I am proud to announce that Havendock has officially launched in Version 1.0 today!
It's been a crazy two years. I first started Havendock as a passion project, to capture my love for the ocean, and colony sim games.
I remember the first time I shared my game. It was just myself and a few friends playing it. But today, I am humbled to learn over 130,000 of you play it.
Through this process, I learnt so much from all of you - not just the ideas, bug reports, but also the jokes and kind messages that light up my day.
Being a solo developer is... hard. I questioned many things alone the way, but it's always heartening to have such a warm and supportive community to remind me why I make games.
You didn’t just play the game, you helped shape it. Your insights helped guide the direction of development. Havendock is better because of you, and I’m extremely grateful for that.
🚀 So what’s in 1.0?
Astronomy Island is now available, letting you take your settlement to an entirely new, high-tech level to unlock new buildings, storylines, research & upgrades.
Unlock new research...
Build new types of research facilities to unlock end game upgrades.
Build slugs, flying robots that deliver items on the new island.
Find the mysterious new NPC...can you solve all their requests to recover their memories?
And finally...explore the world to rebuild the underwater wreckage and take off!
That's not all. The final 1.0 update also brings a big moment to your adventure: a choice. Two paths. Two endings. Two possible futures for your floating world.
The new island comes with quests and mission logs that reveal the final story behind Havendock, such as how hamburger farms came into existence. The journal feature also has several new entries.
It’s meant to be a satisfying closure to your journey so far… …but is it really the end?
🌊 What’s Next?
Havendock 1.0 is a milestone, not a finale. I’ve already been working on what’s coming next, and I’m excited to share our new roadmap with you:
☀️ Summer – Cosmetic boats, customizable drones, and more automation tools
✨ Winter – A brand new island full of magic and mystery
❓ And maybe… something extra
I just wanted you to know: I’m not done. I want Havendock to keep growing in fun, weird, and cozy ways, and I hope you’ll stick around to be part of that.
From the bottom of my heart: thank you for playing, for caring, and for being part of this journey with me. I hope Havendock has brought you a bit of joy and calm in this wild world.
See you in the dock 💙
— YYZ
Full v1.0.0 changelog:
Astronomy Island released
Add new storyline and quests on Astro Island
Add 8 astronomy island researches
Add new high-tech items
Add new high-tech buildings
Add brand new game ending
Add new journal entries
Air Engine costs greatly reduced
Add 10 Hydrogen as repeatable reward for building Air Engine
Astro Island final quest mana essence requirement changed to 20 Refined Oil
Experimental Multiplayer is now only available in experimental branch
Replace 'Early Access' text with 'Full Version'
Add official language translations
ESC now closes logbook and sub-menus directly
Remove Cartographer from injured scientist dialogs
And as always, if you have feedback for me, feel free to share them here or on Discord. I am active there so if you simply wanna have a chat, I'm here!~
Havendock is launching into 1.0 in just 5 days 🎉 Here’s a little update with everything you might want to know ahead of release.
🕒 Release Time
The full version of Havendock sets sail on April 22, 2025 at: 6 a.m. PST (US West) 9 a.m. EST (US East) 1 p.m. UTC 3 p.m. CEST (Europe) 9 p.m. CST (China) 11 p.m. AEST (Australia)
💵 Pricing
The base price will stay at 19.99 USD / 19.50 EUR / 68 CNY (or the equivalent in your local currency), and to celebrate the launch, we’ll be offering a 25% launch discount for the first two weeks.
🚀 The 1.0 Update & Beyond
With the 1.0 update, you’ll reach a meaningful moment at the end of your journey, and from there, you’ll face two very different paths to shape your destiny. But this isn’t the end, not even close! There's more on the horizon for Havendock, and we’ll be sharing what’s next on release day.
🎨 New Key Art
And finally, to mark this milestone, we’ve put together brand new key art that reflects how far Havendock has come throughout Early Access. And if you look closely… it may even hint at what’s still to come 👀
Thank you for all the support, ideas, feedback, and love you’ve shown over the past two years! We're all very excited to share this next chapter with you, and hope Havendock continues to be a cozy, creative place you enjoy returning to 💙
Improvements and fixes: Fix sleeping bar and some tooltips mentioning Rocks instead of House Fix being unable to enter cave after first entry Fix 'not enough ingredients' text spam when you stop drinking from the fountain Fix character panel text overflow and center aligned overdrive text Fix settler priority overview panel description overlapping title of panel Fix unable to toggle inventory via shortcut key while in the cave Improve talk to settler dialogs
Localization: Fix settler panel overflowing texts on certain languages Fix Recherche text overflow in Guidebook panel Fix farm seed UI hover tooltip research texts not translated Fix Hope not being translated for tooltip on Hope Bar in Civilization Panel Fix settler overdire text not translating Yes/No text Fix Research notification tooltip not translated Fix "Lv" text not translated Fix settler priority overview panel copy button text overflow on some languages Fix Research Panel help button tooltip not translated Fix pier button text overflow on certain languages
v0.77.0 - New journals and Ranch research!
