Have you ever wanted to run your very own thrift store? Give nostalgic gems a second chance, meet your customers and decorate your shop exactly to your taste? Well, now might be your chance, because
💫 THE THRIFTY BUSINESS DEMO IS OUT NOW! 💫
So let’s chat about what to expect in this demo, what we’ve added since we last posted an update and what’s yet to come!
About the Demo
🛍️ What can I do in the demo?
You’ll be able to play through the first few days of Thrifty Business. Learn the game’s mechanics, start unpacking some boxes full of nostalgic items and open up your thrift shop! Meet your customers and listen to their stories and requests and even host your first event in the store! And you can always rearrange your shop exactly the way you want!
⏰ How long is the demo?
The demo includes the first customer story and event to unlock, which comes to around 30-45 minutes of playtime. You’ll still be able to continue playing and decorating your shop even after completing the first stories though, so really it’s up to you! 😊
🪲 What if I find bugs?
Thrifty Business is still in development, so you very well may encounter bugs, typos or other inconsistencies! If you notice any, it would be incredibly helpful if you could report these bugs on our Discord server! You’ll find a designated bug reports channel in the Thrifty Business category with some helpful explanations of how best to report them!
⭐ Can I give feedback somewhere/share my ideas for the game?
We appreciate any and all feedback to improve our game, so we’ve actually set up a little demo feedback form that you can find linked in the main menu in the demo. It will also open automatically once you exit out of the demo for the first time!
And we’ve also set up a feedback channel in our Discord for any further ideas, suggestions or general feedback (or just some kind words, we love those too! 🤗)!
Thank you for all your help and feedback, it really helps in improving our games!
What’s new?
In December, we shared our video dev log with you, in which we went over the first few months of our development process and how we’ve made some of the early game decisions. So what’s changed since then, what is new in the demo?
📋 Pinboard & Events
When talking to customers they’ll sometimes mention a specific interest or their desire to meet like-minded people! Well, now you will actually be able to host events in your store to connect the community!
Customers will show up on the day and hang out in your store as well as the event space and you’ll unlock some exclusive event dialogue the first time you host an event. Throughout the day demand for certain item categories will be increased and boxes containing those items will be a bit cheaper! So make sure you’ve got your store all prepped and ready!
And so in the past weeks, we’ve been working a ton on the pinboard with which you can schedule these events in your calendar. And you’ll also be able to see some more information about your customers and current open item requests!
💫 Stamp Cards
Some of you might know we’re big fans of stickers (😏), so of course we found a way to sort of include them in this game as well - in the form of Stamp Cards!
Every day as you open your shop, you’ll now be able to earn community points for how well your shop is organized as well as how clean it is! And those community points you’ll then be able to use to complete Stamp Cards that unlock new furniture, decorations, wallpaper and flooring in your shop!
🕰️ Items, items, items!
And of course alongside new features, many small tweaks and further work on the customer stories, we added lots and lots of new items! More than 200 of which you can already discover in the demo!
We’re always looking for more ideas btw, so don’t hesitate to request some thrift shop finds you loved, toys you remember from your childhood or other things you think we should definitely have!
🔜 What’s next?
And now let’s also take a look into the future at all the things we still have planned for Thrifty Business, let’s just give you a little teaser list:
More Stories & Events
Photo Mode
Interactive Items
Character Customization
Twitch Integration
Localization
Controller Support
And now before we let you go into the world of running your own virtual small business, we also wanted to share our demo trailer with you:
We sincerely hope you’ll enjoy this little slice of our newest game and cannot wait to hear from you! Thank you so much for all your support!
Spellgarden Games 🔮
(Kathrin, Zoë, Kasimir, Sophie & Malin)