Homegrown 0.5.0 - UI Overhaul Complete!

Work on the game's UI is done...for now. Over the last month I've been cleaning up all the little UI related loose ends as I prepare to move back to gameplay. I'm pretty satisfied with the result, but there's definitely still room for improvement so I'm sure I'll keep tweaking and adjusting it as I go. For now though, I'm more than ready to turn my focus back to adding gameplay features!

Gamer Tier+ patrons can download and play Homegrown here.

And for Programmer Tier+ patrons the code is available here.

Gamer Tier+ patrons can also try out some simple mod creation here.

Upgrade UI Makeover

First up, I had one more UI panel that needed to be updated to the new style, and that was the upgrade shop. So I gave that a quick makeover and tidied it up a bit. Nothing particularly exciting but it hopefully looks a bit cleaner than before.

This time I experimented with putting a few subtle textured elements around the UI, such as the screws in the corner of the panel. I thought it might be nice to add these decorative touches to make each panel look more themed towards what it's used for, so that the UIs don't end up all looking the same. I'll add more things like this to the other panels in the future.

Miscellaneous Updates

Other than that, it's just been a lot of little tweaks here and there, tidying up loose ends, and just generally bringing the UI update to a close. The biggest changes that I made this month are:

• More Icons: Almost all the icons in the game now have the new style, including all of the seeds. Only the fertilizer icons haven't been changed yet - I'll update them when I work on the upcoming changes to the compost system.

• Descriptions and Stats: All the items in the game have their description and relevant stats shown in the shop.

• Hotkeys: You can now use the number keys to select items in your inventory hotbar.

• Mouseover Tooltips: The item tooltips now show up when you hover over the item with your cursor. No need to right-click.

• Plant Stats: When examining a plant you'll notice the health bar has a new, more compact look. There's also a new second bar showing the growth progress of the plant.

• Tool UI: The visuals for the currently equipped tool UI are now a bit cleaner, especially when displaying the action progress bar.

• Item background colours: Vegetables with star or premium quality have a matching background colour wherever the icon is shown.

• New Trophy: There's a new collectible trophy to purchase from the tool shop.

Upcoming Gameplay Features!

I'm very excited to be finally getting back to gameplay; I've been looking forward to it for a while! The update will be split into two parts, with the first set of new gameplay features being centered around the town area. The three pillars of the gameplay loop are farm-sell-upgrade, and the selling part has been somewhat neglected so far. Therefore, many of the upcoming features will involve new methods of turning your veg into profit. The main ones are:

• Farmer's market: At the end of every in-game week a farmer's market will take place in the town. This will provide a slightly different way of selling your star-quality (gold star) veg for a higher price than you would usually get at the shop. You'll be able to upgrade your stall in various ways to maximize your profits!

• Restaurant task system: Each in-game week the restaurant sets a new menu and requires a specific set of star-quality vegetables! It's totally optional, but if you can fulfil these orders before the week's up you'll receive a sizable payment in return. A good reason to grow a variety of crops on your farm!

• Vegetable Competition: At the farmer's market each week there will be a vegetable competition. Enter your premium-quality (blue star) vegetables for a chance to win a range of prizes!

That's it for this update! Sorry that there's no devlog this time - I wanted to just power through the last few UI updates quickly so that I could get back to gameplay, so I decided not to film this month. I'll start filming for the next devlog tomorrow as I begin work on the town features!

Thank you all for sticking with me through the rather boring UI process over the last 6 months! I'm expecting things to progress a bit faster now that that's all done.

Thanks as always for your support <3

Karl