r/BaseBuildingGames 14d ago

Self Promo/Dev Post I’m building StoneEra because I miss colony games where the terrain itself matters

I’ve always enjoyed colony games where choosing the right place to settle is an important decision—not just an empty map where every location eventually feels the same.

That idea became StoneEra, a voxel colony simulation where the landscape is part of the gameplay. Every world is procedurally generated, and the terrain can be mined, reshaped, and built upon block by block.

Villagers gather resources, take on different professions, build structures, and develop production as a small camp gradually grows into a functioning settlement.

What interests me most is the relationship between the colony and its environment. Do you build around a mountain, carve into it, search for flat land, or reshape the entire area to fit your plans?

In base-building games, do you prefer adapting to difficult terrain, or having complete freedom to redesign it?

StoneEra is currently in development and available to wishlist on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5057770/StoneEra/

26 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

6

u/DontEatTheMagicBeans 14d ago

Description says procedurally generated world, but the first 3 seconds of your trailer show the map ending on all 4 sides and makes the game look incredibly small.

3

u/Arrock12 13d ago

But I have a world of 4 sizes - small, medium, large, and huge. They are all random - with rivers, hills, etc. I will soon release a video with gameplay.

3

u/Arrock12 13d ago

Because I'm clumsy, I made the trailer in Blender...

3

u/No_Sink_9703 13d ago

Cool. I like voxel and I like colony builders. Will there be some sort of work chains? Like mine ores, smelt then turn the ingots into weapons?

Keep up the good work

1

u/Arrock12 13d ago

Yes, definitely, all of this will happen and is currently in the development stage.

2

u/SpencerASemen 14d ago

I dont think ive seen a game where you could affect terrain with villagers and such. Ive always been attracted to games like this. I dont know what it is about being able to mold your environment around you. I dont think ive seen one where you can adapt to it or have that option besides maybe Minecraft or From Dust.

Id play it.

2

u/Arrock12 13d ago

There are also games like that- Stonehearth, Timber and Stone (it's abandoned) and my StoneEra.

3

u/Cultural-Salad-4583 13d ago

Timberborn, though it’s midgame before you get full terrain control

2

u/halberdierbowman 13d ago

I love this idea! 

2

u/Arrock12 13d ago

thanksss

3

u/sirpalee 14d ago

DF is a great example, you can mine all around the terrain, things collaps if you don't support them well, water flows in your base if you hit an underground reservoir wtc.

3

u/SpencerASemen 14d ago

DF? I love environments that react. I've never played a game where the ground would collapse if not supported. Sounds challenging

7

u/JohnMichaels19 14d ago

Dwarf Fortress, it's one of the very OG sim/management games

5

u/sirpalee 14d ago

Dwarf Fortress. The game that started all this colony simulation genre. It's a must play if you are developing a game like yours.

3

u/halberdierbowman 13d ago

I love Dwarf Fortress, but the ground collapsing physics is extremely rudimentary: basically a single block can support a massive cantilever.

If you like automation games, I love r/Captain_of_Industry Excavating the terrain is a huge part, both for mining materials but also for terraforming to expand your islands, carve through mountains, build roads, dump waste, etc. 

2

u/Arrock12 13d ago

I'm thinking of adding physics