Ushi No Tane | https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=blogs&p=updates https://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss PHP-Update Indie Farm'n Game Updates, New Game - Collector's Cove, and Marv's Q3 2025 Fiscal Report https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1739575840 Happy Farm'n Friday! Mr. Fogu's brother stopped by the other night, which is a little unusual for him. Turns out he was there to deliver my Christmas gift that hadn't arrived in time for the holiday - two bare-root rose bushes. Specifically, two Disneyland Floribunda Roses. Oh boy oh boy! I've wanted these uncommon plants for years! I know where they can go, but I need two large pots to plant them. Hopefully, I can find something this weekend after all the white junk melts.

RF: Azuma Candidate Teasers
Marvelous has been promoting little bits of each marriage candidate from Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, which is scheduled to be released on May 30. With 16 candidates to choose from, which is the most compatible with you?

If you haven't seen them yet, check out the teaser trailers over on Youtube:
Bachelors of AzumaBachelorettes of Azuma
Thanks to the recent reveals, I may have changed my mind about the best candidate. Originally, I was going for Murasame, but he might be too dedicated to his sword art-craft. Now, maybe Matsuri is more my type. She's more like Daria and her RAINBOW or like Michelle from HM: A New Beginning. Hmm, I may have a type after all... even Doc is egotistically amazing.

Indie Game Update

The upcoming 1.3 update for prehistoric life sim game Roots of Pacha will include two new marriage candidates. Developer Soda Den revealed this week that a new candidate named Sayra will be included with the ocean-friendly Yakuans clan. The second candidate is Azkel, who belongs to the mountainous Mograni clan. Azkel is, noticeably, much older than other available candidates in the game. Soda Den notes that Azkel was added in response to players' requests for an older romance candidate who may have more life experience and backstory that can be explored as the player builds a relationship. Heck yea! Many of us who grew up with romance aspects in video games would love to see more older candidates included as candidate options.
The colonial-themed life/farm game Echoes of the Plum Grove is now available for download from the Nintendo Switch eShop. The digital version is priced at $19.99, with a launch-week 10% discount.

New Farm'n - Collector's Cove
A new farming and completionist-style game is in the works by indie-developer Voodoo Duck. Collector's Cove is a casual collecting game where players farm, fish, decorate, collect treasure, and explore as they work through filling in the game's compendium to earn the rank of Named Collector.

Travel to various biomes via the friendly sea creature-powered craft, where crops can be grown on deck. The ship deck can be decorated too, so craft the decor and farm plots to match your aesthetics. Different areas will have new fish to catch, either from the farm boat or while exploring islands discovered during your ocean adventures. Catch the rare fish and grow all the crops to fill in the pages of the in-game encyclopedia.
Sounds like a great game for those of us who gotta catch'em all!
Collector's Cove doesn't yet have a release date, but the game did go through a closed playtest recently. You can learn more about the game and add it to your wishlist on the game's Steam Store page:
Collector's Cove | Steam Store

Marv Q3 Report
Marvelous released their Quarter 3 reports the other week, confirming what we already knew: Farmagia was lame.
Overall, sales are down - only about 82% compared to the same period last fiscal year. There have been fewer core consumer game releases during the current fiscal year (April 2024 - March 2025), and those released experienced sluggish sales and failed to meet sales targets.The company was still profitable in its digital/games segment because of strong sales with the discounted release of the BEST Price version of SoS: FoMT in Japan last December, along with other online sales. This is an improvement over the last fiscal year, which had a negative profit because of game development costs if I remember correctly.The arcade game segment and music/video segments had higher sales compared to the previous fiscal year, though profit was slightly down.The Board adjusted the company's fiscal year forecast due to the uncertainty of the release date for a "consumer game" that eventually had its release pushed to the next fiscal year. Most likely, this is Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, which has a release date of May 30. Marvelous' current fiscal year ends March 31 and begins anew on April 1, 2025.The Board's previous sales forecast was based on a range between 29 and 32 million Yen. Because of the poor performance of previously released titles, the Board adjusted the anticipated sales range of its current fiscal year to be on the lower side of this range: 27 million Yen. This new adjustment will be profitable because of promotions of high-profit margin and older titles with little to no operation cost (e.g., the BEST collection FoMT and maybe RF 3/4 SE, Sakuna, etc.). Another adjustment was with their stock dividend payout. Originally estimated at a high of 33 Yen per share, this dropped to 10 Yen per share. Ouch.Because of the ongoing poor performance, the current President of Marvelous, Suminobu Sota, is resigning at the end of the fiscal year. Starting in April, the company President will be Shinichi Terui, a current executive with experience at SEGA and Atlus. Suminobu will still be around as an executive officer, just not the president of Marvelous. Two unnamed executives will also receive a 10% cut in pay.
Marvelous in Japan is trying to boost sales by heavily discounting several digital games on the eShop for Valentine's Day. This sale ends Feb 26 (Japan Time):
Bokujou Monogatari Harvest Moon (a.k.a., HM BTN) = 25% off (Ps4)Deadcraft = 80% off (SW, Ps4, Ps5 - it does have some zombie farming...)Farmagia = 40% off (Ps5) and 20% off (SW)Rune Factory 3 Special: 63% off (SW)Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town = 62% off (PS4 and SW)
We also have Piczle Cross: Rune Factory coming out next week (February 20), though it is published by Rainy Frog and developed by Score Studios.

Couch Co-op Steam Sale
For those who enjoy farming with friends, several co-op games are on sale until February 17 (Monday) at 10:00 am Pacific time:
Big Farm Story = 60% offBunhouse = 40% off
Crop Chronicles = 60% offEverafter Falls = 20% off
Harvest Hustlers (i.e., farm-themed Overcooked) = 50% off
Kitaria Fables = 75% off
If you want more bunny farming, the developer of Bunhouse will be releasing Cinnabunny, a cozy baking and farming game, on February 19. Grow wheat and other ingredients to process into baked goods to earn money to cover the costs of moving your whole family to this bunny-friendly village.
Cinnabunny | Steam Store


Until next time

-Cher
(Boooo go away snow...)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1739575840 Fri, 14 Feb 2025 23:30:40 +0000
Gameplay and Relase Date for Sugardew Island, Sandrock Figurines, and Rune Factory Steam Discounts https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1738980886 Happy Farm'n Friday! It did snow this week; the first 30 minutes was the fluffy white stuff, followed by a wintery rain/snow mix that didn't do much. So, there was a lot of huff but not much puff. That's okay with me! I'd rather the snow stay in higher elevations and leave me alone.My current problem is with the plants stored in the garage to protect them from the freezing temperature. The small Jasmine bush and the Dianthus planted in the Turtleque are growing. The new growth is light green since there isn't enough light for photosynthesis in the garage. I've tried reminding the plants that it is sleepy time, but they won't listen.
(Turtleque is an old cast-iron four-legged barbeque grill shaped like a turtle. Lift off the shell to reveal the grill bed, with the coals held in the undershell, which was large enough to grill two hamburger patties. Since we've upgraded our outdoor cooking devices, the turtle-shaped grill is now an outdoor planter. Reuse/recycle kind of thing.)

MTaS Figurines

Pathea revealed this week that a new set of figurines from My Time at Sandrock is now available for order on Amazon. Chibi Nia, Chibi Unsuur with Chibi Captain, Chibi Logan, and Chibi Fang with Chibi X are made of PVC plastic. They range in height from 51 mm (~ 2 inches) for Fang and X, up to 72 mm (~ 2 5/8 inches) for Unsuur and the feline deputy of the Sandrock Civil Corp.
The four-figure set is priced at $49.99.
My Time at Sandrock Series Collectible Figures - Fang, Logan, Unsuur, Nia (4Pcs)

Sugardew Island Release Date

Rokaplay's new shopkeeper and farming game, Sugardew Island, will be released on March 7 and 14. This farm-shop sim has players setting up a quaint homestead after being shipwrecked on a mysterious cursed island.
The island's history starts with the humans and Forest Folk living in harmony, nurtured by the Harmony Tree. Unfortunately, one day, the humans turned to greed. They wanted to chop down the Harmony Tree. This unexpected behavior change scared the animals away - except for one creature whose roar caused magical Thorns of Disharmony to appear to shield the Harmony Tree from the human's wrath. Out of fear, all the humans fled the island, leaving the single beast on the island, lonely and hoping for someone to restore the harmony between everyone.
Players will work to collect Harmony to restore the island and clear away the wild thorns. Selling goods to the Forest Folk who live here and completing tasks issued by the Harmony Tree will also help revitalize the island. Basically, helping others unlocks Harmony.

The tasks the tree offers unlock perks for improving the farm, with the goal of each group to restore the wild animals to the island. Once you collect enough Harmony, return to the tree to complete the task and move the story forward. Animals will return to the island as their task groups are cleared.
The starting tasks are pretty easy. Tasks will require more Harmony the more challenging they become. You can cancel an active Harmony Tree task to choose a different one, but all Harmony earned during the current task will disappear when you switch mid-completion. Ideally, you wouldn't want to switch to a new task while working on an active task, but the option is there.
The game doesn't have an in-game clock; instead, the day simply continues as you work on the farm and in the shop. Actions (tilling, watering, chopping, etc.) will deplete the protagonist's stamina gauge, located in the upper-left corner of the screen; sowing seeds does not use stamina. Eating food or going to bed will restore stamina.

The farm store is where products can be turned into Harmony and Sugardew currency, used for shopping at Tomte the Traveling Merchant, or building and tool upgrades at the farm's workbench. Random Forest Folk will visit the shop, pick up merchandise from the shelves you have set out, and then visit the cash register. Some customers are easy to check out, while others need some persuasion. You can either talk them into paying full price (more Sugardew but less Harmony) or give them a discount (less Sugardew and more Harmony). The shop closes automatically once the last item has been purchased, changing daytime to night. Ringing a customer up will expend stamina.
Going to bed ends the day. However long you want to spend in the daytime or nighttime is up to you. There's no sense of urgency or need to hurry to do anything in this game. You don't even have to open the shop for the day if you don't want to. It's quite chill.
There is a little bit of romance, too. Four elemental spirits live in the area: Ignis (fire), Riva (water), Sylvana (earth), and Zephiro (wind). Building friendships with the spirits is done via daily conversations and the island's bulletin board. The fetch requests posted on the board by the spirits will stay until completed, so there's no rush to finish a task before it vanishes. Complete the task to earn friendship and Sugardew. Bulletin board tasks won't reward Harmony, as that's only earned from goods sold at the farm shop.

Of course there is farming, which is the standard till/sow/water method. The design of the field space is wide open and can be decorated with objects built using the workbench. Seeds can come from Tomte's shop inventory and petting the wild animals that return to the island. The seeds from wild animals are free though, as I've found you can leave the wild animal island and return to collect another bag of seeds by petting the animals. This might be corrected later; for now, exploit the wild animals with head pets! Mwa ha ha...
Harvested crops can then be used for completing bulletin board tasks or sold at the player's farm shop.
The farm animals are easy to care for. Feed them Wheat, and they'll produce a product the next day. Higher friendship simply means more goods produced. Tomte also sells companion pets that can follow as you walk around Sugardew Island. His pet inventory changes daily.
This game was crowdfunded via Kickstarter in April 2024, with an initial estimated release for August 2024. The developer wanted to add a bit more love to their game, moving the release date to March 2025. Overall, it is a cute farming game that feels casual and charming. Rokaplay knows there may be a few minor bugs in the game's early release, which was made available to crowdfund backers earlier this week as a reward for their monetary support.
Sugardew will be available digitally and physically. The digital version will be released on March 7 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Steam, and Xbox One. The physical edition is produced by Silver Lining Interactive and will be out on March 14 for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5. The game plays with either keyboard/mouse or controller, though the controller input method is recommended.
Sugardew Island: Your Cozy Farm Shop | Steam Store

RF Romance Sale
To celebrate the upcoming romantic holiday, Marvelous/XSeed has discounted the Rune Factory games on Steam. These discounts expire on February 12.
Rune Factory 3 Special = 60% off ($15.99)Rune Factory 4 Special = 70% off ($8.99)Rune Factory 5 = 60% off ($15.99)The 60% discount also carries over to the DLC for the above three games. It's a good chance to get your RAINBOW on!


Until next time

-Cher
(Go sportsball!)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1738980886 Sat, 08 Feb 2025 02:14:46 +0000
Natsume 3DS Games for Switch, New Farm'n, Piczle Rune Factory Release Date, and Fae Farm Dev Demise https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1738371446 Happy Farm'n Friday! The cold temperatures won't go away like I've politely asked. It finally rained today, which melted the frozen ice in the bird baths, but now it looks like we might receive some of that nasty white crud from the sky next week. Bah. I enjoyed snow when I was a youngster. It meant school was closed for the day! But decades later, I don't have much love for the stuff. It's just too cold to be comfortable outside. I can wear multiple layers, mittens, a scarf, a hat, etc., and I can still be cold as soon as I walk outside when snow is on the ground. Meanwhile, Mr.Fogu will wear a light jacket and exclaim, "It is not that cold outside!" Ah, to be a warm-blooded person...

HM 3DS Game on Switch

Natsume unexpectedly announced this week that the company's two Nintendo 3DS games, Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (2014) and Harvest Moon: Skytree Village (2016), will be packaged together on "a single cartridge." This grouping will be released as a Natsume Cozy bundle for Nintendo Switch later this summer. The special package will also include all the DLC for both games, as the 3DS eShop shut down in March 2023, making it impossible for anyone with the original cartridge to acquire the DLC they didn't already own. The DLC for Lost Valley included more outfit options, crop and flower seeds, and new marriage candidates Andrea and Luke. The DLC for Skytree Village included farm decorations and new marriage candidates Nova and Gilbert, along with a magnificent Doc statue.
How will 3DS graphics look on a Switch, and how will the second screen be utilized? Not sure yet. While these 3DS games feature the original silver fox Doc (rather than current-day Doc Jr.), this rerelease would be a grand opportunity to upgrade Doc into a marriage candidate! *hint* *hint*
Alas, it probably won't happen, but I can always plead my case.
As the Natsume social fees mentioned "cartridge," I'm assuming a physical edition is coming out, too. We'll learn more about the release and price in the coming months.

