Halloween Art Stream: Jack-o'-lanterns and everything pumpkin!! š
Dear gardeners,
Come join us for a cozy 'lil Halloween art stream. Louis Durrant and Fern will chat and draw everything pumpkin - including Jack-o'-lanterns.
We'll be streaming at 11 AM EDT / 3 PM GMT / 4 PM CET. You can catch us here or on Twitch!
Happy trick or treating! Louis, carrotcake
Join our Discord server Follow us on Twitter: @fromcarrotcake Check out our TikTok: @fromcarrotcake Find us on Instagram: @fromcarrotcake Keep up via Mastodon: @ldurrant
Tiny Teams Festival ~ Demo available to play! š
Hello gardeners,
With summer in full swing, Iām happy to share the news that The Garden Path will be part of the Tiny Teams Steam Festival! The event is live already and weāll be taking part throughout the week: store.steampowered.com/sale/tinyteamsfestival.
The Yogscastsā Tiny Teams festival is dedicated to highlighting smaller indie game developers like ourselves, and itās wonderful to be among so many great games. Do take the time to look through the festival page which is running from today until August 10th.
Oh, and did we mention that the demo of The Garden Path will be available during the festival? Itās the perfect chance to wander the garden and we hope you enjoy!
Your usual reminder!
And as always, here is your reminder that you can join our official Discord Community server, which you can join here. Here you can chat with the team, meet fellow backers, and help me shape The Garden Path. And of course, we encourage you to share your real-life gardening with your fellow gardening gamers.
We're thick into the summer months now, as myself and the team have been hunkering down, climbing ever-closer to The Garden Path's approaching release. While I'm usually excited to use this space to share a bundle of new changes and features, with release on the horizon most of my efforts have been focused on bug fixes and polishing up the game's existing content for a 1.0. As such, a slightly shorter update this time! Still, a few important bits to share - so let's head into it.
Game Updates
A great deal of progress has been made moving the game to Nintendo Switch, with full optimizations underway to ensure the full game and full Garden will be available to take with you on-the-go. Those with slower hardware or older computers should also benefit, with higher frame rates and smoothing loading across the board.
One of the heaviest calculations the game made was the player's lantern - lighting the Garden as you move through it. It never sat right with me that those who played the game at night might lose performance. The game's lighting has now been reworked to use no GPU lighting at all, instead layering sprites in a way to emulate sources of light.
Instead of lighting the darkness, the darkness is now moved away from the player, creating the appearance that the Garden is lit around them. With an excuse to spend some more time adjusting the lighting for the new system, I personally think midnights, mornings and dusks have never looked better, with a more filmic appearance that suits the game's style, instead of relying on the engine's provided lighting.
A common piece of feedback from testing arose from those familiar with the game and choosing to skip the tutorial - 'why am I still seeing tutorials!'. While it was possible to skip over the starting zone, later tutorials would still appear. As triggering tutorials is required to collect guide stones, it was necessary to have these still appear so the player could progress.
Now a new method of collecting guide stones is available for those skipping the tutorial. Small shrines appear throughout the Garden, which you can break apart to collect the stone fragments. You'll need to explore your new Garden to find them all, but there'll always be a surplus, so you aren't tearing your hair out trying to find that last one.
I hope these small changes, along with all the fixes in the pipeline, make The Garden Path a richer experience. It's a great feeling tieing all the loose ends from the last five years, as the project continues to mature.
Any thoughts?
Since we are inching closer to the release of The Garden Path, weāre going to be asking for general calls for feedback from those who have early access. Is there a mechanic in the game you felt needed a tutorial that didn't appear? Is there anything you found yourself having trouble understanding? Are there any elements you wish were present?
Jump into the Discord here and let us know. All your thoughts and feelings about the game are more than appreciated.
Your usual reminder!
And as always, here is your reminder that you can join our official Discord Community server, which you can join here. Here you can chat with the team, meet fellow backers, and help me shape The Garden Path. And of course, we encourage you to share your real-life gardening with your fellow gardening gamers.
