A new potion is available in Sundry Forest for you to brew: fuzz sight! It's the first potion that affects your view and sets the stage for many more to come in the future. To brew it, grind as many Marmo seeds as you can and pour them into your container via the funnel. Fill with water, shake, then drink! It makes your sight appear snowy, as though the signal isn't quite coming through.
Who knows what other effects it will have in the future when used against other objects than your stomach?
The sky has changed. Eagle-eyed Potioneers will have noticed that there are true clouds in the sky that shift with time, combined with a misty morning fog that rolls in during the early hours of the day.
Speaking of days: the next few updates will deal specifically with time, e.g., how time passes when you are away from Sundry and its forest. Currently time progresses while you are in the world, but when you leave, time stops. This will change, moving forward in the next batch of updates. Expect the world to live and exist without you!
Your garden will once again save successfully on exit (this was bugged in the previous release). The visuals of the water in this release are bugged and will be improved as soon as a good Single Pass water shader becomes available. (If you have any tips on having good looking water in virtual reality, please get in touch! admin@focusonfungames.com).
Thank you for playing Potioneer!
Be well.
Update 0.1.4 - Potions!
Good day, Potioneers!
This is it... Today is the day that you can finally become a "Potioneer." It's been a long time coming, but the system is now in place to support the creation of any number of potions from any number of recipes. Already there are a few recipes in the works and one is included in this update.
Each update to Potioneer, moving forward, is going to expand the number of potions you can make. Primarily this is limited by the number of available plants in the game. As the number of plants grows, so do the combinations you can try to see what works!
To make a potion, you'll need a few things:
Mortar
Pestle
Container
Seeds
Funnel
Water
Since Potioneer is currently in creative mode (all access to all in-game items is provided), you start with these things. Eventually, you'll be expected to complete quests, buy, or find them on your own as part of the story mode, but for now this lets you try the system out.
Grind the seeds into powder and pour them into the container via the funnel. Once you fill the container's dust to its maximum level (as indicated by a small effect and sound), dunk the container into some water until full. Shake vigorously and you'll have your very first potion. Congratulations!
Known issues: This build breaks the ability to save your garden. I know it's not ideal but since there is no story mode at the moment, getting the potion update without any more delays is more important. Work on fixing the save system is underway, however. It's being completely overhauled in preparation for the story mode.
As always, I'd love to get as much feedback on this update as all of the other ones. If you haven't yet, please consider joining and contributing to the wiki. Thank you very much for playing Potioneer!
Be well.
Graphics Upgrade - Update 0.1.3
Happy day, Potioneers!
It's been a very busy month for Potioneer!
First, let's welcome all of the new Potioneers who have purchased the game since our last update, the Super Duper Trowel update. Welcome to the town of Sundry. Get ready for adventure!
The area surrounding the Sundry Forest has become more detailed. The backstories planned for the Potioneer townsfolk have been fully written. Each character in the story lives either in the forest or the nearby area. So, the lots around yours have begun to be fleshed out in preparation for their arrival in the game.
In addition to more fleshed out lots (still lots of work to be done, here [get it?]), the water has received a significant upgrade. It now looks like delicious liquid and glows a beautiful blue. It also performs much better even though it's of higher quality (figure that one out!).
Sundry is a town not many people know the history of, even the local inhabitants! But it looks like the area was once bombarded with meteorites which created the varied landscape you see today. There are a ton of nooks and crannies to explore now, and many vantage points which were not previously possible to reach. Exploring the land at 4:30pm is my favourite!
The performance of Potioneer has also improved thanks to smart reduction in detail at a distance, music loading one-at-a-time rather than all at once at game start, and the removal of shadows you can't see.
Grass has been added to lots which are uninhabited and seeds won't disappear if you've picked them up then put them down, unless you drop them outside your lot. This lets you pick seeds and bring them home for later planting.
The water well in lot #11 was confusing to new Potioneers. The original water well came from the a free asset on the Unity Asset Store but had a non-functional crank, rope, and bucket. New Potioneers would struggle to try to grasp the bucket and turn the crank. In addition, they were unable to see the water in the well due to an inconvenient cover on the well. I'm happy to report that the well has been much improved: all of the non-functional, useless bits have been stripped away and players can now actually dunk the watering can into the water to refill it. Intuitive!
A lot of work has been done on the potion front. After all, the game is called Potioneer for a reason! Soon, you'll be able to craft your very first potion…
Be well.
Super Duper Trowel - Update 0.1.2
Happy day, Potioneers!
Just a tiny update today (didn’t want to make you wait for this one!): Your trowel now has super powers! During the Consumer VR Expo and the more recent VR expo at THEMUSEUM in Kitchener, Canada, players often tried to fill their planter boxes with the dirt on the ground as opposed to using the box of dirt provided. Confusion arose after it was unclear to these new Potioneers that digging the earth with the trowel didn’t work as expected.
Now, it does!
Dig yourself some dirt to fill your planters. This is the first step toward being able to place planters everywhere and anywhere, not just in the basic spots provided when you arrive at your lot!
https://gfycat.com/GoodnaturedCreamyBushbaby
A few small changes have been made to improve the Potioneer experience, as well, including reducing the music volume on a few of the daily tracks.
Be well.
Quality of Life - Update 0.1.1
Happy day, Potioneers!
