Garden Story News

Happy Friday everyone! Time to end the week with your dose of Vitamin C...oncord! Eh? Ehh? ^_^ Okay, before I show myself out, let me first preview what Pico and the team have been hard at work with on Garden Story!

[h3]Do the Dew[/h3]
How do we know what’s in a jar? Why, by labeling it, of course! Visual indicators have been added to jars so you can identify what type of dew it stores!



[h3]You Are Here[/h3]
Still getting your bearings? Not only does the map showcase the name and coordinates of each area, but there’s a handy Concord pin now to show you where they are!



[h3]Updated Pick Combat[/h3]
The pick art has more detail and the animation packs a little bit more punch, so thwacking Rot feels more impactful!



[h3]Extra Extra![/h3]
You can know it’s time to read new posts on the request board when you see this handy bobbling sign above it. In addition to these, there are general indicators above areas of interest as well, so you have an idea of where to explore if you’re stuck!



[h3]Story Bits & Squashing Bugs[/h3]
In addition to visual tweaks and improvements, we’ve also been really dialing in the story and fixing bugs that have cropped up! It’s harder to show that type of progress, but we can say that we’re really proud of how it’s coming along, and can’t wait to reveal more of what this world is like (and what’s happening to it!) In the meantime? Here’s a gif of Concord hanging out with some fellow Spring Hamlet neighbors and enjoying a lovely rainy day!



[h3]The Wholesome Direct[/h3]
Finally, we were featured as a part of the first ever Wholesome Direct! It was an incredible experience seeing all of these indie games come together in an event that celebrated cozy vibes and kindness. Missed it? Don’t worry! The full video is available here.



We’ll be participating in even more events in the coming months and have a few fun activities of our own up our sleeve, so be sure to pop into our Discord or follow us on Twitter to hear all about them as we share the announcements!

Talk soon!

Jenny and the Garden Story Team

[h2]What a Weekend![/h2]

LudoNarraCon has come and gone in a flash, and we can’t say how excited we were to be able to share the broadcast with you all, as well as hear from the folks who played the demo. Thank you! It’s really energizing and motivating for the team to hear folks talk about Garden Story as kindly as you all have.

If you missed out on the festivities, don’t worry! The Autumn Town Demo is still available on Steam, so you can play it at your leisure (and if you haven’t wishlisted the game, please consider doing so as well!)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1062140/Garden_Story/



[h2]I Stream, You Stream![/h2]

This week, Picogram worked on adding fences and additional buildings to Winter Glade ~ we’ll be able to show you all what it looks like soon. Wonder what all those glyphs on the purple stones mean though…?

Also, we’ll be slowly bringing livestreams into the mix! If you’d like to relax with Picogram as they work on pixel art, be sure to follow us on Twitch to get notifications when they go live.



[h2]Home Sweet Home[/h2]

Speaking of Winter Glade, in each area Concord visits, they’ll have a home away from home to stay in. Here’s a first look at the outside of Concord’s residence in the Glade. Concord’s especially excited to see inside their abode, and so are we! That little heater “poof” makes us feel like it’ll be warm and cozy.



[h2]Stay In Touch![/h2]

We’ve got a growing Discord community for Garden Story, and we’d love you to be a part of it. Stay in touch with us on Twitter or sign up for newsletters straight from Elderberry and other inhabitants of Garden Story to your inbox, updating you every month on life in the Grove.



Talk soon ~

Jenny & the Garden Story Team 🌱

[h2]LudoNarraCon is here! [/h2]

We’ve been recording, prepping, coding, testing, and gathering lots of behind-the-scenes and special content to stream all weekend for the second year of LudoNarraCon, a digital event hosted by the awesome folks of Fellow Traveler.



If you haven’t gotten to participate in LudoNarraCon before, you’re in for a treat. All weekend, there will be panels, streams, and demos to check out, all united by the fact that they celebrate games with a focus on narrative. We’re so happy that Garden Story gets to be a part of the festivities, and wanted to let you know what you can expect throughout the weekend!

[h2]Garden Story Broadcasting[/h2]

Starting Friday at 10 AM PST, we’ll also be showcasing a wide variety of content on our main Steam page! Our broadcast will loop throughout the entire weekend (the event ends on Monday, April 27th at 11:50 PM PST), so please feel free to visit our page for:

• Pixel art with Picogram, lead developer and artist for Garden Story
  
• Tiny Jams: mini one-song shows performed by Grahm Nesbitt, composer for Garden Story
  
• Demo gameplay with Rose City Games co-founders, Will Lewis and Corey Warning, and community dev, Jenny Windom
  
• ...and more!
  

[h2]The Autumn Town Demo Returns (Permanently!) [/h2]



We’ve fixed the lift up to Autumn Town again...and this time, it’s indefinite! What was previously a limited-time demo will now be available to play even after LudoNarraCon has finished.

Folks who have tried the demo previously offered up lots of great feedback, and we’re happy to share an updated build with lots of tweaks and fixes. This means that while it’s still a standalone experience, it will more closely resemble what you can expect in the final version of the game. Some of these updates include:

• Making sure everything’s pixel-perfect by cleaning up animation frames, extra text in places it shouldn’t be, and setting fences in exactly the right spot!
  
• Created a toggle-able “Non-perish mode” so you can live life as a grape on the edge ~ or keep it cozy and not have to worry.
  
