Devblog #10 – Tutorial

Hello adventurers and welcome to the tenth Devblog for Distant Isles!

One of the big things I’ve picked up from the Playtest is player understanding of the game, its systems, and mechanics.

As such, I’ve been heavily focused on building the game’s tutorial, so I wanted to briefly talk about that today.

As always, I’m really keen for more feedback on the game, so please jump into the Playtest and give it a shot!

Narrative

The tutorial follows the adventures of Captain Collingwood, as he and his crew sail to the Distant Isles. ‘You’ (future characters that the Player will create) are a young Midshipman aboard Collingwood’s ship, and this is your first foray to the Distant Isles.

The tutorial commences by introducing ship sailing mechanics. Yes – this is the first time ship sailing and map mechanics are available to be played in the Playtest!

You engage in combat with a Privateer, before landing at a small island. Once you have landed, your aim is to reach a Shrine at the northernmost tip of the island.

Through twists and turns (and the introduction of various mechanics), you eventually arrive there.

I won’t spoil the rest of the plot now – but the tutorial establishes a small narrative for the rest of the game that creates the drive for an older version of yourself to continue exploring the Distant Isles and carrying on Collingwood’s dream.

Wrap Up

I’ve kept today’s Devblog brief. I’m hoping that, in the next few weeks, I’ll be able to upload a new version of the Playtest that includes the tutorial for you to have a shot at.

Stay tuned! And please Wishlist and Follow on Steam if you want to see more.

Thanks!

Elliot

 

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Devblog #9 – Feedback and Changes

Hello adventurers and welcome to the ninth Devblog for Distant Isles!

We've been receiving some really helpful feedback on the Playtest so far, and today I wanted to talk through some of the changes we're making in response.

As always, we're really keen to receive more feedback, so please jump into the Playtest and give it a shot!

Game Speed

Some clear feedback we've been receiving during the playtest is that the game felt slow. While that can mean a few different things, we tend to agree – it currently takes too long for the player to move to their destination, and combat takes a long time (particularly for an auto-battle).

We've rapidly increased movement and turn speeds to account for this (across sailing, islands and combat) and the game feels much more responsive.

Using a powder keg to blast away rocks and trees

Exploration

A key design principle for Distant Isles is that each playthrough must feel like an adventure for the player.

A key part of that is exploration, and feedback has reinforced how important exploration is for players, i.e. discovering new scenarios, mysterious locations, and encountering different enemy types.

I want to emphasise exploration more, and to do this, I'm investing more time into creating new locations, items, enemies and situations. This will also create new and varied circumstances on multiple playthroughs.

Some new locations include Ruins and Witch’s Hovels – be sure to check them out in the new version of the playtest coming soon.

Skeles arising from the Ruin to chase you

Skills

I also want skills to feel more unique and game-changing, to push the player towards different playstyles. To do that, I’m creating skills that have unique abilities.

A good example is the Artist skill – whenever the Artist visits a Lookout or scenic location, they will have the ability to create a painting, which can be traded for at a high‑value with traders

An amateur painting of a landscape

Wrap Up

It has been another busy month of development – but a crucial month. I’ve really started to bed down some key design elements and principles, and I feel like the game is forming a really sound gameplay model.

Just a reminder to please Wishlist and Follow on Steam if you want to see more.

Huzzah!

Elliot

 

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Devblog #8 – Major Playtest Update and Naval Combat

Hello adventurers and welcome to the eighth Devblog for Distant Isles!

We recently released a major update for the Playtest on Itch, adding a whole lot of new content, quality of life upgrades, balancing and bug fixes.

We’ve had great engagement recently on the Playtest, but please make sure you check‑in and give it a shot if you haven’t already, or want to see what’s new.

The Playtest is crucial to making Distant Isles a better game, and is your opportunity to influence its direction.

This week, I’m going to continue the theme talking about Combat – but I wanted to showcase the recent work I’ve been doing on naval combat.

Naval Combat

There are two main types of naval combat – ship‑to‑ship combat (i.e. firing cannons and unleashing broadsides), and boarding combat.

