Hello everyone!

Today I am pleased to announce the release date for Seeds of Friendship - Early Access! The game will be releasing on March 16th, 2021 @3:00PM EST.

I've made a substantial number of additions over the last month, and I hope to implement many more before the release. One of the most notable additions this release is the character of Speigel Gottwald, a travelling salesman who comes to town on the 3rd and 8th of each month. He operates the Thrift Store in town where he will sell 3 different and random items each visit. Another change is the addition of the bee hive. The bee hive can be used to produce honey by adding sugar to it. To create a bee hive you'll have to catch quite a few bees, as well as a queen bee. Finally, and perhaps the most noticeable change is to the UI. The UI has been mostly overhauled with new images and layouts. They have not all be re-worked yet, but the ones that have been will give you an idea of the direction the others will be headed. The rest of the changes can be seen below and are as follows...

Additions

• New Building - Bee Hive
• New Insect - Bee
• New Insect - Queen Bee
• New Item - Bee
• New Item - Queen Bee
• New Item - Honey
• New Item - Sugar
• New Item - Sugar Seeds
• New Item - Sugarcane
• New Building Type - Produce In Time
• Added Several Original Songs
• Added code to cross-fade songs.
• Added character dialog for Yeti.
• Added character dialog for Iroquois.
• Added character dialog for Abbot.
• Added character dialog for Arthur.
• Added character dialog for Jasmine.
• Added character dialog for Kaitlynn.
• Added character dialog for Theodore.
• Added character dialog for Titus.
• Added character dialog for Victoria.
• Added new character Spiegel Gottwald - Only comes to town on the 3rd and 8th of each month.
• Added new store - Thrift Store (Speigel brings 3 random and different items to sell to town on the 3rd and 8th of each month.)
• Added new Gibberish sound effects for Iroquois.
• Added Loading Screen between scene transitions.
• Added Thrift Store days to the Calendar.
• Added Resolution Selection to the options menu.

Changes

• Multiple UI Improvements (Item Selection, Inventory, Purchase Building Screen, Purchase Animal Screen, Crafting Screen)
• Reduced the default Ambient Occlusion.
• Made it so you can click and hold the "Use" button to continue using a tool, rather than having to click it each time.
• Increased the energy use of the Fishing Pole/Hoe
• Decreased the energy use of the Axe/Hammer.
• Changed the games Task Bar Icon, and Steam .ICO icon.
• Created a new Main Menu that is less cluttered.
• Increased the Thickness of multiple Cel-Shaded materials.
• Increased Players hit-box to reduce body parts going through walls.
• Reduced starting gold to 1k.
• Reduced Animal Happiness Decay from 5 -> 3

Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the second day would skip from Sunday -> Tuesday.
• Fixed a bug where the current held items name wasn't going away while on the Cell Phone.
• Fixed a bug where the "Repair Building" button didn't appear if the repairable building had already been interacted with when the player lacked the required supplies to repair it.
• Removed several trees that were in the River.
• Calendar will no longer error if you fail to pay your bills on time.
• Reduced the length of the "Passed out" message.
• Added a visual effect for using the Hoe.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from skipping dialog.
• Fixed a bug where characters wouldn't start wandering again on a new day.
• Fixed a bug preventing NPC's from moving when the length of their move was equal to 1.
• Fixed a bug where flora would not spawn on the ground.
• Fixed a bug where fauna would spawn underground.
• Fixed a bug where the camera was intersecting with the allowed build area of the players farm.
• Fixed a bug where NPC's couldn't reach their destinations while wandering during free-time.
• Fixed a bug preventing player from walking up stairs with steep inclines.

Thanks for taking the time to read this months update to Seeds of Friendship, I hope to see you on March 16th!

- Adam