SL Black Studios

Bramble’s community garden concept leaves a route through the space, connecting planting beds, a shed and a bench. I want it to welcome people passing through as well as those tending a plot. Approved layout concept. #Borough #GameDev

The latest Borough devlog is up: fuller planting around the tram arrival, wind that responds to the scene, painted details and more movement for Sage. slblackstudios.com/develop/2026...

Meet Joule, Borough’s hamster utilities coordinator. Warm, capable and thinking several steps ahead. The uneven brows, big cheek pouches and hurried workwear carry that energy in his current character concept. #Borough #CharacterDesign

Borough is a town-building life sim in development about restoring an island neighbourhood and getting to know its residents. Bramble’s garden beside Nimby’s graveyard captures the balance I’m aiming for: new life and care for what remains. Concept art. #Borough

Planned feature: Borough’s character creator. This UI concept explores face, hair, eye and skin-tone choices. I’m aiming for a face that feels like yours and stays readable in the game’s art style. #Borough #GameDev

Salvador’s warehouse concept pairs a mural-covered exterior with a studio below and a home in the loft. I’m designing both views together, with an arts centre planned for the building. Concept art; the layout still needs scale testing. #Borough #GameDev

Meet Salvador, an anteater graffiti artist and one of Borough’s early residents. His art does a lot of the talking. His written messages do quite a lot of it too. Approved character concept. #Borough #CharacterDesign

A bit of shade, a patch of green, and a neighbour with an idea. This Bramble and Zaha concept captures the everyday street life I’m building towards in Borough, my town-building life sim. Concept art. #Borough #IndieGame

Meet Sage Serpentarius, Borough’s town hall secretary. She handles permits, paperwork and resident feedback. Character concept art from the life sim/city builder I’m making.

Atlas’s hostel concept for Borough. Somewhere to arrive, put your bags down and meet a few neighbours. Building concept art from the life sim/city builder I’m making.

Town hall concept art for Borough, the life sim/city builder I’m making about rebuilding an island community after a fire. Plans on the table, old ruins in the distance.

Borough changes with the seasons. Plants change growth states, resident routines can shift, weather evolves, and holidays appear throughout the year. The goal: make your borough feel like a place you live in, not just a city you decorate. Which season would you play first?

Working on Borough’s UI. Even small things like weather icons use the game’s loose, hand-drawn visual language. I want the interface to feel like another part of the world rather than a clean digital layer sitting on top of it.

Meet Nimbus — better known as Nimby. He’s Borough’s last longtime resident, keeper of its history, and your loudest opponent whenever you try to rebuild the island. You can earn his trust over time. Historical preservation helps. So do pastries.

Welcome to Borough. A solo-developed life sim + city builder about rebuilding an abandoned island community. Plan it. Build it. Meet the neighbours. Navigate local politics. I’ll be sharing the development of Borough here as the island comes back to life.

Ooo I’m starting to prototype… mostly grey boxes right now. I’ll post some visuals once it gets interesting.

Sorry I’ve been quiet the past little while… I’m trying to be a good dev and create a game design document.

Officially in Montreal! Just getting set up, but hopefully I can get back to game dev soon!!

Haven’t been able to touch Borough a lot since we’re in the middle of getting to move to Montreal. Just a little street car action. #gaming #indiegames #gamedev

Refining the borough map and defining those outside boundaries. #gaming #indiegames #gamedev

Working on grid materials 📏 #gamedev #gaming #indiegames

Playing paralives right now is research right??? Yeah research…. #indiegaming

Hey! I was thinking of creating a starter pack for indie city builder devs. Would anyone be interested in being added to it? #indiegamedev #citybuilder

Grass growth! (obvs sped up) #grass #foliage #gaming #indiegamedev #gamedev #unrealengine #indiegame

Grass growth! (obvs sped up) #grass #foliage #gaming #indiegamedev #gamedev #unrealengine #indiegame

