Trash Goblin News

It's the final update before 1.0 launch! Oh my gosh! Time has flown, and the team is so excited to get this latest update into your mitts - partly because we think it's more packed with goodies than a Grandma Egg, but also so we can concentrate fully on the launch. We're selfish/dedicated that way! Of course that means you should look out for a release date announcement before long, but until then we've got lots of other exciting things to share with you, plus a lovely breakdown of the features and content in Stock N Trade!

Here's the update trailer!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Sale & Upcoming Price Changes
First up you'll be wanting to tell your friends to nab Trash Goblin right now, for a couple of reasons! First up, we're running a deepest-so-far discount of 33%! This is incredibly good value, and certainly the cheapest we'll be for a while.

Related to that, we're going to increase the price ahead of our 1.0 launch to $19.99 (up from its current price of $14.99). At the moment we're planning for that price increase to happen on the 21st May. Trash Goblin has increased in quality, content, and value for money steadily since we launched in Early Access 6 months ago, and we also "priced" it at this value for the Kickstarter rewards way back in 2023. We have thought long and hard about this, and we believe it's a fair price - and of course we hope you do too! We can see a lot of players already logging 20hrs+ (and some over 50hrs or 100hrs) in the Early Access version, and there's a ton of content coming in today's update as well as the 1.0 so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it seems like a reasonable change. Let us know what you think!

To summarise, it's the cheapest right now that it will be for a long time, so make the most of it!

Beta!
We mentioned a Beta last time, and now we've got dates for you! The Beta will be run from the 2nd to the 5th May. It will be focused on the Story, specifically Acts 1 & 2. Beta Goblins will be automatically involved, but we want more people to come and help us figure out if we've done Donoval justice* so we're running a 1st-come 1st-served system on our discord. Between now and then just head over to the beta channel and respond to the instructions there! Please do bear in mind that this is not a shortcut to progress in the launch game - see below for details but sadly saves will not be migrating from Early Access to 1.0.
*Donoval's story may or may not wrap up in the Beta content, I just know he's the fave right now, sorry for being a tease!

Chill Hoarding Bundle!
We've got another bundle going, this time with the chillest game I've ever seen, Koi Farm! In Koi Farm you crossbreed Koi in serene ponds, then catalogue & share the endless varieties you discover. It was suggested by our lovely community as a great pairing so we're excited to launch that today as well! If you own Trash Goblin you'll get a little extra off of Koi Farm, and vice versa! Check it out here!

London Games Festival
We're also delighted to be featured as part of the London Games Festival! It's a Steam event as well as a physical festival held here in the UK's capital, and we had Trash Goblin on a stand at the New Game Plus event last week as part of the "Official Selection", while this Friday we're going to be showing the game to the public as part of a live event in Trafalgar Square! The one with all the statues! It's so cool!

"Enough blethering, what's in the blinkin' update?!"
A fair if slightly rudely posed question.

And without further ado... the full changelist:

[h3]What's New[/h3]
Display Mat
We heard you when you said you wanted to feel more like a shopkeeper, setting up things on shelves for people to buy. Having customers pick your favourite items and the things you've worked the hardest on. Or, you know, slinging all your spare crap somewhere and insisting that your patrons buy it before anything else. Well, now you can! You buy and upgrade the Display Mat via the Expansion Mode, and once it's there you can place your favourite creations on it, which will attract customers passing by, and they'll be very keen to pay over the odds for whatever you've placed in view! Top tip; objects are physical so you can squeeze as many trinkets onto the mat as you like...


Lizard paper dolls
Donoval. Ah, Donoval. What will become of your quest for warmth? What beauty do you see in the humble bedpan? And do all Lizardfolk desire these same humble containers with the same fervour as you? Well, now that we've added them to the random customer pool, we can all find out together!


Trinket attributes/customer requests
It's been a long time coming, but we've completely overhauled how customers and trinkets work. Trinkets now have attributes, and Customers now make a wider and more interesting variety of requests:

• They might ask specifically for a clean version of a trinket
  
• They may want an upcycled trinket, with that little something extra
  
• They can also ask for a ""type"" of trinket - a Lid, Jewellery, that sort of thing - allowing you to pick and choose which trinket to sell to fulfill their needs
  
• And they might have something really specific in mind, but if you can't be bothered you can always just dismiss them!
  

