Townseek Early Demo – F.A.Q. and Feedback Thread

[Whales And Games]

Hey! You might have seen that we’ve recently made the surprise drop of our first Townseek demo with our new Townseek Early Demo! While the game is still very much a work-in-progress, and while there's at least one year of development until the full release, we wanted to take this opportunity to collect first impressions and feedback!

This thread compiles some of the main points about the Early Demo! If you’d like some additional information about the full game, we also recommend checking out our Welcome to Townseek! thread.

Why are you releasing an early demo?

We’ve been in full development for a few months now and the interest in Townseek has been steadily increasing! While we’re still in a heavy development phase, we consider now would be a great opportunity to check overall interest in the game, give the chance to players to see all it is about, and get feedback on how to further tweak and balance it.

Even if there are still opportunities to do considerable mechanical changes game, we believe that this early demo is a good representation of the overall experience that the player will get to play when the game comes out.

Is the demo going to be available for a limited time?

Yes. This early demo will be available to download until July 28th, covering both Dreamhack Beyond, Wholesome Direct, and although we’re not participating on it directly, Steam Next Fest. That should give you plenty of time to take it for a spin, while also letting us collect feedback so that we can implement it properly into the game over the next months!

We’ll see upon finding more opportunities to bring back the demo in the future.

When is the full game releasing?

We’re aiming for the full release of the game during Early 2023. We’ll announce a more precise release date as development progresses. We also don’t plan to do Early Access, but stay tuned in case any opportunities for testing or new demos arise!

How much content is available in the demo?

The demo features 5 towns, over 20 landmarks to discover, more than 120 items to collect, fishing, mining, foraging and quests! It also includes the very first part of the Main Quest, which should give the player an idea of how to unlock the first locked zone of the game.

Based on community playtesting, a casual playthrough of the demo can last anywhere from an hour to around two for full collection completion. Let us know how long your own run of the game took!

What is missing in the demo?

At the time of release of this demo, our internal development version has twice the towns, upgrades to unlock different areas, digging, bottles, more quest variety, a lot more landmarks, and nearly 300 items to collect. Needless to say, with one year of development to go, there’s still a lot more content and polish that we're working on for the game!

There are also some features that, while partly included in this demo, are not fully finished yet, such as controller support.

Are you going to be updating the demo?

The demo might be updated as we find opportunities to add more quality of life to it or to fix any noteworthy bugs. For example, we’d love to add-in full controller support to the demo, but it’ll depend on how the demo performs and our own development calendar.

There might be some considerable changes and more features include if the demo goes live again in the future, but content-wise, this should be about the length you should expect from this and future demos.

Will progress on the demo carry over to the full version of the game?

Unfortunately, no. There are some things in the demo that were tweaked from our current build to accommodate for a better paced experience of the game, such as unlocking one town instead of two with upon completing the starting main quest, and balancing the XP obtained by selling items to the towns since there’s less available for the demo.

The Main Quest will have considerable changes, adjustments and polish in its presentation, so it’ll be better to start from the beginning on the full version anyways.

What platforms is the demo available on?

The demo is currently only available for Windows 64-Bit! While we’d like to include Mac OSX and Linux/Steam OS versions, we’d like to properly quality assure those platforms first so we’d prefer to confirm them at a later date!

What language is the demo available in?

The demo is currently only available in English. Localisation into a multitude of languages is something we’re looking for with the game, but it’s likely to happen as we get close to finishing the game’s development!

Can I record or stream gameplay of the demo?

Absolutely! It would really help us spread the word of our game! Feel free to monetise your videos as well

How can I report bugs, give feedback or suggest features?

You can give your feedback and make your suggestions and give your feedback right here on the Steam Forums! Additionally, we also have our Whales And Games Discord Server[discord.gg] for discussing the demo! Feel free to use whatever platform you prefer, but make sure you let us know how you feel about the game!

[Cure Witch]

Hello, I had try the demo just a moment ago and had like, funny, with a interesting world full of cities where live diferent species, the cats one be really interesting because I love cats, and like the draw style, want to see more well have the full release.

Just have one thing I no like much and want to give a sugestion that is the missions for the cities, the missions is ok work well, but maybe add a option to we see in the menu all the missions we have, and no need to return to the cities to check?

