Hello gardeners,

I hope everyone has enjoyed the now-passing summer season - or whichever season you might find yourself in over on your part of the world. Its been good to take a couple of weeks away and return with a fresh head, and Im looking forward to the Autumnal weather (already well underway) and getting stuck-in with the busy months we have ahead of us. Sizeable work has been made on The Garden Path since our last update in July. So, lets dive in and see whats new.

Steam Next Fest

Up first, Next Fest! The Garden Path is going to be in the Steam Next Fest starting on October 3rd. From then until October 10th, youll be able to download and play a brand-new demo for the game. Not only that, but myself and my streaming partner in crime, Fern, will also be dropping in for some special Steam exclusive streams. Keep your eyes peeled to find out when well be going live. Learn more, and wishlist The Garden Path, here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1638500/The_Garden_Path/.

Steam Backer Access

More exciting Steam news: The Garden Path beta access will be coming to backers sometime in October! For those of you who chose to get an early digital copy of The Garden Path through Steam, youll be getting your hands on that soon and I cant wait for you to begin wandering and growing gardens of your own. When this goes live, youll receive an email with your code and information on how to activate it. So, keep an eye out but worry not, well likely be sending out another mini update telling you to check your inboxes when it drops!

Game Updates

Firstly, thanks to everyone for your patience on the upcoming build. While I had hoped for the new tutorial system to be ready this Summer, to help keep things going smoothly work on local multiplayer has taken priority and started earlier than planned. As such, the game's code has had sweeping changes to support an extra player character occupying the Garden. Not dissimilar to renovating a house, when everything's in bits it's a good excuse to improve the foundations, and so I've taken the opportunity this summer to do some proper Spring cleaning to help make the game more stable and debuggable in the long-run. The good news is that most of the heavy-lifting for local multiplayer is now done! The next version of the game will be running on the new build that is built with two players in mind, only without the second player present just yet. This means that, if all's gone well, you'll notice very little difference! The downside for those excited for upcoming content, with most of the work under-the-hood, you'll notice very little difference. I hope all the hard work in this update will soon pay-off, when it eventually comes time to pick up that second controller. For now, here's a snippet from a build a few months ago!
As mentioned, the tutorial system has had a full review, and there'll be plenty of changes for new players to enjoy. Tutorials have been promoted from small notification cards, and are now fully fledged - designed to present the most important information first, with further details available for those who want to get into the nitty gritty.
The Old Gardener's Stones have been redesigned to no longer accept dustflies, but instead Guide Stones which you will collect as you explore the garden and gather tutorials. Something small to help the tutorials feel less of a nuisance, and something of a reward. A new tutorial tab in the Overview keeps a record of the tutorials you've seen, so you can revisit them any time. And another tab will soon be making an appearance - the social tab. Moved away from the encyclopedia, it'll soon be much easier to keep tabs on which residents are available, and how you can attract them to your Garden, whether or not youve progressed to unlocking the encyclopedia itself.
And there'll be even more yet to come! Work is well underway for new NPCs, events and furnishings, which I'm excited to finally take across the production line once the new build is stable.

Your usual reminder!

And as always, here is your reminder that you can join our official Discord Community server, which you can join here. Here you can chat with the team, meet fellow backers, and help me shape The Garden Path. And of course, we encourage you to share your real-life gardening with your fellow gardening gamers. Until next time Louis, carrotcake * Join our Discord server Follow us on Twitter: @fromcarrotcake Check out our TikTok: @fromcarrotcake Find us on Instagram: @fromcarrotcake Keep up via Mastodon: @ldurrant https://store.steampowered.com/app/1638500/The_Garden_Path/

[ 2022-10-03 14:24:40 CET ] [ Original post ]