As some of you may know, the Consumer VR Expo took place two weeks ago in beautiful Vancouver, Canada. Potioneer was there, giving everyone a chance to get their crafting on.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by and gave fantastic feedback on how to improve the Potioneer. That feedback directly resulted in the update today. More from that event is on its way, but let’s take a look at what we’ve got so far…
Trackpad movement is immensely better (and less vomit inducing!). To move, press the trackpad button in the direction you’d like to walk. It has to click in order for you to move. This is a change compared to the last version which did not require the trackpad to actually click before you’d start moving, leaving many players whipping across maps in a flurry. Trackpad movement is also slower when moving with just one hand, giving you Potioneers much better control. If you’d like to move faster, press both trackpads down to do it.
During the expo, one brilliant player wanted to hang her lantern on the nail she hammered into her wall. I’m very happy to announce that she’s now able to do that. Hanging lanterns is a lot of fun!
All music in the game has been reduced in volume by 50% and the radio can now be turned off by touching the on/off switch, located on the top.
Speaking of sounds… nearly everyone who played tried to ring the bell at the front of Lot 11. While I’m still working on the physics of holding the ringer, you’re now able to hit the bell with your hand and hear it chime. Try it with a hammer!
Hammers now make sounds when you hammer nails or just bump into things while it's in your hand. Tools and structures you're holding also no longer "push" the player. Thank heavens for squashing that bug!
There are, of course, a ton of other fixes and tweaks too small to mention. Have fun living another life in Potioneer!
Be well.
Trackpad Locomotion - Update 0.1.0
Happy day, Potioneers!
Many of you have been asking for this... and now, your prayers have been answered! Potioneer can now be controlled using the HTC Vive’s trackpad! Simply place and drag your thumb along the trackpad to move in the direction the controller is facing. This locomotion method follows other major games which have released with this locomotion method on the Vive, such as Onward (which is a lot of fun and you should buy it if you haven’t already).
Be aware, though, that some users may experience motion sickness when using the trackpad locomotion method. If that’s you, the stick with the tried, tested, and true teleportation method which has been in the game since launch by holding the grip button, pointing at the ground where you want to travel to, then releasing.
Along with trackpad movement, some other tasty new upgrades have been added to Potioneer:
New radio model. No more work-in-progress placeholder art!
All new music tracks, one for every hour of the day.
Taller and larger table.
The Forest now has a small amount of wind, rustling the trees.
Enhanced mushroom graphics and colliders. Can no longer walk inside a mushroom.
Much better tree colliders. Can no longer walk inside a tree.
All structures which weigh over a certain amount will no longer be movable. No more bumping into your house and knocking everything off the walls!
README.txt updated to include copyright information for music.
Adjusted terrain near table to include a small cliff.
A few months ago, I had to disable new user registration on the official Potioneer homepage (our wiki) due to spam users signing up en masse. I’m very happy to announce that I’ve installed a new CAPTCHA plugin which has successfully solved the problem!
This morning, I’ve re-enabled new user registration on our wiki. Please visit the site and create some edits if you find it’s missing information or is out of date!
Be well.
Creative Crafting - Update 0.0.9
Happy day, Potioneers!
Such good news: a major milestone in the life of Potioneer has been reached!
Ever since the launch of Potioneer, I’ve wanted players to be able to make their own home. Not just a prefabricated home that looks like everyone else’s, not just a home that grows as you pay for upgrades, but a true home crafted by your own hands.
Using planks, nails, and the hammer, the kinds of things you can build are limitless. How about a watch tower? Or a mansion? Or a dry docked boat?
Express your creativity! Share a screenshot of what you built by pressing F12 on your keyboard. It’ll upload right to Steam and show up in the Screenshots tab in the Potioneer store page. I am so excited to see what you build!
Reach out and touch the spawning squares to get the materials you need. In the future, these will be craftable, but for now, they’re free and unlimited. No constraints!
If you make a mistake, use the crowbar to pop off a nail and detach the wood. To be sure this is what you want, tap the nail a few times with the crowbar.
This update also includes several improvements beside the crafting feature:
Be well.
Quality of Life 2 - Update 0.0.8
Happy day, Potioneers!
It’s time for a surprise update! While many of you are aware that hard work has been happening on the crafting update, it’s taken a fair bit longer than intended to finish up with the level of polish that’s required as game development progresses. During the work, several important fixes and gameplay improvements have made, and it wouldn’t be fair to make you wait for the fixes until the crafting update is done.
So, I’ve backported the improvements into the current build! Here are some of the things you can expect to see in this update:
Box-o-Dirt now has a label to make it obvious that it’s dirt and not fertilizer.
All tools no longer fall through the ground if dragged in a strange way.
Trowel can shovel dirt into the planter cells (feels natural).
All tools which are lost will appear in your mailbox after some time (15 seconds).
Potioneer now uses a 24-hour clock! 8AM in real life is 8AM in Sundry.
Updated to the latest versions of VRTK and SteamVR.
If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to Focus on Fun Games on YouTube and Twitch. Development live streams are every Tuesday at 7:30PM EST, with the exception of this week, which will happen Wednesday at 7:30PM EST. If you’re into behind-the-scenes, you can’t miss this.
Be well.
Live Stream Dev Vlog #4 - Tonight
Live Stream Dev Vlog #4 - Tonight
Happy day, Potioneers!
Just a friendly reminder that the weekly live stream starts at 1930 EST tonight! Most run for 20-30 minutes and are archived on the Focus on Fun YouTube channel afterwards.
Besides the live stream, it’s important to note that, due to spam, I’ve had to disable the registration on the wiki. Potioneers are more than welcome to contribute (and it’s encouraged, please!) but in order to get you set up, please email admin@focusonfungames.com with your username and I’ll approve you manually.
Hope to see you on the stream! If you miss it, set a calendar event for each Tuesday at 1930 EST!
