Cat Noises

The Harvest Season

Kev and Jonnie talk about all the latest news

Timings

00:00:00: Theme Tune
00:00:30: Intro
00:02:07: What Have We Been Up To
00:07:08: Game Releases
00:15:57: Game Updates
00:26:23: News Games
00:41:40: Outro

Links

Horticular Release
Go-Go Town Early Access
Southfield Early Access

Sun Haven “1.4” Update
Loddlenauth “Loddlepedia” Update
Song of the Prairie “0.9” Update
Spirittea “Hook, Line & Spirit” Update

Littlelands Gameplay Sneak Peek

Star Birds
Among The Wild
Hotel Galactic
Super Farming Boy
Everholm

Contact

Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot
Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot
Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/

Transcript

(0:00:31) Kev: so
(0:00:32) Kev: stop me if you’ve heard this one before
(0:00:34) Kev: a uh…
(0:00:36) Kev: scottish guy gets sick so he
(0:00:38) Kev: calls up a mexican guy who lives in america
(0:00:43) Kev: and that mexican guy calls a new zealander who lives in australia
(0:00:48) Kev: and uh…
(0:00:49) Kev: and what happens next is actually a podcast that you’re about to hear
(0:00:54) Kev: hello farmers welcome to the harvest season
(0:00:58) Kev: where we talk about supposedly, about Cottagecore games.
(0:01:02) Kev: I’m Kevin, a villain for an owl who is a bit on the sick side, and with me today is…
(0:01:08) Jonnie: I’m Johnny, uh, I’m here, I’m, am I sick? Does being hungover count as being sick? Whatever,
(0:01:14) Jonnie: it’s the same thing. But I’m here. It definitely does not.
(0:01:16) Kev: It doesn’t feel good, I’ll tell you that much. Well actually, I mean, I can’t, I could not tell you, actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been, like, hungover to that degree of feeling sick in the morning.
(0:01:28) Kev: Um, I’m a square, I’m a loser.
(0:01:29) Jonnie: don’t get old that’s all I can say don’t get old
(0:01:34) Kev: Oh, that’s happening regardless!
(0:01:36) Jonnie: Ah.
(0:01:38) Kev: And you know what’s happening regardless? I was talking about the news because we are having another news-centric episode today.
(0:01:46) Kev: As uh, you know, last week we had wholesome summer games, whatever extra, there were like 20 game shows in total I hear.
(0:01:56) Kev: But there was more news that leaked through or whatever, I don’t know, we’re gonna talk about it, because there’s plenty to talk about.
(0:02:04) Kev: Um, other, uh, yeah, but before we get into that, Johnny, what have you been up to over there and Johnny?
(0:02:14) Jonnie: So I’ve been playing a little bit of Starstruck Vagabond, that new game, and, you know, like,
(0:02:20) Jonnie: it’s a bit of a weird one, it’s taking a bit of time to get into, but I like what I’m seeing
(0:02:24) Jonnie: of that so far, and I’ve been playing a lot of RuneScape, and that game is, I don’t know,
(0:02:30) Jonnie: I talk about it all the time.
(0:02:32) Jonnie: I’m just sucked in, it’s like, that game takes over your life, in a bad way, but also a really
(0:02:37) Jonnie: good way.
(0:02:38) Jonnie: I don’t know, yeah, it’s, I’m having a lot of fun with it.
(0:02:38) Kev: Hehe, I was about to say that sounds like a good way to me.
(0:02:44) Jonnie: At the moment.
(0:02:44) Jonnie: Which is, it’s really nice to go back and play a game that you’re nostalgic for, that’s
(0:02:47) Jonnie: had a lot of time and effort put in, and is good.
(0:02:52) Jonnie: So yeah, I’m having a lot of fun kind of going back and having a bit of a fun nostalgia cake
(0:02:55) Jonnie: in RuneScape.
(0:02:56) Kev: Right, right. I mean, yeah, good. It’s it’s comfort gaming right everyone’s got some sort of comfort gaming
(0:03:00) Jonnie: Absolutely.
(0:03:02) Jonnie: Yeah.
(0:03:03) Kev: All right
(0:03:03) Jonnie: What about you, Kev?
(0:03:06) Kev: Speaking of well actually no, it’s probably the opposite of comfort game. You have my Street Fighter 6 where I
(0:03:12) Kev: Get my butt handed to me continuously and repeatedly. I’m not am I good at fighting games, but
(0:03:20) Kev: But I enjoy them nonetheless
(0:03:23) Kev: Street Fighter 6 is in a great place. We got the
(0:03:26) Kev: DLC character recently and a
(0:03:29) Kev: Season 2 of DLC also announced and they’re very exciting characters
(0:03:34) Kev: They’re guest characters from King of Fighters. I’m sure most people listening this don’t understand that at all. You know, that’s fine
(0:03:42) Kev: Bye.
(0:03:43) Jonnie: I heard, and correct me if I’m wrong, but is this the first time that Street Fighter
(0:03:46) Jonnie: is doing the whole guest character thing?
(0:03:50) Jonnie: Is that right?
(0:03:52) Kev: As far as I know, yes, actually.
(0:03:56) Kev: So they do
(0:03:58) Kev: some guest-ish things, especially with their own
(0:04:02) Kev: their own franchise, Capcom. So you can sometimes get costumes referencing other series or whatever, right?
(0:04:10) Kev: Like you can get Ryu in Monster Hunter Armored or what have you.
(0:04:16) Kev: But yes, this is I believe the first time an actual proper character.
(0:04:22) Kev: From outside Street Fighter has joined.
(0:04:25) Kev: And although to be fair,
(0:04:28) Kev: like they are
(0:04:31) Kev: the King of Fighters series is not that different tonally from Street Fighter or aesthetically.
(0:04:38) Kev: Right, like
(0:04:40) Kev: you could say for Americans who know this reference, like you could say Street Fighter’s New York City and
(0:04:46) Kev: King of Fighters is New Jersey just across the river. You just took a bus to get there.
(0:04:52) Kev: So yeah, it’s also not the first time these two franchises have crossed over. They’ve had
(0:04:59) Kev: crossover games in the past, but
(0:05:02) Kev: yeah, it’s exciting stuff. Terry Bogard, people might know him from Smash, he’s got the red hat.