New Farm'n - Sky Harvest
Another solo-developed farming game is planned for a quarter 4 2025 release. Sky Harvest is set in an open-world environment called Magica, where the protagonist has been tasked with revitalizing an old, run-down floating farm sky island that belonged to their grandfather a long time ago.

Players will craft tools to improve farm efficiency, build relationships with the townsfolk of Magica, buy and sell farm goods to local shops, and complete quests and missions to explore the town's secrets.
A free demo is available on Steam now. You can learn more about this upcoming farming game on the Steam Store page:
Sky Harvest | Steam Store

Piczle Cross RF
Game publisher Rainy Frog revealed this week that solo developer Scorecard Studio's newest entry into his nonogram series, Piczle Cross: Rune Factory, will be released worldwide on February 20. The game will be available digitally on Nintendo Switch and Steam (with Steam Deck support).

Like the previous game, Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons, players will solve puzzles to reveal pixel-based images. There are 300 individual puzzles to solve, with 20 collage puzzles to clear, which are comprised of 150 individual puzzles that reveal a larger image. Overall, there are 450 puzzles that can be solved on PC: RF. The Story of Seasons game had 359 puzzles: 270 individuals, 5 collages, and 84 individuals that became the 5 collage puzzles once solved.
While PC: SoS had all the puzzles in black-and-white, which turned to color after being cleared, PC: RF allows players to pick from B&W or color during puzzle mode.
This new game also has a puzzle battle mode to take on monsters from the Rune Factory universe. The overall game is themed after Rune Factory 5, so the bestiary will have graphics from the creatures of Rigbarth. Unlock villager profiles from RF3 Special, RF4 Special, and RF5 by solving their puzzles to add their data to the game's encyclopedia. The farm space is also from RF5, which players can customize with monster friends, a marriage candidate, and crops. An in-game record player will also play about 60 tunes from the three games.
The digital game is priced at $11.99 / 1,200円 / £9.99 / €11.99 / $17.99 AUS. Those purchasing the Nintendo Switch version can receive a 10% discount if they already own Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons. Likewise, buying Piczle Cross: Rune Factory on Switch at full price will then reward farmers with a 10% discount on PC: SoS.
Piczle Cross: Rune Factory | Official WebsitePiczle Cross: Rune Factory | Steam StorePiczle Cross: Rune Factory | Nintendo Store

More Plushies

FANS Club will release another set of Bokujou Monogatari merchandise plushies for February at participating game centers and arcades across Japan. This month's three fuzzy-material cows are smaller versions of the BIG-series cows released last November, which included a fuzzy BIG-series chicken. We also have a smaller version of the pink-fuzzy sheep released a while ago. Those interested in acquiring these fuzzballs can eventually find them on eBay, Mercari, and other online marketplaces.
(I don't think I have that chocolate brown cow in fuzzy-form... hmm...)

eShop Supercharged Sale
A "boost your gaming collection" digital sale is taking place on the Nintendo eShop in North America until February 9, but the only farm'n game on sale is Fae Farm with a 33% discount off the game's full price of $44.99. Unfortunately, Fae Farm developer Phoenix Labs has experienced another round of layoffs, with "the majority of the studio" becoming unexpectedly unemployed.
Phoenix Labs was acquired by blockchain firm Forte in 2023 after the game studio separated from its parent company and initial investor, Garena. Forte apparently did not efficiently utilize the studio's talent pool; soon afterward, laying off more than 100 studio employees and canceling a fantasy-themed sandbox game called Project Dragon, leaving the remaining staff to focus support on Fae Farm and the free-to-play monster hunting game Dauntless. Ultimately, the magical fairies couldn't save the developer from Forte.No word yet on what will happen to Fae Farm's online support, as the game does have online multiplayer via Phoenix Lab's hosted servers. Local multiplayer shouldn't be impacted.


Until next time

-Cher
(I really hope it doesn't snow...)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1738371446 Sat, 01 Feb 2025 00:57:26 +0000
Plum Grove Dated for NS, Indie Game Updates, and Azuma Info From This Week's Presentations https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1737770057 Happy Farm'n Friday! Mr.Fogu put the Christmas tree away this week despite my poutful objections. The tree had the last laugh though, as somehow during the endeavor, he scraped his arm up while wrestling with the holiday beast. Had he left the Christmas tree alone, there wouldn't be bandages covering spots of missing skin.
Natsume is hinting at a mysterious announcement next week, which is most likely NOT a DLC option to add Doc as a marriage candidate in Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos. I'm guessing a new series unrelated to Harvest Moon. Some farmers are guessing perhaps trophies or achievements for their previously released titles.
Lately, I've been playing the space exploration game Little Known Galaxy on my Steamdeck. My alien livestock are doing well on the spaceship Fogu McFarmySpace, and I even built some watering bots to take care of the container crops. The game is resource-collection heavy, so it might not be everyone's style of farming game, but I enjoy it. There is also a microbe-hunting function, ship repairs to complete, a few ship-wide social events (I've seen Friendship Day and New Year's is coming up), and a variety of marriage candidates. I'm at a toss-up between the android schoolteacher and another secret candidate. However, there are still new planets to visit that might unlock more crewmember bachelors and bachelorettes. I've avoided looking anything up so as not to spoil the story!

Plums Scheduled for eShop

Unwound Games' papercraft historical farming sim game, Echoes of the Plum Grove, will launch on Nintendo Switch on February 13. Published by indie.io, this tale of building a new life in the colonial town of Honeywood will task players through old-time challenges such as lack of resources, diseases, regularly occurring funerals and weddings (which are GREAT places to accidentally spread a disease...), visiting pirate merchants, and more. Besides fighting for survival above ground, a weird ghost problem underground prevents the dead souls from moving to the afterlife. Time is short, as the protagonist will also eventually perish. If they get married and have kids, the offspring can carry on the ghost-helping work of their parent. The same holds true for the villagers, who will marry each other, have kids, and pass away, building a family generational tree as people are born, marry, and die. And they die, a lot. Build a bond with your chosen candidate before someone else marries them first!
Preorders are available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop. The game is priced at $19.99/ 2200円/ €18.99/ £15.99, but there is a 10% discount until February 21.
Echoes of the Plum Grove | Nintendo (NA) Website
Save data from the Steam version will not transfer to the Switch version.
Future plans for Plum Grove include more villager characters, thunderstorms, custom control options, moods, and more.

