G’day everyone,

Autumn is now officially upon us. The leaves are falling down, the pumpkin spice lattes are being poured and it’s getting much cozier. Well, that‘s what I imagine, as here in Australia, we’re getting ready for summer! But regardless of which part of the world you’re from, we can all enjoy The Steam Autumn Sale. And to celebrate this huge sales event, Dinkum is now 20% off!



Don’t wait too long though, as the Autumn Sale will last for only 7 days. The event starts today and will end on Tuesday the 29th of November 2022 at 10 am PT | 7 pm CET and on Wednesday, the 30th of November at 5 am AEDT.

So if you’ve been waiting to play with a friend, or maybe start a new fair Dinkum life on your own, now is the time to start building your new home out in the bush! Hope to see you on the island soon!


Thanks,

James


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1062520/Dinkum/

G’day everyone,

Over here in Australia, it’s starting to get warm and we’re slowly getting ready for summer. Hope you’re feeling warm and cozy too, wherever you are. I want to thank all of you who took the time and participated in the last Dinkum Community Census. I have to admit that I didn’t expect so many of you to take part in it - there were nearly 10 thousand people who filled out the survey! And a big thank you to those of you who left some words of support and love in the Census. Reading them filled my creative juices to the max!

So let’s quickly summarise the results of Dinkum’s Community Census.

First up, I’ve asked you how you like Dinkum in its current stage on a scale of 1 - 10.



Most of you rated Dinkum in the 7 to 10 range, with 8 being the most frequently chosen value. That means you are quite happy with the game’s current stage, which makes me really happy to see! Of course, this doesn’t mean that the development ends here - oh no! This is just the beginning.

Next question - which mode you play the most.



It looks like more than half of you play Dinkum in a single-player mode, and a quarter of you play a bit of both. That really took me by surprise. This doesn't mean anything will change going forward with multiplayer support. After all, more than 45% of you are playing Dinkum with friends at some point. Your thoughts and suggestions are being listened to.

Now let’s see what you like the most about Dinkum.

From all your answers I could pick a few of the most common responses, which were:

- The Australiana theme.
- Building the town, ability to decorate, and being able to express yourself through designing and building.
- Farm Animals and wildlife.
- That the game is relaxing (chill and cozy).
- That you can play with family/friends.
- Exploration - finding little interesting things, stories, items, and how they work with each other.
- Ability to customise the character.

Next is what you like the Least about Dinkum.

Same as above I could pick a few most common replies here as well:

- Mines need more variety / are too scary and too difficult / pass is too expensive.
- Tools durability / breaking too fast.
- Terraforming is a bit fiddly.
- Cooking - too few recipes and not balanced.
- Too few decoration items and non-livable structures for the town, ie gazebos.

And finally, what would you like to see more of in Dinkum.



This was an interesting question for me too and I was surprised how high on the list was the Wildlife. I see a lot of you like Vombats and the Roos! Besides those answers, you also mentioned a couple of other things. There are too many to include here but thank you for all of them.

Now, what does this all mean? Well, thanks to your answers I have a better feel of what you like and dislike about Dinkum. The good thing is that a lot of the ideas that you had and the things that annoyed you the most are the things that I wanted to focus and work on too. It was good to know that we all feel a little bit similar in which direction Dinkum should head. All of your info was super valuable and if I make any major changes to the roadmap, I will let you know!

Thank you once again for filling out the Census and thanks for playing Dinkum. I’ll see you all on the island!


Speak to you soon,

James

EDIT: The Census is now closed. Thank you so much to all of you who shared with me your thoughts, comments, and feedback. Much, much, much appreciated!


G’day everyone,

First up, I want to say a huge thank you to all of you for being a part of the Dinkum community. It really means a lot to see how many of you are here with me, playing the game that I’ve been working on for so long. It’s been a blast seeing how you play and what you all create on your islands. I also enjoy reading all the comments you are writing here, on Reddit, and on our Discord server. I appreciate every thought and opinion on the game, both the good and bad, and I’m always taking into account all the feedback and suggestions you put forward.

Last week I released the first content update after the Early Access release. I hope that you all liked it! Now, that update was just the beginning of Dinkum’s development process. While I am working on the content for the big update #2, I also really want to know what YOU would like to see more of in Dinkum!

