"Deep Clean" - bubbles and elbow grease!
Hello Goblins and welcome to our first update of 2025: Deep Clean!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
As you could probably tell from our last news post, we're very excited about our plans for Trash Goblin throughout 2025. Now that the rush of our Early Access launch is over we've settled into a new production schedule that gives the team a nice cadence of working on the new updates for a couple of sprints and then taking the foot off the gas a little and pivoting our attention to our backlog during a dedicated polish and bug fixing sprint. This means that while there might be a little longer to wait between updates, there will always be a nice balance of new features and fixes, plus it stops the team from burning out – because goblins don't do crunch!
Now this is a real chonky update, so go make yourself a brew, grab some biscuits and then settle in!
[h3]What's New[/h3]
Cleaning Upgrades
You guessed it, the Deep Clean update is all about cleaning! Aimon has been to the supplier, stocked up his wares and you can now upgrade your sponge! There are three new sponges in game (Improved, Quality and Advanced), and each one allows you to clean more efficiently and cover a larger area of dirt.
This is unlocked the morning after you give Mushromeo their tooth, and if you're beyond that point, unlocking them is just a case of completing or dismissing any active quest, and then the very next day you should get access. When I type things like that, I do wonder about the sort of game we've made 😅
We think you'll be able to tell the difference in these upgrades straight away, but as always we appreciate your feedback on the Steam forums and particularly in our Discord server!"
Upgradable Soak Tub
The soak tub is now upgradable! After the initial investment into this overnight soaker, you're able to upgrade it another two times. Each upgrade is visually different and unlocks the ability to add another trinket to clean overnight, up to a maximum of three. We've also moved the soak tub into a more suitable place which means the storage chest has returned to its original location and is no longer blocking the way to your bed! We're excited to see what you think of the tier 3 soak tub in particular. Some of the team think it's adorable, others find it slightly disturbing!
General Cleaning Improvements
We've been doubling down on the cleaning mechanics and making sure the experience feels fun and satisfying, as well as fixing a bunch of cleaning bugs. Here are all the related changes:
Chisel Upgrades
Aimon didn't just stock up on sponges, they also sourced some new chisels for you. There are now two chisel upgrades and – this is the really exciting part – some brand new chisel variants! Variants are not upgrades to the regular chisel, but instead are completely different chisel types with unique chipping mechanics. Read on to find out what they do.
For the standard chisel, which only deals 1 hitpoint of damage to puzzle blocks, we've swapped out the existing model for a new one that visually looks the part as the most basic version of this tool. This chisel can be upgraded to the Sturdy/Improved chisel and then again to the Heavy chisel, which deal 2 and 3 hitpoints of damage respectively, allowing you to chip through puzzle blocks much faster. Once you've upgraded the standard chisel to the Heavy version then this will unlock the other chisel variants for you to buy.
The first variant is the sleek and powerful Lance chisel which is capable of punching through multiple blocks in one direction. The second variant is the rather scary-looking Cross chisel which deals a hefty spread of damage around the target block. Once acquired you'll be able to cycle through all your owned chisel variants with 1, 2, and 3 on the keyboard, or by scrolling the middle mouse button during the chipping sequence.
These unlock at the same point as the Sponge upgrades.
Quest Tracker
The Quest Tracker is finally here! Ever take a customer request then get busy pottering around and forget what they asked for? Us too, and that's what the Quest Tracker is for. No longer do you need to go back to the customer and ask them to repeat their order. Just pull down the little chalk board in the top right of the HUD and you'll see the customer's name and a list of any items they've requested. Once the sale is complete, the order is ticked off and then wiped clean. This is the Quest Tracker in its most basic format, we've got big plans for adding to its functionality in the run up to 1.0, so watch this space!
[h3]Other Updates[/h3]
[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
The Deep Clean update is not just about the in-game cleaning mechanics, it's about cleaning up our code too, and below is a nice selection of the bugs we've scrubbed!
[h2]What's Next[/h2]
We've talked about it, and here it is, the revised roadmap for 2025!