Indie Game Updates
Farming and monster raising game Artisan Story will have an alpha access launch in quarter 2 (April, May, and June) of this year. The development group Adventroupe Studio plans to release the game in Early Access in quarter 3 (July, August, and September). The game is available to wishlist on Steam today.
Artisan Story | Steam Store

Timed-challenge farming game Harvest Hills is now out on Steam for $5.99. While the game didn't have a successful Kickstarter campaign, solo developer Yuri remained dedicated to completing their farm management game.
In Harvest Hills, players are given a time limit and a shipping goal. You then click locations on the playfield to direct the farmer to go, queuing up tasks using the mouse. New crops, trees, animals, and upgrades unlock as the levels are successfully cleared. It's a game for those who simply want to click on something for a while - I wrote a short review last June if you want to learn more.
Harvest Hills | Steam Store

RF:GoA Updates
This week, there were two live streams presented for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma - one in Japan with Director Maekawa and JP voice cast, and the other in English with a few of the EN voice cast.

First, a popular farming character and accompanying sidekick will be added to GoA as a collaboration bonus. Marvelous/Edelweiss' Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin protagonist goddess Sakuna and her spirit guardian Tama will be available for download for free after Guardians of Azuma is released in May. It's presumed that Sakuna will live in the autumn village (JP and NA stream footage shows her and Tama surrounded by fall foliage). Sakuna can become friends with the protagonist and join the adventuring party as a battle member. More details about the collaboration will be released later.

Second, the JP stream revealed a plethora of retailer-specific preorder goods in their region. Besides the bundle directly from Marvelous, other retailers offer pins, posters, acrylic standees, promo cards, and keychains. Even a black rain umbrella with the GoA dragon printed on it from Amazon.jp! The more interesting preorder offerings are six special costumes for the Azuma bachelorettes based on the bachelorettes from Rune Factory 4:
Ulalaka wearing Margaret's outfit (Amazon.jp preorders),Iroha wearing Xiao Pai's outfit (Geo preorders),Kanata wearing Amber's outfit (kojima.net, Sofmap, and Bic Camera preorders),Hina wearing Clorica's outfit (Joshin preorders),Matsuri wearing Forte's outfit (Yodobashi preorders), andClarice wearing Dolce's outfit (Rakuten Books preorder).
For previous Marvelous releases in Japan, special preorder outfits were locked behind retailer offerings; players had to buy multiple copies or acquire an unused preorder download code from another player, sometimes offered up on Yahoo Auctions, Mercari, and other second-hand markets.
On the other hand, when the same things appear in North America, they become a DLC. For example, the animal costumes for SoS: Friends of Mineral Town (dog, sheep, cow, chick, and chicken) were retailer-specific preorder outfits in Japan but could be purchased as separate DLC outside of Japan. Even today, players in Japan don't have the option to have all those animal costumes in FoMT unless they get a retailer-specific game code for each one. So, there is a possibility that these outfits could be available as separate DLC outside of Japan.

Third, both online events showed off the romantic bond system used to show affection between the protagonist and the marriage candidates. When interacting with a candidate, choose the "hang out" option to bring up a random group of four choices, such as "talk about monsters" or "play a prank." Safer activities are offered at bond level 1 (small talk, giving gifts, etc.), medium-level activities include taking an afternoon nap together, while serious activities (kissing, hugging, etc.) require a higher bond level for success. If the four options aren't great, a shuffle option will pull four more random activities, though there is a limit to the number of shuffle chances. Selecting an activity rated higher than your current bond level with that person could backfire affectionately.

Bond activities take in-game time; the Marvelous JP presenters were joking about the options until they picked the hugging scene. Gasps abound; it wasn't a quick wrap-and-break moment! The 30 minutes of hugging had lots of gushy dialogs, though the constant rocking back-and-forth of the character models was a little nauseating to me. Over on the EN stream, they went with the share a kiss activity, which doesn't actually show anyone kissing; it's a close up view of the characters with some smoochy sounds.
Guardians of Azuma will be released worldwide on Stream and Nintendo Switch on May 30 (and there still is no game + plushie preorder option, drat...)


Until next time

-Cher
(Overnight freezing temps continue until mid-next week. I'm sure the hydrangeas are tired of being covered in old bedsheets by now.)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1737770057 Sat, 25 Jan 2025 01:54:17 +0000
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Release Date Reveal https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1737172308 Happy Farm'n Friday! This week is a little later than typical, as I had a mid-day doctor's appointment to attend. Gotta do that check-up stuff as one gets older.

RF:GoA Info

Marvelous gave a massive information reveal this week for their upcoming Rune Factory spin-off game, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. The battle-farm game will be released on May 30 on Nintendo Switch and Steam/PC.
The game's goal is to snuggle with the floating wooly; that's my plan anyhow. The actual plot of the game is to take on the role of an Earth Dancer assigned to restore the land of Azuma, which was almost destroyed by a Celestial Collapse. Rebuild the seasonal villages, awaken the nature deities, and revitalize the runes, all while dancing to a funky tune. And if you want to dance to a harder baseline, the game offers three difficulty levels that can be toggled whenever you want to change things up.
According to this week's Weekly Famitsu, while the game has a year period, each village has a designated season rather than changing seasons as the year progresses. Visiting the four villages allows you to experience all four seasons year-round. As there is farming in this game, crops have seasonal preferences and are more productive when grown in the seed's compatible town. For example, rice is ideally grown in the autumn village. Villages also have features, like the volcano hot springs in the summer village.
Dancing also has an influence on the growing crops. As we collect special artifacts, the dances will unlock new bonus farming effects. Dancing with the sacred drum will increase the crop maturity speed, the sacred sword will level up the crop seeds (that can then be planted to grow higher-level crops), and the parasol artifact waters plants en-mass instead of one by one.
Dancing also has other benefits, but keep in mind that shaking 'ya booty spends Rune Points (RP). Using the drum during battle adventures can recover HP; the sword will burn enemies with fire, while the parasol douses with water damage.

It's interesting how the buildings added to the village impact the protagonist's stats. In the videos posted by Marvelous (English Trailer, Japanese Trailer), we can see that protagonist Subaru has +32 in strength, but after placing the Shrine building in the spring village, Subaru's strength stat jumps to +340 because of the +308 bonus to STR attached to the spring village Shrine. Adding the Tori Gate gains +14 in Vitality. The Barn awards +1% in the herding skill, though it looks like this Barn is limited to being placed in either a spring village or an autumn village.
We'll also have to place houses for people to live in, with structures having a capacity limit. The villagers will be divided between each of the four villages (spring, summer, autumn, or winter). These folks have skills that can be assigned (logging, farming, fishing, mining, herding, and shopkeeping) and have a daily upkeep cost. When assigning villagers to tasks, the individual's qualities should be considered. Someone with a Lumber Expert quality might not be the ideal candidate for catching fish. Whereas a villager with a forge quality would be great as a blacksmith, allowing you to craft more powerful weapons.
The videos also delve into combat, presenting lots of pretty moves, whether the protagonist is fighting alone, with a group of three villagers, or in a party of three monster companions. Chipasqueek power! Note that rideable mounts (buffalo, horse, etc.) are included as one of the three monster party companions. Famitsu's article notes that, at first, the party is limited to yourself and three members. The option to have 3 main party members and 3 sub-party members becomes available later in the game for a total of six.
Long-distance fighting with talismans and bows have been added to RF:GoA, which are effective against flying monsters. These weapons can also be used to trigger preemptive attacks. Shots can be fired straight into the air to hit multiple enemies. In the post-article interview, long-time Rune Factory Director Shirou Maekawa notes that this is the first game in the series that takes combat up and down and hopes that players will enjoy using bows and talismans.

