Hi everyone!
Lately it’s been very busy in the studio, with lots of big milestones finally coming to a close. Last week we submitted our final big batch of in-game text to the translation teams, while this week the design team is midway through a final internal end-game balancing playtest. Console porting is also ongoing, and there’s of course been plenty of QA testing, polishing, and bug-hunting.
Following on from our last update, we’re also able to confirm some more languages: Korean and Russian! The localisation teams on both sides have been busy working on the project for a while now, so we’re excited to bring Witchbrook to even more regions across the world. (Thank you especially to PoPo for your ongoing support! 🙏)
Today, however, we wanted to focus on a location central to your life in Mossport - your witch cottage and garden. Passed down to you by your late Aunt, this cottage may seem quite large for student lodgings, but you’ll soon be redecorating and filling it with all sorts of knick-knacks once you’ve earned some spare change. (Missed the last dev blog about how your Witchbrook College studies and fledgling witch business work together? You can read it right here.)
Furniture & Decoration
So you’ve moved into a two-storey cottage space, in need of a bit of TLC, now what? Thankfully, Mossport has its own furniture store, Harbour Home, over in the Docklands area, run by the dad-and-daughter duo Justin and Violet. Head over to their store to browse a rotating selection of furniture sets, each with multiple colourways.
There’s even flooring, wallpapers, dividers, floor and desk lighting, rugs and pillars to lay out and fill your space just how you’d like it. If nothing takes your fancy, check back the next day to see what’s new in stock.
You’ll also be able to obtain ‘clutter’ items, special furniture, and other trinkets at other shops, Sunday Market stands, during seasonal events (like the image below), and as certain NPC quest and consultation rewards.
Now you’re ready to get furnishing. Thankfully, a witch doesn’t need to do too much heavy lifting, just a simple flick of the wand using the Telekinesis spell to move any object to its perfect spot.
A witch’s cottage really comes alive once it's filled with all sorts of books and clutter. To give order to the chaos, you can place items using a grid system which allows certain objects to be stacked on top of each other, so you can fill your shelves and surfaces as you see fit.
Walls also have a placement system, giving you the option to decorate with posters, crafted seasonal wreaths, and more. You can apply wallpaper to specific walls, or change up your flooring per room to give each space a different feel. It’s also fun to mix and match furniture from various sets in different colourways to make your cottage even more unique to you.
No one likes big light, so sprinkle your room with some well-positioned floor and desk lamps to make your cottage feel even cosier. Lighting can also be toggled on and off per lamp to change the ambience of each room.
Your Cottage Garden
A witch’s garden is perhaps even more important than their home. Early on in your new day-to-day life in Mossport, you’ll discover that filling up garden planters with various seasonal herbs can help save time foraging, and give you quicker access to ingredients for all sorts of potions, teas, salves, candles, and other magical craftables.
While your garden does have a practical part to play, we also wanted it to act as an extension of your witch’s personality, making it just as customisable as the cottage itself. You’ll be able to lay out garden paths and fences, which are all tileable, making them connect seamlessly as you place them.
Wild Flower also stocks all sorts of garden decorations, alongside the usual planters and seeds. Whether you want to make a cosy homestead filled with herbs and flowers, or a gothic cemetery, there’s plenty of options to get creative!
If you’d rather keep things wild, why not plant a meadow of wildflowers? When you first move into your new cottage, you’ll find the garden littered with weeds. If you allow your garden to grow naturally (with a little watering and encouragement) wildflowers will gradually start to sprout, and will slowly expand across your garden. A garden filled with flowers can be a great boon for beekeepers, keeping your hives happy and the resulting honey you produce even sweeter.
Animals you encounter in the wild may also pay your garden a visit and leave you a small gift to show their friendship. Later on during your time in Mossport your garden may also become home to a more magical kind of critter, but we’ll leave details on that a surprise for now…
Outbuildings
Throughout your playthrough you’ll be able to unlock additional outbuildings for use on your player land. For example, greenhouses allow you to grow herbs out of season, ensuring you have a stock of ingredients for magic craftables all year round. You could also use it to house your favourite potted plants, or design a little outdoor study nook.
There are also a few other placeable huts which will give you easier access to tools usually found only within the College grounds.
Furnishing with Friends
Playing multiplayer and want to tweak your cottage interior while they’re visiting? No problem, you and your friends can move around furniture and change up your layouts without disrupting online play.
But what if you have different interior design tastes? Let us introduce you to the multiplayer cottages:
Online multiplayer will expand your cottage lands to reveal new cottages, each with their own rustic charm, and unlocked based on the number of players in-game. One is styled with a charming watermill, another has a beautiful sunroom overlooking the brook, and the other is built into the side of a cliff edge. These buildings are slightly smaller than the host player cottage, but allow each player to have their own space and garden area to decorate as they wish.
That’s all for this one. We can’t wait to see what designs you all come up with!
