October 22, 2025 — The Forgotten Birthday
On September 24, the game turned 3 years old!
Happy Birthday, Trapped Together!
I completely forgot about the game’s birthday! I only remembered a month later.
So, as usual, let’s look back at what’s been done and talk about plans for the future.
What was done in the 3rd year
Two new levels appeared — the Shop and the Castle
The Castle turned out to be useless — most players don’t even reach it.
But the Shop… it looks awesome! Screenshots of the Shop brought in the most people from Facebook.
Levels were replaced with transitions between cities
Now you can move between cities freely.
A world map was added
Yes… some people said that the map doesn’t fit the game’s style — and I agree.
But there are more important things to do right now.
Behind the scenes, the level editor got a big upgrade
To make the Castle and city transitions, I needed more complex logic.
Now the editor can change textures of walls, floors, and roofs — inside and outside.
You can make unique houses, put tiles in the bathroom, wood or brick outside, and so on.
Score points were replaced with XP
It is a hint that character upgrades are coming soon.
Finally, monetization started working!
That’s very important. The game already took 3 years of work and a lot of money for Facebook ads.
Monetization will help the project grow faster — paying for ads to bring more players (remember, it was meant to be an online game — the more players, the more fun), and maybe hiring a designer.
At first, I wanted to make paid levels. But that only works for offline games — not a good idea.
Now the game has LuckyPoints. Lucky points can be traded for bonuses — faster crafting, better gear, and so on.
LuckyPoints will work great in an online game.
Inventory
At first, I didn’t plan to add it soon.
But when I thought about how to keep players interested, I realized — we need it.
Players are more likely to return if their belongings is stored in a game.
And inventory opens the way for new gameplay mechanics — weapons, clothes, loot from zombies...Adding inventory really took the game to a new level!
Plans for the future
Of course, not everything I planned last year happened.
That’s why it’s fun to write new plans — and look back a year later, smiling at how different (and better) things turned out.
Money will appear soon
Zombies will drop it.
Yes money, like XP — new function not finished, and looks weird: money exists, but you can’t spend it.
But in the nearest future it allows us to add Shop (more on that below).
Next, players will be able to change weapons
At first, you’ll start unarmed and will have to search nearby houses for something — even a fork is better than nothing.
And if you’re lucky enough to find an axe — zombies better watch out.
Clothes
What happens next is hard to predict — but let’s dream. If there are weapons, why not clothes too?
They’re even easier to make (maybe I should add them before weapons).
You could find clothes in houses or get them from zombies.
The Shop!
If there’s money, there must be a place to spend it.
You’ll be able to both buy and sell items there.
Food
To make the game truly about survival, there must be a resource that always runs out — otherwise, it’s boring. Food!
But I’ll need to rework the mechanics: right now food restores HP, but it should reduce hunger instead.
I’m still not sure how HP recovery will work in that case. I thought about natural regeneration (like in real life — you don’t heal wounds by eating canned food). But players who love bloody battles might not like slow recovery.
Item wear and tear
This will have the same purpose as food — to keep the game challenging.
Otherwise, players would just buy the best available weapon and armor, kill zombies easily, and quit after a few days.
Weapons and clothes wearing out will keep the game interesting.
Online quests
I haven’t talked about this before — I was afraid someone might steal the idea. But I realized an idea means nothing without good execution.
The idea: new buildings will appear as players help build them. Those who help will get rewards.
For example, the town needs a shop. There’s a local who dreams of opening one, but he needs certain resources. When players gather enough, he opens the shop.
The Top 5 players who helped get a permanent 10% (or 20%) discount.
Later, the town might need a bakery or a sawmill...
Unique towns
Each town will have unique resources (wood, stone...), buildings, and even shop prices.
Players could work as couriers, delivering goods that are cheap in one region but expensive in another.
And finally — characters
Different characters
Players will be able to have several characters with different skills and goals.
They will be more mortal. I want to avoid the situation where someone trains one overpowered character for half a year and then quits because nothing’s left to fight.
Instead, I want unique characters with their own stories, abilities, and missions.
I remember watching a Gloomhaven stream — I loved how characters can retire, giving the player a bonus and making room for a new hero.