There will be "a total" of 16 marriage candidates, including the non-player protagonist. Though here, the trailers between regions vary; in North America and Europe, the protagonists are viewed with same-gender candidates (Kaguya + Clarice and Subaru + Murasameee oh whoa muscles...), but in Japan's trailer, only opposite candidates are shown: Kaguya + Cuilang and Subaru + Pilika. The video also notes that the romance scenes with Cuilang and Pilika are part of the Seasons of Love DLC, a separate download that includes the typical swimsuit attire that comes with recent Rune Factory games. Marvelous USA has images and descriptions of the candidates on the NA website, minus the little buddy sidekick Woolby, who is not a marriage candidate.
RF: Azuma | Characters

Game Reservations
Preorders for RF:GoA are now open; there are a plethora of options, as is the case with Marvelous games:
Japan (Physical)
Switch physical retailer edition (pretty normal, 7678円, about $49)Switch physical edition from Marvelous' Ebten partner online store, which includes the game, a decorative banner, an acrylic art print piece, and a small Woolby (15 cm x 15 cm) pochette bag with a zipper opening on the back and shoulder strap. However, the description on the official website for the JP region doesn't mention any DLC. (15,378円, ~$98.50)

North America and EU (Physical)
Switch physical retailer edition ($59.99 / £41.66 / €49.99)Limited Earth Dancer edition, which includes the game, a CD soundtrack, a 140-page artbook, a replica sacred fan, a Woolby plus keychain, and all four incoming DLC: the festival attire + dark Woolby, the Seasons of Love, some Useful Items, and Rune Factory 4 outfits ($99.99 / £66.66 / €83.32)
There doesn't appear to be a physical game + Woolby keychain option :( That's all I would want...
Digital (NA/EU pricing to be revealed later)
Game only (7698円, ~$49) Season of Love DLC (2200円, about $14)Digital Deluxe edition, which includes the Season of Love, bonus festival attire + dark Woobly, and RF4 protagonist outfits (9328円, ~$60)Premium Digital Deluxe edition that includes the content from the regular Digital Deluxe along with a digital version of the art book and soundtrack (11,528円, ~$74)

Extra Interview
Per the Weekly Famitsu article, Director Maekawa explains their reason for having an Eastern-themed RF game. Marvelous noted that Eastern-style games, such as Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin and Murasama: The Demon Blade, were well-received by players. Another reason is they wanted to try something experimental that was not the typical Western-style Rune Factory game; had they made this game RF6, which is in development separately, it could have caused player confusion.
A few other tidbits from the interview include:

the series has always had a wooly as an unofficial mascot, so this time, they wanted to make an official sidekick/mascot, which is how they came up with Woolby;Hina was originally intended to appear later in the game, but her introduction was moved closer to the beginning;
Director Maekawa liked how the protagonists in Rune Factory Oceans (EN: Tides of Destiny) could marry each other, and it hasn't been used since then, so they took the opportunity to implement that feature;character designs were by someone else and not the series designer Minako Iwasaki;the music is orchestra-recorded and composed by Noriyuki Asakura (Rurouni Kenshin anime, Tenchu video game series, also composed some tunes for Sekiro);and the airship that Hina and Mauro use is modeled after the ship in Rune Factory 4.
Director Maekawa noted in the printed interview that RF was originally intended as a way to add RPG elements to a Bokujou Monogatari game. As more users were attracted to the series, RF drifted back towards BokuMono elements again. Director Maekawa noted he took the opportunity to return the series to its original role-playing roots with this game.

Upcoming Live Streams
To promote the game, both Marvelous JP and Marvelous EU/USA will be hosting over-the-internet presentations:
Japan's will take place on January 22 at 8:00 pm (JT, +9 UTC, or 3:00 am PST) on the company's Youtube channel. Director Maekawa will be joined by several of the game's JP voice actors (Subaru, Kaguya, Woolby, and Hina), along with RF streamer Hira.North America's will take place on January 22 at 8:00 am (PST, -8 UTC) on the Marvelous USA Youtube channel, with host Olvilee May and the EN voice actors for protagonists Subaru and Kaguya.


Until next time

-Cher
(The Christmas tree is still up!)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1737172308 Sat, 18 Jan 2025 03:51:48 +0000
Marv's 2025 New Year's Wish, Discord Channels, January Plushie Cows, and Pacha 1.3 Info https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1736555633 Happy Farm'n Friday! Trying new things for the new year, like a little bit of TLC to improve my office space that I spend a lot of time in daily. Besides swapping out my old bungee cord chair with something more comfortable for my aging butt, it was time to upgrade my old mechanical panda-themed keyboard to a new magnetic (and quieter) keyboard. Kechron also sells a cow keycap, so it was a perfect improvement! Can't go wrong with adding a cow face to smash when I need to press the Escape key.
While removing the Christmas lights makes everything seem more drab, there is a bit of cheer coming this way. The flower bed is teeming with lots of green shoots as the springtime bulbs begin to sprout. Daffodils, allium, and tulips are starting to wake up, ready to show off their pretty petals.
Last summer, a neighbor at the bottom of the hill pulled up all their tulips and other spring flowers from their front yard and offered the bulbs to anyone who wanted them. They planned to plant grass because it was "easier" to care for than flower bulbs. I'm not sure I agree with that logic, but no way I would reject a cart full of flowers that I admire every year! So I walked down with my cart, scooped up the bulbs and foliage, and pulled them home at the top of the hill. The whole cart of bulbs (it felt like 80+ bulbs) were planted on the opposite side of the driveway, and they're all sprouting, too. So it might be dull outside for a few weeks, but soon there will be many flowers to look at.
And since I'm at the top of the hill, the neighbor can still see their flowers as they drive by.

Marv's 2025 Message
Every year, many video game studios in Japan send a New Year's salutation to Famitsu to be published to the company's readers. This year's message from Marvelous appeared on Famitsu's website last week and in this week's Weekly Famitsu magazine.

Happy New Year. Thank you for always playing Marvelous' games.Last year, our new releases were Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus and Farmagia, among others.We'll deliver thrilling and marvelous titles in the coming year. Please wait a little longer for specific details. Thank you for your continued support this year!
How exciting! Maybe this is the year we'll hear about both Story of Seasons games under development.

New Plushies
This month's game center prize from Fans Club are the four styles of SoS: FoMT-inspired cow plushies again: normal, fruit, coffee, and strawberry. This time, they are keychain size! Each plush has a ball chain on top of its head to attach the small squishy bovine to backpacks, car rear-view mirrors, belts, hanging planters, etc. It probably could be attached to keychains, too. These prizes will be available at arcades in Japan starting the third week of January.
Fans Club didn't specify how large these new keychain cows were, but I would guess maybe 6 cm tall (2.25 inches) by 9 cm long (3.5 inches). They're definitely smaller than previous plushie releases. They look like they'd be a similar size to the preorder Strawberry Cow (SoS: FoMT) or the preorder Buffalo (SOS: PoOT).

