The Harvest Season

Timings

00:00:00: Theme Tune

00:00:30: Intro

00:01:53: What Have We Been Up To

00:08:25: Game News

00:13:01: New Games

00:22:02: Sugardew Island

01:09:09: Outro

Links

Song of the Prairie “1.2” Update

Fields of Mistria “2nd Major” Update

Outbound Roadmap

Elusive People

Bug & Seek

Contact

Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot

Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/

Transcript

(0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season.

(0:00:35) Al: My name is Al and we are here today to talk about cottagecore games.

(0:00:36) Codey: - And my name is Cody.

(0:00:42) Codey: Oh woo.

(0:00:46) Codey: Oh yeah.

(0:00:47) Codey: Ow, ow, ow.

(0:00:48) Al: All right, this episode, we are going to talk about Sugardew Island because as mentioned

(0:00:49) Codey: Gotta do it the right way.

(0:00:56) Al: in the last episode, it is not out except if you’re a Kickstarter backer, in which case

(0:01:02) Al: it is kind of out. So I was a Kickstarter backer for some reason, so I got my code and

(0:01:02) Codey: Mm-hmm, okay

(0:01:08) Al: I have been playing it for the past week. So we’re going to talk about that. I’ve got

(0:01:13) Al: some thoughts and I’m sure Cody will have some questions.

(0:01:18) Codey: Probs.

(0:01:19) Al: And then we can never mention the game again. Sound good?

(0:01:21) Codey: Wow.

(0:01:22) Codey: Yep.

(0:01:23) Codey: Sounds good to me.

(0:01:24) Codey: I’m sure we’ll have to mention like updates and stuff for news purposes, but

(0:01:24) Al: All right.

(0:01:26) Al: No. No. No, I don’t think… I mean, we’ll get patches with bug fixes, but it’s not good.

(0:01:29) Codey: nah, okay, cool.

(0:01:36) Codey: and we’re never not even gonna mention it though.

(0:01:37) Al: They’re not going to add in. Well, we don’t tend to mention updates unless they actually

(0:01:42) Al: include new stuff. There’s going to be no update including new stuff, let’s be honest.

(0:01:46) Codey: OK.

(0:01:48) Codey: Sounds good.

(0:01:49) Al: We’ll see. We also have a bunch of news to talk about, but first of all, Cody,

(0:01:55) Al: what have you been up to?

(0:01:56) Codey: I realized the other day that I, this, this is the year that everything has flipped on

(0:02:06) Codey: its head because all of the other years, every time I looked at a mobile game for this podcast,

(0:02:11) Al: Yeah, I was going to say, Cody, this is a list of four mobile games in your world we’ve

(0:02:12) Codey: I was like, I can’t wait to get rid of this game.

(0:02:15) Codey: And I now have four different mobile games.

(0:02:21) Codey: All of which, all of which I can blame on this podcast.

(0:02:21) Al: been up to.

(0:02:26) Codey: Even though we didn’t cover Pokemon Pocket, y’all talking about it is why I ended up getting

(0:02:34) Codey: it.

(0:02:35) Codey: So been playing that every day, got to play at least, you know, like twice a day to get

(0:02:38) Codey: my, my stuff.

(0:02:41) Codey: Johnny convinced me to play pocket camp.

(0:02:43) Codey: So I’m doing that.

(0:02:44) Codey: I am now, I think level like 63, I think initially when I talked to him about it, it was 41.

(0:02:51) Codey: So you don’t necessarily level up that easy.

(0:02:54) Codey: So that’s a yikes for me.

(0:02:57) Codey: I would say if people are interested, the like used to be pay paid currency, you get

(0:03:03) Codey: it really easily.

(0:03:04) Al: Hm. Nice.

(0:03:05) Codey: So I currently have like 854 of them and you can use like five of them to like skip things.

(0:03:14) Codey: So it’s, it’s easy, like it’s, it’s, it’s good.

(0:03:20) Codey: And I opened that and that was a mistake.

(0:03:22) Codey: And then honeygrove, I’m still playing that.

(0:03:26) Codey: Half of my map unlocks and I’m just kind of still doing the daily quests.

(0:03:31) Codey: And then in mini mini farm, I am in the third, the third area now in the third area is like

(0:03:33) Al: Minimini.

(0:03:37) Al: Oh, nice.

(0:03:38) Codey: a desert.

(0:03:39) Codey: And then there’s an underground part of the desert where there’s like mushrooms.

(0:03:42) Al: Have you got any answers yet?

(0:03:46) Codey: So not really, there’s still a lot of like questions about where did the people go?

(0:03:51) Codey: And there’s like these weird alien looking machines everywhere.

(0:03:55) Codey: kind of like more and more.

(0:03:56) Codey: The more you go through the game.

(0:03:59) Codey: And in this last one, there is a cactus who that’s moving.

(0:04:04) Codey: And as you like, you kind of follow the cactus and then walk into it.

(0:04:10) Codey: And it it’s, it’s a person that has been turned into a cactus and they

(0:04:13) Al: Oh, oh.

(0:04:15) Codey: keep forgetting the conversation.

(0:04:17) Codey: And so the conversation has a loop, like where they’re halfway through.

(0:04:22) Codey: They’re like, wait, who are you?

(0:04:24) Codey: Wait, what’s going on?

(0:04:25) Codey: And then it starts back over.

(0:04:27) Codey: But yeah, I’m so I’m still very intrigued and I still am playing

(0:04:33) Codey: it every day, um, and I have no complaints there.

(0:04:37) Codey: So I, and I’ve been wanting to play another game that I will, that

(0:04:42) Codey: we will talk about later.

(0:04:43) Codey: I just have to, I say, I have to convince myself to buy it.

(0:04:47) Codey: It’s more that I have to move the money that I need for it into,

(0:04:51) Codey: out of my savings account because I want, I know I want it.

(0:04:53) Al: fair enough uh yeah i’ve been buying pocket as well uh just kind of chugging along open

(0:04:56) Codey: Yeah.

(0:04:57) Codey: What about you?

(0:04:58) Codey: Well, what about you?

(0:05:05) Al: impacts planes and battles um I have also been continuing to play harvest me home sweet home

(0:05:10) Al: I am very close to finishing the story in that game um i’m in chat no i’ve just been playing a

(0:05:13) Codey: Oh wow, okay. Is it because the story is small?

(0:05:17) Codey: Okay.

(0:05:19) Al: a lot. So I’m in chapter nine of 10.

(0:05:20) Codey: Good.

(0:05:23) Al: So yeah, we’ll see how that goes. I think I’ve got one thing. I’m about to get married

(0:05:30) Al: and I think that finishes chapter nine. And so I’ll see how I’ll see what chapter 10 is.

(0:05:32) Codey: Mm-hmm

(0:05:35) Codey: Very nice probably like babies I would have

(0:05:36) Al: So I don’t think this game has babies. We’ll see.

(0:05:48) Al: and also, obviously, Shuguju Island.

(0:05:51) Al: » Yeah.

(0:05:54) Al: Which I’ll talk about more later and I’m currently debating whether to play to go do my home decks for sword and shield, which is the one that I’ve not finished yet because they just released.

(0:06:06) Al: The completion reward for that one, but I’m still debating like do I want to do that just now because I do want the shiny keldio and I’d like to get it quickly.

(0:06:12) Codey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Then it sounds like it’s a yes.

(0:06:18) Al: But, but, but am I going to burn myself out on Pokemon?

(0:06:23) Al: What’s the problem?

(0:06:23) Codey: Mm. Have you ever burned yourself out on Pokemon? Oh, wow. Well, then, yeah, there you go. Maybe,

(0:06:27) Al: Yes, regularly.

(0:06:31) Codey: uh, I mean, I think is it like something that’s only available for a short amount of time?

(0:06:36) Al: No.

(0:06:36) Codey: No, then just don’t worry about it.

(0:06:38) Al: Well, yeah, but what if?

(0:06:39) Codey: what if what what if the what if

(0:06:42) Codey: uh my country declares war on everyone and nuclear strikes everyone tomorrow like

(0:06:48) Al: Well, yeah, but there’s nothing I can do about that, though, is there?

(0:06:50) Al: But there is something I can do about this, which is do it.

(0:06:53) Codey: okay I was gonna just make a comment of you never know what’s gonna happen so

(0:06:58) Al: No, you don’t exactly.

(0:06:59) Al: So you have to.

(0:07:00) Al: But it’s about balancing which things you can do,

(0:07:02) Al: something about it, which things you can’t.

(0:07:03) Al: I can’t do anything about nuclear war.

(0:07:04) Codey: Yeah, you, you, uh, have you heard the hostile government takeover song?

(0:07:06) Al: Other than what I’ve already done, I can do something about this.

(0:07:11) Al: Yes.

(0:07:12) Codey: I love that song.

(0:07:13) Codey: It’s now on Spotify.

(0:07:14) Codey: If you, uh, if people want, it’s such a good song.

(0:07:19) Codey: Uh, that’s fair.

(0:07:21) Codey: I was trying to be devil’s advocate, but no, you’ve convinced me.

(0:07:24) Codey: Yeah.

(0:07:24) Codey: Why don’t you play it?

(0:07:26) Al: Anyway, my point is, I need to do something because I’m not going to continue playing

(0:07:26) Codey: Get your fill your home decks.

(0:07:32) Al: Suga Jai Island after today. And well, maybe we’ll see. And I think I’m about to finish

(0:07:38) Al: Harvest Moon Sweet Home. So I’ll need something else to play. And there’s lots of things to

(0:07:45) Al: play. But you know, I do like to fall back into the same things I have played. And I

(0:07:54) Codey: big mood as is tradition

(0:07:54) Al: need to procrastinate from playing the next.

(0:07:56) Al: game for the podcast I’m going to be playing as well.

(0:07:58) Al: well. Yeah, this is true.

(0:08:05) Codey: except for the like very rare once a year ones that we’ve been waiting for forever that

(0:08:10) Al: Yeah, yeah. I definitely managed to do enough Sugardew Island, I didn’t

(0:08:12) Codey: we play immediately so

(0:08:16) Al: procrastinate with that too much, I managed to get what I needed done in the

(0:08:19) Al: last week, so. Well, nor should you. So let’s talk about the news then. Up first

(0:08:20) Codey: which is good because I did not play it.

(0:08:23) Codey: So, uh,

(0:08:29) Al: we have Song of the Prairie, they have released their 1.2 update which

(0:08:35) Al: Which includes the story for year 3 in the game.

(0:08:40) Al: A praying festival.