I hope youāre all well and have been enjoying the glimpses of sunshine that have been passing through, at least here in the UK. Work has been going well on The Garden Path, with translations well underway along with the usual upkeep. Letās pay a wave to May then by taking a closer look at what Iāve been working on recently.
Multiplayer Trailer
A garden needs a gardenerā¦why not two? Last week we shared a new trailer for The Garden Path, showcasing the gameās local multiplayer mode with some brand-new footage. This feature was previously announced during our Kickstarter campaign and will let you experience all the little pleasures of the garden with a friend, whether on PC (including Remote Play Together via Steam) or Nintendo Switch.
With this trailer comes a new release window, as The Garden Path will now be blooming in Summer 2023 (More info on that below)! Take a look at the trailer below to see what the garden will look like with a companionā¦
Game Updates
It's never fun moving a missed target, but, as with any project, there are often surprises and curveballs along the way. Sometimes a fix or a new feature surprises you with how quickly it can be implemented, and sometimes it takes a day or a week longer than hoped (and, as all we know, it's often the latter).
Since our first demo in 2021, almost every aspect of the game has been reshaped in some way to make the game feel better to play. I'm proud of all these changes, and I think they've helped shape the game into more of-its-own. Early on in development, I took a lot of design decisions for granted because they were staples from other games - equipment menus, player stats, and so on. All the feedback has helped me step back and rethink these elements to better fit the kind of game The Garden Path is and should be.
I'm planning on putting together a retrospective of these changes together soon, but I hope you've enjoyed my updates each month covering that progress bit by bit. Sometimes itās hard to gauge how far things have come without going back to the start. But, without any more ado (!), here's what's new in the game this May.
Stars in The Garden Path are a way to track your progress and time in the Garden. They've been, for the most part, untouched since the game's first demo, but will be a focus of development as we lead up to release.
Animations and control for star navigation have been polished and made more responsive. The star UI now also supports different 'views', the default view shows the stars in the night sky, but stars are now able to be rearranged in a grid sorted by subject, to make them easier to find and move between.
A third view, allowing you to easily move between the different constellations, will be implemented in the near future, alongside many new stars that have been in the pipeline.
Lastly, a new animation adds a bit of game-feel when spending a star map to observe a star. A handy icon in the bottom left keeps track of how many star maps you have in your inventory while viewing the stars.
The encyclopedia now features a new 'Garden' page. While other tabs keep track of the folk you meet and items you collect, this Garden page is designed to be more changing.
When focusing on flora in the Garden, you'll have the option to 'Record' the flora, as well as harvest. The more of a certain family you record, the more information about that family of plants you'll have available to you, such as how many are in the Garden, what you can obtain from them, and the seasonality of the plant.
Eventually, with enough plants recorded, you will be able to track that family of plants, making it easier to find the plants you've spent the time studying.
Work on localisation is starting to fall into place, with the game readied up to support Spanish, French, and Japanese. There's still work to be done, especially where content in the game is generated, but I hope you'll enjoy these sneak peeks. I really think each language shows the game in a new light!
Any thoughts?
Since we are inching closer to the release of The Garden Path, weāre going to be asking for general calls for feedback from those who have early access. Is there a mechanic in the game you felt needed a tutorial that didn't appear? Is there anything you found yourself having trouble understanding? Are there any elements you wish were present?
Jump into the Discord here and let us know. All your thoughts and feelings about the game are more than appreciated.
Itās time to sign off on April ā another busy month thatās kept time feeling as short as ever. With characters being finished up, localisation entering its final stages, and 0.7 update preparation, it feels like thereās more and more to talk about each month that goes by. I hope youāll enjoy this look at what Iāve been working on in the welcome warmer weather.
Meeting Frederick, Sal, and Olen
For April Foolās this year our Community Manager, Alex, decided to give character design a go and created the unique fox accountant Frederick. Heās a bookkeeper, heās a little wonky, and he was made entirely via Paint - but he has a certain charm about him.
Who knows, maybe Frederick will make an appearance (he wonātā¦ unless?)
A handful of residents will soon be added to the game in the upcoming patch - this month we also introduced a new character to the garden: the peas Sal and Olen! As one of the rare (only?) two headed residents, Sal and Olen...