Trinket request highlighting
Another longer-requested feature, you can now find the exact trinket you're after at the press of a button. All you need to do is click on the magnifying glass icon next to the trinket listed in the quest tracker, and it will be highlighted in your stash and in the workshop. It lasts for a few seconds, so you might need to click on it again if you struggle.


Fifteen new trinkets
It was about time we threw some more intriguing, rare, trashy and weird trinkets into the Chasm ready for you to unearth.



Here's the full list:

• Menacing Charm
  
• Menacing Charm Broach
  
• Throwing Knife Blade
  
• Throwing Knife Hilt
  
• Throwing Knife Pommel
  
• Drill Attachment
  
• Fork Attachment
  
• Rake Attachment
  
• Human Sword Blade
  
• Human Sword Hilt
  
• Human Sword Pommel
  
• Terrarium
  
• Succulent
  
• Sunburst Gem
  
• Bead Necklace Charm
  

Tool Belt
We know how much ya'll hated putting down your tools - finding the right spot for them, and then maybe losing track of them as well. Us too. So we've added a Tool Belt to the game, meaning you no longer have to fiddle around finding space for your tools. They just sit there patiently waiting, ready to pop on and off as you need them. Picking tools up and putting tools down hasn't changed functionally - you still press the same buttons, it's just now they have their special place. For now, the art for the tools is the basic ones, and we'll no doubt make that reflect all the upgrades before long.


New Cosmetics
We didn't give you any new cosmetics to play with last update, and we felt slightly bad about it so we went nuts on this one!

• Stock N Trade themed set, which includes wallpaper, mats and bedclothes, all themed around our favourite trinket, the Grandma Egg!
  
• Ambassador themes set, in honour of one of our Goblin Ambassadors, Andromeda Galaxi!
  
• Coloured set. So many colours! We've gone mad, now you can completely rainbow your workshop, and even change the colour of your shelves!
  

Improved handling/dragging
We've overhauled the handling of items in the game - we've worked really hard to improve all the dragging, the placement, the picking up and rotating things - every single one of those little interactions now feel way smoother and more reliable than before, and basically hits the vision we had at the very start of this game for how tactile and responsive we wanted it to be!

3D Trinket Rotation
Part of the rework above led us to decide to allow you to rotate a held trinket in all 3 axis of movement, meaning you can essentially position them in any pose you could possibly want! This opens up so much potential for customising your shop and you can do so by simply using the WASD keys while holding any trinket in the game. This means that navigation of the views is now limited to the arrow cursor keys. The only caveat on this new rotation gameplay is that when you pick a trinket back up again, it will re-orient to its normal pose, but that's something we want to work on. We'd love to see pictures!

New Sales Receipt
Because of all the additional elements that go into serving a trinket to a customer, we've reworked the sales receipt, meaning you can now see the status of the trinket and any attachments, plus of course if there was any impact of being on the Display Mat!


[h3]Other Updates[/h3]

• The credits have been updated with additional names from our Kickstarter backers – please remember to go fill out your survey responses, it only takes 5 minutes and then we can include your name in the next update.
  
• Navigation of views is no longer possible with the A and S keys, but still works a-ok with the arrow cursor keys, and the buttons on the UI.
  
• Updated 4 shelf positions, lowering them for ease of placement, so do check if you have any floating trinkets!
  
• We've brought the 'bad placement' visual back. We are not sure where it went. It displays when you are holding a trinket over a location that is either occupied, or would result in the item dropping to the floor. In the former case, you can drop it if you want (piles of trinkets!). In the latter case, you cannot place the item. Functionally, this has been in the game for a long time, but this makes it a lot clearer.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Weather effects will no longer be seen passing through the inside of the red panda's mouth!
  
• Trinkets icons will no longer appear as white boxes in the Stash after they've been placed in the Soak Tub or Pay-What-You-Can box.
  
• We've fixed a bunch of typos and grammatical errors in Mycelle's dialogue - thanks to our lovely community for pointing them out!
  
