We're in Alpha!
That's right! We have officially moved into Alpha with Skystead Ranch. That means a select few people can play Skystread Ranch right now! If you are one of those with access, thank you so much for your feedback so far, it has been invaluable.
For everyone else, Beta is just around the corner so more and more of you will be able to get early hands-on play testing experience of Skystead, and we can't wait for you to see what we have done.
Cooking and Fishing!
We have officially committed to adding Cooking and Fishing as mechanics to the game! A huge shout out to our volunteer, Cameron, who prototyped the mechanics to demonstrate the work needed to add them to Skystead Ranch.
Our artist Laura has already begun making various models to process the ingredients for cooking!
(Note: These are still a work-in-progress and missing textures)
What purpose will fishing and cooking serve?
To ensure that the added mechanics fit the game and aren't just added on for extra content, we are integrating both the fishing and cooking into the Skylets behaviour, likes and dislikes - because, after all, your Skystead Ranch is all about your Skylets!
By adding the ability to crush, mix, chop and cook food, we are unlocking the potential for a much wider variety of food options for your Skylets, allowing you to spend more time with your favourite Skylets to discover what each wants the most and allowing each to have the best Skylet diet possible!
Fishing is still a WiP too, so more info on that soon! 🎣
Gameplay Changes
Using your valuable feedback from the Steam Farming Fest, we have made a multitude of changes to Skystead Ranch - so thank you to everyone who filled out the feedback form or chatted with us in Discord!
Sandbox Mode
Added as a way to showcase the game during the farming fest, we asked if you would like to see a Sandbox mode in the full game, and you overwhelmingly said "Yes!" so we've kept it and made it neater on the Main Menu.
What is Sandbox mode?
Essentially a way to play Skystead Ranch without worrying about unlocking anything or having a need for resources! Enjoy the Ranch life with unlimited resources and access to everything from the get-go to build and terraform any scene you like without having to maintain a farm or manage your Skylets.
Longer Day and Night
A small change, but important based on your feedback, is the day and night cycle has been made longer!
This allows you to get more progress made per day and enjoy the nighttime Skylets for longer at a time. This will be more important when we add more and more night-time-based Skylets!
There is still work to do on this as we need to re-calculate the growth times of all crops and trees to align better with the new day lengths.
Tutorial
We already knew we needed a tutorial in Skystead Ranch, but thanks to your comments, we have pushed this up the timeline drastically! Originally planned to be developed in September, we have already begun work on the Tutorial now!
Currently, the tutorial takes you through the basic controls and how to use the Crook, but we are still working on the next stages, such as resource management and meeting the Skylets.
Voice-over work for the Tutorial will be added again at a later date.
Thank you!
Thank you to everyone for your continued support and interest in our Skystead Ranch development! Make sure you wishlist the game if you haven't already, and keep an eye out for more news soon!