Hey all,
This is the final content update before 1.0 goes live on Apr 22 2025! (Refer to previous announcement on 1.0)
New Journal Entries
Havendock's storyline expands in the 1.0 update. This update makes the final preparations necessary to wrap it up. Since Early Access, the journal unlocks pieces of lore unlock as you explore the world. In this update, 11 new journal entries have been added - but the final 5 will only be revealed from a new island in the 1.0 update.
New Ranch research
Ranch now unlocks by a research. When it was unlocked from the beginning, it caused confusion as you could never use the eggs from ranching until much later when the incubator is unlocked. Thus, they are now put as a research behind the incubator.
New epic ending
Only on the experimental branch: When you reach the final stage of the game, you'll now be faced with two choices that shape your destiny. Each one leads to a different ending. A new ending and a new resource have been added to mark the final closure of your journey.
I would show an exciting picture here but it would be spoiler content.
This will be available on the default branch in 1.0.
Changelog
Content:
Add new Ranch research
Add new journal entries
Add new dialog for launching the air engine [TAG-20]Improvements:
Characters panel now only shows fishermen while on fishing dock
Rename Fairy Lights to Halloween Lanterns
Remove Leaderboard button tooltips
Houses now start with 1 sleeping spot, to sync with maximum population boost
Prevent using unstuck while settler is working to prevent weird issues
Experimental branch:
Add brand new game ending
Rocket always costs 10 hydrogen to build
Add 10 Hydrogen as repeatable reward for building Air Engine
Air Engine costs greatly reduced
Astronomy island now unlocks from Sail Boat instead of Dragon boat
Fixes: Some issues related to NPC AI have been addressed, alongside other fixes.
Fix issue where bartender never stops working at low stats
Fix when interacting with a building player able to collect floating items
Fix bot not going to charging station despite low power when working
Fix error when deleting seagull from Seagulls panel, causing UI to not refresh
v0.77.1:
Fix characters showing up in wrong filters
Fix sleep hover tooltip showing Homestead/Rock instead of 'House'
Fix Fishing Village recruitment panel not closing with ESC
Fix clicking on world settings background closing the entire panel
Fix leaderboard icon inproportionately scaled
Havendock 1.0 is coming in April!
Hey all,
I'm super excited to finally share that Havendock will be launching into Version 1.0 on April 22, 2025!
It’s a poetic date as it is nearly identical to April 20, 2023, the date Havendock first set sail in Early Access.
When I go to bed every night after a whole day of programming, I find myself reflecting on the past-sometimes more than I’d like to admit. I ask myself so many times if I should have done certain things differently. I could never have predicted the challenges and lessons along the way, but what I also did not predict, was how awesome you guys are.
The occasional encouragement from you all kept me going. I try to respond when I can, but even if I don't, I do read them. I know I might not have been able to please everyone in every way, but I've done my best and will continue to do so. I'm incredibly grateful to those of you who have stuck with me through it all.
I came here to make games. Havendock may be my first, but it isn’t my last. No matter what comes next, Havendock will always hold a special place in my heart.
But enough rambling - I’m thrilled to share a brand new trailer we’ve put together, and I hope you enjoy the final version of the game when it launches!
As the trailer says, 1.0 isn't the end. Ideas that couldn't fit into 1.0 will be released as updates after 1.0 is stable. Thank you for being part of this epic journey with me.
A new update has been released, adding a housing revamp and new building upgrades!
🏡 Housing Revamp!
Back when Early Access began I got plenty of questions asking why settlers sleep on rocks. It was a funny idea suggested by a player, and I loved it so I added sleeping rocks, but it ended up being weird to some. I am sad to see it go but the revamp now introduces many new houses:
In the past, I noticed how people would just stack houses at the corners of their dock as they were tall and obstructive. Also they only costed wood, which meant they were just "build and forget". I felt that was a boring way to play, but with these housing upgrades, you'll upgrade your housing with higher tier materials as you progress in the game, rather than spamming wooden houses.
This also allows you to optimize your dock space's usage as higher housing tiers increase max population further. Maybe higher tier housing can provide quality housing, but that's an idea for the future.
I also liked the visual progression - you start off with rustic tents and slowly build up to brick homes, then futuristic houses (which is where materials from the soon-to-arrive Astronomy Island come useful)
It took awhile to brainstorm and test solutions but I'm glad to have been able to work this out before 1.0. I believe this is a more interesting way to play and progress. It is a big change, so feel free to let me know your feedback!
