Hey there treasure hunters! It's been a while since the last update, so I'm excited to announce the official launch of a Steam Deck version of Bilkins' Folly - just in time for the Steam Summer Sale! To all of you who have been holding out for the Steam Deck build, thank you for your incredible patience and support. I planned to get this done sooner, but Valve doesn't sell the Deck in my country, and it proved challenging to track one down. We got there in the end though A big thanks to everyone who's already had a crack at Bilkins, and if you haven't yet, now is a great time to pick it up... Also, thanks to everyone who's left a review of the game. I can't express how much enjoyment I get from reading comments from players, it's truly a wonderful experience (Big congrats to those players who solved 100% of the puzzles too!). Reviews are a fantastic way to help spread the word and get others into Bilkins, so if you were planning on leaving a review but haven't done so yet, please remember to share your thoughts as it's a big help! Regarding the Steam Deck build itself, I've gone through and checked it, but as always, there might be something I missed during testing. If you think something's not right, the quickest way to get my attention is in the Discord server, so feel free to ping me there: https://discord.gg/W4CZrmmmzt Of course, you can post in the Steam forum too, though admittedly, I check that a bit less than Discord. Happy hunting!!! Luke ***EDIT*** Woohoo! Bilkins has been verified by Steam as working great on Steam Deck! As a result, the compatibility check below has been removed, there's no longer any need to turn on compatibility mode when launching on the Deck :) [strike]NOTE: The Steam Deck version is a native Linux build and won't run using Proton. To launch on the Deck, you must go into Bilkins' Folly Settings>Properties>Compatibility and check the 'Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool' option, then select Linux from the bottom of the list. [/strike] Known issue with Steam Deck build: Opening up books creates a small lag delay. I know what the issue is here (it's related to the game engine), I'm just not sure on the best method for fixing it. As opening books doesn't happen all that often and this doesn't impact gameplay, I decided not to let it delay the Steam Deck release further.

Fixed an issue where players could unlock the same lock twice, using up an extra key.

Thanks to everyone who's helped spot these! dialogue addition: (ending spoiler) - [spoiler]La Moina will now acknowledge if you've spoken to Winston[/spoiler] Fixed bug where it was possible to bring up map tools while out of journal Added Numberly Rocks quest icons to local map Cecil - changed "it's" to "its" Bug fix - icon text would appear on screen after local map had been dismissed if hovering over icon Fixed - 'Paused' text would not clear from screen in certain situations Changed a line in the journal - 'save from their fate' to 'leave to their fate' Blum's diary - fixed a typo Crabb Island - fixed missing water tile Big Catch trophy now appears in Percy's cabin fixed bug where carrying Drayton into water that quickly gets deep could warp Percy to different locations Fixed bug where carrying Drayton into water after a leap of faith would create two Draytons Fixed issue with ordering Drayton to pull the Crabb Mountain chain twice causing game to softlock Added an extra fast travel point on Leeky Harbor in the stumpy spot lowered the time it takes for the telescope zoom to return to the normal game zoom level - allows for faster opening of journal Can no longer unlock fast travel points early using the telescope Can no longer unlock the Crabb Island cemetary fast travel point early by going around the cliffs Fixed a rare bug with the Leeky Harbor chest break-ins that could trigger the wrong treasure If the Leeky Harbor chest bug was activated, game will check and unlock the thief achievement retroactively Act 3 - can no longer ask fishmaster about pearls after completing quest typo fix: "shipyards" to "shipyard's" typo fix: "it's" to "its" typo fix: "your" to "you're" typo fix: "mentioned" Act 3 - removed certain livestock from a certain farm experimental - can now cycle objects with mouse wheel scrolling Fixed a moment where during a specific line of dialogue with Philmore, Percy's lips wouldn't move ultrawide monitors - titlescreen fadeout now covers entire screen Fixed ruler not rounding to the nearest degree in certain cases Fixed issue where Drayton's icon could occasionally disappear from the map Removed an old cheat code for QA testers that would set lockpicks to novice Drayton can now be dropped with the interact button Remy's Lott, no longer possible to stand in swamp water and open the ship chest Remy's Lott, swamp ship now fades out correctly Remy's Lott, swamp chest depth sorting fixed Achievement - pirate perfectionist would not unlock if fishing tasks were completed in a very specific order. Will unlock automatically for players who experienced this Gail's achievement unlocks no matter dialogue choices

Fixed a rare bug that could lead to disappearing clues, possibly only affected ultrawide monitors.

