Echoes of the Plum Grove News

          
The lighthouse keepers, Jane and Luna McBelle have been watching over Thistlestone Island for most of their lives. They dutifully watch over and manage their beloved lighthouse while also having their own side hustle!


                    

Being both avid gardeners, they relied on their love for growing flowers like lavender that in turn became their business. They sell all things lavender, but also rely on their foraging skills to create lantern oil from bayberries that grow along the shoreline. You can find them tending their lavender garden and collecting nearby.

          


                                                             

          

They also sell unique items such as purple dye, collected from lavender, as well as jam amongst things they’ve scavenged along the beaches. Summers are their busiest season.


                    

Since the lighthouse is a bit of a walk for most of the village, you can find them selling their wares in town square during Sunday market day. When they aren’t busy tending to the lighthouse or running the shop, they are diligently raising their adopted son, Wilbur.

          

You can also sometimes find Luna at the edge of the property at night, silently watching the moon rise as nighttime encapsulates the island. She loves watching the stars come out after a long day of work. The lighthouse is one of the prettiest places on Thistlestone Island.


           


There are lots more updates to come so make sure to wishlist the game, join our Discord, and follow us on our socials to see even more!

We can also be found on Kickstarter! If you want to be among the first notified of it launching later this year make sure to follow the campaign!


                                                             


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                                                            Click the buttons above and below to find us off Steam!

                                                                           Discord          Kickstarter

Most games keep NPC's simple, but not us! We wanted to make the immersion into our world as believable as possible, so we gave our NPC's living, breathing decisions that change with every playthrough.


           

          
Weddings and funerals were a big part of social life back then, so we made sure to get both events in the game for the player to experience. No nasty cut-scenes to break apart your experience either! We are leaving it entirely up to you on what to do... even if that is proposing at someone else's wedding!


          

We also wanted to make sure other NPC's could experience the joy of marriage as well. So on your way to the town hall, you'll probably spot a mass of people dropping whatever they were doing just to attend, whether they were in school or working. After all, it is a big event that only happens once, right?


                                         

          
The funeral event was tricky as we always wanted to expand upon our graveyard and create a groundskeeper in charge of burying the dead and hosting funerals. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was one of the first games I played as a kid and I always enjoyed heading over to the graveyard to check out Dampe - the graveyard keeper. Although it would be amazing to turn this into a proper profession for NPC's, we decided to keep the event simple for now, but still very memorable.


          

Make sure to keep in contact with your friends and loved ones as you never know when their time will be up. However, we still made it possible to be enemies with people, so there will always be that one person who is glad someone died... or who's dressed incorrectly at the funeral itself. You just never know!


           


There are lots more updates to come so make sure to wishlist the game, join our Discord, and follow us on our socials to see even more!

We can also be found on Kickstarter! If you want to be among the first notified of it launching later this year make sure to follow the campaign!


                                         


                      Twitter          Instagram          Facebook          Youtube

                                        Click the buttons above and below to find us off Steam!

                                                       Discord          Kickstarter

          

Another update to get excited about - we officially have farm animals working in the game! I started working on farm animals years ago, as it was one of the first things I designed. It is such a huge relief to finally see the farm animals come to life. Above is one of the earliest shots of them in a row to check on sizing.

           

           

You can adopt cows, chickens, geese, goats, sheep, and pigs. All of them have baby versions, which is by far one of the best things about having farm animals! Some animals can be milked - such as cows and goats - where the milk can be used in recipes or refined into butter or cheese. Sheep can be sheered which will give you fluff that can be refined into yarn and wool.


                   

Chickens and geese are best during their chick phases and were so much fun to design. They literally bobble... all over your farm! When they grow up, you can get eggs which can be used in recipes, given as gifts, or sold. Eggs are one of the most versatile ingredients in the game, so working towards getting a chicken coop and raising some beautiful bouncing chicks will be important!


                                         

          

We didn't just want animals to be used for the items that can be obtained from them; we wanted to let the player choose if they wanted to butcher their animals for meat and oil as well. Both meat and oil are highly prized in the game just like they were back during the colonial period. Though I know many will struggle with relinquishing their beloved farm animals, back in the 1700's it was very common to raise animals purely to be slaughtered. They will all eventually die of old age so, as players, you will have the option to choose to butcher or allow them to die naturally.


                   

Keeping your farm animals happy is simple. You'll have to grow straw (possible in all seasons except winter) or buy it from the local animal tender. You'll have to make sure they stay healthy and fed; don't let them starve!

As a little teaser of something we are working on - a future update will be to expand upon other animals outside of your farm! We have a lot of unique forest critters who you'll be able to interact with and some will really surprise you.


           


There are lots more updates to come so make sure to wishlist the game, join our Discord, and follow us on our socials to see even more!

We can also be found on Kickstarter! If you want to be among the first notified of it launching later this year make sure to follow the campaign!


                                         


                      Twitter          Instagram          Facebook          Youtube

                                        Click the buttons above and below to find us off Steam!

                                                       Discord          Kickstarter

[h2]Hi there everyone!
[/h2]

We have been working hard at creating the best game possible for you guys and neither my partner nor I are very good at posting. So, apologies for taking so long to get our first official post out but it feels so great to finally start keeping everyone updated on our progress! It has also become a lot easier to start posting with the help of our amazing publisher, Freedom Games. Partnering with them has taken a lot of extra work off our backs so we can focus on getting as much content as possible in the game before we launch next year!



We have a lot in now than we did just 3 months ago. A couple of really cool updates: all NPCs have some form of a hobby ranging from bug catching to dancing! We really want to not only give a lot for the player to do, but for the NPCs as well. NPCs are a big part of the player experience, so having them make human choices was very important for us to implement.



Apart from NPC upgrades, we now have all the dyes for clothing in the game! Go crazy with picking outfits and dyeing them 10 different colors. We also have a vast range of hairstyles, facial hair, glasses, hats, and shoes. I am always frustrated as a player when I don’t see enough customization in games to perfectly describe the character I’m playing, so we made sure to give as much as possible.



We are very excited to start keeping everyone updated on our development and we will start posting more regularly as we get closer to our launch time. Don’t forget to also wishlist Echoes of the Plum Grove while you’re here on steam!


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