[Whales And Games]

Originally posted by Witch Teacher:

Hello, I had try the demo just a moment ago and had like, funny, with a interesting world full of cities where live diferent species, the cats one be really interesting because I love cats, and like the draw style, want to see more well have the full release.

Just have one thing I no like much and want to give a sugestion that is the missions for the cities, the missions is ok work well, but maybe add a option to we see in the menu all the missions we have, and no need to return to the cities to check?

Hey Witch! Thank you very much for playing out the demo, and we're happy you particularly liked Meowosville and the draw style! 😺

As for the missions (quests), you should be able to see them on the Backpack/Journal on the button on the corner! It's on the first page to the right. We'll work on making it more visible and clearer, and also making quests more accessible and practical overall!

Thank you very much for your feedback! 🥰

[anonion]

Loved the demo. Just wish there was a way to cancel quests

Can't wait for the full release 👍

[Whales And Games]

Originally posted by anonion:

Loved the demo. Just wish there was a way to cancel quests

Can't wait for the full release 👍

Hey Onion! 🧅

You should be able to cancel quests on the right-side of the journal when you're in the first page (backpack). We'll be adding a way to cancel them directly from the town UI in the future though! Glad you liked the demo! Cheers! 🐳

[Tamalele]

I loved the demo, played for almost 3 hours but had to stop because, life. Awesome job so far! Visuals and sound are great, the world is cute and flavorful, the gameplay loop is addictive. Will definitely get your game when it comes out!

One thing though, I hope the final game will have a map or the possibility to zoom out of some kind.

[RazzleDazzle]

I think I played a total of 30 demos (of participants and others) over the course of Steam Next Fest and Townseek was easily among my Top 5. Really looking forward to the release! Maybe I should try to go for the 100%, but I couldn't see a way to buy the last hull. Is that a reward for completion? Maybe it would be good to show which skins are rewards vs. available in a shop.

[Whales And Games]

Originally posted by Tamalele:

I loved the demo, played for almost 3 hours but had to stop because, life. Awesome job so far! Visuals and sound are great, the world is cute and flavorful, the gameplay loop is addictive. Will definitely get your game when it comes out!

One thing though, I hope the final game will have a map or the possibility to zoom out of some kind.

Hey! Really glad that you liked the demo and to know you've played for three hours is pretty flattering! 😊 We hope the gameplay loop is even more satisfying in the final version!

And yes, including a world map has been a pretty common request, so we're definitely looking into including one in a later demo or in the game's release. Hope you look forward to it! Cheers! 🐳

[Whales And Games]

Originally posted by RazzleDazzle:

I think I played a total of 30 demos (of participants and others) over the course of Steam Next Fest and Townseek was easily among my Top 5. Really looking forward to the release! Maybe I should try to go for the 100%, but I couldn't see a way to buy the last hull. Is that a reward for completion? Maybe it would be good to show which skins are rewards vs. available in a shop.

Hey, and hah! That's great to know. Really happy to know Townseek made it into your top 5 though now I'm curious to know what were the other four. 😄

And yes, the last blimp is a completion reward. We'll check about either hiding it (and making it a surprise), or adding some sort of special highlight in case we add more special rewards like that.

Cheers! 🐳

[catrinekho]

I had an enjoyable time with the demo. The vibrant art style, NPC designs, and trading mechanic had me invested. As brought up in another thread, game difficulty could be higher. Here are some ways that I could see amping the difficulty of the game.

1. Purchasable/unlockable functional upgrades to the player's flying ship.
From what I've seen, the demo offers upgrades focusing on the aesthetics of the ship; would be nice to have functional upgrades like better engine thrusters for increased air travel speed, or a hull upgrade to increase the ship's storage size. Opens up gradual in-game progression and possibly even a whole new chain of quests from NPCs to upgrade the ship.

2. Starting cap on the ship's storage space.
In the demo, the ship appears to have unlimited storage space and makes hoarding goods all too easy. Was thinking a cap on inventory size at the start could make things challenging, and would reward more deliberate and prudent buying decisions. Players are relatively safe from going bankrupt due to the frequent availability of tourism quests which provide easy money.