š« Always agree on which way to go š« Don't always have the same song stuck in their heads š« Are just two peas in a pod
What do you think of this pair of peas? Are you excited to meet them in your garden?
Game Updates
It's been a long time in the works, but I'm excited to introduce the long awaited replacement to the game's stat system. Welcome in: tones.
A mood, a season, an outlook - 'tones' are named as such to represent what your character is experiencing and how they approach their work in the Garden.
Tones are like a currency you use to harvest new items in the Garden. Not dissimilar to an energy system, tones are collected and spent to get what you want from the Garden.
Unlike 'energy', tones are divided by the seasons. The Garden is seasonal, and so are the things that grow in it, so players paying attention to the change in weather and seasonality of different plants will be rewarded.
Tones are designed to help guide your actions throughout the Garden and hopefully make gathering and collecting more meaningful, without being something to micro-manage.
Equipment in the game no longer has stats, but instead holds different ways to generate tones. Your coat might generate you a tone after catching a fish, or your hat might generate a tone as you walk through the rain.
To keep things balanced, once an item has generated a tone, it will take a little bit of time before a new one can be generated.
Generated tones are reliable, but can be slow. The best way to get more tones? Tea! Tea will help provide 'temporary' tones - they won't last forever, but a big teapot holds many cups of tea to keep you topped up throughout the day. Or, maybe you'd opt for a smaller teapot - less cups, but a stronger flavour.
Bunkās duties have been delegated to selling ready-prepared teas, but now youāll be able to brew up your own tea at any time from one of the campfires dotted around the map.
Anything that can be brewed into a tea will affect the tones each tea provides. Some items might enhance the tones another provides, or might change the tone entirely.
Clothing now has a warmth rating. Dress too warm or too cold, and your equipment will take a little longer to recharge. Nothing to stress about, just something that makes wrapping up in the cold weather worthwhile.
While temperature in the Garden changes throughout the day, your character's temperature is taken from an average of the day's temperature. You won't need to worry about the time of day you're playing, but should notice the warmth of late Spring, or the cooling in late Autumn.
Your harvesting tools (axe and secateurs) now have a yield rating. Tools with a higher rating will make for quick work, whereas lower ratings will afford greater care to the plant being harvested. Youāll want to make sure youāre picking the right tool for the job.
NPCs now carry a lot more stuff on the daily, and their shops now have tabs to keep things more organised. Certain, more crucial items will now always be in stock, so less is left to the roll of the dice. Shop tabs are organised by what the character stocks most of, so you can get a better feel for what each merchant is all about.
Inventory overflowing? One of the most common bits of feedback is that there's just too much in the inventory sometimes, especially after a harvesting session. There's a new way of managing items to help with that - your Collection!
Harvestables are now automatically sorted into this new section of your inventory. The best part? Your Collection is infinite, so you don't need to worry about carrying too many acorns or bracken.
The second best part - in multiplayer your collection will be shared between both players, helping to pool your hard work together.
This helps give more weight and focus to your more valuable pieces of furniture, trinkets or equipment, which remain in your inventory without diluting them with more common harvestables. To help keep things balanced, player inventories and bags are a little bit smaller across the board.
With the brunt of 0.7 now behind me, itās just finishing touches and balances before it makes its way to the beta.
March Update ~ Designing, Trading, and Testing! š
Hello gardeners,
Spring equinox has come around at last, and with it a good sense of progression with all things behind the scenes in The Garden Path. Localisation is in full swing, while I continue to make headway with multiplayer mechanics. It's also been another busy month preparing for the upcoming 0.7 update. Let's take a look at whatās new since our last check-in.
Game Updates
The notification manager, task tracker and Overview have now been combined into one piece of UI. While the Overview can be opened and closed, the Overview's tabs can now be toggled between while playing, so you can preview the information you want to see while playing. For instance, the task tracker can now be viewed by switching to the Errand Tab, and a relevant tutorial can be read while playing by switching to the Tutorial tab.
