itch.io

That is great to hear you guys liked the game after playtesting it, and we really appreciate the feedback on the UI and readability!  We'll definitely incorporate the feedback on the UI into our future updates and fixes.

Definitely agree that the tutorial needs to be reworked and moved away from the videos to an in-game tutorial.  

For the main objective, we've been working on designing a task system to give some directed ideas to players as they progress through the game, but from your feedback it sounds like it would be important to build out a points system directly into the game so the player isn't surprised by the score screen at the end on their first run through.

Tried it out and it is a good start!  

I would recommend adding some more "flair"? if that is the right word when you get a card correctly, showing how many points you get when you complete a set of cards before the next hand is drawn.  Additionally, it seemed like the countdown timer jumps even before two correct cards are fully visible?  It might be good to pause the timer while the second card is shown either correctly or incorrectly.

Developer Log - Jan 12th, 2025 Version 0.2.40

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog; the first of 2025!  

You can check out the game here: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven

As a brief recap, we are the two person dev team building Wild Haven, a nature ecosystem builder.  Per our previous devlog, with v0.2.40 we wanted to create a larger update focused on more choices for you when setting up the game.  

With this update, we added a new game selection option where you can choose between Classic Mode and One More Turn mode.  Classic Mode is the current version of the game with limited turns, and the ability to accumulate experience to unlock talents (coming in a future update).  With One More Turn mode, the game has an unlimited number of turns and all wildlife is unlocked at the start, but you won’t accumulate experience to use between runs.  For the demo, only Classic Mode will be available for now.

The second major feature for this update is new game map sizes.  With this update, you have three options: Normal, Large and Jumbo.  Normal maps are 11x10 tiles, Large are 23x20 tiles and Jumbo are 33x30 tiles.  Each map size also increases the number of turns you get respectively.  For the demo, only Normal and Large maps are available.

With the next update, we plan to update the types of structures you will encounter during a game and take another pass at the game map’s procedural generation.  Currently, you can find Derelict Sheds and Abandoned Houses as you explore.  We plan to add to these polluted landmarks and also let you find beneficial landmarks on the map.  This will also naturally result in more wildlife options and combinations.  Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Log:

Updates:

• Add game selection mode for Classic or One More Turn game mode
• Provide normal, large and jumbo map sizes with different game lengths.
• Right click, hold and drag to move the camera.
• Camera re-centers on selected tile.
• Add ability to end the game early.
• Custom default mouse cursor and when moving the map.

Bugs: 

• Explore build tooltip now says Explore not Grow.
• Moved tooltips for Next Turn and Undo Turn to prevent overlap with respective buttons.

Ah kk that makes sense.  Yeah, adding more interactions to the games is a good next step.  Looking forward to seeing what you build!

Hi,

I gave each of the mini-games a try.  Random thoughts/feedback:

•  I wasn't able to hear any sound.  Not sure if that is because of WIP or bug though.
• When you lose you should provide the ability for the player to go back to the mini-game selection screen.  Right now it appears you have to hit ESC and then go to game player.
• The mini-game carousel doesn't allow you to circle back to first game if you keep pressing the right button and similarly you can't go to the end from the beginning. 
• I didn't really get the point of the trampoline/camera game.  All the other games had points and lose conditions but those two didn't.
• The mini-games were a good variety of ideas.  I was pleasantly surprised by the 3D/2D mix for the car game.
• I could see adding more depth to each of the games as a next step.
• For the asteroid game it would be nice if you could move in one direction and shoot in another direction.  Seemed like you could only shot in direction you were moving.

Thank you for the kind words!  Yup, we'll be looking for music help early next year once we've prototyped out all the core systems and gameplay.  I've followed you on itch.io and will keep that in mind once we are ready for that stage!

Hi all,

We are looking for some updated feedback on the game.  Since our last request for feedback, we've made a number of substantial changes to the systems from real time to turn based, balance changes, a new soil system and updated UI.  We would greatly appreciate any feedback on how the game plays, any bugs etc.  Thanks!

Link to Itch.io page: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven

One run playtime: ~30 - 60 mins

Latest Developer log: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven/devlog/847458/wild-haven-developer-log-4

Tried out the game, and left a comment!

Tried out the first two levels of the game, and over all seemed like it had a lot of potential.  I really enjoyed the music and the tutorial explained the controls well.

My main issues were I would have preferred some kind of key re-binding for switching between red and blue and roll, the red and blue platforms were hard to see so I had to figure out how to progress through trial and error.

Yup, I've bought some art assets from creators whose art style I liked and thought could be well incorporated into the game I'm making.

Developer Log #4 - Dec 8th, 2024 Version 0.2.35

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read this devlog!