3. In-game milestones or an achievement list.
I imagined it to be like Animal Crossing New Horizons's "Nook Mileage program" that rewards players as they play the game. In the case of Townseek, some achievements could be exploration-based like Globetrotter "Visited X number of towns" or Frequent-flyer "travelled a total distance of XXXXX miles". Rewards for achievements could be currency, rare minerals, or even unique aesthetics for your ship. Think I saw a greyed out Achievements tab in the demo, so I'm hyped to see what's in store!

Also, not the topic of this discussion thread but some features I'd love to see :
- As mentioned by other players, a world map with zoom function would be cool. Ability to set waypoints with auto-travel function would be a very convenient feature too, as players can relax and just soak in the beautiful art style and music.
- This game gives me serious "the world is your oyster" vibes, along the lines of Chocolatier from Big Fish games. Will there be a day/night cycle, or some kind of 12 hour clock for better estimation of the passage of time travelling from town to town? Adds an additional time factor in deciding which trade routes to ply and what goods to prioritise.
- Weather. Specifically inclement weather like rain, snow or hail. Would be fun to see how that might affect air travel speed and may push/necessitate players to get higher ship upgrades.

Sorry for the long post! Had a sleepless night and this demo was all I could think of. Hope this feedback is useful and looking forward to the full game release :)

[Whales And Games]

Originally posted by catrinekho:

I had an enjoyable time with the demo. The vibrant art style, NPC designs, and trading mechanic had me invested. As brought up in another thread, game difficulty could be higher. Here are some ways that I could see amping the difficulty of the game.

1. Purchasable/unlockable functional upgrades to the player's flying ship.
From what I've seen, the demo offers upgrades focusing on the aesthetics of the ship; would be nice to have functional upgrades like better engine thrusters for increased air travel speed, or a hull upgrade to increase the ship's storage size. Opens up gradual in-game progression and possibly even a whole new chain of quests from NPCs to upgrade the ship.

2. Starting cap on the ship's storage space.
In the demo, the ship appears to have unlimited storage space and makes hoarding goods all too easy. Was thinking a cap on inventory size at the start could make things challenging, and would reward more deliberate and prudent buying decisions. Players are relatively safe from going bankrupt due to the frequent availability of tourism quests which provide easy money.

3. In-game milestones or an achievement list.
I imagined it to be like Animal Crossing New Horizons's "Nook Mileage program" that rewards players as they play the game. In the case of Townseek, some achievements could be exploration-based like Globetrotter "Visited X number of towns" or Frequent-flyer "travelled a total distance of XXXXX miles". Rewards for achievements could be currency, rare minerals, or even unique aesthetics for your ship. Think I saw a greyed out Achievements tab in the demo, so I'm hyped to see what's in store!

Also, not the topic of this discussion thread but some features I'd love to see :
- As mentioned by other players, a world map with zoom function would be cool. Ability to set waypoints with auto-travel function would be a very convenient feature too, as players can relax and just soak in the beautiful art style and music.
- This game gives me serious "the world is your oyster" vibes, along the lines of Chocolatier from Big Fish games. Will there be a day/night cycle, or some kind of 12 hour clock for better estimation of the passage of time travelling from town to town? Adds an additional time factor in deciding which trade routes to ply and what goods to prioritise.
- Weather. Specifically inclement weather like rain, snow or hail. Would be fun to see how that might affect air travel speed and may push/necessitate players to get higher ship upgrades.

Sorry for the long post! Had a sleepless night and this demo was all I could think of. Hope this feedback is useful and looking forward to the full game release :)

Hey Catrinekho! 👋

Sorry for the long time to reply, but we wanted to assure we had the time to go through it and reply properly! Thank you very much for your feedback, and we're really glad that you thought about us during your sleepless night (do get some good rest at some point)!

