Still Burning That Cruft

It has been a bit since I last wrote something down here so let's remedy that.

The new level is lots of fun and pretty difficult. What better place to homestead than the town dump.

Yup! Cruft is still puttering along that long, rural road to greatness. We cooked up a new level that flips the game around on its head. Most of the folks you trade with are willing to give you stuff for free... as long as you take their Cruft with it. It is a fun take on the game's economy. As a designer, I'm always happy when a game has matured enough that you can start to mess with it in interesting ways. Ya know, like Fortnite, that famous 4-player, co-op, tower defense game.

Making new levels, complete with new things to craft and earn, is relatively easy. The tools my better half created allow me to pretty swiftly create, prototype, and iterate on new stuff without too much risk of destroying what we have. Our build and publish process has been improved and parts have been automated. We have an on-call (amazing) artist that can drop in and give me dumpsters, barbecue sauce, and mayonnaise as needed. It is a much smoother operation than when things got started.

It is also really nice to have a ready outlet for player feedback. Folks suggest new recipes all the time. They also point out bugs and oversights. Being able to give a nod to that feedback just feels great. Mayonnaise was pretty hard for me to spell correctly, but it was not difficult to implement.

On a different note, I often get asked if there is an environmental bent on the game. I personally don't intend there to be one but rather let the player sort that out themselves. I did want there to be a dumpster and incinerator available from go and just had to watch those things slide down the priority list though. It is good having them back. Every method of reducing Cruft has positives and negatives in the game. There's a wider variety now and that is a good thing.

Finally, the Steam Spring Sale is upon us in a couple days. If you have not picked up Cruft yet, give it a shot. It is very relaxing. We've been getting a steady stream of streamers checking the game out watching them hit a flow state has been a hoot. If you like bringing order to chaos, but in a relaxing and laid-back way, then Cruft is for you. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3289060/CRUFT/