Grimoire Groves โ A cozy, magical gardening adventure
Created by Stardust
๐ฑ Grow cute plants and friendships with your witch magic! ๐ฑ
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Improving the game on change at a time! Thanks to you! And exciting news coming your way!
14 days ago
โ Thu, Nov 07, 2024 at 06:23:50 AM
Hey everyone ๐
In the last update, we talked about how the beta test was of immense value for us by seeing what you enjoyed and did not enjoy about the game.
Since then, we have already implemented most of your feedback. ๐ช
One issue that we already tackled is that some of you got motion sick from the camera in our game. Based on this, you will now have an option to toggle between the standard camera and a fixed camera. ๐ฅ
Apart from that, we are also hard on the work on the plants and the spells based on your feedback we got. We are changing the parts on the plants you found frustrating. As mentioned in the last update, we think the plants and the spells are an important part of the game and finding new plants make a big part of the adventure, so we are dedicating time right now to get this right โจ
Speaking of plants, we have also fully implemented all the remaining plants for the last two biomes. These are the fire-biome and air-biome plants. Since we don't want to spoil all the encounters you will be having. We will only show you a picture of the last biome we just finished. In this area you can find some of these new plants. ๐ย
Either way, we would like to thank you again for the amazing feedback you gave us. It is quite literally invaluable. ๐
Exciting News
Apart from the development going well, we have another news for you. Next week during the 14th until the 18th of November. We will be featured during the Cozy Quest Steam Event. And there will be exciting news coming there, so make sure you don't miss it out!
Special Shoutout
Are you ready for some high-quality, high-fantasy stickers? Our friends from Gentle Troll Entertainment started their new Kickstarter with a brand new Sticker Collection based on their cozy debut visual novel Tavern Talk!
Are you ready to meet the 18 patron stickers in vinyl or a stylish holo-effect finish? Put them in your dedicated sticker book, on the fridge or the bathroom mirror to wake up with a smile when your favorite character greets you in the morning!
But that's not all! The sticker campaign gives you the option to put yourself in Tavern Talk, by getting on of the popular Wanted Wall Posters, a Guestbook entry or your name in the credits of the game.
Thanks for playing the beta! Here are the results ๐
about 2 months ago
โ Thu, Sep 26, 2024 at 01:44:05 AM
Hey everyone ๐ After the Kickstarter beta which happened in August, we sat down in September and read through all your feedback and bug reports. We also made sure to include statistics in the beta, we took a close look at every spell cast, every plant planted, and quest solved.
We spent a lot of time to discuss with the team what changes we should make based on your feedback, and what we want to tackle first. Of course, we also want to show you the results of the beta - be prepared though, this will be a long post!
Overview Overall, your feedback was very positive! We are very glad that you liked the game, and we can't wait to make it even better. But let's not get sidetracked - here are your highlights:
๐ Everyone gave the game either a 4/5 or 5/5 rating! ๐ Everyone would recommend Grimoire Groves to a friend ๐ While the beta had roughly 5 hours of content, some of you played it over 10 hours
What you liked the most varied from player to player, but many of you answered the following:
๐ The cute and colorful art style ๐คญ The innocent and funny humor ๐ The relatable and quirky characters
Gameplay The gameplay is what we got the most feedback about. That's probably not surprising, after all gameplay also is a central part of the game! This is also why will probably spend the most time working on improvements in this area. Here's what you liked and disliked the most about the gameplay:
๐ You thought the game is very relaxing and cozy ๐ You liked the improvements between the old demo and the new beta ๐ Replayability and unlocking new abilities were your highlights
๐ Some mechanics are not explained very well and can be confusing ๐ Currently, the game can be a bit grindy over time ๐ Some objects are too hard to unlock
Given all these points, we want to do an overhaul to the gameplay loop, making sure that we simplify some mechanics on the way, also explaining them better, and smoothing out the grindy parts. After all, we do have enough fun content to fill the game with, so there's no overgrindy parts needed!
Controls & Interface Decent controls and interfaces are a prerequisite to a good game, so we are very grateful that you are overall happy in this regard:
๐ You described the controls as nice and simple ๐ Some of you mentioned the grimoire as their favorite part of the game ๐ You also liked the newly implemented Forgetti List
๐ Sometimes it's hard to hit plants with spells, so you requested more assisting in that area ๐ Equipping new spells still is a bit fiddly ๐ The quests and the Forgetti List should have pictures of the characters who requested something
Overall, your feedback makes us confident that the game is in a good place when it comes to its controls and interface. There is still room for improvement and polish, but we would first like to address your feedback in other areas, such as the gameplay.
