Golembert News

Hello world!

As the great state poet and federal weirdo Tyler Okonma once said:

[h2]’CAN WE GO BACK TO NOVEMBER???’[/h2]
Oh, of course we can, darling! So here’s a little recap for you about what we did this (last) month (November):

[h3]1. We added the Herbit Settlement! [/h3]
As you may recall from a video we made there is a small creature roaming your garden called Herbit. You can interact with, talk with, and even receive quests from it. At some point it may invite some of its cousins to your island – and they’ll start a small village!
These cousins can be employed (for some veggies) to sail over to the other islands of your archipelago to get new seeds and/or items for you. To improve the cousins abilities for expeditions you can expand their settlement by leveling up their chambers, lighthouse, storeroom, and harbour.
Though we still use placeholder assets for the settlement and the archipelago map the Herbit Settlement is fully functional and only needs some more hints, tooltips, and regular banter from the Herbit’s cousins to feel right :-)
Oh, but speaking of tooltips...

[h3]2. We added tooltips, adjustable difficulty & time scales, and other quality of life features! [/h3]
Sometimes I (Lion) get a bit lost in details but these things were (mostly) really on my to-do-list! I swear!!!
But either way you’ll now be able to adjust the game’s difficulty in the settings. Lower difficulties make quests easier to accomplish by demanding less items from you to complete them, higher difficulties will demand more items.
You can also adjust the game’s timescale if you prefer to have a more chill game. Currently the standard time scale is already pretty low with 12min/ingame day but you will be able to speed that down to 24min/day or up to 8min/day.
We also gave interactable objects an outline on mouse hover over, added the possibility to use world tooltips, and added regular (UI) tooltips for items (so far). As Blink182 would say: ‘All the small things!’
But speaking of small things: we also have one BIGGIE for you this month again:

[h3]3. We made a new devlog! [/h3]
And it’s finally one that was made by Alicia again!!! It’s about the design process of our upper garden/watch tower area. Therefore it contains the ideation and production of environment (the tower), vehicle (the Trade Co. ship that docks at the tower) AND character designs (Milly & Maynard are on the ship) – so it’s almost a whole ingame scene design recap! Be sure to check it out on YouTube as long as it is still hot!

[h2]But beside YouTubez we are also working on a game! [/h2]
Oh, you already knew that? But I bet you don’t know what we are currently working on, do you? Well, then I’ll tell you...

[h3]1. We are adding tooltips over tooltips! [/h3]
We already have some tooltips and hints in our game but currently we are trying to fill up their ranks. Meaning: we are adding descriptions for all placeable objects (pots, lamps, et c.), excavated items (plants you dug out with a shovel to place them somewhere else), as well as tooltips for all ingame interactables (compost, water well, sleep capsule, potion crafting desk). Additionally we want to make tooltips ‘expandable’ (via pressing SHIFT on hover over) to give additional info about specific items (e.g. the fill amount of a watering can, the approximate buy/sell value of an item, et c.) and add an overview of all absolved quests (currently there is only a UI window for your currently running quests). Exciting!

[h3]2. We are adding banter dialogue for the compost, potion crafting, and settlement UI panels! [/h3]
As you may know (again) we implemented the (more complex) compost, crafting, and Herbit settlement UI in the last couple of months. They all came with new ingame mechanics (leveling compost chambers to access better compost soil tiers, ‘exploring’ crafting recipe ingredients through trial and error, leveling the Herbit settlement for better Herbit expeditions) AND all had a associated character sitting at the bottom of the screen in case you need any help (kind of like Window’s Clippit/Clippy). These characters (the ‘compost version’ of the Herbit, ‘crafting’ Helio, ‘settlement’ Herbit) currently only have tutorial dialogues/specific info to tell (like what compost value a selected item has in case of the Compost Herbit). That means: they still need some additional/banter and/or a FAQ-like dialogue if you need any additional help after the tutorial dias.

We are also planning to setup a Discord server in the next couple of months. Maybe even this month??!? Who knows!!!
By the way: did you know that we have a Bluesky account too? Maybe you should check that out!

