I Am Child

Wed, May 1, 2024 Year 2, Autumn 18

Codey and Aislinn talk about Botany Manor

Timings

00:00:00: Theme Tune
00:00:30: Intro
00:05:28: What Have We Been Up To
00:09:24: News
00:47:09: Botany Manor
01:19:53: Outro

Codey’s Instagram
Aislinn’s Linktree

Contact

Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot
Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot
Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/

Transcript

(0:00:31) Codey: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season.
(0:00:35) Codey: My name is Codey, and we are here today to talk about Cottagecore games.
(0:00:36) Aislinn: And my name is Aislinn.
(0:00:41) Aislinn: Whoo!
(0:00:42) Codey: Whoo!
(0:00:43) Codey: Cute!
(0:00:43) Aislinn: Cute!
(0:00:44) Codey: We did it!
(0:00:47) Aislinn: Yay!
(0:00:48) Codey: So as always, transcripts are available in the show notes and on the website.
(0:00:54) Codey: Today’s topic we are talking about Botany Manor, which is a super cute little game.
(0:00:59) Aislinn: Mm-hmm
(0:00:59) Codey: a game that Aislinn has played.
(0:01:01) Codey: So that’s what we’re going to talk about for our main topic.
(0:01:03) Aislinn: Mm-hmm
(0:01:13) Codey: We also have a lot of news.
(0:01:17) Codey: But before that, Aislinn, who are you?
(0:01:20) Aislinn: Hi, I’m Aislinn. I am here and I’m happy to be here. I guess things that I do to go into that,
(0:01:30) Aislinn: I stream on Twitch, Ace Trainer, AIS, not Ace, like AIS Trainer, and also me and my fiance, we have a podcast called Moo & Coo, where we just talk about literally anything and everything.
(0:01:30) Codey: Yep.
(0:01:31) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:01:33) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:01:50) Codey: Why is it moo and coo?
(0:01:52) Aislinn: Because he– so he really likes cows.
(0:01:54) Aislinn: He’s a big cow guy.
(0:01:57) Aislinn: So I was just like–
(0:01:57) Aislinn: we joked around trying to think about a name for our podcast.
(0:02:01) Aislinn: So we knew he wanted to do a podcast for a while.
(0:02:03) Aislinn: And I was like, well, obviously, you’re like the moo-er.
(0:02:07) Aislinn: You moo.
(0:02:07) Aislinn: And I was like, what rhymes with moo?
(0:02:08) Codey: That makes a lot of sense as to why you put the Pigeon filter on your Snapchat all the time.
(0:02:10) Aislinn: Coo.
(0:02:11) Aislinn: And I like pigeons.
(0:02:12) Aislinn: So I’m like, now I’m coo.
(0:02:20) Aislinn: Oh, actually, I actually love that pre-moo and coo.
(0:02:21) Codey: Oh, wow.
(0:02:23) Aislinn: I’ve always loved that pigeon.
(0:02:25) Aislinn: And I mean, I’m a New Yorker.
(0:02:26) Codey: Okay.
(0:02:26) Aislinn: So me and pigeons were like homies, you know?
(0:02:27) Codey: Mm-hmm, big, big, big facts.
(0:02:33) Codey: Um, yeah, so I guess like how I know Aislinn is
(0:02:38) Codey: through It’s Super Effective, Surprise Surprise, that’s how we know the majority of our people.
(0:02:42) Aislinn: Yep!
(0:02:46) Aislinn: We love it. We stan.
(0:02:47) Codey: Um, we stand. I think, was it like, I think I like joked in, for Pokemon Go Fest last year,
(0:02:54) Codey: I joked something about how we should get cardboard cutouts and then you were like “bet.”
(0:02:58) Aislinn: - Yep, yep.
(0:02:59) Aislinn: Once I, like, when a challenge that’s like relatively accessible is put in front of me,
(0:03:03) Aislinn: I’m just like, yeah, let’s do it.
(0:03:06) Aislinn: Why not, right?
(0:03:07) Aislinn: Why say no, we can do it?
(0:03:08) Codey: We did. So Aislinn, uh, ‘cause, uh, Steve and Greg, so two of the hosts of It’s Super Effective,
(0:03:08) Aislinn: And we pulled it off and it was wonderful.
(0:03:17) Codey: were unable to come to Pokemon Go Fest New York City last year, but a bunch of us did come,
(0:03:22) Codey: and we, Aislinn printed out these cardboard cutouts of both of them, and then we were literally carrying them around all day, and like we had everyone sign them, so like everyone that it is fans of the pod.
(0:03:31) Aislinn: - Oh gosh.
(0:03:38) Codey: You know, friends of Greg and Steve, like we all signed the back of them and then you sent them to them, right?
(0:03:43) Aislinn: Yeah, they I don’t I actually I have to still ask Steve and Greg like what happened with them cuz I sent them and I have no idea what happened after that I
(0:03:50) Codey: someone in the mail is just like, “what the heck?”
(0:03:56) Aislinn: Mean when I got it I was like what the heck it’s so tall and
(0:04:00) Aislinn: Then having in my home was a whole different story. I’m just like this is not okay [laughing]
(0:04:04) Codey: This is really weird. Yeah, for sure.
(0:04:06) Codey: But that was, it was just so much fun to, because you’re a, you know, a New Yorker, and so you’re in that area.
(0:04:12) Codey: It was just so much fun to like get to hang out with you, and you like let us around.
(0:04:16) Aislinn: Yeah, oh my gosh, yes we are, yay, I’m so excited about that, don’t have to worry about carrying that across the freaking bridge, in the wind.
(0:04:16) Codey: around. You showed us that really cool Korean barbecue place.
(0:04:20) Codey: Um, so good. And we’re doing it again this year. Yeah. Except this time, we don’t have to cut them out and cardboard. They’re gonna be there. Yeah.
(0:04:36) Codey: That was
(0:04:39) Codey: yeah, it shout out to tone and oh my gosh, who was the other person that was carrying them? Vincent tone and Vincent for carrying them, like once the groups met up.
(0:04:44) Aislinn: Vincent? (laughs)
(0:04:46) Aislinn: Yeah. (laughs)
(0:04:50) Codey: So that Aislinn didn’t have to carry them anymore because yeah they were they were blowing everywhere.
(0:04:52) Aislinn: I was so tired. (laughs)
(0:04:58) Codey: Oh my gosh so yeah that’s how we know each other and we just you know talk on snapchat and every day and didn’t share funny stories and stuff and so when I found out we were both playing botany manner I was like oh my gosh we need to talk about it.
(0:05:04) Aislinn: - Yes!
(0:05:11) Aislinn: perfect wow 251 streak on snapchat let’s go yeah I’m gonna go [laughing]
(0:05:17) Codey: Oh we do? Oh my gosh, proud of us!
(0:05:20) Codey: Look at us! That’s just about Pokemon Go Fest, isn’t it?
(0:05:25) Aislinn: Just about.
(0:05:27) Codey: Oh my gosh.
(0:05:28) Codey: Okay, well, so that’s who you are and how we know you.
(0:05:31) Codey: But what have you been up to? Like what in your life, like recently, what have you been playing?
(0:05:36) Codey: Have you been doing anything super fun?
(0:05:39) Aislinn: As of recently, I have been playing a lot more indie games.
(0:05:44) Aislinn: I mean I’m still doing like, first stream, I’m still doing a Pokémon Crystal playthrough,
(0:05:49) Aislinn: but like I’ve been playing a lot of indie games ever since PAX because I had the opportunity to meet some developers of some games at different companies and whatnot, and it’s been such a wonderful pleasure.
(0:06:01) Aislinn: So that’s how I like got the opportunity to play Botany Manor, and I played like a little while ago unpacking and
(0:06:09) Aislinn: another game that I’m excited about is Kamayaru, so like all these games that I never really played before, I’m now finally starting to play beyond just Pokemon. And even on the side too, I’m playing Spiderman, which is not anything indie, cozy, anything of that sort.
(0:06:27) Aislinn: But it’s been fun to have the balance of the chaos and the cozy indie vibes as well. So it’s primarily what I’ve been up to is just kind of playing. And I think I’ve been playing
(0:06:39) Aislinn: more like cozy indie games, also just to be less stressed because work life in general is a lot of stress recently.
(0:06:48) Codey: yeah it do me that way um so you need that cozy cozy in your life
(0:06:49) Aislinn: Exactly, but what about you?
(0:06:58) Codey: well i’m right there with you I need that cozy cozy so I am playing so I most days um every day I play both my um coloring app so I have a cross stitch world is this like app that my grandma got me into years ago and then I deleted it on my app my phone because I was like this is taking way way too much in my life.
(0:07:18) Codey: But now I’m using it again, but this time, like as a vehicle to help me overcome ADHD, like in social situations and like keeping me, keeping the part of my brain that wanders, like distracted so that I can focus on what’s going on in front of me.
(0:07:24) Aislinn: Hmm. Yeah.
(0:07:34) Codey: Um, so I play that every day.
(0:07:37) Codey: And then I also have been playing Disney Dreamlight Valley every day.
(0:07:40) Codey: I’ve been trying, I finished the main game and now I’m trying to like finish all the questlines for all of the characters and
(0:07:48) Codey: level up all the characters to level 10 and then
(0:07:52) Codey: Like just kind of have everything. I’m I also started thinking about
(0:07:58) Codey: creating rooms in my house for each of the characters like having it having there be like a little mermaid room and
(0:08:04) Aislinn: That’s so cute!
(0:08:05) Codey: and a You know Beauty and the Beast room because you can buy like all of this furniture and stuff that is from those
(0:08:11) Codey: realms I think is what this or those products and so
(0:08:16) Codey: I was thinking about
(0:08:18) Codey: where I just go into an empty room and just like filter all of my
(0:08:23) Codey: Furniture to be like just the little room made furniture and then just put it all in that room and like
(0:08:28) Codey: Make it work like make it an aesthetic room
(0:08:32) Codey: Haven’t started doing that yet. Don’t know if that’s gonna continue but
(0:08:37) Codey: Super fun and then always and forever working on my Fox my Minecraft Fox
(0:08:43) Codey: Building up my little my little man
(0:08:48) Codey: That’s playing with me. It has built like a really cool mountain on the back of it
(0:08:53) Codey: The majority of my life right now is field work though, and actually today right after we record I’m gonna go grab a bunch of the traps that I put out a week ago and see what I caught. Oh
(0:09:03) Aislinn: Mm hmm. I’m so excited. Can I can I get a Snapchat insight later?
(0:09:08) Codey: You’re you’re going to
(0:09:08) Aislinn: Because I just I am so fascinated with what you do. So sick. Awesome.
(0:09:10) Codey: hunter hunter percent
(0:09:14) Codey: Yeah, 100% and then yeah, so
(0:09:18) Codey: and then other than that I do a lot of specimen work, so that’s what we’ve been up to.
(0:09:20) Aislinn: Cool!
(0:09:20) Aislinn: Whoo!
(0:09:24) Codey: Okay, so we will jump into this pile of news. My goodness. First and foremost,
(0:09:31) Codey: right off the top, Steam Farming Fest. So Steam has this farming like, it’s not a bundle, but it’s like a bunch of different games that are farming focused are crazy on sale right now.
(0:09:48) Codey: Um, like at least some of them are 20 some of like one of this I’m looking right here,
(0:09:52) Codey: this rise of industry game is 85% off. So it’s only $4.50 instead of 30 bucks. Crazy. Oh, wait,
(0:09:55) Aislinn: Oh my gosh.
(0:10:00) Codey: 20. Nope, that’s 30 bucks. I was like, it’s 20. Um, so yeah, I mean, there’s just so many games on this.
(0:10:08) Aislinn: There is– I got an email from Steam being like,
(0:10:12) Aislinn: all of these games that you are on your wish list are on sale.
(0:10:15) Aislinn: And I was like, oh my gosh, what’s happening?
(0:10:17) Aislinn: Oh, yeah, the Steam Farming Fest.
(0:10:20) Codey: Yeah, there’s a lot that we’ve talked about on the pod before and then other ones that I’m like kind of interested in.
(0:10:26) Codey: So one that we’ve talked about before is Rusty’s retirement.
(0:10:30) Codey: So okay, let me dive it back.
(0:10:33) Codey: If you go to the Farming Fest like page and then say browse games, it like comes up with different types.