Narrative Well, this one is a very mixed bag! On one hand, many of you mentioned the story and characters as their favorite part of the game, others however would rather have skipped it:
๐ Many of you wanted to learn more about the story and the characters ๐ Primrose's quirky and impatient personality seems to be very funny and relatable ๐ The innocent humor has many fans
๐ The game's guidance is a bit off. Sometimes there is too much information in a short amount of time, at other points you didn't know what the game wanted you to do ๐ Some of you think that there is way too much dialogue ๐ It seems unclear what Primrose's goal is in the game
Since there are two groups of players, one that wants more story and dialogue, and a second that thought that there is already too much of it, this is the feedback we struggle most with when it comes to deciding which direction we should go into. Maybe we could just make the dialogues skippable, what do you think? ๐ค
Plants & Spells Looking at your feedback about the plants and spells in Grimoire Groves, it also seems like we are on track with these features:
๐ Of course, there were also some of you who liked this aspect of the game most ๐ Switching elements for your spells was a well liked concept ๐ You liked to try out different spells and finding new combos
๐ The castarock plants did not find a lot of fans among you ๐ Some of you think the plants should be more challenging ๐ You wished that the spells would be upgradeable
I almost struggled to find 3 negative points in your feedback that a decent portion of you seem to agree on, so that means there were not a lot of grievances with spells and plants. However, we do see a lot of potential to make the game better here. Besides some obvious issues, we would also like to dedicate part of our polishing time to these features, because we think the game could be so much more engaging with super cool spell and plant interactions!
Visuals We put a lot of effort into making Grimoire Groves a very good and unique looking game. Judging from your feedback, we seem to have succeeded here, yay ๐
๐ While there was no consensus on who is the cutest character, everyone had their favorites ๐ The vibrant colors of the game was a highlight ๐ You enjoyed the forest's visuals and were looking forward to find new points of interests
๐ The grimoire has too many unimportant objects, which makes it hard to focus ๐ Sometimes, it's hard to see plant creatures hiding behind the foliage ๐ Some of you felt nauseous while playing the game
The most pressing issue we would like to solve in the visual department is that some players do feel nauseous while playing the game. Weโre not 100% sure why this happens, but we would like to test out some changes to the camera movement and maybe some vignette post processing to see if we can improve that issue. If any of you have any pointers as to why you might feel nauseous while playing, please let us know ๐
Music & SFX This is our last and in a way also the least category: There was not a lot of feedback in regards to SFX and music, which can be good, but could also be bad? ๐ค
๐ You think the music is fun, cozy and fitting for the game ๐ The music can get very repetitive over time
Well, at least it seems very obvious what we need to do: The music needs some more variance! We'll get to it ๐
Next Steps Well, now that we know all these things that you liked and also would like us to improve, what are the next steps? We already tackled some points in the meantime, such as for example making the castarock plant less frustrating. Over the next few months, we will balance our work between implementing improvements and finishing the remaining features for Grimoire Groves.
We reserved a decent chunk of our remaining development time on improvements, but we also want to be transparent: We will not be able to tackle all feedback points that you mentioned, at least not if we want to release the game in a sensible time frame. After all, we don't want to make you wait forever. So our goal is to strike the best balance between improvements and a decent release window. To make the wait a bit shorter for you, we promise there will also be at least one more beta on the way ๐
But for now, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting Grimoire Groves, for playing the beta, and for giving us feedback ๐๐๐
As a reward for making it through this lengthy post, here are a few screenshots of the newly implemented home for basil, including his fart-powered motorbike and the corresponding gas... uh, I mean fart station ๐ต๐จ
Grimoire Groves Beta Test is happening!
4 months ago
โ Fri, Aug 02, 2024 at 10:52:57 AM
Dear Beta Testers,
We're very excited to be opening the first Grimoire Groves beta test to you! If there are no outstanding payments on your end, you should have received your personal Steam Key to access the Steam Beta by now!
Please check your eMails!
In order to keep things running as smoothly as possible, I would like to ask you to join our Discord server for faster communication. If you're new to Discord, be sure to DM aoyuna so she can give you access to the beta test channels. ๐ซ
Let me give you a quick rundown of how this beta test works!
โ ๏ธ The beta test will run from today to the 18th of August โ ๏ธ
We'd like to ask you not to post any footage or images online. This is a closed beta test to help us, the developers, improve the overall game experience based on your feedback.
Secondly, we've prepared a survey for you to fill out during or after playing the Grimoire Groves beta. This will help us to evaluate your overall experience and narrow down what we can improve or even add to the game.ย
Thirdly, if you find any bugs, please report them on our Discord. The form mentioned above is for general experience, not bug reports!ย We also wanted to make sure that the beta starts on a weekend โ after all, some of you might be occupied otherwise on a Monday morning ๐. Since the team also enjoys some time off, please be a bit patient with us on Saturdays and Sundays ๐ We will address all of your input and help you if there are any issues, we promise! While we have our days off, we hope the community can help each other out ๐
How to access the Grimoire Groves Beta
Once you've received your Steam Key, go to Steam and click on "Add a Game" at the bottom left, then click on "Activate a Product on Steam". In the new pop-up, enter your Steam Key and redeem the code. The Grimoire Groves Playtest game should now appear in your Steam Library.ย
All that is left to do is to install the playtest game aaand that's it! Happy playing!
