SunnySide News

Out of respect for our new publisher (who we will be announcing within a month or so), we closed our pre-order store on January 1st. I will admit, however, that we did not do a good enough job of notifying our community about the exact date and time when orders would close.

So, we are happy to announce that we have had some discussions with said Publisher and have all agreed to open up the pre-order store for a limited time.
Pre-Orders will be available through Backerkit only from January 10, 2022 at 1:00 AM GMT, to January 24, 2022 at 12pm Noon GMT.

Once we close the pre-order store on the 24th, per-orders will not be reopened again.

To better support our fans, we have also enabled the ability to purchase through Backerkit with PayPal.
Pre-Order Here.

[h2]About Early Access[/h2]

• If you decide to purchase Early Access (EA) this will give you access to the Backerkit Alpha on February 14, 2022.
  
• This Alpha will be on Steam (Windows, PC) only and will run for a limited time (length TBD, but at least a month).
  
• You will receive your Steam key through whatever email address you use to pre-order, and said email will have specific instruction for how to redeem your key accurately. It’s not just any other Steam key, so please read and follow these directions closely.
  
• Once the Alpha ends, keys will be revoked and you will no longer have access to the game.
  

Additionally, anyone who has Early Access, whether it was through our Influencer Event, Kickstarter, or Backerkit, will receive new access (with a new key sent to email) to the Beta version of SunnySide when it is released later this year. Date TBD. Alpha saves will not carry over to the Beta.

If you have any questions, please join our Discord and ask there. I’m only one person, and fielding questions through multiple platforms can eat up a LOT of time, specially if they are the same questions. Discord is and will continue to be the best way to receive updates about SunnySide, is free, easy to learn, and is mobile friendly.



That’s it for now! We hope that this update to pre-orders will support our community, and we can’t wait to share the next Alpha updates with you all!

Cheers!

Hope you all been having a great 2022 so far and enjoying the Kickstarter alpha! This update summarises the work that the team has put together since the Christmas break. We're starting the year with a new category of animals: Goats and Goatlings!



You can now purchase these cuties at Riverside Ranch. Just like cows, the goats use the quadruped animal bed and feeders. Unlike cows, however, they produce goat milk which will have extensive use once food crafting is added.

In addition to this, the shelter mechanic and animal AI has seen an upgrade. From now on, you can see a thought bubble above any farm animal's head that tells you if they're hungry, thirsty or ready for milking. Their AI is also improved so that during rain or harsher weather condition, they seek shelter and will not produce anything if they're not sheltered. (or if they can't find shelter, we know they can be a little stupid at times)

Lastly, this update brings many smaller features, bug fixes and improvements. Notably:

• Audio settings are now available via the settings menu
  
• A new random name select option is available when purchasing animals
  
• The new fall prevention system now stops animals and other objects from falling through the map
  
• Bamboo trees collision has improved
  
• Sakura trees colours have been adjusted
  
• The player can no longer get stuck in the cutting board
  
• Snow is no longer collectable
  
• While approaching an animal you can now cancel the task if the character gets stuck
  
• While approaching an animal you can now control the camera
  
• Tab now closes the inventory every time
  
• Various typos and grammar fixes
  

As always, please continue to report bugs and problems via our Bug Reporting Hub and for any help or support with the game, make sure to join up our official Discord community:

Hope you all had a great time playing SunnySide during our first week of Kickstarter alpha! As you know, the snowy and festive looks of the game were a limited-timed treat for our backers and it is time to revert it to its default look.

This means the game now features Spring and Summer the way they should look in the final game. The music is also changed back to the respective season the game is on. This small patch also includes these fixes and improvements:

• Removed snow and Christmas decorations from the map and reverted weather forecast to default. The game will now look the same as it works.
• Fixed an issue with Discord showing the incorrect playtime.
  
• Items no longer get duplicated once inventory is closed.
  
• Stamina values have been adjusted.
  
• Gabe's dinner event now fills the food meter.
  
• Growable trees' fruits no longer have collision.
  
• Main menu continue button now shows what save will be loaded.
  
• Kazuki now correctly consumes the items placed for smelting order.
  
• Reworded Sako's dialogue to adjust for time of day.
  
• Fixed various typos in NPC dialogue.
  

