Devlog #10: It Takes a Village

Hey Farmers!

Been a while, huh? I swear, it feels like it's been 8 months since the last devlog! ...hah...

But in all seriousness, thank you all so much for the patience while I took a hiatus from development to focus on other projects, art, moving, etc. It's been such a hectic year, but I genuinely don't think I could've ever hoped to get through it without you guys being so awesome and supportive every step of the way.

I know these 'thank you' messages probably feel a bit tired at this point, but I genuinely can't thank you guys enough for making any of this possible in the first place. You guys are amazing.

OKAY! Enough of the sappy stuff! Let's finally take a little sneakpeek at the game you've all been wanting to see more of! (Or so I've heard.)

Obviously, development after the hiatus has only just really started, so there's still a way to go. However, I've been making some quick progress now that the game is back to being top priority!

For the theme of the next build, rather than adding a ton of new systems, I'd like to flesh out the ones that are already there, and make the village feel more alive. Though, don't worry, there's at least one BIG new feature (or should I say, tiny...) that many of you might like.

Let's get started with the village itself.

THE HAMLET OF GORGE VALLEY

Up until now, the story has revolved around a small village in the middle of Gorge Valley that Sky stumbles into. However, there's just one problem with that.

There's... uh... no village.

I mean, sure, there's the old farmer's house, and a barn... but that doesn't really make a village, does it?

The village has been implied, but never actually shown, due to the game being in such early development. However, with this build, I'd like to start changing that.

Every villager will eventually have their own unique house in the village. You'll be able to find them going about their days in their homes and wandering the village until you put them in the barn.

Mocha will live in her own room at Holly's Tavern (Who?? More on her later...), June will live in the Druid's Tree, and Candace will live in the town bakery.

My main goal for these buildings is to make them feel lived in, cozy, and interactable. I want there to be reasons to actually visit each house with unique stuff to do in them.

The best example of this is the Tavern, which will have a fully-playable piano, and the new Fairy Poker minigame!

https://vimeo.com/1081148442

HOLLY THE INNKEEPER!

Obviously, next build will have a new villager, Holly!

I've shown her off a bit already, but for anyone who didn't see the post a long time ago, here she is!

She's the village's innkeeper and tavernmaid. A bit of a diva in her youth, Holly has settled into a much calmer life here in the village in her older age. She's become something of a mentor figure to Mocha in an attempt to keep her out of trouble, but, obviously, that hasn't gone exceptionally well.

The lack of men within the village has made her dating life take a bit of a slow turn, but luckily she's in no short supply of pretty faces in the hamlet to flirt with. In fact, if you show her a bit of attention yourself, she might just warm up to you enough to be tricked into taking that potion...

RELATIONSHIPS!

Been wondering what these are for?

Well, wonder no longer! These are going to be status bars for the new "Relationship" system! In the next build, I'll be taking away a bit of the randomness from the "Mood" system and instead opting for a way to build your relationships with them in order to get more interactions and dialogue with each villager.

When you first meet them, every villager will obviously be a bit cold and distant. You won't be able to talk many of them into drinking the Potion of Bovinity until you've gotten at least 1 bar with them. At that point, they'll be friendlier and easier to persuade. You'll be able to build relationship with them through simple tasks. Chatting, offering gifts, doing favours, etc.

As you build relationship, they'll address you differently and open up to you more, allowing more romantic options and various hidden quests.

It's a MAJOR system that'll take a while to implement in its entirety, but I'd like to have the basic infrastructure ready by this build, as well as the unique dialogue for each of the girls!

FAIRY POKER MINIGAME!

That's right! Time to finally cover the big new minigame for this build. Fairy Poker!

Technically, it's closer to Blackjack, but... shut up.

In the tavern, there will be a card table with a random fairy jar on it. These mischievous little creatures would LOVE to wager for some gold... especially if waistlines are at stake.

Fairies are mischievous in nature! Not only will you have to cough up gold if you lose... but you'll be fed pounds of food equivalent to each round's score! Better make sure you get some good hands, or you might break the seat before you can cash out!

But, the rules go both ways! If YOU win, you'll make some gold, and THEY'LL have to be the one to eat up! That much food into a poor, tiny fairy?

Well... as you might imagine, they won't fit in that jar for long....

Well... I think that about covers everything so far!

Obviously, more sneakpeeks like this will come along as the build comes together, as there's still other planned features that didn't make the list!

If you want more constant sneakpeeks, conversation, and updates about Gorge Valley, come join the Discord server! We talk about the progress on updates all the time over there, so you'll always be in the loop!

Thank you all again for the patience and the excitement! Here's to hoping this update can be a great one to make up for the long wait!

Until then, take care, Farmers! 🫶