A new devlog from indie developer Glumberland has revealed brand new information, including teasing a 2020 release window, for their upcoming indie game Ooblets. Part Animal Crossing, part Pokémon, the long-awaited Ooblets is an adorable life simulation game that will have players growing and harvesting Ooblet friends, facing off with opponents in dance battles, going about their daily lives, and earning badges for all of their efforts.
Developed by a two-person team made up of artist and designer Ben Wasser and programmer Rebecca Cordingly. Ooblets has been in development since 2016. Previously, Ooblets was planned to be published by Double Fine Productions prior to the studio’s announcement that they had been acquired by Microsoft in June 2019. Following Microsoft’s announced acquisition of Double Fine at E3 2019, Glumberland announced plans to self-publish the game for release on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows.
Now, in their January devlog update, Glumberland has revealed how far the game has progressed since their last update in December 2019, along with teasing a possible 2020 release window by saying “2020 is the YEAR OF THE OOB. It’s been foretold in the prophecies/milestone calendar.” In addition to the newly added animations, including 73 newly implemented dance moves, additional lore to pull players further into the world of Oob, and a badge delivery Ooblet who will keep players updated on their in-game achievement progress, the developers also introduced a new, highly requested fishing mechanic, called Sea-Dangling. Using the game’s Reconsitooter system, players will be able to utilize various materials to produce fishing bait which will, in turn, fish up more useful materials – without harming any animals, of course.
https://ooblets.com/images/sea-dangling.mp4
Last August, the developers behind the game received some severely heated backlash following a blog post revealing the game’s Epic Games Store exclusivity, which many considered to be insulting. The developers later admitted a mistake for the way their announcement was received out of context, additionally revealing that Epic Games had provided a substantial amount of financial backing to help support the development studio. More and more titles are striking deals with Epic for timed exclusivity, which is a direct result of a new algorithm that has been hurting indie developers and the unfortunate revenue sharing tactics employed by Steam, one of the Epic Games Store’s largest direct competitors.
Hopefully, the addition of these unique takes on popular life sim features being added to Ooblets will win over fans who were upset over the game’s Epic exclusivity, and entice new players to take the adorably inventive title for a spin when it releases. Glumberland will continue to post monthly devlogs chronicling the game’s development, which will continue to deliver future updates and, with any luck, a more solid release date within the teased 2020 release window.
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Source: Ooblets