Natsume Discord
The Harvest Moon publisher now has an official public chat server through Discord. Farm'n fans have a place dedicated to chatting about the mightiness of the great silver-maned Doc. Yeah, okay, maybe there are other topics, too, but Doc should be paramount.
https://discord.gg/xpTHURqQj
Fans of Marvelous' games have had access to the XSeed Games' Discord server for a while, which you can join here:
https://discord.gg/xseedgames

Pacha 1.3 Update
Soda Den released more information about the new content they're adding to the popular prehistoric farming game Roots of Pacha. The spring 2025 release of the 1.3 update will bring two new regions to explore. While players help develop the village of their land tribe, the Pachans, they'll meet members of clans outside of their native territory: the Mograni from the north and the Yakuans from the south. In Pacha, these external visitors set up small campsites near the Pacha village, with the Mograni in the savanna and Yakuans in the beach area. But where are the rest of their clans?
In the 1.3 update, players will finally explore the tundra and tropical island regions where these previously-feuding clans call home. There are new animals and plant seeds to discover, new mini-games to play, and new cultures to experience. Naturally, there will be new Ideas to learn, though what feats of stone age technology those might be are a mystery for now.
Also included in 1.3 is a bug-catching mechanic, which can lead to new cave adventures and line fishing.
The content in 1.3 works with existing save files, so there is no need to start a new game! It might be fun to make a new save game anyway, as there has been a lot of content added since Pacha was released in April 2023 on Steam. This farming game is also available on Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and XBox 1/X/S.
Roots of Pacha | Nintendo eShopRoots of Pacha | PlayStation StoreRoots of Pacha | Steam StoreRoots of Pacha | XBox Store


Until next time

-Cher
(Still packing Christmas away for the year...)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1736555633 Sat, 11 Jan 2025 00:33:53 +0000
Release Date for Cinnabunny and Forgotten Waters Dev Timeline Update https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1735944028 Happy Farm'n Friday and a Happy 2025 to everyone! I hope your holidays have been survivable and pleasant. New Year's Day was the first time in two months I could spend some time doing what I wanted to do - farming, of course! It was kinda nice to play the new DLC for Winds of Anthos without being interrupted by other tasks needing attention. I even started up Animal Crossing for a bit, only to get nagged by everyone how I've been gone for over two years.
Buddy Tom gifted me this cute planter for Christmas. It sits on my desk, blinking, smiling, and blowing kisses. It also gives a crying-face emotion because the planter believes it doesn't have enough light, but the Snake Plant doesn't require a lot of light (or water). The app does have the proper plant type set up, and Snake Plants prefer smaller containers, so this should work out well.
Since it is 2025, this will be the year for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, Piczle Cross: Rune Factory, and Moonlight Peaks from Marvelous and XSeed. I'm guessing Azuma will be released before March 31, the end of Marv's fiscal year, as that was the plan based on the last year-end fiscal report. Marvelous has also started promoting the game on its social media accounts. We're also going to get Sugardew Island and perhaps the 1.0 versions of Fields of Mistria and Snacko. Plus, a lot of other indie-developed farming games coming down the road, like Farlands, Cattle Country, Pixelshire, and more. This year looks to be great for farm'n!
There's not much going on due to the past two weeks of holiday. I expect more farm'n news to ramp up soon!

Cinnabunny Release Date
While not a dedicated farming game, Reky Studio's Cinnabunny will be released on Steam on February 19. This cute game puts you in the role of a bakery bunny tasked with earning enough carrot-money to move your family to Sugar Creek Burrows.



Players must forage for mushrooms, locate easter eggs (literally), mine for salt, and grow ingredients to process into scrumptious bread, cookies, and pies. Befriend the other rabbits of Sugar Creek to learn their taste preferences, then build a bakery inventory to satisfy even the pickiest of buns. Decorate the interior of the bakery residence to make a cozy place to sleep, and even hunt down crazed recycling robots to return them to their rabbit inventor. There is also an aviary photography activity to capture images of over 30 species of local birds. Besides hoping around, players can ride a deer and fly in a bi-plane or hang glider.
The game also supports local co-op, with a split-screen that lets your cuddle bunny play with you.
This game had a successful Kickstarter campaign last April but didn't receive enough funding for a home console port, so this will be a Steam exclusive unless plans change. The one-person developer of the game previously released a game called Bunhouse, a bunny-themed greenhouse gardening game, which is also pretty dang cute. Cinnabunny is along the same lines but with baking + crop farming.
Cinnabunny | Steam StoreReky Studios | Official Website

Forgotten Waters Update
Ducktail Studios has revealed the development timeline for their crowdfunded underwater farming game, Forgotten Waters. Because they received between 65% and 70% of the pledge money for their game, the game's budget had to be adjusted, impacting its planned schedule. Instead of an early access launch in April/May, EA will be closer to the end of 2025, though it may launch sooner. The Nov/Dec timeline is a conservative estimate to ensure Ducktail has a safe development window to ensure a positive early access launch.
Forgotten Waters | Steam Store


Until next time

-Cher
(Alas, what goes up must come down... bye-bye, 2024 Christmas Light Extravaganza...)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1735944028 Fri, 03 Jan 2025 22:40:28 +0000
Home Sweet Home Gets Controller + Cloud Support, Indie Updates, Steam Winter Sale, and HM3 GB Comic https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1734749797 Happy Farm'n Friday! It's cookie-baking weekend! I've planned for a few tried-and-true recipes, but I'm also going to try a new cookie this year called Dresden Slices. It starts with a yeast-based dough, like a stollen, but then has a cream cheese layer on top and sprinkled sliced almonds. I'll put the recipe here if you want to give it a try, too.
I had considered trying my hand at fruitcake this year, but I am lacking a proper fruitcake pan. Alas, I'm sure many cookie recipients are saddened by my missing pan. I bet I could whip up a rock'n fruitcake.
There will be no Farm'n Friday next week (27th), as I have to prepare for a hosted large-group holiday party. It's supposed to be like a pot-luck, but with everyone being wishy-washy about what they wanted to bring, I came up with a sarcastic list of pie dishes to assign to each person. And now they're running with it; one person is bringing an apple pie, another a key lime pie, there's a cherry pie coming, and one group is bringing pizza pies. Maybe I should have picked cakes instead...

HM: HSH Update
When Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home was released back in August, farmers were quick to notice that the game could only be interacted with using touchscreen controls, and the game only had local save support. With the latest 1.3 update to the game, HSH now has support for external controllers and cloud saves.