With this update, we’ve added a bunch of quality of life improvements(QoL) to the game.  A number of ideas which we incorporated based on feedback! The biggest being the ability to reset the turn.  If you don’t like the placement of specific wildlife, cleared something you didn’t want to or changed your mind you can reset to the beginning of that turn. 

To keep with the trend of QoL changes, we’ve added another step in the build process to make it easier to understand the requirements for building wildlife, and we’ve frozen the soil informational bar when you select a tile.  We’ve also added tooltip information to both the build requirements informational pane and soil informational bar and added tooltips to the build button to explain why you can or can’t build specific wildlife.  Finally, we moved the clear wildlife button to the soil informational bar to show that the option is tied to the tile and not to the wildlife.

With our next update, we plan to make major updates to the how tiles are generated, what is placed on tiles and how large the map can be.  Right now with every run you are fixed to a 11x10 grid, which is a good size, but what if you want to explore in a specific direction and just want a larger map?  With this next update, we plan to add those options!  Once again we want to thank you for trying out our game and we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc.

- K & R

Log:

Updates:

• Add an undo button to return to the game to beginning of the turn.
• Freeze soil informational bar when tile is selected either on top or bottom.  Provide on hover tooltip information.
• When out of turns have next turn button be animated.
• Add two step process for building wildlife to make it easier for player to understand what wildlife’s requirements are.
• Move clear button to bottom away from wildlife build options.
• Show total coins per turn gained per turn.
• Add tooltip info for why player is unable to build wildlife.

Bugs: 

• Fixed pixel font for readability.
• Some wildlife outside of a tile's influence/range was not correctly showing up as dependent on said tile.
• New wildlife builds aren't correctly registering for some wildlife requirements.
• Update coins icon and animation to match coins per turn icon.

Developer Log #2 - Version 0.2.25

Hi reader,

Thanks for taking the time to read through this.  From the feedback we've received on our demo, https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven, we spent the last couple of weeks on two main areas; the first being the end game and the second being the build tree for the game.  

Each run has an ending once you’ve reached 100 turns but it was pretty unclear how to compare your runs. To answer that, we’ve worked on building out a scoring system.  Now when you reach the end, you’ll receive a score based on how many and what kind of plants, and animals you’ve built.  You receive a higher score for adding more complex animals and for filling up the map.  We plan to iterate on the scoring system with bonus modifiers and a task system that is to be implemented later.

The second piece of feedback was on the balance of the build tree.  It felt like some wildlife was super important to place on the map such as Beehives but other wildlife went nowhere (Birch).  We feel like this is going to be a long work in progress as we iterate through the game but we took another pass with a focus on how plants interact with one another.  We’ve separated them into three groups, brush, grasses, and trees.  Brush and grasses affect the type of trees with brush growing Oak trees and grasses growing Maple trees.  Additionally, we wanted to make the choice of types of plants that grow on toxic soil more impactful with specific ones unlocking different parts of the build tree.

I played Brotato but on my phone and I don't remember it feel as constricted.  But probably best to only act on this if you get the same feedback from others.  I might just be an outlier here.

Feels like a good start for a survivorlike!  I was able to get to level 10 before dieing.  

A couple of things I noticed:

1. The map felt constricted once I got to higher levels so would be interesting if you could unlock more of the map as you go through progress waves.

2. The coins? are too large and take too long to get to player and created a lot of visual noise at the higher levels.  Maybe change the shape of the coins to they aren't similar to projectiles so easier to differentiate. 

3. Provide a flash on character when hit or some kind of visual indicator.  I didn't really see anything.

Look forward to your next major update!

I tried out the game and it was okay.  The instruction were easy to understand and the game was quick to pick up and get going.  My main issue is it felt like it took a while for power ups to show up and their didn't seem to be a diverse amount of enemies.  It might be good to have waves for the player and to speed up when they start to receive powers or RPG style mechanics.  Right now felt a bit too straightforward if that is the right word.

Thank you for the feedback!

For the red tiles, yup the wildlife's requirements weren't being met.  We are currently working to flesh out the consequences where you will lose that wildlife and have the tile change in different ways.

That makes sense.  A mix of hints in description and we were thinking of an encyclopedia of sorts?

Yeah, we were thinking of implementing a scoring system at the end of the run where based on the level of wildlife placed and resources gathered would get a score for that run. 

That is great to hear and thank you!  We are hard at work implementing that extra stuff right now.  Our goal is to have more of it ready with next build.