The biggest change is that we've decided on fewer but much bigger updates between now and launch, and then we're being – for now at least – a little coy on what's going to be released after 1.0! Comparing this to the previous roadmap, the best way to think of it is that we've taken the best elements of the previous updates, and spread them across Deep Clean, Stock N Trade, and the 1.0 launch. Doing so means we spend less time updating/launching/hotfixing, and more time just making the game packed full of the cool features we all want to see - plus you get more with every update!
So now you can see the plan as we have it, as we move forwards we'll update this with more info, more releases, and more detail where we're confident in it. There'll be accurate dates for Stock N Trade as well as the 1.0, and we plan to share all the features that are going into 1.0 just as soon as we've launched Stock N Trade. One thing at a time! Of course there'll be themes and some content details about the post-1.0 content, but that's the stuff that's most likely to change in response to how you all react to our work. We always read everything you say about the game, and often it helps us steer our efforts where they're best focused – and we really think Deep Clean shows that.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
As you could probably tell from our last news post, we're very excited about our plans for Trash Goblin throughout 2025. Now that the rush of our Early Access launch is over we've settled into a new production schedule that gives the team a nice cadence of working on the new updates for a couple of sprints and then taking the foot off the gas a little and pivoting our attention to our backlog during a dedicated polish and bug fixing sprint. This means that while there might be a little longer to wait between updates, there will always be a nice balance of new features and fixes, plus it stops the team from burning out – because goblins don't do crunch!
Now this is a real chonky update, so go make yourself a brew, grab some biscuits and then settle in!
[h3]What's New[/h3]
Cleaning Upgrades
You guessed it, the Deep Clean update is all about cleaning! Aimon has been to the supplier, stocked up his wares and you can now upgrade your sponge! There are three new sponges in game (Improved, Quality and Advanced), and each one allows you to clean more efficiently and cover a larger area of dirt.
This is unlocked the morning after you give Mushromeo their tooth, and if you're beyond that point, unlocking them is just a case of completing or dismissing any active quest, and then the very next day you should get access. When I type things like that, I do wonder about the sort of game we've made 😅
We think you'll be able to tell the difference in these upgrades straight away, but as always we appreciate your feedback on the Steam forums and particularly in our Discord server!"
Upgradable Soak Tub
The soak tub is now upgradable! After the initial investment into this overnight soaker, you're able to upgrade it another two times. Each upgrade is visually different and unlocks the ability to add another trinket to clean overnight, up to a maximum of three. We've also moved the soak tub into a more suitable place which means the storage chest has returned to its original location and is no longer blocking the way to your bed! We're excited to see what you think of the tier 3 soak tub in particular. Some of the team think it's adorable, others find it slightly disturbing!
General Cleaning Improvements
We've been doubling down on the cleaning mechanics and making sure the experience feels fun and satisfying, as well as fixing a bunch of cleaning bugs. Here are all the related changes:
- Getting fed up with not being able to see tiny bits of dirt in awkward places on a trinket? Well you can now see where you've missed a bit with the new dirt highlight feature! Press F on the keyboard or click the middle mouse button and any remaining dirt will be highlighted for a second or two.
- Smaller items are now much easier to clean and dirt cleaning now scales with trinket size. That means the smallest of trinkets are relatively quick to clean, whereas the largest take a decent amount of effort, as you'd expect! It was always our intent, but a little quirk prevented if until now!
- You can now rotate trinkets during cleaning with the WASD and arrow keys. This works for Chipping and Upcycling too. The right mouse button still does this too.
- When cleaning mode is set to Hold, you can now click the left mouse button while the cursor is off the trinket and the sponge will start to clean the moment you drag it over the top of the item. This means you don't have to be as precise when cleaning very narrow trinkets like the dang hairpin.
- Trinkets are now highlighted with an outline whenever the sponge is held over them during the cleaning sequence, so you know you're connecting with them.
