Wall decor was disappearing when loading a savefile! This will now work going forward- it may or may not reload wall decor that was saved prior to this patch, but will will properly save and load going forward! https://trello.com/c/lHM7m7jH/75-wall-decorations-disappear-after-reloading-the-save

[ 2024-11-19 11:07:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello gourd gang, Im super excited to share what Ive been working on for this next content update! The gourdlets may not have long arms (or any) but that shouldnt stop them from hanging up sweet wall decor! Whats new: Windows are back! Let the sun shine in on your cozy lil buildings Mirrors for your veggie friends so they can check themselves out Posters and paintings so the gourds can appreciate the fine arts at home Major fix to a big save-file related bug
If youve not yet added Gourdlets to your library, now would be a great time as its on sale for the first time since launch, as part of Cozy Quest this week Be sure to check out the other lovely titles featured in the event! As always, thank you for the support! We recently hit over 1000 reviews on Steam (amazing!!!) but if you havent left a review, that would mean a lot to me. I appreciate all the feedback and suggestions
Myself and the snuggly bunnies hope you enjoy the update and have an extra cozy week! - Preethi Vaidyanathan

[ 2024-11-14 18:01:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! What a crazy few weeks since launch! Ive been very focused on squashing bugs and doing small updates to improve the experience - thank you to everyone for all your feedback and suggestions! They have been super helpful Now onto this new update! Well, it is the season of gourds after all
With this new update, you can embrace the fall season with new items and accessories for your gourds! These items are a permanent addition so you can celebrate the spooky season all year round if you wish [strike]Pumpkin[/strike] Patch Notes (Spoilers incoming!!!) Whats new:

• 1 new building
• 5 new costumes (horns, halo, pumpkin, cheese head, ghost)
• 5 new indoor items (bed, dresser, fireplace, table, cauldron)
• 3 new outdoor items (scarecrow, jack-o-lantern, pumpkin)
• 3 new indoor floors
• Twitch integration: when you reload a savefile in twitch, chat members' gourdlets persist (bug tracker link)
• Fixes a bug where if you place a building, move it, then place another building on that spot, the new building gets the old interior. (bug tracker link - note this link contains a bunch of bug, only some of which are fixed by this change)

Thank you all for your support! As always you can join our Discord server here to share your autmnal islands with me Hope you love the update and enjoy halloween as much as Cinny and Poppy do :)
- Preethi Vaidyanathan

[ 2024-10-22 17:03:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

I tackled quite a few bugs in this one!

bugs

- Fix the line edit popup on steamdeck bug tracker link - Putting certain letters in your twitch username no longer makes the menu cycle bug tracker link - add a pause before saving is done bug tracker link (I'm uncertain whether this is the actual fix, so I'll keep an eye on this one- at worst my solution shouldn't affect gameplay)

art / visual

- update large dollhouse artwork (to fix a visual issue with rotation) bug tracker link - fix some house rotation directions bug tracker link - fix typewriter animations bug tracker link and bug tracker link - Increase some font sizes (for easier visibility on steam deck)

localization

- fix some german localizations bug tracker link - fix one chinese localization bug tracker link

[ 2024-09-17 21:02:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

This should fix the issue that a small percent of users were experiencing, where the initial loading screen would fill up partway and then the game would crash. It seemed to mostly impact users with AMD graphics, and or people with older model macbooks. The cause of the issue was that the asset textures took up too much memory, which caused the VRAM to spike past the capacity of certain computers. This patch reduces the size of the asset textures, and has a couple other small optimizations to slightly reduce lag. The changes should not noticeably impact gameplay for anyone who was previously able to play the game without any problems.

