We've had a VERY busy week this week - so maybe it's time for a little relaxation?
While this update isn't as big as some of the others we've done lately, I still wanted to give you a little window into the Spirit world still!
This week I've been thinking a lot about relaxing (please don't tell my boss!), and how having things we like to do in our spare time makes us very human. It makes sense that our NPCs would also get up to some things that relax them in their down-time! It's something that I hadn't overly thought about until noticed Quill and Clarence (best Spirittea duo) playing chess one day! When I came to find them again to make a gif to show you, they were off birdwatching instead!
That got me seeking out all everyone's little downtime animations, from reading in bed to preparing food with friends! I've talked a lot about bringing the world to life, but all these little details really do add up!
Aside from new NPC behaviours arriving every day, there have been a lot of behind the scenes changes and tests going on for almost every aspect of Spirittea, from the spirit quests themselves to the implementation of various languages! There's nothing I can show screenshots of YET, but I'm super excited to fill you in on a big change we've made recently, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
For now though, time for a big relax! See you next week!
Dev Update - A Helping Hand
Hey everyone, it's that time again!
Last week's update really was massive for us, we've (I've) been waiting for what feels like FOREVER to tell you a little bit about the notice board! It's made such a big change to the game and really driven all of us as we've played it to seek out as many of the Spirits and their stories as possible! We really hope it brings you as close to the world as it does us!
This week, I wanted to touch on two more ways we're helping to integrate players with the world. It's always a really hard task to marry up what we know we'd like people to experience, and guide them towards it thoughtfully. No one wants naggy companions or to be thoroughly clueless, but sometimes that balance can be tough!
The feeling throughout, we think is that there should be help where you need it, without feeling super weighed down, and this applies everywhere! In the bathhouse, for example, we want to make sure you know what's going on throughout so you can better plan, but there's a fair bit to keep track of. We figured that by doing more things around town, you should be rewarded, so for completing one of the Spirit Quests you will take on the help of MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE UNIT. If your main fire has died, you'll hear a crow throughout the bathhouse letting you know - what a lovely, helpful bean this spirit is!
Around town, there'll be a lot to keep track of in regards to helping the spirits - luckily as a writer, you're pretty proficient with a notebook and pen, so you'll be taking all manner of notes as you get to know the town and its problems! Wonyan might even be able to help you with some spirit insider knowledge if you end up getting a bit stuck!
All in all, it's a difficult balance to strike, but know Spirittea is looking more and more player friendly every day! There's real care and thought going into each aspect, and we can't wait for you to dive in! The question is, are you a hint type of person, or do you prefer to puzzle your way through things directly? Let us know, and we'll see you next week!
Dev Update - A Neighbourly Notice Board!
Hey there everyone! - it's time for a lovely long update! We will return to posting more regular updates soon - keep your eyes peeled!
Are you sitting comfortably? I hope you are, because we've got some stories to tell! We're so excited to finally shine a little spotlight on a feature that's still being worked on, but has become a fast favourite of ours over at No More Robots - the town now has:
a little notice board!
As you'll know from seeing our updates and playing the demo, the local spirits have forgotten themselves and are causing mischief throughout the town. Whenever spirits cause someone a tough time, that person will post a little note asking for help! Each person has their own way of writing and style of note so you'll get to learn a little bit about each one just through their requests!
Alongside your routine of opening the bathhouse, hanging out with the locals and seeing what the shops have to offer, you'll be able to drop by the board and see if there are any new spooky goings-on for you to investigate, ranging from missing tools and sleeping in to vandals and worse!
Each note comes with the face of the person who posted it, so you'll find it easy to find them on the map and track them down even if you've not spent much time with them before (sorry Clarence!). Once you've chatted to them and their friends about their issue, you'll be able to investigate to your heart's content, as long as you don't run out of Spirittea!
We wanted to make sure you always had lots of things to choose from in game to do, and you could easily make a choice based on what you like, and who you like throughout the town - this board will highlight new options for you and give you lots of inspiration for your novel along the way!
We hope you're excited to jump into some spirit showdowns alongside Wonyan, who is so keen to bring the mountain back into balance later this year!
Spirittea Dev Update - Welcome Home!
Hey everyone! I'm here with another Spirittea update, that kind of leads on from the last video we did - I've filled my house with mice!
If you're not sure what I'm talking about, head back to our collectables video to find out where all these cute little dudes have come from - but I realised we haven't spoken much about the house, and the bits and pieces you can do inside it!
You'll be welcomed to the house when you first arrive by lovely Amelia, but she notices you're missing a desk to write at - a pretty key bit of furniture for a writer! Thankfully, there's a bunch of furniture at the shop, let's quickly hop over there and grab some extra bits... Hmm, I wonder what else I can buy?
