A Weekend in Puzzleburg
A Weekend in Puzzleburg v1.1.1
Minor tweak in the game to correct an error in the game show Wheel of Misfortune when watching the hotel room TV
Everything You Can Do and See in Puzzleburg
I hope you've been enjoying A Weekend in Puzzleburg so far. To ensure you're getting the most out of your weekend vacation, I've written up a list of every side quest and how to initiate each side quest so you don't miss anything.
Oh, and I've included nearly as many thing that aren't official side quests but that you can still do around town (play the games in the town's arcade, help a shop owner come up with a new mascot for his store, etc.).
You can find the info on the company's blog here: https://sunnydemeanorgames.com/news/articles/everything-you-can-do-and-see-in-puzzleburg
and I've reproduced it below for your convenience, but without the nice formatting. So please check out the original blog post linked above if you want the prettier version.
In A Weekend in Puzzleburg, there's a built-in hint system for completing every quest in the game (just talk to the hotel concierge Dante, and he can point you in the right direction for any step of any quest), but how can you know if you've FOUND/STARTED every side quest in the game?
You'll of course come across every main quest naturally, but there's no built-in method for communicating whether you've found all the side quests or not, so I figured I should write up a primer letting players know the full list of side quests and how to begin each one. I encourage you to explore Puzzleburg on your own, but feel free to consult this list to confirm if there are still things left that you can do on your weekend vacation. I'll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible.
I guess think of this as a guide book to Puzzleburg, of sorts. Here's the general format:
Side quest name - how to initiate the side quest (the earliest you can initiate the side quest)
Let's get started:
1. Cider Punk - talk to the guy on the boardwalk east of the hotel (can be started at any time once you leave the hotel lobby for the first time)
2. Just Duet - talk to the woman outside the lighthouse and decide to help her (can be started at any time once you leave the hotel lobby for the first time)
3. Brain Food - talk to the guy standing still near the statue in the town's shopping promenade (can be started at any time once you leave the hotel lobby for the first time)
4. Wishful Thinking - interact with the fountain in the center of the park (can be started at any time once you leave the hotel lobby for the first time)
5. Slumber Jack - talk to the woman running the grocery store cafe (can be started at any time once you leave the hotel lobby for the first time)
6. Hear For You - talk to the hostess in the hotel restaurant (can be started anytime after Friday dinner is complete)
7. Always Say Always - talk to the girl in the arcade on the boardwalk (can be started at any time once you leave the hotel lobby for the first time)
8. I Have No Words - talk to the girl standing along the waterfront in the town's shopping promenade (can be started only after starting the "Always Say Always" side quest and only on Saturday or Sunday)
9. Stick with It - advance the "I Have No Words" side quest (you'll receive this naturally as part of the "I Have No Words" side quest)
10. Paint the Town Purple - complete the "Cider Punk" side quest (can be started at any time once you leave the hotel lobby for the first time)
11. The Write Stuff - talk to the woman in City Hall (can be started at any time once you leave the hotel lobby for the first time)
Other things to do that aren't official side quests:
1. Read every book (there are three books in the game, so feel free to read a different one every time you take a weekend vacation in Puzzleburg)
2. Watch every TV show on every channel in your hotel room (there are 10 TV channels, and you can watch TV at two different points, for 20 episodes in total. In addition, each channel has a show on Saturday that is a continuation of - or otherwise related to - the episode on that same channel on Friday, so it's definitely worth watching both days)
3. Get your hair dyed (there are ten different hair colors in the game. I would recommend keeping the default hair color at least one time since that opens up a unique way to resolve the "Something Blue" main quest for the panicked bride)
4. Play all the video games in the arcade (each video game in the arcade is fully playable, so make sure to stock up on some quarters)
5. Inspect all the items in the history museum, not just the ones for the scavenger hunt
6. Find a different way into Sunday brunch (there are two different people in town who can get you in. You might be surprised by how the routes differ)
7. Help the owner of the Yo-Yo Gurt shop come up with a new mascot for his store
8. Sign a petition to save the Puzzleburg gum wall
9. Figure out what birthday presents the twins who run the orchard store have gotten each other for their shared birthday
10. Read the plaques on each of the four statues honoring people from Puzzleburg's past
Now you'll be able to get the absolute most out of your trip(s) to Puzzleburg, if you so desire. I hope everyone has been enjoying A Weekend in Puzzleburg. You can check out the game on Steam here if you haven't gotten it yet: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1929760/A_Weekend_in_Puzzleburg
Streaming developer playthrough for launch
Please enjoy this look at the game. If you catch the stream in the middle and want to see it from the beginning or want to be able to skip around at your own convenience, the same developer playthrough can be found on the company YouTube channel. But remember to wishlist or buy the game before leaving the Steam page!
A Weekend in Puzzleburg has gone gold + soundtrack DLC + deluxe edition
In addition, the game's title track (released in two versions - one with vocals and one as an instrumental version) will go on sale the same day as the game - Friday, February 17, 2023. You can wishlist the soundtrack on this page which just launched:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2179140/A_Weekend_in_Puzzleburg_Soundtrack
There will also be a Deluxe Edition where you can pick up the game and the soundtrack together. Please note that the soundtrack is limited to the two tracks mentioned above - the game of course has many more tracks than that, but those are the only two I have the ability to sell due to licensing agreements for the other tracks.
If you do not want to wait for release day to begin listening to the music from A Weekend in Puzzleburg (or you simply prefer to have your music outside of Steam), you can purchase the game's soundtrack on Amazon and Apple Music right now.
So what are you working on for the next two months if the game has already gone gold?
