Adding POWER to Lumbermill! Indie Game Devlog

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It's been a while! I've added two major systems to the game, bringing power to the mill. Construct and manage an electrical grid underneath your samill, or use steam power for a more old-school approach. The player will start with the steam power system available to them, and have to research the means for electrical power - which allows for more advanced systems to be built.
I've also added underground lakes, or "aquifers", procedurally generated using perlin noise. These act as a source of water for the steam power system, which can in turn be heated and routed to a steam engine for powering machines. This is just the start of these systems, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they go from here!
As always, if you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments - please do leave a comment.
First video: • Procedural Forests! In...
-- Social Media --
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Twitter - / bwdev1
Trello - trello.com/b/M6rEUFrM/lumbermill

[@BWDev]

Hey everyone 👋 Getting a lot of suggestions I should use marching squares for lakes. I chose not to, as it requires at least 47 tiles (and then the pump would also need to correctly fit a lot of these). The algorithm I’m using here instead uses just 6 shapes, but has a similar appearance!

[@pigarian5034]

make a sawmill that turns the wood into wooden planks(so you sell it for more)

[@actorpus]

Did you take inspiration from factorio for the power and steam system. They are very similar

[@jansalomin]

Add docks or bridges

[@pigarian5034]

@@jansalomin he already has bridge but a dock is a good idea

[@bennihaas]

A water powert sawmill in a river

[@rotting_spider]

You should add more life to the forest. It’s very plain and could do with some birds, deer, rabbits, or whatever you’d like to add.

[@BWDev]

I have plans for this. Gameplay features coming first for now though

[@jacksparrow3427]

For some extra challenges you can also take it a step further and make the animals interact with your forest, creating plagues that will stunt the growth of your trees

[@noctemcat_]

@@jacksparrow3427 This is prime example of feature creep. Let him establish main features first

[@antoinetoussaint483]

@@BWDev niceeee

[@aleksitjvladica.]

Agree with Protagonist.

[@LumberUniverse]

I really enjoy seeing this game develop and I can't wait for it's release!

[@gamerguy1686]

Same

[@antonimisenglish5960]

When can we download this game?

[@harrymc1509]

I really want it to come out on ps4 but it wont. For 3 - 5 years anyway

[@prestonsbookreview4179]

You used the word "it's" in the wrong context. The conjunction "it's" means "it is" which is incorrect in the sentence you wrote. If you use the app Grammarly, then you might be able to write properly.

[@psyneur9182]

I have another way that I think could work for power distribution: Each output node (transformer/engine) calculates how much power it needs to be fully powered. Then, the input nodes (boilers/generators) distribute the same percentage of requested power to each output (e.g., output 1 wants 300 power, output 2 wants 500. there's 400 available power units, so each output gets 50% of the requested power). There could also be an in-game system for the player to select a priority level for each output node, which would be given power first. My vision for that is that each priority level is considered independently, starting with the highest priority level. The power used by each level is subtracted. The benefits that I see from this system is that power draw is more predictable. In the current system, one output could be fully powered while another is not. If the machines powered by these nodes are dependent on each other, than power is wasted/items pile up. In my system, the factory will shutdown when not enough power is produced. Priority levels would add another level of control, allowing the player to ensure some systems stay online even when there isn't enough power. I think there are definitely some advantages the current system has over this one, but my comment is long enough and I don't want to write anymore :P

[@NabekenProG87]

Building on this: A weight based power distribution system. Outputs can be given a weight based on which their percentage of the available power is calculated. If you want to prioritise something, give it a higher weight

[@gamerguy1686]

Cool

[@rasmusdamgaardnielsen2190]

This also fixes an apparent problem with the "distribute, redistribute repeat" algorithm: worst case, with N consumers, it could take up to N iterations worst case. With nice even numbers, that wont happen, but it does have bad scaling guarentees

[@bagok701]

