Sprouting, Growing, Blossoming: Everything You Need to Know About Gardening š±
It would not be The Garden Path without, well, growing a garden!
We find The Garden Path is best enjoyed when you embrace a wanderer's spirit: get lost, take detours, and get to know the locals. Gardening is not the main goal of your adventure in the Garden, but if it strikes your fancy, we have a few tips on cultivation.
Seedlings
You can grow plants anywhere in the Garden as long as itās on land and unoccupied by existing vegetation. There are various ways of obtaining seeds. Harvest them from existing wild plants or barter for seeds from merchants. (A few plants present in the game, like the chamomile and bluebells, were featured on social media in the past!)
Since itās summer, weāve included below a lovely garden full of plants that bloom during the summer in-game. Sunflowers, foxgloves, buttercups, and alsoā¦ a lovely little birdbath as garden decoration.
Planning
If youād prefer a more chaotic, unplanned garden, simply plop the seeds wherever youād like to plant them. But if you have grand ambitions and want to plan out the landscape before planting and acquiring seeds, you can use popsticks and project files! Both tools allow you to browse a library of possible plants and plan in advance. You can assign projects to a resident in the Community Center, and that resident will start working on the project and planting what you planned while you go about your day.
There are a variety of ways to obtain popsticks, but the most straightforward option is to deposit debris and organic matter into the compost bin. Worm the frog will then reward you with popsticks!
Tending
Much like a real garden, plants need time to blossom. To increase the growth speed of seedlings, players can ālistenā to plants and hear what fertilizer they prefer. For example, if you āhearā an oak leaf and pine needle, combine both into fertilizer in your inventory. Then give it to the plants directly. Buttercup, a merchant, also has a selection of mulch that you can check out for additional effects.
Harvesting
This is straightforward! Harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor by picking blossoms or obtaining clippings of weeds and twigs. Flowers only need to be picked by hand.
As for other harvestables, the appropriate tool is picked when you focus on a plant, tree, or shrub - so you donāt have to worry about switching manually between equipment. Note that you may require tones, a resource, in order to obtain a āseasonalā harvestable. Tones are separated into temporary and permanent. Permanent tones can be obtained by using equipment. Hover over equipment in the menu to check what to do to generate permanent tones.
Gifts for friends <3
Harvestables can be used in a myriad of ways. Obtain seeds for the next iteration of the garden, or give them as gifts to vegetables residents that stop by the garden. You can also brew tea with certain harvestables, as well as trade the items with merchants for clothing, decorative furniture, and more.
Remember, you arenāt locked into any forced loop of gardening. Plant as much or as little as you wish, as often or as infrequently. What type of garden and what plants you grow is entirely up to you!
The Garden Path is a place of your own to play and wander in! You choose how to spend your time, whether that be wandering around harvesting plants, finding new spots to songfish, or just chatting with a new friendly face.
You wonāt be left without direction, and the Garden gently nudges you towards how to use tools. But afterwards, youāll need to put your best boots on and grab gardening by the reins (or by the trowel). How the game unfurls is up to you. There are no continuous linear quest lines or main narrative throughline, though there are plenty of delightful characters to meet and chat with.
The Garden Path offers a more meandering and flexible play, than a directed journey. Take your time tinkering with systems. Let curiosity and instinct guide you. Plant whatever strikes your whimsy, like a beautifully curated rose garden or if the impulse strikes, a wild chaos garden. Or perhaps just slowly stroll past the lakes and underbrush, listening to the sounds of birds.
One Bite at a Time
Meant to be a companion to your daily life, The Garden Path canāt be finished in one giant bite. Stop by whenever the urge strikes to see how things have changed since your last visit!
As time progresses in the real world, so does time in the Garden. You will have an opportunity to set the clock in-game, choosing how many hours behind or ahead of real-time itās set at. You can only do this once, though! While youāre away, new plants will have sprouted and different merchants will roam to and fro.
A Companion Through Thick and Thin
After a long day at work, make a pot of tea, and come back to the Garden to relax or to reflect. If itās a nice summer day, perhaps take the game outdoors on your Nintendo Switch on the porch or in a park. The game can be cozy and full of mirthful charm, but there is a melancholic and nostalgic patina present, much like a rainy day or the static whirring of a slightly damaged cassette tape. The Garden is a place in which you have the flexibility to shape, but it also grows alongside you over time - and perhaps, can surprise you with a secret or two.