(0:10:41) Codey: So there’s like the automation and then the dating sim and then there’s just like regular ones.
(0:10:46) Codey: So the automation one, Rusty’s retirement, we’ve already talked about Timberborne.
(0:10:50) Codey: You’ve never seen this game before, but you are beavers.
(0:10:53) Aislinn: that I just I just hovered over it that is so cute that is so cute
(0:10:58) Codey: So add that here, actually, and I just like add it to my wishlist, like, right?
(0:11:02) Aislinn: just do it right now
(0:11:03) Codey: Bam.
(0:11:04) Codey: Right.
(0:11:05) Codey: Oh, I have to sign in.
(0:11:06) Codey: Okay.
(0:11:07) Codey: Oh, I gotta do something for my email address.
(0:11:11) Aislinn: i’m just leaving the tab open on my uh on my computer for now and I was like i’ll figure it out later
(0:11:16) Codey: Oh, yeah, I just I just jumped on to my email and it was like it I see the
(0:11:22) Codey: Bunch of games you want are on sale
(0:11:23) Aislinn: Yep, yep, there’s that email.
(0:11:26) Codey: I’m like, oh leave me alone
(0:11:30) Codey: See and it’s funny cuz like I just got paid today. So of course they’re like they’re like, hey
(0:11:33) Aislinn: Sale time!
(0:11:36) Codey: Okay, so there’s that I’m trying to see which other ones like we’ve talked about before
(0:11:42) Codey: Some of these are so cute. Like what is plantabi? Little garden.
(0:11:44) Aislinn: I saw that APCO was on sale and they just came out with the new the final DLC.
(0:11:46) Codey: Yeah, sure did. Yeah, we talked about that in the last pod. So yeah, great time to jump into that. It now has the final
(0:11:52) Aislinn: I have not played it yet, but I did see that.
(0:12:04) Codey: update quote unquote, I feel like L is gonna, they’re gonna find something to do. Other things that we talked about on pod. Gosh, all of these.
(0:12:15) Codey: uh I found
(0:12:16) Codey: my time at sandrok, what the heck is booty farm?
(0:12:34) Aislinn: Wait, where is that?
(0:12:39) Aislinn: I don’t even know where that is.
(0:12:41) Aislinn: I was just going to ask, what is Anna, my friends, and why is that a farming sim?
(0:12:45) Aislinn: And why is it like, why is it a farming sim dating sim?
(0:12:46) Codey: So some of these are just some of these are coming soon, but there’s booty farm has another one too. Oh my goodness Okay, I’m moving on other popular ones include
(0:12:48) Aislinn: It’s just called Anna, my friends.
(0:12:58) Codey: Stardew Valley Manor Lords
(0:13:01) Codey: Farming simulator 22 light your frontier
(0:13:04) Codey: Sun Haven Fay farm paleo pines. I don’t know what farm manager world There was another one that I saw I’m trying to go until I find the one that I saw that I was like I really want this one Rune factory 5 travelers rest
(0:13:16) Codey: Story of seasons of wonderful life harvest moon the winds of winds of Anthos
(0:13:21) Codey: Ooblets
(0:13:22) Aislinn: I was gonna say, did you say Ooblets?
(0:13:24) Aislinn: Cause that’s another game that I’m interested in.
(0:13:25) Aislinn: That’s on sale and I’m like, do I just buy maybe?
(0:13:29) Codey: 40% now’s the time pull the trigger
(0:13:30) Aislinn: It’s a good sale.
(0:13:33) Codey: Harvest Ella. Oh, I guess my time at Sandrock is not on sale. Why is it in this list?
(0:13:38) Codey: Don’t get it if I don’t know what garden life a cozy simulator is, but it looks great. We’re adding that to my wish list Um…
(0:13:46) Aislinn: This is just a wishless session right now.
(0:13:47) Codey: Snacko, which we will talk about later.
(0:13:51) Codey: Sakuna. I don’t know what cat tails is.
(0:13:54) Codey: Oh my gosh, it’s like the warrior cats.
(0:13:56) Codey: Where’s the one that I see?
(0:13:57) Aislinn: there’s cat god ranch coming soon what is that I don’t know if you like cats as cat god ranch
(0:14:04) Codey: Weed Shop 3.
(0:14:08) Codey: Roots of Pacha. Where’s the cute one?
(0:14:10) Codey: Littlewood, Wildmender, Graveyard Keeper.
(0:14:13) Codey: These are all ones we’ve talked about.
(0:14:16) Codey: There was one that I saw- oh, here it is.
(0:14:19) Codey: Bun House.
(0:14:20) Aislinn: BUN-house? I’m gonna actually google that one. What is BUN-house?
(0:14:22) Codey: I had never seen this game before.
(0:14:25) Codey: It came out October 19th, 2021.
(0:14:28) Codey: Bun House is a cute, simple, bunny-filled game focused on growing plants and managing a greenhouse with fellow buns.
(0:14:30) Aislinn: Oh. That’s so cute.
(0:14:34) Codey: Take care of your leafy plant buddies by balancing the amount of water and light they get.
(0:14:38) Codey: Play with friends and upgrade your greenhouse for wholesome, relaxing fun.
(0:14:42) Codey: You are a bunny and you have a greenhouse.
(0:14:46) Codey: You are a bird and you are delivering something to you.
(0:14:49) Codey: I’m going to stop because I’m going to keep spending money.
(0:14:52) Codey: I don’t have if I keep talking about it.
(0:14:55) Codey: But definitely take a look.
(0:14:58) Codey: If you have been interested in any of those games that we’ve talked about on the pod before,
(0:15:02) Codey: they are likely on sale right now.
(0:15:04) Aislinn: There’s a lot of good stuff on sale right now. Looks really cool.
(0:15:11) Codey: Next up, A New Leaf Memories.
(0:15:14) Codey: Uh, I don’t know if you’ve ever talked about-
(0:15:17) Codey: I don’t- I don’t like that name.
(0:15:19) Aislinn: You just don’t like it?
(0:15:21) Codey: I don’t like it. Because I-
(0:15:24) Aislinn: What did it do to you?
(0:15:26) Codey: So I bought a new leaf and I was like gasp “New Animal Crossing game?”
(0:15:31) Codey: It’s not- it’s not a new Animal Crossing game, you guys.
(0:15:31) Aislinn: You know, that’s fair.
(0:15:34) Codey: Um, so the early access for a new leaf memories is out now.
(0:15:37) Codey: Quote, uh, the gameplay features, quote,
(0:15:40) Codey: “Enjoy a range of exciting gameplay mechanics and features like building up a farm with 29 different crops,
(0:15:46) Codey: bring 27 types of animals, choose from 21 pets to adopt, craft new furniture to put in your home, catch 4 types of fish.”
(0:15:51) Codey: What? Why only 4?
(0:15:52) Aislinn: Four. Why only four?
(0:15:54) Codey: Cook- Cook 25 recipes!
(0:15:57) Codey: “Mine, explore 8 main areas, and even drive around in a cute little vehicle, or take a ride in a floating bus.
(0:16:02) Codey: While early access marks a major step forward, it’s important to note that our development journey is far from over.”
(0:16:07) Codey: So, this is basically them, like, opening up to try and start pro- like,
(0:16:11) Codey: like, ironing out the kinks of their bugs, of any bugs that you might encounter.
(0:16:16) Codey: Um, why only four?
(0:16:18) Aislinn: I don’t know. But hey, they’ve got 27 types of animals and 21 pets. So if you do the math,
(0:16:25) Aislinn: I’m not doing the math. I’m not good at math. You’ve got more pets and animals than fish.
(0:16:31) Codey: Also, the pets, so this is my issue, Coral Island burned me because you can only have one pet.
(0:16:31) Aislinn: Take that as you will. Thank you.
(0:16:42) Codey: So in Coral Island, you can only have one.
(0:16:45) Codey: I got the one dog that looks like my dog because I was like, “Oh my gosh, I need to have my dog in the game.”
(0:16:51) Codey: But then there was also a bearded dragon, and I went back to go get the bearded dragon and you can only have one pet.
(0:16:55) Aislinn: What the heck oh
(0:16:56) Codey: And I was like, “What the heck?”
(0:16:58) Codey: ‘Cause I also have a beard dragon in my life.
(0:17:00) Aislinn: Wait you do oh my gosh, I love
(0:17:01) Codey: I do. I’ll send you a snap.
(0:17:05) Codey: And listeners, I’ll post a picture of her in Discord or Slack.
(0:17:11) Codey: So yeah, if you, I mean, if you’ve looked at a new leaf memories,
(0:17:15) Codey: and you’ve been interested in it before Early Access is now available,
(0:17:20) Codey: and you can check it out.
(0:17:23) Codey: Spirit of the Island.
(0:17:25) Codey: The pages for this game are now up on the Play Store and the Apple App Store.
(0:17:31) Codey: It is $4.99, and it does support Crossplay.
(0:17:36) Codey: And I did open this in the App Store so I could read it.
(0:17:39) Codey: Oh, of course the App Store was like, “Oh, you want me to refresh?
(0:17:44) Codey: I will refresh for you.”
(0:17:46) Codey: Also, X is, gosh, what is it called?
(0:17:52) Codey: When they promote it, it’s promoted up at the top of the App Store.
(0:17:59) Codey: And I’m like, “No, get out of here.”
(0:18:01) Codey: Okay. Spirit of the Island. It’s expected.
(0:18:06) Codey: Oh, I love how it says coming soon. Expected, July 16th, 2024.
(0:18:10) Aislinn: Oh, no, not the expected.
(0:18:12) Codey: The word expected is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Okay.
(0:18:13) Aislinn: Awwww.
(0:18:16) Aislinn: Awwww.
(0:18:17) Aislinn: I mean, I get it. It’s tough.
(0:18:19) Codey: Okay, do be that way.
(0:18:21) Codey: Quote, “There’s an old tradition running in your homeland.
(0:18:24) Codey: To become an adult and complete the coming-of-age ritual,
(0:18:26) Codey: you must go on a journey of discovery.
(0:18:28) Codey: begins on a distant land, deep in a tropical archipelago.
(0:18:31) Codey: what was once a prosperous tourist destination is now a shade of its former glory and it’s your job to bring it back to life.
(0:18:37) Codey: explore the archipelago, meet the locals, and lend them a hand to restore the tourist paradise while you try to uncover the mysteries of your past.
(0:18:44) Aislinn: But what if I don’t wanna become an adult?
(0:18:46) Codey: also like… no no I mean fair like fair but also like this tourist village is just dying and…
(0:18:50) Aislinn: Sorry, I’m just being silly.
(0:19:00) Aislinn: That’s that’s everyone’s path to adulthood. You all have your own small village that was a tourist destination that now you have to make it a tourist destination again. Everyone has their own journey.
(0:19:02) Codey: a child just like shows up and single-handedly saves the village? excuse me?
(0:19:18) Codey: I… today I learned I’m still a child.
(0:19:23) Aislinn: Me too. I have done nothing to contribute to-
(0:19:25) Codey: I have saved no one. I have done nothing.
(0:19:30) Aislinn: society therefore I am child.
(0:19:33) Codey: I am child. I have not single-handedly changed anything.
(0:19:38) Codey: Okay, well that’s Spirit of the Island coming, um, releasing on the 16th of July, uh, as a mobile game. Uh, I might, I might play it. It’s only five bucks.
(0:19:47) Aislinn: It looks cute as a mobile game. I will say like I actually like I like the aesthetics of it for a mobile game
(0:19:50) Codey: Mm-hm, yeah, maybe by July I will be sick of cross stitch world, I have doubts.
(0:20:01) Codey: Lens Island has their questing and camera orbiting update out now.
(0:20:09) Codey: So this basically adds some questing features like some short,
(0:20:13) Codey: some small quests of like starting out and doing things.
(0:20:17) Codey: Previously, I just kind of like dropped–
(0:20:18) Codey: you in the world and you figured stuff out which is chill but also I like completing quests and getting like a little gold star whenever I finish the smallest of tasks. I’m not gonna complain. Also the camera orbiting is kind of cool so like you can just 100% 360 like orbit around your person now. I guess not 360 but like you can orbit around your person now and like that’s cool. Mm-hmm and then in–
(0:20:40) Aislinn: Yeah, that those those seem like nice quality of life updates for sure
(0:20:49) Codey: in the update Julian, one of the developers or the developer of Lens Island said– I just loved this– “We have been very hard at work to get this out.
(0:20:59) Codey: This is the first of several big updates in the pipeline over the next few months.