I would like to see waterpower in your power systems. A river runs through the map, (look up watershed analysis) the river is daily variable and yearly variable. A dam is directional, and creates a build up of water upstream, but smooths out the variation. Waterwheels can be placed on a river and produce rotational power. Rotational power can be converted into electrical with a generator, hooked directly to a building, or transferred via axles. Build a dam out of chopped logs. Water can be piped. Use the head pressure (difference between height of water on both side of a pipe) on a waterwheel or a turbine (to directly convert to electric)

[@AtomixKingg]

Vineyards and / or fruit trees would be a very nice addition to the game in my opinion, as a second approach to the game. Using the materials from your woodworks to create machines for wine refinery, etc, would be an interesting direction for end game.

[@zakktl5200]

maybe you should add charcoal power , windmill power , and watermill power. you can set it up like this... water or wind > to steam > to charcoal > to solar

[@Brodie.Colyer]

while i do think the progression is good, one way to help the game would employ a form of decision making. Where a certain power production could produce more power, but requires more fuel to run. This would be great fun, having to make the decision.

[@aleksitjvladica.]

I do agree with both of them!

[@bushyrho1674]

You should add different environments with different types of trees. For example, plains, Rocky Mountains (doesn't have to be but something like that would be cool), pine forest, and Redwood Forest. Those are some cool ideas you should consider. Maybe even add unique animals like deer or something according to the biome.

[@napoleonbonapartei7245]

Maybe like a desert or something that would be pretty cool.

[@AceDice]

Maghogany

[@aleksitjvladica.]

Agree with him!

[@simonkendall2273]

you might be interested in how lumbermills (and most factories in fact) were powered prior to electricity, using belts. each individual moving component in a factory would have to be connected up with belts to a source of rotational energy (steam engines but also windmills and waterwheels). there was some pretty intricate engineering involved to get the friction as low as possible, gear ratios, changing the pace at which the belts moved for different components. perhaps a bit different from electricity and the fairly well-worn gameplay aspects of that

[@F100cTomas]

underrated comment

[@agbro1352]

This is actually top tier programming

[@kingjdog]

I feel like when a cable / pipe goes up, you should be able to see what it goes into!

[@qweekertom]

Yeah gets confusing having to swap veiws 24/7

[@3lectr1x]

In the video, Ben said that if you placed down a transformer/generator, a terminal would automatically be put on the underground layer as well

[@DecrareOld]

great devlog ben! I really like the electricity idea

[@afrent9296]

I found you DCR

[@TonsOfHunStudios]

Wow, you got a ton of progress done! All the power systems look great, and I love that the cables are underground. It's nice to not only have a separate view for them, but also keeps your above ground nice and clean looking. The graphics/animations on showing how the steam/electricity work were really helpful too. Awesome job!

[@BWDev]

Thank you man!

[@falx6267]

You could make the water a finite source and each spring underground refills every time it rains in game

[@isaachartogensis9112]

Maybe you can add a third layer even deeper where you can find oil, for power. And maybe if there is too much pollution produced by the oil-burning stations, the trees will grow slower.

[@dustinjames1268]

Logicwise, the trees would grow faster with more pollution since their breathing is based on carbon dioxide instead of oxygen It would vastly increase their growth rate and size, but create complications like contamination and the energy cost of removing toxins from the wood

[@flamekite1679]

@@dustinjames1268 yes but that is so complicated and unfun for a game

[@dustinjames1268]

@@flamekite1679 It could be made interesting with the right mechanics whether it increases or decreases the growth rate Complication isn't always a bad thing, when done right, it creates depth

[@jacobvarney160]

Dustin James studies are all over the place, but more CO2 doesn’t necessarily mean more growth if the impacts of climate change limit other factors (access to water, sunlight, nutrients, competition, other life forms). I would think it’d be interesting to implement the increased growth rate and gradually change the climate over time to impact the landscape (water starts to dry up, cloud cover increases, soil erodes) to make a long term trade off for power and growth now.

