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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder

@shadybren.bsky.social
111 followers 100 following 166 posts

🕹️ Solo Indie Dev. 🌱 Develop an organic 4X Empire 🚧 Coming Soon — Steam Early Access 🎮 Steam- store.steampowered.com/app/3446780

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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Bronze Age city-building, but water access actually matters. Rivers, canals, reservoirs, and irrigation are becoming part of how settlements survive and expand in Tenants of the Shade. This is my first irrigated town 🌊 #TurnBasedThursday #GameDev #IndieDev #StrategyGame
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
A settlement, some crops, a seasonal stream, and absolutely no guarantee the player knows what they’re doing. 🙋🌱 Water V2 irrigation is in progress. 🌊 #indiedev #gamedev #simulationgame #WishlistWednesday
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Herding village → crowded little town. 🛖🛖 Two settlements are starting to sprawl into each other, the sheep have instigated a shadow government, and there’s a peek at the new stock tanks at the end. WIP from Tenants of the Shade 🐑 #GameDev #IndieGameDev #MadeWithUnity #SimulationGames
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Playdigious @playdigious.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Once again, it's #TurnBasedThursday, and we're officially hosting it this week! #GameDev and #IndieDev, please show us your projects! And if you're a turn-based gamer, have a look, you're sure to find something you'll like in this thread! (don't forget to share to show support!)
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Simulated water for simulated people. 🌊🙋 Water V2 is coming together in Tenants Of The Shade: rivers, streams, lakes, water levels, and settlements that depend on all of it. This system is going to matter a lot for how civilizations grow. #GameDev #IndieGameDev #TurnBasedThursday #strategygame
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
This week’s #ScreenshotSaturday: dynamic seasonal water 🌧️ Water V2 means monsoon floods, shrinking dry-season rivers, and a landscape that changes with the season 🌊 #GameDev #IndieDev #CityBuilder
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Water V2 is still just debug lines and markers, but it’s already cutting surprisingly pretty canyons into the terrain, where it can force its way through. Still rough, very nerdy, and very satisfying. #GameDev #IndieDev #CityBuilder #Unity3D #MadeWithUnity
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I accidentally made bogs, marshes, and fens while testing Water V2. The little 🟨 are wetland candidates from the terrain/drainage model. #ProcGen #GameDev #TurnBasedThursday #Devlog #IndieDev
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Debug lines everywhere — but beneath the chaos, the town is thinking. Tracking homes, workplaces, paths, and occupation markers as people move through the settlement. Messy, but it’s the good kind of messy. #GameDev #CityBuilder #StrategyGame #SimulationGame #IndieDev #Unity3D #ScreenshotSaturday
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
First rough version of Bronze Age tech tree. Early choices are basic but foundational: water control, brickery, and ranged weapons. It’s a WIP, but these are the first techs I'm wiring into the game. (I made up brickery, sounded fun) #GameDev #IndieDev #StrategyGame #BronzeAge #TurnBasedThursday
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Working on tracking "I go you go" turn-based tactics combat. Gets trickier when you weave in world events and blocking decisions. #turnbasedtactics #strategygame #indiedev #gamedev #4x
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
The sheep were, in fact, only the beginning. I just posted a new Steam update covering route movement, fishing, upgraded herds, smarter rival units, new Events/Encounters, terrain polish, and clearer interactions across the map. store.steampowered.com/news/app/344... #IndieGameDev #CityBuilder #4X
store.steampowered.com
Tenants of the Shade - The Sheep Were Only the Beginning - Steam News
Units follow Routes, rivals seek the high ground, fishing arrives, herds improve, and new Events/Encounters make the map busier.
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Byte Arcane making Sigil of Kings @byte-arcane.itch.io · 21/05/2026
Honored to host #TurnBasedThursday! 🛠 #GameDev folks, show your #turnbased games below, and use the hashtag above 🎮 #Gamer folks have a look, as there are a lot of TBS gems in here, out or in the making Spam our favorite buttons 🔁/❤️ to show your support, and comments are very much appreciated!
