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Sweet small city-builder The Farlanders is evolving into a bigger game, with a new release now up introducing some fresh game mechanics.

A game covered here briefly last year, as a promising up-and-coming city-builder that was aiming to do things a little bit differently and that feeling continues with this new build. Version 0.3.0 introduces a Happiness system, there's new types of terrain and terraforming options, new building types and the game has gone through an overhaul on the balance.

You can see their development log video about the changes below:

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More about it:

The Farlanders is a turn-based mars colony city-builder. You need to take care of basic colonists' needs and grow the settlement fast enough to meet the Board's goal. With smart use, terraforming kits will help you to transform an unfriendly red planet's environment into a new home!

Some of the features in right now:

  • Unique terraformation mechanic, inspired by tabletop games (Carcassonne)
  • Randomly generated map
  • Basic electricity & plumbing systems
  • Custom game mode in which you can set your own goals and map properties
  • Basic colonists mood system

There's no longer a free web demo, as the developer mentioned keeping that going alongside the desktop version was taking too much time to support. Now it's a single purchase of $10 with it on sale right now with 50% off.

So far, it's turning into a really lovely city-builder that you can play at your own pace a bit more like a board-game. Plan everything out and watch as each turn changes the planet around you, it gives off that feeling of wanting just a few more turns before an hour has easily passed by.

Find The Farlanders on itch.io.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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8 comments

Cyril Feb 16, 2020
Visually it reminds me of Dune II and I like that.
GnuTUX Feb 17, 2020
Awesome, a new release!

After playing the same version of Slipways over and over, even paying for it and finding out it's dead :/ I'm happy that the Farlanders at least got a new release.

Ooh, one other awesome game that is kinda similar is TerraNIL. :)
Tchey Feb 17, 2020
I liked the game a lot when i played it at first, last year, but from what i see, giving the update pace and content, the price tag is too high in my opinion.
Cyba.Cowboy Feb 18, 2020
Hopefully this comes to GOG.com. because I like the look of it and would buy it if I could get it on GOG.com...
Alm888 Feb 19, 2020
Quoting: Cyba.CowboyHopefully this comes to GOG.com. because I like the look of it and would buy it if I could get it on GOG.com...
Why GOG? Itch.io has everything you probably need (DRM-free, client, "Early Access" access).
Cyba.Cowboy Feb 21, 2020
Quoting: Alm888
Quoting: Cyba.CowboyHopefully this comes to GOG.com. because I like the look of it and would buy it if I could get it on GOG.com...
Why GOG? Itch.io has everything you probably need (DRM-free, client, "Early Access" access).

Does Itch.io have DRM-free content too? Might have to take a look then...
Alm888 Feb 27, 2020
Quoting: Cyba.Cowboy
Quoting: Alm888
Quoting: Cyba.CowboyHopefully this comes to GOG.com. because I like the look of it and would buy it if I could get it on GOG.com...
Why GOG? Itch.io has everything you probably need (DRM-free, client, "Early Access" access).

Does Itch.io have DRM-free content too? Might have to take a look then...
It mostly has DRM-free content! Usually, upon purchasing one is redirected to the download page for the files and other goodies. I've personally seen only one game where the developer explicitly stated that costomers would get Steam™ keys and nothing else.

It is a feature of itch.io to explicitly telling what files paying customers would get (up to the exact file names, sizes and game versions).

In our case it is as follows:
QuoteIn order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:
the-farlanders-windows.zip 35MB Windows
the-farlanders-linux.zip 36MB Linux
the-farlanders-mac.zip 35MB Mac
The upsides:
1) Ease of use by developers. No famous GOG's "curation", no long QA process, no missed updates;
2) No "GOG Galaxy" API BS. Everyone is equal (you most probably will not left waiting for updates while Mac and Windows users enjoy playing);
3) Ability to create custom personal collections (AKA "whishlists").

The downsides of itch.io are:
1) No regional pricing;
2) It is up to developer to provide quality assurance. Most of the games are simply zip-archives without any sort of installers or DE integration. Some assembly may be required! (The last purchased game there refused to run on Fedora. It required infamous "libssl.1.0.0" and "libcrypto.1.0.0" which I have downloaded from ancient Ubuntu repo as well as one other library which is available, but has different naming in Fedora, so copying and renaming it did the trick).
Cyba.Cowboy Feb 27, 2020
Nice to know... And good to see that the developers - yourself - are actively participating in the gaming community.

Thanks!
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