Trash Goblin News

Welcome Goblins, to another development update! I hope you've all been enjoying August, as it's nearly over (my, how time flies) and as I type that I realise how close we are to the game's Early Access launch!

I'm still not going to announce that just yet, but blimey if we aren't beginning to really feel the pressure. We've got an amazing team and every confidence we'll be delivering this game soon, to a really high standard... as you know Early Access launch is just the beginning so we're also planning the update roadmap and that's all really exciting too.

Anyway, what choice cuts of development am I going to share this time? Read on!

[h3]SHOP EXPANSION GAMEPLAY[/h3]

We keep talking about letting you play for as long as you like, even at EA launch. And with that comes a challenge - what will you want to spend all your hard-earned Gold on? Well, we've spent a lot of time figuring that out, and we want to show you a little glimpse that tells a lot.

This is a mockup, the real button will be Well Nice.

The extra button there is to move into Shop Expansion Mode, where we let you tinkering goblins purchase expansions and cosmetics across all areas of the game. We obviously want you to be able to upgrade your Tools. We think it'd be ace for you to customise your workspace in some meaningful ways. And we also want to let you spend on, for want of a better word, buffs or modifiers that make your days as a Trash Goblin more fun, all while locking into the vibes of the game and the world we're building.

We're still discussing and feeling out which ones we want to launch with, but it's safe to say they'll feature in these updates as and when we get them into a shareable state. I want to tease, but not over-promise!

[h3]CUSTOMERS AND MORE![/h3]

One thing we're completely confident of is the initial cast of characters you'll meet in the Early Access launch version!

Left to Right we've got Geronimus, Redoir, Aimon, Nomia and a new mystery character!

No prizes for spotting there's one more who we'll unveil properly at some point soon, but currently we call them "Delver Goblin - Aunty X". The X makes them sound a bit sinister, but trust me when I say that the only person who needs to be nervous around this character is Aimon. I'll say no more!

This means the current plan is that Donoval & Jaq won't feature in the launch version, but of course, this is the "minimal" plan and as soon as we know how much time we can devote to more quests, they'll be top of the list to be added back in! We just want all the named characters to have really awesome stories for you to enjoy with them, so until we're confident we're hitting our quality standards, we won't promise anything more.

[h3]DIABLO IV LOVES GOBLINS TOO?[/h3]

We didn't realise Diablo runs an event that celebrates makes players be mean towards goblins every year?! Well, we told our little fellow about it and despite our warnings he couldn't resist the opportunity to meet some new customers, and maybe even turn them into friends?!

Our lil' goblin is just so excited to share his trinkets with other goblins, regardless of the dangers involved!

We're not so sure it was totally safe to be there, but I don't think anyone could confuse our Goblin for any other type. Besides, it was a flying visit and we're told nobody got hurt.

[h3]SXSW[/h3]

Oh boy, I wonder how many of you spotted this in the build version of that screenshot? We've been shouting about it a bit and will be more, but Trash Goblin is going to be at SXSW Sydney! Sadly the team can't make the trip but we're super excited about people playing our game all the way around the world, so if you're there in Sydney, please do tell us - maybe even take a selfie with the game and share it with us!


[h3]FOLLOW TRASH GOBLIN[/h3]
If you haven't, please do go and "Follow" Trash Goblin on Steam, it'll help us reach you with even more great goblin content and updates, especially once the game's out!

See that highlighted button? It sits right next to the Wishlist button - which you've already all clicked of course because you're the greatest goblins in the world - and this is what it looks like when you've been lovely and Follow-ed the game too 🥰

[h3]TOODLES FOR NOODLES...[/h3]

...that's daft-and-tired-writer-speak for "bye for now". Yup, that's it for this update, so until next time make sure your favourite goblins don't go near Diablo IV ⚔️

Welcome once more to the regular update! Last time we skipped it because, frnakly, yours truly was on holiday so... my apologies, but we're back on track now! Well, we're only a day late this time, so that's an improvement.

We're running headlong towards the Early Access launch date and so we've been a last round of planning around all the cool things we want to squeeze into Trash Goblin before it comes out. It's all very exciting and cool and we'll share an updated roadmap in the not too distant future 😇

What's that? You want to know the launch date? I'm afraid you'll have to hang in there a little longer before we announce!

[h2]TUTORIAL? PFF, YOU-TORIAL MORE LIKE[/h2]
Um... that sort of works as a header for this section? I wanted to show off something that landed in the game a mere day or two ago; our Game Guide menu!



Accessed via the in-game Menu, each tab will take you to a panel like the one shown here which contains not only the tutorial text for that gameplay element, but also a handy image to reinforce or remind the player what the context/use case for it is. The eagle-eyed among you will spot that one of the tabs is redacted... that would've revealed a brand new feature now wouldn't it?! We wouldn't want that, would we!

Oh wait, you would?

Apparently I'm feeling like a slightly meaner-than-normal tease today, I blame the scone I just ate. It was too big. Can you imagine? A scone that is too big.

Scone-scowling aside, it's very important to us that even at the Early Access launch, all you lovely players have all the info you need at your fingertips to ensure that you enjoy the game to its fullest.

[h2]WHAT ELSE?[/h2]
Of course we're all working very hard on a bunch of other stuff, so here's a little non-exhaustive list!

• When you sell a Trinket, you'll get a receipt that summarises the transaction - plus your upcycling efforts - as a sort of mini "mission complete" screen!

• We've added some lovely sound effects to the Time Of Day counter, so you get a gentle little audio nudge that you just used a slot up.