I have recently been working on ship‑to‑ship combat and implementing cannon fire.

Different types of ships (e.g. Galleys, Brigs, Sloops, Cutters) will have a different combination of equipment slots available. There are three slots in total – the Forecastle, Midship and Quarterdeck.

Equipping a cannon in each of these three slots will give you a different cone of fire, i.e. equipping cannons mid‑ship will allow you to fire perpendicularly from both sides of the ship. A cannon equipped on the quarterdeck will allow you to fire backwards.

Enemy ships will have cannons equipped in different slots too, and will navigate to allow themselves to fire upon you.

If an enemy ship has cannons, it generally will use these in the first instance – however, if their ship becomes too damaged, they make seek to board your ship instead.

Boarding works similar to combat on the island – a field of battle will take place on the ship’s deck, and the victor takes the spoils!

If your ship is destroyed, or you lose a boarding fight, you will lose your ship (and all its stores) and wash up on the shore of an as yet undiscovered island with only a raft.

As you can see the penalty for losing ship combat is steep – best not to start a fight you can’t finish!

Wrap Up

It has been a big month of development! A massive thanks to everyone who has Playtested, and if you’re following our journey.

Just a reminder to Wishlist and Follow on Steam if you want to see more, and to join our small Discord community!

Huzzah!

Elliot

 

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Devblog #7 – Combat Continued

Hello adventurers and welcome to our seventh Devblog!

The year is flying by and we’re continuing to work on the next big update for the Playtest that is currently available.

As always, we’d love any feedback you have on the playtest. And keep an eye out on Itch.io for the update – we’re just ironing out a few bugs and quality of life features (hooray, we now have a Main Menu, with art from the great Raden Saleh!).

This week, I’m going to continue talking about Combat – particularly the field of battle, the types of combat, and injuries.

Field of Battle

The field of battle (as with the rest of the game) is procedurally generated, so each encounter is different.

Each terrain type will also have a different field of battle, with different starting positions (and tactics) so that you have to make interesting decisions about where your party members start and who they target.

For example, the screenshot above shows a jungle battle, where your characters are dispersed and the enemies starting near your starting positions.

Ships, when undertaking a boarding action (or when you are being boarded) will also have their own fields of battle too!

Types of Combat

There are two main types of combat – combat encounters that your party was expecting or initiated, versus. ambushes.

An Ambush occurs when your party wasn’t expecting combat, for example if you went to rescue a traveller but were ambushed by pirates.

Ambushes are dangerous – they are often harder encounters, and you have limited options for the starting positions for your party members. Your party will also be scattered across the field of battle, making it easy to pick off each party member individually.

Injuries

Distant Isles is very much a traditional roguelike, and as such your party members can permanently die.

However, when a party member’s health reaches zero in combat, they won’t die straight away – they will incur an injury.

5 HP will be restored, and the party member will gain an injury. If that party member gains another injury (e.g. through combat or some other means), they will then permanently die.

Injuries can be healed (and  you should aim to do so whenever possible to protect your valuable party members!)

Wrap Up

That’s it for this month! Big thanks if you’ve read this and are interested in Distant Isles. Hang in there, enjoy some games, and before you know it hopefully we’ll have Distant Isles in your hands.

Just a reminder to Wishlist and Follow on Steam if you want to see more, and to join our small Discord community!

Huzzah!

Elliot

 

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Devblog #6 – Introduction to Combat

Hello adventurers, welcome back to our sixth Devblog!

I can’t believe we’re halfway through May now. We’re continuing to work on the next big update for the Playtest that is currently available.

As always, we’d love any feedback you have on the playtest, as it helps us to make it a better game.

Entering Combat

With the preamble aside, this week I want to give you a brief introduction to combat.

As you visit and explore the various different islands, you’ll come across a range of enemies. This includes dangerous wildlife such as Borgs, Monkeys, Spindles and Cassowaries. It also includes other adventurers, such as cut-throat Pirates and other crews.

Engaging in combat with enemies is a key way to:

1. hunt for food and restore your resilience; and

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2. find valuable equipment and treasure.