(0:08:42) Codey: yeah which they said is like you send lanterns up into the sky

(0:08:47) Codey: um to pray for people or love or something I don’t know it’s a thing people do but it

(0:08:53) Codey: sounds like it’s gonna it looks really pretty because it’s just like a bunch of lanterns

(0:08:58) Al: They’ve also added Oakcroft as their new crop, and they have announced that they

(0:09:06) Al: are releasing a bottom-of-the-screen version of their game, Rusties-like, if

(0:09:12) Al: you will, called Song of the Prairie Wonderland. Is it

(0:09:13) Codey: a rusty like yup oh gosh that would who knows but because does it say on

(0:09:20) Al: Song of the Prairie Wonderland on desktop?

(0:09:29) Codey: desktop in capitals in this though they’re they’re English is definitely

(0:09:30) Al: in this, it’s in the, yeah.

(0:09:36) Codey: not their first language in the in the that show note not show notes why do I

(0:09:43) Codey: go with what this is called release okay interesting that is a choice

(0:09:44) Al: Oh, yeah, no, it’s yeah, it’s called Wonderland on Desktop.

(0:09:49) Al: I just noticed they have a Steam page up for it.

(0:09:53) Al: Interestingly, it doesn’t have Song of the Prairie in the name on Steam.

(0:09:56) Codey: not not a not on laptop just desktop it’s probably on it

(0:09:57) Al: It’s just called Wonderland on Desktop.

(0:10:02) Al: I think it’s like your virtual desktop.

(0:10:06) Al: Like the back, like that’s like the home screen.

(0:10:10) Codey: Oh, okay, my brain is potato today I apologize that makes I mean

(0:10:11) Al: It’s called the desktop, right?

(0:10:15) Al: It says no missions, no target, no other requirements,

(0:10:18) Al: just all kinds of crops, as it says, corpse.

(0:10:22) Al: But I’m pretty sure that’s meant to be crops,

(0:10:25) Al: because that’s a very different game, an undeveloped land.

(0:10:26) Codey: all kinds of courses. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah. I’m here for it, man. I am so excited that

(0:10:31) Al: Hmm, interesting.

(0:10:33) Al: Continuing that genre.

(0:10:40) Codey: to continue the bottom of the screen. I’m not going to get this, but I love to see it.

(0:10:44) Al: Yeah, very. Next, we have Fields of Mistria have announced that their second major update,

(0:10:53) Al: which we talked about in a previous episode, is coming on the 10th of March.

(0:10:58) Codey: Al, are you ready for that sweet, sweet automation?

(0:11:01) Al: Always. This comes out three days after Sugardew Island, so you need to decide, are you playing

(0:11:02) Codey: That sweet, sweet sprinkler and the auto-petter?

(0:11:06) Codey: Heavy.

(0:11:09) Al: Sugardew Island or the Fields of Mistria update?

(0:11:12) Codey: That is a difficult decision.

(0:11:15) Al: There is a correct answer here.

(0:11:15) Codey: Sarcasm.

(0:11:19) Codey: Yeah.

(0:11:20) Codey: And just a reminder, this update includes so many different

(0:11:23) Codey: things, including a new festival, new quests, monsters,

(0:11:26) Codey: Pets.

(0:11:28) Codey: Uh, that sprinkler that I mentioned, different cosmetic options for you and

(0:11:31) Codey: your pets, um, lots of different things coming out.

(0:11:33) Codey: And again, this is a game that people really love.

(0:11:35) Codey: So, uh, if you have been loving it, uh, keep loving it with more things.

(0:11:42) Al: And Outbound have released their roadmap for the game, so this is the Campervan game. They

(0:11:54) Al: have said that they’re planning for their release in the first half of 2026, their alpha

(0:12:01) Al: coming in April this year, and the beta coming in the second half of this year. That is their

(0:12:06) Codey: Yeah, and they’re still aiming to have multiplayer out in the alpha, so that would be in mark h1 wait April in April

(0:12:06) Al: current roadmap.

(0:12:18) Codey: so that people can play test that but they really just are needing a lot of play testers and

(0:12:25) Codey: They have they show a couple things they’ve been developing

(0:12:29) Codey: That look kind of cool, but so if you’re interested in that check the show now

(0:12:36) Al: Yeah, it’s good. They had originally said the alpha would come out in the first half of the

(0:12:41) Al: year and so coming out in April is encouraging based on that, right? They’re not just sneaking

(0:12:45) Codey: It’s also, it’s accurate too.

(0:12:47) Al: in at the end of the first half.

(0:12:50) Codey: Yeah, that is part of the first half of the year.

(0:12:52) Codey: We love accuracy.

(0:12:53) Codey: We stand accuracy here,

(0:12:55) Codey: specifically scientific accuracy.

(0:12:58) Codey: We believe in science.

(0:13:00) Codey: I just hate my government so much.

(0:13:03) Codey: We have a couple of new games.

(0:13:04) Al: don’t we all. Yes, so the first one is technically not a new game but I’m going to treat it like

(0:13:11) Al: a new game because when they first announced it they announced basically nothing about it.

(0:13:16) Al: So this is what was announced three years ago. It’s a new, the upcoming Chibig game.

(0:13:22) Al: It was announced in the Chibig Direct three years ago as Illusive People. It’s now just

(0:13:27) Al: called Illusive and they’ve actually given us some information about it other than just,

(0:13:34) Al: all we knew was like oh you’re tiny. That was it. That’s all they had. So they’ve got

(0:13:39) Al: the Kickstarter coming soon and they’ve got a bunch of information on the Kickstarter.

(0:13:44) Al: It is, they are describing it as an adventure and exploration game with Metroidvania elements.

(0:13:55) Al: Which I mean just a quick thought about that. I’m a bit confused as to how you can have

(0:14:01) Al: metroidvania elements because it is my own

(0:14:04) Al: understanding that the point of a metroidvania is to have a large sprawling map which requires

(0:14:09) Al: upgrades and backtracking to finish. And I’m not sure how you kind of have that like you either

(0:14:13) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah, yeah, I think it’s probably just a semantics thing because I agree like,

(0:14:17) Al: are that or not.

(0:14:23) Codey: like my brain thinking when you say Metroidvania antics, I think platforming and I think like

(0:14:29) Codey: you’re saying like, there’s things that are locked at first, and then you have to go back once you

(0:14:33) Codey: acquire a certain thing. And then once you have, I mean, I don’t see how a game could have that

(0:14:38) Codey: type of mechanic and not have it be like a major part of the genre.

(0:14:43) Codey: Or like the defining genre of the game and therefore just be called a Metroidvania.

(0:14:49) Codey: But who knows? Maybe they’ll make it happen. Maybe we’ll be shocked. But yeah.

(0:14:50) Al: the illusives are tiny creatures that live in our homes hiding from us and borrowing whatever

(0:14:59) Al: they need. Is this the Borrowers? Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how much of that actually

(0:15:03) Codey: It’s the borrowers people.

(0:15:04) Codey: I am shocked that this hasn’t been a game yet, honestly.

(0:15:07) Codey: Like.

(0:15:12) Al: affects anything. I mean it clearly is like you are in a house rather than like a cave system,

(0:15:16) Al: So I guess that is the bit that makes it.

(0:15:20) Al: Just a tiny person, rather than you’re just a person.

(0:15:24) Codey: My brain thought I’m trying to think of like ways that the house could be locked to you and I just imagined like, because they mentioned there’s a cat.

(0:15:34) Codey: I just imagined that like there’s a cat and that part way through the game you learn how to like make the cat like you. So then you can get past the cat. I think that’d be really cute.

(0:15:44) Codey: But who knows. I mean, we’re gonna play it. It’s a chibi game. Come on.

(0:15:48) Al: Yeah, for sure. I’ve bookmarked the Kickstarter like I’m backing at day one. Let’s not pretend

(0:15:56) Al: anything here. They’ll presumably have some information about it when they launch the

(0:15:56) Codey: Yeah. No, no news on when that’s launching, but it’s just launching soon. Um, do we.

(0:16:04) Al: Kickstarter because they have to give an estimated date. If I had to predict, I would say next year.

(0:16:08) Codey: Well, yeah. I mean the, the Kickstarter though,

(0:16:12) Codey: like we don’t know when that is launching. It just says soon to you.

(0:16:13) Al: Oh, right. Okay. Okay. The Kickstarter. Yeah. Yeah. It’ll probably be in the next month or so.

(0:16:19) Codey: I’m going to say that it will be fully backed within nine hours.

(0:16:27) Codey: Like between eight to nine hours. That’s my guess. Three hours. Wow. You’re going for it.

(0:16:28) Al: Yeah. Three errors.

(0:16:35) Codey: You’re going to personally back it so that it gets done in three hours.

(0:16:38) Al: Yeah, I’m gonna bankroll it. Imagine if I had that. Imagine having that kind of money,

(0:16:42) Codey: I need, I need to. Right.

(0:16:44) Al: that’d be amazing. Just go, “Yes, make your game.”

(0:16:48) Al: » [LAUGH]

(0:16:49) Codey: Uh, the other notable thing was on the, like, they have a picture of physical editions already.

(0:16:57) Codey: Um, and they below that they have switch one and two steam PlayStation five and Xbox series X.

(0:17:02) Al: Yeah, so yeah, so there’s two, obviously there’s the Nintendo Switch 2 thing, right?

(0:17:13) Al: Fine, a little bit presumptuous, but I’m sure whatever, like if they release a Nintendo Switch

(0:17:18) Al: version and it’s backwards compatible on the two, then technically they can say they’ve

(0:17:21) Al: released on Switch 2. Fine, whatever, it doesn’t really matter. It’s interesting they don’t mention

(0:17:27) Al: Xbox Series S, because it is my understanding that you’re not allowed to release a game just

(0:17:32) Al: on the X. It has to release on the S as well, because that has been like a sticking point for

(0:17:35) Codey: » Yeah, I don’t know.

(0:17:39) Al: a few people I’m releasing on Xbox. They’re like, oh, it’s a bit underpowered. I can’t quite get my

(0:17:43) Al: game to work on it. And they’re like, we’ll talk.

(0:17:46) Codey: Yeah, I don’t know ‘cause they don’t,

(0:17:48) Codey: they specifically leave it out.

(0:17:51) Codey: So I don’t know if they struck a deal

(0:17:53) Codey: or if they just, it was an oopsie daisy

(0:17:56) Codey: and it will come out on that, but we’ll keep that updated.

(0:17:59) Al: “Can I be a little bit pedantic and say it doesn’t say Nintendo Switch 1 and 2. It says Nintendo Switch 1-2.”

(0:18:04) Al: » Thank you.

(0:18:04) Codey: Oh my gosh, there’s an intermediate switch switch switch one version to switch 1.2. I don’t know.

(0:18:15) Codey: Yep, you’re right.

(0:18:18) Al: Anyway, yep, looking forward to that, we will keep you updated.

(0:18:21) Codey: Oh, but yeah, but not a woo because there’s one more game. So this is a game that I don’t even I think it was just like on Instagram. Instagram knows my algorithm really well.