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
First there is a fire. Then a path. Then a town. Then a people. Working on my turn-based city builder. #TurnBasedThursday #indiedev #citybuilder #strategygame
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
A few towns made by players during last play-test! Best part of showing the game in person is watching people make choices I didn’t expect — then going home with a notebook full of fixes, ideas, and “oh, that actually worked” moments. #indiedev #gamedev #citybuilder #ScreenshotSaturday
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
A village growing over 20 turns, now with more pleasant dirt and grass. #screenshotsaturday #indiedev #gamedev #wip
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Build the Routes. Move the units. Defend the towns. Question the sheep. #StrategyGame #TurnBased #GameDev #Unity #CityBuilder
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Forts, towers, units, and NPCs can overlap. Tiny hover/selection details matter a lot here — because the moment the interface feels frustrating, the world stops feeling real. Still fine-tuning this in Tenants of the Shade. #GameDev #IndieGameDev #Unity #4X #StrategyGame
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Got the first version of fishing working. People can go to nearby rivers, lakes, or ocean and fish from the shore. Determined by settlement priorities. Still rough, but it’s nice seeing another little survival system come alive. #GameDev #IndieDev #Unity #CityBuilder #Simulation
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Debugging in scene view hits different. Suddenly every NPC remembers they have free will. #gamedev #Unity #AI #Simulation #WIP #GameDevLife
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
A little more life on the map. Kids in the village, sheep in the grass, guard towers at the forts… and a ship that clearly had a bad day. #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiedev #citybuilder #strategygame
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Starting from just a few footsteps, a settlement slowly organizes itself. Paths emerge naturally—shaped by resources, neighboring towns, and the daily routines of its people. #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiedev #4x #strategygame
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Joseph Hewitt @gearheadrpg.com · 23/04/2026
All hands to battle stations, this is not a drill! It's the official #TurnBasedThursday on Bsky! Calling all #GameDev aces: tell us about your #IndieGame; post your project below! Tag your friends! Tag your enemies! ❤️ Players, share the love and help spread the word about your favorite games! 🔁
Turn Based Thursday: Show us what you've got!
The picture is of a red mecha standing against a mountainous background
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Started as a small coastal town… and slowly grew into something much bigger. Expanding plazas, new cities, and people living their own lives inside it all. #TurnBasedThursday #gamedev #indiedev
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
You found a city on a hill, battle in the ravine, and turn survival into prosperity. Been doing work on military unit tactics, hover behavior, and UX. Small changes individually, but together they’ve made the game feel much more engaging. #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiedev #4x #strategygame
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Combat’s feeling better. The warriors used to be chess pieces. Now they’re rigged models using my "people shader", so they feel like a part of the world, just ready for a fight. I also passed a turn to make the clip last longer and immediately got punished for it. #gamedev #TurnBasedTactics #wip
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
bsky.app/profile/shad...
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CodeRed @codered-dev1.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
It's an honor to host this week's official #TurnBasedThursday! 📢 Calling all #IndieDev and #GameDev folks to show off their turn-based games below! Love #turnbased games? ♥ / 🔁 great games in the replies and @ who should be in this thread!
