Indie developer DeSand Game Studios and publisher Ultimate Games S.A. have announced a brand new title WoodZone in which you can become an entrepreneurial lumberjack. We have seen a lot of simulator games in recent times and WoodZone is about to tackle a really unique simulation genre. I don’t remember seeing a lumberjack simulation title before.
As small as that might sound, WoodZone actually is a proper simulation title and the trailer released by the developer is enough to show that. You start off as a common lumberjack with just an ax and you chop down some trees and then sell that more money. As you continue to do that, you will continue to earn more money and then eventually buy your own office space, trucks to move your haul around, and other lumberjack equipment.
You will then need to customize and expand your office to add more production equipment and vehicles to create your very own lumberjack empire. You will set up your office, ensure that it has power, manage your finances, purchase different trucks and vehicles to make your work more smoothly and efficiently. There are some additional aspects of the game that you will probably have to do in the game such as managing fuel for your trucks and storing items in your warehouse.
Check out the gameplay trailer for WoodZone below:
Key features of WoodZone include:
Economy – The development of the economy changes dynamically depending on the behavior of the players. The price of wood is influenced by factors such as the type, size, and quality of wood, the level of processing, or even production technology. Companies open up new challenges with which managers must face. The task of the corporation’s owner is to expand the fleet and infrastructure, increase revenues, employ more employees, create strategies, ensure the work of others and generally work in favor of the company’s development.
Construction – Depending on preferences on purchased plots, the player can build his own objects for various purposes. The price of the plot depends on the area and location. Designing your own factory, sawmill, residential home, or any building is possible thanks to the modular construction system.
Game World – The hand-crafted world allows you to explore a constantly growing world. Its appearance is largely dependent on the players and especially where they will go. In order to increase revenues, the player can visit hard to reach places that hide exceptionally unique tree species. In turn, someone else will probably be happy to stay in calmer areas to build a factory on a global scale.
Machines – Lighting in the sawmill can be built on the principle of “put and work”, but a more demanding player can develop them using logic gates and cables. For example, it can be lit when entering the building, the place for wood is full or there are no raw materials. The game provides, among others, conveyors, computers, cameras, sensors, logic gates, vehicles, construction parts, and much, much more! This allows you to create excellent mechanisms that automate work: wood sorter, a machine that checks the quality of wood, production efficiency meter, automatic feeder, and so on.
Multiplayer – Multiplayer allows you to interact with players from other parts of the world, who have access to raw materials found on specific biomes. It may turn out that the start-up location does not provide the goods required for the production of desirable constructions and inventions. Demand for limited materials dynamically shapes the game market and requires players to cooperate. This cooperation can be, among other things, by setting up your own or a joint company, employing players, establishing partnerships, as well as acting as a freelancer. The player can be employed as a lumberjack, driver, carpenter, builder, manager, and in many other professions created by players. Each field is associated with other duties and permissions.
Production – Wood has a long way to go before it is sold. The player can extract many different species of trees and decide on their further processing. Each type of wood has its own properties affecting the way of transport and processing. An important aspect is to take care of wood supplies, which should be sold at the right moment.
A Kickstarter campaign for WoodZone is going live tomorrow and if you want to support the developers make the game better, you can head over to the game’s official Kickstarter page and support the developers when the page goes live. So far, the trailer looks to be really promising and being a fan of simulation games, I am certainly looking forward to the full release of WoodZone.
Let us know in the comments section below whether you would be interested in playing WoodZone when it comes out or not.