🛠️ New Upgrades!
Many of you wanted to upgrade your dock further. With the introduction of upcoming content, new resources will be introduced. So new upgrade tiers are added to expand your late-game possibilities!
Typical bases have lots of farms, so higher-leveled birdhouses allow you to keep up seed production while taking less precious space. Charcoal kilns will also actually be upgradable to look more like kilns, and not just work faster but also store more maximum charcoal and wood. Grills will also be upgradable using astronomy island materials if on experimental.
The refinery will also get a second upgrade path, allowing you to increase its maximum capacity.
☢️Improvements
Uranium ore patches now start out with more ore to help kickstart your energy needs in the beginning!
Steel factory is also buffed to add +4 max capacity per level.
🚀 Final Stretch Before 1.0!
I am super excited for 1.0's launch that will be coming next month and am stoked to share more details about the upcoming Astronomy Island - a futuristic island that grants new items, as well as setting a new win condition. Stay tuned!
Lastly, I've been informed that there's a Spring Sale, during which you can get Havendock at a 50% discount. This makes it the last chance to grab it at a lower price before the March 21 price increase.
As always, please share your thoughts about the new housing, upgrades, and balance changes here or on Discord. Thank you~
Speaking of discord, we now have a new discord link and I had some awesome help from you guys, especially WaffleGames and Tao_T who helped to rebuild the server.
Full changelog details:
Add new Birdhouse upgrades
Add new Charcoal Kiln upgrades
Add new Grill upgrades
Add new Mill upgrade
Add secondary Refinery upgrade
Uranium ore patches give 30 more uranium
Steel factory +4 max output per level
Housing Revamp: House has been replaced with a new upgradable housing structure
Old Houses can no longer be built (existing savefiles with houses remain)
Sleeping Rocks can no longer be built (existing savefiles with rocks remain)
With Havendock 1.0 coming, I want to share an update on multiplayer.
After some tough reflections, multiplayer will remain in experimental mode, and will not be released to the main branch in 1.0.
It’s been super cool to see so many people excited to play Havendock with friends, but ultimately I had to choose between creating new content versus stopping development for a long time to rewrite the game for multiplayer. Given the complexity involved, it is unfortunately not realistic to implement at this time. That said, I don’t want to rule it out completely! The reason I added multiplayer was because I myself wanted to play my own game with my friends. I even brought someone on board to work on it, but it didn’t work out.
I know this may be disappointing, and I’m sorry for those who were looking forward to it. If I can find the right person, ideally someone experienced with multiplayer and familiar with Havendock’s systems, I’m happy to revisit it in future.
For now, my focus is on expanding the game in ways that are realistic and sustainable for a solo developer, so I can continue to make cool things for all of you. I truly appreciate your patience and for being part of this journey with me!
As we get closer to the Havendock 1.0 release, I wanted to give you all a heads-up—on March 21, 2025, I'll be increasing the game's price from $16.99 to $19.99.
This is the only price change I have planned, and before it happens, you’ll still have a chance to grab Havendock at the current price with a discount during the sale at the end of February, and for the very last time during the Steam Spring Sale.
Why the change?
With 1.0 coming this spring, there’s a lot of new content on the way! I've already rolled out 3 major updates from the new roadmap, with 2 more to go before the full release. But the journey doesn’t end there. I have plans for even more content post-launch, including Wizard Island with an expanded magic system, and more! If you're curious, you can already check out the upcoming 1.0 content (and even a bit extra) in the experimental branch.
Since launching in Early Access, Havendock has grown so much, thanks to your feedback and support. This game wouldn’t be the same without this awesome community. Together, we’ve built: 🎣 Fishing Village 🪹 Bird Island Expansion 🐮 Cow Island 🚀 Underwater Expansion 🥮 Moon Island 🎃 Spooky Halloween Update 🕊️ Seagulls & Ranching Update 🏮 Lunar New Year Update 🐟 Clownfish Update 🦪 Oysters Update 🐦 Kewi Traits Update 💡 Countless QoL Improvements …and more!
The past year has been tough for me, but being back on Havendock has felt like coming home. I’ve poured my heart into making 1.0 the best version of the game it can be, and your warm welcome after my break truly meant a lot. I hope you enjoy the final Early Access updates, and I’m excited to keep building Havendock with you all.
If you have any thoughts, ideas, or feedback, I’d love to hear them—drop by the Steam forums, Discord, or QQ and let’s chat.
v0.75.1 changelog: Fix astro island inaccessible by boat
Hi to all of you on experimental, I have just pushed out v0.75.1 on experimental - Astro island was inaccessible by boat by mistake and instead said the content was locked - I had missed this out when adding the island into the final version, and this has been fixed. (Previously you could only get there by Mother Kewi.)
