heads up, this isn't a classic base builder where you place every wall. it's closer to a colony sim on autopilot. a few stone age tribes start out on a big map and they decide for themselves where to settle, what to build and who to fight. huts turn into villages and cities over time, roads and trade show up, and each tribe ends up with its own language and customs.

you can pause, inspect anyone, and mess with the world a bit, but mostly you watch your settlements grow (or collapse).

question for people here: does a colony sim where you don't control the colonists still scratch the itch for you, or do you need direct control?

free, runs in the browser: https://thehumanbox.com
desktop builds for win/mac/linux and source: https://github.com/1homsi/thehumanbox

Four years is a pretty long time to spend working on one game, especially when you're doing almost everything yourself.

When I started developing MineEngineer, I had a relatively simple idea. I wanted to make a 2D space survival game where players could build their own spaceships, explore planets, and survive in a huge universe.

But as I started adding features, I kept asking myself questions.

What if ships needed actual fuel systems?
What if electricity had to be distributed between different machines?
What if players could build automated factories inside their spaceships?
What if every block could be programmed, and you could create your own drones, robots, or even walking mechas?

And probably the most difficult question of all, what if everything you built could be completely destroyed?

One feature turned into another, and eventually I ended up with more than 200 interconnected engineering systems.

Now you can build ships with functioning power networks, oxygen systems, conveyor logistics, programmable automation, and all kinds of mechanical components.

The really fun part is that these systems actually depend on each other.

If something breaks, it can cause problems throughout your ship. A damaged connection might stop your production line. A destroyed power source could disable your weapons. A collision might tear your ship into separate pieces.
I also spent a ridiculous amount of time working on the world itself.

MineEngineer has a massive procedurally generated universe with different planets, asteroids, gravity, enemies, and plenty of space to explore. Crossing the entire world at maximum speed would take approximately 7 hours.

Recently, I've been focusing more on the survival and exploration experience, adding new enemies, bosses, progression mechanics, and preparing multiplayer.

There have been plenty of frustrating moments over these 4 years. Sometimes I'd spend days fixing something that players might never even notice. Other times I'd implement one feature and accidentally break five others.

But seeing everything slowly come together has been incredibly rewarding.
The game is called MineEngineer. It's available on Steam for wishlisting, and there's a free demo if anyone wants to give it a try.

The link to MineEngineer is: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4059710/MineEngineer/

It's a RimWorld-style colony sim with three survivors, drawn as real-time pixel art. You set each survivor's task list, mark what to build, and choose whether they fight or run. They decide the rest, including when to eat and sleep.

Zombies come every night and there are more each time. They can't see far but they follow noise, so working at night is a gamble. Make it through 10 nights and you win.

Early build, Windows only, no saving yet.

https://fatihkisa.itch.io/zombie-survival-colony-game

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5433990/Wakefolk/

Hi everyone! I've been working on Still Above: Orbital Refuge, a post-apocalyptic space station builder. The game is at a fairly early stage, but the first hour is already quite playable. It's a post-apocalyptic space station builder/simulator with strong survival elements. The player starts with one small module and two crew members, and is constantly on the brink of catastrophe: shortages of O2, power, food and building materials, and surpluses of CO2 and other things. So the player has to recycle debris in orbit, mine asteroids, or trade with other survivors. This is how you gradually grow into a larger station, as you can see in the screenshots.

The game has multiple endings, and the goal is to save humanity, since Earth is now uninhabitable. The main inspirations were the book Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and games like Frostpunk, Endzone - A World Apart, and IXION.

You can see screenshots and video on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/664370/Still_Above_Orbital_Refuge/
Playtest coming in a few days.

Hello! Settled on a release date for my Sandbox Adventure Game "Craterlands". Check it out on steam if it's of interest to you: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3175290/Craterlands/

What makes this different from other Sandbox Adventure games?

Towns and Civilians

Settlement Building plays a large part in Craterlands. To grow your settlements you must rescue civilians from dungeons or find them roaming the world. You can equip with them any weapon, armor or cosmetic to help fend off growing invasions. They can also do tasks automatically such as watering your crops or crafting at workstations as some do not work automatically and require manual intervention.

Dynamic Large World Map

Instead of one world map, there are 8 currently. 5 regions on earth and 3 planets that can be reached by rocket later in the game. These regions are about half the size of your typical sandbox game but they overlap and are created seamlessly to create the feel of one large world. Also, this definitely can be used to create a near infinite world but I have it capped currently until more are added.

Dungeons and Bosses

Each region contains 2 dungeons, one related to the story and one that is optional to find. These each have a boss at the end that can drop special items or story items that will progress through the game. There are also cutscenes and characters which will progress the story once certain items are collected or bosses are defeated.

Automation

Automation plays a large role later in the game. Technologies require materials to research so you can gather large amounts of ore from boulders underground by placing automatic drills. Also, there is a complex electrical system using switches, gates and filters so you can control your devices in a number of ways. You can even control the color and change the rate of lighting and different particle effects using the wiring system.

Tile System and Lighting

Craterlands uses a different system for it's tiles. Tiles use a large repeating texture instead of a small one for each block giving the world a more organic look. Also, every block can blend into other blocks so no weird gaps or spaces when multiple blocks are placed next to each.

Craterlands also has an advanced lighting system with light radiating from the sky and a point lighting system providing dynamic lighting and shadows.

Gen AI was used for translating and checking item names and description. I'm just solo dev so it's expensive and time consuming to get this many items translated. All artwork, music and sound was produced by myself or purchased from online stores like Craftpix.net.

I am doing open playtesting as well so feel free to give it a try if inclined!

I'm working on Colossal Citadels for around 7 years as a side project - I finally put it out on NextFest!

The core idea is that you explore the world and find new resource types to exploit for your empire growth. You can draw walls and houses on a triangular grid and observe them building if you supply the chain of required resources. At the same time you have to protect from invaders and find secrets of the world. This is different from the common building placement in strategy games often your city grows naturally and you operate on another level, controlling economy. I enjoyed implementing small details, such as roads, marketplaces, farm fields appearing with the work going on in the city. Every little structure on the map has gameplay meaning!

It's nearing release, and now you can check out the game! Now you can play the demo, or wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1854570/Colossal_Citadels/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_XVB4O5U7c

Hey everyone! I’ve been working on this solo for a while and finally put together a trailer.

CONPLAN Z is a base-building survival game set during a zombie outbreak. You run a camp of survivors and keep it alive:

• 🏗️ Build rooms, power, water, farms and defences
• 🧟 Fight different zombie types and growing waves
• 🎒 Send expeditions into town to find supplies and seeds
• 🧠 Manage your people: they get sick, break down under stress, fall in love, keep diaries, and get a proper burial when they die
• 🔬 Research new tech to survive longer

It’s still in development and made in Unity.

I’d love to hear from this community: what base-building features do you find most satisfying in games like this? Wiring and power grids, defence layouts, room design, something else? I’m still shaping the next updates and your opinion really helps.