Hello gardeners,
2021 was a pivotal year for The Garden Path, and surely one to remember. From officially announcing the game, to launching a Kickstarter; growing a team, to releasing new builds – it’s been as daunting as it has been exciting.
While it hasn’t yet been a full year since the game was officially announced, it is only fitting that we celebrate how far we came in 2021 as we see in the new year.
A retrospective
Perhaps the best marker for how far the game has come over the last 12 months is going back to watch the game’s ‘Flash Talk’ for the 2021 digital Godotcon, which aired close to a year ago today. The game really was hanging on by a thread at the time, and to see how much has changed visually and mechanically is hopefully a good sign for what we can achieve in 2022.
Following that, spring was a busy and exciting time for The Garden Path (which might be fitting for a game about gardening).
On May 26th the game held its official press announcement and was met with an incredibly humbling response. I couldn’t have asked for a warmer reaction.
Nearing the end of Spring, The Garden Path was lucky enough to be featured in the Wholesome Direct Showcase as part of E3 2021. It was surreal seeing the game being played alongside a whole host of great games.
After some long talks and some trepidation, we launched our Kickstarter in the summer. It was a challenge that, when beginning work on the game, I never imagined I would undertake. It was good fun designing and drafting the rewards for each tier, which I hope helped capture some imaginations along the way.
The game’s time on Kickstarter came to a close at 152% funding with an amazing £30,474 pledged – a feat that could only have been achieved thanks to the trust and support of the game’s backers and followers who did so much in lifting the game to the finish line and beyond.
Thanks to everyone who supported the game, that extra 52% helped us to hit both of our stretch goals and is now helping us to bring The Garden Path to Nintendo Switch and multiplayer.
The demo from the Kickstarter, and later for the Steam Next Fest in October, proved to be invaluable as sources of feedback for the game, and where things could improve moving forward.
Following that feedback, many things were reworked, rewired, rewritten, to make the game better to play as well as more accessible. In early December, Kickstarter backers got access to the beta version.
We’ve still got a little way to go from here, but let’s take a look at the work that’s already been going on over and under the hood since the beta’s release.
Game Updates
Thanks to the help of willing backers, there's been a real effort already in testing the game, finding bugs, and fixing them on the community discord. If you were a backer that opted for the itch.io version and would like to join in, hop on over to our Discord.
Many dozens of bugs, from quirks to crashes, have already been fixed since then, but I've also been focusing on providing new features and tweaks to hopefully make the game better to play.
A big request from the start of the game's inception has been the availability of multiple saves, and we now have a rudimentary system in place to support them. You can hop between your different gardens from the main menu, and starting a new game will no longer overwrite your old work. Soon the system will receive more polish, allowing you to delete old Gardens you no longer want.
A big quality-of-life improvement was added in the form of 'Nearby Indicators', which now appear when an NPC is off-screen but close by. This makes finding that NPC you're looking for even easier, without the need to pause and search the map.
The function of the player's map has also been given a redesign, now allowing you to sweep the map with a reticle rather than by the acre. Today I implemented pins which you can place across the map to aid you as a reminder. Soon the pins will be integrated into the Nearby Indicator system, making it even easier to find your way around the Garden.
In-the-works and soon-to-be-available is a big overhaul of the game's mapping-navigation system which will allow for better character movement and placement. Some NPCs that are currently on the bench rely on this new system so will be soon to make an appearance. It should also speed up the game's loading time by some margin.
Development is back in full swing in 2022, and I’ll be sharing as much progress as I can along the way.
And there we go. Thank you so much to everyone who has followed and supported The Garden Path this year, I owe it to all of you for sharing this turbulent and exciting year with me.
Until next time…
Louis, carrotcake
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