(0:05:10) Kev: I’m excited for him in the game.
(0:05:13) Kev: But yeah, that will be later though. In the meantime, I have been fighting though and getting beat up a lot.
(0:05:22) Kev: In stuff I haven’t been beat up a lot.
(0:05:26) Kev: Disney’s speed storm continues to exist.
(0:05:31) Kev: They came out with the Inside Out season, because Inside Out 2 came out, I guess.
(0:05:37) Kev: It’s fine, I like Inside Out enough, the characters are fine.
(0:05:43) Kev: One interesting thing, for whatever reason,
(0:05:47) Kev: they have stopped doing voices for every character.
(0:05:50) Kev: Now they only pick a tour.
(0:05:52) Kev: I’m also surprised that Disney would be okay with it.
(0:05:56) Kev: I don’t know if that’s because they’re not doing well financially, don’t want to hire
(0:06:00) Kev: people, or maybe they’re just being greedy and just don’t want to put the costs out for
(0:06:04) Kev: all the characters to be voiced.
(0:06:06) Kev: But it’s really odd because that game’s been out for a year and all the characters have
(0:06:10) Kev: been voiced up to this point but now they’re breaking that and it is a bit jarring.
(0:06:14) Jonnie: It’s an odd choice to make.
(0:06:15) Kev: Yeah.
(0:06:16) Kev: Very.
(0:06:17) Kev: Um, yeah, I’m also kind of surprised Disney would be okay with it.
(0:06:22) Kev: Um, because, you know, I assume Disney is very strict about their control and whatever.
(0:06:28) Kev: You know, did you know that Disney Speedstorm is made by Gameloft, the same company that makes Dreamlight Valley?
(0:06:35) Kev: Yeah, it’s wild, um, because, you know, very different games, but I guess they’re doing the Disney part justice, except for the voice thing.
(0:06:47) Kev: thing. But yeah, that’s a…
(0:06:52) Kev: Sure, fun fact for the day. Other than that, a lot of my usual stuff, Marvel
(0:06:57) Kev: Snap, I continue to be trapped and can never escape. Some card games and so on
(0:07:03) Kev: and so forth. But yeah, that’s the most interesting stuff. Now with that said,
(0:07:11) Kev: let’s get into other interesting stuff in terms of news. All right, so we’re kind
(0:07:22) Kev: of got it broken up here per OWL. We’re gonna start off with game releases with
(0:07:28) Kev: launch dates and whatnot. We are going to start off with Horticular. Let me see.
(0:07:33) Kev: What is Horticular? I don’t remember off the top of my head.
(0:07:36) Jonnie: So Horticula is kind of like, to me the aesthetic feels very like rollercoaster tycoon, where
(0:07:43) Jonnie: you’re like building out a garden in that sort of, that sort of style, so it’s, it’s
(0:07:49) Jonnie: slightly bigger in scale and you’re, you’re placing things on a grid, yeah it’s, I really
(0:07:57) Jonnie: like the vibe of this game and it’s coming out going into 1.0 on July 11th which is pretty
(0:08:03) Jonnie: soon and pretty exciting!
(0:08:04) Kev: Yeah, there you go.
(0:08:06) Kev: I do appreciate when the dates are close, you know.
(0:08:10) Kev: Yeah, Johnny pretty much nailed it.
(0:08:12) Kev: Pixel art.
(0:08:14) Kev: There’s a lot going on here.
(0:08:16) Kev: There is indeed looks like actually some sort of story.
(0:08:20) Kev: Yeah, there is a complete story actually.
(0:08:22) Kev: There’s different modes.
(0:08:24) Kev: There’s sandbox creative mode.
(0:08:26) Kev: There’s peaceful and story-less mode.
(0:08:30) Kev: Oh, controller support will be out.
(0:08:32) Kev: They have Twitch integration.
(0:08:34) Kev: I don’t know.
(0:08:36) Kev: They can name or put their names for creatures and stuff like that.
(0:08:40) Kev: That’s always cute. I appreciate Twitch support like that.
(0:08:44) Kev: And mod support.
(0:08:46) Kev: This is a solid 1.0. This is very well rounded.
(0:08:49) Kev: Good for you, Horticular. Thumbs up for you.
(0:08:54) Kev: That is July 11th.
(0:08:56) Kev: Next up, we have Gogotown with an early access date.
(0:09:02) Kev: So that’s not 1.0, that’s not a-
(0:09:04) Kev: Game release, ow.
(0:09:06) Kev: Um, that is June- Oh wow, June 18th. That is like…
(0:09:10) Kev: The day of-
(0:09:12) Kev: It’ll be out by the time people listen to this podcast.
(0:09:15) Kev: Go go town, we’ll be out in early access.
(0:09:18) Kev: Um, for people who don’t remember.
(0:09:18) Jonnie: and go go play it like I’m yeah I’m just like I’m sorry I’m sorry to interrupt here but I’m
(0:09:20) Kev: Yeah!
(0:09:23) Jonnie: so forget excited about go go town like I’m not I don’t like early accesses for most games I don’t
(0:09:29) Jonnie: care I just want to play some go go town god damn tell the people about this game if they’ve forgotten
(0:09:32) Kev: Yup, yup. So, it’s amazing how the first impressions, or at least for me it wasn’t that great, but it has turned around.
(0:09:34) Jonnie: because it’s so good
(0:09:44) Kev: So for people who don’t remember, this is a Animal Crossing-like clone, whatever you want to call it,
(0:09:48) Kev: but they put a lot of emphasis on customization and town building and just generally a lot more features like riding vehicles and all sorts of different customization things.
(0:10:02) Kev: They put out a map with time zones and the launch times for each time zone, that’s pretty funny.
(0:10:08) Kev: But they’ve also put out a roadmap of the upcoming development.
(0:10:16) Kev: So, it’ll launch with all your customization and terraforming, unlockable buildings, machines, upgrades, a skill tree basically.
(0:10:26) Kev: You can do automation, single player, and multiplayer will be…
(0:10:32) Kev: or will be at launch of Early Access and it’ll be localized in 10 languages. That’s pretty dang good.
