Octopus in Action is still one of my favorite sentences to say out loud because the concept stays funny even after months of looking at it. You are a mayor. You are an octopus. You are trying to run a city full of citizens with opinions, needs, grudges, and way too much confidence in your ability to solve all of it. That contrast is the heart of the game, and it is still working.
The build has been GDD-driven from the start, which has made a bigger difference than I expected. Instead of chasing whatever feels cool in the moment, the document keeps the project pointed at the actual experience: civic pressure, weird local politics, readable systems, and a world that feels both ridiculous and coherent. It has been a good way to protect the game from feature drift.
Right now the strongest pieces are the tile map foundation, the citizen layer, the mailbox flow, and City Hall as a real anchor point. The map feels navigable. Citizens feel like they belong in the space. The mailbox gives the player a steady stream of context and problems. City Hall makes the whole setup feel like a place where decisions actually happen instead of just another sandbox.
Next up is pushing more consequence into the world. Factions need to start shaping how people react. Safety events need to create moments of tension. Sound needs to bring the place to life in a way static art alone cannot. The goal is to keep the comedy, but make the city feel increasingly alive, fragile, and worth taking seriously.