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Trash Goblin News

How the Cozy and Family Friendly Games Celebration went!

Well now, here's a thing. We updated the demo, as you know, in time for the Cozy and Family Friendly Games Celebration and boy howdy did it go well!

Here's how we were thinking about it going in!

[h3]CONS[/h3]

  • it is a sales festival, so most people will be interested in finding games to buy & play
  • we're a fair way from launch
  • we're doing well getting the game out there, but I'm not sure we're as well known as Tiny Glade, Outbound, or our chums over at Tavern Talk (who have a demo out too!).
  • there are a lot of games celebrated in the event, well over 150!
  • we knew we weren't going to get a featured spot (that's all arranged ahead of time)
  • we didn't know what kind of placement the event would get on Steam, if any


[h3]PROS[/h3]

  • the demo is polished & robust (thanks to all you Goblins out there making suggestions and reporting issues!)
  • the demo update went live after the festival had started, so maybe Steam's algorithm might impact it positively in some way, being fresh?
  • this is Trash Goblin for crying out loud, who doesn't love it?! 😅
  • we've got the lovely folks at Plan of Attack helping with press and streamer outreach


Anyway, I'm sure there's more but you can see we felt that the odds were stacked against us having a brilliant event, but were keenly watching our wishlist numbers for whatever bump we might see.

But I don't want that to come off as defeatist by the way! We just tend to assess and settle on what we think are realistic expectations. So we thought perhaps we'd see a few days of a few hundred extra wishlists.

[h3]WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
[/h3]
Er, we saw the second biggest spike in wishlists since we launched the Steam page, behind only the one-two punch of the Kickstarter & demo launch back in December, and that had the Wholesome Direct boost helping it out too!

Left: launch of the Steam page. Middle: Kickstarter & demo launch. Right: Cozy & Family Friendly Celebration

Ok so technically this was the 3rd biggest spike, but I reckon all those spikes around the Kickstarter count as one; they're certainly as a result of the same event.

Games usually chug along at a low-ish baseline, so we were doing just dandy and then BOOM! It is very exciting, let me tell you!

Seeing this huge uptick in wishlists made the team positively giddy with excitement. There might've even been tears. The past 6 days have seen 6,332 Goblins wishlist the game (compared to the perfectly healthy 221 for the previous 6 days) and now we're sat at an amazing 52,500 wishlists in total!

So it goes without saying we're a happy bunch, and we couldn't have done it without you. Literally as well as figuratively. This is your success, your moment to celebrate as much as it is ours, so at any point in the next few days that the opportunity presents itself please do raise a glass (of wine, or soda, or whatever!) to yourselves. Onwards and upwards!

Stay amazing,

The Spilt Milk Goblins

Brand New Demo - out now!

We've released a brand new Demo of Trash Goblin, as part of the delightful Cozy & Family Friendly Celebration on Steam right now! There's over an hour of content in this demo, and we're super excited to hear what your favourite trinket is, or who your favourite customer is!

Featured in the demo is everything we've been doing for Beta, and a little bit more!

[h3]Upcycling Gameplay[/h3]
This is the big new feature, allowing you to combine Trinkets in all kinds of fun ways! Make a mug better by finding the right handle, or create something completely unique! You'll be given the required tool for this after your 3rd customer, and given a ton of Trinkets for free to play with at the same time!

[h3]11 Customers[/h3]
Featuring some new characters and 2 of them using the early version of our customer paperdoll system! They'll turn up more spread across the day too!

[h3]Cleaning improvements[/h3]
We've reworked the visuals, gamefeel and audio on cleaning!

[h3]Varied pricing for trinkets[/h3]
Customers now pay what they feel a Trinket is worth!

[h3]Music[/h3]
Every gameplay sequence or minigame has its own musical track, plus the general background music changes as the day progresses!

[h3]Accessibility features[/h3]
We've responded to your feedback and added a bunch of features (found in the Settings menu) around text readability and the controls for cleaning and chipping gameplay.

[h3]New trinkets[/h3]
48 Trinkets are in the demo in total. 30 arrive through sack deliveries, and there are 19 brand new Trinkets.

[h3]Controls[/h3]
More consistent controls, with Right Mouse Button used for rotating during chipping etc

[h3]Known issues[/h3]
The game doesn't save progress between sessions, that functionality will come soon!

Please do dive in to play - especially if you've been jealously seeing all the Beta chat - now's the time to enjoy all the polished new features and tell us what you think over on our discord!

Livestream

We've got a nice livestream happening!

BANK HOLIDAY BETA

A chonky update just launched for the Beta!