(0:10:42) Kev: Then in July they’ll have a big update where they’ll actually introduce more vehicles and more modes of transportation.
(0:10:52) Kev: Later in September they’ll get a crossover with something, I have no idea what.
(0:10:56) Kev: I actually don’t, that’s not me being quite, everything’s blocked out and I don’t know what.
(0:11:00) Kev: I don’t know what.
(0:11:00) Kev: And then later in November.
(0:11:00) Jonnie: The update’s really great. We’ve done the update, but they’ve like, redacted all of the exciting bits.
(0:11:07) Jonnie: It’s a very funny way of doing an update like this. I’m a big fan.
(0:11:10) Kev: There’s a guy in a suit, that’s the only picture I don’t recognize him, so eh.
(0:11:16) Kev: And then in November, an update called “Industrial Don” which I assume means more automation or more mechanical customizations.
(0:11:28) Kev: But they don’t have any actual details.
(0:11:30) Kev: So yeah, that is…
(0:11:34) Kev: That’s Gogotan Early Access
(0:11:36) Kev: I’m also looking forward to this one
(0:11:38) Kev: I… you know, I’m infamously not big on one Early Access
(0:11:42) Kev: so I don’t know if I’ll pick it up yet
(0:11:44) Kev: but I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled on you guys who are playing it
(0:11:50) Kev: because it looks…
(0:11:52) Jonnie: Yeah, a few interesting things that I picked from the update. So they’ve got a number of features
(0:11:54) Kev: Yep, go for it
(0:11:58) Jonnie: that aren’t yet scheduled but are on their radar. So kind of things that they’re exploring. And
(0:12:03) Jonnie: probably the one that stands out the most is that a player house is on that list. So that’s one of
(0:12:08) Jonnie: the things that I was expecting to have. And it’s interesting that it’s not even on their roadmap,
(0:12:13) Jonnie: which kind of indicates that I guess the focus of the game is going to be a lot more on creating
(0:12:17) Jonnie: your town rather than Animal Crossing which has traditionally been your house and
(0:12:23) Jonnie: terraforming kind of changed that a little bit with with New Horizons so that was just an interesting little little tidbit
(0:12:26) Kev: right
(0:12:28) Kev: Huh, yeah, you’re right. It is that is interesting right because
(0:12:32) Kev: Animal crossing likes usually prioritize the you know personal stuff first, but yeah, this looks more town
(0:12:39) Kev: focused and
(0:12:40) Kev: Your bone house that is interesting, huh?
(0:12:45) Kev: Yeah, okay, that’s that is neat um I’m
(0:12:48) Kev: That said I’m expecting there will be a lot of town customization then probably much more so than Animal Crossing
(0:12:56) Kev: That’s their focus, so that’s cool, and we get the chainsaws. You know so that’s the important thing
(0:13:04) Kev: Speaking of chaotic games
(0:13:07) Kev: Next up we have an early access date for Southfield
(0:13:12) Kev: The wibbly-wobbly as they self-describe themselves physics based farming game where you play as a gumdrop character
(0:13:19) Kev: That will be dropping on June 24th very shortly
(0:13:24) Kev: After this podcast like almost a week
(0:13:26) Kev: after this ish after this podcast drops
(0:13:28) Kev: That’s that’s a good game the trailer
(0:13:33) Kev: looks good very excited for that
(0:13:37) Kev: yeah Southfield another one I that is
(0:13:42) Kev: probably definitely worthwhile in early
(0:13:44) Kev: access is their demos anything to show
(0:13:46) Kev: because they had a you know the worst
(0:13:49) Kev: part of the demos that you couldn’t save
(0:13:50) Kev: but now I’m assuming it’s going to be
(0:13:52) Kev: similar but you can save and so they
(0:13:54) Kev: That makes it way better already.
(0:13:56) Kev: Umm…
(0:13:57) Jonnie: Yeah, it’s just a stupid good month for games, right?
(0:13:58) Kev: It ridiculously sucks.
(0:14:00) Jonnie: Like Horticular, Gogotown, Southfield all look amazing.
(0:14:07) Jonnie: And I think what I like most about this sort of lineup
(0:14:10) Jonnie: of three games is they’re all very distinct, right?
(0:14:13) Jonnie: Like obviously all of them have elements
(0:14:15) Jonnie: that are callbacks to other things, but the, like,
(0:14:18) Jonnie: this is to me an amazing series of games that move away
(0:14:22) Jonnie: from like the Stardew clones and those sorts of things.
(0:14:27) Jonnie: All of these games feel like they’ve got a distinct look.
(0:14:29) Jonnie: You know, we didn’t talk about it with Gogotown,
(0:14:31) Jonnie: but like their aesthetic reminds me very much of like,
(0:14:36) Jonnie: I kind of like Saturday morning cartoons almost,
(0:14:41) Jonnie: is kind of how I described their vibe.
(0:14:43) Jonnie: And it’s not something that a lot of games are doing.
(0:14:46) Jonnie: You know, like I just,
(0:14:47) Jonnie: I think this is a great lineup of games
(0:14:50) Jonnie: for sort of cottage core and exploring and pushing
(0:14:53) Jonnie: in different directions.
(0:14:55) Jonnie: Like, I just think between the three of the…
(0:14:57) Jonnie: three games we’ve just talked about, there’s got to be something in here for just about
(0:15:04) Kev: Oh absolutely, I totally agree right, and it’s like it’s not just now but I think it’s very indicative of where we are in the whole cottage core space, right, because Stardew 1.0 came out in 2016 and I would pretty definitely say that was the start of the cottage core boom, right, where it really became a big genre, not just a very niche thing with like two or three games.
(0:15:28) Kev: And for a good while, it was very Stardew cloning, right.
(0:15:34) Kev: But you’re right, all three of these are off the beaten path so to speak, and different flavors like you said that different people can enjoy.
(0:15:46) Kev: So that is really exciting to see, just in general where the cottage core games are and whatnot.
(0:15:55) Kev: So yeah, a great observation there. Alright then, let’s see here, now we are going to get into some updates for games, the first-
(0:16:04) Kev: being Sun Haven. The 1.4 update is out now. This is the last update to come out before the Switch release.