(0:21:02) Codey: We are releasing this at 3 a.m. Australian time so I’ll probably pass out after writing this POS. Just kidding but I am very tired and we will need some rest before tackling the first patch. So just keep that in the mind of the next or two, don’t forget this update was crafted from all
(0:21:18) Codey: of your feedback and we can continue to balance and alter the camera and questing if needed. I’d also love to get some more ideas on quests too. I just love how like this game is so like community the community is really helping to like develop it and not like develop ideas and be like, Oh,
(0:21:34) Aislinn: Yeah.
(0:21:36) Codey: but what about this? What about this? And like, even when they do give this update, these updates, like the questing and camera updates, he’s like, I still want more. Like if you still have more stuff, like let me know.
(0:21:46) Aislinn: Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s really really cool to have a developer so involved with the community itself.
(0:21:54) Aislinn: I have not, but especially knowing that the developer is interested, that is really cool to see,
(0:22:00) Aislinn: and the game itself looking at the visuals is really nice.
(0:22:02) Codey: Yeah, so we heard about it on the pod forever ago and then I started playing it.
(0:22:11) Codey: This is my weekly “oh, I want to jump back into Len’s Island” because yeah, here it is.
(0:22:17) Codey: I want to jump back into Len’s Island, you guys.
(0:22:20) Aislinn: It looks really good.
(0:22:21) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:22:22) Codey: It is.
(0:22:22) Aislinn: It looks really, really good.
(0:22:23) Codey: It is.
(0:22:24) Codey: Okay, so next up is Snacko.
(0:22:30) Codey: favorite little cute
(0:22:32) Codey: cato. The 0.9.3 tool upgrade update is out now. So this update allows you to use a new crafting station called the jewelry station or jewelry table. I can’t remember. But you use that table and add gems to your tools. And the gems do different things. So like if you add, you know, a diamond or something, it’ll boost your your pickaxe in a different way than adding like a ruby would. And there’s eight different gems. And that’s just like, I love that. I love when a game allows you it’s not just like, oh, get the magical upgrade that does the thing like it actually kind of like takes your feedback and you’re like, I want more range on it or like, oh, I’m already pretty good at getting the, you know, the fish line out there. I don’t need that, but I want it to be more stable, you know, something like that. Like, I think that’s cool. And maybe eventually you’ll be able to add different facets so that you can just have a completely gem studded fishing pole that just has all the buffs on it. Very cute.
(0:23:34) Aislinn: - Mm-hmm.
(0:23:52) Aislinn: Yeah, very cute game. I remember I saw this game at PAX and I wanted to play the demo, but I got stuck at, um, ‘cause at the same booth, I got stuck at Kamayaru for so long that I had to walk away in general.
(0:24:03) Codey: Mmm-hmm.
(0:24:08) Aislinn: But hey, it’s on sale right now. I might just grab it anyways ‘cause… Cute cat. And cozy game. And it looks genuinely really good.
(0:24:10) Codey: Mmm-hmm.
(0:24:12) Codey: Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm.
(0:24:15) Codey: Mmm-hmm.
(0:24:16) Aislinn: I do wanna play- Is there a demo for it?
(0:24:19) Codey: Mmm-hmm. There is.
(0:24:20) Aislinn: Okay, so I do wanna do that at least.
(0:24:22) Codey: And I believe that we had a pod episode on it with the developer, so if you want to go back and listen to that.
(0:24:28) Aislinn: I absolutely will, actually.
(0:24:30) Codey: Um, if not…
(0:24:34) Codey: Sun Haven!
(0:24:41) Codey: Sun Haven!
(0:24:42) Codey: So, uh, 1.4 patch update is coming out soon for Sun Haven.
(0:24:46) Codey: It’s currently in beta, and the 1.4 update is currently in beta,
(0:24:50) Codey: but it will come to full version when it’s stable on the public beta environment or PDE.
(0:24:57) Codey: So this is the biggest update ever.
(0:24:59) Codey: This gives so many so much content and so many bug fixes and stuff.
(0:25:03) Codey: There’s a new area to explore called the Brine Stone Deeps.
(0:25:20) Codey: You can now have kids as well.
(0:25:22) Codey: There’s something called the Black Market.
(0:25:22) Aislinn: Oh. Oh?
(0:25:25) Codey: Two new romanceables.
(0:25:28) Codey: And there’s other stuff too.
(0:25:31) Codey: There’s other things as well.
(0:25:33) Codey: There’s just so much that they’ve added in this update, and so if you’ve played Sunhaven and you ran out of stuff to do, baby get back in there, because dang.
(0:25:46) Aislinn: And if you haven’t, it’s on sale.
(0:25:46) Codey: There is.
(0:25:48) Codey: Yeah, it is also… wouldn’t you know it? It’s 30% off.
(0:25:58) Codey: Um, so yeah, I have not played this and…
(0:26:03) Codey: I have other stuff to do.
(0:26:05) Codey: But, um, oh, and Al also, um, laments.
(0:26:09) Codey: “Is the Switch version ever coming?”
(0:26:10) Aislinn: That is a big mood, that is a big, big mood.
(0:26:13) Codey: That is a mood.
(0:26:16) Codey: Okay, I am super excited about this next one.
(0:26:19) Codey: Disney Dreamlight Valley. I’ve been playing this thing every single day.
(0:26:22) Codey: And every single day, I’m like, oh no, I am reaching the end.
(0:26:25) Codey: I am reaching the point where I’m not gonna have any more content to do.
(0:26:28) Codey: What am I gonna do with my life when I can’t play DDV every single day?
(0:26:33) Codey: All my favorites, and make a gross noise whenever my non-favorites, uh, walk by me.
(0:26:41) Codey: Um, you best believe they have a new update coming out, a free update,
(0:26:45) Codey: as well as they’ve explained some of the things that are happening in the second part of A Rift in Time.
(0:26:51) Codey: So, they released a new developer update, uh, video.
(0:26:55) Codey: Let me pause here. Have you, have you played this?
(0:26:58) Aislinn: No, actually, but it’s on my list of games that I really don’t want to try and play.
(0:27:04) Aislinn: So I’m very excited to hear about this in general through you as someone that is very passionate about it.
(0:27:06) Codey: Mm-hmm. Oh
(0:27:08) Aislinn: So I’m excited to hear your passion, to motivate myself to reprioritize games better.
(0:27:13) Codey: Well, so the the best priority of this game is that it’s free
(0:27:19) Codey: Completely free to play and then they just keep adding more stuff that is free as part of the daily like playing it every single Day thing like you get the in-game currency I think they call them like moon stones or whatever you get them and like then you can use them to do this
(0:27:36) Codey: stuff where you can get access to more content like more skins or furniture items or
(0:27:45) Codey: like quest lines and things like that and
(0:27:48) Codey: I have so much about in-game currency like just from playing every day in general like it adds up real fast. So
(0:27:55) Aislinn: But even if you don’t play every day, it’s still like a pretty good free game
(0:28:00) Codey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, and it doesn’t it doesn’t like
(0:28:00) Aislinn: Cool. Awesome. That’s all I need to know
(0:28:05) Codey: punish you for not playing.
(0:28:06) Codey: every day. So like, if you have a while where you’re not able to play it, that’s okay. Um, and you can just dip in and dip out. But if you dip in, you’re in, um, you’ve been warned. Uh, so, uh, they have the next part of the DLC, um, and this free update called thrills and frills, uh, coming out on May 1st. You heard that right people, as As you are listening to this podcast, this stuff is available to play.
(0:28:07) Aislinn: Awesome
(0:28:36) Aislinn: Whoo
(0:28:37) Codey: So there’s also a new star path, um, which is called a day at Disney and it’s, it lets you like bring in rides, like the tea cups ride and all of this other stuff.
(0:28:50) Aislinn: for real? Ooh!
(0:28:52) Codey: Yeah.
(0:28:52) Codey: Like you can build, you can, I’m assuming that they’re just going to be furniture items that you can like either purchase or build or I don’t, I don’t know.
(0:29:00) Codey: And then you just put them in your park and then you can ride the teacups or ride the whatever.
(0:29:05) Codey: and I think, like, some of the–
(0:29:07) Codey: other villagers will probably jump on them too.
(0:29:09) Aislinn: That’s so cool I’ve never been able to ride the teacups because it makes me so nauseous
(0:29:10) Codey: Super crazy.
(0:29:15) Aislinn: So I could play it and I could I could sit in it in a game and ride it in the game [laughs]
(0:29:19) Codey: Yeah, you sure do and you can take pictures like using the camera they actually showed that with the developer update
(0:29:27) Codey: That like you can jump in and take a picture and it like shows you spinning around
(0:29:32) Codey: I’ve never been to Disneyland and I’ve hit the point in my life where I don’t like children And I will probably therefore never go to Disneyland
(0:29:43) Codey: Unless there’s like a an adult only day in which case it’ll probably be full
(0:29:49) Codey: And I’m not gonna spend the money on that
(0:29:52) Codey: So I’m excited to kind of get a taste of Disney
(0:29:57) Codey: Disneyland Disney World whatever Disney parks in this game also more content never upset about that as part of the free update
(0:30:05) Codey: thrills and frills
(0:30:08) Codey: So I guess the thrills is the star path and frills is Daisy duck finally
(0:30:15) Codey: So poor
(0:30:17) Codey: poor Donald
(0:30:19) Codey: Has seen Mickey and Minnie just like
(0:30:22) Aislinn: The fact that this has not been introduced and this game has been out for what feels like a very long time, I just kind of assume that Daisy Duck was in the game.
(0:30:24) Codey: Living their life and he’s just been like, where’s Daisy?
(0:30:38) Codey: They yeah, go for it. Mm hmm. So they like hinted at her a couple times. So how they did so when you first start there’s Mickey Merlin goofy and think that’s it Donald’s not even you have to like rescue Donald from something and then you get him.
(0:30:38) Aislinn: And the fact that she’s not is confusing.
(0:30:54) Codey: But then like Mickey starts like seeing what seems to be Minnie’s ghost. And then you end up like pulling her out of the in between area. It’s there’s a lot.
(0:31:01) Aislinn: Oh? (laughs)
(0:31:08) Codey: And the other thing about this story is there’s a lot to the story that explains, I don’t want to spoil it for you, you need to play it. So, so, so there’s a couple times where you see what seems to be Daisy duck, like, you’ll see like maybe her little ghost or you find her ribbon I think at one point, or her bow. And so you know that she’s going to be added eventually and like Donald is just kind of like man I wish she was here and it’s just like
(0:31:17) Aislinn: Fair enough, fair enough.
(0:31:24) Aislinn: Mm hmm.
(0:31:38) Aislinn: Awwww.
(0:31:38) Codey: Oh, she’s not here yet. Um, so yeah, this will be I think probably I’m assuming what’s going to happen is she’s going to start showing up kind of like Minnie did and then Donald’s going to lose his mind and then you’re going to help him get his little lady. And so when she jumps in, she starts she has a new shop called the boutique, and in it you can design your own clothing, dude the clothing in this game is immaculate.
(0:32:06) Codey: The vibes are excellent.
(0:32:08) Codey: They did not like skip on anything. Is that the right, they didn’t like, skimp, skimp, skimp.
(0:32:12) Aislinn: I think, I think so?
(0:32:15) Aislinn: Uh, oh, yeah. Wow. I’m looking at like the trailer on, uh, on Twitter, X, whatever.
(0:32:18) Codey: Yeah.
(0:32:22) Aislinn: That dress is fire.
