We've been talking about showing our plans for the game in more detail for a little while now, so thank you for being patient with us while we figured it all out!
I fully intend to write so much detail here that you potentially start to regret about how open and thorough we're being 😇
[h2]STOCK N TRADE[/h2]
This is the next and final update before 1.0! Currently we're aiming to release Stock N Trade on the 9th of April, and we want to really focus on the selling side of the game; trying to fulfill that shopkeeper part of the fantasy I suppose.
This means customers and the ways you can interact with them are getting a load of attention. On top of that, there are a few features that are among the last 'foundational' elements of the game that we envision for 1.0, and so it was important to get them in and played a lot too!
[h3]Trinket Attributes & Varied Customer Requests[/h3]
This is the thing that we're most excited about, and has the biggest ongoing effect on the game. I wonder if you agree?
At the moment, a random customer can ask for any trinket, and do so "any old way" which means in any state. This includes upcycled with other trinkets, so you can kinda do whatever you like - there's not much of an interesting choice to be made or anything to really think about. This is staying as an option, but we've added a whole system on top that gives every trinket a set of attributes, and these are used by the game to generate customer requests!
The new system allows random customers to ask for more specific things, as well as things that give you more creative freedom, and we think this fleshes out the potential of this side of the game nicely. The customer can ask for:
- Clean versions of a trinket. "I want a Clean Grandma Egg." Best get your sponge out!
- Upcycled versions of a trinket. "I'd love a Pot, but I need it with a little something extra." This encourages you to play around a bit and make something really silly. Or cool! Or ugly...
- A "type" of trinket. So they might say "I'm after a Lid", or demand "gimme the best jewellery you have to hand!". This lets you get tactical, clearing out duplicates or unwanted stock as long as they're in the right ballpark.
- The exact thing that they want. Something like "I want a Lich Crown, and just a Lich Crown, thankee kindly". These will perhaps feel the more 'difficult' to serve because they're so specific. Sometimes customers know what they want and can't be persuaded. You can always dismiss them I suppose...
We're also hopefully going to have the ability for them to ask for a specific heritage of trinket (Goblin, Human, etc.), but this aspect needs a lot more testing. If they don't make it into this update, they'll be in 1.0 instead!
[h3]Display Mat[/h3]
Finally! This is a long-requested feature that means you can finally place your stock out in the open ready for sale, and customers will buy them!
Us figuring out how best and where best to lay the Display Mat out
You unlock the mat at the customer view, and are able to arrange trinkets on it however you like. Any trinkets on the mat will catch the eye of passing customers, meaning it is very likely they rock up and want to buy it! You'll also be able to upgrade the mat for more space.
A view of the finished article from inside the editor.
[h3]Trinket Highlighting[/h3]
We know how hard it can be to find the trinket you want, or even just to reliably check if you do have it or not... so now you can click on the trinket in the Quest Tracker, and the game will highlight the trinket for you... well, if you have it of course! We use a bright orange highlight that gently pulses around the trinket, and in the Stash it also pulses the icon to help catch your eye - this happens for about 5 seconds so it should be enough time to check around!
Eye-catching, no?
Of course it would ony ever be showing on the one trinket at a time.
[h3]Tool Rack[/h3]
No more losing your tools! This handy UI element on the bottom edge of the screen will always hold your tools, and you can just pick them up directly from it. We've also changed the behaviour so when you put a tool down, it automatically returns to this spot.
We love a bit of feedback - as the mouse hovers, you gotta show some give!
[h3]Reworked Trinket Handling[/h3]
We're proud of the work we've done on the gamefeel in Trash Goblin across every interaction, but one of the elements we weren't satisfied with is in some ways the simplest - just picking stuff up and moving it around. Well, thanks to a brainwave from Steve our Designer, and a chunk of his hard work, we've made it feel one bajillion times better. That's a scientific fact. Everything is just smoother in general, and items no longer get caught or stay put as you move them from surface to surface. It all just works so much more how you'd expect it to.
[h3]Lizard Customers[/h3]
Donoval's feeling a bit lonely, so we'll be adding his cousins (and more) to the paperdoll system, giving you a whole new species of customer to serve.
Of course a ton of bug fixes and other smaller things will scamper into the Stock N Trade update, but those are the headliners and we can't wait to hear how they go down. But that's not all, let's talk about the 1.0 plans!
[h2]LAUNCH[/h2]
The game at launch will be transformed by two incredible and huge additions - the full story, and travel to other districts - plus of course plenty more features besides! We're really excited to see what you think of these plans.
[h3]The Story![/h3]
We're fully expecting the game to have 10+ hours of story content to play through which takes you from your first day on the job all the way up to... well I'm not going to spoil it! But suffice to say you'll meet tons of charming characters, fulfil some really odd requests, definitely laugh, and maybe even shed a little tear before the end. Does Donoval ever buy enough bed pans? Play it to find out!