As always, please continue to report bugs and issues, in addition to QoL requests over at our Bug Reporting Hub or by joining our Discord server:

That's right, the time has finally arrived! If you've missed the announcements elsewhere, Wednesday, December 22 at 6:00 pm PST, we will be sending out all the Alpha keys for KickStarter Backers!

Honestly, we're so thankful to the entire community who found us in the beginning and has supported us for so long. I know I say it every month, but we really couldn't have done with without you.

So, to say thank you, we've decided that ALL BACKERS from $20 Early Bird tier and up will be receiving an Alpha Key. Yup. You read that right. All of them.

We want to make sure this is still fair for all the Backers who backed at the Early Access tiers the first time around, so when the times comes we will be sending you an extra digital key for the full release of SunnySide. This should be sometime around November of 2022, but no promises just yet.

So Alpha players, here's just a little taste of what you can look forward to on Wednesday.

We had a stream last week which covered everything included in the Kickstarter update:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

You'll be getting all these updates as well as access to Spring AND Summer seasons. This means that instead of a 28 day loop of Spring, you'll be getting a 56 day loop of Spring and Summer.

Additionally, we have a little something special for all the KickStarter Alpha players:

From December 22 to December 27, the whole team will be going dark and taking a much needed break. To celebrate the seasonal festivities during this time, there will be a temporary graphical overhaul to the SunnySide map that includes snow, decorations, and lots of Holiday vibes. Everything else (crops, seasonal progression, quests, etc) will behave as normal, but with a fun seasonal overlay. Enjoy it while it lasts, because it's going away on Monday the 27th and won't be seen again until the full release of the game. Updates and bug fixes will resume after we return to work on the 27th.



Now, the Alpha isn't technically a test (we've got Conlan for QA now) but you're definitely going to run into some bugs. If that happens, we have a handy reporting site that will be sent to you with your Alpha email, so keep an eye out for that!

You can access the bug reporting system here.



Y'all. We finally did it. We officially signed a publisher. All the documents are in order, the money is coming in, and the whole team will be operating full time starting on the first. This is a huge accomplishment for RainyGames, and we are super excited to share all the details with you in the new year, so be on the lookout for more information then.



With a signed publisher comes the closing of pre-orders. We always promised we would give a couple weeks notice before officially closing up the Backerkit, so here it is:
Backerkit Pre-Orders will be ending on January 1, 2022. Please plan accordingly.

All Alpha access will be through Steam on PC, regardless of what platform you've selected for your full copy.



Our incredible Key Artist (Liz) and Composer (Matt) came together this Holiday season to put something special together for y'all. Enjoy!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



That's it! Keep an eye on your mailboxes for your Alpha key, and be sure to follow the instructions carefully!

I know I say this every month, but we could never properly express how much we appreciate each and every person who has and continues to support us. There have been some roller coasters over the last year, and the fact that you all continued to believe in us and trust us really means the world. Hopefully things will level out in 2022 now that we have a publisher backing us, but there are bound to still be issues. Thanks to you all, however, we can go into 2022 with our heads held high and ready for anything, because we know that our fans have our backs!

So once again, thank you for your continued support!

As for what's ahead of us, once we release the KickStarter Alpha, there will be a couple updates, but mostly we will begin working towards the Backerkit Alpha to be released in February. I'll still continue giving monthly updates next year, but they're going to be a lot smaller moving forward, mostly to allow us more time for game development. If you want to stay up to date, your best bet will be joining our Discord and following us on Twitter, if you haven't already. We're up to about 3,600 people on Discord, and it continues to be the best way to follow RainyGames and SunnySide. We post lots of sneak peeks over there (and special ones for KickStarter backers), stream live development, run contests, and even ask for suggestions from the community. If you join, just remember to message me (FemChefSR1) with your KickStarter backer # (if you backed at one of those tiers) so I can give you your Backer Tier Role. If you pre-ordered on Backerkit, just send me your proof of purchase via DM, and I'll get you set up with your Backerkit role (new and shiny!).

The Influencer Alpha is coming to a close, and we're ready to kick off our KickStarter Alpha on the 22nd! Come hang out with us while we talk about what our KickStarter backers can expect in their version of the Alpha, show off the rest of our romanceable characters, and even make some big announcements!

[h3]You can catch the livestream on our YouTube channel over here:[/h3]


If you would like to know more about SunnySide or be notifed about future livestreams, make sure to join SunnySide's official discord server!

See you all on Sunday!