(0:32:24) Codey: Dude, just in general, all of the dresses like I was playing the other day my boyfriend was here and I changed from like one dress to another and he was like, wow, that dress is really cool. I was like, I know, right, like, and I showed him there’s a bunch of different dresses that you can get and they’re all super super cute. And they make me feel like a princess.
(0:32:44) Codey: But there’s also like, like a whole like pirate outfit that makes me feel it’s just so it’s so much fun. So with Daisy, you’re going to be able to do these weekly design challenges and have a whole new quest line to build the boutique super cool.
(0:33:00) Codey: You can also in that free update use your tools and multiplayer Valley visits. So if you have friends that have DTV as well.
(0:33:08) Codey: And you want to go visit their Valley. I’ve not done this yet because I don’t really know anyone you should play so I can visit your Valley.
(0:33:15) Aislinn: You got it.
(0:33:16) Codey: But then, so then like I can run around with you and help you collect things on your island or Valley.
(0:33:22) Aislinn: That way I can speedrun the game.
(0:33:24) Codey: Yeah, I can help you speak. I wonder, that’s actually really interesting because I wonder like, like I have all the updated things. So I wonder if I could just like,
(0:33:38) Codey: all the stuff for you. Oh, no, actually, now that I think about it, you don’t get the Valley visit, like the thing that lets you visit valleys until until you’ve unlocked the last area.
(0:33:51) Aislinn: Oh, so no speedrunning.
(0:33:52) Codey: No, speed running. That’s okay, though. So a rift in time act two. So this is I don’t remember what it’s called, but it’s the second part of the paid DLC is also launching.
(0:34:08) Codey: As you hear this, it is launched. And so I thought it said something about how there was going to be a certain lucky character released or whatever in the ruins. And I was like, it’s going to be Milo thatch.
(0:34:18) Codey: I don’t know why Milo would be considered lucky other than the fact that he seems like a clumsy guy and somehow is not dead.
(0:34:28) Codey: I don’t know. But it ends up being Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which makes sense. I wanted it to be my I know Milo thatch.
(0:34:38) Codey: So yeah, it’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. So this is like one of the first film noir like Disney characters also knew Mickey. And he has this really like film noir like feel to him like he’s in black and white.
(0:34:56) Codey: And apparently, like as he goes through the island through eternity isle if he like touches anything, it also becomes black and white. Yeah, so you can kind of see like
(0:35:08) Codey: as he, you know, interacts with the environment, the environment changes a little bit. And so can make the cow was really excited that it could make the capybara black and white.
(0:35:18) Aislinn: Oh, that’s cute.
(0:35:20) Codey: Yeah, I love this game. Okay.
(0:35:26) Codey: I just want to go play it but right now but I have to go do I have to go outside.
(0:35:30) Aislinn: Hey, but after.
(0:35:32) Aislinn: After it’s brain turn off and play time.
(0:35:32) Codey: After you bet, because I gotta, it will be brain turn off in playtime you’re right
(0:35:38) Codey: Uh, okay.
(0:35:39) Codey: Three more news pieces to get through slime rancher two, um, next release coming.
(0:35:45) Codey: Oh, so there’s a new, um, like update and it’s coming at the end of spring 2024.
(0:35:50) Codey: They actually said that it was slated, like it was supposed to come out in the summer.
(0:35:53) Codey: So it’s coming out early, just super cool.
(0:35:56) Codey: And this adds, uh, the pronto Mart, which is a place where you can buy things that help you in adventuring and then the conservatory expansion.
(0:36:05) Codey: Um, which I don’t remember what that does, but it sure does something.
(0:36:08) Codey: Um, and the next, next release is going to come in the fall.
(0:36:13) Codey: I believe this is on, nope, not on sale.
(0:36:18) Codey: Just part of the, they’re just highlighting it.
(0:36:23) Aislinn: I guess because actually I don’t know why is it not on sale it’s featured but why is it why would it not be on sale?
(0:36:30) Codey: Y’all riot. Don’t.
(0:36:33) Codey: I think maybe it’s because they have an update coming out.
(0:36:36) Codey: So like they’re it’s showcasing that, but it’s not on sale.
(0:36:39) Codey: Throw it on your wish list, people, if you’re interested in it.
(0:36:43) Codey: Oh, excuse me. I need to have more coffee.
(0:36:46) Aislinn: Gotta sip that donkeys.
(0:36:49) Codey: Got to sip the donkeys.
(0:36:51) Codey: I got people, people not on the East Coast are like.
(0:36:55) Codey: What the heck?
(0:36:57) Aislinn: There’s this don’t get on the west coast somewhere.
(0:37:00) Codey: There’s a few, but also that we have an international audience too.
(0:37:04) Codey: So Dunkin’ Donuts is an East Coast coffee place.
(0:37:05) Aislinn: This is Dunkin’ in Spain!
(0:37:09) Codey: Dunkin’ Donuts, but it’s like shortened to Dunkies, or my favorite is the Dunkies.
(0:37:15) Codey: [LAUGH] I don’t know why I love the Dunkies so much.
(0:37:20) Codey: So I have a mocha macchiato that I will actually sip from in this very moment.
(0:37:23) Aislinn: Ooh, sounds good.
(0:37:27) Codey: the ASMR of the ice clinking.
(0:37:30) Codey: Okay, last two things. Oh my gosh. These are so exciting. Research Story. This is a game that I covered on a pod with Bev. So Research Story has a point 0.8 coming out in early May. In this you get something called the dormancy barn. So this this is another game where the developer is really working with the community and like taking their feedback and then incorporating it in a really
(0:38:00) Codey: so they added this thing called the dormancy barn because people people were like whoa we’re playing this there are so many creatures that we’ve like tamed or or are researching or whatever and they’re on our farm and we have to like say hi to them every day or else they get mad and it’s just like kind of a lot to do. So you can put them in the dormancy barn and it’s just a place where they can eat and they can just like they just kind of like go dormant and they sleep and the barn has
(0:38:30) Codey: to be cleaned so you don’t have to feed them and your you don’t lose your friendship with the animals at all while they’re in the dormancy barn which I think is so less stressful so if you have all these
(0:38:39) Aislinn: That sounds incredibly less stressful.
(0:38:50) Codey: “Put everybody else in the dormancy barn.”
(0:38:52) Codey: Let ’em have a small sleep.
(0:38:56) Codey: So I think that’s super cool.
(0:38:57) Codey: There’s also four new creatures.
(0:38:59) Codey: One is a moth that’s called Glimoth, and I love them.
(0:39:02) Aislinn: That sounds so cute.
(0:39:03) Codey: It’s very cute, you should totally look at the devlog on Steam.
(0:39:07) Codey: And there’s also a creature compendium,
(0:39:09) Codey: which I always am a fan of a journal that catalogs everything and tells you all the stuff about everything you’ve ever.
(0:39:20) Codey: And also has empty spaces for things you haven’t found so that if you know, like that way you can know like, Oh, wow,
(0:39:27) Codey: there’s a certain I’m trying I’m thinking about this, like in terms of Roots of Pacha, where they had like, oh, there’s all these different colors of boar. But I don’t know if I found all of them. But in the in the journal in Roots of Pacha,
(0:39:42) Codey: there’s like an empty space where that’s like a boar another boar. So I’m like, okay, I know that there’s another boar color
(0:39:50) Codey: not found yet. So super excited that Reesa’s story is getting that compendium. And I am I just really want to dive back into this game. I didn’t play it too too much. But I just because of the timing when we covered it on the pod, I would also play it a lot more if it was on Steam, not Steam Switch or Mac. But when it’s one point when it’s out for 1.0, I will likely jump back in
(0:40:20) Codey: try and give it give it its due credit.
(0:40:22) Aislinn: It definitely looks very cute, and again, it’s on sale!
(0:40:25) Aislinn: That’s the theme of this episode.
(0:40:25) Codey: It’s on sale. It’s on sale. Okay, last but certainly not least Tales of the Shire. So this is a game that has been greatly
(0:40:28) Aislinn: It’s on sale!
(0:40:41) Codey: anticipated within our community. Some of the hosts have fighting over who’s going to cover it on the pod.
(0:40:50) Codey: But of course it’s going to be Al and it has to be Johnny so I will just cry in a corner.
(0:40:55) Codey: There is a new trailer for Tales of the Shire and in it you actually get kind of a look at some of the gameplay, which is super cool.
(0:41:01) Codey: And it just looks like it’s gonna be a cute little, I mean we knew this already, but like a cute little cozy simulator, cozy farming simulator where you’re just a hobbit in the Shire.
(0:41:14) Codey: Um, yeah.
(0:41:14) Aislinn: That is so cool. I’ve never watched, don’t come for me, but I’ve never watched Lord of the Rings.
(0:41:22) Aislinn: But I had no idea they had this game coming out for it, and I’m like, this is so cool.
(0:41:26) Codey: Well folks, this has been a great episode but I need to uninstall, delete Aislinn from me.
(0:41:29) Aislinn: No, no, no, no, please. I know.
(0:41:33) Codey: You have to watch Lord of the Rings!
(0:41:38) Codey: No, it’s fine.
(0:41:39) Codey: Um, but yeah, no, I mean, this is super cute.
(0:41:42) Codey: It’s like a, you know, it kind of, I don’t, and I don’t know if they’re gonna have like little things sprinkled throughout the Shirelands, like where you can get information about, like I don’t know what time period this is in.
(0:41:56) Codey: Is it in the first stage?
(0:41:58) Codey: Well, it’s definitely not in the first stage.
(0:41:59) Codey: Is it in the second age?
(0:42:00) Codey: Is it in the third age?
(0:42:01) Codey: Like, we don’t know.
(0:42:02) Codey: Is this, you know, pre-frodo, post-frodo?
(0:42:07) Codey: Is it just completely separate?
(0:42:09) Codey: It does say that you’re in by water, so you’re not in…
(0:42:13) Codey: You’re not in Hobbiton, but I wonder if they’re going to be like areas that you can go to eventually.
(0:42:18) Codey: Or it can just be a completely separate thing, which is fine.
(0:42:22) Codey: That would be fine.
(0:42:24) Codey: So they have things like forage-
(0:42:26) Codey: I got the feeling- Did you watch this trailer?
(0:42:32) Codey: My ADHD is all over the place.
(0:42:32) Aislinn: I’m looking at it right now.
(0:42:34) Codey: I got the feeling that you can play with friends.
(0:42:35) Aislinn: No, you’re fine.
(0:42:38) Codey: Did you also get that feeling?
(0:42:41) Aislinn: Um. I just blasted in my ear.
(0:42:44) Aislinn: Oops, I meant to keep it muted.
(0:42:47) Aislinn: I can’t tell to be completely honest.
(0:42:51) Aislinn: You know, maybe. Yeah, maybe.
(0:42:54) Codey: So this says “forage friendships” and during that time…
(0:42:56) Codey: It seems like you and possibly a friend are running around, but it also could be an NPC that’s taking you foraging or something, so I’m not entirely sure, but it would be awesome if you could play this multiplayer. So you can forage, fish, cook, gardening… none of this is confirmed,
(0:43:16) Codey: but just from the footage that you see looks like all of those things are available. You can also decorate your house. And then it also showed that there were
(0:43:26) Codey: seasons. So yeah, I mean, I’m here for it. We’ve been here for it the whole time. There’s also an interview with the team
(0:43:37) Codey: Weta Workshop, I believe it is. There’s also an interview with that team on YouTube on the YouTube channel nerd of the rings. I did not have time to watch that interview. So I am not entirely sure if they cover anything different in that. But