Getting into it:
1. Purchasable and Functional Upgrades is in-fact something we've already got planned and are actually implementing now! Alongside the compass you get during the main quest, you'll need to get additional upgrades in order to be able to explore other areas of the world. In addition to opening up more continents, these also make the ship move faster, increase the chances at getting multiple items from activities, etc. Some of these are meant to be purchased while others will be unlocked along the main quest! Originally we were intending to have a whole system of equipping and un-equpping upgrades, but we decided to settle with them being permanent unlocks, so the upgrades just keep on stacking! 🥰

2. Starting cap on the ship's storage space is something we've discussed multiple times and we're still trying to figure out what's best! While we were pitching our game at various events, we always highlighted how we didn't want to limit the storage because of how we're designing the game to be easy to pick-up-and-play. It's something we're tempted to revisit, and we've considered having an alternate game mode that add storage limits it just in case someone wants the extra challenge! We're still brainstorming about it, but we'll definitely keep the feedback in mind.

3. Achievements and Milestones will be coming alright! We're really excited to start working on them and have them integrated and all with Steam Achievements too. We do love the idea of making them progressive achievements like Nook Miles though, so we'll check on that idea! We do want there to be special rewards (like how you can currently get the Shooting Stars blimp by completing the collection) on completing certain achievements too! 👀

Finally, and glancing over the other bullet points!
- World map is something we're definitely adding after the many requests we've received! Waypoints and what not are being discussed since it's something we originally talked about but wanted to check on how the world felt to navigate across first.
- I recall playing Chocolatier long long ago! Not sure if we'll have the ability to add a day/night cycle because of scope concerns, but it's something we've toyed with at some point. No confirmations it's something that's going to be done in-game but we'll consider it.
- And finally, weather is something that we definitely want to experiment with, even if it's just for atmosphere alone. Really looking forward to seeing how the game looks with rain for example!

Phew, that was quite the feedback list to go through! If you're up to it, we definitely would invite you to join our Discord Server[whalesandgames.com], mostly because we're more likely to get back to your quicker on there, and we'd love to have your feedback on things as they pop-up! Even then, your feedback was a massive help and it's really great to know you're looking forward to seeing the game shape up up to the full release!

If you end up coming up with more ideas or feedback, do let us know. Thanks a whale ton again, and Cheers! 🐳

[dazelkowski1]

Hello! I quite enjoyed the art style and the character personalities, but I didn't stick with it since the demo drops you right into the game with no real introduction or explanation of the mechanics. I assume a proper tutorial/introduction will be included in the full game, so I look forward to trying more of it when it comes out.

[Whales And Games]

Originally posted by dazelkowski1:

Hello! I quite enjoyed the art style and the character personalities, but I didn't stick with it since the demo drops you right into the game with no real introduction or explanation of the mechanics. I assume a proper tutorial/introduction will be included in the full game, so I look forward to trying more of it when it comes out.

Hey! 👋 We're still glad and thankful you gave the demo a shot!

We're definitely looking into improving the on-boarding and introduction of the game with a better explanation of the game's mechanics! Hopefully we can get that rolling and implemented by the time of the next demo! ✨

Hope you look forward to it, and hope it meets expectations!

[catrinekho]

Originally posted by Whales And Games:

Originally posted by catrinekho:

I had an enjoyable time with the demo. The vibrant art style, NPC designs, and trading mechanic had me invested. As brought up in another thread, game difficulty could be higher. Here are some ways that I could see amping the difficulty of the game.

1. Purchasable/unlockable functional upgrades to the player's flying ship.
From what I've seen, the demo offers upgrades focusing on the aesthetics of the ship; would be nice to have functional upgrades like better engine thrusters for increased air travel speed, or a hull upgrade to increase the ship's storage size. Opens up gradual in-game progression and possibly even a whole new chain of quests from NPCs to upgrade the ship.

2. Starting cap on the ship's storage space.
In the demo, the ship appears to have unlimited storage space and makes hoarding goods all too easy. Was thinking a cap on inventory size at the start could make things challenging, and would reward more deliberate and prudent buying decisions. Players are relatively safe from going bankrupt due to the frequent availability of tourism quests which provide easy money.

3. In-game milestones or an achievement list.
I imagined it to be like Animal Crossing New Horizons's "Nook Mileage program" that rewards players as they play the game. In the case of Townseek, some achievements could be exploration-based like Globetrotter "Visited X number of towns" or Frequent-flyer "travelled a total distance of XXXXX miles". Rewards for achievements could be currency, rare minerals, or even unique aesthetics for your ship. Think I saw a greyed out Achievements tab in the demo, so I'm hyped to see what's in store!

