Fifth post in the ColonySim devlog series. This update is all about winter — it's now a real challenge for your colony.

Winter should be scary

Winter in ColonySim used to be more of an inconvenience — resources were gathered slower, but villagers didn't really suffer. I wanted preparing for winter to be a core mechanic, not a formality.

Now without clothing in winter, colonists freeze: +50% hunger, -2 health per hour, -5 happiness per hour. That's plenty of motivation to dress your people.

Wool → cloth → clothing

Remember how the sheepfold produced wool that just sat in the warehouse? Now it has a purpose.

Two new buildings:

• Weaver — 10 planks, 1 worker. Turns wool into cloth.
• Tailor — 12 planks, 1 worker. Makes clothing from cloth.

Clothing wears out during activity — lasts roughly 3 days. You can enable automatic distribution so you don't have to assign it manually.

Disease

Clothing is protection, and its absence leads to illness. A new accumulation system: the longer a character works in the cold without clothing, the higher the chance of getting sick.

Four severity levels:

• Healthy — no effects.
• Mild — -10% work speed.
• Sick — -40% speed, -1 health per hour.
• Critical — -80% speed, -2 health per hour, condition worsens.

Disease accumulates 5x faster in winter, and blizzards are the most dangerous time. Being indoors provides protection.

Herbs and medicine

To give players a tool against disease, I added a medicine production chain.

Herbs grow on ~5% of map tiles and don't regenerate in winter — yet another reason to stock up ahead of time. Two new buildings:

• Herb Gatherer — collects herbs from the field.
• Apothecary — 10 planks, 1 worker. Produces medicine from herbs and water.

Medicine is consumed automatically, with priority given to the severely ill. And in warmth and clothing, disease gradually heals on its own 😊

What's next

The immediate goal is to finish all sprites and ship the first major release. I also want to publish ColonySim on Google Play — time to go mobile.

If you want to try it now — head over to itch.io, the game is free and playable in your browser.