• Soak Tub-related SFX are now muted when the SFX slider is set to 0.
  
• The Wizards hat is now upright by default when removed from the Stash.
  
• The large workmat upgrade description no longer describes itself as "colourful". Because it is not, it is plain. The poor thing couldn't be more vanilla if it tried.
  

[h2]What's Next[/h2]



The 1.0! We're excited to add tons of gameplay and content to this, we've been saving it up over the course of development and of course have always planned for multiple new features to arrive at launch so it makes the whole game feel fresh and new. For the full details hit up the post we wrote recently about the roadmap which you can find here, but the headline features we're adding for 1.0 are as follows:

• District Travel
  
• 10hrs+ of Story
  
• Trinket request system
  
• City Map & calendar
  
• Trinketpedia
  
• Delver License System
  
• Dismissal and Summoning of Named Customers
  
• More Cosmetic Options
  
• Achievements
  
• Cost, Price and Randomness Rebalance
  
• Tons of new trinkets
  
• A Chunk (but not all) of the Kickstarter Rewards
  
• Founders Pack
  

[h2]Other News[/h2]

Save Incompatibility
"We detailed this in our last post too, but it's important enough to restate here.

It 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, 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."

And that's it - another bumper update with tons of new features and loads of exciting news to share! Keep an eye out for news on the launch date, and start getting hyped for it! In the meantime join our discord for more fun and Trash Goblin updates!

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 rewards

We 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.

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:

• 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.

Welcome to 2025! I hope you had a wonderful break and are feeling full of energy for this, the Year of the Goblin!

We're chomping at the bit to get what we're working on into your hands, and while we solidify the features coming to our next Trash Goblin update, which should be out sometime in mid-February, it's the perfect time to discuss our plans for the year as a whole as well!

What we're working on
First up some teases on what's coming in the next update, because we like to show you cool stuff. Is it big-headed to say this is all cool stuff? Well no matter how cool it is, I do want to point out that a lot of this is in development and subject to change. the usual caveat on showing stuff that's a few weeks away 😅

[h2]What's coming to Deep Clean?[/h2]
Anyway, for an update called Deep Clean, you'd guess we're focusing on the cleaning gameplay... and you'd have guessed right!

[h3]Sponge upgrades![/h3]
We've had a word with Aimon, and they've managed to source some better sponges for you to buy and utilise - cleaning just got a lot easier! And maybe even softer on your little goblin mitts. We know a lot of you have wanted this for a while, it's exciting to bring it to the game!

From left to right, 3 glorious sponges in order of... sponge-tacular-ness?

[h3]Soaktub rework & upgrades![/h3]
We're going to change where the soak tub lives, and also give you the opportunity to upgrade it to take more trinkets! Another much-requested feature, and something that should make it easy to stay on top of all those customer requests.

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...

[h3]Dirt highlighting.[/h3]
Ever been stuck spinning a trinket endlessly trying to find that last little bit of dirt? Yeah, same. Well, banish that to the past! Now you can just press a button to highlight all the remaining dirt on a trinket!



And we're not stopping there, so make sure to keep an eye on the full release notes when the update comes out, because there's a bunch more work that's been done on this side of the game that we think you'll love.

Meanwhile, lots of other cool stuff is being worked on. Read on!

[h3]Chisel upgrades & alternates![/h3]
We're giving you a way to upgrade the power of your basic chisel (which will work how you'd expect ie: fewer hits to crumble a block) but we also wanted to give you some fun options so... what do you think a Lance Chisel might do? there's more up our little goblin sleeve too...

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.

[h3]Quest Tracker.[/h3]
We've wanted to get this in for the longest time - and the time has come! You can pull it up and down, and it shows you the details of the current active customer request - no more wondering what you were rummaging in the stash for, you can just peek at this handy little panel.



And more. We've also been deep-cleaning the codebase, getting rid of lots of bugs and adding tons of nice quality-of-life features for you all to enjoy! Maybe you can spot some of them in the various images in this update? I can see at least one new feature I've not mentioned...