The old notifications were helpful, but often expected attention, and would build up if not acted on. Now, tabs will contextually focus themselves as events happen in-game, and the information is categorised by subject, not chronologically, so updates will be easier to find. Then, if youād like more information, opening the Overview will bring you directly to the relevant tab.
Tutorials no longer pause the game, instead layering themselves over the game, so the flow of gameplay isn't broken. Tutorial text has also been streamlined to be more clear. Sometimes itās good to pause the game to ensure important information isnāt missed, but the response to the old system was that it was too intrusive. Iāll be following feedback on this one closely!
'Designer' mode is now even more functional, allowing you to quickly place, move and pick up decorative items in the Garden, where previously it could only be used to place new items. Interacting with any moveable item now allows you to enter Design mode, so you no longer need to select an item from the inventory to begin customising.
Design mode now follows a grid by default, making it easier to align items accurately. Holding the movement key will slow down the speed of the item you are placing, and break you away from the grid, so you can more finely tune an item's placement.
The trading view with a character is now a list rather than a grid, giving a clearer view of the items available instead of needing to highlight over each item. This menu also predetermines the cost of each item, instead of generating the cost on selection. Lastly, this design helps differentiate the playerās inventory from an NPCās, so itās always clear what UI youāre viewing. This change will be part of a bigger redesign to how the player uses NPC shops.
A new 'fulfiller' menu aims to consolidate those moments in the game when you need to offer items from your inventory - whether it's completing an errand, making a trade, or brewing items into a tea. The iconography and design have been refreshed to make it easier to understand what you've selected, and what slots you've left to fill. Gone are the strange transparent circles that sit under inventories!
Tradable items in the game now have grades, an easy way to get a sense for the value or rarity of an item. Meeting a character's trade requirements no longer requires meeting a hidden value threshold, but instead meeting the grades of items requested. If you have a stack of items, you donāt have to guess how many you need to meet the required grade - the menu shows you that exact number. Selecting the item will automatically move across the right amount.
Next week begins work on the final features to get 0.7 ready for testing. I'll see you in April!
Any thoughts?
Since we are inching closer to the release of The Garden Path, weāre going to be asking for general calls for feedback from those who have early access. Was there a mechanic or element in the game you felt needed a tutorial that didn't appear? Was there anything you found yourself having trouble understanding? Did you find the tutorial pop-ups a blessing or a nuisance?
Jump into the Discord server and let us know. All your thoughts and feelings about the game are more than appreciated. Until next timeā¦ Louis, carrotcake
Can you sense the turn of the season approaching? We certainly can here in the UK as the frosts are starting to ease as work continues on The Garden Path. Itās been an exciting month with work on multiplayer, localisation, and optimisation taking place. So, letās take a look shall we?
Game Updates
Development focus in February has been optimization, localization, and multiplayer.
You might remember last year the game had a big refactor to prepare its systems for eventual multiplayer. The good news is that the work is paying off!
While you may have seen in previous updates, we were able to have both characters on-screen, characters now have their own UI, inventory and equipment. It's now possible to run errands together, harvest the garden together, fish together, and more.
This is still only available in internal builds, but it shouldn't be long now before I can ship it out for testing.
Optimization work has been underway to prepare the game for Nintendo Switch and those on lower-end systems, but everyone should benefit from the game now being more light-weight.
Loading the game's world has been reworked, reducing loading into the garden from minutes down to seconds (on test systems!).
Lighting in the game has been reworked to be less system resource reliant. For those with older graphics cards, having multiple lights on screen, especially where they overlap, caused heavy loss in FPS. Most lights in the game have been replaced with much less heavy alternatives. It gives ambient lights, especially in the Garden's dark hours, a more fuzzy, filmic look. Looking forward to hearing any feedback.
Many of the game's textures have been reworked to load faster and use fewer resources, while (hopefully) still looking just as good. In some instances, the game now uses half as much VRAM as it did previously.
Most of my time this month has been spent preparing the game for localization so that the game can be enjoyed by players whose first language isn't English.
I've been on a big push to get all the game's text ready, and so while most of the work has been under the hood, testers will soon enjoy more item descriptions, dialogue, and errands to arrive in the build soon.