- The cursor dot now appears as soon as you pick up the sponge, making it easier to see where the contact point is for interaction, not just when you enter the cleaning sequence.
- We've done a huge optimisation pass on the cleaning gameplay. These improvements should be felt by everyone but especially anyone on lower end machines or on the Steam Deck.
Chisel Upgrades
Aimon didn't just stock up on sponges, they also sourced some new chisels for you. There are now two chisel upgrades and – this is the really exciting part – some brand new chisel variants! Variants are not upgrades to the regular chisel, but instead are completely different chisel types with unique chipping mechanics. Read on to find out what they do.
For the standard chisel, which only deals 1 hitpoint of damage to puzzle blocks, we've swapped out the existing model for a new one that visually looks the part as the most basic version of this tool. This chisel can be upgraded to the Sturdy/Improved chisel and then again to the Heavy chisel, which deal 2 and 3 hitpoints of damage respectively, allowing you to chip through puzzle blocks much faster. Once you've upgraded the standard chisel to the Heavy version then this will unlock the other chisel variants for you to buy.
The first variant is the sleek and powerful Lance chisel which is capable of punching through multiple blocks in one direction. The second variant is the rather scary-looking Cross chisel which deals a hefty spread of damage around the target block. Once acquired you'll be able to cycle through all your owned chisel variants with 1, 2, and 3 on the keyboard, or by scrolling the middle mouse button during the chipping sequence.
These unlock at the same point as the Sponge upgrades.
Quest Tracker
The Quest Tracker is finally here! Ever take a customer request then get busy pottering around and forget what they asked for? Us too, and that's what the Quest Tracker is for. No longer do you need to go back to the customer and ask them to repeat their order. Just pull down the little chalk board in the top right of the HUD and you'll see the customer's name and a list of any items they've requested. Once the sale is complete, the order is ticked off and then wiped clean. This is the Quest Tracker in its most basic format, we've got big plans for adding to its functionality in the run up to 1.0, so watch this space!
[h3]Other Updates[/h3]
- We've revamped the navigation buttons and rearranged some elements of the UI to make interaction with the soak tub easier.
- You can now pan the camera slightly so that you can see a little bit more of your workshop. It is triggered by moving the cursor into hot zones around the edge of the screen, and this feature can be toggled off in the settings if you are prone to motion sickness or just don't like the effect.
- We've tweaked the tutorial to include prompts for revealing the dirt highlighting feature and rotation of trinkets with WASD.
- We've added a day counter above the time of day UI, so you can now track just how long you've been tinkering away in your workshop.
- There is now more of a visual difference between the Noodle and Impervious blocks so it's easier to tell them apart.
- When in Expansion mode you no longer have to interact with an item to see how much it will set you back; the cost of an item is now visible in the tooltip. The same goes for the tools on Aimon's desk.
- A and D keys can now be used for navigation around your workshop (arrow keys work too).
- Different species now have different "burble" SFX while text is typing into the dialogue box.
- We've made some improvements to the tongues and eye colours of the frog customers in the paper doll system.
- We've added new layers to our paper doll system which gives us greater flexibility with human hair styles (especially long-haired ones), and we've added some new hair colours and styles too.
- We've done even more optimisation work on the paper doll systems which should prevent crashes for some machines, and generally improves NPC loading times for everyone.
- The human paper doll system felt a bit skewed towards the masculine end of the spectrum, so we've introduced more female torsos to balance things out.
- Some of our Ambassador and Kickstarter backers' paper doll customers have been added to the pool of random NPCs. Have fun spotting your character's attributes shuffled into the line up of random customers.
- The Options menu has been given a little makeover.
- New sections have been added to the Game Guide to cover Expansion and Customisation modes, and the information on Upcycling has also been updated.
- The art team have been super busy creating named NPCs, paper dolls and trinkets for our Kickstarter backers. While trinkets and named characters have not yet been added to the game we couldn't resist giving you a sneak peak of a few of them (and we hope it's incentive for our remaining backers to get their NPC and trinket requests in to us so we can start working on them ;) )
[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
The Deep Clean update is not just about the in-game cleaning mechanics, it's about cleaning up our code too, and below is a nice selection of the bugs we've scrubbed!