If there are any issues please let us know in the Discord, and we'll do our best to help you out! ๐
Your Stardust-Team ๐
August Update: Digital Goods, Beta Test and Gamescom!!๐
4 months ago
โ Mon, Jul 29, 2024 at 02:24:57 AM
Hello everyone! And welcome to the August update! ๐โ๏ธ
I hope you're all doing well! We have a lot to unpack here! So let's get right to it! ๐ช
Digital Goods ๐ผ๏ธ
You may or may not have noticed that we've started sending out the first digital goods (Wallpaper and Coloring Sheet)!ย You should be able to download them from the BackerKit.
If you've commissioned a profile picture or custom artwork on one of our tiers, I highly recommend you check your Kickstarter inbox. Chances are we've contacted you asking for more information as this is super important to us to fulfill the commissions. ๐จ
Important: Goods will only be sent out if there are no outstanding payments. Please check your inbox, you should have received an email if that's the case!
Beta Test ๐ฎ
The first-ever beta test is coming soon! This is for people who have backed all levels with "Junior Witch" and above. We will be sending out some exclusive Steam keys soon, so keep an eye on your inbox in the coming days! ๐
This first beta test will take place from August 3rd to August 18th and will feature around 5 hours of gameplay. As a first beta test, the game might still be a little rough around the edges, but this will be your opportunity to help shape the game! We will collect all your feedback on Discord and through a 20-minute survey. After the first beta test is over, the team will work on improvements based on your feedback, so you can look forward to a second beta test later, which will be newer, better, and even more amazing thanks to youโค๏ธ
As mentioned, the main communication will be on Discord, make sure you join and send a private message to aoyuna so she can assign you the Beta Tester role. This will give you access to the survey form and allow you to communicate directly with the developers if you need additional support. ๐โโ๏ธ
As mentioned in the Digital Goods section, please check your payment status. If there are any outstanding payments, you won't get the key!
โ ๏ธ The official beta test will run from the 3rd to the 18th of August โ ๏ธ
We will be releasing a separate short backer update for those who cannot join the Discord but would still like to take part in testing the game.ย
Gamescom
Some of you may have already heard the news on Twitter or Discord.
We're so excited to be back at Gamescom this year! Not only will we be showing off a new demo of Grimoire Groves at the Indie Arena booth, but we'll also be showcasing the game for the first time on Nintendo Switch! ๐คฉ
It's like a dream come true! So if you're going to be there, let us know, we'd love to talk to you! We even have some small surprise goods for you to take home!ย
Gamescom 2023ย
That's it for this update! Thanks for reading! A lot is happening over the next few days and I hope you're as excited as we are!
See you in the next update! Your Stardust-Team ๐
July Update: Custom houses and animated characters
5 months ago
โ Thu, Jul 04, 2024 at 02:54:58 AM
Hello everyone!ย It's July! Time goes by so fast it's crazy! โ๏ธ
In this update, we're going to talk about some of the digital rewards we're working on. These include the customization of Primrose's house and two new villagers. So without too much rambling, let me show you some of the sketches that have been made over the past few days.
Custom Houses
Some backers will be able to choose Primrose's roof, door, and other decorations when the game launches. We can't wait to show you all the finished options soon! ๐ก๐ ๏ธ
Please let us know, which versions you like best!
New Villagers
Two lovely Kickstarter backers have been able to request their own characters in collaboration with our game artist! Meet Lillian & Beatrice and Dave the Panda!
About Dave the Panda Dave immigrated from a distant land a few years ago and settled in the Air Biome. He doesn't usually talk much and spends most of his days sleeping, eating bamboo, and scratching his back. He can be a little grumpy from time to time, especially when he is hungry. Rumour has it that he left the bustling city and his demanding office job in search of a quieter and more meaningful life. ๐๐โ๏ธ
About Lillian and Beatrice the fire nymphs Lillian is shy, polite, and gentle, but cheerful and kind. Beatrice, on the other hand, is hyperactive, lively, and very talkative. She also likes to do all sorts of wild stunts and, reckless activities and other things that might get her into trouble, but she still means well at heart. You can find both of them in the Fire Biome. ๐ฅ๐ง๐ฌ
Wallpapers
If you read our May Update, you may have seen that we've been working on the first digital rewards for you all! We posted some sketches for the wallpaper and coloring sheet on our Discord and let you all vote on which you'd like to see as wallpaper and which as a coloring sheet. ๐จ๐ฅ๏ธ๐ฑ
Aaaaand here are the results, including the finished wallpaper (the coloring sheet is still a work in progress) ๐
We will be uploading them to Backerkit where you can download them soon! We'll make sure to let you know when they're ready for you all! ๐ซถ
Special Shoutout
This is Tiny Garden, a game about making your own magical garden inside a 90s toy. Plant your vegetables and trade them for furniture to customize tiny gardens in this delightful mix of farming, puzzle, and strategy๐ฑ
They have a Steam and Nintendo Switch key available in their Kickstarter campaign, among many other rewards such as an artbook, the relaxing lo-fi OST from their game and even you can put your name on the bottom of the toy, like Andy in Toy Story.
Our friends from Gentle Troll Entertainment started their new Kickstarter with a brand new Sticker Collection based on their cozy debut visual novel Tavern Talk! 
