abandoned-looking early access project, 15 months and counting. wasn't much left until 'full' release, not that it means anything. it's also a different game now. been waiting for the finished product, never played until v0.9, but it used to be turn-based, for instance, now it's real-time. not sure where it would've ended up eventually but I remember it being advertised as more puzzly, now it's just a clicker. I've seen more involved and polished game jam entries done over a weekend, and those are free, not 5 eur. also, the single achievement is broken if you care about such things.
there's an animated how to play section. plow, water, then plant and wait a bit while things get ready to harvest. most things go to the farm, mushrooms are grown separately. the more you farm, the higher its level gets, unlocking more crops. you can also expand the starting 3x3 areas (prices aren't shown, keep trying until you have enough cash) and bring up the recipe book for reference and use it like you're on your phone. who needs scroll bars or a mouse wheel that moves more than a few pixels? it doesn't show what you can potentially make either, gotta keep cross-referencing it with your inventory. can't seem to expand the 'deck', it maxes out at 10 cards, the empty pop-up text box would probably say as much if it weren't empty, but place them and you can buy more.
to actually make food, go to the restaurant, cook what you can (filters would be good), buy more furniture if you want, and once open, people(?) will come and eat whatever you have, no preferences, it seems. after all the food is gone, buy more seeds, rinse and repeat. furniture adds 'raputation', unlocking more items. said 'rap' is not shown anywhere but the furniture store. it may or may not be the same stat as farm level but then why bother with separate phrases?
no timer, day/night cycle or anything. seeds say 'x days to grow' but a day lasts about 5 seconds, unless you're in the restaurant, where a speed-up button would be necessary. it's just waiting for patrons to come and go, nothing to do. a word of warning: [b]don't go to the restaurant if you don't have anything to cook[/b]. having to name the place every time is one thing (it's optional, nobody cares) but [b]there's no way to come back from the cooking menu, only making food and alt+f4 work[/b]. and since restaurant decoration/expansion is only possible before opening, you have to remember how much furniture costs, have enough ingredients to make at least a single meal _and_ save enough money to buy chairs and stuff before the next business day. genius. another empty text box failed to inform me why I couldn't place more than 2 chairs and tables, nor could I place them further apart, so I left it at that.
keep doing these things until you get bored or run out of resources, probably. the former happened faster for me. pests can also appear randomly, ruining your harvest. scarecrows shoo birds away for a price and you can dig up tiles with worms to get rid of them. quicker watering can also be bought but I never had to do it again, soil stays wet after a harvest, just plonk down more seeds.
controls are mouse-based with some non-rebindable hotkeys not shown anywhere outside the tutorial. seed and other cards have to be dragged, no click to pick up, click to place action. esc is the only way to go back to the main menu, progress is saved, that's something. the location changer is present there as well for some reason, clicking it and going to the restaurant means no way back yet again, as I learned to my cost. alt+f4 to quit and never do it again. windows can be opened on top of each other elsewhere too, without the latest one coming out on top, giving an even lazier, more unpolished feel.
settings are available anytime: 'resulations', windowed mode, a single volume setting, gfx quality and some languages. everything involves clicking left/right arrows and instant changes, as it never should be for graphics-related things.