[h2]Plans for 1.0 and beyond[/h2]
We're thinking a lot, and very carefully, about what content Trash Goblin needs to include to be considered 1.0, especially because we've had a ton of great feedback and feature requests from you lovely lot since the Early Access release.

This happens with every game - the dev has an idea for something fun and they make it, and then the players play it. From that point onwards all bets are off. People suggest ideas that are better than the ones you had. Or people are more excited about a different part of the game, so it'd be mad not to follow that interest and serve that excitement... the issue being of course time is finite so whenever we redirect our efforts, something else has to be paused or shelved to compensate.

That said, one of the nice things about modern game dev is that 1.0 launch is only the beginning. We've always intended TG to be a game we support for months and months after we launch out of EA.

We're gaining confidence in what we think 1.0 is, and also that we'll have plenty of time to add everything that feels like it belongs in the game even after that point. Or to put it another way, anything that might get paused or shelved for the needs of the 1.0 will be taken back down off the shelf, dusted off, unpaused and brought back into the release plan post 1.0.

A really good example of this is Haggling. We're aware a lot of people think all shop-keeping games require a haggling mechanic. We're also aware most of the systems out there are not that great. Plus, a lot of people in the TG and cosy communities don't want the pressure of haggling to spoil the vibes. Not to mention that haggling is something customers do to get a good deal, at the expense of the shopkeeper - which just doesn't seem right, or fun! All of which adds up to us deciding to leave haggling until after 1.0 - that way we can take the time needed to a) figure out if haggling belongs in the game, and b) if there's a smart mechanic that everyone will enjoy.

Side Note: As a designer, I can't resist chiming in on this more, as I find it fascinating. People who ask for haggling in a shopkeeping game don't necessarily want actual haggling. If we added haggling as true to life, customers would decide to haggle, and you'd end up selling items for less - which would be rubbish for you as the shopkeeper. What this player request actually translates to is more accurately put as "some form of gameplay mechanic involving customers and the items they want, that lets players have agency in gaining a higher price". Moonlighter did a really interesting job with this, but all that said sometimes you gotta design something that is called haggling by name, but is functionally something else in order to satisfy the player's desires. Who knows what form that might be! Anyway, that's the end of my little ramble😅

So that's some context and insight into how we think, and the outcome is that we're working on getting an updated and (maybe) more detailed roadmap released soon. A few more decisions have to be made, but we're excited to present it to you and talk about it all - I can't wait! Know that it will be different from the existing one, but not in terms of ambition or quality.

So yeah, 1.0 is not 'job done' for Trash Goblin, it's just another step along the trashy road - we're building a plan to keep adding and expanding the game for at least 12 months after we launch, and we can see a world where we do it for many more years beyond that, not least thanks to all of your support.

Heck, I'd love to drop a hint at what we're thinking for a 1.0 launch date, but until we're totally confident of it I don't want to say a single word. I must resist.

[h2]Other News[/h2]
We can talk about the fact that we worked with Futurlab to make the Wallace and Gromit DLC for Powerwash Simulator that was announced recently! We are delighted to have partnered with Futurlab - they're very good and dear friends of ours, and if you cast your minds back to us pushing the EA launch date, this project was a very large factor in that! Anyway the team did an amazing job on it, and we hope you might go and play it once it's out if you're a fan of Powerwash Simulator or W&G. Also, y'know, elements of Trash Goblin were very inspired by Powerwash's success. Why in this very post we've shown off our own dirt highlighting feature. Sometimes a good idea is just a good idea!

Until next time, stay goblin!

The demo now features:

• save game, plus it will transfer over to the full game
  
• around 1hr of gameplay
  
• shop cosmetic customisation (bedclothes, wallpaper, and more)
  
• shop expansion (shelves, stash space, and more)
  
• the Upcycler tool upgrade path
  
• meet 10 named customers (but don't expect to see their stories all the way through)
  
• loads of random customers
  
• 70 trinkets
  

As a comparison, the full game adds:

• 4 new named customers including:
  
• Virgil
  
• Mycelle
  
• Raniel
  
• Ortici
  
• 4-6hrs linear story content
  
• Endless play with endless customers
  

If you'd like to help us out then do report bugs in our discord.