Oh but it's a feature! Infinite zooming!

Nah I know, I just left it like that for testing purposes. I'll add a limit at one point.

Well I wouldn't say "much" more, but sure there are some things that are still incomplete and I have disabled for the demo, like equipping items and gathering materials.

This is from about a year ago
I decided to switch to a pixel art style because I like the charm pixel art graphics have, and it's also more easy to keep consistent.
However, I'm planning to make graphics customizable, by implementing an option to use different graphics packs.

I don't know if you'll read this, but I've started re-writing the game on XNA. This has literally untied my hands in many ways, as with Game Maker I had to work around many limitations. That said, almost nothing from that old demo will stay the same. Expect a more robust demo in the near future.

Thanks for the message!

Another game that I liked so much that I actually bother to mention it here, is Nanostar Siege. It's a very beautiful strategy game, which plays a bit like Plants vs Zombies, aka tower defense game. Check it out!

"Zoning area not very visible" issue resolved!

edit: Updated links with new version that actually works.
Start-a-town! v0.2.0b alpha.exe
Start-a-town! v0.2.0b alpha.rar
Start-a-town! v0.2.0b alpha.zip

If it doesn't run, make sure you have the following dependencies:
Microsoft XNA Framework Redistributable 4.0
.Net Framework 4

Here's a new demo! If you've tried the old GM demo you'll certainly feel the difference. There's hardly any significant features implemented yet, but you can see the general direction. At the moment you can walk around the map, dig, and harvest berries. And eat the berries.

I'm more interested in feedback on game performance, interface, and graphics. More specifically on performance, I'd like some fps stats on different machines and on different resolutions.

Thank you!


Start-a-Town! teaser by startatown, on Flickr

Among the 5487635487 trillion Facebook games out there, there are actually some that stand out! Got any to share? I'm playing SPP! Ranch lately, not so much for its depth and complexity, but for its graphics and customization. It really is very pretty, and looks a lot what I'd want Start-a-town! to look like.

Those small buttons at the left side of the window are togglable filters for the viewable items at the right. I just threw some of these together to test the system. In this screenshot for example, the filters from left to right: Paint, Bright, Yellow, Modern, Wood, Tile, Stone. Ofcourse there's gonna be a lot more filters, like Dark, Metal, Concrete, Brick, Retro, etc. Also those icons are just placeholders, especially the brush and the paint can! I'm gonna change the button you mentioned (the Bright button) to a sun or something.

The latest news are currently available in the Start-a-town! Dev Log

A couple of screenshots that somewhat reflect the current state of the game.

You can choose a color for the interface, and store your favourite colors for future use.


The Floor Design planning stage for housing. You can filter available tiles according to style (left), and then paint them on that canvas-like grid that is your property.

Welcome to the Start-a-town! Official Forum!

If you're here, you should more or less know what Start-a-town! is all about. In either case, here's the scoop

Start-a-town! is gonig to be a Strategy/Simulation game, combining the best aspects from games like The Sims, SimCity, Settlers and Dwarf Fortress, along with many original ideas. The 4 key elements that the game hopes to provide are Creativity, Replayability, Planning and Customization. If you find that "virtual life" games seem dumbed down, or complex simulation games have the depth but lack the customization options, then you most likely are gonna like the game!

That said, I'm glad for your visit and I hope you stick around and support this project