[@gamerguy1686]

You should make a watermill to power machinery by the streams

[@TheProfessionalReject]

WindMills would be a cool concept for power with the visuals of seeing the mills spin would just be stunning and a third source of power is always cool

[@thegreenbit]

How about wind power? windmills maybe even water mills for the rivers so they have a better purpose than just being in the way

[@sossololpipi9633]

maybe windmills would be much less powerful than the alternatives

[@santiagocalvo]

wow dude you are amazing! im new to the channel and so glad i found it! keep up the great work!

[@tylercode2905]

I always get excited to see these, I really like the power system you came up with and I can tell I will be spending a lot of time on optimizing that when I get a chance to play this.

[@jmbiv_dev]

Awesome work with this, so cool seeing this game progress. Also impressed by the production quality of your devlogs - great work on the animations and info clips you throw in. It's given me some good ideas for ways to make my videos more engaging, on top of Lumbermill just being a cool game to see growing anyway. Keep up the good work!

[@482man]

Great job! the power graphics were really well done

[@LawsyDog]

I am in love with this dev log!

[@DevDunkStudio]

Awesome update! Really motivates me :p

[@3lectr1x]

Congrats on 30k!

[@BWDev]

🎉

[@americankid7782]

This is some of the greatest advertisement for your game while getting feedback as you go on. These are great 👍

[@Shinjingi]

Having these systems work like they do in real life and explaining them it's a pretty cool thing. The arts are great and really well done. This is going to be a really cool series, i'll make sure to watch each episode!

[@mrnickhox]

if the perlin noise from the underground is over a higher threshold there should be a water tile on the surface layer for the eventual addition of a WATER WHEEL, we need a water wheel yeah

[@erumi3215]

Nice transition at 8:30. I love the game too. I will try to get it as soon as it comes out.

[@caseykoons]

I really love your dev logs. I'm definitely getting your game when it's done. For the steam system, it would be interesting to explore other uses for water, such as needs that could be maintained into the late game. Perhaps reforesting is helped or requires water to be under the young trees, or maybe workers need it for cooking and drinking. Mad idea. You could make the workers have needs of food and water, and have those things automatically delivered in the early game, with options for the player to build systems to support their workers and save money.

[@perssontm1628]

This looks really cool! It would be awesome with different biomes and stuff later on as well

[@tsalVlog]

I've learned more about Unity and game development in this series than I have in their "tutorials"; thank you!

[@KevinCodes]

The game idea is really creative & the game looks great so far

[@martinzavodny]

great progress, wishlisted ;-)

[@totallynotmini4317]

you should add a boat that delivers your highered lumberjacks, e.g. you hire a lumberjack and a boat arrives he walks of and gets to work. Loved the devlog!

[@thedaranesianconfederation7221]

BWDev: "Got pretty good at screwing down (decking)" Me: I'm pretty good at screwing up

[@RMMFeed]

Loving these dev logs! A few suggestions / questions: What about adding the ability to pump water from a river? Also how will electric cables and steam pipes interact with the lakes? If they can’t pass through them it may cause space issues depending of the rng of the map generation? What about adding a fuel type in-between steam and solar? Say you upgrade from steam to coal powered steam (to alleviate use of the income material of wood as an energy source) and then coal powered electricity? Seems like a natural progression almost.

[@Skeffles]

Those underground lakes are looking fantastic!

[@magnusandre4500]

If the conveyor belt only works if it is powered, maby make a hand crank for it - this way you have to sacrifice one of the workers untill you get the power going. Without any conveyor belts moving there can't be any progress to unlock the generators and such. Think manual labour should solve that problem in the early game! On another note, I think it would be lovely to have rocks/mountains, and maby lakes on the surface to add more variety.

[@makefaster6251]

i am going to buy this game so fast

[@CodingKricket]

I'm an new Subscriber amazing game I'm definitely going to download it when it is finished.

