LogInRusty's Retirement, a new relaxing idle farming simulator that sits at the bottom of your screen while you work on other things, has seemingly started a new trend of indie games.
The premise is incredibly simple: you play as Rusty, a cute robot character who wishes to spend their retirement as a farmer on an open range.
As Rusty, you learn to plant various crops, from crispy carrots to ripe tomatoes, and get to water, nurture, and harvest with the help of a team of cute and customizable robot assistants to increase efficiency. These crops can be used to produce clean and energy-efficient biofuel, a vital robot power source. Sell biofuel to other machine inhabitants and reinvest the money into expanding your farm.
The core feature of this adorable pixel art-style farming sim, a love letter to Stardew Valley, is multitasking. Rusty's Retirement is built to sit comfortably at the bottom (alternatively, at the side) of your screen allowing you to do other tasks while caring for your farm. You can zoom in or out for a less distracting view, or turn on Focus Mode which slows down crop production.
Rudy's Retirement only launched last week, yet after selling an impressive 100,000 copies in just five days, it seems that it may has also started a new indie game trend.
Game Developer William Enders has shared a WIP of his upcoming Godot-powered kingdom builder that also sits at the bottom of your screen. On top of that, just a few days before Rusty's Retirement release, another minimalistic multitasking game called My Little Life was announced:
Unlike Rusty's Retirement, My Little Life is a Tamagotchi-inspired game, where you build and decorate a home for your character, order new items, unlock new careers, and watch as they live out their own lives in a tiny strip of 112 pixels.
These are just some of the examples of the emerging trend of non-intrusive multitasking indie games with Rusty's Retirement at its origins, which seems promising. Have a look at this beautiful vertical farm made in Rusty's Retirement:
Get the game on Steam while it's 10% off here and start working on your own one. If you're interested in this genre, follow William Enders for kingdom builder updates and wishlist My Little Life here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.