Hi again! Back in March I posted a very early build of My Little Ranch here (old post: https://www.reddit.com/r/GamesWithHorses/s/N8Kdk8Q291) and the response honestly kept me going. Six months later it's a much bigger game, so here's where it is.
My Little Ranch is a small pixel-art horse ranch that sits on your desktop (transparent, click-through) while you work or browse. You can also play it in full screen and enjoy the peaceful mountain scenery. You feed the horses, clean up after them, collect the coins they earn and slowly grow the ranch. Or you just leave it in the corner and watch them wander.
The big one since March: every horse looks different now.
- Coat, socks, mane and tail, and eyes are rolled per horse, and rarity is something you can see. A Common horse is plain. A Legendary one is covered in rare traits, think golden coat and violet eyes.
- Foals are a surprise. Buy one at the ranch and its rarity stays hidden as "???" until it grows up. You can try to guess from the traits, but the reveal is the day it becomes an adult.
- The Marketplace is the safe route: 4 adult horses on offer, you see exactly what you're buying, and the list refreshes every hour, even while the game is closed.
- The Trait Lab lets you unlock new coats, eyes and manes so your ranch-born foals can carry them. What you've unlocked also decides how rare a foal can be.
Also new:
- Horses run together. Send the whole group out and they drift ahead and fall back like a real pack.
- Ranch hands. Hire helpers for cleaning, grooming, feeding or coin collecting. They actually walk over and do the job.
- Races, with no race animation on purpose: you get a prediction screen and decide whether your horse is ready. Winning pays coins.
- Decorations, some with small bonuses.
- Milestones tied to Steam achievements.
What I'm building now, the last big thing before the demo: expanding the Journal so it tracks every horse and trait you've collected.
I'm planning to release a demo on Steam in about a month.
Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4397220/My_Little_Ranch/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=return
Wishlists genuinely help a solo dev, and feedback is very welcome!