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You will enter combat from the island map, and enemies on each island will chase you if they spot you (and Spindles will even try and catch you in their webs).

The Field of Combat

Combat works differently to a traditional roguelike, and rather, works more like an auto‑battler.

Each party member can have weapons equipped, and before combat commences, you will select which party member will attack what enemy. Weapons (and enemies) have traits that make them stronger or weaker against particular enemy types, for example:

• Backstabbing attacks do an extra 50% damage if the opponent is surrounded by an ally

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• Piercing attacks cannot be blocked by the opponent

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• Slowing attacks, such as those from bows, will slow the movement speed of an opponent (even if the shot doesn’t land)

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Enemies will also have different tactics – for example, young Monkeys will attack your ranged party members first, and Spindles will spit webs that stop you from attacking!

Overall, these systems work together to make combat challenging and fun, without being too micro-intensive.

Wrap Up

Big thanks to you if you made it this far, and have enjoyed our monthly Devblogs. I can’t wait to show you what’s in store in the next update.

Just a reminder to Wishlist and Follow on Steam if you want to see more, and to join our fledgling Discord community!

Thanks!

Elliot

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Devblog #5 – Your Party

Hello adventurers, welcome back for our fifth Devblog!

We’re halfway through April, and we’ve been busy focusing on our next content update for the free Playtest that is currently available.

We’ve made a number of balancing changes in line with feedback, and are hoping that a content drop and update will bring some more players to the playtest. The playtest is absolutely crucial to us ensuring Distant Isles can be the best game that it can – so if you’re reading this, please jump in and give us some feedback!

Party Members

This week I wanted to give you an insight into your party, which is a key part of gameplay.

As you visit and explore the Distant Isles, you’ll pick up party members along the way – hiring them from towns; finding them in the wilderness; or rescuing them from captivity.

You can have up to four members in your party, including your party leader that you will create at the start of the game.

Each party member will have unique traits and skills (see below for further detail), as well as a nationality from one of the four great seafaring nations of the world:

• Bretan: A seafaring and industrious nation, Bretans can learn a vast array of skills and talents. Considered 'all-rounders', the people of this nation have no particular strengths or weaknesses.

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• Hispania: Known for their martial capabilities, the people of Hispania are honed in battle and combat. The people of this nation have increased increased combat stats (weapon accuracy, block and critical hit chances), but lower base resilience and 1 inventory slot.

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• Ming: The people of Ming are peaceful and skilled travellers who live off the land. The people of this nation have increased Sight and Geography, and can travel across Rough Terrain better; but lower health and combat stats.

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• Konga: A hardy folk hailing from the rich jungles of Konga, these people are strong and healthy. The people of this nation can navigate Jungle Terrain more easily, have increased health and 3 inventory slots; but lower base resilience.

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As you travel throughout the Distant Isles, your parties will engage in banter, and come across random scenarios. We want you, as players, to form relationships with these party members to make your play memorable.

Traits

Maintaining a diverse and highly skilled party is crucial to your survival in the Distant Isles.

Each character has a number of stats that contribute overall to party statistics. For example, a party member with +2 Jungle Terrain will reduce the resilience cost of the party as it travels over Jungle Terrain.

In addition, each character can have two positive traits (or skills), and up to three negative traits.

These traits make each party member unique, and can either add bonus stats, or represent a new skill. For example, a party member with bargaining can negotiate a better price on items when trading.

These traits can also influence the party member’s reaction to certain scenarios. For example, you might find that you’ll need to drink alcohol regularly to appease an alcoholic in your party, or you might also find that they keep a secret stash of alcohol on them…

This combination of stats, positive traits, and negative traits will help to make each party member feel unique and memorable.

Wrap Up

Thanks again for reading this month’s Devblog. We can’t wait to show you what we have in store in the next content update for the free Playtest.

Just a reminder to Wishlist and Follow on Steam if you want to see more!

Huzzah!

Elliot

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Devblog #4 – Sailing and Ship Equipment

Hello adventurers, welcome back for our fourth Devblog!