(0:18:22) Al: And there’s another game that Cody found.

(0:18:34) Codey: And it was like, you should play this game. And it’s called bug and seek. And so this is a game that’s already out. I just we just hadn’t talked about it. At least I didn’t find it in anything it’s 1499 on steam and it can be Mac or PC and on switch and the blurb is blurb catch 200 plus real life bugs in this chill eight bit cozy creature collector.

(0:18:58) Codey: You’ve bought the local bug zoo abandoned after a mysterious robbery catch bugs.

(0:19:04) Codey: So this is a game that I’m probably immediately after this going to go move money into my out of my savings account into my regular accounts like buy it because I need to play this game.

(0:19:21) Al: - What?

(0:19:21) Codey: It just looks really cute. Like you’re going around catching bugs the bug like pages look really cute because it has like the scientists.

(0:19:34) Codey: It has a specific name and the common name and it’s got like a lot of really cool facts and the idea of having a bug zoo. I mean we have an insect zoo for the entomology department here at my university and I’m the person who takes care of the critters.

(0:19:49) Codey: The idea of just like moving into a town and becoming the muse, the bug zoo person is just chef’s kiss like I love that idea and you get to like build it up however you want so you get to like buy a terrarium

(0:20:04) Codey: and then put that wherever you want in the in the space and kind of make it your own instead of just filling an already curated museum.

(0:20:14) Codey: So I think it’s super cute and on Steam it’s part of a bundle called the creature. Oh my gosh. I need to double check this because I had it up and then I got rid of it but it was like the creature or something.

(0:20:31) Codey: Create celebrate bugs bundle.

(0:20:35) Codey: The celebrate bugs bundle.

(0:20:40) Codey: Yeah. Oh, and they have an isopods DLC and a weevils DLC. And yeah, what more could you need, but it’s in that bundle and that bundle includes bug and seek a pico and webbed, which is a super cute game where you’re a jumper jumping spider.

(0:20:59) Codey: One of the peacock jumpers, I think, or maybe you run into a peacock jumper, but you basically swing

(0:21:04) Codey: Spider-Man style throughout the world and just adventure.

(0:21:08) Codey: And I remember seeing this up this game and freaking out.

(0:21:11) Codey: It is regrettably not available on Mac.

(0:21:15) Codey: And I already have Apeco, but if you do not have any of these games and you’ve been wanting any

(0:21:19) Codey: of them, why not get all of them for $38 and 22 cents and save 15%.

(0:21:26) Codey: Are you going to play bug and seek?

(0:21:28) Al: probably not. But I’m excited. I’m excited for you. Apparently this came out in 2013.

(0:21:29) Codey: Okay. Well, listeners tell us who should.

(0:21:35) Codey: Be on the podcast episode with me about bug and seek.

(0:21:40) Codey: What’s I have released it 2023.

(0:21:41) Al: That’s what I said. Did I? I meant to say 2023.

(0:21:45) Codey: You said 2013.

(0:21:49) Codey: Yeah, 2023 wild.

(0:21:51) Codey: I don’t know how this has not been on my radar until now.

(0:21:55) Codey: No idea, but I’m excited.

(0:21:57) Al: Well, now you know.

(0:22:00) Al: All right, that is the news.

(0:22:03) Al: So we are now going to talk about the game of the moment.

(0:22:07) Al: Game of the Year, lol.

(0:22:10) Codey: No, redacted.

(0:22:11) Al: Sugardew Island, I’m sure it will be mentioned in the Game

(0:22:16) Al: of the Year episode.

(0:22:20) Al: Because I list all the games that come out in the air.

(0:22:22) Al: And yeah.

(0:22:24) Codey: Mm-hmm. You played it. I didn’t.

(0:22:24) Al: So. Oh, boy, did I.

(0:22:27) Al: Play this game. Right.

(0:22:28) Al: So where do I start with this?

(0:22:33) Al: Oh, OK.

(0:22:34) Al: Cody’s just posted the blog post of the blurb.

(0:22:37) Al: So apparently that’s where I’m starting in this code in this cozy farming game.

(0:22:38) Codey: you don’t have to if you don’t.

(0:22:41) Al: You have to run your own farm shop, take care of your animals and your farm.

(0:22:45) Al: So your goods to the cute forest folk upgrade the island and fulfill small

(0:22:50) Al: orders from the Harmony Tree to fill the island with life again.

(0:22:54) Al: And let me tell you, that is all technically

(0:22:57) Al: true.

(0:22:58) Codey: Wow okay. Not the… there are no lies but not maybe the main part of the game.

(0:23:00) Al: There are no lies there.

(0:23:06) Al: No, no, no, it’s it’s this.

(0:23:07) Codey: Okay.

(0:23:09) Al: OK, right. Well, it’s I think it’s hard for me to give a good

(0:23:10) Codey: Let’s dive into it.

(0:23:14) Al: overview without just kind of going into the details.

(0:23:16) Codey: Okay.

(0:23:18) Al: But essentially, yeah, you have this island

(0:23:21) Al: which it calls five, no, six different islands, but it’s not because they’re all

(0:23:27) Al: island. They’re connected by land.

(0:23:30) Al: There is there’s no bridges between them.

(0:23:32) Al: There’s no water between.

(0:23:33) Al: This is one island, right?

(0:23:34) Al: I don’t know why it calls it multiple islands.

(0:23:36) Al: Whatever doesn’t matter.

(0:23:38) Al: You have Farm Island.

(0:23:40) Al: I think that’s what they call the main one.

(0:23:42) Al: And then you have let me get the exact

(0:23:44) Al: names of these different islands for you because you need to hear them.

(0:23:49) Al: We have so.

(0:23:51) Al: Yeah, Farm Island.

(0:23:53) Al: So technically this Seven Islands, because it’s Farm Island,

(0:23:57) Al: forest island, bunny island, piggy island, deer island, ferret island and owl island.

(0:24:04) Al: And it’s kind of shaped like an animal’s paw.

(0:24:08) Codey: Oh, okay.

(0:24:09) Al: On the map with like Farm Island at the bottom, that is, can you guess what’s there?

(0:24:13) Codey: Mm-hmm.

(0:24:14) Codey: A farm.

(0:24:15) Al: That’s your farm.

(0:24:17) Al: And then in the middle is forest island.

(0:24:19) Al: Can you guess what’s there?

(0:24:19) Codey: Mm-hmm.

(0:24:21) Codey: Um, the desert, the forest.

(0:24:24) Al: No.

(0:24:25) Al: There’s actually not many trees there.

(0:24:27) Al: But one big tree.

(0:24:28) Codey: Oh, so it’s a, it’s a.

(0:24:30) Al: There are more trees on my farm than there are in the forest.

(0:24:33) Al: And then spreading out like the toes of the paw or the bunny island,

(0:24:38) Al: piggy island, deer island, ferret island and owl island.

(0:24:42) Al: And those all have animals on them.

(0:24:45) Codey: Yeah.

(0:24:48) Al: So you start off with, I think, one island having one animal on it.

(0:24:53) Al: I think you have one bunny unlocked to start with.

(0:24:55) Al: and then as you progress through the game.

(0:24:57) Al: You unlock more animals on the islands up to, I think five on each.

(0:25:02) Al: And these animals give you seeds that you can use to farm free seeds.

(0:25:07) Al: You go up to one and it will go like, Oh, here, here you go.

(0:25:09) Al: Here’s some carrot seeds, um, stuff like that.

(0:25:14) Al: And, uh, when you unlock one of the animals, you also get like an upgrade to something.

(0:25:20) Al: So, uh, examples of the upgrades would be you can now get pumpkin seeds or you can now

(0:25:27) Al: upgrade your, your tools.

(0:25:29) Al: You can now upgrade your shop stuff like that.

(0:25:32) Al: So there’s, it’s a, it’s the pro that’s the kind of main progress through the game.

(0:25:38) Al: And how do you unlock these things?

(0:25:40) Al: You ask, well, you get a currency called Harmony.

(0:25:44) Al: There’s only one way to get this currency and that is by selling things at the shop.

(0:25:48) Al: So you cannot, you can get the other currency, which is called sugar dew,

(0:25:53) Al: which is like the actual currency that you use to buy things.

(0:25:56) Al: things.

(0:25:57) Al: You can get that two other ways, you can sell to, like there’s one guy who sells you seeds,

(0:26:02) Al: you can sell him stuff, but you don’t get the harmony that way. Or you can do, as it mentioned

(0:26:07) Al: in the blurb, these small orders from the harmony tree. Those are the harvest sprites will ask for

(0:26:18) Al: certain things and you can give them certain things and that will get you sugared you as well. Those

(0:26:22) Al: tend to be like higher value things, so what would normally sell for?

(0:26:25) Codey: Mm-hmm.

(0:26:27) Al: We’ll get to the shop later, because I have a lot to talk about about that, but let’s

(0:26:44) Codey: Okay, I was gonna ask about this okay, okay

(0:26:48) Al: get through this.

(0:26:49) Al: So that’s the Island Unlocking, the main point of it is to get the unlocks so you can do

(0:26:56) Al: other things.

(0:26:57) Al: your tools and get different kinds of seeds and stuff like that. But it also unlocks more of these

(0:27:02) Al: animals that you can go in and get seeds. And you seem to be able to get them basically infinitely.

(0:27:07) Al: Right? Like if you walk between two islands, they’ll almost always have a seed for you. So you can

(0:27:13) Al: like just constantly be getting free seeds, which I think is actually, yeah, which I think is really

(0:27:13) Codey: Okay. Just go back and forth.

(0:27:17) Al: good early on. It allows you to get a lot more seeds than you would otherwise be able to get.

(0:27:24) Al: But I’ve hit the point where I’m like, this is just so much effort, I’m just.

(0:27:27) Al: going to buy seeds, right? Because I’m now, you know, doing like 45 seeds a day. I’m not walking

(0:27:33) Al: around the islands and interacting with the animals 45 times every single day, you know.

(0:27:36) Codey: - Yeah.

(0:27:40) Codey: Yeah.

(0:27:41) Al: So there’s that. Farming wise, it’s pretty standard. But everything, it almost feels like

(0:27:50) Al: it’s missed the last like 10 years of quality of life improvements in farming games.

(0:27:56) Al: But it’s fine.

(0:27:58) Al: What I will say is that your bag has two different buckets.

(0:28:03) Al: I like having the tools in a different bucket because it doesn’t take up

(0:28:06) Al: space to other things with it.

(0:28:08) Al: So I will say that’s a good thing.

(0:28:09) Al: I like that.

(0:28:11) Al: That’s a thing.

(0:28:14) Al: I don’t know what to say about the farming because it’s literally you

(0:28:17) Al: till the land, you plant the seed, you water, it grows, you harvest it, right?