(0:43:55) Codey: you should go take a look.
(0:43:57) Codey: so is this does this like make you more interested to watch Lord of the Rings?
(0:44:04) Aislinn: Oh, I I’ve been wanting to watch it. It’s just I have an incredibly bad like massive backlog of movies in general
(0:44:11) Aislinn: Um that it’s just it’s just never ending
(0:44:15) Aislinn: But it’s been it’s been on my list and i’ve had multiple friends that like want to do like
(0:44:19) Aislinn: Lord of the ring watch parties and stuff and i’m like i’m down but also isn’t that like an entire day?
(0:44:24) Aislinn: Thing like can we do it over multiple days at least?
(0:44:27) Codey: Oh it would be over multiple days because it takes two days. So if you watch the if you watch the extended I believe they’re each about four hours long. And then you you also have you also have to watch The Hobbit then which is also at least three to four hours long for each movie.
(0:44:32) Aislinn: Oh, oh
(0:44:35) Aislinn: Oh
(0:44:42) Aislinn: But honestly, I’m down though because I just I love just watching things
(0:44:52) Aislinn: I mean, honestly, I’m down. It’s just it’s just the time I’m down for anything. The worst part is just finding the time for these things
(0:44:53) Codey: So yeah.
(0:44:57) Codey: Yeah, I throw them on in the background all the time.
(0:45:02) Aislinn: But I want to watch it and then I can do that [laugh]
(0:45:05) Codey: 100%, yeah, you have to do the full watch.
(0:45:09) Codey: And even after you’ve done the full watch, even me having it on in the background sometimes, I’m like, I don’t think I ever realized that it’s not happening as much anymore because I’m on my 100th watch or something like that.
(0:45:16) Aislinn: Yeah
(0:45:21) Aislinn: Oh my gosh
(0:45:22) Codey: [LAUGH] I put it on when I’m writing, so.
(0:45:27) Codey: Cuz it just, again, turns off that part of my brain that wanders.
(0:45:32) Aislinn: know how you do that. I cannot imagine having something with anyone speaking while I’m trying to read or write or something. I physically cannot do that. It doesn’t work.
(0:45:38) Codey: - Mm-hmm.
(0:45:42) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:45:45) Codey: Well, so sometimes I have to pause it,
(0:45:46) Codey: but also like because,
(0:45:49) Codey: so a lot of the time if anyone’s talking or talking or like if there’s any words at all,
(0:45:53) Codey: like singing or talking,
(0:45:54) Codey: like my brain like clicks into that because I want to know what they’re saying,
(0:46:01) Codey: but because I’ve watched “Lord of the Rings” so much,
(0:46:04) Codey: I know what’s gonna be said.
(0:46:06) Codey: Like, I could probably do most.
(0:46:08) Codey: So I, my brain doesn’t like that part of my brain.
(0:46:10) Aislinn: I love that laughs
(0:46:12) Codey: That’s like, what are they going to say?
(0:46:13) Codey: What is, what are they going to say?
(0:46:14) Codey: Like that’s, that doesn’t exist.
(0:46:16) Codey: Like it just, it’s like, I know what’s going to be said.
(0:46:18) Codey: It’s fine.
(0:46:19) Codey: It’s kind of the same as classical music for me.
(0:46:21) Codey: Like, cause again, no, no, no, no, we’re just like, yeah, just got to watch it a few million times the movies.
(0:46:30) Codey: So that movie, uh, those, sorry, those movies, they’re just, they’re just,
(0:46:30) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. I get what you mean. I get what you mean. I got it [laughing]
(0:46:35) Codey: the movies so that movie those sorry those
(0:46:38) Codey: movies, Cyrano, Puss in Boots the Last Wish, 2005 Pride and Prejudice, and I feel like I’m missing another one all of those movies are are those that movie for me like I can put on any of those and I can write write with them because I’ve seen them so much
(0:46:54) Aislinn: Got a lot of hours. You can get a lot of hours of writing in with all of those movies. That’s awesome [laughs]
(0:46:58) Codey: I yeah just tie them all together maybe that’s what I’ll have to do this weekend uh because I have a presentation next week that I have been putting off.
(0:47:09) Codey: okay we are off the rails but we are back on the rails y’all it is time for our main topic botany manner
(0:47:17) Codey: so first I just kind of wanted to like get our first thoughts and our experiences with botany manner so like how much have you played how did like when did you hear about it when did you start playing and kind of like what were your first thoughts.
(0:47:33) Aislinn: So, I finished the game, I played it in one sitting, which took me, I think it was a nine hour VOD up on my Twitch, but it came down to like a seven hour, like somewhat edited YouTube VOD, so I would say it approximately took me about seven hours to finish the game,
(0:47:56) Aislinn: but that’s just me being mean, being slow and everything with it.
(0:47:59) Aislinn: I would say approximately you could finish it in probably five hours, give or take.
(0:48:03) Aislinn: But yeah, maybe even less depending on how good you are, but so I finished the game,
(0:48:08) Aislinn: I will not spoil anything, but first impressions, really, really, really liked it. Final impressions,
(0:48:17) Aislinn: really, really, really liked it. Like that so much that I bought or I didn’t buy, I was going to buy,
(0:48:23) Aislinn: but then my Chris fiance, he surprised me and got me the actual book from the game. And it’s like a sketchbook type of thing, and it’s pretty massive, and like…
(0:48:33) Aislinn: It’s a really good quality too, like the paper quality I really like for drawing.
(0:48:37) Aislinn: Well I actually draw on it, I don’t know yet, but the book itself is really, really pretty.
(0:48:41) Aislinn: So I love the game so much that I would have bought this book no matter what to kind of commemorate finishing the game.
(0:48:48) Aislinn: And also how I found out about it was through getting involved with White Thorn Games and the developers, or just the team in general.
(0:49:01) Aislinn: Um, but I first heard about it at PAX East. And then I was like, Oh, it’s about plants. I’m in because I always want to learn more about like botany and plants and everything. So this game immediately peaked my interest. Like the moment I heard botany Manor, I was like, Oh, I want to, I want to, I want to,
(0:49:20) Aislinn: I want to play. I want to know what is this game? Because I just, again, I’ve been trying to,
(0:49:24) Aislinn: it’s difficult because there’s so much within botany, but I’ve been trying to learn more about botany and being able to identify plants, take care of plants and that kind of stuff. So
(0:49:33) Aislinn: this game really, really, really scratched that itch. And I love it. And I love Arabella. And yeah.
(0:49:39) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, so I heard about it on the pod. I mean, just like, because Al has his,
(0:49:47) Codey: his feelers out for any time a new game comes out. And so he, we talked about it on the pod.
(0:49:52) Codey: And I was like, Oh, this is cool. Like, I bought any manner. That’s cool. And then when I read the, like, blurb, which I’ll read here, that’s on Steam, or how did I play this? Oh, I played it on Game Pass. How are you playing it?
(0:50:04) Aislinn: I played it on Steam, but I know it’s available on Game Pass and the Switch as well, which is awesome.
(0:50:12) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I I thought that it was on game pass and I have game pass so that I could play Disney Dreamly Valley So I was like, oh Let I will play this as well
(0:50:21) Codey: So yeah It’s the the quote is welcome to botany Manor a stately home in 19th century England You play as its inhabitant Arabella green a retired botanist
(0:50:31) Codey: Explore your house and gardens filled with botanical research to figure out the ideal habitat for a collection of forgotten flora
(0:50:38) Codey: grow each plant to discover the mysterious qualities that they hold.
(0:50:42) Codey: When I heard you were a retired botanist, I was like, I’m in. I am so in.
(0:50:47) Aislinn: - What about that, like what about specifically that is what got you interested?
(0:50:51) Codey: So being a bio like in biology, and specifically, like in wildlife biology,
(0:50:58) Codey: I consider insects wildlife, they are. And so every time I’ve met a retired,
(0:51:05) Codey: like, biologist, ecologist, whatever, they have the coolest stories to tell.
(0:51:12) Codey: Coolest stuff that they’ve collected over years and years and years of doing their research.
(0:51:18) Codey: They are just so interesting. And they often like just have so much knowledge
(0:51:26) Codey: about things as well. Like something that you’ve been studying and you’re still like super struggling with is just like secondhand to them. There’s, you know, one guy that I go and I go to his research station a couple times a year.
(0:51:42) Codey: He works for the USGS, but he basically like I will pour over a single bee for like an hour to try and figure out what species it is and he looks at it under a microscope for like 30 seconds and he’s like, oh, it’s this, just because he has so much knowledge and so any time that I have the chance to talk with or visit with or like in this case, see the home of and be.
(0:52:12) Codey: A retired biologist or botanist, whatever it is, super I’m in, you’ve got me like say less because and her house, the house is dope like.
(0:52:20) Aislinn: That’s so cool.
(0:52:23) Aislinn: Oh my, yeah, the house is gorgeous.
(0:52:26) Aislinn: So cool.
(0:52:26) Codey: I mean, we can jump in a little bit to let’s just jump into like the house, I guess, because you’re exploring this manner.
(0:52:28) Aislinn: Mm-hmm.
(0:52:34) Codey: And you start off in the greenhouse, but then it opens up and you go into the gardens, so I’ve unlocked the.
(0:52:42) Codey: Gardens, the main house, the there’s like a study area and then the kitchen and the like I don’t remember what it’s called like the back terrace and something else that’s off of the kitchen, like that’s all I’ve said but even that like I find myself and the game is rich like it has so much little like knick knacks all over the house things that you interact with that are part of your life.
(0:53:12) Codey: As Arabella but also just stuff that you cannot interact with it’s just around so I mean like how did you how do you like that that kind of stuff and like what is your favorite area without spoilers.
(0:53:24) Aislinn: I loved the fact that there were the items that you can like the hints that you can get and interact with for being able to figure out like each plant from the journal.
(0:53:38) Aislinn: But also I loved and had very like genuine reactions to some of the stuff that weren’t part of like the main gameplay of like the puzzle solving and everything.
(0:53:50) Aislinn: But, just where you learn more about Arabella and her journey as a body.
(0:53:54) Aislinn: I love that experience and I love the experience of also just coming across the hints as well.
(0:54:20) Aislinn: The first… so when I was in the greenhouse, I wasn’t at that time…
(0:54:24) Aislinn: taking any notes per se, I was just kind of running around back and forth and I was very, I was very, I was very stupid on my first… I will not lie, if you were to go and watch me try and solve the first, the the windflower, I believe is the first plant, I was like, I was full just not thinking. It was, it was, I was figuring things out and I was not thinking. But once I figured out that first one, then the ball was rolling and I was like, oh, I’m taking notes for everything. So I have like, I could send photos and put it like
