Developer: Alex Blintsov
Publisher: Alex Blintsov
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Furnish Master – Preview
Whether it’s driving a train, digging up dinosaurs, or even mowing the lawn, it seems like there is a simulator game for every job under the sun these days. And although games like Animal Crossing and The Sims let you design your own rooms, budding interior architects might actually be better off looking forward to Furnish Master. Created by solo indie developer Alex Blintsov, this interior design game is currently in Early Access on Steam. Before you enthusiastically get out your IKEA catalog and extravagant designer glasses though, read on to find out whether or not the Early Access release of Furnish Master needs an extra coat of paint and a nice rug to tie everything together.
After a short but comprehensive tutorial, you can choose between Furnish Master’s story mode or the obligatory sandbox mode. No matter which mode you choose, you’ll find that the general focus of the game is less on the business aspect of running an interior design company, and more on creativity and freedom. The main difference is of course that story mode will confront you with certain restrictions and sandbox mode removes these entirely, but by and large, you’ll still be able to let your creative juices flow in the former. That’s an important aspect too, because although you’ll need to be financially savvy and make the most out of a limited budget, the real currency in Furnish Master comes in the form of reputation points. In-game cash plays a part here, of course, but the key to success is to build up an impressive portfolio and exceed your clients’ expectations.
Those expectations aren’t just about interior design though. The spaces you’re tasked with redesigning also hold puzzle challenges, which can award more reputation points or improve your cash flow. You’ll be dealing with unconnected plumbing pipework, for example, or have to clean up a room, before you can start furnishing it to your heart’s content. Other challenges involve setting up domino pieces -yes, really- or building a model train track. While these challenges might not be what you signed up for, they do help break up what would otherwise be a very monotonous title in terms of gameplay. If you don’t feel like looking for hidden puzzle pieces, however, you can always just stick to the game’s sandbox mode. Just keep in mind that Furnish Master doesn’t offer save states (yet), so if you decide to quit mid-challenge, you’ll have to restart said challenge the next time you go into the game’s story mode.
Even at this early development stage, Furnish Master already boasts an impressive range of furniture and decorative items that let you transform empty rooms into cozy living spaces, as well as stores or offices. Customization is the magic word here as these items can be resized as well as colored so that they fit within your vision of the perfect interior. Don’t fret if that sounds daunting, as obtaining the perfect furniture is incredibly easy in practice. All you need to do is pick your chosen item from the in-game catalog, apply your custom tweaks, and then place it within the blueprint of the room you’re working on. We should note that said blueprint felt like the only true limitation: you won’t be tearing down any walls to open up and expand a space.
Simple and straightforward controls aside, our experience with Furnish Master wasn’t entirely devoid of issues. While the UI is clean and easy to understand, the game’s controls could benefit from some streamlining. Moving furniture around a room is needlessly tedious, for example, as it requires holding down your mouse button for an extended period of time before the selected piece of furniture can be picked up. While this was likely done to prevent accidentally moving around items, the threshold seems on the high side, especially when having to move multiple items. Being able to toggle this threshold in the game’s settings would streamline things. Likewise, a multi-selection tool to move or get rid of items would be very welcome, especially when you’re stacking individual goods on store shelves. Hopefully, these options will be added in the near future. Hitboxes also seem ever so slightly off, with items clipping into one another being a common occurrence.
You shouldn’t look further than Furnish Master’s audiovisual presentation to understand that this isn’t a game that takes itself too seriously. Alex Blintsov went for a simple style that emphasizes the game’s relaxed and cozy atmosphere, and this is further underlined by the soothing elevator music playing in the background. We’re not sure whether this is the definitive soundtrack or a placeholder, as it does sound very generic, but it’s suitable regardless. There is plenty of visual variety, partially due to the different kinds of rooms that you encounter in story mode, but also because the game makes great use of lighting to add depth and atmosphere.
At the time of writing, Furnish Master does feel light on content, even if it has a solid foundation. This shouldn’t be surprising given that the game is slated to spend the next 12 to 18 months in Early Access. Fortunately, Alex Blintsov has already hinted at what interior architects can look forward to. Apart from the obligatory bug fixes, Furnish Master will receive a boatload of more objects, and story mode will be gradually expanded with more content and even cutscenes. Right now, you’re looking at around 3-5 hours worth of content in story mode, and for sandbox, the only real limitation is that Furnish Master is very much a single-player game. There is plenty of potential for an online component here, where you can share your creations with the Furnish Master community and perhaps even set custom challenges. Likewise, mod support for community-created furniture would also be a great addition. We’ll have to see what the future brings for Furnish Master.
Conclusion
It’s perhaps appropriate for a game like Furnish Master that there is still some work to be done, but even in this very early development stage, the foundations are here for a great simulator game. We would welcome the addition of more story content, provided some of the less streamlined aspects of the game, like the tedious controls and lack of save states, also receive attention from the developer. The game’s ease-of-access makes it so that anyone can get to grips with it, and the addition of puzzle challenges proves that Furnish Master has plenty of tricks up its sleeve. Here’s hoping that the game earns plenty of reputation points over the course of the next year-and-a-half.
Related Items
1 Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
[…] been on a bit of a simulator binge lately, playing Furnish Master and Lawn Mowing Simulator, and we’re continuing our streak with Car Detailing Simulator. It’s […]