Throughout the game, you'll be able to find and buy a whole host of pieces of furniture, decorations, rugs for floors and wallpapers! Not all of them will be as easy to grab as these, but you'll be able to decorate your house as you like it - our houses in No More Robots are all very different! Originally you could only put big pieces of furniture down, but you can now do things like add these decorations to the walls! I like putting my tea sets out here in the side room and - OH! I should show you how you place furniture!
In your house there's a little table here at the front - it'll list all your furniture and decorations so you can put them out, put them away or move them around!
You can also fill your house with trinkets! From our little mouse friends, we gathered last week to some of the nice trinkets hanging around the town, feel free to decorate your house with whatever you pick up - even if it's a pair of slippers you've taken a liking to!
I'm hoping you'll have lots of fun decorating and comparing your houses, but don't forget that's not all they're good for! This screen up here JUST got finished! Would anyone like to do some cooking?
We can't WAIT to welcome you home later this year - the question is, what will you fill yours with? Let us know in the comments and we'll see you next week!
Dev Update - Collect 'em all!
Hey everyone, it's time for another little Spirittea update! This week I made a list of all the features going into the game, all the people and their hobbies and it very quickly became a massive collection!! That of course got me thinking, what if I showed you one of the neat collectables in the game?
You will have seen this pamphlet in a previous video that shows you all of the spirits, songs and various other things in the spirittea world, but I also wanted to show you these four screens. We've shown the big tree before, and I bet you can guess what goes in here, but I wanted to share this scene with you, and the collectables that go in it! Can you guess what they are? Let's see if we can get some so I can show you!
To collect up these adorable statues and fill out this scene, you'll need to head up to the capsule or gacha machine here in town! Some of the figures are common, others uncommon and there are a few rare ones too, so if you're looking to complete the set you'll need to pop by whenever you've got a spare coin or two (don't tell Wonyan!!).
Some of the figures are so rare, you'll have to find them around the world - there are so many secrets in Spirittea that I won't spoil any of them here, but needless to say, you'll have to explore, dig and help out as many people as you can to get them though!
For now, let's turn the crank and see what we get! Oh, a little druid! Maybe just one more? A barbarian!
These little critter statues can now be placed in our home or around the town, but they also fill in this mousey fantasy town scene in our collections! They're adorable!
We look forwards to seeing all your houses filled with cute mice (the good kind, thankfully!) soon! Are these going to be your first collectable goal, or do you have another goal in mind already? Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you next week!
Dev Update - Take Your Time!
Hey everyone, it's time for another little Spirittea update! With Winter giving us one last snow before the Spring, I figured I'd show you a little of how time passes in the game, and what that means for your character, the town, the townspeople and the spirits!
If you've played our demo, you'll know that the lovely clock in the top right-hand corner tells you the time and date, as well as what season it currently is. As you sleep each day, the days will tick on and eventually you'll hit summer, autumn and winter. We showed a little of these seasons in our music video, but here's a quick look at what you can expect, alongside different things growing and different critters hanging around town!
It wouldn't be a slice-of-life game without a lovely day-night cycle, and in Spirittea you'll see a lovely dawn, midday sun (as long as it's not cloudy, raining or storming), dusk and night-time, as well as a lovely drawn reminder of the clocks turning midnight! You'll even notice the difference in the bathhouse, where each time of day sets a different atmosphere!
But that's not the only difference! Each NPC has their own routine - some of the folks work at the school and the various buildings downtown so will take time in their day to head out to work, as well as engage with hobbies, meet with friends or just take some time out to relax. No matter what time of day you head out into town, there'll always be someone up to something!
As well as the townspeople, the spirits also have their own routines - they like to cause chaos when they can, some of them waiting until the relevant humans have left for work, others waiting for their humans to come home to best annoy them! On top of this, they're also tied to the seasons as you'll have seen in our previous videos - you'll need to be flexible with your own schedule in order to meet and help them all!
That being said, if you're a night owl, there'll be things for you to do and discover at night just like in the day! This is your new town and your new life - it's totally up to you how you spend it!
So, will you be a night owl headed out for karaoke or some late-night drinks, or an early bird looking to make the most of the daylight? Let us know in the comments and we'll see you next week!
Dev Update - Grab a Drink!
Hey everyone, it's time for another little Spirittea update, and today I wanted to touch on the town a little bit, but mostly I wanted to celebrate how much Spirittea has achieved since the start of the year!
We're constantly playing and thinking about how to improve each one of the activities throughout the game, and there are some SUPER exciting changes that I'm hoping to round up for you soon - needless to say the town is starting to feel like a real town, and the spooky goings on and really starting to feel at home here!
We wanted to connect you to the town and especially the townspeople, so you will have seen that you can partake in their hobbies with them! You might have seen some of the hobbies in our recent trailer!
From digging for treasure to eating BBQ, everyone has a preference. But with us celebrating, I figured I'd show you my favourite way to celebrate with some of the residents - grabbing a drink! Some of the resident's favourite way to unwind is to head down to the beach and grab a drink to wind down. The question is, can you pour the perfect drink?
