A Smarter Trail Guide - Dev Spotlight

Howdy, partners!

When we released the demo of Wild West Pioneers, we asked you to be honest with us. And you were. One piece of feedback came through louder than the rest: there was too much handholding.

Build this, place that, unlock this - a never-ending checklist without a single word about the adventure waiting out west. Some of you even said the constant step-by-step guidance gave the demo a mobile game vibe.

Here's the thing about city builders: you can't skip the basics. We can't just drop you into the middle of the fun parts because you need to understand the foundations before the more complex systems make sense. And that's where the fun is - understanding and playing the systems to your advantage.

Our old solution was to explain everything - that's changing. We've pulled the tutorial steps out of the main quest entirely.

But we didn't want to slam the door on newcomers drawn in by the Wild West setting.

That's why we built the Tutorial Assistant. If you need help or guidance, he'll explain what's in front of you and break big objectives down into smaller tasks. Don't need him? Close him entirely and play on your own terms. If you change your mind later, he always knows exactly where you are in the game and will be able to help you.

Steam post imageThere's more freedom in how you discover new mechanics, too.

Instead of receiving a quest about every system, we will just let you explore. A house gets an exclamation mark. You click it and discover their need - this household wants a pet. You give them a pet, their need is satisfied, and overall satisfaction in your settlement rises.

You have just discovered and understood Whims, all thanks to your own curiosity!

We will be taking a closer look at more features that we improved, so stay tuned!

Don't forget to let us know in the comments what you think.

See you on the frontier!

Steam post image Wild West Pioneers Steam post image