City builder hits Switch, PS5 & Xbox in just 5 months
168K
copies
sold
87.3%
rating
on Steam
4
award
nominations
/ Testimonials /
Gamers enjoy this complex city builder – even on consoles
On PS5, Fabledom runs smoothly. The standard visuals do keep up as the town gets more complicated.
7/10
Fabledom is a charming cosy city builder with oodles of fairytale goodness. The game has a great art style that pairs well with the fun gameplay.
7/10
If you have a PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S handy, keep an eye out for this cute city-builder
5/5
Of all the games like this I’ve played over the last few months, this is already one of the best
On PS5, Fabledom runs smoothly. The standard visuals do keep up as the town gets more complicated.
7/10
Fabledom is a charming cosy city builder with oodles of fairytale goodness. The game has a great art style that pairs well with the fun gameplay.
7/10
If you have a PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S handy, keep an eye out for this cute city-builder
5/5
Of all the games like this I’ve played over the last few months, this is already one of the best
/ Project overview /
Pingle & Dear Villagers
About the game
Fabledom is a fairy-tale city builder where players manage a kingdom filled with whimsical inhabitants and magical creatures. Developed by Grenaa Games and published by Dear Villagers and Doyoyo Games, it launched in early access in April 2023, selling nearly 20,000 copies and earning almost $200,000 in its first week.
Client
Solution
Porting
Engine
Platforms
Release
PC
September 12, 2024
Switch, PS5, Xbox
May 13, 2024
Partnership timeline
November 2023 - October 2024
About Pingle & Dear Villagers partnership
Pingle helped Dear Villagers bring Fabledom to Nintendo Switch and PS5. Then, just two months before launch, we took on a last-minute challenge – porting the game to Xbox.
/ The Challenge /
Porting a city builder to consoles mid-development
While the game was still in an active development phase, Dear Villagers asked us to handle the ports for Switch and PS5. Porting a city builder, especially one with so many inhabitants and structures, to Switch was no small feat. But we were up for the challenge.
Then, with just two months left before release, another request came in: bring Fabledom to Xbox as well.
Here’s how we made it happen.
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/ Phase 1 /
Pingle pulls off the impossible: a full-fledged city builder on Switch
City builders on Switch are almost unheard of. These games are packed with buildings and citizens that push hardware limits. Fabledom was built for PC, with no console optimizations, poor gamepad navigation, no fixed game loop, and new features constantly being added. So bringing it to Switch was a massive challenge.
1
From crashes to smooth gameplay
With just 20 units on screen, the game collapsed. We rewrote core logic, overhauled memory allocation, and optimized asset streaming, cutting memory use from 800MB to under 100MB.
2
Save files shrunk 10x
Switch’s 3GB RAM limit meant no endless expansion. We optimized performance for up to 300 in-game characters while keeping the full storyline and cutting saves from 16MB to just 1MB.
3
Navigation reinvented from scratch
City builders pack the screen with menus and maps, a nightmare for gamepads. We scrapped it all and built vertical UI panels, a radial menu system, and key-based controls for a seamless console experience.
4
Locked in 30 FPS
By the end, Fabledom hit a rock-solid 30 FPS, delivering a full-scale city builder on hardware that was never meant to handle it.
/ Phase 2 /
Pingle ports Fabledom to PS5, managing change requests on the fly
While wrestling with the Switch version, we tackled PS5 as new PC features kept rolling in. Every update risked breaking performance, so we had to stay agile, optimizing new features on the go to keep everything smooth in 4K.
1
2160p 60 FPS with dynamic resolution
2
Optimized asset streaming with no stutters
3
Instant load times
4
Synced with constant PC updates
/ Phase 3 /
Fabledom ported to Xbox just two months before launch
With the release around the corner, Dear Villagers made a bold call: Fabledom had to hit Xbox too. Microsoft’s certification is tough, and two months is a tight deadline, but we got it done:
1
Xbox Series S: 1080p, 60 FPS with dynamic resolution
2
Xbox Series X: 2160p, 60 FPS with dynamic resolution
3
Certification passed on time, launch-ready with zero delays
The biggest challenge came at the last minute when the decision was made to port Fabledom to Xbox. With no time to spare and the release date locked, our technical team pulled off the impossible and delivered on time, proving that tight deadlines are no match for expertise.
Ivanna Murzenkova
Business Development Manager at Pingle
/ The results /
With Pingle, Dear Villagers brought Fabledom to every platform
Before
After
Switch limitations couldn’t handle a city builder — the game constantly crashed
Optimized game logic to handle 300+ characters without performance drops
Memory usage spiked to 800MB
Rewrote shaders, slashing memory usage from 800MB to under 100MB
Clunky gamepad navigation with too many UI elements on the screen
Redesigned UI for smooth, clutter-free navigation on gamepads
Save files were 12-16MB on PC – far too much for Switch
Compressed save files to just 0.8-1.2MB to fit console limits
Xbox port added last-minute, with only two months left before release
Raced against the clock and delivered the Xbox port just in time
"A complex city builder running smoothly on consoles? No way."
Locked in 60 FPS on PS5/Xbox and 30 FPS on Switch
/ The team /
Cast
5 Developers
3 Technical artists
4 QA
1 Sound designer
1 Game designer
1 UI/UX designer
1 Project manager
/ Cases /
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