Groundwork

Building Groundwork, a city builder about farms, factories and the people who run them.

A devlog, one day of progress at a time.

  1. They came on purpose

    A new game now opens with an intro: an old ox pulls the wagon in at dawn, the story plays in film bars, and the settlers raise their camp and sit down by the fire.

  2. A day of fixes, ending by the fire

    Bug fixes, a speed pass from 948 ms down to 13 ms, one shared route queue, and an evening round the campfire on logs to sit on.

  3. The fence is the field

    Fields are now dragged out as rectangles with a fence round them, resized by moving the fence, and they need a farmhouse close by.

  4. No axe, no tree

    Loggers now need an axe from the camp rack, the start camp grew to twelve settlers, and haulers deliver to whoever is short.

  5. Dinner comes from the pantry

    People eat and drink from their own pantry, homemakers go shopping with a bag, and families share a surname.

  6. Five crops and one farmer

    Fields now grow wheat, carrots, onions, cabbage or potatoes, and farmers sow and harvest them plant by plant.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.