Blog
Notes from the board
How Dawnsweeper works and why: the Creep, the people, the testers’ worlds and the fixes they led to. RSS
In Dawnsweeper, only the Creep kills
Hunger, cold and poverty in Dawnsweeper bring hardship and people leaving, never death. What one hour of a big world looks like under that rule.
Peaceful mode freezes the Creep instead of deleting it
Dawnsweeper’s one purchase is Peaceful mode. Why it stops the Creep’s clock in place, and how a Tide due in 20 seconds is still due in 20 seconds later.
The Nest that said 440/440 and wouldn’t die
A Dawnsweeper Nest showed its whole ring cleared and kept pulsing. The cause was one wrong flag, and the fix had to avoid telling you which.
Nobody gives Ogrim Ironbelly orders
In Dawnsweeper you can’t command a single settler. One Orc’s life, taken from a simulation trace, shows what they decide to do instead, and why.
Why your settlers dig up your flags, and which ones they leave alone
Dawnsweeper’s settlers dig up flagged mines to make room to grow. In 1.0 they dug up the wall too. The test that showed it, and the rule that fixed it.
A press you hesitate on should never reveal a cell
A touch bug in Dawnsweeper 1.1: a press held a moment too long revealed the cell. How tap and long-press work now, and the 220 and 380 millisecond rules.
We slowed the Creep to a third, but kept it ageing at full speed
After playing 1.0.0 on an Android phone, we made the Creep spread three times slower. Why its ageing stayed the same, with the numbers that decided it.
How a sprite library decided who lives in Dawnsweeper
Dawnsweeper’s five peoples came out of what the Minifantasy pixel-art packs could draw: what was ready, what had gaps, and why desert people are Humans.
Why a wrong flag still turns green
In Dawnsweeper a satisfied number is a wall the Creep can’t cross. Why the game shows it in green, and why it lies when your flag is wrong.