Beta Homestead [Windows|Steam]

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak


Get Farmin':
GameJolt
Itch.io
Steam

Made by Lukan
With help from Ninety and Kepons

Latest Release: 2020
Windows and Ubuntu builds available
Windows 7+ required(Vista may work, not tested)
Ubuntu Builds have been discontinued currently

Current Features
Grow, tend, and sell crops for cash
Raise and take care of livestock
Follow Quests to unlock more items/areas​



Images:

The first screenshot of Homestead, ever.


Animals first being added to the game.


The original, horrendous shop system


The first screenshot, recreated in the newer codebase.


The Barn in the new codebase.


The new glorious shop system <3
The game is still in development after all these years. I've had some hurdles, and learned a lot on the way. I've totally rewritten the game to be smaller and more efficient, and continue to optimise code as I go.
~Lukan​
 
Last edited:

Kepons

Lost The Bet
Glad to see you still working on it! Why do the screenshots still have the old art though? I've seen quite a lot of StewartB showing Homestead art. Are you going to put it in when it all is done or maybe those are just outdated screenshots?
 
N

Nexusrex

Guest
Glad to see it again! Going to give it a follow and a try.
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
You need to note down that the Linux version requires libcurl.
Thank you, I'll make a note of that on the downloads page.

Also, there is a lot of bugs right now, so don't hold back on reporting. I'm trying to get the game stable before I start adding a lot of new stuff.
 
Last edited:

Cpaz

Member
Why can you buy any seed at the start? I essentially locked myself out trying to buy potato seeds... But it looks interesting. I'll keep tabs on it.
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
@Cpaz, yeah sorry! The Tutorial got borked at some point and I am trying my best to fix it all. There's just been so many changes since I wrote the thing!
If you go into Merchant Town (two screens right of the Homestead) and find the Crop Shop, that's where all seeds are purchased.
I'm trying my best to make an NPC to show the ropes, but I'm having a significant amount of trouble getting them to work properly.
 
F

faissaloo

Guest
Thank you, I'll make a note of that on the downloads page.

Also, there is a lot of bugs right now, so don't hold back on reporting. I'm trying to get the game stable before I start adding a lot of new stuff.
You also need to specify that it's 32-bit, because I kept trying to run it and getting errors about not having libcurl4 when it actually wanted libcurl4:i386. On Ubuntu based distros you get it with libcurl4-openssl-dev:i386

Keybindings:
The keybindings screen doesn't accept non-alphanumeric characters, which is annoying for me because I use programmer DVORAK and where "wasd" would usually be I have ";aoe". Also if I press down or up the key gets saved correctly but instead of it being ignored it gets actioned on, causing it to change my selection. I also can't change key mapping from in game. If I press escape in the keybindings menu the escape menu appears behind the banner. The default keybinds are also the wrong way around for left and right. left key goes right and right key goes left.

Escape Menu:
The escape menu is still allowing me to control the game and other things behind it when it appears.

New Game:
I should be able to use my own keyboard, instead of the onscreen keyboard if I wish. Also, it can be hard to see which letter you've selected on a dark screen.
Also, the changelog goes above the "save file has been detected message".

Main Game:
I got this when I went up to the chest in the starting room:
ERROR!!! ::
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Draw Event
for object obj_control:


Trying to draw non-existing sprite.
############################################################################################
I did also manage to make the character invisible/behind the game, not sure what caused that. Also, I find that the player animation moves slower than the player. If you go to the seed shop and spend all your money on potato seeds you run out of money and as a result you can't leave the shop.
Also, the lampposts need to cast a shadow or be a bit lighter so they can be shaded, because at first glance they seem to be floating.
I managed to get stuck walking by going from the main town centre at a point opposite to the lamppost.

The game itself though is really cutesy, I love it, especially the whole leaves effect when you go into the forest, and I enjoyed farming.
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
Thanks for that boatload of feedback, fais,
I don't have control over the architecture of the distro, unfortunately... That's YoYo's thing. I'll add the specific package to the downloads page.

Also, I've just checked the key binds... Left and right are correct for me? I use a standard US QWERTY keyboard, maybe DVORAK has different codes for those keys somehow? I'll look into it.

I'm going to add your post to my list of known issues and try to fix them as I go.
Thank you again!
 
Last edited:
F

faissaloo

Guest
Thanks for that boatload of feedback, fias,
No problem ;)
I don't have control over the architecture of the distro, unfortunately... That's YoYo's thing. I'll add the specific package to the downloads page.
I know, but you should say what architecture it is on the download page or something.
Also, I've just checked the key binds... Left and right are correct for me? I use a standard US QWERTY keyboard, maybe DVORAK has different codes for those keys somehow? I'll look into it.
Actually, don't worry about that one, it was on my end, I changed them and didn't notice.
 

Ninety

Member
Hey all, I'm the artist/musician for Homestead if you didn't know. I'm most active on Twitter but I'll post stuff here from time to time as well.

