Horticular News

Hello Keepers!

We've got some exciting news for you today - there is now an open beta available for Horticular's 1.1 Update!
This first update has a huge focus on how you build and manage habitats, and incorporates a lot of the feedback we saw from you, our wonderful community, following the game's launch.

Shall we take a closer look at what you can expect in Update 1.1 before we dive into how to get involved with the beta? Let's!



Habitat Rework

We've had a bit of a habitat overhaul in this latest version of Horticular, based on some of the feedback we saw around the way they worked at launch. Now, habitats will still spawn as per the whim of the creature in question, but they no longer automatically move around when a habitat is destroyed. You will be offered a replacement habitat in your garden, but you'll be required to move the creature in question yourself, allowing you more control over where your inhabitants end up.
Your creatures will also let you know much earlier on if they're unhappy with their habitat, giving you more time to fix it!

Aside from the above changes, we've also reworked habitat borders, allowing you to clearly see where a creature has come from when it's selected, as well as clear colour differentiations for uninhabited, inhabited, and poor habitats. This should make it easier than ever to ensure your habitats are keeping your creatures happy!

UI Updates

You'll now be able to utilise a new large Interface Size when playing Horticular - this will be the default setting for those of you playing on Steam Deck, and we've reoptimised the mod browser and tutorial page layouts to better accommodate the new option.

We've also incorporated a new zoom level for the camera during gameplay, so there's one additional zoomed-out view prior to the map overview, which should make planning out your garden a little easier.

Joining the beta

There are tonnes more quality of life changes coming in Update 1.1 - see the full changelog below for more details!
However, if you're ready to jump straight in and join the beta for this update, here's what you need to do:
1. Make sure to save and backup your current game!
2. Right-click on Horticular in your Steam library and select 'properties' from the dropdown menu.
3. In the pop up box that appears, select 'betas' on the left, then select the 'test' beta from the dropdown under Beta Participation.
4. That's it! Once your game has updated, you're ready to play!

Full Changelog

Habitat/Creature changes:

• Creatures don't automatically move around anymore but instead stick to their assigned habitat, allowing you to fix whatever problems it has without having to figure out where the creature lived before. Poor habitats may get overlapping alternative habitats that the player may choose to move their creature to.
  
• The habitat tool now allows you to create overlapping habiats so you can move existing creatures. Note that overlapping habitats automatically have 0% quality, so it isn't a good long-term strategy.
  
• The habitat guide marker has been visually merged with the habitat overlay. Gone is having two habitat UIs at the same time. Additionally, hovering a habitat with the overlay active displays the same info as the habitat marker.
  
• Placing the habitat guide on an existing habitat center now marks it for constant tracking regardless of which species you have selected.
  
• You can now unhome creatures from their habitat using the action wheel.
  
• You can now send creatures away from the garden using the action wheel.
  
• New curious creature block item available from the nectar store.
  
• New curious creature speed-up item available from the nectar store.
  
• Species/Habitat tracker has gotten a visual overhaul.
  
• Holding a creature now always shows its habitat details in the habitat tracker.
  
• Homeless creatures (or those with poor habitats) now report their unhappiness much earlier to give more time to fix the situation.
  
• Creatures now get unhappiness damage slower on easier difficulty levels.
  
• There is now sticky icons over inhabitants of hovered or marked habitats to quicker see which creatures live there.
  
• Creature thoughts now are more dynamic and have additional contextual lines that can be said.
  

Steam deck changes:

• Added more UI sizes, specifically ones that make the UI bigger. The largest one is now the default for Steam Deck.
  
• Added glyphs for more game controller vendors, including Steam Deck ones that are automatically selected.
  

Other changes:

• Interaction prompts have bespoke text now instead of just "Interact".
  
• Interaction prompts now show what holding the button will do.
  
• Gameplay camera now has a new zoom level just before the overview.
  
• Added a paused indicator.
  
• Upkeep and other expenses now have minus signs for clarity.
  
• Tool icons have been overhauled.
  
• UI should be more stable, especially on lower framerates.
  
• Surface selector now has a scroll bar (hello modders!).
  
• Mod browser has been polished and now show better numbers for each mod.
  
• Tooltips now have a high contrast background.
  
• Tutorial menu option shows how many tutorials have been unlocked.
  
• Setting to disable screen shake.
  
• Setting to adjust speech audio level.
  
• Tutorial UI streamlined to conserve space.
  

Bug fixes:

• Keepers could get into a state where the next one would take a long time to spawn.
  
• Signpost text wasn't transferred when the signpost was moved.
  
• Hortic Day competitors could get a score over 9999.
  
• Oak tree had 0 height.
  
• Sick creatures wasn't green.
  
• Pets insta-healed sick creatures.
  