(0:54:54) Aislinn: black, but I have like photos of like my crazy notes that I was taking along the way. And it was just so fun and interactive, both with the, the clues and the hints and everything. And just cool to learn more about Arabella as a
(0:54:58) Codey: Oh my gosh.
(0:55:16) Codey: Yeah, I think so I guess I’ve not I’ve not said so I didn’t know what this game was at first so
(0:55:22) Codey: When you start playing it and you realize that it’s a puzzle game
(0:55:25) Codey: It’s a first-person puzzle game like where you are interacting and trying to solve the puzzle of how to grow these different plans
(0:55:32) Codey: I was like, oh I’m in like this is so cool
(0:55:35) Aislinn: It reminds me of, um, have you ever played escape room simulator?
(0:55:41) Codey: No, but if that’s like this, I might play it now.
(0:55:44) Aislinn: It reminds me of escape room simulators in a way. It kind of just feels like a big escape room and a very, like, well thought out escape room.
(0:55:53) Aislinn: And I haven’t played as much as, like, my fiancé has played, but, like, through him I’ve kind of absorbed things like a sponge.
(0:55:59) Aislinn: And he explained to me how Botany Manor is really, really good.
(0:56:05) Aislinn: Because him, me playing it, actually ended up, he ended up picking it up mid my gameplay, and he finished it before I still finished it.
(0:56:12) Aislinn: But aside from that, like, the gameplay of Botany Manor, he said it was really, really, really good.
(0:56:12) Codey: Go figure.
(0:56:18) Aislinn: And if you’re putting it, like, side to side with escape room simulator, because, like, at, like, there is some, there is a number of escape rooms that have, like, a purpose or, like, a theme.
(0:56:29) Aislinn: But Botany Manor does it really, really well and really, really thoughtfully, and he really, really appreciated that.
(0:56:35) Aislinn: And of course he’s playing escape room simulator so much, and from what I’ve done with escape room simulator, there are also, like, some cool things, and it’s cute, but it didn’t have, like, a, like, an intention.
(0:56:45) Aislinn: And I felt like Botany Manor had a very good, it’s like a fun game to play, where you can kind of just a little bit turn your brain off, not completely, because obviously it’s puzzles, but you can kind of, like, lose yourself in the game and just do the puzzles and everything.
(0:56:58) Aislinn: But also it felt like there was a really lovely aspect of storytelling that had, like, a very core intention.
(0:57:05) Aislinn: Of letting the player learn about Botany, even though the plants are not real technically, they are based on real plants in ways, and then also the intention of learning about Arabella’s life and her eventually, like, you learn about what she’s doing in current day as well.
(0:57:24) Codey: Mm-hmm No, I’m I haven’t I haven’t learned and I’m so excited
(0:57:24) Aislinn: Which I’m not going to spoil, but there is that as well.
(0:57:30) Aislinn: I cried. I actually legitimately burst into tears at the end.
(0:57:35) Aislinn: So I really really loved the game.
(0:57:37) Codey: Yeah, I’m probably gonna be right there with you
(0:57:42) Codey: Yeah, so I think so there’s like these dueling so there’s like the the puzzle aspect of it But then also there’s that narrative of like as you explore the rooms So you get more and more information and it’s just for
(0:57:54) Codey: some things like, oh, there’s a letter from your sister on the table, or, oh, there’s a picture of two women, I don’t know if this is true, but like a picture of two women or a picture of whatever, like there are these initials somewhere and then later you figure out who’s initials there, like that kind of thing that kind of enriches the story.
(0:58:09) Aislinn: - Mm-hmm.
(0:58:15) Codey: But that’s, I mean, it’s not necessary.
(0:58:17) Codey: You could just straight go straight through and be like, okay, like, I know I have to do do this flower and I know.
(0:58:24) Codey: from the journal entry that it’s probably something about fire or whatever and so then you’re going through and trying to find things that have to do with like lightning storms is one of them and then fire is the other one and trying to piece together like how to make this plant grow.
(0:58:40) Codey: those were the ones that I did I did one was a plant that really liked lightning and then one was a plant that really liked fire and then the first one is that wind flower so I guess like since the first one is pretty simple maybe
(0:58:54) Codey: we could just explain like how that puzzle goes just to show what the game play is and this is like the first like five minutes of the game it’s it’s not but it gets you in for sure
(0:58:56) Aislinn: - Sure.
(0:59:04) Aislinn: Unless you’re me, it takes you probably half an hour.
(0:59:08) Codey: the first five to thirty minutes of the game so yeah you want to explain the wind flower
(0:59:12) Aislinn: Exactly, there you go.
(0:59:16) Aislinn: Sure, so yeah, the first plant is the,
(0:59:19) Aislinn: I hope I’m getting that right, the windflower.
(0:59:22) Aislinn: And you basically just have to look around the greenhouse
(0:59:26) Aislinn: to figure out how to grow this said windflower so then you can fill out that page in the first page in your journal, which is titled forgotten flora
(0:59:38) Aislinn: or a herbarium by Arabella Green.
(0:59:41) Aislinn: But you kind of just have to search around the room and get all the clues and all the hints to then grow it.
(0:59:49) Aislinn: So there’s like a chalkboard that you look at to kind of get some, I don’t know how much in depth.
(0:59:56) Aislinn: I should go cuz I guess it’s technically spoiling, but it’s the first clue?
(0:59:57) Codey: I mean, it’s the first thing, so let’s just go straight, spoiling for the first five to thirty minutes of the game, but also if you’re not sure you want to play this game, I feel like this will explain it.
(1:00:03) Aislinn: Okay.
(1:00:13) Aislinn: Yeah, so you have to win Millwort, I don’t know, you know, I might be saying windflower because of this one song, this one kpop song called windflower. Got it. Thank you. But yeah, so there’s on the On the chalkboard there are temperatures for different
(1:00:24) Codey: Dude, it’s, no, I also was calling it the wind flower, like, yeah, no, it’s the, it’s the wind flower for sure, but it’s called the windmill wart.
(1:00:33) Codey: I had to Google it, so you’re welcome.
(1:00:43) Aislinn: regions I believe if I remember correctly and you have to kind of sort through it and see which one would make sense for the windmill wort and then you also have to take that information and then go over to the heater thing the boiler I guess yeah the boiler and adjust the temperature for that then you well before you do that you take the plant you put the soil in you take the seed, you also have to find the seed. Sorry, I am not telling
(1:01:12) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(1:01:13) Aislinn: this in an order that makes any sense. I am so sorry.
(1:01:16) Codey: No, you’re fine. Well, so you find the seed, you like explore the room, and there’s a package and a postcard from your, I’m assuming your sister. I can’t remember who it is from,
(1:01:26) Codey: but it’s basically this person being like, “Hey, from Sicily, I found this cool plant.
(1:01:31) Codey: Here’s the seed for it.” Basically.
(1:01:32) Aislinn: Yeah, so your your each puzzle is essentially your first mission is to find the seed and
(1:01:39) Aislinn: Then you can plant the seed or put the soil in the pot plant the seed water it and then you work on the puzzle from There so in this case it was fine get the seed plant it do all of that put it down in front of this like heater
(1:01:55) Aislinn: Great thing which is what my trip up was which I’ll get to it But you put it in front of that and then you explore the room.
(1:02:02) Aislinn: When you find the chalkboard, you read it, you find the temperature that you need, then you go back to the boiler, you adjust it, you turn it on, you make sure the vent is open for the heat to come through, and then you have your flower.
(1:02:18) Aislinn: I just, for whatever reason, didn’t see the plant or the pot holder.
(1:02:23) Aislinn: So I’m just like, I don’t get it.
(1:02:25) Aislinn: I’m turning it on.
(1:02:26) Aislinn: I’m turning it off.
(1:02:27) Aislinn: I’m turning it on.
(1:02:28) Aislinn: The temperature is correct.
(1:02:29) Aislinn: I’m like, I don’t understand.
(1:02:30) Aislinn: I completely missed where to put the pot.
(1:02:32) Aislinn: And it’s so, once you see it, it’s like visibly right there, but it took me for whatever reason, so long to find that.
(1:02:43) Aislinn: But then once that happens, then it clears out the green room because the Windmill War is known to help with air pollution, essentially.
(1:02:55) Aislinn: And then that’s the first puzzle, and then really pretty music plays, and then you walk out the greenhouse and you get to start.
(1:03:01) Aislinn: You begin to be able to see the rest of this.
(1:03:04) Aislinn: But it’s just so like when you start the game, and then that sequence happens where the greenhouse clears.
(1:03:10) Aislinn: I was just and the music is playing where it’s just so like whimsical and just pretty.
(1:03:14) Aislinn: I was just like, wow, like I was just so just in awe at how lovely this game was.
(1:03:17) Codey: Mm-hmm well and especially because that until you have the windmill work like clear your room you’re in like what appears to be like a dusty like really foggy room and you’re just I’m just like open a window but now you got to get this little this little flower to windmill for you um so
(1:03:34) Aislinn: Yeah.
(1:03:38) Aislinn: Right?
(1:03:42) Aislinn: Yeah! giggles
(1:03:47) Codey: I mean yeah I thought that’s like that first one and I remember the like trying to do it like finding the seed and then being like okay cool I’m just gonna you know put the soil in put the seed in water the seed and it’ll grow and then I was like why isn’t she growing and then I went back and yeah it was like something about how it needs certain temperature and then I was like okay and then yeah the the vent too was like I didn’t know I had to open the vent so But it’s all just like
(1:04:05) Aislinn: There’s more to it.
(1:04:18) Codey: you know, hovering your cursor over everything in the world and seeing what you can interact with.
(1:04:22) Codey: And some of it has to do with that story of who you are and who your what your life is like right now.
(1:04:27) Codey: And then some of it is the clues for the different plants.
(1:04:33) Codey: So cool. I think my favorite thing, like visual from the game is when you walk into your your foyer area
(1:04:41) Codey: and there’s that tree in the middle of your room, like
(1:04:44) Aislinn: Oh my gosh, yes.
(1:04:47) Codey: right now it’s dead. I don’t know if it’s going to grow or anything, but like just in the middle of her house she just has a big old tree that’s growing and I’m just like I’m here for it.
(1:04:57) Codey: Oh, I’m so here for it. It’s so pretty.
(1:05:00) Aislinn: I’m trying to think, I think my that that is like one of my favorites for sure. I think my favorite area is
(1:05:08) Aislinn: much later in the game
(1:05:10) Aislinn: where it’s another room where you learn more about like Arabella and her family and
(1:05:16) Aislinn: I’ll just say it’s like upstairs and then that’s all I’ll say because it’s definitely like a spoiler
(1:05:22) Aislinn: but I think that room for her family member is
(1:05:26) Aislinn: is like my favorite room because it’s also just aesthetically one.
(1:05:30) Aislinn: of my favorite things to look at in general, so I think that’s my favorite room. But I also really like the backyard terrace area. That area is also very pretty. There’s like a…