It’s now halfway through March and 2026 is off to a cracking start. We gave you a bit of a taste of sailing last month, but we wanted to show it off in more depth now.

Just a reminder that the free Playtest that is still available over on Itch.io. Feel free to check it out if you want to give us some super helpful feedback.

We’re planning on doing an update in the coming month with more content and balancing based on feedback to date.

Sailing

As we highlighted last time, Sailing is fundamental to Distant Isles. You’ll have access to a range of ships, that you can use to sail the seas, engage with traders, or fight pirates and enemy crews.

Fundamental to sailing is the ‘Wind’ mechanic, represented by the wind vane in the top right of the screen.

Sailing with the wind means you will move more quickly, and lose less resilience. However, sailing against the wind will make you slow and consume more resilience. You can see this in the first screenshot above – the wind is blowing South (as shown by the red arrows)

This gives you some tactical options for approaching your enemies. Want to chase down that enemy Xebec? Try approaching perpendicular to make the most of the current wind direction.

Different types of ships will have different features as well. Some ships might only use Oars, meaning they won’t be impacted by wind. Other ships will be fast, at the cost of being weak. You’ll have options to tweak this further with…

Ship Equipment

That’s right, Ship Equipment. Ship equipment and the loadout of your ship will be critical to your survival on the seas.

Ships will can have up to three equipment slots – the Forecastle, Midship and Quarterdeck. Only the best ships will have access to all three slots.

Equipping cannons in particular slots will change which direction you can fire. Want to use your cannons as you chase down enemy ships? Equip your cannon in the Forecastle slot. Want to unleash broadsides? Equip them in the Midship slot.

Wrap Up

Thanks for reading this month’s Devblog. We can’t wait to show you what else we have in store for you.

Just a reminder to Wishlist and Follow on Steam if you want to see more!

Cheerio

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Devblog #3 – Sailing, Update on Playtest

Hello again adventurers and Huzzah!

Welcome back to another Distant Isles Devblog.

Today I wanted to focus on two things – I wanted to introduce Sailing, which I’ve been hard at work implementing over the past few months. I also wanted to provide an update on our free Playtest available now over on Itch.io.

Sailing

This is the first footage we’ve released of our sailing mechanic in Distant Isles!

Sailing is fundamental to Distant Isles (it wouldn’t be loosely based on the Age of Discovery if there wasn’t sailing…)

Using a range of ships, you’ll be able to sail from island to island, searching for adventure and treasure, and encountering dangerous scenarios.

Sailing takes place on the ‘overworld’ map. While it looks bare currently, we’re planning on having Ports, Pirates, Privateers and Traders, and all manner of encounters to bring the sea to life.

As on land, sailing will use Resilience. I plan on implementing a wind and weather system to make the travel more dynamic and challenging, and equipment loadouts to assist in sailing (or fighting enemy ships).

That’s all for now, but I hope it gives you a taste of what we have in store for sailing in the coming months.

Update on Playtest

As I mentioned in the previous Devblog, we’ve released a Playtest for Distant Isles over on Itch.io. It will give you a good understanding of how the game works while exploring islands, and its core mechanics.

This is a callout for more playtesters! We really need your help to make the game better!

I’ve implemented a number of quality-of-life updates so far to make the experience better.

Feedback so far has been that the game is challenging and difficult. This sort of critical feedback is extremely helpful – we need to know if it’s currently not enjoyable, too challenging, or simply not fun.

Sign off

Thanks for reading todays Devblog, and I hope you’re having a great start to 2026. Stay safe, and please keep tuned for further detail and updates.

Cheerio

Elliot

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Devblog #2 – Playtest, Resilience and Roadmap

Hello adventurers, happy new year and I wish you all a happy and healthy 2026!

This is the second monthly Dev Blog for Distant Isles, and I wanted to focus on two things – firstly, the free Playtest that is now available over on Itch.io, and a core mechanic in Distant Isles, Resilience.

Playtest

We’ve released a Playtest for Distant Isles over on Itch.io, check out the link above! This will give you a good understanding of how the game works and its core mechanics.