[@terolife4851]

The game is starting to look awesome I would definitely play it

[@alexisdumas84]

Great video, I've been following for awhile. Some ideas: 1) you could have an employee happiness score (just one overall) that affects how quickly they work (or how much money they ask for, depending on how you're doing that). Then, you can make better places for them to live (versus the tents) where the higher levels need to be powered. 2) if you plan to add events (like RimWorld has) to spice the game up, power surges and fires (for wires nearby lakes) could be fun. 3) some other power systems: geothermal, hydroelectric, and wind

[@BWDev]

Both employee happiness and random events are planned 😄

[@RamHomier]

Added to my wishlist. I don't promise anything cause I don't buy many games anymore but if it helps you I am happy. Nice development.

[@oliverloudon3122]

Nice editing 😉

[@FruitLoops_]

It's amazing how much aseprite can help to design tiles, even if you are useless on this field

[@evolvedustry5510]

Looks awesome! If you want to do mining to add a little more complexity (because that's what every game dev wants :P), you can have them mine arsenic to treat the wood. Technically, this isn't the exact process, but close enough. "The blocky shapes don't look that good", literally my entire indie game (on my channel). Also, your pixel art is extremely good! Good luck with your project!

[@FJLC93]

If you plan on adding animal mobs, you could add a bit of realism to the electricity by introducing “losses”. Aka, if a squirrel mob comes across your wire, it could dig underground and nibble on the wire, shocking itself and sapping a percentage of the electricity from that circuit. This would be a interesting way to add some challenge to maintaining your factories. Maybe you could introduce wooden fences to keep animals away from your equipment. This game looks awesome. I was a huge fan of roller coaster tycoon 1 and 2 when I was a kid and this has me wanting to buy a pc lol.

[@DesertCookie]

Why does your pixel art look so good... I'm totally jealous.

[@MrGhettoGurke]

Really nice Video :) I think it would be nice to have some kind of info at the underground cables. Because i think if the number of buildings and generators rise, you lose track, which cable belongs to to which generator.

[@alexinf5765]

You should maybe add some indicator in the underground for knowing where you can connect stuff to (Like transmitters & generators, highlight the tile below them). Cool stuff.

[@Diamonddrake]

Your pixel art is fantastic

[@stingly]

This is really awesome! Love your attention to detail, and I reckon the lakes look brilliant!

[@cosmicrdt]

Marching squares is the smoothing algorithm you needed.

[@BWDev]

Marching squares requires at least 47 tiles, whereas the alternative I'm using here requires

[@alexanderbaron9778]

I would suggest using a pipe system like factorio: There is one type of pipe with a clear view window in it, so you can see what is flowing through it. This means you can't miss-craft and end up with a bunch of useless pipes, and also easily repurpose an old steam line into a water one and vice versa. Loving the game, and wishing you success in your final exams!

[@kecoleo5150]

I’d like to see the underground connect a bit more to the surface generation. Granted that probably require a lot more code... that being said having under ground springs connect to above ground lakes, that could connect to water based lumber mills. I’m from the Pacific Northwest in USA and Ive grown up around those types of logging things. Cool to see this industry has inspired someone! I could see a water based expansion being a progression as you progress.

[@dustinjames1268]

Like what I see Can't afford to support via patreon but if the progress continues the way it has you can count on me buying the full game Always been a big fan of resource management/automation games

[@CagandoTuMente]

Hey! great devlog, I could suggest having transformers with different outputs, and machines with different voltage specification, so you can make some machines that do the same job but cheaper electricity wise, at the expense of being pricier (not that this is generally true in real life, but could make for a cool progression in technologies). As well, I think there should be a batteries system too, to manage running times of the generators.

[@mindless9342]

This all looks very promising. Have you ever considered using rivers as a power source (with watermills) or for moving logs like in those old pictures? Thanks for these videos. They really give insight in what it means to make a game.

