Voxels Are Fun!

As mentioned last time, I have been playing a lot of a game called Timber and Stone by Robert Reed. It's a voxel-based building game (think Minecraft) but controlled more like a real-time strategy game. You spend your time making jobs for your townsfolk to do that they in turn will complete given that they have the right materials. The game is in public beta and people have already managed to make things like towns or even big castles and forts. The challenge here is that once your overall wealth goes up (food stored, materials gathered, etc.) you get attacked by enemies more and more aggressively. The more aggression you face, the more you want soldiers to protect you, but more people means more materials needed, which in turn brings more enemies. Balancing this pattern is really the "main focus" of the game, but there is much fun to be had around this objective.

The interesting thing about this game is it's community. Robert encourages players to commune in the forums of his site and talk about their latest exploits, suggestions and overall enjoyment of the game. He has a vision for his game, but has shown that he is not opposed to constructive criticism. This shows Robert's dedication to the art: community satisfaction. This may sound like a strange notion, as the phrase is usually "customer satisfaction", but most of these fans don't consider themselves customers in the definition that we usually attribute to the word.

Very few people look to Robert and demand something be changed because they "paid for it." The very nature of indie games is to bring an enjoyable game to the table for people to appreciate, not to appease a room full of rich investors looking to maximize profits. There is a level of respect and appreciation between developer and community, harkening back to the days of satisfaction-equals-success instead of making off with the loot.

Robert and his marry band of followers are what give me hope for the future of our medium. Timber and Stone is a game that I couldn't see a publisher like EA pushing out, but with Robert and company, it's in good hands.

Here's to you Timber-and-Stoners! Shout outs to Steveadamo, Hammer and the rest for being such an active community,

Stay Toasty!