Checked out your menus and the information looks well presented with the only exception being the green and red text is sometimes hard to see against the background.  The main thing I can think of was the backgrounds could use some more variation for breaking up the lines of text?  Right now the menu backgrounds feel a bit plain which is fine is you are going for a very minimalist look but maybe have a way to break up the background like a repeating pattern etc.  And if you have a moment I'm also looking for feedback on my game here.

Nice, thanks for the feedback!  And noted about displaying how much of the current turn is left/speed of turn!

That was a cute game!  I really liked the whole presentation from the pixel art to the musics.  To keep to the spirit of the original snake the only thing I can think of that would be cool to have is a leaderboard to see how you do against others or even against yourself.  Also, if you have a moment I'm also looking for feedback on my game here.  Thanks!

Thanks Vezikool!  When you do get a chance would be great to hear your feedback on what you liked, disliked and easy/hard the game was to understand.

Thank you for the feedback, Wasabi.  I really appreciate it.

That is really good feedback and I appreciate it.

Yeah, getting a MacOS build ready definitely wasn't intuitive.  I had the benefit of releasing some stuff for iOS App store which made it a little easier.  Once I get a PC(hopefully soonish) I'll try it out!

Thanks for the feedback.  A lot more positive then I was expecting!  One question for you, how difficult/easy was it to understand the gameplay loop and what you could do?  I'm trying to understand if the tutorial is good or bad.

Your game looks really interesting, unfortunately I only have a MacOS(M1) so can't play Windows build.  If you have a mac or WebGL build I would be happy to try it out!

Hi there,

Thanks for reading this devlog, hopefully the first of many.  As an introduction, Wild Haven is a nature builder about rebuilding the forest to its once flourishing state. You, the spirit of a small shrine, are tasked with cleaning up your damaged land and bringing back the plants and animals. As you explore and grow, you’ll discover new wildlife and decide how you want to shape the landscape.

You can check out the game here: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven

My brother and I started building Wild Haven at the start of the summer as a fun project.  Our development got to the point where we asked ourselves the question why not release this as a full fledged game and away we went.  And now one summer later, we’ve gotten the game to a point where we are quasi-confidently ready to release a version to the world and hopefully receive some feedback. Our goal with Wild Haven is to create a sandbox where you as the player can build up the natural landscape while making trade offs based on the placement of resources.  Each unit you build is a potential resource for another unit down the road.  In addition, we want players to experiment and be happy with just spinning up a new run if they want to try something different.  We are still in the early days of hopefully realizing that goal but that is the plan!

For this first release, we’ve built out the core game systems of exploring the map, building wildlife on the map, a resource tree for adding more complex wildlife, and managing your resources.  We added some simple graphics, sound, a save system and procedural map generator but plan to flesh these systems out more in the future.  To help get you going, we also added an in-game tutorial and a how to play on the Itch game description.  Again, we would love any feedback on how to improve, any bugs you find etc. 

Hello,

We recently released our first demo of our game Wild Haven on Itch.io, and we were hoping to get some feedback.  The demo is an early build of the game and we are mostly looking for feedback on the core game play loop, and how difficult it is to pick up.  Of course, any other feedback is appreciated!

Link to Itch.io page: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven

One run playtime: ~15 mins

Developer log(with more details): https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven/devlog/793764/first-demo-release

Premise: Wild Haven is a nature builder where you rebuild the forest and create a thriving ecosystem. Clean up the polluted land, strategically place different wildlife together to discover more complex plants and animals and return your land to its natural state!

I liked the ASCII art style and the overall flow.  I saw in the screenshots that you had multiple colors and so for the enemies it would be good if they had their own colors so they are easier to pick out from the money.  Also it would be nice to spacebar to jump.  But overall all nice job and hope to see interesting mechanics in your next levels.

Added some feedback in comments section.

That was interesting and not what I was expecting. 

I wish I had more feedback outside of it really felt experimental and unique.  

However, not sure if I encountered a glitch but this intense flashing lights which made it difficult to read after a bit and so I had to kind of call it quits to keep from getting a headache.  If that was intentionally, I would recommend providing a warning that game has strobing/flashing lights and even better the ability to reduce/turn that off.  If it was a glitch I'm on MacOS, using Chrome and played the WebGL version.

Hi all,

We've been working on Wild Haven for the bulk of the summer and just released our first demo!

Wild Haven is a nature builder about rebuilding the forest to its once flourishing state. You, the spirit of a small shrine, are tasked with cleaning up your damaged land and bringing back the plants and animals. As you explore and grow, you’ll discover new wildlife and decide how you want to shape the landscape.

Demo playtime: 10-20 mins

Itch.io Link: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven

Steam Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3157420/Wild_Haven/

DevLog #1: https://rchava.itch.io/wild-haven/devlog/793764/first-demo-release