(1:05:42) Aislinn: What’s it called? It’s like it’s not a windmill. I don’t even know what this is. It’s not even a silo, but it’s got the shape of a silo. I don’t remember what it’s called.
(1:05:56) Aislinn: I’m trying to see if I’ve wrote in my notes anything about it.
(1:05:58) Aislinn: The puzzle itself to do
(1:06:00) Aislinn: for that like section was very cool.
(1:06:02) Codey: oh i’m i’m not there yet then
(1:06:04) Aislinn: So when when you get there, it is really cool.
(1:06:06) Aislinn: It’s but it’s like it’s much easier if you like write it down somewhere,
(1:06:06) Codey: okay
(1:06:10) Aislinn: write some notes down somewhere,
(1:06:11) Codey: yeah
(1:06:12) Aislinn: and then it will be easier when you get to that section,
(1:06:14) Aislinn: because otherwise you’re going to be having a lot of back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.
(1:06:18) Codey: yeah
(1:06:18) Aislinn: And it’s going to drag out the gameplay unless you don’t mind that.
(1:06:21) Aislinn: You don’t mind that, and it’s good.
(1:06:22) Aislinn: But I found that writing things down,
(1:06:25) Aislinn: writing things down helped with not making the gameplay as long.
(1:06:30) Codey: Well, and it is, it’s cool because the game, like in the journal for each plant, like each forgotten flora, it’s like there are five clues.
(1:06:31) Aislinn: Because my memory is also bad.
(1:06:40) Codey: And so then, and then in the clues, like five clue spots, you can like click it and then add one of the clues that you found.
(1:06:48) Codey: So like add the journal entry or add the picture or whatever, and you can add the ones that you know are about this plant, like a hundred percent.
(1:06:58) Codey: percent, there’s no.
(1:07:00) Codey: No question that this document that had the windmill war on it is about the windmill war, like no, no question about it.
(1:07:09) Codey: Um, but then, so that, that way, if you find other things that you, that might be related to different plants, um, that you haven’t encountered yet,
(1:07:19) Codey: you can like leave them, um, and kind of try and piece it together.
(1:07:22) Codey: But even then you’re like, you’re saying you have to run back and forth.
(1:07:22) Aislinn: Yeah.
(1:07:25) Codey: Like it doesn’t, when you find those clues, it doesn’t save a picture of them.
(1:07:25) Aislinn: Yeah.
(1:07:30) Codey: It doesn’t save anything.
(1:07:30) Codey: Like you have to go back to where they are in the game, which part of me was like,
(1:07:34) Codey: but that was the game guzzling part of me.
(1:07:38) Codey: Like, I mean, this is 19th century England.
(1:07:40) Aislinn: - Mm-hmm.
(1:07:40) Aislinn: - Mm-hmm.
(1:07:41) Codey: If you were like, Oh, I, what did that picture look like?
(1:07:44) Codey: You have to go back to it.
(1:07:46) Codey: You don’t got a cell phone.
(1:07:47) Codey: Like…
(1:07:48) Aislinn: I would have just taken the book with me, so I don’t have to go back and forth, but that’s just me.
(1:07:54) Aislinn: I would say that’s like my one complaint about the game, and I want to say my only complaint about the game is just the fact that you had to go back and forth and back and forth to look at the puzzles,
(1:08:06) Aislinn: or literally look at it again, which is why I wrote it down.
(1:08:10) Aislinn: So that solved the issue for me, and I had a great time.
(1:08:14) Codey: That is a mood. Um, so yeah, I guess the other thing I wanted to, that I kind of wanted to riff on a little bit was that, you know, what you’re saying, the thing that you mentioned about, excuse me, about Arabella and the challenges that she faced as a woman navigating her scientific career as, as a woman who is navigating her scientific career, me. Um, I am loving the the fact that, especially in entomology, that doesn’t
(1:08:44) Codey: exist anymore, or like, you know, I, you know, I, I know that there are these giants that, that researched things before me. Um, there are many women and women in entomology
(1:08:57) Codey: that, um, studied different things. Um, like one was, uh,
(1:09:01) Codey: Clara South made Ludlow. She’s known as the mother of medical entomology. So she really researched like how to use, um,
(1:09:10) Codey: different insects for, uh, medical purposes, and then also trying to like–
(1:09:14) Codey: figure out what insects would be causing what diseases.
(1:09:18) Codey: So I know that there are women in my career field,
(1:09:21) Codey: but also in present day, every now and then I’ll encounter usually an old white man who has that like, oh,
(1:09:27) Aislinn: Sheesh, sheesh, sheesh.
(1:09:30) Codey: but you might not know as much, blah, blah, blah, blah.
(1:09:34) Codey: And literally, I can just turn to the other women in the room and give them a look.
(1:09:38) Codey: And we all are like, yeah, no, this guy is–
(1:09:42) Codey: in like five years, he’ll be gone, and it’ll be fine.
(1:09:42) Aislinn: Oh my gosh, I love that!
(1:09:45) Codey: But the Entomological Society of America’s president has been a woman for like four years in a row now, I believe.
(1:09:55) Codey: And it’s going to be women for like the next three years as well, I believe.
(1:09:59) Codey: And so it’s always interesting to me to play these games and see how it used to be for biologists.
(1:10:08) Codey: And I’m sure that like Clara Ludlow, Marion Cibilla-Marian,
(1:10:14) Codey: different people in entomology, they probably also experience their own struggles, right?
(1:10:19) Codey: And Jeff and I, my partner and I were actually talking about this the other day, about computer science and how women did a lot of the first things in computing.
(1:10:31) Codey: There’s that picture of that woman standing next to a stack of papers that was like code that she wrote by herself or something, and it’s as tall as she is.
(1:10:41) Codey: And how women were doing all of that.
(1:10:44) Codey: Until men realized how important it could be.
(1:10:48) Codey: And then they were like, “Oh, you can’t do this.”
(1:10:50) Codey: And it’s like, “We’ve been doing it!”
(1:10:52) Aislinn: - Yeah.
(1:10:52) Codey: Like, “What are you talking about?”
(1:10:56) Codey: And he was like, “It’s just so stupid.”
(1:10:58) Codey: And I was like, “I know.”
(1:11:01) Aislinn: This game is definitely going to continue to frustrate you in that sense then.
(1:11:04) Codey: And in a lot of movies even,
(1:11:10) Codey: There’s like, you have like characters who are like.
(1:11:14) Codey: I’m a warrior, but I’m a woman and it like the way that they play it,
(1:11:19) Codey: like any woman character who is a scientist or a warrior or like anything like that, she’s got to be tough and she’s got to be like, she has all these masculine qualities and you know, there are a lot of people in entomology today who are super feminine, you know, super like don’t want to go out in the woods.
(1:11:26) Aislinn: Yeah.
(1:11:28) Aislinn: Yeah.
(1:11:38) Codey: And then there’s me, like I go out in the woods all the time, but like, you know,
(1:11:40) Codey: It is, I’m seeing it change and so, and, and also like.
(1:11:45) Codey: Being on that cusp and being able to like, even if I encounter the, you know,
(1:11:49) Codey: old white man or whatever. Um, and I, and I’m like, oh, like, great.
(1:11:55) Codey: Like you have some outdated things. First of all, people will call them out. Um,
(1:12:00) Codey: and then second of all, like I can turn and there’s women around me who are supporting me and who are like, yeah, we heard that too, but like, you know,
(1:12:08) Codey: let’s, you can either call it out, uh, and nothing might change or we,
(1:12:14) Codey: we can just move on and he’ll be gone in like five years.
(1:12:16) Aislinn: Mm-hmm.
(1:12:19) Aislinn: Mm!
(1:12:21) Codey: So I thought that that was really interesting, like being playing this game and
(1:12:27) Codey: seeing that, and I guess I’m going to continue to be potentially frustrated by that. Um, but seeing that and knowing that it, it was real and it did exist and
(1:12:38) Codey: you know, it’s, it’s baked into this game and it’s baked into like a lot of the other things that I’ve seen before, but knowing that it is changing.
(1:12:44) Codey: Now, like, especially in my field and in a lot of like wildlife biology fields as well, I don’t think the change is as fast in like chemistry and physics and stuff.
(1:12:54) Codey: Um, unfortunately, but I’m sure it’ll get there and I know that there are pioneers in those fields that are working to advocate, um, for different voices.
(1:13:05) Codey: Um, not only women, but also queer people, um, people of different religions, like trying to make sure that everyone is welcome in science because it doesn’t take you having a PhD or or anything like that, to be a scientist, it just takes a curious mind.
(1:13:19) Codey: And anyone can have that no matter your age, gender, cultural beliefs, anything like that, so.
(1:13:27) Aislinn: That is really, really awesome to hear like your perspective because I do not work in science. I mean, you know what I do for work. I don’t publicly, publicly put it out there. I share if anything on the ISC Slack here and there.
(1:13:32) Codey: Mm-hm.
(1:13:36) Codey: Mm-hm.
(1:13:41) Aislinn: But like in my field where it currently is, there’s definitely progress, but it’s still not what you are experiencing and what you’re able to experience and how that is changing.
(1:13:57) Aislinn: In science, it’s really, really awesome to hear and it’s really valuable to me to be able to hear your perspective and your feelings on this topic in general that Arabella is going through and how it’s grown so much from where she was versus what it is today.
(1:14:17) Aislinn: And it’s really, really cool to hear.
(1:14:18) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah, and I, I think that these voices need to be heard more. You know, we’re still uncovering more women in science that you know, like, I mentioned the entomological society of America’s president, when presidents have been women for like the last four years or whatever,
(1:14:40) Codey: the first time I was a president was Edith patch in 1930. And she was an amazing human and did a Did a lot of really cool things, but then it wasn’t, there was no.
(1:14:48) Codey: Other woman president for like 70 years or something.
(1:14:50) Aislinn: Oh my god.
(1:14:54) Codey: So like, I’m seeing the change now, but, uh, yeah, it’s, it was, uh, it’s,
(1:15:02) Codey: it’s gratifying to see and, and be on the, the generation that is going to continue to uphold this and push it further past, just, um, just making sure that, that women are equal because we should be, and we are, um, but that,
(1:15:18) Codey: um, so. Yay.
(1:15:18) Aislinn: That’s very cool. Also another thing that I just remembered with this entire conversation too,
(1:15:25) Aislinn: I don’t know for certain if this was like the inspiration for Arabella, but there was an article that was shared in combination with Botany Manor, at least in the white thorn discord that I came across, and there is a story about a woman botanist, Lydia Ernst- I’m so bad with name Ernstine.
(1:15:47) Aislinn: Lydia Ernstine back–
(1:15:49) Aislinn: that when I read this article back then, very, very similar story to Arabella that I thought was very interesting.
(1:15:57) Aislinn: So I can pass that along as well if anyone wants to read that.
(1:16:00) Codey: Cool. Well, I definitely would.
(1:16:04) Aislinn: You want me to drop it in the notion?
(1:16:06) Codey: Ooh, yes.
(1:16:08) Aislinn: Okay, it is there.
(1:16:08) Codey: We’ll have it be part of the show notes. Sweet.
(1:16:11) Aislinn: But yeah, overall, like the game, the game itself, the puzzles are very satisfying.
(1:16:18) Aislinn: It’s very intentional.
(1:16:19) Aislinn: The game visually is fantastic.