It contains the preview of a brand new Demo we're hoping to launch publicly before the end of May! If you're a Beta Goblin or higher (for Kickstarter backers) or a have bought access Patron (and you still can for access to the beta!), please hammer it and let us know what's wrong!

[h3]Changelist:[/h3]
  • Accessibility Features
    We've been listening to your feedback from the Demo and the previous Beta build, and we've added a bunch of new options. Text size scaling (with adaptive textboxes), text draw speed, hold-chipping, hover-chipping and hover-cleaning options. Also you can skip the text draw-in entirely, and text boxes won't disappear without you telling them to. We're keen to do more, so let us know!
  • Varied pricing for trinkets!
    Now trinkets have values that seem a bit more... realistic for want of a better word. Which leads nicely into...
  • Upcycling improvements!
    Improved hugely over the previous Beta, we now allow you to cycle between valid sockets before smushing Trinkets together, which opens up a ton more variety. Plus now Upcycled trinkets take into account the combined values of the trinkets that make it up! Finally, Upcycling now uses up a timeslot. For anyone who missed the previous update, read the previous post for details on Upcycling in general!
  • Controls changes
    The game should be a bit more consistent across the various modes (eg: you now rotate with RMB, etc)
  • Neatened up 'Settings' menu.
    Just a little polish pass for now, not final.
  • Misc bugs and quality of life issues addressed.


Known issues, aiming to be fixed before the new Demo goes live:
  • Upcycling timeslots need to respect the player exiting without actually Upcycling anything.
  • Minor issues around player response text boxes and how they draw in, and auto-filling in certain situations.


Please note: it is in development mode, so there will be errors in a log, please ignore them unless they're happening around a Real Issue :D

Beta fun! We asked Aimon to rate your creations!

Welcome to another update, and this time I thought rather than dive into what we've been up to, we'd focus on what you've been up to!

[h2]UPCYCLING MONSTROSIT- I MEAN DELIGHTS[/h2]

Upcycling was the big new feature for the Beta, and ya'll have been sharing your creations in our discord.

I thought I'd ask Aimon - as the local expert in priceless antiques - what they think of your creations...

First up, we have "Sword" from Brightspark

"I'm not sure where to hold it, let alone how to swing it. I give it 5 Goblins out of 11" - Aimon

Oh. Sorry, Brightspark. I'm not sure if Aimon is a weapons expert or not... nor what kind of grading system that is?! Well, next up we have two creations from Kyhas; "Mana Potion" and "Eight Pieces"

"A snazzy hat and a deep purple glazed earthenware pot. A delightful combination of attire and practicality! What's not to love? 9.5 Goblins out of 3" - Aimon

"Complex. Intriguing. Impossible? 1 Goblin out of 0" - Aimon

Hmm, perhaps Aimon is more interested in aesthetics than I thought... well, next up is MadKingMura's "Monstrosity"

"Aptly titled. 10 Goblins out of 10. So that's 19.5 Goblins out of 13 in total." - Aimon

Whoa! I think that was a compliment, but then Aimon has always been a little hard to read. they get very passionate about antiques. I'm beginning to wonder if this was a good idea... I like the Tiara and adornment on the Egg!

Anyway, let's see how Izzi's "Untitled" goes down

"This searingly powerful indictment of the imbalance between the natural world and our ability to care for it - or our future - has me stunned. The use of bone as part of the surrogate floral arrangement atop this recycled bottle-cum-vase is particularly effective. 90 Goblins out of 1" - Aimon

OH. I um... well now... that is certainly one reading of it, Aimon. And finally here's InBetweenHonor's "Witch On Her Broomstick"

"It makes me laugh. How much do you want for it? I'll bet it would go for a song! 1 Goblin out of 2" - Aimon

Er so I think what we've learned from that is Aimon likes the wizard hat and the occasional pun. And unintelligible scoring systems. Thanks, Aimon? And a huge thanks to everyone who shared their madcap creations with us! I give you, er, 10 Goblins out of 10?

[h2]PLAYTHROUGHS[/h2]

For those of you who want to see what others have been doing with the Beta, or indeed if you missed out and want to cater to your FOMO with moving images then these links down here are where you need to be clicking!

[h3]Magickalhack rinsed the Beta:
[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



[h3]Brightspark streamed the whole thing too:[/h3]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2135799200



[h3]Sir Cabbage rummaged through all the trash:[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



[h3]And NaterEST went to town on those Trinkets![/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]THE END[/h2]

We're over the moon watching all of this and more, the feedback has been amazing (and amazingly useful) and we cannot wait to bring a new build to you just as soon as we are able!

Meanwhile please do join in on the discord - there's tons of you who still haven't claimed your role there! - and if you want in on the Beta, head over to our Patreon to support us and get access that way.

Until next time, stay Goblin!