Research Story News

Greetings Researchers!

We're happy to bring you our very first major content update, 'Alfie's Awesome Automations'!

This update focuses on automation in the game. We decided to work on this aspect of the game for a few reasons:

• It gives a new progression goal for players to automate and optimise their farms.
  
• It is an important part of base management, and contributes to overall QOL of the game by reducing repetition of tedious work.
  
• Alfie's Shop exterior was already added the game, but with a placeholder to prevent entry as it did not make it for the initial release. Now, all existing buildings in the game can be entered.
  

[h2]Automation Features[/h2]

[h3]Farming: Sprinklers, Sun Lamps! 💧☀️[/h3]
Three tiers of sprinklers and sun lamps can be unlocked, covering a 3x3, 5x5, and 7x7 area. Sprinklers and Sun Lamps can be stacked to make use of the same tile.


[h3]Ranching: Auto-Collectors, Bell Tool 🔔[/h3]
Auto-Collectors can be placed on the farm, and collect both creature drops and produce from adjacent pens.

The Bell Tool can be purchased for easier management of creatures. Ring the bell using Right Click to make creature followers go back to their pens. Ring the bell using Left Click to make all followers go back to their pens. The Bell only works in the Farm area, where pens are located.



[h3]Crafting: Bait Press and Feed Crafter 📦[/h3]
We've heard feedback from several players, saying that crafting from the inventory can get tedious after some time when clicking through the menus. After considering several options, we decided to add two items: Bait Press and Feed Crafter, which can quickly craft some of the oft-required items. These crafters also pull from adjacent chests - one of the things we've heard players want to see!



[h3]Resource Gathering: Fish Nets and Auto-Tappers 🐟🌳[/h3]
The Fish Net can yield certain items every 3-5 days when placed in water with bait. It usually yield mollusks, shells, and other items but can sometimes yield fish. We balanced it this way so that Fish Nets don't diminish the purpose of some creatures that help with getting fish.

The Auto-Tapper works on Fir trees and Maple trees, getting tapped materials every 4 and 10 days respectively:
- Resin from Fir trees
- Maple Syrup from Maple trees

In the end, this scene looks very Stardew-esque. While I tried to add new things (e.g. Lily Pads that can be placed in water), this resource-gathering mechanic is just so simple and intuitive that I didn't change it much. I hope players will enjoy it regardless!

[h3]Decor Sets and Items 🪑[/h3]
We've added some decor sets and items, along with some rotateable furniture (Chairs and Lily Pads to start with).


[h2]Full v0.3 Patch Notes[/h2]
We've also added a bunch of other content, fixed bugs, and made some balancing changes to the game. They can be found in the full v0.3 Patch Notes here.

[h2]Research Story is on Sale until July 13![/h2]
During the Steam Summer Sale, Research Story is 10% off!

Thank you to everyone who has supported the game in one way or another. You've been an important part of the development of Research Story and I'm excited to continue building the game with you! If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, I'll be here to read them.

[h2]What's next 📝[/h2]
I'll be spending some time on the outstanding bugs (I know there are some bugs that have persisted for a few patches, I'll be looking at them again ;; ). Along with that, I'll be cleaning up the code base, which may not translate to new things immediately but will be good for the game in the long term. It'll also mean starting to implement localisation (specifics TBA).

Once I feel more ready to tackle the next content patch, I'll share more about it! I'm thinking of working on NPCs next. As usual, I'll keep in touch using Mini-Devlogs and on our Discord!

Happy Researching!
- Miki

[h2]New Mechanics and Gameplay Improvements[/h2]

• Added Sprinklers that water crops automatically.
  
• Sun Lamps can be stacked on top of Sprinklers. Their effects will be combined while only using 1 tile space.
  
• Sun Lamps (and Sprinklers) show their area of effect before placement.
  
• Added resource-gathering items - Fish Nets and Auto-Tapper.
  
• Added Bell Tool that herds creatures back to their pens.
  
• Added Auto-Collector to collect drops and produce from creatures.
  
• Some items, such as Fish Nets and Lily Pads, can be placed on water.
  
• Some items, such as Chairs and Lily Pads, can be rotated when placing.
  
• Tilled soil can now be removed using the Hammer tool.
  
• Ability to craft Cooked Fish & Cooked Meat with Campfire.
  
• Added a 'Fishing' category to the Crafting Tab. Fish-related items, such as Fish Bait, can now be crafted from there (instead of from the Ranching category).
  
• Added 'Crafting Benches' to allow for quick crafting of certain items.
  
• Improved detection for Creature Pens and Troughs for Controllers.
  