• Looking fancy and fresh: we’ve updated map and menu UI so you can better track your progress
  
• Stay organized: you can now drop items you don’t need and collected items won’t disappear if your inventory is already full!
  
• Touched up and clarified the main mission and requests
  
• Finessed button remapping
  
• Oh, and...the stump enemy has a surprise in store for you. 😎
  

[h2]Join the Community [/h2]

If you’re as excited about Garden Story as we are, please join in the fun in our Discord or follow us on Twitter. We’d love to say hi, hear what you think of the game, and able to share some exciting news with you in the future. :)



Cheers, and we hope you enjoy LudoNarraCon and the Garden Story demo!

💚 Jenny and the Garden Story Team

The sun is shining here in Portland, and while we’ve been enjoying the newfound warm weather (all while practicing social distancing, of course), we’ve also been working on Garden Story! There are lots of game updates to share with you soon, but first, BIG news on the event front: Garden Story is a part of LudoNarraCon 2020!



[h2]What’s LudoNarraCon? [/h2]
If you don’t know about this event, hold onto your computer! LudoNarraCon is a chance for folks who love narrative games to get a peek into what’s new and on the way, all from the comfort of their homes: it's 100% digital.

From April 24th - 27th (next weekend!), you’ll be able to visit Garden Story’s Steam page and:

• Download and play the Autumn Town Demo!
  
• Watch behind-the-scenes footage of Picogram creating the pixel art and discussing narrative and design.
  
• Listen to performances by composer and sound designer, Grahm Nessbit.
  
• Hang out with the team as they play through Garden Story.
  

[h2]Tune In And Enjoy![/h2]
All of this will be looping throughout the weekend, so there’s plenty of chances to tune in, experience Garden Story, and enjoy the festivities at your leisure by stopping by the Garden Story Steam page. You can also follow us on Twitter to get updates on the schedule and what you can expect to see next!

LudoNarraCon will also be on Steam’s front page with panels all about narrative games, a huge sale to splurge on, and lots of demos to play - so be sure to check the rest of the event out! Check out their latest news update for ALL the details on exhibitors, panels, games on sale, and more.

There are TONS of demos we’re personally excited to jump into, like Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games), Welcome to Elk (Triple Topping), Solace State (Vivid Foundry Corp.), Yes Your Grace (No More Robots), She Dreams Elsewhere (Studio Zevere), and more. We’re pretty sure your weekend’ll be packed if you try to get to them all!



[h2]See You There![/h2]
If you’re as excited about LudoNarraCon as we are, let us know! You can hop into our Discord to chat with other people excited about Garden Story, including us, the team behind its development. We’ll also likely be gushing about all the demos we’re trying out, and we’d love to hear what you’re playing too.

We’ll have more updates about the game coming soon, so stay tuned. And we hope to see you during LudoNarraCon!

💚 Jenny, Picogram, and the Garden Story Team

Hi everyone ~ It’s been about a week since we showed off Garden Story at PAX East, so we wanted to post a quick show recap!

While Picogram held down the fort at home in Portland, some of the Rose City Team headed over to Boston for the week to showcase the Garden Story demo for the first time with the Indie Megabooth!



Before diving into the details, we wanted to start by saying THANK YOU 🥰 to everyone who came to play the game at the booth and/or downloaded the demo last weekend! It made our hearts SO happy to see folks stop in their tracks when they saw Concord, squeal when they met Maraschino, and chuckle at Rana’s brash, yet lovable, nature. 🐸

PAX weekend actually kicked off mid-week for us: we arrived in Boston on Tuesday night to set-up on Wednesday. This was our second time at PAX East as a studio, so we felt pretty comfortable with what we needed to do:

Banner hung ✅
Stations set up ✅
Cards displayed ✅
Concord pins?.... Well, those hadn’t arrived quite yet, but we were hopeful!



...And we were right to keep our fingers crossed! We did one final check to see if the pins had arrived after dinner, and in the 11th hour, we had a box full of little Concords ready to be given away at PAX! Thus, our pin back party began, with the three of us pinning Concords to cards furiously to make sure we had enough to give away by the first day of the event. An eventful start to the weekend, to be sure!



Throughout PAX East, we saw so many smiling faces at our booth… HONK HONK! Even a goose or two we had to shush away! 😉 What stood out to us was the fact that cute, cozy, and wholesome games definitely had a strong presence on the show floor (not just in the Indie Megabooth). We are proud that Garden Story continues to be a part of this movement of games emphasizing that aesthetic and overall themes of kindness and community!



For the folks who weren’t at PAX East, we wanted to still provide a lil somethin’ somethin’ ~ so, we decided to re-release the Autumn Town Demo on Steam during the duration of PAX East! While there was a bit of a back-end hiccup the first day we had hoped to have the demo out, we got it fixed up and extended the demo period to finish Tuesday instead of Monday. For those of you who reached out to let us know that you were having trouble accessing the demo: thank you! It really helped us get everything straightened out. ^_^



We’re still catching up with the streams and videos folks have created, but if you did record something, please feel free to email us the link or tag us on Twitter! We really love seeing the game through your eyes ~


If you want to continue staying in the loop about Garden Story, wanna provide some feedback, or just want to say hello, there are a few ways to do so! Sign up for the newsletter, join the Garden Story channel in the Rose City Games Discord, or send us a message at [email protected]!

Talk soon! 🍇