I present to you all the first Dinkum Community Census! It’s a very short survey that will help me get a general feel for what you would like to see and do in Dinkum. It’s also a place where you can voice your ideas and suggestions. Although I can’t promise that everything that’s suggested will be implemented, I do want to hear what you have to say. So please, if you have a spare 1-2 minutes, fill out the survey. I would really like to hear your thoughts.

EDIT: Link to Census removed

Thank you once again for all your support! Have a great day and let's speak soon!


All the best,

James

I've been doing bug fixes since the update launched. I'm still tracking down some more, but I wanted to get this hotfix out, mainly to get people's farm animals to behave again.

• Fixed a bug that was preventing farm animals from eating and finding shelter
  
• Fixed a bug that made sharks ignore iron fishing rods
  
• Fixed a bug where fish would not pull on the line for visitors far away from the host
  
• Fixed a bug that would teleport players into buildings while holding a boombox
  
• Fixed a bug that would sometimes softlock the game when unpinning recipe ingredients.
  
• Fixed a bug that sometimes locks the hat slot when a task/recipe is pinned
  
• Fixed a bug where items on top of other items could not be picked up
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause some vehicles to fall below the map after visiting the mines
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause the game to hang on the loading screen
  
• Fixed a bug that would make some vehicles silent after visiting the mines
  
• Adjusted Quarry spawn table to make treasure barrels/bins a bit more common
  
• Corrected some of the new item’s recipes to use their respective wood
  
• Fixed some collider problems with the guest house and mine entrance
  
• Melvins shop sign now shows the correct details

Thanks,

James

G’day everyone,

Today is the day that you can enjoy brand-new Dinkum content as the House Warming update is here! While the update is downloading, let me tell you a little bit more about it.

One of the first updates you will come across is a new wild animal - The Frilly. They are inspired by one of my favourite native Australian creatures. You will find Frillies roaming around in the desert biome. But be careful around them! These fellas are fast and if provoked, they will fight back! They have a very quick bite and another surprise if you make them angry enough. If you do manage to kill one you may receive a thunder sack with which you can use to craft a new item - which might be quite useful while exploring the underground.


Looks like this Frill really wants to catch us!

Next up on the new content list are the new Guest Houses. From now on you will be able to add up to three of them on your island. You can use them as a place to store all your crops and farming materials in one place, or maybe you need a house for all your hats? Better yet, they can be a place for your friends to stay when they come and visit your island. So build a few and make your friends feel at home. The deeds for these will be offered by Fletch once you’ve upgraded your tent into a house. I am sure you will find a great use for them!




New customisable Guest Houses are here for you - and your guests of course!

In addition, everyone’s favourite barber, Sally, can now be a permanent resident of the island, opening up a new hair salon in your town. Getting that new look just got a lot more convenient.


Sally can now move to the Island! Looks like the town is about to get more stylish.

I have seen a lot of suggestions involving storage and item management and I agree with everyone! Some highly suggested features (auto sort, auto stack) are still in the works. But, another common suggestion was to allow you to customise your crates and chests. So now you can colour crates and chests using paint to help you keep track of what crate has what.

And finally, key binding! This has been highly requested, so here you go, bind away! Thanks to your comments and suggestions, I’ve also added the ability to key-bind up to two different keys per action. However, rebinding for gamepads is something that needs a bit more time, sorry! I want to make Dinkum as accessible as it can be for all players, so I will continue to make these kinds of changes.

There are a bunch of other new items, recipes and secrets to track down in this update as well. I wanted the first update to be a bit bigger than what was on the road map, so I hope you all enjoy it. Also, a big thank you to everyone in the Dinkum community and Discord for all your help and support so far. I’m so grateful to have a bunch of creative, funny and kind people playing my little game. I love seeing what you’ve built, reading your posts and watching you all play.

I hope you enjoy the update!

James


I’ve put the patch notes down here. If you don’t want spoilers, you can stop reading now. If you want that nitty-gritty detail, here you go!