- We've adjusted the settings on some of the paper doll components so you'll no longer see the occasional levitating head in the customer window.
- Frogs now change their expressions correctly during sales transactions.
- You can no longer add dirty trinkets to clean ones when upcycling.
- When upcycling existing upcycled trinkets, time slots will not be used up if no changes have been made.
- The cursor dot now appears as soon as you pick up the Upcycler, not just when you enter the upcycling sequence, making it easier to see where the interaction point is for this tool.
- We've made slight tweaks to the position of the Stash and upgraded workbenches so that very small trinkets can no longer be lost behind the back of the Stash book.
- Tall items stacked on high shelves should now be easy to retrieve when decorating your workshop.
- Dropped trinkets will now spawn on your desk rather than going into an invisible slot in the Stash if it is full.
- Small trinkets will no longer fall through the gaps on upgraded workbenches.
- The box collider size on the smaller trinkets have been increased to reduce issues with them not hitting killzones when falling off the desk.
- We've adjusted some dialogue boxes in the tutorial to ensure trinkets are not occluded when cleaning and chipping with font size set to max.
- Talmara's box collider was causing issues so we've brought that prickly frog down a peg or two.
- Jaq's collider has also been reduced slightly, but he's a good lad.
- We've tweaked one of the responses to Hullifer when he asks for a Magnifying Glass so that the query makes sense.
- Coin bags will no longer become stuck in the mycelial residue left by fungal NPCs and can be picked up as soon as they are dropped.
- Similarly, mushroom customers can no longer stand in front of trinkets placed on the mat and pretend they're not there.
- We've updated the goblin hand cursor and fixed some issues with overflowing pixels.
- Cruft has been removed from the workbench, so no more losing teeth in the dust!
- We've replaced the dirt-covered model of the bottle decoration on your workbench for a clean one.
- The trigger box for upgrading plants in Expansion mode is now much easier to click.
- We've fixed a bunch of typos and missing prompts in the Game Guide (accessed via the Options menu). Some users will still be seeing some missing icons, but we're investigating this. Half the dev team sees the glyphs fine, and half doesn't. Frankly, we're very confused.
- A small handful of typos have been nuked along with a couple of visible markup tags in the dialogue.
[h2]What's Next[/h2]
We've talked about it, and here it is, the revised roadmap for 2025!
The biggest change is that we've decided on fewer but much bigger updates between now and launch, and then we're being – for now at least – a little coy on what's going to be released after 1.0! Comparing this to the previous roadmap, the best way to think of it is that we've taken the best elements of the previous updates, and spread them across Deep Clean, Stock N Trade, and the 1.0 launch. Doing so means we spend less time updating/launching/hotfixing, and more time just making the game packed full of the cool features we all want to see - plus you get more with every update!
So now you can see the plan as we have it, as we move forwards we'll update this with more info, more releases, and more detail where we're confident in it. There'll be accurate dates for Stock N Trade as well as the 1.0, and we plan to share all the features that are going into 1.0 just as soon as we've launched Stock N Trade. One thing at a time! Of course there'll be themes and some content details about the post-1.0 content, but that's the stuff that's most likely to change in response to how you all react to our work. We always read everything you say about the game, and often it helps us steer our efforts where they're best focused – and we really think Deep Clean shows that.
From left to right, 3 glorious sponges in order of... sponge-tacular-ness?
This peek at the new tier 1 shows how we like to be smart where we can, re-using assets if we can! But also lavishing detail on everything, because that's what brings them to life.
Speaking of life, I wonder what this has got to do with the new Soak Tub?
And the tier 2 tub is a clear upgrade from the previous one! Looks a little precariously pinned to the wall, though...
We like to work through plenty of options before choosing the best fit. Sometimes you till choose the first idea, but regardless it is important to feel through more variants. You never know what might pop up.