[ 2024-09-06 21:27:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

tl;dr: Added small changes to make it more clear when a controller was detected. Some people are inadvertently playing in controller mode with their mouse an keyboard (which is a pretty terrible ui experience) because it isn't clear in the game when a controller is autodetected. This patch adds a small label to the town creator screen saying whether the game is in mouse or controller mode, and a button that jumps straight to the settings page to change modes. Also stopped setting the mouse cursor to invisible whenever a controller is detected- its just too annoying when the player doesnt realize they have a controller plugged in and want to use their mouse! Note that I am still spending 90% of my time working on the issue where the game crashes on startup for some players. I just saw a lot of reports regarding this issue and decided to implement this change because it was a quick fix! Link to issue in the gourdlets
public bug tracker: https://trello.com/c/5SL9CuoX/37-%E2%9C%85-solved-100f-add-an-indication-that-the-game-is-in-controller-vs-mouse-mode

[ 2024-08-27 06:21:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Optimizations on the load screen- there are a small minority of players whos games crash on the splash screen or the load screen (once you start a new game), this should help that, though some of those players may still experience crashing.

[ 2024-08-21 13:51:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello there, Did you hear? Gourdlets is out now!!! It has been an absolute pleasure creating this game with help from your feedback and I really hope you enjoy this silly little world of ours https://youtu.be/gyiVTDMpiGk A big thank you to the Wholesome team for including Gourdlets in their Wholesome Steam Celebration, be sure to check out all the other cool titles featured in this fest! As always you can join our Discord server here to share your thoughts with me! You can help inspire future updates and share your creations with me as I love to see them! Anyway, I wont keep you any longer. Have fun, get gourdy and stay cozy - Preethi Vaidyanathan Oh and one more thing...
Happy 0th birthday to Gourdlets !!!

[ 2024-08-15 16:17:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey folks! I am super excited to be writing to you all today, as I have BIG NEWS Gourdlets can be yours on August 15th!! It's so cool to be able to finally say that! Over the last couple months Ive made some really exciting additions to the game, like a new town ledger feature which includes names and photos of all your gourdy residents, you can now watch the world youve created change with the seasons, and fill your island with tons of items and activities to keep your gourdlets happy (including a Ferris Wheel whaaat?!) [previewyoutube=_z7VXzfbifU;full][/previewyoutube] Thank you!! I want to say a big big thank you to everyone who has played the demo, sent feedback and expressed their interest in my first ever game, its all contributed so much to the process, which I hope youll be able to see when you play. Im so excited to finally bring the full game to you all! If youre new here, welcome Hope you like adorable little vegetable folks! Thanks for reading and see you on the 15th! - Preethi Vaidyanathan

[ 2024-08-01 14:00:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey folks! Gourdlets has a brand new Next Fest demo available that you can check out, with heaps of new updates, including a new "idle window mode" inspired by the wonderful Rusty's Retirement, and a new Parcel Train that brings special gifts to your gourdlets! Check it out now: steampowered.com/app/2013730 [previewyoutube=Ni_LoaTunj4;full][/previewyoutube] Gourdlets is an easygoing sandbox game about building towns for cute vegetable folks. Create your perfect community then watch as the gourdlets make themselves at home. No objectives, no points, just good vibes. Play in full screen, or let your gourdlets hang out at the bottom of your screen!

[ 2024-06-16 18:28:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey folks! Gourdlets has a brand new Next Fest demo available that you can check out, with heaps of new updates, including a new "idle window mode" inspired by the wonderful Rusty's Retirement, and a new Parcel Train that brings special gifts to your gourdlets! Check it out now: steampowered.com/app/2013730 [previewyoutube=Ni_LoaTunj4;full][/previewyoutube] Gourdlets is an easygoing sandbox game about building towns for cute vegetable folks. Create your perfect community then watch as the gourdlets make themselves at home. No objectives, no points, just good vibes. Play in full screen, or let your gourdlets hang out at the bottom of your screen!

