Hello gardeners,
I hope you’re all well and have been enjoying the glimpses of sunshine that have been passing through, at least here in the UK. Work has been going well on The Garden Path, with translations well underway along with the usual upkeep. Let’s pay a wave to May then by taking a closer look at what I’ve been working on recently.
Multiplayer Trailer
A garden needs a gardener…why not two? Last week we shared a new trailer for The Garden Path, showcasing the game’s local multiplayer mode with some brand-new footage. This feature was previously announced during our Kickstarter campaign and will let you experience all the little pleasures of the garden with a friend, whether on PC (including Remote Play Together via Steam) or Nintendo Switch.
With this trailer comes a new release window, as The Garden Path will now be blooming in Summer 2023 (More info on that below)! Take a look at the trailer below to see what the garden will look like with a companion…
Game Updates
It's never fun moving a missed target, but, as with any project, there are often surprises and curveballs along the way. Sometimes a fix or a new feature surprises you with how quickly it can be implemented, and sometimes it takes a day or a week longer than hoped (and, as all we know, it's often the latter).
Since our first demo in 2021, almost every aspect of the game has been reshaped in some way to make the game feel better to play. I'm proud of all these changes, and I think they've helped shape the game into more of-its-own. Early on in development, I took a lot of design decisions for granted because they were staples from other games - equipment menus, player stats, and so on. All the feedback has helped me step back and rethink these elements to better fit the kind of game The Garden Path is and should be.
I'm planning on putting together a retrospective of these changes together soon, but I hope you've enjoyed my updates each month covering that progress bit by bit. Sometimes it’s hard to gauge how far things have come without going back to the start. But, without any more ado (!), here's what's new in the game this May.
Stars in The Garden Path are a way to track your progress and time in the Garden. They've been, for the most part, untouched since the game's first demo, but will be a focus of development as we lead up to release.
Animations and control for star navigation have been polished and made more responsive. The star UI now also supports different 'views', the default view shows the stars in the night sky, but stars are now able to be rearranged in a grid sorted by subject, to make them easier to find and move between.
A third view, allowing you to easily move between the different constellations, will be implemented in the near future, alongside many new stars that have been in the pipeline.
Lastly, a new animation adds a bit of game-feel when spending a star map to observe a star. A handy icon in the bottom left keeps track of how many star maps you have in your inventory while viewing the stars.
The encyclopedia now features a new 'Garden' page. While other tabs keep track of the folk you meet and items you collect, this Garden page is designed to be more changing.
When focusing on flora in the Garden, you'll have the option to 'Record' the flora, as well as harvest. The more of a certain family you record, the more information about that family of plants you'll have available to you, such as how many are in the Garden, what you can obtain from them, and the seasonality of the plant.
Eventually, with enough plants recorded, you will be able to track that family of plants, making it easier to find the plants you've spent the time studying.
Work on localisation is starting to fall into place, with the game readied up to support Spanish, French, and Japanese. There's still work to be done, especially where content in the game is generated, but I hope you'll enjoy these sneak peeks. I really think each language shows the game in a new light!
Any thoughts?
Since we are inching closer to the release of The Garden Path, we’re going to be asking for general calls for feedback from those who have early access. Is there a mechanic in the game you felt needed a tutorial that didn't appear? Is there anything you found yourself having trouble understanding? Are there any elements you wish were present?
Jump into the Discord here and let us know. All your thoughts and feelings about the game are more than appreciated.
Until next time…
Louis, carrotcake
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