Turned windowed mode back on Added a secret room that allows players to bypass [spoiler]the timed minecart puzzle[/spoiler]

A lot of smaller fixes in this update. A big thanks to everyone across the Steam forum and Discord who helped report these. Without that info, none of these patches would exist. There's also a couple of retroactive Steam achievements that will be unlocked if you completed certain tasks but didn't meet all requirements - [spoiler]previously, giving Gail all the fish without having a high or low relationship with her would not trigger the achievement[/spoiler]. so if you launch the game and one of these achievements suddenly unlocks, that's why. Can no longer fast travel on local map when holding ruler, eraser or pins Crabb Island - map tools adjustment, pins were off by a few pixels The Tot4C map wasn't always unlocking in the journal treasure tab - Retroactively fixed. Achievement 'marital bliss' now unlocks no matter what when [spoiler]you give Gail all the fish.[/spoiler] Achievement 'marital bliss' will retroactively unlock for players who already [spoiler]gave her the fish[/spoiler] but did not meet the original requirements to unlocking that achievement. 'Factors of' changed to 'multiples of' Removed an invisible fish from the ship's hold. Fixed typo in dialogue text word: 'pitiful' Remy's Lott - map pins were not visible in one specific area. Bat dungeon - moved a rogue bat off-screen Accessiblity - Shattered Peak bell statues - added a visual indicator to show tone of each bell Removed ability to move sheep with the mouse during Cecil's herding puzzle Crabb Island journal map, moved a statue icon to be closer to it's in-game location Swamp dungeon - fixed bug if the door code was entered a second time Main menu - left a note detailing how to toggle fullscreen mode ("F11") Detective Bumsted will now acknowledge (in her own way) that you've solved the case Fixed controller issue where picking up the ruler would create an additional line if button was held Fixed journal entry not being added when collecting Cecil's map Fixed dialogue line at start of Act 3 to correctly acknowledge which parts [spoiler]of the key[/spoiler] had been collected so far Removed fishmaster's icon on the local map once entering Act 3 Fixed wind and water checkboxes not being unchecked at startup on main menu when they have been disabled Fixed Forest grove on Crabb Island not fading out if wind effect was disabled Fixed issue where [spoiler]La Moina's key[/spoiler] wasn't being unlocked in journal treasure page if pieces were collected in a certain order, which also prevented the [spoiler]keysmith[/spoiler] achievement from unlocking which will be fixed retroactively Fixed mining on Phelmy Island causing softlock Fixed Gail's diary appearing when parked at certain mysterious islands... Local map, adjusted player's icon so that it's a few pixels more accurate Can now drop bombs on Phelmy Island... if you really want to.

Hotfix - I miscounted the total number of treasures in game so it was possible that the 'Pirate Perfectionist' achievement wasn't unlocking for some players :/

Hi all. Have you been thinking about getting Bilkins' Folly but weren't sure if it was the game for you? Wonder no longer, for the Bilkins' Folly demo is now available on Steam! To celebrate this milestone, I'll be giving away a couple of game keys to anyone who can solve the Secret of Crab Claw Island!!! To enter: - Play the demo and complete the Secret of Crab Claw quest. Then, screenshot your Steam name when it's on screen (don't worry if you miss it the first time. You can make it reappear as many times as you like). - Either reply to this announcement with a link to your screenshot (imgur might be best for this)... or jump on over to the BF Discord and post it there: https://discord.gg/bF8gJkCBjg - Winners can pick a PC, PS4/5 or Switch key... - One entry per user! - The comp will draw in 1 week. I'll collect all the user names across Steam, Discord and X and add them to a hat, drawing at random. Good luck! :)

Jake Grubb will now give a hint on his diaries in normal mode Minecart puzzle - adjusted timer to be more forgiving Remy's Lott - slight adjustment to distillery map icon keysmith achievement would not always unlock Remy's Lott - final Flo's Hunt token, made sensor for this more forgiving Fixed a rare bug where the player would get stuck looking out to sea on the ship increasing Drayton's sniffing ability could remove sniffing sensor Fixed softlock in skull dungeon if entering the same wheel code twice. Removed unneeded graphic in tutorial menu Blum's puzzle could be inadvertedly solved by spamming the 'esc' key Switch icons - should reflect reversed a/b now Made Cecil's step puzzle more forgiving Fixed bug where player could run outside of the bounds of a cutscene before it triggered after getting map off Cynthia If player skipped that cutscene, it will now trigger on reloading Crabb Island if story has not progressed further Fixed issue where after beating Big Catch tournament, bait was still being deducted Added a warning on new game that it will delete progress

1.0.25 Fixed - Bron's position after cutscene Fixed - Drayton could level up during inappropriate moments Changed - Lost in translation map

Bug fix - the chest in the Leeky Harbor church could be used to spawn every item in the level.

bug fix - [spoiler]Cid's anchor cutscene would sometimes not play correctly. This is now fixed and will also patch out the bush for player's who discovered this bug.[/spoiler] bug fix - Fish hook showed wrong move