(0:28:23) Al: It’s like standard farming.

(0:28:24) Codey: That’s, that’s so innovative.

(0:28:27) Codey: Uh, like how many types of seeds are there?

(0:28:28) Al: So I have encountered maybe like 12. There’s a decent selection. It’s not humongous, but it’s a decent. I will say there don’t seem to be any seasons.

(0:28:40) Al: So I’m on day 46 and I have not noticed any changes. It does have weather. I’ve noticed like three different weathers. So there’s rain, there’s sun, and then there’s wind.

(0:28:54) Al: I don’t think wind does anything, it’s not like the storms and star-

(0:28:57) Al: where sometimes you can’t go out the house, or it does something else, it’s just you see some wind.

(0:29:02) Al: So I’m not really sure what that does, but yeah, the rain is good, it waters your plants standard.

(0:29:10) Codey: love that. How is the, like, are the crops, like, well, not displayed, but like the visuals

(0:29:19) Codey: of it really decent or are they pretty basic?

(0:29:22) Al: I think if you like how the game looks you’ll like that. It is very much a choice how it

(0:29:31) Al: looks. I’m not a huge fan, but yeah it’s not like you just see the crop up here on the

(0:29:37) Al: ground or anything. They do have growth and they slowly grow and then you’ve got it on

(0:29:42) Al: its plant and then you see the corn come off the plant, that sort of stuff. Interestingly

(0:29:49) Al: I will say lots of the seeds look exactly

(0:29:52) Al: the same. I’ve seen maybe three different kinds of seeds, so that can be a little bit

(0:29:54) Codey: Mm-hmm.

(0:29:56) Al: weird. But the actual plants, they’re all unique and look so that’s fine, I guess.

(0:30:00) Codey: Okay.

(0:30:04) Codey: I suppose.

(0:30:08) Al: Well, let me put it this way. Nothing excites me in this game.

(0:30:13) Al: What else about the farming? You seem, I think, you upgrade like being able to

(0:30:20) Al: So the seeds.

(0:30:22) Al: So I’ve upgraded to the second watering can, which gives me a three by one instead of a one by one.

(0:30:28) Codey: - Mm-hmm.

(0:30:30) Al: And I can now sow seeds three by one as well.

(0:30:34) Al: So I like that because some farming games forget that that that sewing seeds takes a long time.

(0:30:34) Codey: Okay.

(0:30:38) Al: And please give me an upgrade for that as well.

(0:30:39) Codey: Yeah.

(0:30:40) Al: So so that’s that’s good.

(0:30:42) Al: I don’t think there’s anything really much to say about the farming.

(0:30:46) Al: You get. Oh, yes, here’s one. You get three crops for every seed you plant.

(0:30:50) Al: So if you plan, if you plant 10.

(0:30:50) Codey: The benefit of the crops, is it just for selling or in your shop?

(0:30:52) Al: And as far as I can see, you can only get it by buying it from the seed man.

(0:31:00) Codey: Is there any cooking at all?

(0:31:19) Al: I have not figured out a way to be able to.

(0:31:22) Al: And I’ve not seen anything in the list of upgrades that would imply that you can unlock that later, which, if you can, feels weird that you can’t do it.

(0:31:30) Al: Because I feel like I am maybe like halfway through the game, right?

(0:31:34) Al: Like I’ve unlocked each of the islands to at least level three, and I’ve done two of them, one of them to level four, and I’m working on another one to level four, right?

(0:31:43) Al: And that’s out of five.

(0:31:44) Al: So I feel like I’m like I don’t think I could play this for another 10 hours and not have the.

(0:31:52) Al: I’m all unlocked, so it would be weird if there was cooking and I just hadn’t unlocked it.

(0:31:59) Codey: That is a choice, because I feel like people that farm are the ones that usually cook as well.

(0:32:09) Codey: They’re more prone to cooking their own meals with their own food, but…

(0:32:14) Codey: Mhmm.

(0:32:14) Al: Well, and cooking is sometimes the only thing that gets you through the early stages of

(0:32:18) Al: these farming games, right?

(0:32:19) Al: Because you’re like, “I can’t do everything I want to do.”

(0:32:20) Codey: Mhmm.

(0:32:22) Al: And so you use some of your crops for energy instead.

(0:32:24) Codey: Mhmm.

(0:32:27) Al: Like that’s a pretty standard thing, and it does feel like a weird, especially with something

(0:32:32) Al: at the shop, which I’ll get to in a minute.

(0:32:34) Al: Let’s quickly talk about the animals.

(0:32:34) Codey: Mhmm. Okay. Okay. Are these the animals on the islands or like farm animals on your

(0:32:37) Al: The animals are fine.

(0:32:40) Al: You buy an animal, you give it some food, it gives you some crops.

(0:32:44) Al: Not crops, some produce.

(0:32:48) Al: No, so these are farm animals, farm animals.

(0:32:50) Codey: farm? Okay. Okay. Okay. All right.

(0:32:52) Al: So I’ve got cows and chickens so far, and I believe you can get goats and ducks at least

(0:32:57) Al: as well.

(0:32:58) Al: I’ve seen them on the upgrade tree.

(0:33:01) Al: I don’t know if there’s anything else.

(0:33:04) Al: But yeah, they’re fine.

(0:33:06) Al: One thing that is nice that some farming games do and some don’t is that as you upgrade the

(0:33:11) Al: friendship to give you multiple produce in one day.

(0:33:13) Codey: Mm-hmm

(0:33:15) Al: So, and the produce is worth more than most of the crops, so you can invest a lot of money into

(0:33:23) Al: the animals and get a lot of money that way, I think. Wheat, just wheat, which you can farm

(0:33:28) Codey: What do the animals eat? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Is there quality to their products or is it just amount?

(0:33:32) Al: yourself, so there is that. All right. No, no, it’s just, it’s just crops.

(0:33:44) Al: There are two kinds of fertilizer. There is wet fertilizer and dry fertilizer.

(0:33:49) Al: Yep, I don’t know why they chose the word wet. I do not enjoy that.

(0:33:55) Al: Dry fertilizer speeds up the growing. Wet fertilizer keeps it watered.

(0:34:00) Codey: That’s the choice. Are these things that you get from the animals?

(0:34:04) Al: No, so you craft them from weeds. Oh yeah, let’s talk about, let’s talk about, so around your farm,

(0:34:11) Al: obviously you have weeds and stones and trees and these things come back.

(0:34:14) Codey: Mm-hmm

(0:34:14) Al: They come back super quickly, like, oh, my word, rocks, rocks, I got rid of all the rocks from one, like, what is that like a 15 by 10 section I got rid of all the rocks from there, and then the next day I have nine rocks, nine rocks spawning in this small section in a day, it is so hard.

(0:34:19) Codey: Hey, that’s that’s realistic, I mean maybe not like the rocks no

(0:34:42) Codey: Nature is healing.

(0:34:44) Al: To get rid of all this stuff and it’s like you have to like basically concrete over your farm if you don’t want these things to spawn. There’s so many of them.

(0:34:52) Codey: I mean, it’s the rocks are plentiful in this spit a land, you know, they just love each other and

(0:34:59) Codey: they’re making their rock babies. Yeah. What are you using like the rocks and the all that for?

(0:35:02) Al: It’s just it’s not I feel like you could half it and it would still feel like a lot

(0:35:11) Al: Very little there’s like some crafting things, but it’s like path like I’m I’m using the stone to create path

(0:35:19) Al: to stop stone spawning

(0:35:22) Al: In my in my crafting thing I can see like I can use the stone for some path

(0:35:27) Al: I can use the WID for some path. I can use the WID…

(0:35:32) Al: …for fences and that’s it. You do use the stone in the WID for house upgrades, but I do not care about it. Why would I care about house upgrades?

(0:35:38) Codey: Mm hmm. Because you want a bigger house.

(0:35:44) Al: Why? It doesn’t do anything. I never spend any time in my house. You can’t put anything there.

(0:35:48) Codey: Doesn’t matter. When after a good hard day’s work, you want to come home to things.

(0:35:56) Codey: Merica. Yeah, I don’t know. It sounds like this game is like half-baked. Okay. Okay.

(0:35:59) Al: Yeah, so it’s bizarre. Oh, for sure, for sure. Speaking of half-baked, let’s talk about the shop.

(0:36:07) Al: Oh, this is the worst part of the game. I just noticed I did the groan and I typed,

(0:36:16) Al: that was apparently my top bullet point on this list. That was accidental.

(0:36:18) Codey: What is the, how do you say that, the way that you typed it, ugh, okay.

(0:36:26) Al: So, first of all, you have to…

(0:36:29) Al: Use up stamina to sell things in the shop, which, considering you cannot replenish your

(0:36:36) Al: stamina with your crops, you have to buy energy things. That is such a weird choice, especially

(0:36:42) Al: as you don’t use up stamina to do anything to do with your animals. To milk your cows,

(0:36:46) Codey: I will say my animals give me life every day, so that coming out net pause net.

(0:36:48) Al: pet your cows, feed your cows, no stamina loss. Sewing seeds does not have stamina.

(0:36:58) Codey: Okay, that’s a lie.

(0:36:59) Al: But selling at the shop does?

(0:37:00) Codey: Maybe, maybe they’re introverted.

(0:37:04) Codey: Social interaction is hard.

(0:37:07) Al: It’s not fun. Let me put it that way, right?

(0:37:10) Codey: Social interaction is hard.

(0:37:15) Al: I’m at the point in my farm where I have so many crops that I can only ever go to my shop

(0:37:20) Al: on a rainy day. Because I run out of stamina by the end of my farming.

(0:37:26) Codey: - Yeah, is there, wait, my brain is potato.

(0:37:29) Codey: Can you upgrade your stamina?

(0:37:30) Codey: Like increase your, the amount of?

(0:37:31) Al: I don’t know, because there’s no number on it, there’s just a bar. And it does say that I’m

(0:37:38) Al: upgrading my level, but I don’t know if that upgrades my stamina or not. Hard to know,

(0:37:44) Al: because there’s no transparency there. Okay, so you go in and you say you have like four counters,

(0:37:55) Al: you can put one stack of items on each counter. And then you go, right, I’m opening the shop now,

(0:38:00) Al: You can do it once per day.

(0:38:01) Al: You can spend as much time as you want doing things and then you go to your shop and you open the shop and when your shop closes, it’s night time.

(0:38:16) Al: That is how this works, which I think is an interesting way of doing things.

(0:38:20) Al: It has not been implemented particularly well here. It’s not particularly interesting in this game, but it is an interesting idea.

(0:38:27) Al: That is what I will say.

(0:38:28) Codey: OK, props for the idea, not for the execution.

(0:38:29) Al: Sorry.

