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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Faces and voices
People nod while they listen and open their mouths to talk in cartoon gibberish, the game starts on a sky-blue screen, and a woman hammers the start menu together.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Dinner comes from the pantry
People eat and drink from their own pantry, homemakers go shopping with a bag, and families share a surname.
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Five crops and one farmer
Fields now grow wheat, carrots, onions, cabbage or potatoes, and farmers sow and harvest them plant by plant.
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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.