Work on craftable homes moves ever closer to completion. In this livestream, I cover some of the mechanics behind how the axe will function. It’s still quite buggy, but you will get the idea.
This video brings to light a question which I’ll tackle during this upcoming livestream: There are enough features in the game now to begin implementation of the story elements. How soon would you, the players, like to be introduced to the Axe, the Arrowhead Glue, Crafting, the Mortar and Pestle, and the Mailbox, i.e., should I wait to release the crafting upgrade as a whole or release what I’ve got done and get you to try it?
One option to consider is releasing the functional gameplay elements on a different “beta creative” branch which you can switch to via Steam. This will let you build whatever you want without having to wait to be introduced over time to the ideas organically via the storyline. This will also let you play them much earlier since work on the storyline elements and introduction elements has not yet started. I could see a “beta creative” release branch being available in a week or two, depending on the amount of surprises left in store while work continues.
An added benefit of this method is that a great many of you will be able to provide critical feedback on how the game functions while I pick up the work on Mailbox, Characters, and Encyclopedia, which is a journal that automatically fills in as you learn more about your surroundings, including the flora and (eventually) fauna.
The audio on this livestream has improved, but unfortunately the video is quite choppy. Still, you should be able to follow along! Here’s the link: https://www.twitch.tv/focusonfungames/v/114107649
Don’t forget to follow Focus on Fun Games on Twitch and I’ll see you this Tuesday at 7:30PM EST.
Be well.
Twitch Dev Vlog #1 - Your Home
Happy day, Potioneers!
First, happy new year wishes to you and your family! Here’s to a successful year two for Potioneer: The VR Gardening Simulator.
Continuing the effort to bring players into the fold on how development is progressing, a Twitch live stream has been posted. The plan is for to post a new one every Tuesday night.
Small spoiler alert! The end of the video includes instructions on how to grow the Marmo plant. If you haven’t figured that out on your own yet, try it first! If you’re stuck, watch through to the end!
Some of the items that are covered in the video are the change to a 24-hour clock, the new mailbox system, pulverizing seeds into powder by using the mortar and pestle, and … building your house!
With some hard work, this will be a great way for Potioneers to have a place to put all of their collectables, workbenches, potions, and alchemy ingredients into! I’m really excited to get this out into the wild and see what you build with it.
Be well.
The Plan
Happy day, Potioneers!
Recently, a few people have asked: what are your plans for Potioneer? Well, in order to help be more direct and to help answer that question, I’m writing this post! I originally planned to remain a little more distant with my hopes and dreams for Potioneer’s development because so much can change during the course of any project. I didn’t want to disappoint myself (and all you Potioneers, too) if feature x was late or feature y was never implemented or feature z didn’t live up to its promise.
Rather than simply listing off things I’d like the game to be, I’ll share with you what makes me excited about several of my all-time favourite games, what I’d like to try to capture from each of them, and what gets me to keep coming back online to work on Potioneer.
If you haven’t yet, I’d like to ask you to read the Early Access text that’s part of the Potioneer Steam store page. That includes some goodies specifically around crafting potions. But, of course, there will be much more to Potioneer than that. So, onto the new stuff!
I’ve played a lot of every generation’s games, from Pong to now, and if there’s one thing that really excites me, it’s collecting things to display as trophies. I love the challenge of looking where most players don’t to discover something the game developer, writer, or artist left as a treat. I love collecting that trophy (by buying, finding, “acquiring”) and spending the time to place it in my home in a unique way, to show off to my friends.
EverQuest II has a game element where, every so often, a player would see a shimmering spark on the ground with a telltale “?” floating above it. Collecting this item would add the item to the player’s collection, which could then be sold or sometimes placed into the player’s home. A great website (with a rather unfortunately outdated design) details this feature futher.
I spent hours and hours and hours collecting those little things in EQ2 to put in my home.
For Potioneer, I intend to capture the essence and some of the gameplay of that feature.
Potioneers might receive erroneous mail, addressed to someone else. Deliver it and potentially get a reward. Or open the box and keep its contents for yourself. Or sell it to a vendor to buy a better trinket they have in their shop.
