SAPIENS

Sapiens is the debut PC title from solo developer Dave Frampton, known for The Blockheads, Chopper, and Chopper 2.

Create your own prehistoric civilization and lead your tribe in a world you shape. Start with nothing, build towns and industry, and advance through thousands of years of technological breakthroughs in this intimate yet expansive colony sim.

News is posted here on this page, there are semi-monthly video dev blogs on YouTube, you can join us on the Sapiens Discord, or you can follow @playSapiens on Twitter.

Sapiens is available on Steam now!


Latest News


Video Devblog #43 - Ambient Occlusion, Cloud, and Nomads

I've had a nice break, but it's time to get back to work and I've started adding nomadic tribes which pass through the area. (Read More...)

Video Devblog #43 - Ambient Occlusion, Cloud, and Nomads feature image

Five year summary

With the addition of farming, seasons, life cycles, genetics, improved AI, house building, full modding support, chickens, hunting, crafting, and a whole bunch more, 2019 Was a very productive year. (Read More...)

Five year summary feature image

Video Devblog #42 - Chicken Follow Cam

This week I tried to pull back on the rate at which I record videos, but failed miserably so here is another one! (Read More...)

Video Devblog #42 - Chicken Follow Cam feature image

Video Devblog #41 - Actual Gameplay!

With a continued focus on gameplay, this week I worked on the relationship system, and the re-addition of pregnancy and sapien life stages. (Read More...)

Video Devblog #41 - Actual Gameplay! feature image

Video Devblog #40 - Apple Orchards

Over the past week I've made good progress on the planting and farming mechanic, and you can now plant apples to grow trees. (Read More...)

Video Devblog #40 - Apple Orchards feature image

Video Devblog #39 - Seasons

Farming is the next feature I want to work on, but for the planting, growing, fruiting, and harvesting cycles to make any sense, I needed to add seasons. It went really well and the new varying seasons make the world feel a whole lot mor... (Read More...)

Video Devblog #39 - Seasons feature image

Video Devblog #38 - Zooming from space to the ground

In this video I show the new map mode that allows quick zooming between space and your sapiens on the ground. The global map is also now used to locate a starting location and tribe for the game. I'll talk a bit about how the terrain eng... (Read More...)

Video Devblog #38 - Zooming from space to the ground feature image

Video Devblog #37 - Mods, biomes, and particles

In this video I show the new Steam Workshop support, and talk about how the mod environment works for both mod developers and players. I've also overhauled the particle engine and added a new tag based system for biomes. (Read More...)

Video Devblog #37 - Mods, biomes, and particles feature image

Video Devblog #36 - River Based Terrain Generation

Rivers can be a bit of a problem with procedural terrain, so instead of trying to calculate rivers on top of perlin noise based terrain, I've instead started with the rivers and built the terrain up from there. (Read More...)

Video Devblog #36 - River Based Terrain Generation feature image

Video Devblog #35 - The Circle Of Life

Children are now in the game! Along with children came aging, and the idea of families & relationships, which adds more of a sense of realism and progression to the game. (Read More...)

Video Devblog #35 - The Circle Of Life feature image