That's it so far! We do not really have as much time to do stuff this month because of Chrisme and stuff but so do you! So keep that in mind and don't be too harsh on yourself. After all: it is Chrimse!!!
[h2]Have a nice last month of the year![/h2]
This is an automatic e-mail. Please do not reply.

xoxo Gogobee

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Griasz eich Gott!

I am here to update you about medium level change & progress we made regarding our wonderful garage band game Golembert.

[h2]W-w-w-w-whAT’s going on: [/h2]

[h3]1. We removed all translations! [/h3]
After we added the machine translations of 7 languages we planned to release on Steam we got the feedback that machine translations are bad and that we should feel bad. We definetly felt that and decided to remove all languages that the game wasn’t originally written in officially (it was written in German and English only). Unofficially we will keep the options to: a) edit the game’s translations .csv file (via Excel or even Notepad), and b) still select the 7 excommunicated languages ingame. That way speakers of these languages can easily add their own translation to the game and trade them with other players unofficially. We will (sadly) henceforth ONLY support the English and German version of Golembert because we do not have the budget to hire professional translators for other languages.

[h3]2. We (finally) finished writing & implementing ALL QUEST DIALOGUES! [/h3]
Last month I wrote about all sidequest being added but now we also added the last couple of bottlepost quests (that you’ll receive via… bottlepost) and are now officially done with all the quest dialogues – hurray! Golembert will feature 76 quests (including 24 main quests). Depending on the way you calculate their playtime (we haven’t played through them all ourselves yet lol) they could lead to a minimum of 19h (15min/quest) of playtime!!! Unbelievable. Mom, get the camera!!!

[h3]3. We balanced our ingame economy! [/h3]
Now that all the quests were ready to test we had to start giving them all reasonable quest goals. And what’s reasonable in times like these? Well, good question. To find that out we made a big spreadsheet that listed all the items (and the time they consume to be made and their water and soil cost), potions (and the items they need), and quests (and the potions/items they need) and divided them by the maximum amount one could (approximately) do within an ingame day – and that is how we came up with an economy. That’s probably how they did it back in the GDR too I guess lol

[h2]But enough about the past!
What holds the future for us?? [/h2]

[h3]1. We are working on a new YouTube video! [/h3]
Oh, we still are? We still are! So bear with us!!! Seriously the whole MA of Alicia really took a toll on our YouTube game. But we will be back for you in the near future! Until then you can still indulge in our old, well ripened devlogs from the past. They still are – I might say – a blast.

[h3]2. We are adding Compost & Potion Crafting help! [/h3]
Guidance is really the most important thing in a game (write that down!!). Therefore we already added some casual ingame hints that guide you through the first steps of the game. But we don’t want the player to force read through a wall of text for some advanced concepts/mechanics – like our Compost or our Potion Crafting. That’s why we added/reused little helper NPCs for both mechanics/screens that will give you general or specific hints about compost input or crafting recipes. Sometimes they’ll even start a chat with you. Cozy!

[h3]3. We will add a Herbit Settlement! [/h3]
As you may recall from a video we made there is a small creature roaming your garden called Herbit. You can interact with, talk with, and even receive quests from it. At some point it may invite some of its cousins to your island – and they’ll start a small village! Through it you will be able to send out Herbit Expeditions to other islands of your archipelago to get seeds and items you need. You will therefore also be able to upgrade the village to attract more Herbits, increase Expedition speed, and reach islands that are further away from you. And to make it look cuter of course!

[h2]Don’t let the worst get your best![/h2]
We recently had some bad Social Media experiences (for example when asking around in Reddit about whether using machine translations as an indie dev is okay) with some downvotes and aggressive comments. Experiences like that make the already tough experience of being a 2-person studio not really easier. But sometimes you have to remind yourself that people that want to make you feel bad probably feel worse – so don’t think too much about it!

Love y'all, appreciate y'all,
xoxo Jolly Bert

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Hello Julias!

This update comes a bit late but who isn’t late sOmEtImEs???