So as you can see in one of the screenshots in the OP, I made some fences recently.


Also been working on some new items:


My next big goal is to get the character bases finished, so that I can start making the cast!
 
Art's looking better. A few transition tiles between terrain types would make this game look so much better, though. Glad it's still constantly updating, though. =)
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak

Particle tests, funsies!


NEW RAIN!


FENCICLES!


OLD RAIN!


NEW SIGNS THAT AREN'T HORRIBLE!

There, that should keep y'all happy for a while, right?
 
Last edited:
Ahhh, looks good, especially the fences. And the rain is really cute! Really fits the game, and the new one is a big improvement over the old plain blue one. ^ ^
Coincidentally, I just finished up my rain recently, too. I wanted to show it already, but I can't find a good way to record it! X'D
How are you guys doing your gifs? The rain was looks ridiculously smooth. It looks like a 60fps video!
 
Last edited:

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
This is improving. This particular version has very pleasant music and lots of new art. So it's more appealing to the senses than previous versions I've tried. I love the musical theme. I'll admit, however, that the highly pixelated art style isn't my favorite. Perhaps not so much the style, but rather my inability to figure out what things are. Maybe it's just me... but I have difficultly with games using this style, because I can't always identify objects. Sometimes that causes me to miss visual cues that are necessary to play the game.

This version has more features than before. You guys have been busy. Unfortunately, I crashed at first because I tried to open the trunk before leaving my house (fatal error with non-existing sprite). But I re-started and then wandered around looking for the seed shop -- which I eventually found, but not without getting lost a few times. I think I bought some seeds, but I wasn't sure. Anyway, it may take me a while to find my way home, so I saved/exited.

I'll try to continue this later. I'm eager to get that damn watering can off my head and see some plants growing.
 

Ninety

Member

Thought I'd put this here too. Been working on this base for months now... finally getting towards something I'm happy with!

Homestead has a pretty large cast (30+) so it's important to get the base right. Once this and the male version are done, I can begin doing variations for different heights, body types and skin colours.

EDIT: Walk cycle test
 
Last edited:

Ninety

Member
Today and yesterday I've been working on the standing directions.



They're slowly developing. Characters aren't my strength and I've never had to make this many animations for a cast of this size, but I think it's slowly getting there. I haven't updated the walk animation since I redid the shading on the jeans, but it shouldn't be too hard. The run animation is what I'm really not looking forward to...
 

Ninety

Member
Updated walk animation. This (NPC animations) is easily the hardest thing I've ever done in pixelart lmao



EDIT:
 
Last edited:

Ninety

Member
Little fairy helpers (that you'll meet in the endgame)! Play your cards right and they might assist you with your work.


(very WIP)

When drawing them, I thought about each potentially having a different ability, so you'll have to use them strategically on your farm.

In the coming weeks I'm going to be working more on the cast. I want to sketch out each character before creating the sprites, to get a sense for their personality and style. It's important to have characters that are interesting and unique without being too over-the-top or stereotypical. Stay tuned!

 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
@Heat4Life Yes, as Ninety said, there will be an Android release.
All the platforms I plan on releasing for are Windows, Linux, Android, and Mac through the GM: Player.

Also, hey guys, I'm not as dead as you may have believed.
Hectic irl stuff has held back development, but I've been smashing bugs and trying to polish some stuff.

I'll leave you with this image that Ninety sent me a while back:
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
Hello all, though you may have thought me dead I am alive!
Here's some progress on what I've been struggling to do...


Caught a Minnow! Isn't that just awful!?


New vertical fishing bar, also totally redid the underlying system. Better rods make the bar move slower, making better catches easier!

I hope to have an update soon... Not making ANY promises though.... More bugs pop up when I fix other ones...
 

Ninety

Member
Old chickens were bad.


This week I've mostly been revising the NPC cast in preparation for spriting them. There's a lot of things to think about when you have so many characters. You don't want their names to be too similar, there needs to be variety of personalities and appearances, and you need a reasonable balance of demographics. I've also been practising my sketching skills in preparation for all the portraits I'm going to have to draw (no picture, because I can't draw to save myself lmao).

Also, something different. The soundtrack has taken a lower priority while I focus on art and design stuff, but every so often I like to sketch out an idea I have. Have a listen.

This is very WIP, but I thought once developed it could be used as an alternate summer track, or possibly on... a location that I'm not sure Lukan has revealed yet... so I won't mention...
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
A WILD UPDATE APPEARS!

NOTICE, 9.4.16a has some bugs I missed that may crash the game.
9.4.16b is being tested as I type this! Hopefully it will have all the issues resolved!


Devlopermon uses DOWNLOADS!
WINDOWS
ANDROID
Links updated for new version!

It's SUPER EFFECTIVE!

Homestead Users fainted!

Several crashes have been obliterated, new artwork has been added, and a new track for the Beach has been implemented. Fishing has also been introduced, finally!
I hope you all enjoy this small update!
 
