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An Industrial Frontier Mining RPG – From Claim to Empire
Overview
GoldClaim: Starfall Nuggets is a top-down industrial frontier mining RPG that blends geology-driven resource gathering, economic systems, and frontier town expansion into a single event-driven evolving world.
This page documents the introduction and ongoing development of the game. “From Claim to Empire” is the guiding principle – a journey from hand panning and makeshift sluices to large-scale multi-claim operations in a lore-driven RPG – your own frontier legacy.
Game Introduction
First of all, thank you for visiting the landing page of GoldClaim – an indie top-down frontier mining RPG game I’ve designed to combine the best of three worlds, resulting in: A cozy RPG with narrative stories, quests, and puzzles – layered with an event-driven world, deep economic mechanics, and social power struggles: Create your own legacy.
Click the button below to read the formal introduction of GoldClaim: Starfall Nuggets
The Lands of Valaenia
The world of GoldClaim unfolds across Valaenia, a vast country spanning 2048 km² of lands and sea. The landscape is divided into seven distinct regions and connected by more than 300 kilometers of roads, linking towns, cities, and remote settlements throughout the country.
A dedicated page explores Valaenia in detail, presenting its regions, settlements, and a fully illustrated map of the land. For those who wish to avoid potential spoilers, the page initially displays redacted versions of the map and the starting area, with clear warnings before additional details are revealed.
Click the button below to read all about the lands of Valaenia
First Milestone: Resource Generator (core system reveal)
The resource generator is part of the claim engine, and one of the main pillars which defines GoldClaim. It’s capable of generating the actual resources like gold nuggets and silver nuggets which can be found in Valaenia, and also any other metals or minerals.
This page reveals what lies in the core of the system and it can already showcase visuals on the game’s progress.
Click the button below to read all about the Resource Generator
Platform Support
GoldClaim is a game which is intended for both desktop play and handheld consoles. There are exciting new devices being made available to the market, and they have not gone unnoticed.
Basically any device capable of running Steam will automatically be supported as well, but the listed devices here will actually be tested and receive direct support.
The following platforms will be supported on launch:
- Windows desktop (Windows 10 or higher)
- Linux desktop (Ubuntu 20.04+ / SteamOS or equivalent)
- Steam Deck (all gens)
The following platforms are explored post-launch:
- Nintendo Switch
- Ninentdo Switch 2
- Microsoft Xbox Ally
- Microsoft Xbox Wire
Windows desktop and Linux desktop
The PC is the primary development platform and receives the highest level of support. Both Windows and Linux will be supported in the full release. The game will be made available through Steam as it’s both a widely supported distribution platform and cross-platform capable, but also the jump to handheld devices like the Steam Deck and similar handheld devices will then be much smaller.
Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch
Both the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch are available to the studio and ready to be developed on — The game will natively support it.
The goal is smooth gameplay and cross-platform capability from the start — maintaining the same look and feel compared to other systems and interconnect with other platforms in multiplayer.
Note: The identity of the game is still taking shape as we’re in the early development stage. Therefore, no platform licenses or store pages have been established yet, meaning it’s not yet allowed to advertise by using Steam- and Nintendo logos or pictures. We’re however still allowed to explain and show our own pictures of what will be supported. For now, we use our own pictures.
Regarding the Nintendo Switch: The engine’s being developed with the hardware specifications of the Switch Gen 1 in mind. The bulk of the math has already been performed — the resource budget numbers are showing green lights regarding memory availability and its CPU power for the mining simulations.
The Switch release will take place after the release of the desktop + Steam Deck release.
Other platforms
Post-launch more platforms like the Nintendo Switch and next-gen Xbox Wire are seriously considered. H/W budget allocation has already been solved for these platforms, but there are challenges to overcome and priorities to consider after launch.
Hardware requirements
A happy development: GoldClaim has been developed design-first across all technical phases, including hardware resource budgeting (CPU load, memory usage and simulation tickrates).
This approach means both minimum and recommended specifications are calculated values, not rough estimates:
Minimum specs
- CPU: Ryzen 3 1200 / Intel i5-6500
- RAM: 6 GB
- Storage: 8 GB free
- Graphics: GTX 1050 / RX 560 / integrated graphics (Steam Deck compatible)
- OS: Windows 10 / Windows 11 / Ubuntu 20.04+ or equivalent
- Sound card: DirectX compatible / ALSA / PulseAudio compatible sound device
Recommended specs
- CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 / i5-9600k
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 8 GB free
- Graphics: GTX 1070 / RX 590
- OS: Windows 10 / Windows 11 / Ubuntu 20.04+ or equivalent
- Sound card: DirectX compatible / ALSA / PulseAudio compatible sound device
Following developments about GoldClaim
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