Perhaps while exploring they’ll come across a note on a ripped page which contains instructions for finding a chest. Or, reading about a given religion to which one NPC belongs might offer clues as to where to find its priceless artifacts or ingredients to craft a potion which helps you attain those artifacts.
The thing that makes this work is successfully creating the feeling like the town of Sundry (and its surrounding area), where Potioneer takes place, is truly alive. In order to achieve this, time must pass as it does in the real world and in Animal Crossing: in real time. The characters and the stories they tell must be expertly written to encourage players to believe that the world continues even when they’re not playing, because it does. There must be a sense of anticipation for players who come back to Potioneer after being at work for the day; the sense that something new will be in the shops, some new plant will be found, some character missing who you have to find, etc. Even more than good stories, however, is that the writing itself must be written in a way to cause the player’s imagination to fill in missing details on their own. In this way, the world becomes theirs.
There’s another Morrowind story I share with people, usually those who have never experienced the game, who ask me about my love for it. My goal in Morrowind was to collect every book off of every shelf. I stole hundreds of books from every shop, house, and temple. One night while I was resting at the inn in Pelagiad, I went out at night to explore the town (read: pilfer) and find more books. In one person’s house, while the person was away, I accidentally picked up a pillow on their bed and discovered a blade laying underneath. It stopped me in my tracks. What was this knife for? Protection? Did the person who owns it feel not safe sleeping at night? The attention to detail blew me away. The NPC who lived in the house was not integral to any quest that I know of. It was a seemingly secondary or tertiary character. The fact that a designer was so articulate when crafting this world that they included such a minute detail to make it just that much more real was astounding to me. I knew that this sort of care must be included in my own game.
Potioneer will have two calendars: one static, where things occur on a set schedule, and one dynamic, where things happen relative to other events in the game. In the most recent development version, I plan to deliver, via in-game post, a Mortar and Pestle to the player on the second day of play.
If you’d like to see what your mailbox at Sundry Lot #11 looks like and what happens when you receive a package, watch this short introduction video.
I still play Animal Crossing on my Gamecube. The game launched over 15 years ago, but I still suspect that not all of the content has been discovered by all of us. Even now it feels like there’s still stuff on the calendar we haven’t seen. Wouldn’t it be amazing if somewhere deep down in the Animal Crossing’s code there is a line spoken by one of the NPCs like “wow you’re still playing this after all these years? Here’s a special tape from KK.”
Still, what good are collectables and trophies when all you’ve got is a desk in a forest?
There is an entire second portion of Potioneer which I haven’t detailed that I’d like to share in the next update. Until then, keep planting and be well.
Quality of Life - Update 0.0.7
Happy day, Potioneers!
First, let’s all take a moment to welcome all of the new Potioneers to Sundry. Welcome to Potioneer. Thank you for buying my game and welcome to the community. If you haven’t yet, please take a look at the official Potioneer wiki, which is run by the players themselves: https://potioneer.focusonfungames.com.
This update to Potioneer is entirely focused on improving the quality of life for our Potioneers. This means it will now be much easier to move, pick up items, water plants, and grow your gardens!
Included in this update are two important changes:
Many Potioneers had remarked that it was quite hard to pick up items using the Grip button, so picking up items is now done by the Trigger.
Similarly, Potioneers no longer have to hold a button to continue carrying an item. Simply click the Trigger once to pick up and click again to drop!
Along with these control changes, a few other important modifications have been made to make Potioneer more approachable:
Frame-rate has been improved on GTX 970 cards, meaning Potioneers with those graphics cards should now see much smoother animation when carrying items or watering plants
The starter table has been raised to a proper height, making it a bit easier on Potioneers with back pain
Potioneer will automatically repair a broken save file, which had caused problems for a small number of Potioneers who were not able to use the trowel and saw a clump of dirt in the centre of their lot
Plants and Trees now properly sit on the dirt directly, meaning Plants no longer look as though they’re floating a few centimetres off the dirt
The grass to the left of your small planters has been flattened, meaning no more spilled water and dirt
Copperpine Trees spawn seeds faster, and their distinctive thud is now louder
Clouds rotate faster, giving a better impression of a living world
The Suzuki tree behind Jawbone Ridge has improved graphics and now moves in the wind
A few Potioneers have been asking for an outline for Potioneer’s future. Work on this is underway (keep an eye on the Steam forums!) but until it’s ready, please give a read through the Early Access section on the Potioneer Steam store page. In there, you may find some juicy tidbits to whet your appetite!
