r/BaseBuildingGames

Hi all,

I'm reworking some of the base building for me game and I came to the part that I really dislike the most, the UI for it all.

I'm after recommendations for what you guys consider a "good" base building UI setup? So please recommend any games you thought had good UI for this kind of thing?

I see similar patterns in many of the games I've reviewed so far. Things like having a categorization for the individual sets of items. So far I've got these categories:

• Structural
• Machinery
• Furniture
• Logistics
• Cooking
• Farming
• Research
• Lighting
• Storage
• Energy
• Cosmetic

But it appears that a lot of games have sub-categories, which makes sense, so for instance structural items might be walls, floors, doors, windows, supports etc.

So you typically choose the overall category as a tab item or from a list. That filters items, which are then grouped by sub-category.

A few games I've looked at also have "variants" or "sets", which are the same category/subcategory, but with different visuals. Think wooden walls, upgraded to stone walls. Same category/subcategory but different set. With a set having been designed to look good with other similar items in the set.

Then there are also ones where they allow you to then customize the placed items with things like material colours etc.

But the reality is I've not been able to play as many games in the base building genre as I'd like for this kind of thing. So please feel free to identify features from the UI for your favourite game you'd recommend I look at. For instance, I've seen some games offering a quick-bar style placement? Others I've seen are things like having a way of adding "favourites".

I'm not a huge fan of working on UI because I always find it frustrating, so please help me out and show me what "good" looks like in terms of functionality.

Ta!

I’m looking for a game that I can’t find. Maybe somebody here can help me?
It’s a colony Sim or survival or whatever you’d consider it and it has a similar art style as the wondering village accept the colors are more pastels. And the theme is more spacey/quirky looking. I know that isn’t a lot of information but it’s the best I can do because I’ve never played it. I just have wanted it. I know that the game originally didn’t have that good reviews, but eventually it got better as it got developed.

Hello all, I'm making a colony survival RPG game called Colony of the Forsaken.

A bit of the game backstory, I wanted to create a mix of RPG game like Diablo, survival game like Project Zomboid (even though there are no zombies :D) and colony sim like Rim World. My main focus was on trying to add multiple survivals into the game with their own spells, skills and stats, something similar to Warcraft 3 heroes and units. I also tried to mimic Warcraft 3 unit movement system (although I need to work on it a lot more). I released a demo on Itch and created a Steam page which you can check, I hope you will like the game concept! If you have any feedback I would really appreciate it since this is my first game and I would really like to get some guidance.

Thanks!

I really like the small-scaleness of Stranded: Alien Dawn and I can't find other games like that. Games where you're intended to have a large colony, such as Rimworld, are still fun but just don't hit that same mark for me.

I like turn-based version of this like Thea 2 or Dead in Vinland but I can't find any with the "real time with pause" style like your typical colony sim, but ALSO having small numbers.

By small, I mean preferably 1 to 10, especially 3 to 8 people being the intended or best way to play the game.

Thank you for any and all recommendations!

Hey everyone,

We're opening up the first playable slice of WORLDr, a browser-based economic and political simulation game we've been building. Pre-alpha v0.1 goes live July 6, 2026, and we're looking for early testers to help us break it.

You start in the fictional country of Drennia with some starting capital and no rules on how to spend it.

What's in v0.1:

• Automotive Manufacturing — lease factories, design vehicle models across multiple platforms, and manage production lines.
• Dynamic Economy — compete against NPC companies that actually react to the market, adjusting their own pricing, marketing, and inventory in response to what players do.
• Drennport Exchange — take your company public, issue shares, do private placements, buy equity in other players' companies, or pull out when the market shifts.
• Politics Desk — form parties, run in elections, vote on bills, lobby for government tenders, and shape policy.
• Chronicle system — the whole world runs on real-time ticks, so the economy and politics keep moving whether you're online or not.

How to get in:

1. Game link goes live July 6, 2026 (will post here + in our Discord).
2. You'll need a tester code, also dropping July 6 in our Discord.
3. Make your character and start building.