[h2]New content[/h2]
Items:

• Automation:
  - Basic Sprinkler
  - Gold Sprinkler
  - Chroma Sprinkler
  - Gold Sun Lamp
  - Chroma Sun Lamp
  - Auto-Collector
  - Bell Tool (Upgradable)
  - Fish Net
  - Auto-Tapper
  - Bait Press
  - Feed Crafter
  
• Decor Sets and Items:
  - Snowman
  - Mini Fir
  - Chestnut Furniture Set
  - Cherry Furniture Set
  - Maple Furniture Set
  - Fir Furniture Set
  - Furniture Sets include:
  
  • Bed
    
  • Bedside Table
    
  • Chair
    
  • Table
    
  • Round Table
    
  • Wardrobe
    
  • Dining Table
    
  • Wooden Seat
    
  • Buffet Table
    
  • Wall Shelf
    
  
  - Rugs:
  
  • Maroon Rug
    
  • Cherry Rug
    
  • Honey Rug
    
  • Forest Rug
    
  • Cream Mat
    
  
  - Flower Baskets:
  
  • Chamomile
    
  • Wild Violet
    
  • Sunflower
    
  • Eggbloom
    
  • Starburst
    
  • Caffodil
    
  • Hydranbear (Coral)
    
  • Hydranbear (Pink)
    
  • Hydranbear (Lilac)
    
  • Pitch Lily
    
  
  - Barrels:
  
  • Covered
    
  • Potato
    
  • Carrot
    
• New items that can be found using the Fish Net:
  - Water Snail
  - Apple Snail
  - Mussel
  - Peach Mussel
  - Slug
  - Lemon Slug
  - Slimeshroom
  - Jellyshroom
  - Lily Pad
  - Lily Pad (Teal)
  - Lily Pad (Lime)
  
• Food:
  - Cooked Fish
  - Cooked Meat
  - Maple Syrup
  - Lavacress
  
• Misc
  - Fish Bait Crafting Recipe
  - Snowman Crafting Recipe
  - Mini Fir Crafting Recipe
  - Ground Beetle (chance to drop from breaking rocks/logs).
  

NPCs:

• New Townsfolk: Alfie the Tinkerer. Alfie arrives in Shimmerbrook on 16 Spring of Year 1.
  
• New Shop: Alfie's Awesome Automations.
  
• 100+ lines of additional dialogue among the NPCs. More dialogue will be added as we continue development!
  
• NPCs can sometimes talk about another NPCs' gift preference.
  
• Updated NPCs' gift preferences for the new items.
  

Music:

• 5 new OSTs! One new track per season + one additional track for rainy days. Thanks to Bobby, DT, Shevone, and Tomás for their beautiful soundtracks!
• Updated Main Menu music.
  

[h2]Balancing Changes[/h2]

• Increased item pickup radius from 14 to 18.
  
• Brown Wool adds 3 ticks instead of 2 to the Spinning Wheel.
  
• Increased time taken for wild animals to eat from a feed bowl from 3 to 5 seconds. The duration shortens to 0.5 seconds once the creature has been tamed.
  
• Shipping Price of a Stick decreased from 2G to 1G.
  
• Adjusted drop rate of Sticks from trees.
  
• Moved the unlocking of Mines from 14 Spring to 10-11 Spring (depending on when/whether conditions are met).
  

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]

• Fixed incorrect line breaks for item descriptions in Shops.
  
• Fixed being able to 'drop' important items such as Research Scrolls onto the ground when sorting chests with full chest and bag inventory.
  
• Fixed one instance of being unable to interact with animals/wild plants which happens when switching from a Watering Can to a different tool while trying to water a tile.
  
• Fixed Wall Decor incorrectly overlapping with some items during placement.
  
• Fixed items incorrectly overlapping with Beds.
  
• Fixed one of Yan Yan's favourite gift dialogue not being triggered when gifting the item.
  
• Fixed incorrectly completing objective during 'Unidentified Fish Part' Quest when researching an item that is not a Fish Part.
  
• Fixed 'Research Complete'! popup showing when fishing even after research was completed and before the scroll is claimed.
  
• Fixed a bug where Hydranbear (Lilac) would have an error in its sprite drawing.
  

Happy Researching!
- Miki

[h3][✨Update v0.3 is in development and will go live in early July!][/h3]

Continuing from our Mini-Devlog #5, we're implementing several new items and mechanics to the game. Here are some highlights:

[h2]Bait Press and Feed Crafter 📦[/h2]
One of the common feedback we hear from players is that the crafting system in the game gets tedious when having to craft certain items (such as feed bowls) frequently. While we'd like to keep the current crafting system, we also wanted to introduce ways to reduce tedium in crafting. Introducing - Bait Press and Feed Crafter! These Crafting Benches take from the players' inventory and surrounding chests to craft all types of bait and feed. If players like it, we'll consider adding more benches in the future!