(0:38:32) Al: Yes, so you open your shop and then these random village creatures who you never see at any other point in the game.

(0:38:41) Codey: Yeah, I was gonna that was my next question.

(0:38:42) Al: They come in. Where do they come from? I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Don’t question it.

(0:38:49) Al: So they pop into the shop and you can have like an infinite line of these creatures coming in as long as you still have stamina and you still have items on the counter.

(0:39:01) Al: And they will go, they’ll wander around and they’ll pick something up, some number of one of your items and they will take it to you and they will either be like, “I want to buy this.”

(0:39:10) Al: Or they’ll be like, “I maybe want to buy this.” If they want to buy it, you click the button, you sell it. Great.

(0:39:17) Al: If they’re not sure, you get to convince them. And what you can do is you can either say, like, you can choose one of three things. You can either do like the middle one.

(0:39:27) Al: one, and if it’s more likely.

(0:39:31) Al: Or is the normal likelihood of them selling, and you get the normal amount of money?

(0:39:36) Al: If you choose the higher one, there is less likelihood of them buying,

(0:39:40) Al: but you get more money, and if you choose the lower one, you get less money,

(0:39:44) Al: and there’s a higher chance of them getting it.

(0:39:46) Codey: Does it sound like that’s how it works?

(0:39:47) Al: Sounds like an interesting idea, right?

(0:39:50) Al: Except…

(0:39:53) Al: Just sell it the next day.

(0:39:55) Al: Why would I ever choose anything other than the top one?

(0:39:59) Al: Because I have a chance of getting more money.

(0:40:01) Al: And if I don’t sell it, I will sell it the next day.

(0:40:02) Codey: Yeah.

(0:40:04) Codey: Yeah.

(0:40:06) Al: There is no reason whatsoever to ever choose the lower one.

(0:40:08) Codey: Yeah.

(0:40:11) Al: I can just sell it the next day.

(0:40:12) Codey: Yeah.

(0:40:14) Al: This is not a problem.

(0:40:16) Al: I don’t understand.

(0:40:17) Al: This is the most half-baked idea for a shop I have ever, ever seen.

(0:40:22) Al: I don’t, I don’t understand it.

(0:40:22) Codey: Also, just imagining, just imagining like being in a shop

(0:40:27) Codey: in the real and having someone look at the price tag and they

(0:40:30) Codey: come up and they’re like, I don’t know. I don’t know if I

(0:40:31) Al: So, well, the lower behind it is they say, “Oh, you’re right, here’s a tip.”

(0:40:34) Codey: want this. How in the hell are you convincing them to spend

(0:40:37) Codey: more money on it in the end?

(0:40:45) Codey: Oh,

(0:40:47) Al: That is the lower behind this.

(0:40:48) Codey: Okay. Okay, and then.

(0:40:50) Al: But also like all of the dialogue options are bad, right?

(0:40:53) Al: Because what they’ll do is they’ll say like, “Oh, I have, I kid you not, this is the exact

(0:40:57) Al: wording.”

(0:40:58) Al: They’ll come up and they’ll say, “I thought I wanted…”

(0:41:01) Al: It’s such, it’s just like, and I know that it’s probably just like, oh, they’re not native English speakers, but it’s just like, just remove the three times, right?

(0:41:05) Codey: Well, yeah, the three times carrot at a home is like awful.

(0:41:29) Al: and it would sound so much less bad.

(0:41:31) Codey: Yeah

(0:41:31) Al: It’s like, “Oh, you can never have too many carrots.”

(0:41:33) Al: Rather than, “Oh, you can never have too many three-times-carrot.”

(0:41:34) Codey: Yeah

(0:41:37) Codey: I mean, but yeah that I mean even that like you can never have too many carrots like at a certain point

(0:41:43) Al: I mean, it’s not true, but you know that there will be people saying that, right?

(0:41:44) Codey: That’s you can

(0:41:49) Al: Like, you can absolutely believe someone’s saying that in a shop.

(0:41:52) Al: You can never have too many carrots.

(0:41:52) Codey: I, I, I’m going to start saying that just to spite you. Okay, sausage.

(0:41:54) Al: Nobody’s saying, “You can never have too many three-times-carrot.”

(0:42:03) Al: Sausage roll thrice.

(0:42:08) Codey: I want a quartet of sausage, please.

(0:42:09) Al: Carrot thrice, please.

(0:42:13) Codey: Thrice. Okay, the we’re gonna dial it back a little bit because a village creatures.

(0:42:21) Al: I don’t know who they are! They’re humanoid, but like, short. They’re almost…

(0:42:22) Codey: Are they’re human?

(0:42:29) Codey: Okay, but short people are people too, Elle.

(0:42:34) Al: I didn’t call them creatures, the game did.

(0:42:36) Codey: Okay, okay, wait, what, what, what?

(0:42:40) Al: I don’t know. It’s weird. Possibly, possibly. I think they’re meant to be like Harvest Sprites,

(0:42:43) Codey: Is that maybe just a translation issue?

(0:42:48) Al: Because, ironically, the game can…

(0:42:51) Al: Characters in the game that are actually harvest sprites are like your size.

(0:42:56) Al: And the characters that aren’t harvest sprites are harvest sprites size.

(0:43:02) Codey: This is upside down world, opposite land.

(0:43:05) Al: On so many levels, um, yeah.

(0:43:08) Codey: Okay.

(0:43:09) Codey: And are these the like,

(0:43:12) Codey: okay, but you said you never see them elsewhere.

(0:43:14) Codey: Like you don’t, there’s no village

(0:43:16) Al: No

(0:43:17) Codey: or they’re never wandering around Ferret Island.

(0:43:19) Al: No, no, I have never seen them and I’ve played I’ve at least ten errors in it

(0:43:26) Codey: Is the game, is there a mystery

(0:43:29) Codey: as to why you don’t know where they are?

(0:43:32) Al: It does not frame it like that, no.

(0:43:33) Codey: Okay.

(0:43:35) Codey: That was a choice.

(0:43:37) Al: I don’t know where they’re coming from, nobody ever

(0:43:39) Al: questions where they’re coming from, they just are. And there’s

(0:43:43) Al: so many of them and you never see a single one until the minute

(0:43:46) Al: you open the shop and there’s like a stream of them coming

(0:43:49) Al: until you run out of stamina or items.

(0:43:52) Codey: Mm-hmm. That does, that mechanic reminds me of garden paws because you did have a

(0:43:58) Codey: shop in garden paws. There was no like haggling or whatever, but, um, in garden

(0:44:04) Codey: paws, like it was just a line of thi-, of people that come until your shop closes.

(0:44:08) Al: Yeah. It just keeps convincing me that I don’t think there is a good way to make a shop game.

(0:44:15) Al: I just don’t think it’s possible.

(0:44:17) Codey: That’s fair.

(0:44:18) Codey: Oh, they also…

(0:44:18) Al: Mineko got the closest and it only works because it’s like once a week and it’s super short and

(0:44:23) Al: super quick. I don’t remember there being a shop where you’re selling stuff in that.

(0:44:25) Codey: They also did spells and secrets

(0:44:31) Codey: No, no, no, I’m just saying there I was looking to see what other games they’ve done and that is on their list

(0:44:35) Al: Oh, okay. Yeah, so Roca play their their

(0:44:38) Al: publisher.

(0:44:39) Codey: Yeah, oh well why does

(0:44:40) Al: They’re not developer.

(0:44:40) Al: Oh, well, I think they have been a developer, but not for most games that you they’re linked

(0:44:45) Al: to.

(0:44:46) Codey: Okay

(0:44:47) Al: They’re mostly a publisher.

(0:44:48) Codey: They are the developer of this game though

(0:44:49) Al: Oh, they are, are they?

(0:44:52) Codey: Of this one specifically

(0:44:53) Al: Okay.

(0:44:54) Al: Right.

(0:44:55) Al: So they are.

(0:44:56) Codey: Okay

(0:44:58) Al: They were there.

(0:44:59) Al: They’re the second listed developer for spells and secrets.

(0:45:02) Al: So probably not really.

(0:45:04) Codey: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

(0:45:06) Al: They also published the new game.

(0:45:08) Al: It’s called A Game About Digging A Hole, which seems to be getting a lot of traction,

(0:45:12) Al: but they didn’t develop that either.

(0:45:14) Codey: The game about digging a hole.

(0:45:14) Al: It’s all over the internet just now.

(0:45:20) Al: It’s just interesting how hit and miss they seem to be.

(0:45:23) Codey: Mm-hmm.

(0:45:24) Al: They’re publishing Solarpunk as well, which looks really good.

(0:45:27) Codey: The game about digging a hole.

(0:45:28) Al: Have you not seen this yet?

(0:45:30) Codey: Oh, it’s literally called a game about digging a hole.

(0:45:33) Al: It’s called A Game About Digging A Hole.

(0:45:34) Codey: Oh, okay, keep going.

(0:45:36) Al: It’s got very positive reviews on Steam.

(0:45:39) Al: Six days ago, and it has nearly 4,000 reviews on Steam.

(0:45:43) Al: It’s like blowing up.

(0:45:43) Codey: Oh my god, I see it. This is… I would do that. I want to play this.

(0:45:50) Al: It looks really good and people seem to really like it. They don’t seem to have a bar quality

(0:45:53) Codey: Yeah. They’re just the publisher though.

(0:45:58) Al: for their publishing, like some of them are great and some of them are SugarGee Island.

(0:46:04) Codey: Specifically.

(0:46:05) Al: Sorry, this is sounding really harsh. It’s fine. It’s not a terrible game, but I do not know why

(0:46:09) Codey: They’re not batting a thousand.

(0:46:13) Al: I would play this ahead of any farming game ever. That’s the thing. Why would I play this instead of

(0:46:19) Al: of stargy.

(0:46:20) Al: I would not play this instead of Coral Island.

(0:46:23) Al: Why would I play this instead of Fields of Mistria?

(0:46:26) Al: I wouldn’t.

(0:46:26) Codey: - Mm-hmm, that’s fair.

(0:46:29) Al: When I backed this on Kickstarter, I literally backed it saying, “I guess I’m going to cover

(0:46:33) Al: this on the podcast,” like I’m not hating my time playing it, but I’m not like I must

(0:46:38) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I was really. I was really shocked that you’re still playing that when

(0:46:39) Al: be playing it, which weirdly I am doing with Harvest Moon Home Sweet Home.

(0:46:45) Al: That’s what territory we’re in.

(0:46:46) Al: I want to play Harvest Moon Home Sweet Home.

(0:46:48) Al: I don’t want to play Shuku-jiu Island!

(0:46:50) Al: I can’t stop, Cody!

(0:46:55) Codey: I saw it on your thing. Well, you’re almost done. It’s okay. Okay, so these harvest sprites.

(0:47:04) Codey: Never see them except for when they’re buying from you.

