Devlog No 04 - Steam Event, Gamescom, Upgrades & Island Ranks

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another dev log for Frisia! Preparations for the Gamescom are running on maximum priority right now, so we have no time to waste for this one!

Steam Event & Gamescom

First of all welcome to the new players and people who found there way to Frisia! I am currently participating in the “Games forged in Germany” Steam Event and I’m happy to see new players try out the game!

I talked about Gamescom before but here again: I will be at the Indie Arena Booth! Come by and say hello, collect some stickers and more importantly, try out the new demo version for yourself!

August 20th - 24th 2025, Hall 10.2, Indie Arena Booth, Games made in Hamburg

Upgrades

Now about gameplay: Today I want to talk about one of the main new features coming to Frisia: building upgrades! Previously new living quarters had to be placed next to already existing buildings, for example the simple hut.

With the final version of Frisia you will be able to upgrade your building, one by one. Simple huts can be upgraded to bigger houses, docks and piers will be upgradeable along side with other buildings. I will also remodel the existing buildings for that purpose, so that the different upgrade stages have the same size and don’t cause any hiccups when your trying to build a beautiful village.

Different Upgrade Stages of Living Quarters

I am currently unsure if I should make the later stages of Living Quarters available for direct building or if the only should be achieved through upgrades. I will test this, when the new demo releases, but also let me know what you think about that!

Living quarters will have an additional condition before you can upgrade them: you need to fulfill all of the villagers needs! This introduces different kind of inhabitants for your island. The higher the tier of the building, the more necessities and needs you will have to cover, making late game upgrades much more challenging.

The "Simple Hut" needs a steady suppy of mussels to be able to be upgraded to the Tier 2 Living Quarters

Higher buildings grant you more workers per building and generate more income, making them very important when settling on small islands with limited space.

Island Ranks

To progress and unlock new buildings you will have to level up your island rank. Each island rank requires a special building to be unlocked. Starting with relatively simple buildings in the beginning, the late game buildings require more and more resources, that will be harder to come by and encouraging you to explore!

"New Island Rank reached"-pop-up, displaying all the newly unlocked buildings

That’s all the news for today, stay tuned for more updates!

Cheers

~ Rouven