Genre: Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure, Indie
Len's Island
Every New Feature in Len's Island 1.0!
Hi all!
Our very first Dev Diary on the Len's Island YouTube channel is out now, and it sure is a big one!
I talk about everything we're adding to 1.0 and show many new features and bits of content. I won't give anything away in this post, you'll have to watch the video below for all the spoilers!
- Julian
February Community Wrap-Up
Hello, everyone!
It's our first community wrap-up of 2025, and it's great to be back! To kickstart February's wrap-up, we have some great news!
Dev Diaries Coming Soon!
We know many of you enjoyed watching the original Dev Diaries of Julian creating Len's Island back in the day. So we thought it's fitting, seeing as we're close to 1.0, that we take you on the journey with us in a new Dev Diary series! The first video will be released on the Len's Island YouTube channel this week. Don't miss it, as we'll be revealing LOADS of 1.0 spoilers!
New Content Alert!
Here's a little sneak peek of something exciting we're bringing to 1.0... Introducing chickens! Any ideas on what their purpose will be? While we're keeping this under wraps for now, we'd love to hear your thoughts on how these chickens could help you on your adventure. In the meantime, here's a first-ever look at Len chasing these new feathery friends:
Tiny Homes Build Challenge
Over on the official Len's Island Discord, we held a Tiny Homes Build Challenge where we asked players to get creative with limited space. We absolutely loved this oceanic homestead, and crowned Shay the worthy winner! We'll be hosting more competitions soon, so watch this space.
Creator Showcase
Your health is sure to take a hit when venturing through the frozen lands, but FightinCowboy has a solution! We loved watching their past stream where they overcame cold damage by placing down campfires to keep warm. We also thought it was funny that they were then able to get ahead in the game by acquiring Tungsten much earlier than they were supposed to!
Multiplayer Playtests Continue
We've been making progress behind the scenes on our upcoming multiplayer mode, and we wouldn't be where we are without our fantastic playtesters! Thanks to everyone who has played and left us feedback, more playtests are on the horizon. If you'd like to participate, make sure to join the official Len's Island Discord for more information!
Incredible Fanart by Myke Van Dyke
Every game developer loves seeing fanart from their players, but we feel particularly lucky to have such a talented community. Imagine if Len's Island were a hotel chain, what would that look like? Well, it'd look something like this fantastic postcard created by Discord member Myke Van Dyke!
Newest Member of the Flow Studio Team
No development team is complete without a furry companion, so we thought we could do with an extra pair of paws! Introducing Tony (also referred to as Rigatoni), Flow Studio's new Office Manager! Tony will be overseeing our day-to-day business, as well as ensuring we hit our quota of belly rubs for the year.
Show me the Stuff!
If you made something cool or saw something cool, reach out! Tag us on X or share it on Discord.
That's all for now, folks! We'll be back very soon with our next Dev Diary, with more exciting news to tell you...
Thanks for all your continued support!
We’re partnering with Fireshine Games for 1.0!
Hey everyone!
It’s been an exciting time getting the multiplayer ready as we run alpha tests and inch closer and closer to the big 1.0 release.
Great things do take time, and as we’re a tiny development team, Len’s Island has certainly been a labor of love for the past 7 years - we can’t wait to reach the 1.0 milestone and share everything we have in the works with you all!
It's been difficult for us little devs to do everything on our own for so long, and we've had to sacrifice areas of the game because of this. When we started work on multiplayer last year, we quickly discovered that we could make the game a lot better if we got a helping hand.
With that being said, we have a big announcement to make!
We’ve teamed up with indie publishers, Fireshine Games, to support us with the 1.0 launch so we can guarantee to bring you the best version of Len’s Island possible! We're big fans of their work with other Early Access games like Core Keeper, so we're thrilled to have them on board as a publisher to help us co-launch Len’s Island.
There's a lot more to share just around the corner, be sure to check out our Twitter and Discord as we share sneak peeks of what’s to come!
If you want to join the next round of closed Alpha testing for co-op multiplayer make sure to join the official Len’s Island Discord for more information.
Thanks again for all of your support.
~ Julian
Patch 0.9.041
Hey all! A small patch to fix a few bugs and also add the new Italian translations!
We are hard at work building the new multiplayer-1.0 version of Len's Island, there won't be many patches and updates to the live game for the next few months in preparation for the full release. Then once the full release is ready, it will be the biggest update Len's Island has ever seen.