[h2]Auto-Tapper and Fish Nets 🌳🐟[/h2]
We added the Auto-Tapper and Fish Nets for players to gather more types of resources. Some new crafting recipes require Resin, so the Auto-Tapper would be a consistent way to gather the material!

As for Fish Nets, we wanted another way to gather fish passively. In the beginning, we planned to add an 'Auto-Fisher' - but after thinking about it more, we decided that Fish Nets was the way to go. When I hear the phrase 'Auto-Fisher', I think of a machine that can catch lots of fish quickly. This wasn't the route we'd like to take, as 1) it diminishes the fishing mini-game, and in turn 2) makes certain creatures related to fishing less useful. A Fish Net would still have a chance to catch fish, but also all sorts of items, ranging from Water Snails to Lily Pads.


[h2]Removing Tilled Soil with Hammer 🔨[/h2]
Finally adding this!! I know it's been on the wishlist of some folks. Soon :)


[h2]Decor Sets, some rotatable furniture 🪑[/h2]
We've added more decor to the game, and will continue to build on top of the current system and content in each major update! Here are some furniture in the 'Cherry Wood' set. Currently, only certain decor can be rotated, but we have plans to expand on that in the future too. Ideas are always welcome!


[h2]Thank you to the Research Story community! 🥰💖[/h2]
Some of these changes, such as the Feed Crafter, was inspired by our Discord community! Be it the Discord, Steam, or even Google Forms, I'm always grateful for all the feedback and comments from players. These comments directly impact how the game is being developed. Being mostly a single developer, I'm always reading what players have to say and trying to reflect them in the changes I make.

As I was working on the update, I felt very thankful for all the support we've had for our game so far. Your support has allowed and encouraged me to continue building the game to the best of my ability. So, thank you all so much!
See you soon!
Miki

[h3][✨Update v0.3 is in development and will go live in early July!][/h3]

Hi Researchers! We have some exciting news about what's upcoming for Research Story - the v0.3 automation update! Development has been going well and we're happy to say that some of the items that players have been waiting for will be added to the game soon. Here's what we've been working on:

[h2]Sprinklers and Sun Sprinklers! 💧[/h2]
We hear you - an important part of farming sims is having to manage your crops more efficiently (and do away with too much watering!). We'll be adding three tiers of sprinklers that players can craft and buy to help with their farms:

Unique to RS, these sprinklers can be built with Sun Lamps on the same tile, allowing for a cleaner setup for crops that require Full Sun. We'll be adding two new tiers of Sun Lamps as well!


[h2]Bell Tool for herding creatures 🔔[/h2]
After taming multiple creatures, having to bring them out and sending them back to their pens can become tedious. The bell tool is perfect for herding your creatures - ring the bell and send your creatures back to their pens! This tool can be upgraded, just like all other tools in the game.


[h2]Auto-collector for Creature Pens 📦[/h2]
Another item that we're adding is the Auto-collector. Place them next to Creature Pens, and it'll collect creature drops and produce daily, adding it to its inventory of 32 slots. To collect the goods, you can access its inventory with just one click!


[h2]New Shop: Alfie's Awesome Automations ⚙️[/h2]
The above items will be available at the newly added Alfie's Awesome Automations. The shop is located to the south of the Smithy in town, where a newcomer will be settling in:

[h2]What's Next 📝[/h2]
Next, I'll be working on: Auto-tapper for trees, Auto-fisher, and Bait Maker. We also plan to add a few Decor Sets, as well as additional content, OSTs, and other improvements. We estimate that the v0.3 update will be shared with players early next month.

Happy to hear what you think of the upcoming changes, and what you'd like to see us work on next!

Miki

Additional items for Lost & Found Box
Occasionally, players may lose items such as quest rewards when they have a full inventory, as reward items are dropped on the ground and despawn the following day. This can affect the overall progress and experience of the player, especially if the item is not obtainable via other means.

To address that, we have added quest items that can potentially be lost in this way to the the Lost & Found box on Level 2 of the Violet Archive:
- Chest Recipe, if you've read the mail, 'Simple Storage'.
- Seed Sieve Recipe, if you've completed 'The Basics of Research' Quest

These are items that can be found in the Lost & Found box since v0.2.5:
- Town map, if you've completed the 'Meet the Researchers' Quest
- Seed Bowl Recipe, if you've completed the 'Beginnings of a Bestiary Quest'

Other changes
- Added Flame Cactus Fruit as possible answer for 'Fresh Fruit' puzzle piece.

Thanks,
Miki