Switching between touchscreen and physical controllers is via the game's settings. Handling Repeated Actions, such as watering a large area of field crops, is done by holding down the A Button and using your controller's left stick to select the region. While mining, dowsing for hidden in-ground items is triggered by pressing the B Button, and the digging using the A Button. It is also way easier to avoid falling rocks while mining when using a controller than the touch screen, as the falling rock indicator has a directional prompt to press to successfully avoid the debris. Another advantage of controller support while mining is you aren't mass-pounding the ground with the hammer in multiple spots due to the touchscreen activation of the Repeated Actions mode.
The 1.3 update also added seven more achievements that had been missing, bringing the total to 68 achievements:

Adept Angler - complete the fish encyclopedia
Agricultural Scientists - complete the crop encyclopedia
Gourmet - complete the cooked meals encyclopedia
Hawkeye - complete the wild items encyclopedia
Operation: Promote Alba! - complete chapter 6 (this one was missing from the original 61 achievements)
Ore Expert - complete the mined ore/gem encyclopedia
Valued Veterinarian - complete the animal encyclopedia

The game already had an achievement for completing the flower encyclopedia (Garden Guru).
Despite the updates, you still can't ride the horse outside the fenced pasture area.

Indie Game De-developments
The development team for farming game DraeAscaria has pulled the plug temporarily on their game's progress. Crowdfunded back in 2022, Mystfang Media's game plot was about a mage-in-training who started a mentorship under a powerful witch, growing crops for magical potion crafting, solving puzzles, and using spells to battle baddies. The game went through beta testing, but it didn't turn out how the small team envisioned, as they acknowledged the need for outside help. Mystfang announced this week they are pausing development as they gather external funding to hire additional developers. They are graciously offering Kickstarter refunds to backers via their website, though typically when a project is unsuccessful, there is no money to refund.
DraeAscaria | Steam Store

Another game having some development troubles is slow-mode farming game Chill Town. Designed by experienced studio Lo-Hi Tech, this game's development had been self-funded until their successful crowdfunding campaign during the summer of 2023. The game launched in early access on Steam this past March, with the last content update in July. The team admitted they've struggled with funding since the early access launch, as they received less than half of the $49,000 the Kickstarter campaign received. Since then, while their cozy farming game has sold 6000 copies, the income only covered basic living expenses and repayment of existing loan commitments. Lo-Hi Tech's staff is now down to two developers. Despite the setbacks, their goal is to exit early access in Quarter One 2025 (Jan/Feb/Mar).
Chill Town | Steam Store

Steam Winter Sale
Feels like we just had discounts on farming games a few weeks ago, but here we go again! More farm'n game discounts until January 2, 2025. Noooo it is a new year already?! What the snot...

Chill Town (early access): 26% off
Coral Island: 30% off
Cornucopia (early access): 20% off
Critter Crops: 35% off
Doraemon SoS: 50% off
Doraemon SoS: Friends of the Great Kingdom: 30% off
Echoes of the Plum Grove: 30% off
Everafter Falls: 20% off
Fae Farm: 34% off
Fields of Mistria (early access): 20% off
G-Mode Bokujou Monogatari: Life & Love: 20% off
Harvest Moon: Light of Hope: 50% off
Harvest Moon: One World: 50% off
Harvestella: 50% off (and yet still really expensive)
Horticular: 30% off
Immortal Life: 40% off
Little Known Galaxy: 30% off
Moonstone Island: 35% off
My Time at Sandrock: 35% off
Ova Magica (early access): 20% off
Paleo Pines: 55% off
Pathless Woods (early access): 20% off
Roots of Pacha: 40% off
Rune Factory 3 Special: 60% off
Rune Factory 4 Special: 70% off
Rune Factory 5: 60% off
Rusty's Retirement: 30% off
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin: 50% off
Snacko: 20% off
Song of the Prairie: 30% off
Stardew Valley: 40% off
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life: 50% off
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town: 75% off
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town: 65% off
Sun Haven: 55% off
Wylde Flowers: 25% off


HM3 Comic
Here's a newly translated comic drawn by Igusa Matsuyama from the Bokujou Monogatari 3 guidebook published in 2000 by Shogakukan. Ah, that Pete is plotting revenge...



Until next time year!

-Cher
(Chocolate chip, thumb prints, marshmallow fudge, oh boy sugar...)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1734749797 Sat, 21 Dec 2024 02:56:37 +0000
Sugardew Island Romance Added, New Farm'n Game Everholm, and a Few Indie Updates https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1734137169 Happy Farm'n Friday! Earlier this week, Mr.Fogu returned from work and dropped a rhizome on my desk. One of his coworkers grows horseradish and had extra plants to give away. Hmmm, interesting! I've never grown this crop, and I do enjoy a good horseradish sauce. After scouring the internet for university extension information while avoiding AI-generated junk articles, it seems horseradish has an issue with creeping and can become a garden pest when not controlled. Pennsylvania State University notes that this plant will grow from the small piece of cut rootstalk and recommends not using a rototiller anywhere near horseradish to ensure it doesn't spread across the garden. This guy will surely need to be planted in a confined space.
Perhaps I could find space where my container of always-a-disappointment Snowbank Blackberries is currently located. While the white, citrus-like berries are an interesting flavor, the vines simply are not pollinated enough to produce a decent crop. It's a lot of work just for a handful of fully developed berries every year.
I still have a few more craft projects to complete before Christmas, but I finally got some time last weekend to do some video game farming. Specifically, trying to hunt down Dave from the fifth DLC drop for Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos. I found him four times and have had no luck since he sent a mockery letter to my mailbox, challenging me to find him without any clues as to where he might be hiding. Despite searching all over the island of Anthos, which wasted most of my Saturday, I had no luck finding dumbass Camping Dave. So screw you, Dave, I've treasure dig up instead.
And thank you for the kind Christmas light complements ^_^ Such things help dissuade Mr.Fogu from grumbling when I tell him there will be more lights next year!

Sugardew Island New Trailer

During the Wholesome Games Snack digital show this week, publisher Roka Play released a new trailer for their shopkeeper + farming crowdfunded game, Sugardew Island. Initially, Roka was not sure they could add a marriage aspect to their game, but in yesterday's new trailer, they revealed they were able to add it after all. Four nature spirits will be available to befriend and romance, and finally, one of these special people (Ignis, Sylvana, Riva, or Zephiro) will move into the farmhouse.
Roka also noted they are delaying the game a few months to ensure that digital and physical games are released simultaneously, rather than releasing digital first and physical at a later date. The new planned release window is March 2025. The digital release will be on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Steam, and XBox One, while the physical release will be available for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5.