Heads up — this is a pre-alpha:

Expect bugs, unbalanced systems, and rough UI. We'll likely wipe the database periodically as we push fixes, so don't get too attached to your empire just yet. If you're in for that kind of testing, we'd love your feedback — bug reports, balance complaints, feature ideas, all of it.

Discord: Discord

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

Every gamer has at least one opinion that most people disagree with.

Maybe you think:
🎮 Older games are better than most modern releases.
💰 Cosmetic microtransactions are fine if they support the game.
🏆 Skill-based matchmaking makes games less fun.
🤝 A great community is more important than great graphics.
🕹️ Indie games are more creative than AAA titles.

Or maybe it's something completely different.

What's your gaming hot take? Let's keep it respectful and have some fun with it.

I need recommendations of game that don't require mouse and keyboard, I have a Legion GO S. I prefer base building with a purpose to protect my self from hostile NPCs and other environmental elements. Games I played so far that work without mouse and keyboard:

Sons of the Forest - very good

7 Days to Die - very good

Medieval Dynasty - Very good, a bit more on the management of other NPCs

Eden Crafter's - I love automation, but I prefer hostile NPCs

Planet Crafter's - same as above except the automation

Aska - it's pretty good, same as Medieval Dynasty

Raft

Project Zomboid - very difficult learning curve, I haven't got around to learning the mechanics

Alters - it's ok, but haven't progressed far to yet.

Neccesse

Tinkerlands

Little Rocket Lab

Not every great update needs to be a huge expansion.

Sometimes it's the small quality-of-life improvements that make a game so much more enjoyable.

What's the best quality-of-life feature you've seen added to a multiplayer game

Examples:
🎯 Better matchmaking
💬 Improved voice or text chat
🎒 Inventory management
⚡ Faster loading times
🗺️ Better maps or navigation
👥 Party and friend systems

Or something completely different?

I'd love to hear which feature made the biggest difference for you.

If you’re on the hunt for an addictive game loop definitely check this one out. It’s been cooking and they’ve nailed it.

Got right back in and I can spend hours on one outpost just collecting the scrap and hoarding materials. Really optimised my ship with batteries and diesel.

I’ve been following a few upcoming survival/crafting games lately, and each one seems to be taking the genre in a different direction.

Valheim vs Forgebound vs Light No Fire

Valheim is already the classic reference — exploration, survival, co-op progression, and that simple but addictive loop.

The others are all still upcoming and in development:

Forgebound (Amilcar Technologies - my solo game) — a medieval fantasy survival game focused on building, crafting, survival, and large-scale progression. It takes place in a war-torn world where players gather resources, construct settlements, manage supplies, and expand their influence while facing hostile forces. It's like Age of empire + Valheim + bannerlord

Light No Fire (Hello Games) — a massive survival exploration game set on a full planet-scale world. It focuses on discovery, traveling across huge diverse landscapes, survival systems, and building your own path in an almost endless fantasy environment.

The building mechanics are pretty awesome. I currently have the blacksmith, carpenter, alchemist, farmer, and hunter with me in my base. I decked out a pretty nice pre-existing structure to get started. The actual game though is so meh I cannot figure out why I am really not having fun.

The versatile combat should be right up my alley but I just don’t care to fight. The world is also just so boring to me. Am I doing something wrong? I’ve pretty much been sticking to the quests in my journal and building but I’m about ready to throw in the towel.

Hello everyone, I’m new here and I would like to ask you guys for some help in searching a game that I’ve been looking for almost 2 days. I dont quite remember how the game look like but I do remember that at the start of the game we control some kind of witch that can turn enemy into ally and later on we can start developing our base with the control unit that we turned. I hope this little information can help you guys searching for the game I’ve been looking for or else I will just play warcraft 3

As the title says, I’m searching for a very casual open world survival crafting game, one that focuses mostly on or has very satisfying systems for building and resource collection.

It has to be multiplayer, because me and my friend want to do a fun little play through where one of us never crafts or builds, and the other never collects resources, and we have to work together to progress, with the goal of eventually constructing some giant megastructure. (So ideally it would also have not much locked behind progression) is there such a game?

Also, I’ve heard that sons of the forest on peaceful mode is quite a chill survival crafting game, would that work for this?