~ Julian
! New additions and changes:
Italian language added to the translations
! Bugs fixed:
Fixed enemy navigation issue causing enemy chasing to be unreliable sometimes, especially for the lightning fish
Fixed scrolling not working in the armor menu
Fixed various translation issues across the game
Fixed Act 2 dungeon shortcut spawning player at the start of the dungeon and not halfway thru
Updated game credits to include new translators
Len's Island 1.0 Roadmap Update
Hi everyone,
We've been working incredibly hard on developing co-op multiplayer and other major additions for the 1.0 launch. We've been a bit quiet recently, this is because the roadmap and launch window have changed. I thought explaining it all over a video would be best, so please watch the below!
Important Updates
You can play Len's Island multiplayer via the next round of testing in a few days, details are below
1.0/multiplayer launch is delayed until early-mid 2025
We've expanded our plans for 1.0, and Len's Island will be even better than expected
Sorry for the delay, we've been trying our hardest, and we need more time to finish
Multiplayer Testing
The next closed Alpha test for co-op multiplayer will become available via our Discord server in a few days. If you’d like to participate, please follow the steps below!
How to Join:
1. Join the official Len’s Island Discord. 2. Opt into the Tester role in the #get_roles channel to access the new tester's waiting room. 3. You will be notified when the closed alpha test is released on this channel! (Make sure you have notifications enabled)
Community Questions
We greatly appreciate your feedback and encourage you to ask your questions in the new #game_questions channel on our Discord server. If you have any questions about 1.0 or multiplayer, we will do our best to answer them here!
October Community Wrap-Up
October is coming to an end, Halloween is approaching, and it’s time for another community wrap-up! What’s on your agenda this spooky season?
Happy Halloween!
Last weekend our lead dev Julian got a taste of pumpkin farming in real life! It got us thinking… Should we add spooky items like jack-o-lanterns and scarecrows to Len’s Island?!
Update on Multiplayer Testing
We’re full steam ahead developing co-op multiplayer at Flow Studio! With help from some dedicated alpha-testers we’ve been able fix a bunch of bugs, make quality of life improvements, and gain first hand insight into how major multiplayer will be for Len’s Island gameplay!
We want to give a big thank you to everyone who has helped test multiplayer so far. The pool of testers will be expanding very shortly as a new test is set to go live in the next week or so. If you are on our Discord waiting to test multiplayer, we appreciate your patience.
Fishing Build Challenge
Last week we asked our Discord community to share their most creative builds inspired by Fishing in Len’s Island, and we were not disappointed! Community member, wendercharles won the challenge with their wonderful pagoda fishing hut filled with fishing decorations on a cherry blossom island. We just love the colours and creativity in this one!
It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature
Our beta tester Wombat (James) graciously demonstrating how to leave Len’s Island in a hurry!
Creator Showcase
We loved watching Project Gamer ID’s latest video where they fight their way through the mega spawner cursed dungeon!
Get Juicing!
Check out this awesome fan art by community member Toenes! They said that their juicer creation is intended to combine fruit into a juice that when drunk, can boost the health and hunger of a player much more than if the fruits were eaten raw. Such a creative idea to expand on the cooking in Len’s Island!
Show me the Stuff!
If you made something cool or saw something cool, reach out! Tag us on X or share it on the Discord.
September Community Wrap-Up
Welcome to our first-ever community wrap-up! At the end of every month, we'll share a Steam post dedicated to keeping the community updated on all things Len's Island! We'll cover a range of topics including upcoming events, sneak peeks of exciting 1.0 content, community announcements, and we'll also showcase awesome creations made by the community. So let’s get into it!
We Want Your Feedback!
It's been two weeks since we released the Controllers & Steam Deck update that improved the controllers and Steam Deck experience - we know many of you have been waiting for this!
About 90% of the work is now complete and in the game, however, we still need to tweak it a little further in order for it to be perfect. If you have any ideas on how we can further improve the controller and Steam Deck support, please recommend them in the Discord Server or Steam Forums. We'd love to hear your feedback!
Join the Testing Team
In case you've missed the big news, a closed Alpha test for co-op multiplayer will become available via our Discord in early October. If you'd like to participate make sure to join the official Len's Island Discord for more information!
A new Sea Creature?!
We held a vote on Discord to see what new sea creature the community expects to see at 1.0. We were saddened find out that the community don't want a sea cucumber with a top hat by any means!
Surprise! Here's a sneak peek of the new shark that'll be added to Len’s Island at 1.0 launch. What do you think, will it be a friend or foe?
Farming Build Challenge
Last week we held a fun build challenge on our official Discord where we asked the community to share a screenshot of their best farms in Len’s Island. We’re pleased to announce the winner, community member Wendercharles for their grand seaside farm!