• Watermelon can't go on raised beds.
  
• Barrier prevents flying creatures from traveling home.
  
• Crash when opening the mail archive and having no mail yet.
  

Known issues:

• NOT ALL OF THE GAME SUPPORTS LARGE UI MODES YET!!! Feel free to try the feature but you won't likely play on much larger than 100%.
  
• Some tutorials are off/outdated. In particular a couple of gamepad ones.
  
• Leaf litter allows moving items anywhere.
  
• Photo mode as issues with AZERTY keyboards.
  
• Magic cave is too rare.
  
• You get a dig tool guide when opening any tool for the first time.
  

Howdy Keepers!

August is very nearly over, and the days are getting shorter, colder and greyer (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, at least!) - luckily, things are always growing in the gardens of Horticular, and this month has been no exception.
Shall we take a look at the highlights August brought with it?

Roadmap Revealed

ICYMI, we revealed our full Horticular Roadmap for the rest of the year - take a look at the above image or head over to the post to discover more!

Revamped Horticular Wiki

Thanks to some of our incredible community members over on the Horticular Discord and Subreddit, there is now a new & improved Horticular Wiki available for all players of Horticular - so far, it covers various creatures and some early gameplay tips & tricks, so make sure to check it out!

Something's Coming...

And, finally, it wouldn't be a monthly round-up without a small tease, would it? We've got a brand new Quality of Life update coming for you by the end of September, so make sure to keep your eyes on our channels to be first to know when it drops!

That's everything we've got for this month, but follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Discord to keep up with all things Horticular!

How has it been a month already 😅

Hey everyone, that's right it's been one month now since the release of Horticular and we just want to say thank you to everyone who has bought or wishlisted the game since it's first announcement right up to release and beyond.

Because of the great support you've shown it's allowing us to continue adding to Horticular in a range of fun and exciting ways - we've had a lot of people asking about future plans for the game and we wanted to share with you the initial roadmap which will hopefully take us into the start of 2025 (how is August already!?)



AS WITH ALL ROADMAPS, THIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS DEVELOPMENT CAN BE A PESKY LITTLE THING AND SOMETIMES LITTLE KEEPERS GET INTO THE CODE AND JUST MAKE THINGS NOT PAN OUT FOR VARIOUS REASONS.

With that said, what do we have planned for the next few updates outside of hotfixes?

Well, the first thing is going to be a big QoL patch which sets its sights on addressing some of the issues players are having with the habitat mechanic. It won't fully resolve all issues as some of these are by design for the game (you have control over the placement of plants and garden items, the creatures have control over their own lives gosh darn it).

However we do understand some mechanics either haven't panned out as intuitive or fun as initially planned so here is what the first update is looking like it will consist of...

[h2]Root Refinement (September) - FREE UPDATE[/h2]
Refines the existing experience with the goal of making the game more approachable via QoL, without adding new mechanics or major alterations. Below are some of the planned changes, anything that says Testing is well, in testing, and may not make it to patch.

• Large UI settings tailored for small devices or playing on screens farther away. The notable example is the Steam Deck which defaults to the large UI mode.
  
• New controller glyphs for common brands Playstation/Switch/Steam Deck.
  
• Polishing the habitat experience to make maintaining existing habitats smoother.
  
• Add a method to peacefully let a creature leave or leave a habitat. (No more needing to banish the poor things)
  
• Unify the UI experience more as the current habitat overlay displays less info than the tool, forcing players to use the tool on habitats just to see its details.
  
• New ways to control habitat formation. Think scarecrow but for all creatures.
  
• Some way to prohibit curious creatures altogether for given species.
  
• Booster item or so for creature attraction speed.
  
• Testing: Warning when an item wrecks a habitat.
  
• Testing: Habitat nudging.
  
• Testing: Will try to think outside the habitat square to see if there’s a different way to go about the habitats that doesn’t alter the mechanics and still keeps the independent nature of the animals. For example not concretizing habitats until the player settles a creature, allowing for a larger range of settling options.
  
• Will not: Allow the player to freely add/zone habitats as the puzzle and joy of discovering species depends on the independent nature of the animals.
  
• Settings to customize the experience further.
  
• Further tutorial polish.
  
• Some minor content cut from the initial release.
  

We would have hoped to have this out sooner but Horticular has been chosen to be shown at the Indie Arena Booth at Gamescom this year (come say hi if you're attending for some sweet Horticular swag)! This means Robert will be out of development action whilst manning the booth - though it does mean we can see some of this update in action and see how players respond to some changes.

