Cute town building toy Townscaper has left early access

Townscaper, the cute town building toy, has now left early access and hit version 1.0. The final release doesn’t bring any major updates, but it didn’t need one – it was already worth your time.

Publishers Raw Fury marked the occasion with a fancy new live action trailer:

The final release does bring a handful of final additions, including gamepad support, a larger grid, remappable keyboard controls, performance improvements, and the ability to export your designs in case you want to 3D print them.

“Many of you have dreamed of larger changes and bigger features. While I am afraid we don’t have further development plans at this point, I am glad and humbled the game has sparked your imagination,” reads the post.

I maintain that Townscaper didn’t need anything more. It really is a toy rather than a game, for a start. It offers you a blank canvas on which to construct a seaside town, which you do simply by clicking. Each click adds a new structure to the grid, which intelligently meshes and connects with the world around it. You drag out a pier, stack up a lighthouse, poke through a backalley, and tap by tap your whims construct a cute little town.

With those simple tools, players have built gorgeous, creative things. But its strength is its limitation; Townscaper’s toolset is not so rich or expansive that I ever felt pressure to create something impressive with it.

Rather than what you build, it’s the simple act of using Townscaper that offers the reward. It feels nice! It has a pleasant pop and click when you add new buildings. Seagulls flap around as your town grows. The lights come on at night. Tinkering with it is what I imagine pruning a bonsai tree is like.

You can pick up Townscaper from Steam now for £4.31/€4.50 after a 10% discount.