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The whole town from above
A showcase map with every building in the game, and the game now films itself: camera paths written in code, recorded frame by frame.
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Where every game starts
A new game now opens on a stranded camp: a broken wagon, four tents round a campfire and eight settlers in families, each with a name.
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A menu that remembers
A new main menu: every new game gets its own town name, saved towns show a picture of their map, and old saves can be cleaned up.
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Trees that grow back
The logging camp stopped making wood out of thin air: loggers fell real trees and plant new ones, and the map got hills, rivers and mountains.