(0:16:16) Kev: Let’s see here, it includes a new region, the Brinestone Deeps. You can have a kid now, full controller support, yay! Some increased translations and localizations for Mac.
(0:16:34) Kev: Several relationship stuff. Oh, sewers, you can go to the sewers. Yeah.
(0:16:40) Jonnie: And they say that they’ve got a black market launching,
(0:16:43) Jonnie: which sounds kind of cool.
(0:16:45) Jonnie: Like, so for me, like, there’s a,
(0:16:47) Jonnie: it looks like they’re continuing to add a ton
(0:16:49) Jonnie: of awesome stuff to Sun Haven and Sun Haven’s being like,
(0:16:54) Jonnie: it’s perennially like on my list of games
(0:16:56) Jonnie: I really want to play,
(0:16:57) Jonnie: but also it looks like a huge time investment
(0:17:00) Jonnie: ‘cause it just looks so big that I find it very hard
(0:17:00) Kev: Yeah
(0:17:05) Jonnie: to like commit to and like every time I see these updates
(0:17:08) Jonnie: and what they’re adding, I’m like, man,
(0:17:11) Jonnie: it’s interesting and cool.
(0:17:13) Jonnie: Like, I like everything that Sun Haven is doing.
(0:17:18) Jonnie: I’m just very nervous about starting it
(0:17:20) Jonnie: ‘cause it seems like such a deep hole to get into.
(0:17:20) Kev: It right absolutely um yeah oh my gosh I’m just looking at like the cars in the
(0:17:28) Kev: mount you can have there’s some wild stuff in your holy moly
(0:17:31) Jonnie: Yeah, it’s a nuts, nuts game.
(0:17:32) Kev: um yeah um so with this again all that stuff we discussed was free updates to
(0:17:40) Kev: the to the game but included there will also be dropping nine DLC packs which are
(0:17:47) Kev: They’re all cosmetics, furniture.
(0:17:51) Kev: Pets, mounts, clothing, so on and so forth.
(0:17:55) Kev: A lot of them look pretty nice, I will say.
(0:17:58) Kev: You can ride a rocking horse.
(0:18:00) Kev: That’s pretty fun.
(0:18:01) Kev: But yeah, I invite everyone to check out the Steam page.
(0:18:09) Kev: Oh, I guess we should’ve… I forgot! Whoops!
(0:18:13) Kev: As always, we have the transcripts on the website, end links, all this stuff.
(0:18:18) Kev: There you go, Al. Don’t get mad at me anymore.
(0:18:21) Kev: But yeah, there’s, wow, I’m just going down the list.
(0:18:27) Kev: This is a very beefy update for Sunhaven, so…
(0:18:31) Kev: You’re right, this is intimidating.
(0:18:35) Kev: But yeah, again, that is already out now.
(0:18:41) Kev: Let’s see, next up, very close to being out.
(0:18:46) Kev: Lottle knot the the lottle pedia update. Oh
(0:18:50) Kev: It is lotto lotto what is a lot of pedia
(0:18:56) Kev: Let’s see here
(0:18:58) Kev: All the lotto evolutions and
(0:19:01) Kev: Silhouettes for you. Yeah, okay the lotto pedia tracks all the lotto evolutions you found and show silhouettes for ones
(0:19:08) Kev: You’ve yet to discover
(0:19:10) Kev: displays information on abilities for each lotto evolution and the diet required to turn a baby lotto into that form
(0:19:19) Kev: This is yeah, this should
(0:19:20) Kev: Have been in the game already probably any time you’re doing a monster collector, right?
(0:19:27) Kev: also, I didn’t
(0:19:31) Kev: Skins already out. I did I missed that completely. I have got to get this game. I really wanted I might be getting this today
(0:19:41) Kev: I
(0:19:43) Kev: completely missed that but
(0:19:45) Kev: Yeah, no, that’s that’s surprising that they had a whole monster collecting thing and no
(0:19:51) Kev: Encyclopedia pokedex whatever
(0:19:54) Kev: I’m glad they finally got it or it’s coming out relatively soon June 27th
(0:20:00) Kev: This only on Steam it looks like
(0:20:12) Kev: It’s on Steam at least, okay?
(0:20:14) Kev: But yeah, I’ll be looking more at that for myself in a little, but anyways.
(0:20:20) Kev: Now let’s talk about something that’s almost 1.0 out. Song of the Prairie.
(0:20:27) Kev: We are at the 0.9 update. Well, it’s going, it’s been announced.
(0:20:34) Kev: That update will be dropping on.
(0:20:38) Kev: Oh, it’s out now. Okay. All right. Yeah, that’s already out now.
(0:20:42) Kev: They have added Steam achievements. Seven new languages. Leveled six tools. That, that sounds big. That’s past five.
(0:20:52) Kev: They’ve optimized a lot of visual things it looks like.
(0:21:00) Kev: Fixing some bugs.
(0:21:04) Kev: They have
(0:21:06) Kev: recreated the character creation function. Okay, it took me a second there.
(0:21:10) Kev: so they rework.
(0:21:12) Kev: there is a blast update before the full addition, they are talking about it.
(0:21:22) Jonnie: It looks like it, but they didn’t explicitly state that so that there’s still time, right?
(0:21:24) Kev: that is true.
(0:21:26) Kev: we could.
(0:21:27) Jonnie: They might, they might throw it a couple more. You could get a 0.9.1
(0:21:28) Kev: they do say they are going to launch a game test campaign for the coming of full edition.
(0:21:34) Kev: what does that mean?
(0:21:36) Kev: it means that they are going to launch a game test campaign.
(0:21:40) Kev: pain for the coming of void-
(0:21:42) Kev: that mean a game test campaign a game test campaign for the coming of full
(0:21:47) Kev: edition I don’t know what that means okay but but there you go that is again
(0:21:54) Kev: song of the prairie 0.9 update let’s see and next up we have spirit tea not that
(0:22:03) Kev: pokemon but the game spirit tea I know I feel like I’ve made this joke before but
(0:22:07) Kev: That’s okay.
(0:22:10) Kev: We have –
(0:22:12) Kev: No, you’re not catching a Pokémon, but you are catching fish because it’s the hook, line, and spirit update.