[ 2024-06-10 17:50:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello again Gourdy friends! For Next Fest (which starts today!!), I have updated the Gourdlets demo again for you all to try! The main new thing Ive added is The Parcel Train! This is a special train that delivers special items for the gourds to play with. You will notice the Gourdlets now start off with leaves on their heads which will bloom into flowers the more they interact with the world you create around them. The more flowers you harvest, the more presents will arrive via parcel train! Simple enough, right?
Leafy Gourd > Plays > Flower blossoms > Train delivers present > More play You may have also spotted us in Women-Led Games this weekend, but if you haven't, check out the other amazing features!! Thats all from me for now folks, happy building! - Preethi Vaidyanathan

[ 2024-06-10 17:11:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Gourd community! Im so excited to share this news with you Its been hard to keep this one to myself, but I can finally tell you that Gourdlets will be yours this SUMMER!! It feels good to get that off my chest. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates on this Demo update! In preparation for the Cozy & Family Friendly Steam event (not to mention the upcoming Steam Next Fest in June), I have been perfecting every cute and goofy corner of this game to bring you the best new Demo that I can, which is available for you to play for free right now! Theres heaps of new stuff in there, and your Gourdlets can now sleep, do laundry and make toast, among many other things! Its a tricky balance trying to give you plenty to play and create with, whilst wanting to hold back plenty of cool stuff for the full release, but hopefully Ive managed that. Ill most likely be giving the demo another update in a couple of weeks ahead of the Next Fest too!
A cool new feature Im excited for you to try is idle window mode! This is where the gourdlets can keep playing at the bottom (or side) of your screen while you dip in and out, browsing the internet or doing important tasks as you go Its very much inspired by the fantastic Rustys Retirement by Mister Morris Games, which Im a huge fan of - check it out if you havent already!
I cant wait to see what you all come up with, and if you do have any feedback you can join our Discord server here. I will try my best to take everything on [strike]gourd[/strike] board! Enjoy and speak soon. - Preethi Vaidyanathan

[ 2024-05-30 16:01:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Gourdlet friends! Now that its starting to get warm enough to venture outside, I thought this would be a good time to take tentative steps out of my solo development cave and give a little update on what Ive been working on, which recently, has been tons and tons of drawing. If you happened to catch me at GDC & Day of the Devs then maybe you got a sneak peek at some of the new things Im working on! Thank you everyone who took the time to say hello! I cant wait to share more news soon but until then I thought it would be fun to dig up some old pictures and show you how the drawings have evolved.

Behind the Scenes: Home Sweet Home!

Here is the original house artwork that I drew in June 2022, when Gourdlets didnt have a name yet and was just a hobby that I would spend a few hours on each weekend.
And then here it was in November 2022, a week before I put up the Steam page and Gourdlets became slightly more real. I realized that not all pixel art needs a thick dark border! With enough visual trickery in the game, this makes things look slightly more 3D. Its a big compliment when someone is surprised to hear that all of the art in the game is just flat PNG images.
And then here is what I came up with this past February, at which point I had been seriously working on Gourdlets for a full year, and was fully in the grips of insanity- dreaming in lines of code, losing all objectivity, and spending 2 hours moving around the pixels on an individual roof shingle in a way that no one but me could possibly notice. But in a fun way!
Ive also been hard at work on programmatically generating many colors of each object- this is really fun because I just have to draw the 1 base item, and then can spend the next 15 hours a normal amount of time coming up with a color palette, and then my code spits out all the recolored artwork. Im also working on updating the UI like crazy to make it look more organized, heres a sneak peek at what I have so far:
Plus a sneak peek at some of the other buildings! There are just a few houses in the current Steam demo, but now I have 8 base houses x 8 colors = 64 unique house buildings. Math! And here they are on display with a few other new items

Cool houses! Now what?