Be well.
Guzmania Mania - Update 0.0.6
Happy day, Potioneers!
Have you been to the pond located just outside the forest treeline? A new plant has sprouted there: the Guzmania! It’s got delicious red leaves and a fresh yellow seed. Perhaps if you’re lucky, you’ll manage to grow one of your very own!
The Guzmania brings the number of plants you can grow in your garden to 4, including the Copperpine Tree in the larger boxes at the rear of your lot. Which plant is your favourite to grow?
Along with the new Guzmania plant, you can now reset your garden and progress in Potioneer by throwing your land deed into the fire. You’ll have a couple of seconds to pull your paper out of the fire in case you instantly regret your choice. But, after that, the game will begin fresh as if you’d never played.
Be well.
Plant a Tree - Update 0.0.5
Happy day, Potioneers!
Good news! The town of Sundry has delivered your tree planters. On your next visit, head to the back of the lot. There you’ll see three dirt boxes ready to grow Copperpine trees, which are scattered throughout the Forest. While you’re exploring, keep an ear out for the distinctive “thud” of a dropping Copperpine seed!
A lot of Potioneers have been asking for a shed or some sort of enclosure to house their tools. Don’t worry, help is on the way; there is a creative solution in the works. Hopefully you will enjoy it! Besides a tool shed, can you think of any other structures you’d like to see?
Be well.
Your Second Plant - Update 0.0.4
Happy day, Potioneers!
I bring you very good news: a new plant has been spotted in the area. Word around the market is that it’s called a Marmo. It grows to be quite tall and releases a seed infrequently, so keep an eye out for a drop! If you manage to grow a Marmo, tweet a screenshot to @focusonfungames and you’ll receive a fave.
Along with the new plant, included with this update is the ability to pull up plants you no longer want. If you did what I did and went haywire filling your planters, this will help make some space for the Marmo. Simply reach down to the root of the plant and pull, just like in your real-world gardens!
Special thanks goes out to Steam user “The Mountain King” who has stepped forward to put up the first set of pages on the Potioneer wiki, which is the official site of Potioneer. The work isn’t complete, so I encourage all Potioneers to pitch in and help out if you have information, tips, or corrections to share. Write on the wiki at https://potioneer.focusonfungames.com
Be well.
PS: Some people have been asking about the wild animal that appears at night. There isn’t one! Or, at least I’ve never seen it...
Potioneer Needs Your Help: The Potioneer Wiki
Happy day, Potioneers!
Excellent news: The official Potioneer website has been launched at https://potioneer.focusonfungames.com !
Here's the rub: every minute spent writing press articles, creating web pages, documenting features, and writing copy is a minute spent not working on the game itself.
Potioneer's seed has been planted. It's becoming a sapling but requires constant oversight to make sure it can grow into a large and stable tree.
So, here's a call to the community: devoted Potioneers, please fill Potioneer's website to your heart's content. Feel free to write help documentation, feature explanations (Minecraft's Wiki is a great example), screenshots, and keep track of press links (YouTube let's plays and articles).
I really appreciate all of the kind words and support I have received from the community for this project. I'm not sure if I've ever heard of a game developer turning his/her game's official home page over to the community before, so we're breaking new ground, here.
Be well.
Save Your Garden - Update 0.0.3
Happy day, Potioneers! ːsteamhappyː
I'm very happy to announce that this update to Potioneer includes the functionality of saving your very own personal garden.
Saving is automatic and is done when you exit the game by pressing the Escape key.
The sorts of things that are saved when you save a garden are:
* Amount of dirt in your garden boxes
* How wet your dirt is
* Types of plants in your garden boxes, and how big they are
* Position of items around your garden (radio, etc.)
Your save file can be found in C:\Users\\AppData\LocalLow\Focus on Fun Games\Potioneer (in case you ever need to clear your garden and start fresh).