Creator Showcase
We had a lot of fun watching this video from Friendly Craft. Follow him as he discovers Bridgewater town, survives his first night on the island, and builds a massive home for Len!
Shield, Axe & Sword Hotel Resort
Look at this unbelievable build made by Discord community member, Myke Van Dyke! He said in his post, "I spent hours and hours experimenting with unusual and probably unintended building techniques within this lovely game and this is what I came up with: A modern Hotel Resort."
Hey all! A minor update today to change over some of the new controller/Steam Deck controls and building.
We received feedback that the X/Y or West/North buttons for the hotbar didn't feel good. We have changed the hotbar controls to be on the d-pad instead and made the left and right arrows scroll the hotbar, up arrow equip and long hold up arrow to unequip. You can now equip items quicker, and to unequip you need to hold for a lot longer so you don't accidentally do it.
We've also re-added the inventory automatically opening to the build page when entering edit mode. We didn't realise that people use edit mode as a way to quickly enter the build menu too. So we've added this back in and we also improved the controller inputs and general handling of this. Now the menu won't annoyingly go away when going from build to edit mode, or cancelling a build item.
We will continue to make tweaks and changes to the new controller and Steam Deck inputs as we draw closer to full release. So please continue to provide feedback on how we can make things better!
~ Julian
! New additions and changes:
Build menu will now open when to enter edit mode, and consistently stay open during edit and build mode
Moved hotbar controls to the d-pad on controller, and changed their layout slightly, making the hotbar easier to navigate.
Moved edit mode, inventory, and compendium controls to the buttons on controller
Alpha Test for Multiplayer - Join now!
We’re now one BIG step closer to completing co-op multiplayer for Len’s Island and we want to share this progress with you!
As you may know, we’ve spent many months implementing multiplayer into Len’s Island in preparation for 1.0 at the end of this year. It’s been a massive undertaking for our small dev team. However, we know how incredible it’ll be to see all of you play Len’s Island co-op with your friends and family very soon!
A closed Alpha test for co-op multiplayer will become available via our Discord server in early October, so if you’d like to participate please follow the steps below. This is the first of several tests we will be running over the next few months. We will let in as many players as we can, if you don't make it through in the first round don't be discouraged, there will be more testing rounds to join soon!
Opt into the Tester role in the #get_roles channel to access the new tester's waiting room.
You will be notified when the closed alpha test is released on this channel! (Make sure you have notifications enabled)
We will post on Steam and Discord whenever a new round of testing starts. All communication to testers beyond these announcement posts will happen in the tester's waiting room channel, so make sure you keep an eye on it!
PLEASE NOTE: While we do our best to offer multiplayer testing to everyone interested, there may be limitations as to who can participate due to player capacity.
Thanks again to the community for all of the love and support throughout Early Access. With your help, we hope to make Len’s Island the absolute best it can be at 1.0!
Controllers & Steam Deck Update
The time has come, we have spent the past couple of months completely overhauling the gamepad and Steam Deck controls for Len's Island!
Len's Island is now far more enjoyable, easier, and more accessible to play on various devices. We will still be tweaking and making some changes to the gamepad controls and Steam Deck support for the 1.0 launch, however, 90% of the work is now complete and in the game :)
If you have any ideas on how we can further improve the controller support and Steam Deck support, please recommend them in the Discord Server or Steam Forums. We would love to hear your feedback!
This update also includes some tweaks to rebalance some of the base-defense mechanics. I think we went a little too far in recent updates, making the enemies at night and during harvest moons a little too difficult. We have done a lot of balancing and testing and have found a much better format and difficulty for everyone.
~ Julian
+ New Features
Completely remade the gamepad and Steam Deck controls across the game
Overhauled all UI and cursor navigation for gamepad and Steam Deck across the game
Added various new systems for selecting the hotbar, navigating through inventory, and moving the camera, specifically for gamepad and Steam Deck
Added ability to choose to respawn at dungeon entrance or bed whenever you die inside a dungeon
~ Balancing Changes
Enemies no longer target beds, and will only ever target the player. Making it easier to defend your home and build outposts
Removed ammo requirements from small and large ballistas
Lowered enemy spawn rates during night and harvest moons
Decreased the difficulty ramp of enemies during night and harvest moons
! Bug Fixes
Added safety check to stop rare bug allowing players load position to be out of bounds (would cause infinite loading screens in the caves)
Fixed bug with fish items disappearing from the hotbar
Fixed rotation speed curve during attacks not correctly applying