We wanted to release a playtest early in development to gather player feedback and ensure the game is enjoyable and engaging.

Please remember that it’s early in development, it’s lacking content, and there will be bugs. However, any feedback would be very greatly appreciated, we need your help to make Distant Isles a better game!

Resilience

With that aside, I wanted to introduce the core resource for your party in the game, Resilience.

In a way it works similar to hunger or thirst, and if you’re familiar with Sanity in the game Curious Expedition, you would be familiar with resilience.

Resilience is used whenever the player moves a tile (both on an island and also when sailing at sea). It can also be lost during events that may occur (e.g. getting lost in a cave).

It is primarily regained when the player eats food throughout their journey, or through visiting locations (e.g. resting at a campfire, paying to rest at an inn in Towns).

When the party’s resilience reaches zero, bad events will occur approximately every three steps taken in the Island layer. These events include mutinies, party members leaving, or gaining injuries (e.g. an illness such as dysentery).

As such, the player needs to ensure they keep resilience above zero to keep the party alive

Roadmap

I also wanted to share our development roadmap with you:

As you can see, we’ve just reached our first major milestone, release of the public Playtest. This will stay open and receive periodic and ongoing updates to share new content.

We are targeting a demon on Steam in Q2 2027, and subsequent release into Early Access in late 2027.

Note that these timeframes are subject to change, depending on how development goes in the interim!

As always, stay tuned for further detail and please follow and join us on this journey through Steam!

Elliot

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Devblog #1 – Gameplay

Intro to Worldform

Hello pioneers and welcome to the first Devblog for Distant Isles (huzzah!). My name is Elliot, and I started Worldform in 2021 to create awesome and atmospheric games that take you to other worlds.

I’m a hobbyist gamedev, looking to create worlds full‑time. I’ve been making games and prototypes for over 10 years now. With one commercial release under my belt, I’m looking for Distant Isles to be my most fleshed out and fun game yet.

Introducing Distant Isles

Distant Isles is a party‑based, turn‑based strategy role‑playing and roguelike game. Building a party, you will explore procedurally‑generated islands, seeking out adventure and treasure and trying to survive.

It is heavily‑inspired by Curious Expedition, and influenced by other popular games such as Caves of Qud, For the King and Stoneshard. It’s also inspired by a little game called Pioneers (which never saw a full release, but had a fantastic atmosphere).

It is set in a fictional universe, but heavily inspired by the Age of Discovery featuring tropical environments, ships and pirates, ancient shrines and treasure.

Distant Isles has been in development for over two years (since April 2023) as a part-time project. It is approximately 50% through production – significant gameplay, systems and user interface have been implemented. Testing of core gameplay, balance and polishing are yet to commence in earnest.

Gameplay

Distant Isles is fundamentally built on the premise of three modes of gameplay –the ‘Map’, the ‘Island’, and ‘Combat’. The player will sail around a larger map, arriving at islands, and then searching these islands for treasure and supplies (and engaging in combat).

You will explore this map and its islands with a party of up to four characters, each with their own skills, traits and quirks.

At its core, Distant Isles is about managing three key resources – Resilience, Inventory and Party Member health:

• Resilience represents how far the player can move before bad events start occurring.

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• Inventory represents how much food, items and equipment the party can carry.

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• Health represents the health of each party member, and losing health is how the player loses the game.

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As the captain of your band of party members, you must make interesting decisions to using these resources!

Wrapping Up

This is the first of what will (hopefully) be monthly Devblogs that I release on Steam. Each will explore a new subject matter, and dive deep into a system. Or perhaps they’ll just show‑off new content that I’ve been working on.

Stay tuned for further detail! This Devblog coincides with the release of our first trailer, and we’re shortly hoping to release a tech demo for testing and balancing.

Please follow and join us on this journey on Steam, or on our Discord!

Elliot

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We’re worldform

We are a small, independent video game developer based in Australia.

We want to make games that suck you into the world, immersing you in their atmosphere, scale and attention to detail.

Please join us on this journey by engaging with us through the above links.