This also marks the start of moving on from the limited number of items included in the closed beta for testing, with the building blocks for the items that will be in the game's release now in place.
Your usual reminder!
And as always, here is your reminder that you can join our official Discord Community server, which you can join here. Here you can chat with the team, meet fellow backers, and help me shape The Garden Path. And of course, we encourage you to share your real-life gardening with your fellow gardening gamers.
Happy New Year everyone, and let me begin by saying thank you again to everyone who has supported The Garden Path and the team over the last year. As we inch closer to release each month, I am so grateful to be able to share this exciting and tumultuous experience with you all.
December was a month of work and rest, but weāre now back in full force working on localisation, coding, and more. Without further ado, letās hop into the update proper.
A Look Back
While we thought 2021 had been a busy year for The Garden Path, 2022 managed to surpass our expectations! Some pivotal additions, improvements, and revamps happened behind the scenes to make the game more stable and more enjoyable, while elsewhere the team were busy taking The Garden Path to festivals and streams alike.
Hereās a not-quite-extensive list of what happened in the garden over 2022:
We started small by adding new flora, including marigolds, pansies, daffodils, and chrysanthemum.
Bunkās new design was introduced alongside a refresh to the tea-pouring visualizer.
We introduced treasure into the game, allowing you to unlock the old gardenerās journal and learn more about the old garden.
We made an Anatomical-Tabbal for April Foolsā Day (who still loves some rain).
We sold 100 early access copies of The Garden Path on Itch.io ahead of its full launch later this year!
The character customiser had a revamp, increasing the combination of hair colour and skin tone from 22 to almost 2,000.
We added (and played) conkers with our villagers!
Tabbal was featured on the charity shirt for Wholesome Direct 2022, while The Garden Path returned to the cosy showcase.
The āGarden Designerā was added to the game, allowing you to quickly plot out how you want your garden to look.
The Community Centre opened its door in-game, with the brand new toad Worm in tow.
We smashed past 10k followers on TikTok (with a couple viral videos too)!
We went live on stream 26 times!
A revisited tutorial system went live for our early access Itch players.
Local multiplayer work took place, thanks to our wonderful backers getting us to our co-op stretch goal.
We went to Steam Next Fest (again)!
The Garden Path went all the way to San Francisco for Day of the Devs.
Our release window trailer was published, announcing that The Garden Path will be blooming in Spring 2023!
We launched the beta version of the game on Steam!
Weyley and Terracottaās caravan of gardening furnishings, planters, and paraphernalia rolled into the garden.
As I said, this list is not exhaustive and plenty of other work went on both in-front of and behind the curtains. None of this would have been possible without you, of course, and the generous support extended to The Garden Path.
And now weāre in the final stretch. Itās hard to believe how far the game has come, so here is to the next few months of tweaking and polishing ~ weāll be sure to bring you along as usual.
Game Updates
Work on the game before the new year was focused on polishing the 0.6 update that had been a long-time in the works, and released early December.
The Garden is now almost twice the size, expanding from 8 acres (2x4) to 15 acres (3x5), providing more room to explore and build on. This was based on feedback from testers as a good happy-medium between the originally planned 8 and 24 acre Gardens.
Load times have been greatly improved with further content streaming introduced, making it easier to load in and start seeing whatās new in the Garden, especially with a much larger Garden now under your feet. This will be part of general performance tweaking between now and the gameās release.
Campfireās can now be found across the Garden, providing spaces for certain characters to hang out and rest, and for certain events to centre around. And, as part of the tea overhaul, youāll also be able to use the fires to brew teas yourself on-the-go.
Shovels can now be used across the Garden using the focus system, much like your axe and secateurs. You can collect soil, and dig up treasure.
Characterās time-tables have been simplified, no longer coming and going across the day. Instead, any visiting character will come for the day and stay for the day. This means that won't matter when you decide to come to the Garden, you won't miss out on visitors.
Lastly (and maybe most excitingly) work for The Garden Path on Switch started earlier this month and we're already seeing some great results. There's only so much I can say at this point, but I'm happy to report there haven't been any nasty surprises (touch wood)!