Hey devs! At what point in the game dev process would you set up your steam page? Poot Patrol was mobile only so this will be my first time releasing on Steam. #indiedev #steam #gamedev #marketing

Figuring out tree growth mechanics. 🌳🌲🌴 #tree #gaming #indiegaming #indiedev #solodev #unrealengine

Hey devs! At what point in the game dev process would you set up your steam page? Poot Patrol was mobile only so this will be my first time releasing on Steam. #indiedev #steam #gamedev #marketing

More dynamic environmental shader stuff. Being Canadian snow is a big part of life. ❄️ Made the landscape shader gain snow as it snows and melts when it warms up. #unrealengine #indiedev #gamedev #gaming

More dynamic environmental shader stuff. Being Canadian snow is a big part of life. ❄️ Made the landscape shader gain snow as it snows and melts when it warms up. #unrealengine #indiedev #gamedev #gaming

Finally something flashy I can show. Got my water shader with water reaction trails working. It uses canvas render targets to project a mask for the waves. #unrealengine #indiegamedev #gamedev #shaders

Finally something flashy I can show. Got my water shader with water reaction trails working. It uses canvas render targets to project a mask for the waves. #unrealengine #indiegamedev #gamedev #shaders

I’ve been quietly been working on the core structure systems for Borough. Nothing is fancy yet, but I’ve been making good progress! Save system ✅ Time/Speed System ✅ Season System ✅ Weather System ✅ Build Tool ✅ Terrain Tool✅ Road Tool ✅ Destroy Tool ✅ Basic NPC Nav ✅ Scheduling ✅ #indiedev

I’ve been quietly been working on the core structure systems for Borough. Nothing is fancy yet, but I’ve been making good progress! Save system ✅ Time/Speed System ✅ Season System ✅ Weather System ✅ Build Tool ✅ Terrain Tool✅ Road Tool ✅ Destroy Tool ✅ Basic NPC Nav ✅ Scheduling ✅ #indiedev

Working out the basics of the terrain system. 🪏 #unrealengine #indiedev #solodev

Working on the building tool for Borough. Having some fun with the bugs. #indiegame #solodev #gamedev #unrealengine

Researching UI for Borough today. Found this little gem of a website in my search. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev www.gameuidatabase.com/index.php?&t...

Dev life 💖 #familytime #babycoder

cancel your adobe subs asap and use non adobe products if you haven't already

Doing some art direction stuff today. Working out the swatch options for customization. Borough had a very distinct style so I’m selecting swatches that will fit the world. #indiegame #gamedev #indiegamedev #soloddev #swatch #colors

Doing some art direction stuff today. Working out the swatch options for customization. Borough had a very distinct style so I’m selecting swatches that will fit the world. #indiegame #gamedev #indiegamedev #soloddev #swatch #colors

New Dev Log! I’ve been trying to find a way to marry traditional collage and drawing with new Ai tools to speed up work flows. I’ve been experimenting with Krita and feel like it is a happy medium. The process will change as Ai tech evolves but it’s a start. bit.ly/4b3Vawu

New profile BG. Been working on style exploration for Borough. I think I have the artistic direction almost nailed down. 🤞 I’ll make a dev log post about the style direction exploration and process soonish? #indiegames #cozygames #gamedev #indiedev #krita

New Dev Log! I’ve been trying to find a way to marry traditional collage and drawing with new Ai tools to speed up work flows. I’ve been experimenting with Krita and feel like it is a happy medium. The process will change as Ai tech evolves but it’s a start. bit.ly/4b3Vawu

New profile BG. Been working on style exploration for Borough. I think I have the artistic direction almost nailed down. 🤞 I’ll make a dev log post about the style direction exploration and process soonish? #indiegames #cozygames #gamedev #indiedev #krita

Why is setting up a leaderboard on Google Play Services taking longer than developing a whole game itself??? 😭😭😭😭 #google #android #googleplay #devtroubles

Starting to prepare for the move to the Belle Province. Going to be a little quiet here for the next little bit.