Sweet Encounters: Meet Travellers in The Garden šµ
Welcome to the mysterious Garden. Armed with a tent, a few items in your bag, and endless curiosity, take your time getting to know the Garden and its visitors. And perhaps... you can also plant seeds of friendships? š
The Garden Path is meant for short bursts of play at a time. And every new in-game day brings different travellers to the Garden. If you see a toad, a bear, and other friendly faces roaming around, be sure to say hi. Maybe youād like to just listen to sarcastic, but endearing, banter from Tabbal the toad. Or perhaps youād like to check out what wares these travellers have in their bags.
To obtain travellersā items, youāll need to trade items. Our game doesnāt have currency like money or gold, and bartering is the way-of-life within it. Every merchant will part with their stock for different goods, like fish, flowers, tea and yes - even bundles of weeds!
Augustus
One of the first travellers youāll encounter, Augustus is an Eurasian Brown Bear. Heās earnest and a bit timid, but wholeheartedly enthusiastic about scouting. And we swear by scoutās honor, heās the most loveable big guy youāll encounter in the Garden.
Tabbal
Ah, mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the grumpiest of them all? Tabbal, a Turkish Berber toad, brings spunk, impatience, and attitude. He sells mainly spices and botanicals, but occasionally also has rare trinkets in stock.
Caoihme
With her passion for fashion, Caoihme is the Gardenās resident fashionista. Sheās an Atlantic puffin from Ireland. Approach Caoihme for antique furniture and to, of course, buy from her large collection of garments, hats, shoes, and more. She can also give gardeners haircuts!
Buttercup
Buttercupās always equipped with her pickaxe and headlamp as a British Landrace Pig. Sheās usually digging underground, but when she pops up, itās because sheās lost her way and decided to take a break. If you catch Buttercup during her breaks, exchange different soils with her for fine brews.
Bunk
A traveller who knows everything about tea, Bunk is a Japanese macaque from northern Honshu. Her tea knowledge comes from working with a team of tea masters after being adopted as a pet by a tea-loving poet.
Sheās on a journey to discover teas of all sorts. Chat with Bunk to experiment with flavors and discover new brews.
Weāll have more travellers to show players in the future, so stay tuned for more info! As always, we appreciate any and all wishlists!
Invite a dear friend over to garden together in The Garden Path! The local co-op feature has just been added to the beta. Chop wood, admire the flora and fauna, and maybe even just wander alongside each other. Asides from that, we're happy to announce that folks can also play the game in Japanese, Spanish and French in this beta update as well!
If you are a Kickstarter backer that chose Steam as your preferred edition, you should have received a Steam code for access to the beta. If you are not a Kickstarter backer, the other way to play the beta is to purchase it on itchio! Players who purchase the beta will also get the full version of the game when it releases on July 30.
After years of tending to our garden and sowing seeds, we are excited to announce that The Garden Path will sprout on July 30 for Linux, PC, and Nintendo Switch!
We hope to see you in your best gardening boots and your finest trowel in hand. Just kidding! Weāll supply the gardening glam and supplies. All that is needed is you and an open, willing heart to wander and unearth the secrets of a mysterious garden.
The Garden Path runs in concert with the real world, so when youāre away, your garden changes. Itās designed for daily play, so whenever the mood strikes you, take a peek at how your garden has transformed - as well as what new visitors, events, and activities are waiting.
On the topic of visitors, you wonāt be alone in the garden. Speak with charming vegetable-headed residents as well as merchants that range from a grumpy toad, Tabbal, to Larto, a seasoned musk ox fisherman with a love for song-fish.
If youād like to garden together with a friend, The Garden Path also supports local co-op with controller support for both players.
Check out our release date trailer here:
In additional news, our game is part of the Cozy & Family Friendly Fest Steam event! Our demo will be live from May 30 - June 4, and it is the perfect opportunity to get a sneak peek into how The Garden Path has grown.
Join us while we play the fresh demo for The Garden Path!
Our solo-developer, Louis Durrant, from carrotcake is joined by Video Specialist, Kenny Chia, from Mooncat Games for a playthrough of the newest demo available on Steam during the Cozy & Family Friendly Celebration this weekend.