(0:22:18) Kev: They added fishing.
(0:22:22) Jonnie: And we love fishing, don’t we kids?
(0:22:22) Kev: Okay.
(0:22:26) Kev: Some? Yes. Yes, we do.
(0:22:28) Kev: I’m looking here just at the –
(0:22:32) Kev: It does look like they put effort in. It’s not just Animal Crossing.
(0:22:36) Kev: There’s a silhouette of a fish and you’re pulling closer to you.
(0:22:42) Kev: That actually looks fairly well done.
(0:22:44) Kev: I don’t know how fun it is, but just visually it does stand out from other fishing mini games or systems or whatever.
(0:22:54) Kev: Alongside fishing, there is sorts of other quality of life and bug fixes.
(0:23:04) Kev: You can toggle how dark it is at night. That’s a good one.
(0:23:08) Kev: added a streamer mode to hide away details about you in smo-
(0:23:12) Kev: obeys quest- I don’t know what that means but that- okay.
(0:23:14) Kev: That’s good. I- oh, oh, oh.
(0:23:18) Kev: Um, some bugs and all sorts of things.
(0:23:22) Kev: Um, yeah, that is-
(0:23:24) Kev: Oh, is that already on? I can’t remember.
(0:23:28) Kev: Uh, yes, that is out now.
(0:23:28) Jonnie: Yeah, spare cheese already out.
(0:23:30) Kev: Uh, again, hookline spirit for spirity.
(0:23:32) Kev: Okay, um, and next up we have-
(0:23:38) Kev: Let’s see a bunch of sort of new games coming out
(0:23:42) Kev: And a sneak peek here first up we’re going to talk about Little Lands
(0:23:46) Kev: Little Lands is… they did a thing with IGN
(0:23:52) Kev: Okay, so it… sorry I’m looking at the video because I didn’t have a chance to look at it before
(0:23:59) Kev: All these characters are cute, they’re very Link’s Awakening-esque, the aesthetic that’s kind of the vibe I feel
(0:24:07) Kev: An isometric…
(0:24:07) Jonnie: Yeah, it’s it feels very it’s that that TV style that they did for links, but the remake of Link’s Awakening, right?
(0:24:14) Kev: Yes, exactly. Yes, that’s a number for yes. That’s the one in general
(0:24:16) Jonnie: Yeah, which is it’s interesting, right? Because I think a lot of people didn’t
(0:24:21) Jonnie: Like that aesthetic for reasons that I don’t fully understand because like I quite like it
(0:24:25) Jonnie: Like I think it’s distinct and for the sort of game that it looks like this is I think that style works
(0:24:32) Jonnie: Very well, like it does a good job of kind of making it clear where you can and can’t
(0:24:37) Jonnie: Also making the world look full
(0:24:39) Kev: Yep.
(0:24:40) Jonnie: And like little ants looks kind of exciting to me, you know where it’s like even if it’s just a little bit of like
(0:24:49) Jonnie: Heavily inspired by Link’s Awakening sort of adventure-ish, you know dialed up farming elements
(0:24:58) Jonnie: 3d camera
(0:25:00) Jonnie: Even like watching the video that you almost get like a little bit of like pokemon vibes not in that it’s catching stuff
(0:25:07) Jonnie: You know, it seems like you are young kid going out on an adventure
(0:25:11) Jonnie: And now i’m just thinking about like a pokemon game with these aesthetics, which I think I’d be really into
(0:25:16) Kev: Yeah, absolutely. I totally see what you mean.
(0:25:18) Kev: Especially like, they show this lake where they’re fishing with a bridge that feels very Pokemon.
(0:25:24) Kev: But I know it does have that feeling of a kid just wandering around this landscape and whatnot.
(0:25:32) Kev: I do get that feeling, right?
(0:25:34) Kev: There is a good bit dash of Zelda inspirations in here.
(0:25:37) Kev: You have a sword, you’re swinging at some enemies.
(0:25:40) Kev: But also a lot of other fun, cutie stuff.
(0:25:43) Kev: they have a fishing rod but you can use the fishing rod in
(0:25:46) Kev: bushes and and all sorts of things. The environments are very, very pretty, I gotta say. It’s
(0:25:53) Kev: all in the same style, right? It’s not like super high fidelity graphics or whatever,
(0:25:57) Kev: but it’s very detailed. There’s a lot of plants and lush backgrounds and stuff like that.
(0:26:02) Kev: Yeah, I’m a big fan of this. That is very cute. Do we have any ETA on? No, it’s to be
(0:26:12) Kev: announced you can wishlist it.
(0:26:16) Kev: Okay so just be- I really encourage people to check this one out, it’s a very very good looking game in my opinion.
(0:26:26) Kev: Okay, next up we have the announcement of Starbirds!
(0:26:34) Jonnie: Starbirds looks so cool. So, Starbirds is from the Dorforomantic devs. Did you play Dorforomantic, kid?
(0:26:42) Kev: No, what is that, do tell.
(0:26:44) Jonnie: So, Dorforomantic is the cozy tile-placement city builder game, so
(0:26:52) Jonnie: if you’ve ever played
(0:26:55) Jonnie: Carcassonne, where you’re kind of like trying to match things on tiles as you sort of place them,
(0:27:00) Kev: Uh-huh.
(0:27:00) Jonnie: that’s what you’re doing in Dorforomantic. It’s just like a great, like,
(0:27:04) Jonnie: if you just want a game that’s just pure vibes, like, there’s no real goal.
(0:27:08) Jonnie: It’s just putting cards down until you run out and kind of, like, building out a large city or a
(0:27:14) Jonnie: bunch of small cities and some forests and, like, it’s a great, like, simple little game.
(0:27:21) Jonnie: I would highly recommend everyone go and play. I’m a big fan of Dorforomantic. And to Starbirds, it seems in a similar-ish
(0:27:29) Jonnie: vibe, so they described Starbirds as a cozy base building and resource management.
(0:27:34) Jonnie: Game. And so it looks like you’re kind of, like, building bases on relatively small planets,
(0:27:41) Jonnie: which just looks very cool. I love the aesthetic that they’re going for that they show in this game. The planet style looks cool.