Also, not the topic of this discussion thread but some features I'd love to see :
- As mentioned by other players, a world map with zoom function would be cool. Ability to set waypoints with auto-travel function would be a very convenient feature too, as players can relax and just soak in the beautiful art style and music.
- This game gives me serious "the world is your oyster" vibes, along the lines of Chocolatier from Big Fish games. Will there be a day/night cycle, or some kind of 12 hour clock for better estimation of the passage of time travelling from town to town? Adds an additional time factor in deciding which trade routes to ply and what goods to prioritise.
- Weather. Specifically inclement weather like rain, snow or hail. Would be fun to see how that might affect air travel speed and may push/necessitate players to get higher ship upgrades.

Sorry for the long post! Had a sleepless night and this demo was all I could think of. Hope this feedback is useful and looking forward to the full game release :)

Hey Catrinekho! 👋

Sorry for the long time to reply, but we wanted to assure we had the time to go through it and reply properly! Thank you very much for your feedback, and we're really glad that you thought about us during your sleepless night (do get some good rest at some point)!

Getting into it:
1. Purchasable and Functional Upgrades is in-fact something we've already got planned and are actually implementing now! Alongside the compass you get during the main quest, you'll need to get additional upgrades in order to be able to explore other areas of the world. In addition to opening up more continents, these also make the ship move faster, increase the chances at getting multiple items from activities, etc. Some of these are meant to be purchased while others will be unlocked along the main quest! Originally we were intending to have a whole system of equipping and un-equpping upgrades, but we decided to settle with them being permanent unlocks, so the upgrades just keep on stacking! 🥰

2. Starting cap on the ship's storage space is something we've discussed multiple times and we're still trying to figure out what's best! While we were pitching our game at various events, we always highlighted how we didn't want to limit the storage because of how we're designing the game to be easy to pick-up-and-play. It's something we're tempted to revisit, and we've considered having an alternate game mode that add storage limits it just in case someone wants the extra challenge! We're still brainstorming about it, but we'll definitely keep the feedback in mind.

3. Achievements and Milestones will be coming alright! We're really excited to start working on them and have them integrated and all with Steam Achievements too. We do love the idea of making them progressive achievements like Nook Miles though, so we'll check on that idea! We do want there to be special rewards (like how you can currently get the Shooting Stars blimp by completing the collection) on completing certain achievements too! 👀

Finally, and glancing over the other bullet points!
- World map is something we're definitely adding after the many requests we've received! Waypoints and what not are being discussed since it's something we originally talked about but wanted to check on how the world felt to navigate across first.
- I recall playing Chocolatier long long ago! Not sure if we'll have the ability to add a day/night cycle because of scope concerns, but it's something we've toyed with at some point. No confirmations it's something that's going to be done in-game but we'll consider it.
- And finally, weather is something that we definitely want to experiment with, even if it's just for atmosphere alone. Really looking forward to seeing how the game looks with rain for example!

Phew, that was quite the feedback list to go through! If you're up to it, we definitely would invite you to join our Discord Server[whalesandgames.com], mostly because we're more likely to get back to your quicker on there, and we'd love to have your feedback on things as they pop-up! Even then, your feedback was a massive help and it's really great to know you're looking forward to seeing the game shape up up to the full release!

If you end up coming up with more ideas or feedback, do let us know. Thanks a whale ton again, and Cheers! 🐳

Thank you for replying, devs! Never expected my comment to be so warmly received; I am glad and humbled that my feedback was helpful to the team. Fully respect the team's decision on the storage limit as I know there's a certain feel for the game you guys are aiming for. No other ideas from me, but I'll be sure to join the game's discord and chip in when inspiration strikes! All the best and I look forward to seeing where the game goes.

[A Long Way To Go]

Hey thank you, you gave me a tip to try a different rabit tunnel

[Whales And Games]

Originally posted by A Long Way To Go:

Hey thank you, you gave me a tip to try a different rabit tunnel

Hey! Glad to know it! Though now you'll have to explain to us just what kind of rabbit hole you ended up finding, though! 😄