The story as it stands in the current Early Access version will essentially be repurposed, and some of it is destined to be side quests or incidental moments through the main game. But suffice to say, it'll be a completely new experience with all the characters you know and love, plus tons more on top.
It's worth pointing out that we're not forcing you through the story either; you'll have plenty of time to serve tons of customers at your own pace, and even when you've 'completed' the story you'll still be able to keep on serving customers and finding new trinkets for as long as you like.
[h3]District Travel & Pop-up Shop[/h3]
C'mon now! This is the big one for a lot of you. We know it is!
You can borrow Aimon's wagon and visit 2 exciting and distinct districts across Silver City - Chasmside and the Wyrd Quarter - to set up a pop-up shop! When you're there, your little wagon pop-up will see an enormous queue of excited customers that fills your day with nothing but sales, as well as the occasional named customer or story beat.
A lovely colour pass on one of the new locations you'll get to visit...
You won't be able to customise the wagon (yet, we need to convince Aimon a bit more first) and you won't be able to do anything other than serve customers - but then that's the whole point of a pop-up! Get your brand out there, grow your customer base, be an exciting rarity. Imagine if you heard the Goblin's shop was coming to your neighbourhood for a single day, you know you'd queue from midnight! Ok, now I have an idea for our merch that I need to go and write down...
A work in progress shot of the inside of the wagon - note that you won't use it at the shop's default location!
Where this feature goes after 1.0... well, who can say? But it'd be weird if we didn't open up more of the city to you, wouldn't it!
[h3]Trinket Request System[/h3]
Another character, who will also remain nameless for now, will introduce a system whereby you can order a specific trinket for delivery. This will help alleviate any woes where you just can't seem to luck out and find the one last piece of the puzzle for a lucrative request!
[h3]City Map & Calendar[/h3]
Tied to the District Travel & Pop-Up Shop, you'll be able to use a map to get your travels underway, and a calendar will help you plan ahead a smidge. Early on in the game, access to the Wagon that you use for the popup shop is limited (something to do with Aimon again, they're so awkward sometimes!), and you also want to be "popping up" on market days so this will help you make sure you've got as much stock a possible ready before embarking.
A very-in-development snip of the map and calendar.
[h3]Trinketpedia[/h3]
This addition will rework the Stash Book into something even more useful! You'll be able to open up a section where you can find a list of all of the items in the game, and track if you've found them or not! We're also hoping you'll be able to see a few more interesting bits of info on them, like if you've cleaned, upcycled and sold them too, but no promises there yet.
[h3]Delver License System[/h3]
You'll be able to help out a certain character, and in so doing, unlock the depths of the chasm for them! This means you'll be able to receive new sacks full of more exciting trinkets from the deeper, more dangerous areas down there. I shall say no more at risk of spoilers!
[h3]Dismissal and Summoning of Named Customers[/h3]
Finally you'll have the ability to send a named customer away (sorry Donoval, still not got any more bed pans), and then easily summon them back when you've got what they wanted. And you can take your sweet time, there's no time pressure involved at all.
[h3]More Cosmetic Options[/h3]
We can't wait to show you what we've got planned here, but we know lots of you want as much customisation as we can give you, so we're going to throw as many as we can at the launch! More colours, patterns and whatnot for your walls, bed and shelves!
Just some quilt patterns we've been experimenting with...
[h3]Achievements[/h3]
We're planning on at least 10 for the game's launch, and at some point we'll be asking what you might want to see included here - so keep an eye out!
[h3]Rebalance[/h3]
It goes without saying, but we will say anyway, that the game will have a big balance pass, and this will affect everything from the cost of a cup of coffee (well, technically the beans, but hey) to the sale value of a Teardrop Gem. We want to strike the perfect balance of generosity, while also giving you loads of cool things to save up for and spend on, which will help you feel like you've always got something to aim for when you hit that "Continue" button.
[h3]A Chunk of the Kickstarter Rewards[/h3]
We're not able to deliver every single reward for 1.0, which we're really sad about - we had hoped to! But the reality is there's not enough time. We tried our best but the work involved in getting the information for the various rewards has, as one example, been more involved than expected. But no shade, we're excited about what we are able to get in the game for 1.0, and the rest will follow as soon as we are able!
What is going in:
- All NPCs and their related quests and trinkets for Quest and VIG backers
- All the stretch goal trinkets
- Bonus golden quest
- Some Delver trinkets
- Some Doppel paperdolls
- Clientele in-game 'book' (this will be accessed via a tab in the Stash/Trinketpedia book)
- Credit list (already in right now, but of course it will be updated with everyone who's responded!)
