How Not my Forest! is made | Not my Forest! Devlog

Hi, I'm Timo. I develop games under the name Paper Node Games, and the one I'm working on right now is Not my Forest!, a tower defense that runs in your browser.

I've always loved playing tower defense games, and at some point I wanted to make one of my own. I spend a lot of time out in nature, so I liked the idea of a forest that looks after its own clearing. Of course I know animals matter to a forest. Still, as waves crossing a clearing, they felt exciting and right for a game. That's why they aren't villains in my game, they're visitors.

You are the tree

In most tower defense games you build towers. Here you are one. You start as a sprouting acorn in a clearing, aim and shoot yourself, and send deer, wild boars, bark beetles and squirrels back home. Nothing dies; they just turn around and run off. Between the waves you plant a forest around you: birch, rowan, spruce, willow, linden and a few more. Every time your tree grows, you choose one of three cards.

For a good cause

Not my Forest! is free to play. It earns money from purchases in the shop, like decorations for your own forest, and from a few ads. I donate at least 10% of that to PRIMAKLIMA e.V. for real trees. It is counted from what reaches me after VAT and fees, and once a quarter the amount goes out, rounded up to the cent. In the game, "Our promise" shows where the money goes, and every donation with its certificate. The first one comes after the first quarter with income.

A developer who can't draw

I'm a software developer. Designing and building systems and architectures is the part of making games I love. Drawing is the part I never could, and for a long time that's where my game ideas ended.

So I'd rather say up front how Not my Forest! gets made. The artwork is generated with AI. I describe what I need, from the way a bark beetle walks to the paper edge around every tree. Then I keep what fits and send the rest back. A lot of it never makes it into the game.

The first footbridge: colorful planks on short posts, drawn at an angle — The footbridge of the Brook Meadow. The first one looked more like a xylophone, had the usual AI slop mistakes and didn't fit a field you see from above, so it went back. On the right, the one in the game now.

The footbridge in the game today: plain wooden planks, painted from straight above — The footbridge of the Brook Meadow. The first one looked more like a xylophone, had the usual AI slop mistakes and didn't fit a field you see from above, so it went back. On the right, the one in the game now.

On the code side, AI is my partner, above all for debugging, research and writing tests. Every developer knows the moment: you search for your exact error, find a forum thread from years ago with the same problem, and the last reply says "nevermind, solved it". At some point I'd had enough of that, so I use AI for research. AI also helps me with the English version of the game.

What the game is, how it plays and how it should look is my call. After every round of changes I play it myself, on my computer and on my phone, and plenty of things get thrown out along the way.

Where you can play it

The game runs on a computer and on a phone, in English and German. There is the Forest Clearing with nine levels, the Forest Year through all four seasons, forests with their own rules, the Endless Forest and a Monthly Trial with a leaderboard. Right now it's in a closed test. Next comes an open beta that anyone can join for free, right in the browser. I'll announce it here first.

Why a devlog

I want to show how the game grows, including the parts that go wrong. And I'd like to hear what you think, especially about how it looks and feels. If something looks off to you, tell me. This is also just the beginning: more content, mechanics and events are meant to follow, but only if you enjoy the game. You'll find new posts here in the devlog and on our Discord. If you use a feed reader, you can also subscribe to the devlog via RSS.

Thanks for reading!
Timo