Fact Sheet

Release Date: 📆 coming soon!

Platforms:

💻 PC: Steam

Developer: Nestwork Games Location: Vienna, Austria Publisher: Nestwork Games

🔗 Links

Website Instagram YouTube Discord

📧 Contacts: General/Business: [email protected] Press: [email protected]

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About the Game

"Think like a bird"

Welcome to Crowded, a crow citybuilder where you’re tasked with building a society in the sky. As a cunning crow you’ll need every tool at your disposal and plenty of imagination to keep the flock safe, fed and happy. After all, there’s no ‘i’ in Murder!

Scavenge for delicious bugs and building materials, managing resources wisely so your feathered friends get what they need. Take flight and explore a landscape of lush forests and sprawling meadows, planting new trees to expand your territory. Strategically design your nest-city to support and shelter your adorable flock. Manipulate the wind itself to influence the environment and create a form of transportation. As you innovate, you’ll also discover new technologies to lead your flock to greatness.

The world beyond may be dangerous, but if you’re crafty enough you won’t just survive, but thrive.

Alternative History

In our game, players experience an alternative evolution in which crows, rather than humans, develop into a civilization. You accompany them from the moment they settle down through the ages. From the Stone Age to the early Middle Ages, although these look significantly different for crows.

Think like a Bird

From the very beginning, it was important to us that Crowded would not be a city builder where the crows are simply reskinned humans. That is why we adopted the motto “Think like a Bird” early on. Everything we add to the game is checked to see whether it makes sense for birds. Starting with the tools they use, through their houses, all the way to the technologies they develop. That is why we also build our cities in the treetops rather than on the ground.

Featherpunk

Based on “Think like a Bird”, we developed our art style, which we call Featherpunk. Rectangular shapes do not make much sense for birds. That is why we use round, organic shapes inspired by real bird nests. We were also inspired by our feathered friends when it comes to building materials. Instead of stone and mortar, our buildings are made from woven wood and clay. The building materials used can also be recognized when looking closely at the buildings. Many of our buildings have an open design, so that the player can see the crows better.

Wuselfaktor

Another important point for us is that the world should feel lively and bustling. Crows are individually simulated: they go to work, fulfill their needs, and return home. All of our buildings are hand-animated and tell their own little humorous stories. If you take a close look at the nursery, for example, you can see that the crow briefly falls asleep while counting the eggs and has to start counting all over again.

Despite all the details, players are not limited to small settlements. Even with the current version, testers have built crow cities with more than 200 crows. So there is already quite a lot going on.

Wind System

Since wind plays an extremely important role for birds, it also plays an important role in Crowded. It influences the flight behavior of the crows, the transportation and the production of goods. The wind system behaves dynamically: trees block the wind, while open areas strengthen it. By strategically placing trees, the wind can be used optimally for production and transportation. With new technologies, the wind can be harnessed more easily (e.g. through a Wind Diverter), or headwinds can be negated (e.g. through a Crow Catapult). But the wind does not only have positive effects. During storm season, strong gusts can damage buildings and bring transportation to a standstill.

About the Developer

Nestwork Games is a small indie team based in Austria, united by the motto Think free like a bird! They’re currently working on their debut project, the crow city builder Crowded.