[@gary-huang]

Power generation from burning charcoal? I don’t know where it would fit on the tech tree but might be useful to integrate the power system with the core system of lumber production.

[@BWDev]

The plan is for the boiler to attach to conveyor belts to fuel them with logs!

[@gary-huang]

BWDev ahhh ok that make sense

[@F100cTomas]

@@BWDev you can still add charcoal, it would be made from logs, but it would be more efficient. A reward for attaching an another machine to the production line.

[@SirMrMilo]

Can you make it so that it randomly snows? It has no purpose, but it adds to the enviroment. And you are also great at pixel art! I think you are the best person at pixel art that i have seen so far!

[@emitenleo]

Oh yeah, it's all coming together

[@Daitli]

Your pixel art has become pretty good overtime, I can't wait to see what else you come up with for the game. Maybe some forest fires and hazardous environments? :B

[@R00sc0]

Since now there is a cost in using longer conveyor belt I think a good addition could be to add a way (building) to drop logs into a river and to pick them up, this way you are limited by the river shape (and current) but you need less power (it is also very thematic) . This could also add choices to the player by adding a third form of power, the water mill (an earlier technology that you can only directly attach to machine): naturally the log cannot flow into the water wheel or they are going to break it, so you need to choose carefully how to utilize the rivers.

[@paulswiatkowski3997]

This game looks so fun.

[@andrewolson4538]

Nice progress, what if you pushed the water down one more level so then the player needs to expose the water to the underground layer. They way, the player had a few levels each dedicated to their own function. The player would then need to strategically exposure/expand the resources to other layers as needed. Keep up the great work, looking forward to playing this soon 😊

[@Riglen.]

Add a system where you can have batteries to store power and make the pumps also need power

[@galaxydude_6978]

idea 1 :make a small old dirty road and there will be a small truck wait for you put to put wood stuff and the truck will go to a market or little town pick your choice

[@LordofGold]

Art first I was a bit disappointed when you said that mining probably wouldn‘t be a thing - but when you showed us what you had in mind I was amazed.. the power system totally fits in the game and I love that you give the player options for using oldschool or modern tecnology. Just some suggestions at this point: When using Pipes/cables etc. please try to implement some kind of switches to allow the player switching off parts of the machines if needed. Some kind of terrain (small Hills, ...) would look nice as well - but I don’t know much about programming, so I don‘t know if that would be possible. I clearly see that you are a person that sees an opportunity (like the underground) - and then makes the best out of it - keep it up! :)

[@F100cTomas]

me too

[@BWDev]

Glad I made up for it! There are on/off toggles for all the machines 👍 Terrain is something I'm considering at some point 😊

[@IapetusII]

If there is a day/night cycle the electricity could be used to power lights. Along side that, power might be able to be held in batteries. I see a lot of potential on this, and cant wait for the release!

[@Macuyiko]

Nice work, looking forward to the end result already. Small remark, something which I also noticed in the previous devlogs: the perspective of objects on conveyor belts seems a bit off, in the sense that lowering their y-values would look a bit better. I can see how the current system is pixel-perfect, but it looks like objects are a bit too "high" (vertically up) when they're travelling along the belts.

[@realjames1]

This man just explained how electricity is made in 9 minutes that I learnt in the span of 5 years...

[@danielskomorovsky]

here's an idea: to add more of a challenge to upkeeping solar panels and transformers, etc.. they should get weathered over time and workers can be assigned to clean or fix them, if they are not fixed soon enough they are completely broken and a new one has to be bought.

[@HeilmwaterStudios]

Yay new devlog

[@Josh-fi9bl]

This is sweeeettttt I think I love this game already, the power system is awesome and made my dreams come true! Good work dude

[@TheFlyingEpergne]

adding paths/roads might be a good way to both plan and make employees move faster. paths could be faded when you first paint them onto the map but become opaque when a worker has finished digging the path

[@3lectr1x]

He already added paths

[@alberttorns]

u should have thoose wheels that gets put in water and creates energy its the basics for making power and also after alot of time the solar panels get dirty and the employees need to clean them like in real life . just my suggestions i love ur dev vlogs im ready to see the game beeing finished keep up the good work man :)

[@F100cTomas]

pump in water to get energy? Like seporate out the hydrogen and use it for thermonuclear fusion?

