Conuco
A Caribbean farming and fishing game about helping a coastal pueblo come back to life.
Private vertical slice with 126 passing tests. No public release yet.
The idea
A conuco is not a farm to optimize into an empire. In Conuco, you plant, fish, cook, and help restore a coastal pueblo: the colmado stays open, festivals return, and the people decide what happens when a resort developer comes to buy the shore.
What I built
PixiJS renders the world, while the game core stays separate from rendering. A typed store and event bus connect systems, and crops, fish, recipes, NPCs, projects, and festivals are data definitions. Seeded randomness is saved with game state, so a run can continue from the world it created.
The save layer uses a version field, additive default merging, and a backup slot. The project has 126 passing tests around its core systems. Its language layer keeps terms such as conuco, colmado, sancocho, and morir soñando intact in both locales, with first-use explanations for players who need them.
The hard parts
01
Keeping the game legible
The renderer can change as the art matures. Keeping game rules and state away from rendering work lets the core be tested without drawing a frame.
02
Saves that can grow
A game with new crops, festivals, and story beats needs room to evolve. Versioned saves, additive defaults, and a backup make that evolution easier to manage.
03
Terms with context
Localization should help new players enter the world without sanding down its language. Kept terms remain the same in both locales, while the glossary gives context when it is useful.
What’s next
Continue replacing placeholder shapes with painted art through the existing asset pipeline.