0.7 is in the works and will be focusing on stats and stars - the things youāll want to start focusing on once youāve gotten to grips with the basics. I'm eager to show off what I've had in the works - more on that to come, so stay tuned.
Your usual reminder!
And as always, here is your reminder that you can join our official Discord Community server, which you can join here. Here you can chat with the team, meet fellow backers, and help me shape The Garden Path. And of course, we encourage you to share your real-life gardening with your fellow gardening gamers.
November Update ~ New Trailer, New Release Window š»
Hello gardeners,
How was your November? Itās certainly been a busy month for The Garden Path. This is an exciting update, with a new Autumn trailer to reveal, plenty of game updates, and even some release date news. Letās get started.
Autumn Trailer
While we may be inching ever closer to the end of Autumn and the oncoming of Winter, itās not too late to enjoy the comforts of the season. What better way to feel cosy, then, than with a brand new Autumnal trailer for The Garden Path? Take a peek inside the Gardenerās journal, and say hello to some familiar travellers. Not only that, but with this trailer weāre also revealing that The Garden Path will now be blooming in Spring 2023!šŖ“
I understand this might be a disappointing set-back for some, as I had hoped to have the game ready before the year came to an end.
It's important to me to make sure I get the game right, and while many have enjoyed the game during our demos and beta builds, with so many more fresh eyes on the game there has been a wealth of feedback for me to work through - be it something 'not feeling right', or sometimes not understanding why certain parts of the game work the way they do.
Myself and the team came to the decision that this extra breathing room would be the best option to ensure that the final product is as good as possible when it comes to launch. The game is already so much stronger than it would have been had I decided to keep the builds closed, and I'm confident in how the game will shape up in 2023 - I'll be keeping you posted in my updates as usual!
I hope it'll be worth any extra wait - it's well and truly been a privilege having anyone waiting on my work at all.
Game Updates
0.6 has been in-the-works since the summer, and it's a great relief to finally start introducing the changes into the main game. Starting today, the update will be rolling out to different beta platforms for testing.
Welcome to the Garden: Weyley and Terracotta! These two sisters will travel to your Garden on-schedule, and carry with them on their caravan all sorts of different garden furnishings they've collected on their travels - they'll be the go-to for larger decorations, planters and paraphernalia. Unlike other travellers, Weyley and Terracotta's stock will be available in the Garden to browse, so you can get a real-world before you buy. Also, before arriving in the Garden, they will notify you when they'll be visiting, and what items they'll be especially looking out for - giving you time to gather-up and get the best deals.
To help keep you notified while playing, the function of the community board has been expanded to support bulletins. While the daily report keeps record of what's happening that day, bulletins will help to give you a heads-up on what will be happening in the coming days. You can now also view the daily report from the community board, should you wish to read it again.
The social tab in the game's overview is now fleshed out to help bring the Garden's residents to the forefront. You now have a record of the residents living in your garden, and your progress to unlocking a new resident. Locked residents are even automatically ordered, so you can see who you're closest to unlocking.
Those who joined me in last week's stream will know we can also welcome in two new residents - Jaime and Leslie! Perhaps no taller, nor wider resident has stepped into the garden until now.
And you might not have to wait too long to meet them, as each day a new resident will now visit the Garden whether unlocked or not. If you haven't met the requirements to unlock a resident, a random resident will visit the Garden to say hi, giving you a chance to see just whoās wandering around, and who you might want to stay.
Remember: how you customise the Garden will change who wants to call your garden their home. The Garden designer was introduced in the summer to help those who wanted to plot out their vision for the Garden, and now it's becoming the central place to alter and preview your garden design. All furnishings in your inventory can now be accessed through the designer menu, and selecting furnishing from your inventory will also open the menu. It's now much easier to place paths, fencing and garden furnishing while also building projects of your own.
Much of the guess-work has been removed in a small rework of the game's star system. Names of stars now always show, no matter whether you've observed the star or not - important for residents that require certain stars to be unlocked. Observing stars now reveals their unlock requirements. Star maps no longer observe a random star in the sky, but can be used from the star map to unlock a star of your choosing. Constellations are also no longer hidden, allowing you to see which stars you need to focus on to unlock a constellation.