This build fixes a serious bug with the telescope

Phew, what a mind-boggling few days! Bilkins' Folly is out at sea. I've been pretty busy these last couple of days listening to players with their feedback and questions, and this first patch is aimed at targeting some of the more regular items that kept being mentioned, whether it's a particular puzzle that was catching out a lot of players, or a bug (oops!) that might've popped up. Thanks to everyone who's jumped on the Steam forum or over on the Discord and helped with all the feedback - super appreciated! Some of the changes are quite subtle, such as redrawing a map as players were finding it a bit too difficult to understand, while others are bit more obvious (like Drayton being a bit too 'bark-crazy' when you leave him alone) Finally, if you've been playing, I'd love for you to leave a Steam review. It's a HUGE help in getting the game out there and visible across Steam's platform :) 1.0.2 changes Cecil Tot4C map change -> [spoiler]added note to return to LPI to collect chest[/spoiler] Cid Tot4C map change -> [spoiler]made this map more obvious[/spoiler] Cynthia Tot4C map change -> [spoiler]made it a lot clearer what has to happen here[/spoiler] Cecil cask map change -> [spoiler]made this location clearer[/spoiler] Changed Drayton bark regularity when he's been left behind so that the frequency of barks decreases over time. Player's can now re-read Blum's tablet after it has been solved. bug fixed - game would hang during fishing when auto-text forward was disabled bug fixed - when collecting the last piece of Tot4C, the map could disappear if collected in a certain order

With the release of Bilkins' Folly fast approaching, I wanted to take a bit of time to sit back and reflect on some of the early design and art decisions that led to this point. Why pixel art? I originally came into game dev from an illustration perspective, transitioning over to pixelart on the first game I worked on - Wildfire. From an artistic point of view, the choice of pixel art is something that happens super early on. In fact, the graphics were decided even before I'd started working on Bilkins' Folly as a conceptual game. Not long after completing work on Wildfire, I was playing around with different styles and just generally trying to improve my artistic ability. I'd found a colour palette that struck me, and decided to try drawing a few different scenes using those colours. One of the throwaway images that I created was of a boy standing on a cliff with his dog, overlooking the sea. I didn't know it at the time, but that image would form the basis for the entirety of Bilkins' Folly game art. Once I had it in my head to make another game and I started prototyping ideas, I tested out a few different art styles. From 8bit graphics all the way through to the illustrative-style that I employed in my picture book The Lonely Tower. After a bit, I came back to that scene of the boy on the cliff, and everything clicked into place.
I didn't know it at the time, but this image would prove impactful... World design I think it's safe to say that I'm a visual thinker. More often than not, I'll design everything with paper and pencil, trying to get as far from a computer as possible. I find this is particularly helpful when designing the different islands of Bilkins' Folly. The process would usually look something like this. Find the biggest sketchbook I can, jump in the car and drive to an isolated beach, setting up a spot to work. There's something about drawing near the ocean that I absolutely love, and I tap into this as best I can.
2 hours to sketch it... 200 hours to build the damn thing! Once I have my island sketched out, in my head wandering around as mini Percy exploring this greyscale outline, I then return home and set about the painstaking process of building it into the pixelated version that the player gets to see, using a combination of giant tilemaps (reusable blocks of pixels) and individual art pieces.
You'll see a lot of beaches in Bilkins' Folly. They're actually stitched together from a single giant tilemap. I wasn't even sure this'd be possible when first starting!
Buildings on the other hand are individually drawn. Percy and Drayton's Story One of the early game choices centred around Percy's backstory and what sort of character he'd be. Originally, I considered the idea of a customisable player character, where you could change different aspects such as name, skin tone, clothing and background. However, as the game's story began to take form, it became clear that Percy was a distinctly defined character with his own personality, desires and fears. This was no longer just a treasure hunting game, but a full-fledged narrative tale and it needed a protagonist who could fit that bill.
Our hero of the story... standing with his human! As I continued to write the story and dialogue interactions, it became clear that having a distinct personality for Percy and Drayton was the right choice in a game like this. Cheers So there ya go, a bit of insight into how things started. If you've made it this far, I'd like to say thanks for showing an interest in Bilkins' Folly. The next time I make an entry like this, it'll be post-release. I'm simultaneously thrilled and terrified! What I'm most looking forward to though is hearing from player's experiences and reading their thoughts once beating the game - using spoiler tags of course! See you then! :)

Come chat with the developer as he plays through the demo for Bilkins' Folly - a treasure-hunting puzzle game set in the 1700s. Bilkins' Folly... Percys on a quest to find his missing relatives, and he needs your help! Join him and his beloved dog Drayton as they adventure through a series of unusual islands, solve puzzles to uncover valuable treasure, and bring to light the foreboding family secret buried beneath it all.

Percys on a quest to find his missing relatives, and he needs your help! Join him and his beloved dog Drayton as they adventure through a series of unusual islands, solve puzzles to uncover valuable treasure, and bring to light the foreboding family secret buried beneath it all. In this live stream, you can watch as the developer plays though the demo and answers questions in chat.