[@diamondslayeryt803]

i cant wait to play it

[@hyperocket3279]

The Game is Becoming more beautiful!

[@rasmustand]

I think your really creative, and your ideas are consistent, and aesthetic👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@jacobmcmanus6242]

ADD MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF TREES, THAT WOULD MAKE SO MUCH DIVERSITY AND EMPHASIZE EXPLORATION TO FIND DIFFERENT FORESTS, SOME MORE RARE THAN OTHERS, THAT COULD BE USED TO BUILD DIFFERENT CONTRAPTIONS AND FURNITURE! BELIEVE ME, I WOULD LOVE TO EXPLORE IN A GAME LIKE THAT.

[@leoeeo6448]

I have to wait

[@saschah.8339]

Looks pretty nice! Greetings from Germany :-)

[@sptimmer]

How about mechanical power in the very beginning? You can make a river flow through your forest, and place a waterwheel over it to generate mechanical motion, which can power the machines when placed next to it. Second step in the "evolution" would be a windmill, which would be the same idea as the waterwheel except can be placed anywhere on land. Third step would be the steam engine you created. And maybe the fourth step a way to convert mechanical power to electric power? Like a dynamo for example. I think this might introduce some new coding challenges, but also be a great addition to the game. As a side note: have you thought about having to feed your employees? Or doesn't that really matter too much? Just an idea here. If you(any reader of this comment) agree/disagree then please like and leave your opinion on this so BWDev sees.

[@sptimmer]

Just for clarification: I'm not a like-"whore" but genuinely very interested in this game, and would like to see Lumbermill become a great succes.

[@BWDev]

Hi! I like the idea of mechanical power earlier on, logistically though that would require a river to be generated in the starting plot at the beginning of every game, which might make things feel a bit samey. I do want to include water mills for power in some way though, as it's been suggested quite a lot! And yeah feeding employees is something I'm considering 👍

[@tamarpeer261]

Power cristals? Bluish purplish cristals that you can on one hand power to make them generate more cristals, but you can also generate energy from them if there is a big enough pack.

[@fmvlee]

I just click like before I watch the videos. Keep them coming!

[@Candybaum]

One of my favorite feelings is when I say dang I wish they released another video then the next they release a video

[@grid4892]

love this game

[@DemonetizedBrick]

the solar panels look amazing! nice work :)

[@ERN468.]

A late-game power system could be oil... 6:35

[@DTDreyer98]

Different cables with different purposes: Some are more efficient for long range networking; some are more efficient for short range networking. And overall a power loss system based on cable length.

[@Wallie358]

Some ideas around power: - rusting pipes or other problems around power system so player needs to handle power outbreaks - batteries - different steam engines on wood or on coal for example - some kind of limitation to power production, it seems to be unlimited right now. I mean once started it will produce all the time

[@meaterbeater2781]

A water mill you place on rivers to make energy or something like that would be cool

[@alejandrozheng3249]

You can maybe add some super productive but finite resources to the underground layers, where miners can be hired to mine them. Because it's not infinite, players will have to use them as a premium resource when they really need some extra power

[@ayeeperccofficial]

Can't wait for this masterpiece to finally be available to play😊

[@Mouamle]

I think high voltage for long-distance power lines and low voltage for powering machines would make the power management more fun.

[@mrpithon]

Loved it!

[@robertudding8475]

only have seen a few of youre dev logs, its inspiring to watch. (random idee: wood burner => energy +coal($)

[@meemog916]

I want more people to see this

[@PhilDeveloper]

Yay thanks for putting my comment in the video :)

[@BWDev]

Thanks for providing the comment! 😁