Following the meaty QoL patch work will begin on the next major update with some seasonal stuff released in the mean time such as:

[h2]Halloween Update - FREE UPDATE[/h2]
Minor content update providing a spooky theme, some minor temporary themed gameplay, and a new creature (bat). 🦇🎃

[h2]December Holidays Update - FREE UPDATE[/h2]
Minor holiday-themed update with some temporary associated gameplay. 🎄

After the themed updates we then move on to the first DLC for the game. Our philosophy with our paid DLC is to release a free update alongside them which will add new QoL mechanics and new features that work with the base game and it's content, alongside a chunk of new content that works directly in unison with these new mechanics. With that said, here is what we have planned ☃️

[h2]Colder Climates (Winter 2024-2025) FREE UPDATE & PAID DLC[/h2]
Update that takes the game into colder climates, adding snow and alpine landscapes with new properties, some mechanical twists, and content holistically packaged. The DLC portion of the update will have most if not all of the major additions, but the free update might still contain some mechanical additions. ❄️

[h2]2025 Onwards[/h2]

We have some interesting things planned after this first DLC (again, subject to change) but here is a couple of hints for future things in emoji form - leave a comment if you can guess what they hint at (one emoji per update / DLC)

🐰
🏛️
🎚️
☀️
😈
🍂

Again, thank you all so much for the interest you've shown in Horticular, whether you've played the main game, the demo, wishlisted it, made a mod, or even just interacted on a steam post or our socials - it's been a wild ride and we're glad to have you along for the next leg of the adventure.

Quack quack!

While we plan some larger future updates, here's a small duck-themed patch to start the week off with!

Improvements

• Item placement sound logic now has a smarter method of deciding which sounds to play. In particular, you now get the rubber duck's quack when stacking them on other items, too!
  
• The see-through effect was polished. Its bottom side is now smaller but the height is infinite, making it less intrusive while providing more visibility. Never was it so easy to see the rubber ducks!
  
• Pilferlings now help collect and deposit nectar.
  

Changes

• Some item categories have changed to better reflect their archetype.
  
• Rubber duck is now allowed on foundation.
  
• Sign posts can now be placed in water, perfect for labeling your duck area!
  
• Sunflower now has the tall property.
  
• Roses are now stackable.
  

Fixes

• Rubber duck was slightly offset and didn't have an occlusion shadow.
  
• Items without a soil or water requirement weren't able to be stacked on flower pots. You can now place the rubber duck in the pot!
  
• Hint-text when subscribing/unsubscribing was sometimes rendered under the mod item or outside the screen.
  
• Header for task completion when reading a letter was cut off in some languages.
  
• Crash when the graphics adapter doesn't report any supported resolutions.
  

Modding

• All items now have a group by default.
  

Howdy Keepers!

How is it the end of July already?! We're over half way through the year...where did the time go?
Well, maybe it's not so surprising that July passed us by, with how huge a month it was for us. Shall we take a look at some of the things we got up to this month?



Release 🎉

Horticular has now officially fully launched! 3.5 years of love went into this game, and to see it out in the world, where it's being enjoyed by so many of you, has been a wonderful experience. Whether you played the demo when it first came out, or didn't discover us until launch day, we're so appreciative of each and every person who has taken time to play, provide feedback, or support us on our social media channels - as a solo dev and a small publishing team, every single piece of support means the world 💚
You can find out more about the full launch version of Horticular, including some of the new features, over in our launch post.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Launch Livestream

Of course, we had to celebrate the run-up to launch with a livestream! Fran, Mike, and John from Slug Disco were joined by Robert, the incredible solo developer of Horticular, for a pre-launch chat and some slightly chaotic gameplay. You can catch up above, or click here to watch the VOD on YouTube if you missed out!

Free Demo Update

With our demo having been out for a while, it only felt natural to give it a bumper update ahead of launch, so that those of you just discovering Horticular could still try it out before committing to buying the game. We added a new creature tool to help you build your habitats, made adjustments to the quests, animals, and decorations, and even gave our beloved Keepers some fancy upgrades.
You can read more about the changes here - the demo is still available, so if you haven't had a chance to try Horticular yet, you've got plenty of time to fall in love with it!

Community Creations

Since Horticular is now out in the world, we thought we'd share some of our favourite community gardens and habitats that you've been making with the full game!


This incredible garden comes from Aly on Steam - we're absolutely in love with the use of lighting and the amazing pathways!


Atweeds on our Discord channel shared this phenomenal garden - between the incredible vegetable patches and the stunning randomised flowers, we're sure they have plenty of happy creatures lurking!


Our final garden to share comes from ThePillowFortG on Twitter - we're in awe of how many creature habitats they've managed to create in one space!

We'll be sharing some of our favourite gardens every month in our round-up posts, so be sure to send us your screenshots on Twitter, Facebook, or Discord if you'd like the chance to be included!

That's everything we've got for July, but be sure to check back next month for more monthly round-up goodness!