(0:47:06) Al: No, so that’s the the harvest sprites are different.

(0:47:10) Al: So these are the what do they call them?

(0:47:12) Al: Forest folk are the ones that buy from your shop.

(0:47:16) Al: The harvest sprites are the ones that you sell stuff to with the like random requests.

(0:47:22) Codey: Okay.

(0:47:23) Al: They’ll be like, oh, I want these things and you can sell it and get more money for

(0:47:26) Al: them, but no harmony.

(0:47:27) Codey: Okay.

(0:47:28) Codey: When you get money, what do you use it on?

(0:47:33) Al: buying more crops to get more money.

(0:47:36) Al: No. So some of the crafting recipes require money.

(0:47:37) Codey: Okay.

(0:47:40) Al: I’m not sure why, but like, well, this is the thing about.

(0:47:47) Al: Some crafting recipes are just items, some are like items and money,

(0:47:51) Al: and they’re weirdly scaled.

(0:47:53) Al: So the first upgrade to the watering can

(0:47:53) Codey: Mm hmm.

(0:47:55) Al: that makes it go from one by one to three by one, that costs you just two thousand

(0:47:58) Codey: Mm hmm.

(0:48:01) Al: five hundred sugar dew.

(0:48:02) Codey: Okay.

(0:48:03) Al: The next upgrade, so it was $2,500, $2,500.

(0:48:06) Al: The next upgrade, $25,000, that is a massive, massive increase for the next one.

(0:48:07) Codey: Mm hmm.

(0:48:10) Codey: Seems legit.

(0:48:15) Al: And that’s all it is. There’s no items, no nothing. Just 25,000 sugar juice, which I

(0:48:22) Al: currently, I’m 10 hours in the game and I have 10,000 sugar juice. And I’m finding it really hard

(0:48:28) Al: to go above 10,000 because you then like sell a bunch of stuff and then you have to buy a bunch

(0:48:32) Al: more or you have to go around the animals for 10 hours.

(0:48:33) Codey: Yeah, yeah.

(0:48:36) Al: To get the free seeds it feels like there’s a hump at 10,000 and the second upgrade would

(0:48:43) Al: actually massively help you because it would speed you up doing things and you can do other

(0:48:46) Al: things as well as just watering. I don’t know it just it feels weirdly scaled. It’s not a massive

(0:48:52) Al: issue right because if you’re enjoying the game you’re just going to continue doing what you’re

(0:48:56) Al: enjoying in the game and you’ll get to that number and that’ll be fine. So any other questions about

(0:49:01) Codey: okay uh can you decorate it

(0:49:02) Al: by the shop. I have

(0:49:06) Al: not seen anything about decorating it though. Not as far from what you can upgrade it,

(0:49:08) Codey: so you can’t like change anything in the shop

(0:49:13) Al: but that just gives you more counter spaces. And the upgrade is like 200,000 for the first

(0:49:15) Codey: okay

(0:49:22) Codey: as is tradition okay so take care of your animals and your farm sell your goods to the forest folk

(0:49:28) Codey: upgrade your island, fulfill small orders, is that all this game

(0:49:31) Codey: has? What?

(0:49:32) Al: Well there’s also romance, I hesitate even mentioning this right, I’ve, so my last bullet

(0:49:42) Al: point in this, what do they want from this stupid feature, it’s worse than fae farms.

(0:49:47) Codey: That’s a bar.

(0:49:49) Al: There are four characters that you can romance, they are all the harvest sprites, which first

(0:49:54) Al: of all, that’s weird.

(0:49:56) Al: Why would you romance the harvest sprites?

(0:49:58) Al: I know you can do that in like some harvest moon games, but it’s like a side thing, it’s

(0:50:03) Al: you can go and romance the harvest goddess because some of you are weird freaks, right?

(0:50:08) Codey: Yep.

(0:50:08) Al: Like I get that, that’s fine.

(0:50:11) Codey: Yep.

(0:50:11) Al: Have I been tempted to do that in a harvest moon game before?

(0:50:13) Al: Yes, yes I have.

(0:50:14) Al: These ones look like children, right?

(0:50:18) Al: This is the first point, why are the only four characters in the game that you can romance

(0:50:22) Al: weird children looking harvest sprites, really weird and creepy?

(0:50:25) Codey: Yeah, you also look like a child.

(0:50:29) Al: You do a bit, I get that.

(0:50:31) Al: it all wiver.

(0:50:32) Al: Secondly, the interactions are so wooden. Let me give you an example. I’m currently

(0:50:38) Codey: Okay

(0:50:38) Al: playing the game. I’m walking up to one of the harvest sprites who I don’t even know

(0:50:41) Codey: Okay

(0:50:41) Al: the name of because it doesn’t matter. Oh, they’re not there. Let me go find a different

(0:50:45) Al: one. I don’t know why. They’re not in the place they always are. They are always in

(0:50:46) Codey: And are they where

(0:50:49) Codey: Where are

(0:50:50) Al: this exact same place and now they’re not for some reason. Yes. Let me go find a different one.

(0:50:52) Codey: Same place on the islands or okay. Oh, so there’s like one per island or whatever

(0:50:59) Al: No, it’s not. There’s one that stands next to your shop. There’s one that stands next

(0:51:02) Al: to something else. Why have they all disappeared? Oh, here’s one. Right. So this one is called

(0:51:06) Al: Silvana. I talk to them and they say, “Hello, am I in your way?” And your option to respond

(0:51:15) Al: is OK. You click OK. Interaction is finished. That’s it. I try again and they say, “Hello,

(0:51:20) Codey: And love, how much, look at the love, let it, let it flow out.

(0:51:28) Al: Am I in your way and you say, OK, wait, let me.

(0:51:32) Al: Go find a different harvest and see if there’s something more interesting with that one.

(0:51:37) Codey: Okay. How, how are you, how do you increase your reputation with them or whatever?

(0:51:43) Al: you sell them stuff at the like they have the requests so that increases the friendship and

(0:51:49) Al: bearing in mind I currently have them all at like two out of five this is two out of five flowers

(0:51:53) Codey: Okay. Okay.

(0:51:57) Al: um let me find another one aha this is zephyril I interact with them

(0:52:05) Al: it goes into this they also do this weird thing where it goes into what

(0:52:08) Al: what is finding like a

(0:52:10) Al: Uh, like, uh, it, it.

(0:52:13) Al: Turns into what feels like a cut scene and they say one thing.

(0:52:16) Al: You say, okay.

(0:52:17) Al: And then it goes out the cut scene.

(0:52:18) Al: It’s really weird.

(0:52:21) Al: Very romantic.

(0:52:22) Al: Uh, so they said the Island really draws you in, which by the way, was the only

(0:52:26) Al: thing this person has ever said to me.

(0:52:28) Codey: Mm-hmm.

(0:52:29) Al: And I said, okay.

(0:52:31) Al: All right.

(0:52:32) Al: Here’s Ignis.

(0:52:33) Al: Let’s talk to Ignis.

(0:52:34) Al: Ignis says, ah, my hair, don’t worry.

(0:52:37) Al: It always burns like this.

(0:52:40) Al: They have fire hair.

(0:52:40) Codey: That makes sense. Yeah, Ignis sounds like a fire. Yeah.

(0:52:44) Al: And I say, okay. And then, okay, right, you go and do some of the requests for them,

(0:52:50) Al: you give them stuff and they go and they say, thank you. And you say, okay.

(0:52:54) Codey: Are you are you I mean that that’s probably why there’s so much you take so much stamina to sell stuff

(0:53:00) Codey: You’ve got social anxiety. Maybe you don’t know the language

(0:53:03) Al: Okay, none of this, none of these people are interesting, you never say anything to them.

(0:53:03) Codey: You know

(0:53:07) Codey: Like that

(0:53:12) Al: Maybe if I get up high enough, something else will happen.

(0:53:16) Al: I don’t know.

(0:53:18) Al: Why should I care?

(0:53:19) Al: They’re also all the same model, just with a different color, and one of them has fire

(0:53:24) Al: on their hair for some reason.

(0:53:26) Al: There’s nothing else.

(0:53:27) Al: They don’t, they’re just there.

(0:53:31) Al: I don’t understand this.

(0:53:33) Al: If they add this feature in, it doesn’t make any sense.

(0:53:37) Al: If they had just removed the romance aspect of it, and they existed, and you did stuff

(0:53:41) Al: to them, and they were just mystical harvest sprites that are around the island, which

(0:53:46) Al: by the way, they never walk around, they just stand in one place, I feel like that would

(0:53:50) Al: have been better.

(0:53:51) Al: Why did they feel the need to add romance in?

(0:53:52) Al: I do not understand this obsession.

(0:53:54) Al: When they announced it, they were like, “Oh, this is great, we’re adding in romance, which

(0:53:57) Al: everybody wants.”

(0:53:58) Al: And I’m like, “No, nobody wanted this.

(0:54:01) Al: He wanted this.

(0:54:03) Al: This is bad.

(0:54:05) Al: I think the rest of the game is like, you can take it or leave it.

(0:54:08) Al: You might enjoy it.

(0:54:10) Al: It actually is fine.

(0:54:12) Al: You might have fun in this game.

(0:54:15) Al: The romance is just like actively bad from start to finish and I do not understand why

(0:54:20) Al: you would ever want to do it.

(0:54:22) Al: The requests are fine because it’s like, oh, you get specific things and you get more money

(0:54:26) Al: than you would in the shop.

(0:54:27) Al: I like that.

(0:54:28) Al: That’s good.

(0:54:29) Al: That’s giving you a different way of selling things.

(0:54:30) Al: it gives you it forces you to maybe look at different crops.

(0:54:34) Al: Why? Why romance? It’s a bad romance feature.

(0:54:40) Codey: capitalism. I don’t know it I was trying to look through because because the

(0:54:48) Codey: game’s not out yet there are no Steam reviews so I was trying to look through

(0:54:53) Codey: the community hub to see if there’s any comments on anything they did have an

(0:54:57) Codey: update recently on February 7th but the update literally just was bug fixes so

(0:55:02) Codey: there’s no improvements to like any of what you’re talking about because I mean

(0:55:06) Codey: we could always give them the benefit of the doubt of the fact that this is not

(0:55:10) Al: Yeah, there are some bugs that I’ve not mentioned, because I know that they’re going to be fixed.

(0:55:14) Al: There are bugs that I have encountered that are already fixed, right? Those are not issues,

(0:55:18) Al: right? There are things that they’ve shown that they can do that,

(0:55:21) Al: but it’s just the actual, like, underlying thing of the game is not fun.

