Hey all, here's to the first development update!

DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Development of Lumber Islands has been going smoothly thus far, with online multiplayer and all of its functionality taking form rather quickly. There are still some kinks to iron out, such as a surplus of players at night, but soon all of that will be wrapped up.

I have begun drafting a story for the game, one that is completely unique to Chipper and Sons. Unlike the original game, this game's story will be much more thematic and structured, not mission after mission with side stories along the way. The game is definitely not what it seems just yet.

As of now, plans and building are up next on the agenda. Development updates will most probably be spread out when a lot more is done between each to make each post worth its while. I hope you all will enjoy it!

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

In the last dev-log, I asked you all if you had any questions regarding this game to ask them, and here I will answer them to the best of my ability without spoiling too much.

QnA:

@Dustycat10 - "Will it contain any easter eggs or some sort of collabs? For example, Tyke and Son's?"

Unsure at this time. I would be down though!

@Mr_Chipper - "Can you play as Chipper?"

Unfortunately not, but you can dress as him I suppose? More info on that in another question.

@zontic - "Will there be trading between players?"

Yes! You will be able to meet up with others in public servers and trade items. It will work the same way as "exchanging items" in Chipper and Sons.

@zontic - "Is this an RPG?"

Yes? I suppose it is more of an adventure game but you do play as Tyke so it could fall into that. There are no battles or PvP (at the moment) however.

@zontic - "Will there be a trailer for the game?"

Yes, most definitely. That will be for much later however.

@zontic - "Will there be nights?"

Assuming you mean FNaF-like segments, no. The game currently is working with all of Scott's assets or edits of his assets so this would not be very feasible if I had interest in adding such sections.

@zontic - "Will there be a demo?"

No. There will only be a full release and possibly DLC later on to add more plans and items if the game is well received enough.

@GoldenGamer83 - "What motivated you to make this game?"

Tyke and Sons primarily kickstarted my motivation for this game again, but I was actually creating a fully-fledged Chipper remake all the way back in 2020. I have grown as a programmer since then however, so the code in the old version was very inefficient. This led me to restart it with a new vision!

@lucian-png - "Will this game be ported to mobile?"

It is definitely an option, but a port would only follow the full release if well-received enough. The port would most likely only come out for Android as well.

@Darklink785 - "Is there anything you're going to remove from this Chipper and Sons remake that was in the original game? If so, what?"

I can't disclose everything (to keep it a surprise) but the story, some items, plans, movement, and much more are changing. Most of it will stay in tact in one way or another.

@Jackson_Merrill_1987 - "Any thoughts on joining the Fanverse?"

That's not up to me.

@ScratcherMan6789 - "Will there be an option to change your username?"

Most likely, but similarly to the EssentialsX plugin from Minecraft where your name will have an asterick at the end to indicate that you are under a nickname. Your default name will always be your GameJolt username.

@Cacpichu - "Will there be a battle mechanic, or some other thing for players to do versus each other?"

I will look into mechanics that can be added as some sort of "PvP" system, but I don't want players to outright die, lose items, or respawn somewhere else. If I were to add some kind of versus gimmick then it would be purely just to play around and nothing more to ensure that no one gets annoyed while playing.

@ItzFlare - "Will we see Chipper's Revenge in this game?"

Chipper's Revenge is a Lumber Bot 5.0, so yes.

@scaredboi - "Will certain missions require more than one person?"

Definitely not, but people can trade items with you to help you along the way. At the very most, having visitors come over will give you a trophy if I do add those into the game.

@JeremyDoesStupidStuff - "How exactly will multiplayer work?"

Without too many spoilers, each player will have their own "realm" where they can build and perform other tasks, but players can also venture out into public servers like Seabill's where other players may greet them. It'll be much like living in your own house on the same street as everyone else playing!
To tie in with @Naruku-Yamazaki 's question, your island will only be open when you are playing the game. Open areas will be handled in bunches of a few players at once so the servers can handle many people on at once. About five to ten people will be able to play in one vicinity at once together.

@RoccoConnorDamonster - "Are there going to be more The Desolate Hope references?"

Yes, some assets from TDH will be used as new features and/or gimmicks in the game.

@cardboard_ghost - "Will there be any plans for more customization in the future for the player characters?"

Yes! Albeit it small, players will be able to change their overalls colors from an assortment of about five colors.

That's all for this post! I hope I answered a lot of unknowns in this dev-log. See you all soon!

-Mechlus