The Garden Path News

April Update ~ Tea and Tones 🫖

Hello gardeners,

It’s time to sign off on April – another busy month that’s 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 there’s more and more to talk about each month that goes by. I hope you’ll enjoy this look at what I’ve been working on in the welcome warmer weather.

[h3]Meeting Frederick, Sal, and Olen[/h3]

For April Fool’s this year our Community Manager, Alex, decided to give character design a go and created the unique fox accountant Frederick. He’s a bookkeeper, he’s 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 won’t… 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...

🫛 Always agree on which way to go
🫛 Don't always have the same song stuck in their heads
🫛 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?
[h3]
Game Updates[/h3]

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.

Bunk’s duties have been delegated to selling ready-prepared teas, but now you’ll 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. You’ll want to make sure you’re 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, it’s just finishing touches and balances before it makes its way to the beta.

Until next time…
Louis, carrotcake

*

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1638500/The_Garden_Path/

March Update ~ Designing, Trading, and Testing! 🍄

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 what’s new since our last check-in.

[h3]Game Updates[/h3]

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 you’d 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 it’s good to pause the game to ensure important information isn’t missed, but the response to the old system was that it was too intrusive. I’ll 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 player’s inventory from an NPC’s, so it’s always clear what UI you’re 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 don’t 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!

[h3]Any thoughts? [/h3]

Since we are inching closer to the release of The Garden Path, we’re 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 time…
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
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1638500/The_Garden_Path/

February Update ~ Work is Paying Off! 🌻

Hello gardeners,

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. It’s been an exciting month with work on multiplayer, localisation, and optimisation taking place. So, let’s take a look shall we?

[h2]Game Updates[/h2]
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.

[h2]Your usual reminder![/h2]
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.

January Update ~ A Little Look Back 👀

[h2]Hello gardeners,[/h2]

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 we’re now back in full force working on localisation, coding, and more. Without further ado, let’s hop into the update proper.

[h3]A Look Back [/h3]

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.

Here’s 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.
Bunk’s new design was introduced alongside a refresh to the tea-pouring visualizer.
We introduced treasure into the game, allowing you to unlock the old gardener’s journal and learn more about the old garden.
We made an Anatomical-Tabbal for April Fools’ 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 ‘Garden Designer’ 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!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We launched the beta version of the game on Steam!
Weyley and Terracotta’s 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 we’re in the final stretch. It’s hard to believe how far the game has come, so here is to the next few months of tweaking and polishing ~ we’ll be sure to bring you along as usual.

[h3]Game Updates[/h3]

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 what’s 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 game’s release.

Campfire’s 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, you’ll 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.

Character’s 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 you’ll want to start focusing on once you’ve 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.

[h3]Your usual reminder![/h3]

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.

The Garden Path a 'slice-of-life sim' gets a new trailer and release window

Love more casual games? The "slice-of-life sim" named The Garden Path is getting closer and a new trailer is up.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/12/the-garden-path-a-slice-of-life-sim-gets-a-new-trailer-and-release-window