New Stuff

Added a new Wild Animal
Added 3 Buildable “Guest” houses
A deed for a new permanent business can be offered by an NPC
Added a valuable new mystery crop
Something starts happening in the mines after 12:00am
Customising houses now requires a House Customisation Kit sold at John’s Goods.
The wandering hunter can now craft a new tool to help deal with those annoying bats.
The wandering hunter will now craft new weapons.
Alpha Animals will now sometimes drop unique items
Franklyn can now learn to craft a new contraption to assist with dirt management
Added new crafting levels of Scythes to Farming Licence
Two scarecrow recipes are now included with Farming Licence level 1
Added Gumwood and Hardwood variants of steps and lamps
Added new recipes for craftable decorative items
Added recipes for new pathing options
Added a new bug and a new fish
Added a way to “farm” grass seeds.
A new mysterious statue can be found in the mines
A new flower can rarely be found in the desert, only on or after rainy days.
You can now use paints to colour crates and chests
Added new fashion accessories
Dog Kennels can be purchased from Irwin’s shop
Special breeds of Diggos will very rarely spawn in the wild
Fish can now be cooked and eaten
Added custom key bindings

Changes

Players can now buy farm animals while visiting another island if they hold the correct licence
You can now rename farm animals and pets
Some of the Dinks from your pockets slots will be taken if you pass out
Animal Traps made with Iron can capture stronger animals easier
Changed the visitors spawn table to make Rayne and Irwin more likely to visit if you have their licences.
Pet Doggos now have more health and will drop their collar if they die
Flying birds drop more feathers
Quartz now spawns in the mines
Adjusted the keg and quarry recipe ingredients
Quarrie’s loot table has been rebalance and now contains quartz
Wildflowers and mushrooms now require an axe or scythe to collect.
Mushrooms can now be buried and replanted
Plants that are in pots or flower beds are harder to accidentally pick up
Lowered Candle Hat light range and changed its appearance
Increased Miners Helmet power time and light range
Underwater Clams can now be destroyed
Increased water visibility in the dark
Torches can be charged on a charging station
You can no longer run while using some power tools
The museum books can be now check what animal is in a tank
Adjusted Animal Den appearance and crafting recipe
Increased the size of carriable items hit box


Bug Fixes

Picking up a Silo will also drop the food inside it
Certain special and rare items can no longer be ordered from Clover or Melvin
Items buried by the player are now saved at the end of the day
Fixed a bug that would make furnaces sometimes not accept items
Stopped certain items appearing in recycling bin when they shouldn’t
Fixed a bug where animals attacking a player would ignore other players
Fixed a bug where the books from the museum would sometimes ignore some animals
Fixed a bug that prevented Kangaroos from eating crops
Fixed a bug that could cause players to “swim” into the sky
Removed some “invisible” floating objects found on some players maps and sometimes when moving buildings
Fixed a bug that caused Alphas in a pen to duplicate
Fixed a bug where furnaces would sometimes take too many ingredients from visitors
Fixed a bug that caused animals to duplicate when releasing them from a trap while they are escaping
Fixed a bug where some villagers would ask for a specific food and refuse it on delivery

G’day mate!

I’ll tell you what, a few weeks ago we both arrived on the island - back when Dinkum came out in Early Access. I remember that day like it was yesterday, ha ha ha! Since that moment when we landed and set up our town, Dinkum received a few updates to improve the game (fixed some bugs, added the Steam Cloud save system, and much, much more). However, we can’t just stop there! So today I want to tell you just a liiiiitle bit about what's coming to the island. There are some really big rumours floating around!

Firstly, I’ve been contacted by South City, and they’ve let me know that we can soon apply for additional house deeds. Or “Guest Houses” if you will. Once you’ve applied for a Guest House deed (and supplied the building materials) you can do whatever you like with the building. Want some extra storage? That’s fine! Want a place for a friend to stay while they are visiting? Go for it! Rumour is that we can apply to build up to three of these “Guest Houses”. Very exciting!

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to offer House Customisation for free anymore. Good thing I heard John was getting some “House Customisation Kits” in stock soon. Another way for him to make a few Dinks! Ha-ho-ha-ho!

I’ve also seen a fast, sun-loving animal zooming around the island. These fellas are no doubt very good-looking, but don’t let those looks fool you! They can pack a punch if you start some trouble with them. I’ll tell you what, I am personally “frilled” to see some new wildlife. Ha-ho-ha-ho!

Now onto us! To keep up with the latest Dinkum island trends, you will be able to style yourself up using new fashion accessories. What will they be? Only time will tell! All I know is that more choice means more fun. However, I did hear that Candle Hat, as well as Miners Helmet, will change a little bit too.

Now, if you ever get a hankering for some crafting, I heard there are a bunch of new recipes for decorations and even some new recipes for tools. I believe that some of these new recipes will be given to you automatically if you already hold the correct licences.

