Devlog #1 · November 2, 2026

Hi, I'm Dan, and I've been building Farmshore alone for almost a year

I started Farmshore in January. It's November, and this is the first devlog. I kept telling myself I'd start one once there was something worth showing. There has been for a while now, so here we go.

The Kickstarter is coming up soon, and I'd rather you see the real work, rough edges included, than only a polished trailer. So this first post is the basics: what Farmshore is, how it got here, and what to expect from this page.

What Farmshore is

You get a stretch of tropical island, a few planter beds and a lot of sky. You plant, you water by hand (tilt the can, watch the soil darken), and you harvest. You build a home from snap-together pieces. Days turn into nights, storms roll in, and your character actually gets soaked in the rain.

You can play alone or with friends in online co-op, all in one shared world.

Wooden planter beds with young carrots growing on a grassy island — Planter beds on the island. Every crop grows through real stages, at real-world size.

Then there's the gate on the far side of the island. Step through it and you're in the city: traffic, crowds, rain on the asphalt. Right now the city is where the action lives. There's City Strike, objective rounds with and against bots, and, after dark, Hide & Dodge, a hide-and-seek battle royale played in the dark with flashlights.

The player standing on a rainy city street with traffic lights and parked cars — The city past the horizon, in the rain.

Where it's going

The full game ties the two halves together. Fresh food from your farm is worth a lot in the city. The catch: selling it on the street there is against the law.

You start with a street stall and work your way up to wholesale deals and, for the brave, the black market. Then you go (mostly) legit, with storefronts and a restaurant of your own, stocked from what you grew that morning. That's the part the Kickstarter is for.

How it got here

Farmshore began in Unity. Partway through the year I made the hardest call so far: I started over from scratch in Unreal Engine 5.

Most farming games go for pixel art or a cartoon look. I wanted the opposite: real light, real weather, and an island that looks like somewhere you'd actually want to live. Starting over hurt, but I don't regret it for a second.

Since then the free demo has gone up on Steam, and the people playing it have helped me find a long list of bugs. I design the systems, write the code and stitch everything together myself. It's a lot for one person, which is exactly why I want to do it in the open.

The farmer standing next to his planter beds during a rainstorm — Rain on the farm. Characters get wet, and dry off again when the sun comes back.

What this devlog will be

Short posts, every week or two:

what I built, with GIFs
what broke, and how I fixed it
what's coming next, and what I'm still unsure about

If you have questions or ideas, the Discord is the best place to reach me. I read everything.

How you can help

Follow Farmshore on Kickstarter. Tap "Notify me on launch" and Kickstarter will email you the moment it goes live.
Play the free demo on Steam and tell me what you think. A wishlist helps more than you'd expect.
Get the devlog by email with the box below.

Thanks for reading. See you in the next one.

Dan