Vivaio Alpha 4

Welcome to the third devlog of Vivaio! 

This released has been more focused on improving the quality of game (but we have new features, too!). Also, we have fixed all known bugs. We are, for the first time, bug-free. Until someone finds a new bug. That will happen, and we’re ready for it.

We’re making this version available for Linux and Mac for the first time. Expect bugs and things not working, as we don’t have the resources to test if everything works on those versions. If you find anything wrong (or the game doesn’t work at all), tell us and we’ll try to fix it as soon as possible (and before the next official release, if possible).

As always, don’t forget to vote on the next mechanics that we should focus for Alpha 5 (you have the power to choose what you want to be done on the game!): https://trello.com/b/yylzJIvT/vivaio.

Also, if you want to know what we’re working on, you can follow us on Twitter (no more than 2 tweets a week! For real, you can check it): https://twitter.com/VivaioGame.

Here is what we have been working for Alpha 4:

New features

• Cash register log! Yay! Now you will know what have bought Ann from your shop. She seems to like tomatoes! To open the cash register log, just go to the cash register and click it.
• New object: shop box. A cheaper alternative to the shop table, which have been changed (see changes). Shop box costs 50€ and can keep up to 10 products.
• First day box. Grandma knows how hard is to start a farm, so now the game starts with a present near the mailbox. Thank you grandma!
• If you have played enough, you had to suffer from having to destroy seeds to be able to continue playing. Right? Well, time has come: now you can let anything at the floor! Press X or the “throw item” button and… Let’s start flooding everything with letters! It seems like storage may become a bit useless then… But it’s prettier to keep the items at the storage, right? Right??
• Added grass at Farmazon! A pack of 10 grass units for 20€. Can be planted on plowed soil without plants, and sets the floor just as it was before plowing.

Improvements

• Tutorial changed! Now it's awesome. Cristian did a pretty good job.
• Bigger grid! That means that now objects can be placed more freely. Time to make your shop prettier!
• Some sprites have now shadows: player, customers, crops…
• Take/let tools is now smoother.
• Drip bottles now can be taken from a plot if hands are empty. They keep the amount of water stored (even if they are at the storage).
• John has decided that it was time to get a new look. Well, in fact, Cristian was who decided that. Now John is cooler!
• The join between the shop area and the farm area is now prettier!
• The “add to storage” button has been reworked. The game is starting to get beautiful.

Changes

• Customers no longer need shop tiles to walk. They understand you, and so they are willing to walk on dirt. How nice of them.
• Shop table has been updated. The price has been changed to 200€, but his storage is now bigger: up to 50 products. Sprite updated to follow this changes.
• Shovel no longer removes plowed soil. We created grass for something, this had to happen. Sorry.
• Now you can walk behind the house.

Bugfixing

• Running and using tools no longer destroys the animation system. With that bug fixed. 
• Game speed no longer change when resuming the game after a pause.
• No more endless nights.
• Fixed money added/removed UI not scaling properly.
• Fixed Farmazon alert (items not bought) not disappearing after removing all items from the cart. 

Following our routine, we’ll be working on the Alpha 5 focusing on the ideas from our Trello page.

Before finishing this devlog, we would like to thank Biel Drawn for doing our first-ever fan-art! You can check it at: https://twitter.com/biel_drawn/status/1248878245468135429

That was a good way to encourage us on keeping the development of the game. Thank you!

See you on the next devlog! And don’t forget to send us feedback about what you think and what you want for the game. Thanks for reading!