(0:55:24) Codey: Mm-hmm the game

(0:55:26) Codey: Yeah

(0:55:28) Codey: Well, and that’s I’m not seeing anything about them like having fixed any of that. So I

(0:55:34) Codey: Tried to give you guys the benefit of the doubt

(0:55:37) Al: I don’t get this. I can see there’s some curators that have reviewed the game, and one of them

(0:55:46) Al: just says, “Super recommended.” And I’m like, “Well, I’m going to ignore you then. You all

(0:55:51) Al: clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.” And one of them says, “Not my cuppa.” And I’m like,

(0:55:56) Al: “Okay, I trust you.” Not to say that nobody would enjoy this thing, I do think that some people

(0:56:05) Al: we’d enjoy this. Right.

(0:56:07) Al: I legitimately do I suspect it’s not people listening to this podcast probably because

(0:56:13) Al: you’re probably listening to a podcast about farming games because you like, you know,

(0:56:18) Al: the interesting parts of farming games and not just the aspect of farming, right? Like

(0:56:23) Al: that is not, let’s be honest, that is not a thing that can do a create a full size game

(0:56:30) Al: that people actually enjoy to play, right? Like if Stardew Valley is not popular

(0:56:37) Al: because it’s a farming game. It is not popular because it has romance. It is popular because

(0:56:42) Al: it is a game that was lovingly created by somebody with a vision. And every aspect of

(0:56:48) Al: it is good. This is a game that jumps on a bandwagon and every aspect of it is meh, except

(0:56:56) Al: the romance, which is actively bad. Why does the character creator have four hair colors?

(0:56:58) Codey: Yeah, so because there are four hair colors in the world, there’s only four hair colors out.

(0:57:07) Al: It’s such a silly thing to point out. I know, it doesn’t matter, but four hair colors?

(0:57:15) Codey: Yeah, the other thing that I just noticed in a thing, and I this is I really want to get your

(0:57:21) Codey: opinion on this. They say that this is the coziest farming game ever. Your thoughts?

(0:57:26) Al: I don’t know what you expect me to see to this, Cody.

(0:57:30) Codey: Yeah, I don’t know. I just saw that on on a

(0:57:32) Al: What does that even mean?

(0:57:35) Codey: it’s gosh, it was on one of the things in the let me find it man.

(0:57:45) Codey: I was just scrolling through all of their stuff on steam trying to find anything. Excuse me.

(0:57:53) Codey: It is on CozyQuest announcement. It’s November 14th, 2024. It’s YouTube video working on the

(0:58:04) Codey: coziest farm shop game ever. And the uh…

(0:58:10) Al: Well there you go, farm, shop. You could make that argument if you want because there aren’t many else.

(0:58:16) Codey: I mean, I think that garden paws did a better job than what you just described.

(0:58:22) Al: I haven’t played Garden Pause, but I would probably rather play it than this.

(0:58:27) Codey: Yeah. Yup.

(0:58:30) Al: I’m not even going to talk about the graphics, because I think graphics is hugely subjective.

(0:58:35) Al: I’m not a huge fan of it personally, but I don’t think I should knock it down for that.

(0:58:40) Al: Different people like different things. You’re going to look at it and decide whether you like

(0:58:44) Al: or not based on the first screen.

(0:58:48) Codey: I guess like is does it seem polished and finished or does it seem

(0:58:54) Al: I mean, I’ve encountered quite a few bugs, some of them have been fixed.

(0:58:59) Al: I lost a chicken once, I went and bought two chickens and then it had a list of my chickens

(0:59:05) Al: and I had two chickens, but there was no second chicken.

(0:59:08) Al: I only had one chicken.

(0:59:11) Al: And it looked like I basically had like, both the chickens somehow had the same name, despite

(0:59:16) Al: the fact that I’d given them second names.

(0:59:17) Al: So it was like it duplicated my first chicken, except that it didn’t, it just duplicated

(0:59:21) Al: it in the list.

(0:59:22) Al: And then one day, I had the

(0:59:24) Al: second chicken. It was there and it existed as a separate chicken.

(0:59:26) Codey: but… he was… he was on a vacation.

(0:59:31) Al: I don’t know why, but they both have the same name still.

(0:59:35) Al: And when I clicked feed all, right, because you go into, like, you click on a menu

(0:59:39) Al: and you click feed all and it feeds all of your animals.

(0:59:41) Al: You don’t actually have to manually feed them.

(0:59:43) Al: You don’t get to manually feed them either.

(0:59:45) Al: Instead of four being removed because I had two chickens and two cows, only three

(0:59:49) Al: wheat were removed from my… So it wasn’t getting fed,

(0:59:52) Al: even though it was on the list.

(0:59:54) Al: So the chicken legitimately didn’t exist, and then it did.

(0:59:59) Codey: - Mm-hmm, bonus chicken.

(1:00:00) Al: Surprised chicken.

(1:00:03) Al: Well, no, because I paid for it.

(1:00:05) Codey: You’re right.

(1:00:06) Al: No bonus chicken.

(1:00:08) Al: Just missing chicken.

(1:00:08) Codey: It’s mystery chicken, chicken of mystery.

(1:00:12) Al: The chicken of my skin.

(1:00:17) Codey: Chicken of mystery.

(1:00:20) Codey: Well, shall that be the end of the ranting of this game?

(1:00:24) Al: Yeah, if you got any more questions, good.

(1:00:27) Codey: No, but I did as I’ve been.

(1:00:29) Codey: Crawling through steam, uh, trying to figure out if there’s any more

(1:00:34) Codey: information on steam, there’s not, uh, there are a few sales going on as part

(1:00:40) Codey: of the couch co-op fest, um, and over cooked to, which I know is not a cottage

(1:00:47) Codey: core game, but I feel like people would really like it is 75% off is only $6.

(1:00:55) Codey: and the game that people like this will like.

(1:00:59) Codey: Where is it? Cult of the Lamb is half off.

(1:01:02) Codey: Uh, but that ends on February 17th.

(1:01:04) Codey: So if you’re listening to this, I’m sorry, but I do want to buy Cult of the Lamb so bad.

(1:01:06) Al: play, play any of those games instead of this one.

(1:01:14) Codey: The one who waits.

(1:01:15) Codey: Oh, there’s a huge bundle that you can get.

(1:01:17) Codey: That’s 38% off right now.

(1:01:18) Al: Cult of the Lamb is a good game. Go play that.

(1:01:21) Codey: I just have money issues.

(1:01:24) Al: Okay, well not you. I’m just talking in general. Do not buy this game. Do not play.

(1:01:28) Al: Well, I mean, okay, I’m not going to say don’t buy this game.

(1:01:32) Codey: I mean, I’m not going to.

(1:01:33) Al: If this game sounds interesting to you, despite everything I’ve said, then go buy it. If not,

(1:01:34) Codey: I’m going to go play Bug at Seek.

(1:01:40) Codey: I will say, if it sounds interesting to you

(1:01:43) Codey: from my scrolling on Steam, they will

(1:01:45) Codey: have a demo available on February 24 on Steam.

(1:01:51) Codey: It’s Windows only.

(1:01:52) Codey: So if you’re interested but you’re not 100% sure

(1:01:55) Codey: and this podcast has clearly and obviously shown you

(1:01:59) Codey: that this is not maybe worth your time

(1:02:02) Codey: but maybe it is, I feel like if people listen to this

(1:02:02) Al: Look, if you want to play this game after what I’ve said, go ahead, please do. I would

(1:02:06) Al: love to hear your thoughts. If you actually like this game, please tell me. I would love

(1:02:10) Al: to hear people who play this game.

(1:02:14) Codey: and they put this recommendation in their hand

(1:02:19) Codey: and then they carry it up to the shopkeeper

(1:02:22) Codey: and they say, I need more convincing,

(1:02:27) Codey: The demo will be available on Steam on February 24th.

(1:02:32) Codey: And then the game comes out.

(1:02:32) Al: need more convincing, you definitely don’t want to play the game. Like, if you still

(1:02:36) Al: aren’t sure, after everything.

(1:02:36) Codey: But that’s the thing.

(1:02:39) Codey: You can convince them, and then they’ll give them extra money.

(1:02:44) Codey: We’ve learned that.

(1:02:46) Codey: We learned that today.

(1:02:48) Codey: I’m also– my partner is visiting me this weekend,

(1:02:51) Codey: and every time he says anything to me,

(1:02:53) Codey: I’m just going to reply with, OK.

(1:02:56) Codey: Because that apparently also works.

(1:02:56) Al: OK. I just clicked on one of them, and apparently I can now ask them to go on a date, so that’s

(1:02:58) Codey: Yeah.

(1:03:02) Codey: » [SOUND] Okay, do you, okay, okay, I believe in you.

(1:03:03) Al: apparently never thing I can do.

(1:03:06) Al: Cody, I’m not going to do it. I’ve closed the game. And I’m updating.

(1:03:16) Codey: There you have it, guys, it’s Sugardew Island.

(1:03:20) Al: All right, I don’t enjoy not liking games and I don’t enjoy talking about them on the podcast when

(1:03:24) Al: I don’t like this, but I can’t pretend that I like this game and I can’t pretend that it did

(1:03:30) Al: anything other than frustrate me.

(1:03:32) Codey: Okay, wait here. Here we go a way to be positive. What are three things that the developers could do to turn your opinion on this game?

(1:03:40) Al: Remove romance. Don’t make it better. Just remove it. You don’t want romance in this game.

(1:03:42) Codey: Okay, well, I also feel like

(1:03:45) Al: You clearly don’t want to implement romance, so don’t do it. Just remove it. Delete it.

(1:03:48) Codey: Yeah, okay, no romance done next

(1:03:53) Al: Add characters into the game. There are only two characters that have any intrigue to me

(1:03:59) Al: whatsoever. The dude who sells you seeds. Where does he come from? Why is he there?

(1:04:04) Al: I need to know his story. I can’t even remember his name.

(1:04:06) Codey: Back story of seed dude, next.

(1:04:10) Al: And there’s an animal that is in the middle tree in Forest Island. There’s like an amalgamation

(1:04:21) Al: of all the other animals. And they’re vaguely interesting. And if I were to continue playing

(1:04:25) Al: it, which I’m not, it would be to find out the story behind that. But I suspect it’s

(1:04:29) Al: not particularly interesting because when you start up, they don’t trust humans. And

(1:04:35) Al: you’re like, “Oh, but I’m just here to help.” And then after a while they go, “Oh, maybe

(1:04:38) Al: you’re here to help.

(1:04:40) Al: And so I suspect that’s the whole story, right?

(1:04:42) Al: It’s like, humans are bad.

(1:04:44) Al: You don’t trust humans.

(1:04:45) Al: Oh, not all humans.

(1:04:48) Codey: #NotAllHuman

(1:04:49) Al: I think that’s the whole story.

(1:04:50) Al: But maybe give more interesting stuff there.