Now its time for me to get back to drawing a ton more objects, and answering tricky questions like: do gourdlets need toasters?????? Thank you so much for reading this and supporting the development of Gourdlets! Here is your reward: an important picture of Cinny and Poppy eating salad.
- Preethi Vaidyanathan

[ 2024-04-30 15:19:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey folks! Just a quick note to say Gourdlets is currently part of the Tiny Teams festival running until August 10th! If you haven't already checked out the Gourdlets demo (or if it's been a while) now is the perfect time to hop in! There's tons of other amazing games from other tiny development teams in the event, so it's definitely worth checking out: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/tinyteamsfestival2023
There's some super exciting plans in the works for Gourdlets over the coming months which I'm really looking forward to telling you about. Hitting "Follow" on the Gourdlets page will ensure you don't miss out on anything :) -Preethi

[ 2023-08-04 17:22:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dear Gourdlets fans, Did you see my cozy city builder at the 2023 Wholesome Direct? :) If not, then feel free to watch the new 30-second trailer below. It has a surprise toward the end that I think many of you will be happy about. [previewyoutube=hq3X9F-vPB8;full][/previewyoutube] Thats right Ive added farming to Gourdlets! As a fan of the coziness of the farming sim genre, Im particularly excited about this one. Draw in tilled soil, plant seeds, and the Gourdlets will water them and pull weeds to grow a beautiful garden. Much like your building journey in Gourdlets, a small seed will grow into a lovely plant that the Gourdlets can be proud of having harvested! Every plant has 3 stages: seeds, seedling, and mature plants.
The Gourdlets will then pick ripe plants, but Im still working on what they should do with the plants either pluck them and eat them right there or maybe something more interesting. In the meantime, Ive also added a new barn building.
As you can tell, I really value the feedback my little game has gotten so far. Every day, its becoming a game Im even more eager to keep developing. If you want a more direct say in what features I might add next, join the Gourdlets Discord server. You can find it here: http://discord.gg/xYgv78Azwe. Thank you for your continued support for Gourdlets have fun continuing to play the demo and see you next time. -Preethi

[ 2023-06-10 16:21:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dear Gourdlets fans, I am excited to announce some new updates for my cozy city builder game that I hope will make the demo more fun :) I have added *the most requested feature* - a paint bucket tool! Without it, building big islands took a LOT of clicking, hopefully this makes things a little easier. You can now quickly and easily fill in large areas with the click of a button.
In addition, I have made changes to the fences to make them more intuitive, making it easier to form corners and create enclosures. This is perfect for those who want to build their own little zoos! (Little animals for the zoos are forthcoming )
I also heard your feedback regarding the monorail and have added a stoplight that can turn it on and off. Some players felt that the monorail was arriving too frequently before the island was ready for visitors, so I hope that this will help address that issue.
Finally, I have made some UI and quality of life updates, including a window explaining the controls and some handy shortcuts. If you try out the updated demo, Id love to hear your thoughts! Your feedback is incredibly valuable to me, so please don't forget to fill out the feedback form here: https://forms.gle/aRtnxERfZEQJrynM7 Or, if you want a more direct voice in development, come join the discord! http://discord.gg/xYgv78Azwe Thank you for your continued support of Gourdlets, and I hope that you enjoy these updates! - Preethi (Aunty Games)

[ 2023-04-13 23:55:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Gourdlets fans! I'm Preethi Vaidyanathan, developer of Gourdlets. Welcome to my first steam update :) Big news! I have just added a brand new feature to Gourdlets, the cozy city builder - interior decorating! Now, you can enter buildings and decorate them to your heart's content. This new feature adds a whole new level of personalization to the game and allows you to create unique spaces that truly feel like your own.

To give you a taste of what's possible with this new feature, I have added items that let you create a cozy cafe to the demo. Now, your gourdlets can browse dessert stands, play chess, and drink tea while surrounded by delightful decor. But that's just the beginning! I am planning to add even more items for houses, libraries, shops, and more. With each new addition, you'll have even more options for customizing your spaces and making them uniquely yours. I am thrilled to see how players will use this new feature to express their creativity and make the game world their own. I can't wait to hear your feedback as you explore all the possibilities of interior decorating in the coziest city builder. Don't forget to wishlist, and join the Discord, where you can suggest new items and interactions for me to add to the game. I love hearing from our players and value your input as I continue to develop Gourdlets. Thank you for playing, and happy decorating! -Preethi

[ 2023-03-17 17:49:50 CET ] [ Original post ]