Tea has also received a shake-up. You can now purchase and collect different 'vessels' for containing your tea. You'll start the game with a camping flask, but you'll soon be able to browse and collect various teapots and gaiwans to best suit the tea you're brewing. Different vessels will be able to carry different capacities of tea, keep your tea warmer for longer, or have effects on the brew itself.
And new on your equipment list - your favourite mug! A variety of mugs will be available to purchase from travellers for you to sip from. These changes are in place for a planned rework of the player stat system, toward something that feels more impactful while playing - more on that coming soon.
Dye colours are also now shown on botanical items, so you can start to track which items to collect for which colours, as the dye system is rolled out in the coming months for hair and clothes.
And that's me all caught up. Looking forward to hearing any and all feedback. As with any new features in the beta, there may be quirks, oddities, and breakages, all of which I'll be working through in December. Otherwise, plans are to begin a steady trickle-in of 'mini-content' - all the furnishing, clothing and stories that have been in the works but yet to be finalised. Work on finishing up multiplayer and the Switch version begin in January - so hopefully we'll start seeing some footage of each soon, stay tuned!
October Update ~ Day of the Devs, Itch Updates, and more š
Hello gardeners,
A belated Happy Hallowās Eve. October has been and gone, with some exciting happenings for The Garden Path. Today, we have a shorter update for you as we ramp up elsewhere, with an indie dev celebration to share alongside your usual game updates. Letās dive in.
Day of the Devs
We're so excited to be a part of Day of the Devs 10th Anniversary celebration, and itās happening this week!
The Garden Path is fortunate enough to have been invited to take part in both the Digital Showcase and the In-Person event taking place at The Midway in San Francisco.
We will be showing some brand-new gameplay footage (including some bits you might expect to see in our new Itch update) and will have a demo available to play for those visiting on site.
Tune in November 3rd at 5pm GMT for the digital show, or head on down this Saturday from 3pm PST to see The Garden Path and some other wonderful indie games.
We had a big influx of interest and new players for the Steam Next Fest demo, which we decided to continue throughout October. It was a great opportunity to see the response to the game through new eyes and expectations, while also providing a sweep of new bug reports that came about after porting the game to the new two-player system. (For those out-of-the-loop, the game doesn't currently support two players, but the game's system has been largely redesigned to accommodate a second player).
The new tutorials were a success, and helped focus feedback and attention toward game-feel and balance, rather than new players feeling lost on what to do.
Perhaps most overwhelmingly the response was that interacting with the garden could often feel cumbersome and overcomplicated. It can, for instance, be frustrating when you wish to chop a tree, but a small fern in front of the tree takes priority. The Garden is densely populated with trees and flora, and so conventional interaction systems don't always work, despite my efforts with fine tuning. The existing focus system was introduced to remedy this, but it's a mechanic that becomes more natural to use as you become experienced with the game, and so was often forgotten by those jumping in for the first time.
As such, the interaction/harvesting system has been redesigned to bring focussing to the forefront, and make focussing as a concept more friendly to newer players. The old harvest button now draws an area in front of you, highlighting the trees and flora inside. This not only gives you a more clear overview of the space around you, but also allows the harvesting of multiple flora. With harvesting now done symbolically, you're free to queue up harvests, and move between flora on-the-go.
The response to the new system so far has been positive, and I'm looking forward to hearing how it holds up long-term. I think it feels quite novel to have a whole button dedicated to analysing the space around you, and I think it helps bring a sense of your surroundings to the forefront. The old focus system is still in-place, activated by holding the focus button rather than tapping it, so it's a natural progression to move from one to the other.
I'll be gathering more feedback in the coming weeks, but for now I hope working the garden feels more deliberate, and more satisfying as a result.
0.6 has been in-the-works alongside 0.5, and I'm really excited to finish up the new content for the backers who'll be joining us for the first time before the official launch. Be sure to follow us at the usual places for more updates!