(0:27:47) Jonnie: I love the idea of, like, cozy base building, you know.
(0:27:51) Jonnie: The resource management side, it will depend how heavy that is, but from what they’re showing, like,
(0:27:56) Jonnie: it doesn’t look like it’s, you know, gonna be an insane resource management thing.
(0:28:00) Jonnie: it’s probably I’m guessing it’s probably just you’ve got to have a thing to collect resources.
(0:28:04) Jonnie: And it will do that over time. And then that would just enable you to go to more surrounding
(0:28:08) Jonnie: planets. So I’m very excited for this one. I think it’s 2025 is all I’ve said in terms of
(0:28:14) Jonnie: the release date. Yeah, I think this looks very cool. Very excited for this one.
(0:28:19) Kev: Yeah, I agree. This might be odd comparison, but looking at the Resource Management, it’s
(0:28:30) Kev: a very cutesy, chill version of No Man’s Sky, what it feels like to me, because you’re placing
(0:28:38) Kev: solar panels and cables and connecting things. And it looks like you can transport stuff
(0:28:43) Kev: between your planets. Oh, this looks good. I really enjoy this sort of resource management.
(0:28:49) Kev: I’m very on board for this. That is against Starbirds coming. No, it’s next year. We gotta
(0:28:55) Kev: wait a while. But that’s okay, because there are too many games right now anyways. Okay.
(0:29:05) Kev: Next up, we have a gi… Wait, is this R.D.? Early Access R.D.? Sorry, I’m just reading
(0:29:13) Kev: this. Next up, we have a game called Among the Wild. Look, I…
(0:29:18) Jonnie: Also known as cozy power.
(0:29:19) Kev: I was about to say that. Look, there’s no getting around it. We got us a Power World
(0:29:26) Kev: clone. Somehow, we already have one. It is a lot cozier. It doesn’t wear its, you know,
(0:29:35) Kev: shoot Pokemon on its sleeve like that. But a lot of similar, like, its first person perspective.
(0:29:43) Kev: You’re running around similar environments. You do. There are weapons. You…
(0:29:49) Kev: You can have an axe and cane and there’s like a spear. It… Yeah, Cozy. Cozy Power World
(0:29:57) Kev: pretty much knocks it out of the park, right? Like, there’s a llama there. It does.
(0:30:00) Jonnie: But this looks AMAZING.
(0:30:02) Jonnie: Like, that, like, while it’s, while it’s technically, uh, like, you could call it a Power Clone,
(0:30:08) Jonnie: this has clearly been in development for a long time, like, with what they’re showing.
(0:30:12) Jonnie: It looks incredible.
(0:30:15) Jonnie: Like all of the, all of the, the, the Pokémon, I’m just gonna call them Pokémon ‘cause that’s
(0:30:19) Kev: Yeah
(0:30:19) Jonnie: basically what they are, they look, they look amazing, they’re so, like, derpy, most of
(0:30:24) Jonnie: the ones that they’re showing, they’re just, like, very funny and, like, all, like, a little
(0:30:25) Kev: Yeah, yeah
(0:30:28) Jonnie: bit too fluffy, which I love.
(0:30:30) Jonnie: Like this whole game just looks stupid.
(0:30:32) Jonnie: I love it.
(0:30:33) Jonnie: I’m so excited for this.
(0:30:33) Kev: Yeah, this
(0:30:35) Kev: Look that black duck looking guy that is just actually a Dragon Quest monster. It’s called the platypunk
(0:30:42) Kev: It looks just like
(0:30:42) Jonnie: - Yeah, yeah, it very much is.
(0:30:45) Kev: It’s the platypunk
(0:30:47) Kev: I like their little
(0:30:49) Kev: What are the Star Wars things? Porgs? Yeah, that’s what they’re called. The little main guy looks like a Porg kind of. Yeah, they’re all very round and derpy looking, these critters. There’s a Rock guy. I don’t know why, but you can throw a Slime guy at another of these Pokemon. I don’t know what’s going on here. But I will say it does look visually like the detail is much more there than Power World. Right? Like
(0:31:19) Kev: Power World was nice enough, right? It was fine. But it was very samey at times, right? Like there’s a lot more details here, like in the towns or even just the gardens and stuff like that. So yeah, that is, that is very that that is what was announced release dates to be announced.
(0:31:39) Kev: Um…
(0:31:40) Jonnie: Yeah, they’re taking signups for their Alpha at the moment, so this one’s, realistically,
(0:31:46) Kev: yeah probably and with I mean clearly they’ve got ambition here right um so yeah I i wouldn’t
(0:31:53) Kev: be surprised by that um all right next uh we have oh my god okay like cozy’s overdone but
(0:32:04) Kev: next on the list is the studio ghibli inspired i’m no stop it you stop it people because
(0:32:16) Kev: blurb just so people can see hotel galactic is a cozy home like they’re starting off with cozy
(0:32:23) Kev: is a cozy management game inspired by studio ghibli’s classic pictures build the tourist
(0:32:28) Kev: destination of your dreams oversee and unite your staff to forge a quirky family and make
(0:32:34) Kev: friends as you explore this wholesomely nostalgic world oh my god like oh
(0:32:42) Kev: I get people love Studio Ghibli, but c’mon people!
(0:32:48) Kev: And it’s always the cutscenes, they always start with the cutscenes just to make sure that you know
(0:32:52) Kev: Look at all the Studio Ghibli, and boy, wow, a lot of this is just legally distinct Studio Ghibli scenes
(0:33:00) Kev: Um, the actual game, um, so I’m looking at it now, it’s, it, how do I describe this?
(0:33:10) Kev: Because I, what’s funny is I, mmhmm, yep, yeah, yeah
(0:33:10) Jonnie: So to me it looks like you’re you’re building a hotel like from a side profile, right?