Each of the minigames associated with each hobby is super fun, and each one is entirely different from the last! You've seen the karaoke one in our music video, which you should check out if you haven't already!
I'm so excited for you to give all these a go later this year and work out which ones you like best! The drinking game is currently my favourite, but I love getting stuck in with a little bit of food too!
Let us know what hobbies you'd love to get into in the comments and we'll see you next week!
Dev Update - A Bigger Bath!
Hey everyone, it's time for another little Spirittea update!
I thought I'd start today's update by just reminding you that if you've been enjoying these updates and haven't given our demo a go it's still available through Steam! A massive thanks to everyone who has been wishlisting the game!
For today's update, I figured I'd show you my favourite room in the bathhouse, as it's its own bath with a lovely fireplace and decorations, and plays a big part in the spiritual aspect of the game!
As you live your life and interact with the world around you, you'll build up spirituality. The more spiritual you are, the more of the spirit world you can get involved in and help with. As you know, you'll be helping out villagers with their spirit problems, but these naughty spirits aren't the only ones you'll be serving!
You might have seen at the end of the last update video that there was a little bit of commotion going on - let me show you what that looks like!
If you've seen our trailers you might have guessed what was on the way! I won't spoil too much about these very rare and regal spirits, but needless to say, a very large spirit needs a very large bath!!
In fact, this entire room will become a place for these specific spirits and their very cute entourages, complete with their own firepit to heat this bath specifically to the perfect temperature. You'll need to make sure the bath is at the perfect temperature too, as these spirits are, quite rightly, VERY fussy! They'll also need feeding and potentially a bath elixir too - only the best of care for these spirits! As you upgrade your bathhouse you'll be able to look after these customers better, and get to know exactly what makes them tick!
So, what do you think of our lovely side room? This is absolutely one of my favourite areas in the bathhouse, and I hope with all the ceremony you'll love it too!
Let us know what you think in the comments and we'll see you next week!
Dev Update - Seating the Spirits!
Hey everyone - it's time for another Spirittea update, and for today I promised we'd look at some of the spirits!
I figured I'd show you how the seating arrangements in the bathhouse will work, and introduce you to either your new favourite or your first worst 'enemies' in the game -
This guy.
More on him later. First let's head out to the bathhouse and chat about where you can seat your new spirit customers once you've helped them around town.
In order to keep your spirits happy in their baths, you can do a whole range of things like scrub them and treat their water, but the easiest way to keep them happy is to seat them next to other spirits they like! In the beginning when you have one bath this might be tough, but as you speak to Fae and unlock more, you'll be able to use more bath space - it's like a lovely puzzle!
Each spirit is linked to a season, and they love sitting next to spirits of the same season or the seasons next to theirs - they don't like sitting next to the season at the opposite end of the year. This image should hopefully clear it up, but Spring spirits hate for example hate sitting next to Autumn (or Fall) spirits, but like their neighbours Winter and Summer!
Once you've worked out who likes who, and you've got your seating plan, you can plonk down your spirits and they'll stay in the lovely spaces you've found for them, right?
Right?
Meet Corvink, a cheeky lad with a love of the arts! Corvink is happy to grab a towel and be seated, but... well
He's also a fan of getting his laps in. He's one of the special anomalous spirits who has a special effect once he's in the bath, adding layers to your bathhouse puzzle! The question is: would you want to give Corvinks their own baths, set up some season-based baths or pop everyone in together?
I can't WAIT to show you some of the other spirits and talk you through some neat features of the bathhouse, but for today say hello to my favourite cheeky chappie, and I'll see you in the next update!
Dev Update - Meet Amelia!
Hey everyone, welcome back to another little Spirittea update! One of the big tasks is to breathe life into each of the Townspeople - and that's being done in part with brand-new sets of animations!
With these new animations new being finished, I thought I'd use them to introduce our cast of characters - so first up is the first to be finished, and that's lovely Amelia!
You will have heard us talking about Amelia in our first update video, make sure you pop back to that to see how you'll meet her for the first time!
Amelia likes traditional music, dancing, and gardening, she's best friends with Miko and Quill who you'll meet very early on, and has a little special interest in Clarence (but I won't dwell on that so I don't embarrass her - they're both so sweet!)
You'll regularly see Amelia having tea and farming with Miko, as well as preparing food and practising her Tai Chi!
She's also a big fan of calligraphy, feeling like every brushstroke tells a story, and loves expressing herself that way!
Each Townsperson has their routine, so you'll see them taking part in their own activities frequently!
Amelia is very extroverted, relaxed, and practical, so has become a firm favourite of ours pretty quickly. She just wants to see her daughter (Song) and grandson (Momo) live a happy life, so you'll regularly find her in the shop helping out! She knows the struggle of raising a child on her own, so looks to support Song wherever she can!
These animations are really making the world come alive, and as each one gets added I can't help but get more excited! Let us know which one is your favourite, and we'll look at something new again next week! See you then!