Ive always enjoyed puzzles and brain teasers. I think its something that stems back to my days when I was still teaching. Quite often at the end of a lesson, Id put up a brainteaser on the board and challenge the students to solve it before the bell went.
Sometimes though, Id take things a bit further Back in the days when I was teaching grade six in a country school, it fell to each class to fundraise so that theyd have money for excursions. When it came to our turn, we decided (with a bit of prompting from me) to run a pirate day for the school. Students were encouraged to dress and run around speaking like pirates for the day, which, being an Aussie country school, wasnt too far removed from pirate speak anyway!
As a special activity just for my class, I brought in a locked treasure chest and sat it at the front of the classroom, telling my students they could have whatever treasure was locked inside if they found the key. What followed was a series of tasks that the kids had to do to gather four pieces of a treasure map. These ranged from getting enough points in a pirate-styled math game Id prepared to beating the other grade six class at pirate dodgeball and stealing their piece of the map.
By the end of the day, the students had the map (which was a drawing of our school) and were able to use the hints written on the back to find the location of the key. With five minutes left in the day, they found the key and came sprinting back to class, popping with excitement as they fumbled with the lock. Even to this day, I can recall one girl cheering, This is the most exciting thing thats ever happened to me! as the class cracked open the chest to reveal their prize a bag of carrots! Bracing myself for an expected wave of vitriol, I was surprised instead when one of the bigger boys held the prize up and shouted victoriously, tearing the bag apart and handing out the booty to the waiting crew. As they wandered off to the bus, munching away like rabbits, I was struck by how fun a day that was. On reflection, it really served as the seed for the Bilkins Folly style of puzzle solving. Having said that, players who complete Bilkins will be rewarded with more than just a bag of carrots. I promise. ;)

Now get outta here and wishlist my game, ya damn scurvy rabbit!

Hey all, hope you all have been having a great February so far. Weve still got a ways off until launch, so I wanted to start writing monthly dev logs for all of you to give you a peek into the games development. To start, it felt fitting to talk about what inspired me to make the game in the first place. I wrote so many little short stories as a kidand for a while, a lot of them were tales of pirates and buried treasure. The stories werent great, and I never finished any of them, but even at an early age, I knew I wanted to be a storyteller. The idea for Bilkins' Folly came about after my wife lost her wedding ring in the garden. I was wandering around with a metal detector trying to find it while my dog Holly helped. (Hollys a big fan of digging around.) While we mostly found useless crap, I thought this experience would make a solid premise for a story and started a small buried-treasure game prototype.
If you would believe it, Bilkins Folly never started as a pirate-themed game. It was originally a game about treasure hunting with a metal detector that was set in the modern era. However, as the story developed, the time period changed along with it as I recalled those stories I wrote in my childhood about pirates and treasure. Of course, because of this, the metal detector thing didnt make sense anymore. That left me wondering how the player would find those hidden treasuresand after recalling how Holly had been so enthusiastic about digging holes with me, it wasnt a huge leap to bring her into the game. As development continued further, the (then unnamed) dog in the game grew into more than just a copy of Holly and eventually would represent all the important pups Ive had throughout my life. There was my childhood dog Bandit, who used to bash around the bush with me as a kid while wed go exploring. (I was a child of the 80s; parental supervision was optional.) There was also Jess, the family pooch my own kids got to grow up with, who would watch over orphaned lambs and mother tiny fostered kittenseventually breaking my heart more than anything in this world. Hollys playfulness got mixed up with the adventurous spirit of Bandit and the loving nature of Jess, and thanks to them, Drayton was born. This game is dedicated to all three of them.
So in my head, the telling of Bilkins Folly started when I was a kid, trying to write my own pirate tales and not doing a great job at it. But it wasnt until I spent some time reflecting on the relationships from throughout my life that I really had a strong sense of what the story would be and how the themes would tie together. As far as media goes, theres a lot that has inspired me to make Bilkins Follyespecially other video games, obviously. Breath of the Wild, Links Awakening, and Outer Wilds all come to mind. People always tell me the game reminds them of Monkey Island, and thats partially by design, but the Zelda games are and have always been my biggest inspiration. Ive always loved how those series of games handle exploration as a lead-in to game progression, which I have tried to capture in Bilkins Follys design. I was also really inspired by this show called The Curse of Oak Island. Draytons name is actually a nod to one of the characters, Gary Draytona metal detectorist and career treasure hunter. Thats my story. This games story is really special to me, and I cant wait to share it with all of you eventually. Until then, feel free to comment below and let me know what else about Bilkins Folly youre itching to learn more about.
Oh, and if you havent already, please wishlist the game! Id really appreciate it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526370/Bilkins_Folly/ Anyway, thanks for reading. Cheers! Luke