Dev Journal #1: Where Colonus Began

A two-person studio from Sweden on the classic city builders that started it all.

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Have you played Die Siedler?

You might know it better as The Settlers. My youth was all about The Settlers 2 and 3 and Cultures. There was something about these games that really made me forget about time. I thought it was so cool that all the villagers were walking around and sometimes making decisions automatically, without me micro-managing them. Colonus was created from a love of these old classics.

We are taking that inspiration and turning it into a city builder of our own. But there’s more to Colonus than just building and expanding. We focus on production, your Colonians and exploration, while respecting Mother Nature and her four seasons. More on the four seasons in a later dev log.

A new home for your Colonians

It all starts with a group of Colonians stranded on an unknown island, with only a few resources and tools in hand. They have to start building production buildings and homes, and make a life for themselves. All Colonians start as haulers, but you can assign them new professions as your settlement grows. Some professions can lead to others, and there are different paths to take. A farmer can become a miller and later a baker, or take a different path and become a swineherd, taking care of pigs. As they progress through their professions, their needs will increase too. They will want better food and more things to do in their spare time. So it’s not only about getting production going. Your Colonians need to enjoy life on the island too!

Who’s behind Colonus?

Fortunately, I’m not doing this alone. We’re a two-person studio from Sweden. All our ideas start with pen and paper, and a lot of coffee, of course!

A lot of those ideas come back to what made these games so hard to put down. It wasn’t always about building something bigger. Sometimes it was just following a villager on their way to work or watching goods being carried through the village. Small things, but suddenly an hour had passed!

We want to bring that feeling into Colonus, together with our own new ideas. We want you to get to know your Colonians, care about the village you’re building and be curious about what’s out there to discover. In these dev logs, we will share how the game is coming along, things we try, challenges we run into and the little things we’re excited about along the way.