Concept-Art

Farms are among the most important structures in Coobico, as they provide food for settlers. A settlement must first build a farm before it can expand and construct further buildings. Whenever the farm is lost, the upkeep for the settlement raises, as more money needs to be spend to transport food from nearby suppliers – and of course no quests for building a new part of the settlement will be issued.
What’s more, players can enter a farmstead to harvest timber and crop. These resources can be used as construction materials for new structures or as items of trade.

Players’ homes can be protected against unfortunate events and attacks just like all other structures – for example by upgrading them or by buying further enhancements for the building (more about upgrading structures here). Nonetheless, you can’t rule out that a home might be lost from time to time: it might be reduced to rubble by monsters’ attacks, or the home-owner can’t afford its upkeep any longer – or he plainly looses the achievement-rank necessary to keep a home.

Don’t get mad in such a moment (better get even… ) – your interior decoration is not going to be lost. You keep your furniture save in your inventory until you’re able to build a new home eventually.   

Here is another example of a players’ home – and a sneak peak on the interiors. Home-owners choose a model and the layout of its floor plan at the same time. They can also customize their home with their favorite type of floor-tiling and a nice color for the wallpapers. Otherwise players will possibly want to play through more quests to earn money for some decoration and furnishing of the own new four walls…

After reaching a certain achievement-level, players are enabled to build themselves a home. They can pick from a variety of models (more examples to follow in part two) and place it wherever they like – besides the city-plaza, which is locked from any construction-activity. Every home comes with a terrace and a little garden where the owner can grow squareroots as a minigame. 

Bossies are a native species of oxen on Qubus’ Island, occasionally encountered on remote grassy plains. Skilled players can catch minibossies and either sell or train them as pets. Otherwise a bossy with its 78 stomachs is regarded as indispensable to keep the carnivorous squareroots on the island at bay. A final draft in 3D can be found here.

Northend Mansion’s original owner was Professor Lina Rotwang, the estate was occupied and further developed by Dr. Qubus after Rotwang’s disappearance. The odd manor resides in the ragged cliffs of the northern shores. It still comprises a number of machines and inventions of Qubus and Rotwang, particularly Dr. Qubus Tremendous Transporter – a kind of teleporting-device used to travel to any place on the island in an instant, if you can best its whacky artificial intelligence in a puzzle-game. It is rumoured that the transporter even lets you visit other worlds. Probably, the wondrous contraption would already be patent pending if it would operate properly in any other place than the Mansion.
Northend is being kept in good repair by Dr. Qubus’ butler Albert and some ubiquitous Q-Bots. 

Parks and green spaces act as a vital counterbalance to the industrial estates in a neighbourhood. They raise the land-value and the district’s wellbeing. The park has trees and gras and a pond with actual fish in it. Players can meet the gardener at the park, who’s always eager to trade crop.

Qubus’ Island will feature its own – quite mediterranean – weather conditions. Tracking the weather will be important for players who would like to successfully grow a nice front garden for their cubicle. That said, you will not need a green thumb to keep your garden in good shape, but you will want to keep an eye on the weather-report form time to time. Check out our set of weather-icons.

In various locations on Qubus’ Island, players will discover strange, ancient places like the Shattered Tower. Seemingly eons old but not quite referable to any prehistoric culture. These places usually swarm with oddish, dangerous creatures, and avatars can even be turned into monsters themselves by a curse there.
These dungeons also keep a lot of valuable loot for players who prefer rolepaying-ish treasure-hunt-quests to city-building. For places like the Shattered Tower, Coobico includes a simple combat system.

After part one, here are some of the more shady characters to be found on Qubus’ Island.

Morten, the beggar
Shady Morten lurks around at the city plaza. It is gossiped that Morten is a spy for a sinister secret society residing on Qubus’ Island. Some people seem to call him by the nickname 78 (probably a reference to his IQ).

Locus Robur
Locus lives in a smallish harbour-shanty at the southern shores, running a kind of honky-tonk joint. His past is apparently intertwined with organized crime, and he still is sometimes accused of being the head of a band of skypirates, using Qubus’ Island as their hideout. At Robur’s Den-of-Thieves, players are always welcome to play a quick hand of cards or pick up one of his devious quests.

Hekate, the hag
Somewhere in Foggy Forest, Hekate’s witches’ house can be found. Strangely, it appears to be much larger inside than its outside could possibly contain. In her alchemist’s shop Hekate trades with useful adventurers’ gear, but her house is essentially one of the places where players can catch a curse.