(1:04:55) Al: And I don’t know, it’s hard to– because I feel like the thing that would make it more

(1:05:02) Al: fun to play would be something else, like something in the game, some features in the

(1:05:08) Al: game.

(1:05:10) Al: I don’t think you can make the shop fun, right?

(1:05:13) Al: Like, I just fundamentally don’t think that’s possible.

(1:05:16) Al: So I don’t think I would do anything there.

(1:05:18) Codey: Yeah!

(1:05:18) Al: But I feel like there needs to be something to do.

(1:05:22) Codey: What about like a minigame?

(1:05:24) Al: I don’t think that would make it good.

(1:05:26) Al: Like, my point is, like, I get up, I water my crops, I sell in the shop.

(1:05:32) Al: And they want me to go romance a harvest sprite.

(1:05:35) Al: Like, what else do they want me to do?

(1:05:38) Al: Like the point in Stardew is like

(1:05:40) Al: building relationships with the villagers, you’re trying to make the village better.

(1:05:44) Al: Like yet they say like upgrade the island, but all you’re doing to upgrade is like

(1:05:50) Al: is you’re doing the things and then you get there are animals on the island.

(1:05:52) Codey: what about if each island has the different animals right and you go up to them and they’re

(1:05:54) Al: Right? Like you’re not really getting any advantage from that.

(1:06:04) Codey: like man I want more flowers and so you plant more flowers on that island or something like that

(1:06:09) Al: Sure, there are no flowers in the game, but yeah.

(1:06:11) Codey: but something like that like something where they’re like I want to like this space isn’t good

(1:06:15) Codey: enough for me I want it to be improved and then as it’s improved maybe either they give you more

(1:06:22) Codey: or maybe the animals are willing to like sell seeds to you for way cheaper than the other guy

(1:06:28) Codey: so that maybe the money part gets fixed maybe just the money part actually because if upgrading your

(1:06:36) Codey: shop takes 200k

(1:06:38) Al: I think, I think this is the thing, right? Like this is the problem is that I feel like this game

(1:06:43) Al: was made so that they made a farming game, right? But I would argue you should be making a farming

(1:06:49) Al: game because you want to make a, like you want, you have an idea for what would make a good farming

(1:06:55) Al: game. And I’m not sure what that idea here was, right? Like concerned ape went, I want a good

(1:07:01) Al: farming game. He didn’t say I want to make a farming game. He said, I want a good farming game

(1:07:05) Al: to play. Here are the ideas that I have.

(1:07:06) Codey: Mm-hmm.

(1:07:08) Al: And he went and did it. And every other good farming game that there’s been has gone,

(1:07:12) Al: “These are things that I want to do. This is what I want to do in a farming game.”

(1:07:16) Al: Whereas I honestly think that Roca Play went, “I want to release a farming game because people

(1:07:22) Al: like farming games.” And they didn’t have an idea for what that would actually mean

(1:07:24) Codey: Yeah

(1:07:27) Al: and what would make theirs fun.

(1:07:29) Codey: It does it I mean even the I mean we’ve memed on this game

(1:07:34) Codey: ever since we talked about it because of the name like

(1:07:38) Codey: s blank due Valley or like Island or whatever like just gives

(1:07:45) Codey: It’s just like you’re trying to jump in on the thing and then people might be like, oh, let’s try this one

(1:07:51) Codey: because it’s different than all the other ones I’ve tried and maybe this one.

(1:07:54) Codey: This will be the right one and by that point, like maybe they can’t get their money back or whatever, you know, like, so I’m not sure.

(1:08:03) Codey: Hopefully they will be taking feedback into account and increasing the quality of the game because that is a shame.

(1:08:11) Al: Have you considered making a better game?

(1:08:19) Al: It is a shame, because I don’t like knocking down indies, and I’m sorry, I hope you don’t

(1:08:25) Al: listen to this because you’ll be really sad about what I’ve said, but maybe if you don’t

(1:08:29) Al: want me to say bad things about your game, don’t make a bad game.

(1:08:32) Codey: Yeah. I mean, when you make a thing and release it into the world, you are welcoming feedback.

(1:08:40) Al: Yeah.

(1:08:44) Al: Look, I think there’s something interesting in the “there is no time” and “time only

(1:08:48) Al: progresses when you do a specific thing”.

(1:08:52) Al: I think there’s something interesting there.

(1:08:54) Al: Maybe do something with that.

(1:08:55) Al: That is how I will finish on a positive note.

(1:08:58) Al: I think that’s an interesting idea.

(1:09:00) Codey: There you go

(1:09:01) Al: Now make a good game with that concept.

(1:09:03) Codey: You ruined it

(1:09:05) Al: I think that’s a fun, interesting idea.

(1:09:09) Al: - Bill Stop. - Cody.

(1:09:11) Al: Thank you for joining me. Where can people find you on the internet?

(1:09:11) Codey: Yeah. Of course, of course, I am on Instagram @hikingbeagle, B E E goal. That is where I talk

(1:09:21) Codey: about my dogs and my ADHD. And you’ll always find me yap and about bugs. And then on blue sky,

(1:09:30) Codey: which is just my name Cody Mathis. And that’s where I am still advocating for my neurodiversity,

(1:09:38) Codey: but also government stuff and

(1:09:41) Codey: more more science stuff for sure

(1:09:46) Codey: About you where can people

(1:09:47) Al: find me on this podcast. I don’t care. Go follow me on social media if you want. The links are

(1:09:51) Al: out there. You can follow the podcast on Tumblr @thspod and also on Blue Sky.

(1:09:54) Codey: Oop, I gotta post a photo to the Slack

(1:09:58) Al: Oh. Yeah, this is the longest one since you started doing that.

(1:09:58) Codey: and say you can’t watch this for a week.

(1:10:05) Codey: And if you don’t know what we’re talking about, listeners,

(1:10:07) Codey: you should go on the Slack.

(1:10:11) Al: You can find us at our website, howeverseason.club, where you can send us feedback.

(1:10:16) Al: Tell us why you want to play Sugar Jew Island and why you think it’s a good game, why you disagree with me.

(1:10:23) Al: Please. I want somebody to tell me. Someone. Anyone. Anywhere.

(1:10:27) Al: You can also find links to everything to do with the podcast, including our Patreon, patreon.com/dhspod.

(1:10:33) Al: Go to our Patreon. Support the Patreon. Give me money.

(1:10:37) Al: in exchange of giving me money, I will give you a slack.

(1:10:41) Al: to see Cody’s pictures of things.

(1:10:44) Codey: and this week I am going…I’m gonna post pictures of all of the different…how should I do bugs or

(1:10:54) Codey: bugs or uh cute fuzzy things. Okay I’m gonna post a picture of all the fuzzy things that

(1:11:00) Codey: I have been watching this week which is five. I’ve been watching much this week.

(1:11:06) Al: If you enter the Slack, you can also talk to Cody about Downton Abbey.

(1:11:10) Codey: Oh, yep, correct. I am super excited.

(1:11:16) Al: And you also get access to our Boris podcast episodes.

(1:11:21) Al: When is this episode releasing?

(1:11:23) Al: This is releasing just before, just before, all of a sudden it was a Wednesday.

(1:11:25) Codey: Wednesday, the 19th, the 19th.

(1:11:30) Al: This is in a few days, we will be releasing our Pokemon Day predictions, which me and

(1:11:37) Al: so come listen to us and tell us how wrong we are, because we’ll probably be very wrong.

(1:11:43) Codey: Oh, interesting

(1:11:44) Al: Well, you know, we’re always wrong.

(1:11:47) Codey: Yeah, but it’s always fun to see how wrong you

(1:11:50) Al: And we’re starting to think of the other bonus episodes for the year.

(1:11:52) Al: I’m sure we’ll be having some Eurovision ones.

(1:11:55) Al: I’ve been paying attention to what’s coming, what songs are released.

(1:11:57) Codey: What else people wanted?

(1:12:00) Codey: What did people want?

(1:12:01) Codey: Oh, Bluey.

(1:12:03) Al: Oh, yeah, we need to do the blue one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(1:12:05) Codey: People want a Bluey episode.

(1:12:06) Al: I’ve got three episodes left to watch, and then I’ve watched.

(1:12:09) Codey: Okay, cool.

(1:12:10) Codey: And then we can talk about the currently,

(1:12:13) Codey: what’s already been released,

(1:12:15) Codey: but also what we would love to see in the new season.

(1:12:19) Al: the film. Did you not know? 2027. Bluey film. I know. It really is. Yeah, um, those are coming

(1:12:21) Codey: What?

(1:12:23) Codey: No?

(1:12:27) Codey: So far from now.

(1:12:32) Codey: I’m Graham.

(1:12:35) Al: up. That’s it. Thank you for listening. Thank you for joining me, Cody. I didn’t say Kevin.

(1:12:40) Codey: I’m not Kevin.

(1:12:42) Al: I said, “Cah-o-dee.”

(1:12:45) Codey: It’s always, I always have a blast on this,

(1:12:48) Codey: chatting with you.

(1:12:49) Codey: It’s always fun, for sure.

(1:12:50) Al: Until next time, have a good harvest.

(1:12:52) Codey: Have a good harvest.

(1:12:54) Theme Tune: The harvest season is created by Al McKinley, with support from our patrons, including our

(1:13:04) Theme Tune: pro farmers Kevin, Stuart and Alisa.

(1:13:07) Theme Tune: Our art is done by Micah the Brave, and our music is done by Nick Burgess.

(1:13:12) Theme Tune: Feel free to visit our website harvestseason.club for show notes and links to things we discussed

(1:13:18) Theme Tune: in this episode.

(1:13:28) Al: They’re very fuzzy. How are there so many dogs and cats?

(1:13:30) Codey: uh except for the doberman he’s not that fuzzy

(1:13:35) Codey: these so the cat is my is ann’s cat uh the bunny yeah um but I also watched

(1:13:39) Al: Is that the person who’s over just now?

(1:13:43) Codey: that cat her name is the cat’s name is rocky

(1:13:45) Codey: um we rescued her on she was in the middle of a road

(1:13:50) Codey: a busy four lane road and we drove by and I was like what is that

(1:13:56) Codey: in the road and it was a freaking kitten like a he was she was like four weeks

(1:14:00) Codey: younger and so now she’s probably like eight

(1:14:06) Codey: months old she’s just a goober she’s a big old fluffy goober

(1:14:09) Codey: um and then my dogs are clearly the ones that are mine

(1:14:12) Codey: the doberman’s my tattoo artist’s dog and then the tongue out yorkie

(1:14:16) Codey: is a dog that I just sit um I had her for

(1:14:20) Codey: like five days and then I had her yesterday and then i’m gonna have her

(1:14:22) Codey: tomorrow and then the bunny is i’ve been going and

(1:14:26) Codey: and checking on him twice a day, and he is very cute.