[h2]The following is the current talk of the ton: [/h2]

[h3]1. We translated the game in all languages we have on Steam! [/h3]
We started the translation process last month after preparing for it for a while and BOOM: we translated our game into 7 languages! The game will be available in English, German, Simplified English, French, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese on launch! These translations aren't professional translations (because we did them ourselves). Our game was written in German and English and is intended to be played in these languages - but if you are not fluent in one of these two you are more than welcome to play the game in any of the other language available! :-)

[h3]2. We implemented all sidequests! [/h3]
After finishing our 23 main quests (which all had to add to a coherent storyline) we had a bit fun and added 32 sidequests to the game! These are not important for the main quests and are/can be sprinkled in between the main quests or can be absolved after you finished all the main quests. Not sure if that really works out but our calculations are that IF every quest takes about 15 minutes to absolve (plant crops, grow them, harvest them, process them, return their products) this will lead to an astonishing 13h+ of playtime for a complete playthrough!!!! (errors and omissions excepted)

[h3]3. Alicia finished her master’s thesis! [/h3]
Wow, you didn’t know that Alicia was doing her master’s WHILE working on Golembert? I didn’t know either! (I did) But just this month she finished her impressive 93 PAGES long thesis! So let’s celebrate with her!!!!!!

[h2]Congratulations, Alicia! [/h2]
[h3]We love you, we appreciate you. But what are you/we doing now?[/h3]

[h3]1. We are working on a new YouTube video! [/h3]
This one is going to be a design process video again made by the one and only Alicia Keys. It will focus on the environmental design of the upper garden, its inhabitants, and its vehicles (it includes the Trade Co.'s ship design) – exciting, right?? Follow us on YouTube and ring the bell if you don’t want to miss any of our future videos!

[h3]2. We are adding random quests and fun little easter egg dialogues! [/h3]
You know me (Lion): I hated writing dialogue at the start of Golembert but after we reworked the storyline, the characters and everything in our game for multiple times because we were just girl so confusings I started liking writing dialogues. That’s why writing our sidequests (though they are not as godly written as the main quests) motivated me to add even MORE random quests and dialogues! HURRAY!! So if you’re not ready for a story (or two) you are not ready for this game, boy.

[h3]3. We are making all ingame item icons final! [/h3]
The endless circle of ‘finishing stuff up’ is continuing! This time we are finishing up the item icons (of which mostly the potion icons are still missing). There is still a lot of stuff like this to do so you will probably hear things like: ‘We reworked our UI!’, ‘We added all character portraits!’, or ‘We added garden furniture!’ in the future.

[h2]But let’s keep the future being![/h2]
Life is too short to worry about everything, life is too long to cry over a couple years. Stay slay!

xoxo Gogemgert

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Hello friend!

A month has passed yet again – that is why I, me, is here to report the outputs of our enterprise to you.

[h2]The outfits of The Enterprise: [/h2]

[h3]1. We implemented the new potion and Herbit map! [/h3]
You may remember me mumbling about making the final design calls for the potion and Herbit map last month – now we implemented that calls! Meaning: you can now click through the potion map and craft all potions needed to complete the main quest (by inputing 1 mint leaf) & send out Herbits to all islands in your proximity (which will return 1 mint leaf too). The recipes/Herbit missions (therefore) only need their final input items!
What? You do not know what a Herbit is?? Well, than check out this video about them we made!

[h3]2. We tested out composting, POs and fields! [/h3]
If you aren’t a dev you may not know the struggle of waking up, starting your game engine, pressing play and getting error messages for things you worked on months ago (that back then worked fine). Because that happens sometimes (at least to us) we did our routinely acid test for some mechanics in our game and everything turned out to be fine. But I am sure that a new error message will occur in the near future!

[h3]3. We uploaded a new devlog! [/h3]
What? You didn’t know we’re uploading devlogs?? Well, check out our latest diary edition about 5 days of our development process! It is salted with sprinkles of real life footage, royalty free music, and a tiny spoonful of stupid faces.