[h3]Founders Pack[/h3]
This will be an entirely optional, paid DLC for Trash Goblin focused on giving you a really unique and snazzy cosmetic pack - and not hiding any gameplay from those of you who don't want to opt in. The aim is to let you dress up your shop with a unique set. A set that screams "I love goblins - and the developers of goblin games!".
[h3]What 1.0 Won't Include[/h3]
Some of the Kickstarter rewardsWe are making them as fast/soon as we can, but as mentioned, some of the rewards are tied into actual features, and we want to ideally package things in a way that makes sense for the backers, dev team, the game, and also the updates themselves.
Maybe In
- Digital OST is most likely going to be ready after 1.0 but you never know!
- Collector's Gift Set (turt, mat, etc) might get done in time if we find ourselves racing ahead of the current plan.
Partially In
- Most "Doppel Goblin" backer paper doll customers will come after 1.0, a handful will go out with 1.0, and actually some are already in the game!
- Most "Delver Goblin" backer trinkets will be released after 1.0, though again some will be in at 1.0
Most of the vagueness and split here is down to real life getting in the way, so we've tried to add them to the game in the order that we received the required details.
Definitely Post 1.0
- Digital Artbook will be after 1.0. We can't really deliver it till we've got all the art done after all.
- Everything to do with the Spirit Folk (trinkets, quest, NPC, paper dolls)
Our dream would be to launch an update soon after 1.0 that contains all of the remainder all at once, but the reality is that we'll probably end up with a couple of updates that introduce sensible groupings. And that's the perfect moment to remind anyone reading this that hasn't responded to our Kickstarter reward emails to please do so as soon as you can 💖 please please please 💖
[h2]OTHER NEWS[/h2]
[h3]Closed Beta & Mailing List[/h3]
We're going to run another Beta, and we're currently aiming for the back end of April as a rough timeframe for when.
The game will, at that point, feature a bunch of features that nobody's played with yet, even beyond the Stock N Trade update, but the biggest change will be that the story is in the game! Our focus will be on getting people to start the game fresh and see how it all holds together as a complete package.
We can't wait, and more details will come soon - but if you're interested, the best way to get involved is to
sign up to our mailing list!
Note: All of those who backed at Beta Goblin and above, plus relevant tiers on Patreon, will be included automatically. [h3]Save Incompatibility[/h3]
This is something we'd hoped to avoid, but sadly cannot. The tl;dr is that game saves from before the 1.0 won't be compatible with the 1.0, but we'll arrange access to a special branch on Steam that keeps this legacy "0.9" version live for anyone who wants it, for free.
There are many factors at play, but there are some that are worth talking about a bit. First up, the story structure behind the scenes means that we're going to have to rework and replace the story elements from the EA version, and the code/writing work to make both 'versions' of the first 4 hours or so compatible are just not feasible. Planning it, doing it, then testing it - it's a can of worms for weird bugs and endless frustration for players. But of course what about all your progress?!
The plan is that the penultimate build (the one before 1.0) will go onto a dedicated branch on Steam, and that will be accessible via a password, and will not cost anything to access. We will give out the password and make it accessible to the Early Access community on launch day.
On that day, anyone with existing save files who wants to continue playing can hop over onto that branch and continue to their heart's desire, but there will be nothing new for you - it'll feature bug fixes etc, but most likely just endless random customers.
Meanwhile on the 1.0 main branch, when people boot the launch version for the first time people will see there's no "Continue" button on the title screen, just "New Game". We will keep talking about this of course, and do as much as we can to prevent someone losing a save from the previous version that they wanted to keep. More details on that will be coming closer to the time. This will also of course be updated across all our FAQs and various channels of communication.
[h3]Sales & Bundles[/h3]
Tomorrow is the start of the Steam Spring Sale, and we're celebrating by making Trash Goblin the cheapest it's been so far!
20% off, to be precise!
Tell all your friends!
Also, we're launching the Fruit Goblin bundle! This is a Fruit Bus x Trash Goblin complete-the-set collaboration, which offers an extra 10% off, so you can complete the set or buy both - we love Fruit Bus, we think its very close to Trah Goblin in vibes, and who knows maybe one day we'll get to do a crossover?
While we're at it, there's Goblins 💖 Tanuki Bundle, which sees us sharing the love with Minami Lane. This one launches on the 17th March, also at 10% off! We're treating you to all kinds of nice things!
[h3]GDC 2025[/h3]
We're out there in San Fransisco from Friday this week to Thursday morning next week, so if you're in the area or also at the event, we should meet and take a selfie!
[h3]We Won An Award![/h3]
Yes we did! The UKIE Game Awards Rising Star, for "exhibiting significant potential for future contributions to the industry" which is just so special - thanks to the team for making Trash Goblin so good, it all comes from there.
Did we do it? Did we make you regret the thoroughness of this post? How open we are?
No?
You want more of this kind of thing...? Oh... well, this Goblin's got to practise touch-typing before the next one then.