(0:33:15) Jonnie: So I I what it gave me a similar vibe to is kind of like how you build your ship in. Oh
(0:33:23) Kev: spirit fair
(0:33:23) Jonnie: My god spirit Ferrer, thank you. Yes, like that it was it was almost that sort of vibe
(0:33:25) Kev: yep yep yep excellent
(0:33:28) Kev: yep that that’s an excellent comparison uh…
(0:33:31) Kev: yeah because it’s it’s it’s that’s or or terry of people know that right where
(0:33:35) Kev: you can see on side the rooms
(0:33:38) Kev: all at once uh… yeah that that’s pretty much uh… what it’s going for
(0:33:42) Kev: uh…
(0:33:43) Kev: again that is hotel galactic i
(0:33:48) Kev: I like the concept I do like the concept but just uh…
(0:33:53) Kev: the stuff has been over the
(0:33:54) Jonnie: My initial reaction was exactly the same as yours of like we don’t need more studio Ghibli and then as I was watching it
(0:33:59) Jonnie: I was like, but this one seems pretty good. Like I would probably play this game. So so maybe we do maybe we do
(0:34:04) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I mean but it’s the aesthetic right because like the I’m excited by the concept and the gameplay, but just
(0:34:14) Kev: um
(0:34:16) Kev: Just everyone going after ghibli is
(0:34:20) Kev: I say that but like, you know, manek. I’m just waiting for you or not maneko amika
(0:34:27) Kev: Um, so, you know
(0:34:29) Kev: um
(0:34:30) Kev: Yeah, but uh digress
(0:34:33) Kev: anyways…
(0:34:34) Kev: we have… oh my gosh these names…
(0:34:36) Jonnie: Oh, sorry, before we jump on, Hotel Galactic has kick-started launching in July.
(0:34:40) Jonnie: So if there’s something you’re interested in, keep your eyes peeled.
(0:34:43) Kev: oh thank you that’s that’s a good call um I’m I’m I probably won’t I’m bad at
(0:34:49) Kev: kickstarters but I encourage other people too but there you go next up I
(0:34:57) Kev: look I’m surprised this name has not already been done but here we are we
(0:35:03) Kev: have super farming boy and that is a super farming boy like I just looking at
(0:35:13) Kev: here it’s a little guy who’s flying around and he’s farming while he flies
(0:35:18) Kev: what Oh chain reactions and combos what okay quirky creatures there’s a lot
(0:35:25) Kev: going on with this game it’s
(0:35:27) Jonnie: yeah so it seems to be more action adventure like it’s farming as the basis for action
(0:35:35) Jonnie: adventure like they don’t even use the word cozy in the description of their game so
(0:35:39) Kev: yep
(0:35:39) Jonnie: I don’t even know when we’re talking about it because I thought that was how we defined you
(0:35:42) Jonnie: just do a search for cozy and that’s uh but no it seems like it’s using farming as the basis for
(0:35:47) Jonnie: like a combat uh action adventure i’m trying to think of like exactly what it reminds me of
(0:35:56) Jonnie: but I can’t quite place it.
(0:35:58) Kev: So, I like visually it’s, this is gonna sound weird, but it reminds me of the Amazing World of Gumball, the main characters.
(0:36:09) Jonnie: Yeah. Yeah. No, it does. I see. I see what you’re saying.
(0:36:12) Kev: Or Cuphead, that’s another comparison maybe, obviously not the hand-drawn 2D animation, but it’s a similar sort of style.
(0:36:21) Kev: It’s very, very cartoony. Everything has eyes, you know what, I take that back.
(0:36:25) Kev: Like some of the like the house has eyes and moves around that feels
(0:36:28) Kev: very cuphead esk yeah so it is colorful it is different I will say that right
(0:36:35) Kev: because it like he’s harvesting crops but it’s very dynamic because there’s
(0:36:41) Kev: patterns and like he pulls one out other ones pop out in a chain and it’s
(0:36:48) Kev: interesting and there is sort of like enemies that you have to deal with and
(0:36:54) Kev: and you have to work your way through the upgrades to rescue.
(0:36:58) Kev: I am interested in this. It’s different. It’s very different from a lot of other farming games. I will say.
(0:37:12) Kev: Yeah, that is a super farming game. We again just announced that we’ll be doing an early access- Wait, oh! Is that- Oh! Demo’s already out! You can get a demo right now! How nice.
(0:37:24) Kev: But no release date, I don’t think.
(0:37:28) Kev: Or a tentative release date.
(0:37:30) Kev: But yeah, there you go. Check out Super Farming Boy. Props to them for getting to that name first. I’m surprised no one else did.
(0:37:40) Kev: Alright, next up we have Everhome. Oh goodness. They’re not saying it, but this is more-
(0:37:58) Kev: Ghibli plot. I’m just reading the description here.
(0:38:02) Kev: Lily was spirited away to a mysterious island as her memories fade. Everyone seems to know her and her quest for her missing sister. It’s time to establish a homestead, meet your friendly Everfolks, then learn their secrets and solve the mystery of Everhome.
(0:38:18) Kev: So, we have an isometric looking game. You’re managing chickens. You’re farming.
(0:38:28) Kev: It’s one of those things where it looks like where you plant one thing but you go like 10 crops or whatever. There’s a forest that you wander through with some sort of combat magic spells or something. There’s a lot of fiery sparks going on.
(0:38:46) Kev: It is a- I think the aesthetic is kind of nice. Just the isometric view. But they’re planning a release for 2024. Ooh, a demo is already out.
(0:38:58) Kev: That is nice. Yeah, do you have any thoughts on this one, Johnny? Everhome?
(0:39:04) Jonnie: not really like i’m still just like not I can’t quite see enough of this to like I don’t know
(0:39:10) Jonnie: like it’s not doing anything that I haven’t seen elsewhere and like everything about it looks good
(0:39:17) Jonnie: but in the context of all of the games that we’ve talked about today like i’m not sure
(0:39:21) Jonnie: that this one has anything that feels that distinct about it so i’m just struggling
(0:39:26) Kev: Yeah, no, that’s very fair, right? Like, I agree. I think it looks nice, but it, like you said, doesn’t have anything really sticking out, or, uh, just, you know, uh, making it, differentiating it from all the other ones.
(0:39:39) Kev: It’s kind of the opposite of Super Farming Boy, in that sense, right? Where Super Farming Boy is wild, and, and very clearly what that game’s going for, but, um, but, uh, but yeah, there you go.