New Farm'n - Everholm

I apologize for missing this cute farming/adventure game that came out last month on Steam! Everholm has you farming, fishing, foraging for wild goodies, and caring for livestock. Seems like a fun little game, but there is more to this little adventure than growing turnips.
While searching for her missing little sister, the game's protagonist stumbles through a magic portal onto this magical island, where everyone knows her, but she doesn't remember them! Lily needs to gain the residents' trust and unlock clues to her sister's whereabouts.
Besides activities found in a typical farming game, there are procedurally generated dungeons to investigate, filled with baddies to defeat and goodies to retrieve. Explore the world to discover the secrets of the darkness and rescue 'lil sister.
Everholm is currently available on Steam, either purchased on its own or offered at a discount price bundled together with a few other known indie farming games, Echoes of the Plum Grove or One Lonely Outpost.
Everholm | Steam Store

Other Indie Updates
Mythical monster transformation game Tales of Seikyu will launch on Steam Early Access in spring 2025. The game recently had a closed beta (Oct 25 - Nov 10), which allowed players to send valuable feedback and suggestions to developer ACE Entertainment.
Tales of Seikyu | Steam Store


To thank his supporters, Mister Morris Games has released a free update to his idle farming game, Rusty's Retirement. This addition brings a new winter-themed Snowy Fields challenge map for players who have passed the Open Range, Flower Swamp, and Sandy Desert maps. The little robots require more biofuel to function in this new cold-weather farm space. There are also new cat and dog pets, farm chickens, and wild deer that can now appear on the new snow map and the Blossom Forest map. A new visiting shop offers crop enhancement microchips, and Rusty now wears a seasonal Santa Hat during December.
Rusty's Retirement is 25% off (only $5.24) until December 18. The game is also included in the Wholesome Games Snack charity bundle, along with the giggly farming game Fae Farm and a few other non-farming games.
Rusty's Retirement | Steam StoreWholesome Snack 2024 Game Bundle | Humble Bundle


New slow-paced farming game Litchi Town by SL Games is inspired by Asian themes and tranquility. Grow over 60 types of crops, raise livestock, decorate the farmhouse, get to know the villagers of Litchi Town, and participate in festivals.
The game is fairly new, so it will be some time before release. A Kickstarter campaign is planned to help with development costs.
Litchi Town | Steam StoreLitchi Town | Kickstarter


Until next time!

-Cher
(A few presents to wrap, two stuffed animals to sew, and I may finally be done with gift shopping. On to cookie baking!)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1734137169 Sat, 14 Dec 2024 00:46:09 +0000
The 2024 Christmas Light Display, Farm Folks Gameplay Trailer, and Indie Farm'n Game Updates https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1733554123 Happy Farm'n Friday! I apologize for the later than usual update this week. The office work employer scheduled a luncheon meeting today, which turned into a four-hour chitchat with everyone and the big boss, who we only see in person once a year.
Anyhow, as promised, here is a short video of this year's finished Christmas light display.
(This is an HTML5 video tag)
The video is sped up a smidgen because it was originally too long, so imagine the fading in/out lights to be a little slower in actuality. The lights on the porch garlands also flickered when filmed. They really are all on!
That inflatable Santa is there because of my weird uncle, who snuck over at night a few years ago and plugged it into the display. If I don't put it up every year, somewhere, he has threatened to come over and add something BIGGER. So Santa ends up in a corner or other odd location out of the way.
In total, it took roughly 88 hours to install 19,328 lights this year. A good chunk of that was remaking the 30 sidewalk wire frame orbs with the new center star design (can't buy those from a big box store!), which I won't need to redo for next year. I hope.
Now that's done, it's farm'n time again!

Farm Folks Gameplay Trailer
As part of the digital OTK Winter Games Expo yesterday, Crytivo released their first gameplay trailer for their farming game, Farm Folks. And it's not quite like any farming game I've seen...

Farm Folks still has, at its core, a farming life sim experience. The game includes high-tech advancements like the watering backpack for caring for the 100 types of crops, while automation systems can be constructed to help players process their farm goods.
There are also villager relationships, including marriage. Ignore a merchant, and you may find that they raise their shop prices. Be mindful of clothing choices to impress the fashion sense of the folks. Impressing a candidate also requires players to design their farm interior to match the aesthetics and tastes of their partner. Fail to integrate their style into your own could jeopardize the relationship.
And if farming gets boring (what?! how!?), players can go on ghost-capturing expeditions with other Farm Folks players. And for fans of extraction shooters, there is a time-travel environment called "Finite," where players jump into a desolate future to extract materials.
It's like the Crytivo devs smashed a variety of their favorite game genres together to make one mega-game they would love to play, hoping that other players will love it too, whether single-player or multi-player mode!
Originally, Farm Folks was a crowdfunded game by studio Overgrown that had a successful campaign back in 2018, with a planned 2019 launch that was delayed. Hardships during development led to the game's publisher, Crytivo, taking control of the project in April 2021. Since then, the few things that apparently are still there from the original 2018 game are 1) farming and 2) the unicorn cow (lol).
Crytivo plans to launch its own crowdfunding campaign for this game early next year. The publisher intends to support the rewards for early adapters who supported the game six years ago.
Farm Folks is planned for a beta release in late 2025.
Farm Folks | Steam StoreFarm Folks | Official WebsiteFarm Folks Campaign #2 | Kickstarter

Indie Farm'n Updates

Kappa Bits, the developer of the cozy town building, farming, and life sim game Pixelshire, announced yesterday that the game's planned 2024 release window has been delayed a little bit. Originally planned for a release by the end of this year, the pixel-based game is now planned for an early 2025 launch, giving the development team more time to ensure the game is complete and fully polished before release. The game will be released in its version 1.0 form, as Kappa Bits opted not to go down the early access road in 2023, having a private alpha with enthusiastic farmers instead. Supported platforms are Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Steam/PC, with physical editions for PS5/SW coming later.
Pixelshire | Steam Store


Video game publisher Playtonic revealed this week that studio Castle Pixel's upcoming country-western farming game for Steam, Cattle Country, will also have a Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 release, both digitally and physically (via Silver Lining Interactive). The company also revealed a new gameplay trailer, with lots of twang, cows, and bandito shootouts.
In this farm'n game, players move to a country town to build their new life. There's farm'n, fish'n, mine'n, hunt'n, and even a bit of romanc'n with up to 18 candidates to woo. Cattle Country is planned for a 2025 release and currently has a free demo available on Steam.
Cattle Country | Steam Store

The Wholesome Snack
Wholesome Games will showcase upcoming cozy and cute games next Tuesday, December 10, at noon (12:00 pm) Pacific Time on their YouTube channel. The Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition will promote over 20 comfy video games, with half being brand-new announcements.
In conjunction with the game trailer reveals, Wholesome Games and Humble Bundle are offering a package deal of one game soundtrack and six cozy Steam games, two of which are farming games: Fae Farm and Rusty's Retirement. The other four games included in this bundle are Little Kitty, Big City; Minami Lane; The Ranch of Rivershire; and Spirit City: Lofi Sessions. A portion of the sales will be donated to the World Central Kitchen global charity organization. This special deal ends on December 25.
A mere $22 will get you all these games, which is a good deal if you were waiting for a discount on the Standard Edition of Fae Farm on Steam ($30). Though this Humble Bundle doesn't include the two DLC packs, Coasts of Croakia and Skies of Azoria, those separate items have been discounted 30% in prior Steam Sales.
Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition | YouTubeWholesome Snack Bundle 2024 | Humble Games


Until next time!

-Cher
(Guess I should start wrapping gifts for the nieces...)
https://fogu.com/hm/index.php?s=news&p=updates&t=1733554123 Sat, 07 Dec 2024 06:48:43 +0000