Unity Barren Bargain [Development Thread]

[Winterchill.]

Hello guys, I would like to share something I have been working on for a couple of months now.



Overview:
The kingdom has been invaded by a demon legion whose motives remain unknown. Communication is impossible, but their assault has clearly caused the crop failures. Now, even ordinary rain brings death - turning the soil black, killing plants, and rendering most farmland barren. Famine spreads as crops fail to grow, people perish, and disease runs rampant. Only a few remote farms remain untouched by the black rain, serving as the last sources of food besides cannibalism. All provisions are long gone, along with those who knew how to cultivate crops. Now, skilled farmers and fertile land have become strategic resources worth fighting for. A brutal conflict rages over these rare sanctuaries... and over gaining your favor.

Gameplay:
Players manage resources while boosting productivity, building relationships with characters by fulfilling (or ignoring) their requests to share supplies. The game has three core pillars: resource gathering, distribution, and character interactions. Dialogues are concise serving only to advance the plot, develop characters, or support gameplay without boring players. Sex scenes will feature light interactivity, putting you in control.

Spoiler: Fetishes

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Spoiler: Current progress

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Spoiler: To-Do List

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[Winterchill.]

I've drawn the second character. I really want to get the game to a minimally playable state, and that's impossible without this second character.


She is a mercenary leader, an envoy of the rebel duke. The duke wants to secure enough provisions to sway the rebels to his side and overthrow the king.

The other girl is an army officer, the king's envoy—she needs supplies so the soldiers can keep fighting the demon legion and not starve to death.


By the way, I still haven't come up with names for any of the characters. Now it just farmer, warrior, and now mercenary. I'll need to do that.

 

[osanaiko]

This looks awesome. Sign me up as a beta tester please!

 

[Winterchill.]

There's not much to show yet, I need to write dialog lines for the second character (mercenary girl). I've already written half of them, they not too big. But I recorded a short video from the game.


View attachment vid11.mp4

This looks awesome. Sign me up as a beta tester please!

Sure! I'll send a dm if you don't mind.

 

[Winterchill.]

I've written ~70% of the mercenary dialogue - thats more than i need for now. The main thing is I've solidified her personality and how she'll interact with the protagonist. Later I can easily finish that task. Now I can focus on drawing and animating the scenes, which is currently more important.

The scenes will reveal the characters personalities and motivations, as well as the overall story. The girls will try to convince you to support their side, and depending on their need in resources, their approach will vary. But main character also has arguments to pursue his "Goal."

Here, the mercenary girl tries convincing the protagonist to grow more crops.
View attachment vid2.mp4

 

[Kodacho]

This looks great, excellent work! I am sure your game will receive plenty of support, truly great to see someone make a farming game with NSFW content. Amazing to see your work, you write, draw and program this all by yourself? If you are looking for people who can test your game, you can always send me a message!

 

[Winterchill.]

I've finished drawing 2 scenes - one fully animated, the other partially. Show you guys a litle bit of it.

View attachment vid4.mp4
View attachment vid3.mp4​

I still need to create more variations, and the other girl needs scenes variations too, but that'll come later. Right now, the priority is getting out of this state -"Holy shit, I have no idea what to do with this mess, but I got only 2 hours to figure something out and draw\code\animate\write it!". I need to tackle all the tricky parts, poke at every unknown element, and turn those unknowns into routine tasks - so after job I can just produce instead of inventing something in struggle.

Ideally, I'd save the "inventing" for weekends... but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes I end up spending 5-6 hours after work just to prevent these creative gaps from stalling development.

Working solo - especially as a programming newbie - is tough, but I really want to make this project work.

This looks great, excellent work! I am sure your game will receive plenty of support, truly great to see someone make a farming game with NSFW content. Amazing to see your work, you write, draw and program this all by yourself? If you are looking for people who can test your game, you can always send me a message!

Yes, I'm doing everything myself. I'd love to learn sound design too, but that'll have to wait... I'll definitely message you, when i got something playable. Thanks for reply.

 

[Kodacho]

Great progress, man! But please do not overwork yourself. Take some time for yourself, to unwind and relax.

 

[Cucumburra]

Well, this looks promising! Like Kodacho said, don't overwork yourself. Slow and steady wins the race. F95 is a graveyard of unfinished projects and I'd hate to see this in that pile.

 

[DuckHeal]

The art is amazing, 10/10

 

[Winterchill.]

I forgot that the character also exists in the world and needs visuals. Now the game has two characters (not counting the protagonist), see for yourself. Also old sprite of warrior girl.
View attachment vid5.mp4



















Everything works!


Now I need to integrate everything I've drawn and written so far. After taking a break for art/dialogue, it's hard to remember what I programmed/assembled and how it all works. For the future, I've drawn this conclusion: I need to write code and set up scenes in a way that doesn't require memorization. I guess experienced programmers write documentation/instructions for cases like this... But that's not me...

Great progress, man! But please do not overwork yourself. Take some time for yourself, to unwind and relax.

Well, this looks promising! Like Kodacho said, don't overwork yourself. Slow and steady wins the race. F95 is a graveyard of unfinished projects and I'd hate to see this in that pile.

Thanks, guys! I think I've developed a habit now. It's been 5 months of working a few hours every day. For a game like this, that's probably insanely slow, but we got what we have...

The art is amazing, 10/10

Thanks. By the way, I also like what you're doing. Interesting style.

 

[osanaiko]

Thanks, guys! I think I've developed a habit now. It's been 5 months of working a few hours every day. For a game like this, that's probably insanely slow, but we got what we have...

Absolutely not slow!

Your method is exactly the way that sustainable hobby game dev is done. A large wall can be built over time by adding a few new bricks each day.

 

[Winterchill.]

I've integrated the scenes I drew and animated earlier. Now I can focus on the remaining tasks. I also improved the resource distribution window—everyone has portraits now, and relationship changes are visually clear when selecting options.
View attachment vid6.mp4


















Now it's time to make sure potential players actually understand how to play. I considered doing something like a prologue—showing how the farmer used to live with his wife and gradually introducing mechanics step by step, maybe even including a scene with the wife as a reward. But besides the technical challenges (no idea how to code that, lol), it also means creating more content (sprites, dialogue, animations).I could just slap a tutorial guide somewhere on the side, maybe some slides explaining how to play, but that feels cheap, you know? Plus, it robs me of the chance to immerse players in the story. Anyway, I need to think about this more.

 

[osanaiko]

Players are not as dumb as you might fear - and those who can't work it out for themselves perhaps are not your target audience...

I've learned (and re-learned and re-learned again lol) that for software projects you're always better off showing people and getting feedback rather than trying to work out what people need just inside your own head.

Let players experiment. and then if / when they fail, then provide hints at that point - i.e. the game over screen because you didn't grow enough food? "You ran out of food - don't forget to plant, care for, and harvest your crops!" etc.

 

[Knight6797]

This game looks amazing wow. Can't wait to see the first playtest demo.