(0:39:53) Kev: That was ever home again. There’s demo for that one as well
(0:39:56) Kev: And I think we actually got through all the news. Do you have any other comments or concerns, Johnny or news items I made?
(0:40:03) Kev: I think we actually got through all the news. Do you have any other comments or concerns, Johnny or news items I made?
(0:40:13) Jonnie: I think it’s just like a ton of exciting stuff coming up, right? So like, um, I think the next
(0:40:19) Jonnie: few months if you’re listening to a show like this, like, look around because there’s a lot
(0:40:24) Jonnie: of good stuff coming out or there’s cool demos, like, so just try some of the stuff out, like,
(0:40:28) Jonnie: you know, um, and let us know what you’re thinking about, like, whatever it is that you’re playing,
(0:40:33) Jonnie: because we’re now kind of getting to the phase where there’s so much, um, that’s distinct that
(0:40:38) Jonnie: there’s going to be some really good games that we can’t cover on the show, you know, like there’s
(0:40:42) Jonnie: There’s plenty of games that we haven’t covered.
(0:40:44) Jonnie: You know, I think about a game like Sun Haven, but fundamentally, right?
(0:40:48) Jonnie: Like if you like Stardew and, you know, all of the other clones.
(0:40:52) Jonnie: Like Sun Haven is another one of those, right?
(0:40:54) Jonnie: You don’t need us covering it to tell you that.
(0:40:56) Jonnie: But I think there’ll be some games that we will really wish that we were able to get to on the show that we may not be able to.
(0:41:01) Jonnie: So just love to hear from you guys.
(0:41:03) Jonnie: If you’re playing anything that you’re like, wow, this is amazing.
(0:41:06) Jonnie: Like this worked out really well.
(0:41:07) Jonnie: Like that sort of feedback can help us know what’s worth covering because there’s a lot coming out.
(0:41:12) Kev: Yeah absolutely um it’s it’s fantastic right because like I
(0:41:20) Kev: you know obviously we’ve we’re biased covering these games and listening into the show and
(0:41:26) Kev: whatever but like there’s a lot of studio ghibli a lot of cozy or whatever but the ones that stand
(0:41:31) Kev: out um they’re very very exciting right go-go town we got south field wattle knots lots of good stuff
(0:41:39) Kev: Um, uh, but yeah, there you go.
(0:41:42) Kev: with that, uh, I think we can, uh, we can call it an episode.
(0:41:47) Kev: We got through the news.
(0:41:48) Kev: Um, uh, if you, uh, Johnny, where could people find you on the internet if you want to be found?
(0:41:56) Jonnie: uh no I don’t think I do want to be found uh as always like I i just like you know suggest
(0:42:02) Jonnie: if you can um going to patreon.com/thpspod um support the show get access to the slack
(0:42:10) Jonnie: come and talk to us about what what uh cozy games you’re playing um and how you’re enjoying them so
(0:42:16) Jonnie: it’s a great way to engage you know like with everyone on the show and we’re mostly just in
(0:42:17) Kev: Yes right and like you know obviously we we’re only one show week right and so we
(0:42:19) Jonnie: and they’re talking nonsense about what if we…
(0:42:28) Kev: can only cover X many games in a year right but talking about it on the slack
(0:42:34) Kev: would probably incentivize or incur not incentivize encourage us to to pick up a
(0:42:39) Kev: certain one more right like we’ve had people discuss games on there or bring
(0:42:44) Kev: to our attention stuff, but anyways.
(0:42:47) Kev: Um, yeah, there you go, that’s the, uh, also you get access to the Greenhouse, um, Al’s uh, uh, our premium, uh, podcast about stuff that’s not farming Cottagecore games, um, uh, Al and Cody did one on other games that were nuts that went covered last week, um, but, uh, uh, you can find me @koopaprize on Twitter if you wanna see my personal account, you can find me @koopaprize2 if you wanna see some of my art, or, you can find me @koopaprize2 if you wanna see some of my art.
(0:43:17) Kev: You can find me @rainbowroadradio, a podcast I do with our mutual friend Alex, um, that’s @rainbowmariopod on Twitter, or @rainbowroadradio on most other places, uh, we talk about Mario games, uh, we just recorded an episode about Mario and Luigi, partners in times, uh, where Mario and Luigi team up with their baby selves, um, which, yeah, it’s as weird as it sounds, um, okay.
(0:43:44) Kev: I’m just thinking about like, you know, thinking about
(0:43:47) Kev: that concept now. That’d be really weird to carry your own baby self around.
(0:43:52) Kev: But yeah, go find out how the Mario Bros handled that.
(0:43:56) Kev: Anyways, you can find Al at the Scottbot on Twitter or mastodon.scot.
(0:44:04) Kev: You can find the podcast at THSPod or harvestseason.club, our website, where we have all our links.
(0:44:12) Kev: We have the transcripts. You can provide feedback.
(0:44:14) Kev: Uh, you hit up the Patreon, as Johnny mentioned.
(0:44:17) Kev: Patreon.com/thspod for all that good stuff.
(0:44:20) Kev: Um, uh, thank you, Johnny, for being on.
(0:44:24) Kev: Thank you, Al, for having me on.
(0:44:26) Kev: And until next time, dear listeners, have a good harvest!
(0:44:29) Theme Tune: The harvest season is created by Al McKinlay, with support from our patrons, including our
(0:44:40) Theme Tune: pro farmers, Kevin, Stuart and Alisa.
(0:44:44) Theme Tune: Our art is done by Micah the Brave, and our music is done by Nick Burgess.
(0:44:48) Theme Tune: Feel free to visit our website, harvestseason.club, for show notes and links to things we discussed
(0:44:54) Theme Tune: in this episode.
(0:45:05) Kev: Alright there we go, I did it.
(0:45:08) Kev: You can go die now, hahaha.
(0:45:08) Jonnie: So I realised, when I went to go have a bomb, I obviously muted myself on Zoom, but my local recording, and it’s not that far, so I’m like “I need to warn Al.”
(0:45:13) Kev: Yup, aww it’s sick, there’s, well there’s, we don’t have a greenhouse but we have that
(0:45:22) Jonnie: After the auticular bit…
(0:45:28) Kev: for patria, hahahaha.
(0:45:30) Jonnie: Gross.