Jan 27, 2023

Dinkum - taj14

Hey there,

I've had my head down working hard on Dinkum's next update. I really wanted to have it ready for everyone to play in early February, but things are taking a little bit longer than expected, so I will need a bit more time.

The Bloomin’ Spring update is the first of many updates where I will be focusing on a specific season. My goal for this update is to make the in-game Spring feel different to the other seasons by offering different events and new things to discover around the island.

I would like to keep some of these things a surprise, but being Spring, you can imagine there will be a lot of wildflowers spawning around your island. Another change I’m happy to share is the sun now sets at different times in each season. Winter being the shortest day with the sun setting around 6pm like usual. Summer and Spring have longer days, with the sun setting around 8pm-9pm.

I have been teasing some of the upcoming items and features through screenshots on Dinkum's Discord. But I have some new pics to show off here as well.

These mines look different…

The Rowboat grew up?

Finally, this update will include a bunch of smaller quality-of-life tweaks. Things like crates and chests now have an auto stack button, for stacking all the items from your inventory straight into the chest’s stack. There is now a "collect and delete all" button for collecting all your mail at once. This will hopefully make trapping rewards a bit less tedious. Oh and Theodore will now accept more than one donation at a time at the museum, so you can get back out there and catch even more fish and bugs for him.

There is a bit more that’s coming in the next update, but I will tell you all about it next time - unless Fletch beats me to it! And I hope you all understand that I want this update to be as good as it can be. I do appreciate your patience and I hope you don't mind waiting just a little bit longer for it. I hope that you will feel the wait was worth it.

That’s all for this post, so I’m going to get back to working on the update.

Thanks,

James

Dec 7, 2022

Some new festive occurrences are happening on Dinkum Island

Dinkum - taj14

G’day mate,

I won’t take too much of your time, as I feel you will want to investigate this ASAP! Now that the weather has warmed up, there’s been some strange sightings occurring around the island. Franklin has alerted me that while he was stargazing the outback sky last night, he saw some flying Jackaroos dashing through the sky! At first, I doubted him, but he reassured me that he saw it with his own two eyes. Well, one to be exact, because he did have to close one of them to use his telescope, ha ha ha! It seems these sightings are becoming more common, as townsfolk have been leaving more investigation quests on the bulletin board. Please take a look when you’re in town.

There have also been sightings of a strange burly gentleman wandering around the island’s beaches. He looks a bit lost, so if you see a strange marker on your map, maybe try to track him down to help him out?

Ok, I will leave you to it already. I’ve been blabbing on for too long anyway, ha ha ha! I’ll leave you with a message I’ve received from James.

Happy Holidays!

Fletch - Head of Island Exploration

Hi everyone! It's nearly the end of the year and I just want to thank everyone for playing Dinkum this year. I can't believe how lucky I am to have a wholesome community and so many people play my little game.

The next big update is still a little bit away, but to hold you over until it's ready, I thought it would be nice to give you guys a small festive update, as a gift for the holidays.

This event will only be available in December, but anything you find or craft during the event will remain in your world after that. I hope you have fun tracking down the new festive items.

Regards,

James

Patch Notes:

New
Added a new visitor who will hang out on the beach on sunny days during December
Check your bulletin board often during December to hunt down strange new things that fall from the sky
Added a new fruit to find
Added new festive furniture, clothing and tools
Added a festive creature that appears only during December
Added experimental refresh rate button for people with high refresh rate monitors

Changes
There is now a visual notification for special visitors that make a sound when they appear
Item catalogues are now sorted alphabetically
Fixed a certain visitor’s boat’s collider so vehicles don’t pass through it
Changed the way farm animals look for food
Changed the way farm animals look for available housing
Increased the size of the Vombat interact hit box
Lowered motorbike turning sensitivity a bit
Doubled the bank’s interest
Bridges can no longer be placed over objects the player has placed

Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that would cause wild animals in a pen to disappear after a few in game days.
Fixed a bug where Alpha animals would despawn before the quest time ran out
Fixed a bug where the item selected on the toolbelt would not always be the item inserted into chargers
Fixed a bug that caused drops from kegs, furnaces etc to disappear after saving and reloading
Fixed a bug where the mine elevator would sometimes not detect players inside, trapping them at the bottom of the mines
Fixed a bug where beds inside guests houses would sometimes lock after sleeping
Fixed a bug where visitor’s bank accounts would not accrue interest
Fixed a bug that prevented some save files from loading
Fixed a bug where multiple screen resolutions would appear in the options menu
Fixed a bunch of furniture collision and sleeping positions problems
Fixed a bug that showed “too full” when visitors in the world would eat
Fixed a bug that caused sharks to disappear when swapping from rod midway though catching them
Fixed a bug where furniture would disappear and reappear quickly inside the player’s house after waking up
Fixed a bug where the recycling bin could be destroyed with items still inside it
Fixed an issue where food health buffs were sometimes doubled for host players.
Fixed a bug that caused the tractor to consume more fertiliser than it placed
Fixed a bug that made farm animals harvestable again after renaming them
Fixed a bug that would sometimes lock the camera preventing players from taking photos
Fixed a bug that caused character profile pics to always have blue eyes
Fixed a bug that caused characters piloting vehicles to not sit in their seat properly on visitors screens
Flowers no longer have the “bury” tag on them
Tiki Torches no longer float above the ground
The pause button is now available after receiving the journal when starting a new game

Nov 22, 2022

Steam Awards have begun and Dinkum is throwing its hat in the ring

Dinkum - taj14

G’day everyone,

During this year’s Steam Autumn Sale, voting for the coveted Steam Awards will also take place. They are really prestigious awards, and although my game might not have the most intense graphics or the highest budget, there is one category that I feel it might be worth entering. And it’s the ‘Sit Back and Relax’.

I’ve spent the last four years of my life creating a game that I hoped would share a bit of my childhood with everyone. Experiencing nature, the outback, tin roofs, and the people around me. I hope that Dinkum did just that and that you have a chilled, carefree time while playing it. If you’ve enjoyed playing Dinkum this year, and it gave you a relaxing escape from everyday life, it would be an honour if you would give it your vote.

Voting will last as long as the Steam Autumn Sale, meaning votes close 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.

Thank you for all your support and enjoy the Autumn Sale as well!

Thanks,

James

Nov 22, 2022

Dinkum is now 20% off during the Steam Autumn Sale!!

Dinkum - taj14

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/

Nov 11, 2022

Dinkum Community Census Results

Dinkum - taj14

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