[h2]Red! The outfits are red! [/h2]
[h3]Now that we clarified that: what are we currently working on?[/h3]

[h3]1. We are working on a Clean English dialogue version! [/h3]
You may recall that we gave most of our NPCs dialects/accents! Though that gives our NPCs more character, their dialogues are very hard to translate properly. Therefore we will add a clean version (that one can also select as spoken language if the accents are just too much for them) that is easy to translate.

[h3]2. We are still adding potions! [/h3]
Though our potion ideation process is done we haven’t had the chance to implement all of them! So that is a thing we are doing.

[h3]3. Side Quest ideation! [/h3]
We have all our main quests written, implemented, and playable at the moment. But we still need some side quests served with rice or fries. Each Main NPC (3-4 at the moment) will get 4-6 side quest that reference their main quest struggles but aren't relevant to the main story. Additionally to that every NPC will also get a couple of random quests in the future that will only appear after you completed the main story and its side quests. But that's future music (as we say in Germany)!

[h2]And well - that’s it for now![/h2]
[h3]If you want to know more about our game be sure to check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter/X![/h3]

Hope you’re doing great and you’re enjoying your summer! We’ll hear from each other in a brrrrrrr.


xoxo Golemball

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Saluton miaj amikoj!

... means “Hello my friends!” in Esperanto, the official language of the European Union. This weekend we EUpeans (as we call ourselves) get to vote our parliament. Exciting! But before one can make a conscious vote they must know what each party stands for.

[h2]Therefore we want to officially announce the dees and doos we did within the last month:[/h2]

[h3]1. We made all our main quests playable![/h3]
What a big achievement! All 14 main quests are now fully playable. And while that sounds like we are ready to launch our game it just means that all quests fire at the right time and work properly :-) (which is still great!) Yet the quest goals need to be balanced (we will probably add different ‘difficulty’ options in the menu that enable you to make them require more or less ressources) and all side and random quests still need to be written and implemented.

[h3]2. We came up with all the items, the map of your archipelago and the final potion map![/h3]
We had a loose plan for all of these departments before but now that we planned them out on a whiteboard there is really nothing except for maybe a sponge that could stop us from implementing them! For the potion map we added 79 new items containing 27 potions. The archipelago map will contain 21+ islands. You can send your garden sprites (temporary called Herbits) to them to get seeds or items.

[h3]3. We designed Phospher and Sulfer and added their first portraits![/h3]
Phospher and Sulfer are two (out of seven) NPCs we didn’t announce yet (so feel spoilered!). They communicate with you via letter but you will still see their cute but cheeky portraits when doing so. Can’t wait to show them to you in the future! :-) If you want to check out our character design process you can watch this video about the design of Susu, the pirate captain!

[h2]Puhh! That was a lot of text! Wow, what?? It keeps going??? What are you doing?!?![/h2]
[h3]Literally: what are we doing right now?[/h3]

[h3]1. Designing secret character number 3![/h3]
It is a magician that doesn’t enjoy life anymore. Why, you might ask? Will their name be announced in the next monthly Steam udpate? And what does the number 3 have to do with this?? We will never know. But seriously: this character will brrrrrrrr.

[h3]2. Making composting, placeable objects and fields work![/h3]
Composting, POs and fields sound boring as hell BUT they are really important for our game! The compost produces soil that is as essential as water for your crops. It has a multi-chambered system that can be unlocked over time. POs are essentially anything you place in your garden that is not a crop – so every pot, lamp or decorative item! And fields are POs that can contain one or multiple crops – like raised beds for example. They all work in mysterious ways and therefore they have to work – work – work it out. We′ll make things right, the sun will shine – If we work, work, there'll be no doubt – We can still save the summer – If we work this out.

[h3]3. Planning out a new devlog...[/h3]
What? You didn’t know that we are uploading monthly devlogs on YouTube?? Wow. What are you doing with your life?!? If you want to fill that endless knowledge gap in your resume: check out our YouTube channel aaaand STAY TUNED – because we’ll probably upload another video next week! Or the week after next week!

[h2]Now you’ve reached the end of this blog post – congratulations![/h2]
Your retina is probably already dry and needs a blink. So do it! Blink! And don’t forget to vote this Sunday if you’re living in the EU!!!

xoxo Golemgirl

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