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
New town hover/select effect coming along. Needed something that didn't get in the way of other elements, while still making the highlight clear. #gamedev #indiedev #citybuilder
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Thanks for hosting this #TurnBasedThursday! Sharing a few moments with the people in my city-builder: camera follow, daily routines, inspect menus, and some more expressive hover feedback for towns and characters. Plus, naturally, capes and brooches. #gamedev #indiedev #TurnBasedThursday
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Andrea Demetrio @andreadprojects.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
HA! YOU THOUGHT THAT WAS IT? NO! It's #TurnBasedThursday again! Devs! Share your turn-based games in the replies! Gifs, videos, screenshots ahoy! Turn-based fans! Support your favorite turn-based games and SHARE THE LOVE! GO! GO! GO! #gamedev #indiedev
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Early river dev clips—simulating flow with water “pucks” carrying volume downstream. I’m dangerously close to calling them Wahxels 🌊 #gamedev #indiedev #unity
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Gave the town NPCs robe layers for more color and motion, and now the close-up ones have way more presence than I expected. Built on top of my instanced billboard setup, so it still stays efficient. Turns out capes help. #gamedev #indiedev #unity #screenshotsaturday
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Working on layering billboard clothing over NPCs for super-efficient crowds. Mostly for performance. Partly for capes. #gamedev #indiedev #unity #Shaders
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
One of my favorite things in development is breaking LOD settings just enough to reveal a whole second society. Near people: work the farms Far people: visit the well, saunter through the plaza, phase through walls #gamedev #indiedev #citybuilder #simulation
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Putting it together 🧩 From an Old Master’s maps → into a living title screen. This is a "collage animation" of how I made the current title screen. #gamedev #indiedev #GameArt #ArtHistory
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Trying to make the world push back a bit 🌍 Not just building—but reacting: droughts ☀️ floods 🌧️ wandering groups 🎪 Some of this is still literally “Option A / Option B” right now #gamedev #indiedev
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
🐘 Took down the Steam page for Roundfoot today 🐘 Not gone—just walking a longer road. It shaped how I think about worldbuilding and systems— and it still echoes in what I’m building now. #gamedev #indiedev #unity #worldbuilding #TrailerTuesday
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Working on the “Route” system — a core mechanic for linking towns, resources, and territory. Early playtests: confusion 😅 Now: starting to click. A lot of it comes down to better signifiers. #indiedev #gamedev #citybuilder #4X #GameDesign
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Smarter combat AI. Enemies now push for high ground — and it shows. But smarter AI is exposing new problems: when both sides are jockeying for position, things can turn into awkward “leapfrog” situations. Now it’s a design question. #gamedev #indiedev #CombatDesign #TurnBasedTactics #GameDesign
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Playtested the game this weekend — such a welcoming, creative space. The most valuable thing for me at this stage: feedback, feedback, feedback. I think it’s time to integrate a tutorial — or at least some subtle “nudge” tips to help steer player actions. #indiedev #citybuilder #screenshotsunday
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
The artist behind my title screen was born in 1480 — Matrakçı Nasuh. Trying out a parallax collage built from his work. #gamedev #ArtHistory #citybuilder #indiedev
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
*my wife saying literally anything about the graphics in my game* "..." *me, every time* I’M NOT TRYING TO MAKE TINY GLADE …it wouldn’t scale anyway 😤 #gamedevlife #solodev #indiedev
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Working on menus. Gold & Food use drill-downs. Others come from diegetic world elements. Trying to visually connect the UI to the source object. Will start with simple lines and iterate from there. If it's janky, iterate! #indiedev #gamedev #4X #Unity #simulationgame #uiux #gamedesign
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Just posted a major development update. 🌾 Farming inspired by ancient field layouts 👣 Villager occupations and economy ⚔️ Combat improvements 🎮 Playtest feedback Devlog on Steam ↓ store.steampowered.com/news/app/344... #indiedev #gamedev #citybuilder #simulation #4X #indiegame #madewithunity
store.steampowered.com
Tenants of the Shade - Building a Living Civilization — Major Development Update - Steam News
New occupation systems, terrain-based farming inspired by BCE fields, improved combat, plus many playtest-driven improvements. More menus with UI/UX improvement.
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
From empty coastline to a bustling town. Zoning districts in blueprint mode in my upcoming 4X city-builder. 🌴🛖🌐🛖🌴 Wishlist on Steam if you'd like to see more! #WishlistWednesday #indiedev #citybuilder #4X #gamedev #simulation #Unity
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Blueprint mode for my seaside tropical town. First step: bananas. Next step: conquer the world. #gamedev #citybuilder #simulationgame #worldbuilding #unity3d #indiegame #strategygame
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Another "turns go by" post. There is a lot more to the gameplay, but sometimes I just like to watch the people grow their village! 🛖⚒️🌿🛖 #CityBuilder #4XGame #Simulation #BronzeAge #HistoricalFiction #WorldBuilding #StrategyGames #GameDev
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
I've been playing around with the climate slider some more. Last climate post for now I swear. Next we teach our people to fish. #indiegame #strategygames #simulator #unitydev #proceduralgeneration #worldbuildinggame #turnbasedstrategy #devlog #gamedev
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'Tenants of the Shade' — 4X Settlement Builder @shadybren.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Another climate/terrain post, kinda like these settings better. #ProceduralGeneration #gamedev #Simulation #WorldBuilding #unity3d #indiedev
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