• The game's tutorial is undergoing a chunk of rework, and as part of that we've been playing around with some more "speech bubbles" along the way:

• We've been exploring more unique Trinkets, and the idea of Garden Gnomes really tickled us so we couldn't resist seeing what they might be like:

• We've really changed up the Customer Desk. No more Keep/Sell areas. In fact, to sell a Trinket you've got to place it on the attractive mat, while the big desk is just space for you to arrange things. Also when the sale is complete, the customer leaves their Gold Pouch there too, which makes it really hard to miss, plus there's no more fiddling around with it near the bottom of the screen. There's still more in progress on the whole "Sales Moment" as we like to call it, but this was always confusing to people, and already we feel this gameplay sequence is a lot simpler, clearer and smoother.

• We have a handy (and cute) icon for when you have a Customer waiting!

I reckon I'll stop there, but it's exciting to see all this coming together so well and I know the whole team are super excited to let you get your hands on it for some playtime!

We demo'd Trash Goblin in the Indie Showcase at Develop Conference last week, with hundreds of people coming by to play! the demo is the same one live on Steam right now, and the response was amazing. So many people had already backed us (um, hi!) or wishlisted us, and it was such a huge boost to our energy! Honestly I can't describe how much it means to feel peoples' excitement in real life, and seeing the love for Trash Goblin at the show really makes us confident of a great Early Access launch later in the year!


We tend to go overboard with booth decorations. It's been agreed we need like a million more candles next time!

I wanted to give a huge shout-out to Steve and Anthony who were manning the booth for 2 days straight, with almost no stopping in the queues and crowds, and they did a brilliant job of representing all the team's hard work.


Ant mid-flow as he helps someone a) make a sale and b) deal with the weird vertical mouse we had on the stand 😅

[h3]WORLD BUILDING[/h3]

As usual we like to bring a little behind-the-scenes magic to these updates, so here's something from literally a couple of hours ago!

We've been working with the amazing Pip on the narrative design, and part of that requires solidifying the rules and reality of the world we're trying to build, so the stories we tell there resonate and come across as authentic. So today we had some fun thinking about the geography of Silver City (also known as Harkfell...) and thought we'd share this very work in progress image!



I know a few of you have been hankering for more lore and story, so we'll leave this here with a big "subject to change" sign and see what ya'll think of it! For reference, the scale means Silver City is roughly the same size as Greater London. And the Chasm... well now that is a big hole.

Until next time, and as ever, stay goblin!

We've been hard at work getting this together for a special showcase in Brighton this week - as part of the conference, they run the Indie Showcase; it's a dedicated area within the Expo called the "Indie Showcase" and it features 10 independently developed games that have been shortlisted by a panel of industry experts.

One of these 10 games will be judged overall Indie Showcase Winner by the judging panel and there will also be the chance for all attendees to vote for their favourite game during the event in the People's Choice Award.

Obviously we really want to win one of those awards, so we put the effort into a new demo build... and then thought why not let all you Goblins around the world play it too? It's a more polished, improved and generally bug-fixed version than the last update. Wish us luck in the event!

[h3]WHAT'S NEW IN THE DEMO?[/h3]

• Redoir is now a returning customer, which is the first step on our way to building proper quest chains into the game!
  
  
• Added a whole bunch of new puzzles and trinkets so there's even more cool things to play around with now.
  
  
• We've tweaked the customer order a bit for a better flow, and so that Upcycling is unlocked earlier than previous builds.
  
  
• Added Camera and Puzzle Rotation speed settings for more accessibility goodness!
  
  
• Various audio tweaks and additions
  
  
• Several bugs fixed with regard to text and general functionality on the Option/Settings screen, with resolution and language drop-downs now actually displaying proper text by default
  

Enjoy, and please do tell us what you thought about it in the forums and on our discord - and wishlist the game if you like it, plus give us a follow if you haven't already!

Where's the summer gone though? Did one of you upcycle it into a sort of crappy Autumnal seasonal trinket?! Fess up! 😅

Oh well. What better to do on a dreary (in the UK at least) day than check out some fascinating behind-the-scenes work on your favourite Goblin game?!

[h3]BTS[/h3]
If you'd be so kind as to press play, you'll be treated to a little look behind the curtain as our Principal Coder takes you through a bunch of cool tools and debug functions they've built for making our dev lives easier, plus a first look at the systems that power the random delivery of Trinkets to your little goblin shop! All work in progress, all prone to change and tweaks.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Be nice about the image quality - this is cropped from our company show-n-tell so the quality is lower than the bottom of a Dwarf's beard.

[h3]DEMO NEWS[/h3]
We're taking Trash Goblin to the Develop Conference Indie Showcase next week! If you're there, pop by, say hi, and vote for us in the awards! If not, just keep your fingers crossed and send us good vibes!

The extra cool news is that because we want to make a good impression at the showcase, we've been fixing a few small bugs and adding a little bit of new content to the demo you're all familiar with! Redoir now has a multiple-step quest for you to complete, and we'll be releasing that demo early next week too, so you can all have a play and tell us your thoughts!

This is our first (and very basic, work in progress) attempt at what we hope will become a much bigger part of the game, where customers don't always just come looking for one thing and then that's it - what you sell them forms part of a small story or affects their life, or brings some humour and context to the next time they come to your little shop!

[h3]GOBLIN ADMIN[/h3]
Meanwhile, help us to help you!

• Join the discord to get more behind-the-scenes and give us your feedback
  
• Wishlist Trash Goblin here on Steam if you haven't already...
  
• ...and if you have done that, throw us a Follow instead. Or as well! As well is good too!
  

Until next time, stay goblin!