Oh dear, look at old Fletch waffle on! Hmmm… who left this here? It’s a photo with a bunch of other new things that are coming to the island!



I’m going to go and study this photo!


Hooroo!

Fletch - Head of Island Exploration

G’day all,

I can now officially say that Steam Cloud Saves are now available for Dinkum! From now on you can enjoy Dinkum on more than one device without manually moving your save.

Cloud saves will sync for the first time after you close Dinkum. For most people, you wont need to do anything else.

However, if you have been moving your saves between devices, please give these points below a read.

1. If you are playing on more than one device and have been moving a save from one to another, copy your latest save to both devices to ensure it syncs with your latest save.
   
2. If you have been playing on more than one device and have different saves on them both, move both saves to both devices. The save slots can have their numbers changed so they don't conflict.
   
3. If for any reason you need to copy and paste saves into your save folder after a sync has happened, you should do it while the game is open and on the menu. Once the game is closed, it should sync all the files you have copied in.
   
4. If you don’t want to use Cloud saves, you can opt out by right clicking on Dinkum in your library and looking at cloud settings.

If you have any more questions regarding Cloud Saves, feel free to write them down below. We also have a great and helpful community on Discord! So if you are looking for help, or just want to meet some nice people, join us there. And as always, thank you so much for your support and feedback. I am so grateful that Dinkum has such a great community and it means a lot to have you all around :)


Have a great day, and speak to you soon,

James

G’day everyone,

A quick piece of news for every “games on the go” enthusiast out there. As of now Dinkum is Steam Deck Verified, which means you can enjoy the game anywhere you like on your favourite portable PC console!

Also, behind the scenes, I’m working on new Dinkum content as we speak too. I'll have some new stuff to show soon. Thanks for all your support! I've been loving seeing the crazy islands people have been making as well as dropping into some streams to watch live while I've been working.

Speak to you soon,

James

• Added a pause button in the options tab in the journal (single player only)
  
• Fixed another bug that was preventing some players from continuing to the next day.
  
• Fixed a bug where moving the players house would remove the items on top of other furniture.
  
• Fixed a bug where moving the players house would create duplicate items.
  
• Players can no longer ask to upgrade their house while it’s being moved, or ask to move their house while it’s being upgraded.
  
• Fixed a bug where visiting players would sometimes remain tired after sleeping.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented visitors from receiving health buffs.
  
• Fixed a bug where animal traps would behave incorrectly when too far away from the host.
  
• Fixed a bug where players would be locked in the air if they pressed jump in the island flyover
  
• Fixed a bug that would lock inventory slot interactions if they clicked on their wallet while donating/selling
  
• Fixed a bug involving shells and compost bins.
  
• Vehicles that have fallen underwater will try to move to the surface after saving and reloading
  
• Fixed a texture problem in the mines at night
  
• Blocked objects you carry from being dropped into “the void”, especially inside buildings and mine walls
  
• Buffed farming XP a bit
  
• Commerce licence now gives the correct bonus for its level.
  
• Fish and Bugs can no longer be right clicked to place them in chests.
  
• Jellybrew now gives a fishing buff.
  
• Wattlebrew no longer gives a fishing buff.
  
• Deeds can no longer be placed in chests
  
• Increased stability for players who have experienced crashes.
  
• Straightened the Museum
  

G’day!

I can’t believe the response Dinkum has received. I would have never predicted this kind of reaction. I spent four years imagining Dinkum’s release into the world, but the response has been absolutely incredible.

A few hours before pushing that release button, I saw how many of you were waiting to play Dinkum - the Dinkum Discord was buzzing! You showed me so much support, love, and encouragement. I don’t know what to say. except thank you. You are the best community a dev could ever ask for. And thanks to you, Dinkum is in the top selling games on Steam! That’s amazing! Your support is really something else!

Thank you once again for everything. I am happy that I could bring a little slice of Australiana to your lives. And I will continue to work on this game through the Early Access phase, to make it even more enjoyable. And don’t forget, I want this game to grow with the community, so all your suggestions and comments are being noted.

Oh, and there are a few more people I’d like to thank, so, I’ve added some credits into the main menu of Dinkum.

Alright, I have to get back to doing some bug fixes. We will talk soon though! This is just the beginning of the adventure.


Thank you once again and speak to you soon,

James