Last edited:

Ninety

Member
A quick mockup I threw together featuring some of the new placeholder tiles we'll be using to make the transition to the higher resolution...



Since they're placeholders, you can clearly see a few tile varieties I haven't yet done, and some places where the art is pretty messy. The final sets will be much more refined and complex. But I hope this can give you a better idea of what the finished game might look like than you've had for the last however long...

(Also don't hold your breath for underground houses)
 
D

Deleted member 467

Guest
Will test when I get home and leave honest feedback. I've been waiting 3000 years for this update
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
The update has less content than I would have hoped for. I'm still having issues getting the NPCs working properly...
I'll get it eventually, u til then enjoy fishing, lol.
 
P

Pelican

Guest
A quick mockup I threw together featuring some of the new placeholder tiles we'll be using to make the transition to the higher resolution...



Since they're placeholders, you can clearly see a few tile varieties I haven't yet done, and some places where the art is pretty messy. The final sets will be much more refined and complex. But I hope this can give you a better idea of what the finished game might look like than you've had for the last however long...

(Also don't hold your breath for underground houses)
Ninety, the graphics are looking spectacular. I spent far too long looking at the lamp-posts... I've been trying to draw a lamp-post in Paint for ages and I haven't been able to do it yet... *pouts*

But the tiles and the terrain are looking better and better every time I look at this game. :)
 
P

Pelican

Guest
Got this error when I was in the tool shop and pressed exit, not sure if other people have been experiencing this problem?
Code:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of  Step Event0
for object obj_machines_menu:

first index out of bounds request 7 maximum size is 7
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
called from - gml_Object_obj_machines_menu_Step_0 (line 36)
 

Ninety

Member
Thanks for the kind words, all.

A mockup of some animals inside the barn:



The ostrich is a few months old, but I'm pretty happy with it. I made the cow today, modified from one of the first sprites I ever made for the game:



I'm not entirely happy with the new one. I added one too many shades trying to get detail, I think, and ended up with something that looks over-smoothed. I want it to jive with the slightly worn, gritty aesthetic I'm trying for overall in the art. Long story short - expect revisions ;)

As I briefly mentioned earlier, in this last week I've been making placeholder sprites for what's left of the basic art, so that we can finally move away from the old style (Kepons' work has served us well!). It's a lot of fun to be diving into tile sets again, without worrying too much about getting it perfect first try. Remaining in the placeholder art is the player characters, plus a couple of NPCs and a few odd sprites here and there. Hopefully you'll get to play with the new look in an update sometime...

This is far from being done - the final game will have many more areas and characters, and I'll also go back and refine old sprites and create animations - but at least it means Lukan can start working in the proper resolution, and I can go back to focusing on the cast and design. I'll leave you with this little preview of some hot young singles in your area...



(Am I allowed to share that? I think I'm allowed to share that.)
 
D

Deleted member 467

Guest
I am here with my review!

So I played around for a while, and I liked it (I did last time). Controls were nice, took me a minute to figure out the mail system as I didn't read the text :|

I found an exploit where if I checked my mail as the mail man was walking to my mailbox I could get the amount given to me each time I checked it until the man was at the mailbox. In this case I got $65 a bunch of times and had $520 at the end.

I had enough to buy the pickaxe, which I tried to do, but got an error.

This is the error I got :(

___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Draw Event
for object obj_control:

sprite_get_width argument 1 incorrect type (5) expecting a Number (YYGI32)
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
called from - gml_Script_itemsDraw (line 108)
called from - gml_Object_obj_control_Draw_64 (line 119)

The graphics are getting better, the music is good, the levels are getting nicer (such as the farm and the cave) I like the game, and have since I played it :)
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
Errors taken into my accounts, thank you guys!
I'm adding some of the new kick @$$ art from the amazing @Ninety !

I can show this so far:

It gives a bit of comparison with the old and new size of things. You can see the tool shed is the size of the new player, lol. The next update is bound to have much new arts for you to savour with your eyeballs.

EDIT:
@Barvix I was not able to recreate the mail issue with money piling up... In fact, I have several systems in place to stop that from happening... So I have to ask whether you played on Android or Windows.
The pickaxe issue is one I had fixed, but I'm having some issues with old code compiling... >.>
I'll clear me cache and recompile to fix it.

ALSO
@Pelican Fixed the bug you reported, thank you very much! ^.^
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 467

Guest
@Lukan I was playing on Windows, I only managed to do it once (read as attempted once), if I have time or remember later I'll test it again when I get home this afternoon. And this art looks beautiful.
 

Lukan

Gay Wizard Freak
Bam, this screen is a tad spoiler-y, but I'm fixing the views so they show a bigger area of the game. With all the art upscaled from 16X16, I felt like I needed to cram more of it on screen at once!

This Homestead layout isn't final, mind you.(which is a real pain, because now I have to update door positions...)
The crops are now behind the Home, and Shipping boxes are being added to the Barn and Shed areas to make getting that sweet, sweet money that much easier!
 
Top