A deeper look at Hippoboar Rancher's gameplay!
over 5 years ago
– Mon, Aug 19, 2019 at 10:18:57 PM
Hello all, and thank you again for your support thus far! Thanks to you, we're already just a small push away from being 50% funded! We know that push (and the other half of funding that lies beyond it) won't happen with us just sitting here, though.
To help get more eyes on the campaign, and to win over anyone who might be on the fence, today we're bringing you an in-depth look at the core gameplay elements of Hippoboar Rancher! Please keep in mind that different aspects of the game are at various stages of development, and nothing we're showing today is directly indicative of the final product - it's all uphill from here. The various UI elements are also all still in Japanese for the time being. With that said, let's take a look!
This is the first thing you'll see after the prologue story sequence shown off in our campaign video, and you'll be spending a good chunk of the game here. In this area you can upgrade various parts of your ranch - your house, livestock corrals, and farmland - and it also acts as a hub to enter each of those locations. As you can see, it's not in the best shape when you first start out, but as you upgrade the facilities and start raising livestock and crops, it can get quite lively!
Here's a quick look at the process of upgrading one of your facilities. In this example, we go from our initial, broken-down house (it's so shabby Logan refuses to even try going inside!), to building-in-progress, and finally the upgrade is complete. That place looks almost livable now! Initiating an upgrade costs gold and materials, and each step of building costs HP, so you'll have to manage your resources well lest you end up sleeping in the hippoboar pen.
Here's a peek inside the house, after it's been upgraded a couple more levels past what we see above. Here you can save your game, rest for the day, cook meals for Eve, and more. As you progress through the game and expand the size of your home, you'll also be able to add various decorations to spruce the place up further.
The corral system is still a little earlier-on in development, so we're not seeing those fuzzy little hippoboars running around quite yet, but here's where you'll manage your livestock, supply them with food and drink, and so on. You can also raise goats and sheep, for a little faunal variety!
We're still working on the farming area as well, but here you'll be able to plant up to 8 different crops (at maximum capacity), which can then be harvested for selling, building materials, or food, among other things. You can even grow and sell mandragoras, but be sure to watch the market carefully to make the most profit! (We'd love to call this the "stalk market", but some other game beat us to it...)
The next important hub area is the nearby town! From here you'll be able to enter the various shops, and eventually interact with NPCs and take on quests. From left, we have Sheeris's herbalist shop, the guild (led by Gandou), and local tavern The Golden Ram.
Here's a peek inside Sheeris's shop. At the beginning of the game, you'll be able to buy and sell HP and MP restoration items, as well as sell mandragoras - and of course you can also take the time to talk to Sheeris and get to know her!
The final major area we currently have implemented (again, in a very early state - ignore that little box above Logan's head, we promise it won't drop and hit him) is the forest. This is one of the major places you'll come to gather resources, and the deeper into the forest you go, the rarer the bounty you'll find! We expect to flesh out this area a lot more as development continues.
Finally, here's a little peek at where your journey will take you: one day Logan may even become the proud owner of an extravagant castle, with rich fields of grain and happy hippoboars as far as the eye can see. Don't you want to help him get there?
That wraps up our glimpse into development for today, but we'll continue updating you with more as the campaign proceeds!