Although a build of the game has been approved, there are still plenty of things left to do, including but not limited to:
- Enhancing existing art and character dialog
- Putting in additional content, such as new side quests
- Playtesting the game
- Fixing bugs identified through playtesting
I hope you pick up A Weekend in Puzzleburg - either the base version or the Deluxe Edition - when the game releases on Friday February 17, 2023. In the meantime, please wishlist and try out the free demo on Steam here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1929760/A_Weekend_in_Puzzleburg
Price + Launch Discount Announced
To arrive at this price, I examined similar games available on Steam both in terms of their price (non-sale price, rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity) and length (completionist play length taken from howlongtobeat.com, rounded to the nearest hour for simplicity), arranged from cheapest to most expensive, and then compared against A Weekend in Puzzleburg. Here are the reference games, along with the same info for A Weekend in Puzzleburg:
- A Short Hike; 5 hours; $8 price
- To the Moon; 5 hours; $10 price
- Stardew Valley; 153 hours; $15 price
- Unpacking; 5 hours; $20 price
- Wayward Strand; 6 hours; $20 price
- TOEM; 6 hours; $20 price
- Life is Strange; 19 hours; $20 price ($40 for Remastered Collection containing the first game and Before the Storm, so $20 each)
- Eastshade; 14 hours; $25 price
- Bugsnax; 14 hours; $25 price
- A Weekend in Puzzleburg; 10 hours (it's 4 hours for a single playthrough, so I'd consider 3 playthroughs for 10 hours as a rough time estimate for a completionist to experience the different books and character builds in the game, and assuming the first playthrough takes longer than subsequent playthroughs); $20 price
In general, similar games available on Steam range from $8-$25, with A Short Hike and To the Moon on the low end ($8 and $10, respectively) and Bugsnax and Eastshade on the high end ($25 each). As such, I feel comfortable setting the price for A Weekend in Puzzleburg at $20, putting the game at the same price as Unpacking, Wayward Strand, TOEM, and Life is Strange. In addition, A Weekend in Puzzleburg supports multiple playthroughs through the use of different character builds and different books to read, whereas these other games are largely one and done experiences.
Will there be regional pricing?
Yes, A Weekend in Puzzleburg will receive regional pricing via Valve's recommended regional prices. In most cases, this results in the price being lower than it would normally be if the price was calculated based off of current exchange rates. I do not pretend to be an expert in buying power for each country across the globe, so I will instead rely on Valve's expertise here.
So there you have it. I hope you pick up A Weekend in Puzzleburg for $17.99 (or whatever you're regionally-adjusted launch discount price is) when the game releases on February 17, 2023. In the meantime, please wishlist and try out the free demo on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1929760/A_Weekend_in_Puzzleburg
Further details can be found on the company's weekly blog post regarding the launch price announcement here: https://sunnydemeanorgames.com/news/articles/how-much-will-a-weekend-in-puzzleburg-cost
Release date reveal + new trailer for "A Weekend in Puzzleburg"
Further details about the release date can be found in this weekly blog post titled Release date reveal + new trailer for "A Weekend in Puzzleburg".
To celebrate the release date announcement, I've also put out a new trailer titled The Puzzles of Puzzleburg, which you can find as the second trailer slot on the game's Steam page or on the company YouTube channel. I received feedback on the first trailer that people wanted to see more of the puzzles in the game (the town is called Puzzleburg, after all), so I put together a trailer that shows the setup for a bunch of puzzles in the game. Please enjoy!
Lastly, the game's title track "I Spent a Weekend in Puzzleburg" is now available for pre-order from iTunes and Amazon, and it releases on October 3rd to coincide with the start of the Steam Next Fest. So you'll be able to feel like you're in Puzzleburg wherever you are.
Now you can take your own selfies in "A Weekend in Puzzleburg"
Here are the new features in demo version 1.1.1:
1. The game now works with the Steam overlay through the typical Shift + Tab command. In addition, this means you can take screenshots any time you want like with any other Steam game by pressing F12 (or Function + F12, which is what works on my PC). So when Cindy takes a selfie at the welcome sign, you too can grab a screenshot of your own if you like. Screenshots are accessible in the Steam app by going to View -> Screenshots
2. There is improved waypathing in certain areas, in particular the arcade has been slightly redesigned so you can cut through the middle
3. Bug fixes, in particular for the save screen where the number of quests completed wasn't displaying the correct number
For further updates about A Weekend in Puzzleburg, please refer to the weekly blog on the company website.
"A Weekend in Puzzleburg" to be part of Steam Next Fest Oct 3 - Oct 10
- The game will be part of Steam Next Fest running October 3, 2022 - October 10, 2022. However, the free demo is available now and will remain available after the Next Fest concludes, so you can play at your convenience, whether that is before, during, or after the festival
- The game's title track "I Spent a Weekend in Puzzleburg" (which can be heard on the title screen in the free demo) releases on iTunes and Amazon Music October 3, 2022 to coincide with the start of the Steam Next Fest
Further information, including why this matters if the demo is already available and what this means for the game's release date can be found on the most recent weekly blog post about the game on the company website.
Version 1.0.4 of the demo now live
For information on updates 1.0.1, 1.0.2, and 1.0.3, please refer to the previous update. For a list of all updates together (1.0.1 to 1.0.4), there is a "patchnotes" file contained in the game's folder.
Free demo now available for "A Weekend in Puzzleburg"
In the demo, you have free reign of the town of Puzzleburg with no time limits. The main quest typically takes people about 30-60 minutes, but you can spend as much time as you want exploring the town. There is so much tucked away that just trying to find every character in town could be a whole demo in and of itself!