Season's Turning is a solo-developed, combat-less farming sim focused on exploration and environmental immersion. In addition to the genre's norms, it has four puzzle-filled dungeons, secret locations, a market-based economy, irrigation, gene splicing, and mafia kittens.
A TOWN FULL OF LIFE
The town of Hiraeth is home to more than 35 unique characters. You can’t woo them with gifts, but they each have their own personality and goals. Isla's got a crush on the mapmaker. John doesn't know how to connect with his sons. Kiara's uncle's pressuring her about college and Noah just wants to start a small business before he's 15. They all have hobbies, relationships with each other, problems they’re trying to solve, and opinions about you. Helping them won’t just make new friends, it may also improve the town, open new shops, attract more people to your own business, reveal a secret, or even unlock the entrance to a dungeon.
FARMING TIED TO EXPLORATION
For the most part, you cannot buy seeds in this game. You must go out in the world, discover new plants, and harvest your seeds from them. Some of these plants are more rare, or far away, or hidden in a secret area where you need a special item or have to solve a puzzle to enter.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMMERSION
The wind in this game is a physical object. It’ll blow the plants, trees, your character’s hair and clothes, in real time as it passes across the world. The volume of rustling leaves is location based, as are smaller sounds like critters, wind chimes, air conditioners, and flags, including objects that you place yourself, making you feel like you’re really in the world.
The weather can be intense. When it’s raining in town, you can hear it pinging off the rooftops, or on water by the lake. It’ll generate reflective puddles and mist. There are different scales to which it can rain or snow, and different effects on you if you don’t dress appropriately for the weather.
ARCHITECTURE & BUILDING
The buildings in this game exist in real space, meaning that they aren’t just miniature versions of house exteriors. When you enter a building, you aren’t teleported to a different location for the interior. You’re still in the same location. You can see what’s going on outside the windows. You can stroll out onto a balcony or terrace and watch the NPCs across the street go about their business.
When it comes to your own house, you have the amount of customization you could expect from going to a home builder in the real world. You can choose from a collection of floorplans, customize your siding, roofing, window type, window frame, shutters, trim, flooring, and paint. The total combinations of options are well into the thousands.
RESPECT FOR YOUR TIME
Everybody plays games at different paces and for different lengths of time. I designed this game from the start to allow players to change the speed of the day, and save whenever they like.
I’ve also added features to help circumvent some traditionally slow farming sim actions, such as irrigation, a bicycle, fast travel, and a scythe that lets your harvest your crops by twirling around like a Beyblade.
CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION
There are 29 base hair styles, 13 bangs, and 8 beards to choose from, as well as 32 skin tones, 64 eye and hair colors, and more options related to customization unlockable after some quests.
Your character is whatever gender you want them to be at any time you want them to be it. I didn’t draw gender-specific body types, and you can wear whatever clothes or hairstyles you want (given a trip to the salon or clothing store). For clothes, there are 100 tops, 100 bottoms, 100 hats, 50 shoes, and 40 socks.
TOTAL FEATURE SCOPE:
A fully upgradeable town, where new businesses will appear or improve based on your interactions with the townsfolk
At least 70 harvestable plants & ingredients
32 fish, with individual preferences and a stockable fish pond
Immersive weather and sound systems
A cyclical game clock, which controls lighting, season, weather, environmental effects, available activities, npc schedules, and interactions
4 individually themed dungeons
Player progression and skills
A multitude of options for furniture, decorations, clothing, and housing customization
Unique items found throughout the world which allow players special abilities (for example, an hourglass that can freeze time)
A detailed economy with changing market value
Systems for crafting, cooking, candlemaking, painting, brewing, pickling, dying, and arranging bouquets with your harvested resources
Genetic seed manipulation
Harvesting and watering mechanics that respect your time
No stamina bar
Adjustable game speed, and other anti-stress settings options
Save any time of the day
Lovable mafia farm kittens
A bike for faster travel, from the beginning
Depending on time/difficulty, I may also add:
Terraforming
Co-op Multiplayer
I really love making this game and hope you enjoy playing it just as much ^-^
p.s. Have some critters: