In this update2
Full notes
Full Grave Seasons update
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What changed
- Balance
- Maps
- Store
- Gameplay
Grave Seasons changes
Thank you to everyone for your continued excitement and support for Grave Seasons!
As our teams work through the realities of game development, we've decided to fully prioritize the journey to launch. As a result, we will no longer be releasing a Grave Seasons demo on June 15th. The team would love for this to be possible eventually, but it will depend on studio capacity further down the line. Currently we're fully focused on getting the game ready on all platforms so our whole community can experience it together on Day 1.
Importantly, to ensure we have the time needed for polish across all platforms, we are moving the release date of the full game to Fall of this year.
We want to make sure Grave Seasons launches in the best possible state for players across all announced platforms. We know this may be disappointing news for those who were looking forward to playing sooner, and we sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding. We can't wait for you to explore Ashenridge.
Grave Seasons is big, and we’re proud of it! We’ve hit a whooping +300k words of narrative and have over 600+ items to discover. We’re excited, and want to give you a sneak peek, backstage tour of some of what we’ve been cooking!
The Map of Ashenridge
Ashenridge might be a small town to the locals, but to your bird’s eye view, it’s quite large with tons of things to explore.
Ashenridge is split up into a few sections. You have your farm (and home) at the very top of the mountain. There’s a mountainside you can visit, a forest you can explore and a coast with a quiet dock and a sunny beach.
The town itself is broken into two sections:
Local District
Commercial District
The Local District
Steam post image Outside the bar at night.
The Local District holds the homes and shops of the majority of residents in Ashenridge. Built by a small community working with the space they have, a lot of folks live on top of shops, and many buildings have multiple uses.
We wanted to make a space that felt compact but also a little maze-like (a true local will learn all the secret shortcuts). In this district, you’ll find your less touristy attractions – the Fortune Teller might bear news about the weather, the Bar might host a raucous birthday party, and the Community Gardens is shared among the townsfolk!
Steam post image A sunny day by the Community Gardens.
The Commercial District
Steam post image A smoke break outside the dinner.
The Commercial District is Mayor Fitch’s pride and joy. First envisioned as a jewel to bring in tourism, it stands as a reminder of just how isolated Ashenridge can be...
Here, you’ll find some commercial businesses, such as S-Mart (the corporate general store). There’s a well-curated town square, with an artistic fountain that acts as a centerpiece for multiple events throughout the year.
Fun Fact: Outside of your farm, this was the first location in the game we built out!
Steam post image Brent and Ishan are enjoying the Fountain ambience.
We have over 30+ characters who all live within Ashenridge, and all of them have unique homes and places to visit. There are always locations you can break and enter into… just don’t get caught.
Character Customization
In Grave Seasons, every pixel and animation is hand-made. This means when we design any customization, we need to animate it in up to 8 directions to create visually satisfying bespoke moments for every look: reacting to a murder, sharing a kiss with a lover, passing out from exhaustion… Each wearable item is animated into 70+ sprite sheets, which are implemented as over 400 animations that can trigger throughout the game.
We knew that when we crafted our character customization, we wanted to really make it shine with all the beautiful animation work we’ve done!
We knew that when we crafted our character customization, we wanted to really make it shine with all the beautiful animation work we’ve done!
(That includes the hair bounce. We were passionate about the hair bounce.)
We’re stoked to share that, on launch, Grave Seasons will have 35 unique wearables, 25 skin tone options, a mix and match clothing style setup with 14 colorful options, and 33 ways to color 18 different hairstyles. All of this has been lovingly hand-animated by our wonderful art team!
Final Notes
In just three years, Ashenridge has truly come alive in all of its wonder and horror. We cannot wait for you to get to experience it and as always, your support and excitement mean the most to us.
Keep an eye on our socials for more updates, including our new release date on PC and consoles.
Thank you! Perfect Garbage Studios + Blumhouse Games
Blumhouse Games
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blumhousegames/
X: https://x.com/BlumhouseGames
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/blumhousegames.com
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/blumhouse
Perfect Garbage
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perfectgarbo/?hl=en
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perfectgarbage.bsky.social
Source
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