(1:16:23) Aislinn: And I also– actually, we didn’t talk about this really much.
(1:16:26) Aislinn: But the accessibility features as well is really, really great.
(1:16:29) Aislinn: The only thing I think that’s technically lacking is like a published walkthrough of the game.
(1:16:34) Codey: - Hmm, mm-hmm.
(1:16:36) Aislinn: But I do have access to that if anyone needs help with any of the puzzles.
(1:16:41) Aislinn: But the puzzles you can generally figure out one way or another.
(1:16:44) Aislinn: It may take a little bit longer.
(1:16:46) Aislinn: versus the other, but they’re all pretty acces-
(1:16:48) Aislinn: just the features to be able to adjust like the- I forget what it’s technically called,
(1:16:58) Aislinn: but like when you’re spinning around and whatnot, make it slower or faster or whatever so you don’t get dizzy. It’s really great and being able to like click on the documents and be able to see the text in bigger font is also a plus for some of them because some of them are very difficult to read.
(1:17:09) Codey: Yeah, some of them are very sprawling cursive, you know what you would expect and you can just try and read that but having the ability to see the overlay text and just have it written out in plain serif font that you can like read perfectly or whatever like is really nice, yeah, for sure.
(1:17:15) Aislinn: Mm-hmm.
(1:17:18) Aislinn: Mm-hmm.
(1:17:22) Aislinn: Mm-hmm.
(1:17:34) Aislinn: Yeah, I definitely appreciate that aspect as well. So just about anyone and everyone can play it.
(1:17:40) Aislinn: And I also love that it’s on Game Pass. So if you already have Game Pass, you don’t have to pay for it, essentially, which is awesome. So overall, like really, really good game. It’s genuinely like a very special game to me, even though I played it once and it’s not really replayable.
(1:17:56) Aislinn: There are like some additional achievements that you can do. Actually, funny story with that,
(1:18:02) Aislinn: there was one achievement that I thought was going to be a thing.
(1:18:04) Aislinn: So you know how you can sit on the chairs?
(1:18:06) Codey: Yeah
(1:18:06) Aislinn: I was so convinced there was going to be an achievement for sitting on all of the chairs.
(1:18:12) Aislinn: There’s not, but the entire play through I was sitting on every single chair that I saw.
(1:18:17) Codey: I Loved there was there’s an achievement like if you rattle a locked door like you’re like there’s a door that’s locked and you try Like and it has the lock symbol, but you can literally still try it and the achievement. It’s like achievement. Let me in
(1:18:32) Aislinn: Some of the achievements in the game are very, very cute.
(1:18:36) Aislinn: And I love that. It’s got such a good balance of being a well thought out game with a sense of the puzzles being well thought out.
(1:18:44) Aislinn: It has intention with the story of Arabella. And it’s also got the silliness with those achievements and whatnot.
(1:18:50) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(1:18:50) Aislinn: As well as just visually again being a really nice game to look at.
(1:18:54) Aislinn: So I thought it was a really well rounded game overall that scratched that itch of wanting to play like a very satisfying puzzle game in the end.
(1:19:01) Codey: Yeah, I’m excited to finish it and play it a little bit more when I have more mental spoons for it.
(1:19:08) Codey: And it gave me the good feels.
(1:19:11) Codey: But it also was like, I was like, this is a game I need to pay attention.
(1:19:14) Codey: This is a game where I would regret playing it when I just need to mind off play something.
(1:19:20) Aislinn: Yeah, it’s a good game for like a day in and you kind of just want to be like a hermit or an introvert and just kind of sit on the couch on front of your TV or sit at your computer and just kind of dive into the world and solve puzzles.
(1:19:21) Codey: So.
(1:19:36) Aislinn: Yeah, it really is.
(1:19:39) Aislinn: It really is.
(1:19:40) Aislinn: It really does feel that way.
(1:19:41) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(1:19:42) Codey: Well, I mean, I would recommend it to pretty much anyone.
(1:19:43) Aislinn: I agree.
(1:19:46) Codey: I don’t think there’s anyone that I would not recommend this game to.
(1:19:50) Aislinn: I definitely agree as well.
(1:19:52) Aislinn: It’s a good game for everyone.
(1:19:54) Codey: Well, cool.
(1:19:54) Codey: Thank you, Aislynne, for being on.
(1:19:57) Aislinn: Thank you for having me.
(1:19:59) Aislinn: This is so cool.
(1:20:00) Aislinn: I really appreciate this.
(1:20:02) Aislinn: I really genuinely do.
(1:20:03) Codey: Yeah, no, it was super fun to like get your your take on it and hear some fresh you’re a fresh voice on the pod and
(1:20:11) Codey: and Yeah, always maybe we’ll we’ll loop you back in if there’s other games
(1:20:17) Codey: But you like that other people haven’t played or that we don’t really have the time to play or something like that
(1:20:22) Codey: That’s an owl thing
(1:20:24) Aislinn: Yeah, I’m super down anytime!
(1:20:26) Codey: Is your
(1:20:26) Aislinn: I’m just- I was happy today to talk with you, and I was happy to talk about Botany Manor ‘cause I could talk about that game all day.
(1:20:34) Codey: And I got to send you a snap of a bearded dragon and then of the field
(1:20:38) Aislinn: Yes! Thank you!
(1:20:41) Codey: Keep yawning. Okay
(1:20:44) Aislinn: It’s E.P. Hours!
(1:20:45) Codey: It is Eevee hours and I
(1:20:48) Codey: Need to know Eevee. Okay, you can find the pod
(1:20:53) Codey: In multiple places
(1:20:56) Codey: Well, let’s start with you. Where did where can people find you talk so moo and coo. Where is that bomb?
(1:21:02) Aislinn: Moo and Coo is available on anywhere that you can listen to podcasts.
(1:21:06) Aislinn: We publish it on specifically Podbean, but it should be available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, um, pocket casts, et cetera, et cetera.
(1:21:19) Aislinn: Google, uh, Google podcasts is gone.
(1:21:21) Aislinn: What’s the new, I don’t know what the new one is, but it’s, it’s a pretty much available anywhere that you listen to podcasts and Moo and Coo is yeah.
(1:21:26) Codey: Oh my gosh, and you’ve featured Pangoo and Hannah and top K-pop songs.
(1:21:32) Aislinn: So that’s where it all started.
(1:21:36) Aislinn: It started with top K-pop songs and it’s just progressed into a variety of topics, which is the whole point of it.
(1:21:43) Codey: Oh my gosh. I have hit the follow button. I will listen to these.
(1:21:48) Aislinn: Thank you.
(1:21:50) Codey: And you stream, correct?
(1:21:50) Aislinn: Um, yeah, I do.
(1:21:53) Aislinn: Um, I am a trainer on Twitch, on Instagram, on threads, on Twitter.
(1:22:02) Aislinn: Whatever I don’t really use Twitter.
(1:22:03) Aislinn: It’s just there.
(1:22:04) Aislinn: It’s just, I just post when I’m live.
(1:22:04) Codey: Yeah.
(1:22:05) Aislinn: That’s literally all I do.
(1:22:07) Aislinn: Um, I have a link tree.
(1:22:11) Aislinn: I have stickers.
(1:22:13) Aislinn: I made stickers recently that that’s something I like to talk about.
(1:22:14) Codey: Oh my gosh, what are they?
(1:22:17) Aislinn: So I made a sticker of my logo that I designed.
(1:22:20) Aislinn: And then I also made a sticker of a whale with a cowboy hat that says job whale done.
(1:22:26) Codey: Oh my gosh, where can we get those?
(1:22:32) Aislinn: Uh, my Ko-fi, my Ko-fi shop.
(1:22:33) Codey: Okay.
(1:22:35) Aislinn: So if y’all want to check that out, feel free.
(1:22:38) Aislinn: Cause I’m very proud.
(1:22:39) Aislinn: Those are my first stickers that I ever made.
(1:22:41) Aislinn: And it’s the beginning of my journey of making like eventually one day, my dream is to make a pin, but we’ll, we’ll get there financially for now.
(1:22:46) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, we it’s you can do it. We make for the entomology graduate student association at my university, we make a lot of different crafty items. And one of the people designed some butterfly cool like pride butterfly things, and then she made them into pins. And and they’re so cool, but they sell also really fast, so.
(1:22:48) Aislinn: It’s stickers.
(1:22:49) Aislinn: And I love my stickers to death.
(1:22:50) Aislinn: So [inaudible]
(1:23:16) Codey: Um, so yeah, and we just use, oh my gosh, what is the website sticker mule?
(1:23:24) Aislinn: Sticker meal, okay, I’ve been using Sticker Ninja.
(1:23:27) Codey: Oh, interesting.
(1:23:30) Aislinn: But there’s a lot of resources out there.
(1:23:30) Codey: Yeah, no.
(1:23:32) Codey: Yeah, but you can, you can make buttons and pins and all kinds of cool stuff.
(1:23:32) Aislinn: Silence.
(1:23:36) Codey: Um, cool.
(1:23:38) Codey: Well, then yeah, uh, you can find me, um, @CodeyMathis on Twitter.
(1:23:44) Codey: Again, I don’t really use that, but the thing I use.
(1:23:46) Codey: Most of the time is @hikingbeegle, on Instagram.
(1:23:52) Aislinn: to your Instagram, by the way. So good. So cute. But if you scroll, good.
(1:23:55) Codey: I don’t post super, super often, but what I do, but if you scroll and then also,
(1:24:02) Codey: uh, my stories are often unhinged because I just like retweet whatever funny stuff
(1:24:09) Codey: or not retweet, but like reshare on my story, whatever hilarious hilarity I have encountered when I’ve been doom scrolling that day.
(1:24:15) Aislinn: I love it. Whenever I do catch it, love it.
(1:24:16) Codey: And yeah, I’ve had many times people have come to me and been like, you posted a lot of really sad things last night.
(1:24:26) Codey: Are you good?
(1:24:28) Aislinn: Aww.
(1:24:29) Codey: I’m like, I just hit a sad part of Instagram real.
(1:24:32) Codey: The algorithm was like, Oh, it’s sad girl hour.
(1:24:36) Codey: Um, so yeah, uh, those are the places where you can find me.
(1:24:40) Codey: Uh, you can find Al at the Scott bot, uh, on mastodon.scott and on Twitter.
(1:24:45) Codey: You can find the podcast.
(1:24:46) Codey: On tumblr and Twitter at THSPod, you can find feedback and links, you can provide feedback and get the links in the show notes and all of that at harvestseason.club, which is our website.
(1:25:00) Codey: Also on harvestseason.club is access to the Patreon, a link to the Patreon, which is patreon.com/thspod. You can join the community. It gives you access to our Slack, in which I will be posting pictures of the bearded dragon.
(1:25:14) Aislinn: I will be there shortly after this is done recording.
(1:25:17) Codey: Yay, yay, and yeah, it’s just a bunch of cozy people.
(1:25:18) Aislinn: I will be there soon!
(1:25:24) Codey: We talk about the pod.
(1:25:25) Codey: We talk about different things that are happening in the world of farming games.
(1:25:31) Codey: It’s a very cozy place.
(1:25:33) Codey: Thank you so much, Aislinn, for joining me.
(1:25:36) Aislinn: Thank you for having me. I just love chatting with you. So this was nice
(1:25:40) Codey: So yeah, that’s our pod.
(1:25:43) Codey: and until next time, have a good one.
(1:25:45) Aislinn: Have a good harvest. I really tried [laughs]
(1:25:46) Codey: Good harvish! (laughs)
(1:25:47) Theme Tune: The harvest season is created by Al McKinlay, with support from our patrons, including our pro farmers, Kevin, Stuart and Alisa.
(1:26:02) Theme Tune: Our art is done by Micah the Brave, and our music is done by Nick Burgess.
(1:26:07) Theme Tune: Feel free to visit our website, harvestseason.club, for show notes and links to things we discussed in this episode.
(1:26:22) Codey: Yeah, I’m excited to see you in July.
(1:26:25) Aislinn: I know! I hope I can see you sooner, somehow, some way, don’t know how, but…
(1:26:29) Codey: Well, actually, I’m gonna be, we’ll talk about this after.
(1:26:32) Aislinn: Okay. [laughs]

The Harvest Season

I Am Child

Timings

Links

Contact

Transcript