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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect

@bottosson.bsky.social

2.8K followers 2.8K following 190 posts

Making Island Architect, a cosy town building game. Also game programming teacher and consultant. Previously 10 years at Frostbite and EA DICE. Creator of Oklab. Whishlist now! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3079100/Island_Architect

store.steampowered.com

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · May 20

It's finally time to announce my game: Island Architect!

Sculpt seaside towns in Island Architect, a relaxing builder inspired by coastal Europe. Build winding streets, whimsical towers, or calm fishing villages in this cozy experience.

Wishlist now on steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3079100/...

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 1h

Exciting to see Battlefield 6 launching and doing well 🚀. Looking forward to trying it out!

I’ve been involved in every Battlefield between BF3 and 2042 one way or another, so it’s a new experience to see a Battlefied game launch completely from the outside!

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 9d

No geometry nodes involved, lots of specialized code for fast procedural generation!

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 9d

Yes, something like that! Plus fully editable 3d terrain with caves etc!

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 10d

Yes, the grid is shaped by the user’s actions and there are also tools to more directly affect it!

It is also affected by terrain, so the starting grid is aligned to match slopes

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 10d

Thank you Rui!

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 10d

Been fixing lots of little edge cases in the roof generation for my cozy town building game Island Architect.

Really pleased with all the variety that is possible with some simple interactions!

#indiegames #gamedev #cozygames

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 14d

That would be great, but also really hard to get right! Right now looking at other ways of making the world feel more alive

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 14d

You just build what you feel like! Just explore your own creativity and the game’s system!

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 14d

Thank you 🙏😊

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 14d

Thank you! ☺️

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 14d

I reworked the camera to work better with all the verticality the game’s building tools creates.

Really fun flying through rock arches and up cliffs now!

#indiegames #gamedev

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 14d

Finally getting back to posting about my cozy building game Island Architect.

I've made it so that you now select if you want buildings to have roof tiles or flat roofs. Makes walls with roof files and small pyramid shaped buildings possible, and feels better overall!

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 16d

Spelskaparna is a Swedish podcast, with interviews from all around the Swedish game industry.

In the latest episode I joined them to talk about teaching game development and a few other things.

If you understand Swedish, check it out here:
spelskaparna.com/episode/170/

Spelskaparna

Lär ut spelutveckling med egenbyggd motor

spelskaparna.com

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · 18d

Yes, it is what I currently use!

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · Jun 20

Thank you 😊

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · Jun 17

I’m not that easily fooled

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · Jun 17

Only kind of kidding, it does seem to work every time 😉

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · Jun 17

I've figured out a new trick for using AI to solve complex problems. I call it frustration coding.

Here's how it works:

When stuck procrastinating , I ask an AI for help.

When it inevitable fails I get annoyed and motivated to solve it myself instead. Works every time!

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · Jun 16

I did an interview with @80Level about Island Architect check it out! 80.lv/articles/isl...

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Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · May 28

Thank you 😊

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · May 28

Primarily Townscaper, a lot of this started from thinking about what you could do if taking its irregular grid further!

Tiny glade is great also and of course I’m looking at as well. Also trying to figure out how to best make sure my game is distinct enough!

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · May 28

Agreed, both as a player and developer!

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · May 28

Thank you! can’t promise it yet, but I’ll definitely look into it. The game is built on cross platform libraries, so is mostly a question of being able to test and fix potential issues related to it.

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · May 28

Thank you!

Better get to work then 😅

Björn Ottosson - making Island Architect @bottosson.bsky.social · May 28

Thank you 🙏