Blog Quest 2: Design Your Game Item 2

     It is time for round two for the design a game item blogs!  The game that I have chosen to implement an item into is one that has always held a special place in my game collections, as it was one of the first games I purchased by myself for the PlayStation 2 system.  The game that I am referring too is Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland, from the game design company Natsume.  The Harvest Moon series (originally introduced in 1996)  is a farm simulator role-playing series, wherein the player can plant, grow, and cultivate crops, raise livestock, and perform general upkeep tasks around their farm.  In the case of Save the Homeland, the player's home town is under threat of being bulldozed by a big evil corporation.  This would cause all the residents to lose their homes and have to re-locate.  To try and prevent this, the main character must complete one of many storylines in order to prevent the corporation from buying the land, thus saving your home!  An example of one of these storylines is the cake contest ending.  If the player raises their animals properly to achieve golden eggs and milk, they can use these ingredients to enter and win the cake baking contest, putting your homeland on the map and saving the town from destruction.

The game also have an incredibly cute art style too it!

    Since one of the main concerns during my play-through was not having enough money to buy the required upgrades for my farm, I decided that the item I would choose to add would give the player an edge when it came to gaining money and saving time.  The main money making task in the game is by far farming corn.  The crop does take a substantially longer time to grow than the other crops, however it pays off in the end.  To farm in the game, the player must first use the hoe to till the land of the eight different two x four grids of fertile land.  After this has been completed, the player is able to play the seed of whichever crop they wish into the spots.  The next part of the farming process is by far the most tedious.  The player must use the watering can to water each individual plant to prevent them from wilting and dying.  By the time the player finished watering the 64 plants, the day is nearly over and there is no room to continue the story elements.  This is where my item would come into use.  Instead of using the watering can, the player can save up enough money to have a professional come and install a sprinkler system into their farm.  These sprinklers would cover the two x four area grid of one of the patches and would turn on at 7:00 AM everyday to prevent the crops from dying.

Minimum of 10 minutes to water the crops... Every day

    To begin explaining how this upgrade would work, I must first explain how the character would acquire these nifty little time savers.  The construction shop in the game offers the player the option to upgrade in game objects such as their house and dog house.  With the introduction of the sprinklers, the player would be able to purchase sprinklers from the shop until all of their fertile patches our filled.  Since this seems a little over powered, the sprinklers would not only be sold individually, but they would also be quite expensive for the player to purchase.  This would mean that the player would have to gain the money through water can farming (or other means) before they could upgrade their farm.  By introducing this idea of individual purchasing and higher price, it prevents the player from exploiting the sprinklers early on to purchase the other upgrades for the farm sooner in the game.

I cannot stress enough how tedious the watering can is!

    Now this will change how the player plays the game in a couple of different ways.  The first of which is allowing the player to have a higher likelihood  of actually completing one of the story quests!  In my first play through of the game, in order to get the kitchen upgrade for my farm house, I had to spend a substantial amount of time growing corn on my farm.  As stated earlier, when the player commits to growing a full farm of crops, the days become 80% watering, while spending the other 20% actually completing tasks for the townspeople.  By adding in even one sprinkler system, the player will save a couple minutes per plot of land, allowing them to spend this time completing tasks and gathering quest specific items.

    Another gameplay mechanic that will be altered is the need to visit the well on the farm.  While watering the crops in the game, the player only has a certain number of uses with the watering can until they need to trek to the other end of the farm to fill their watering can.  This became a really frustrating mechanic to the game and at times, deterred me from farming altogether.  With the sprinkler system being in ground and connected to the well water, the player would have no need to refill it.  To counter act the jump from under powered watering can to overpowered sprinkler, I thought of adding a mechanic where the sprinkler system on a plot of land could have a random chance each day of breaking (very low chance).  To repair the sprinkler, the player would have to visit the construction shop and pay a moderate fee for the repair services.  This could add an interesting mechanic to gameplay as well, as characters may always keep a set amount of money save, just in case a sprinkler breaks while they are growing a high cash crop.

 

It may not seem very far, but that well might as well be in Middle Earth
with how fast the characters move

    Lastly, I would like touch on a game mechanic that the sprinkler system would not add, but improve upon. During the course of a few of my play-throughs, I eventually gave up on farming altogether since the watering can was too repetitive of a task to keep me entertained.  With the sprinklers however, the character would be more inclined to plant crops, in turn gaining a high amount of money.  This would allow them the chance to not only purchase a couple upgrades in the game, but all of them.  I was quite disappointed during my first play-through, as I was unable to purchase the dog house.  If I had the sprinklers, I would have definitely planted more crops and purchased a place for my pup to call home!

    I feel like the sprinklers would be such a great system to add to the game because it allows the character to experience more of the homeland.  It fits within the games theme perfectly and would help to balance the ratio of time farming to time exploring.  With less farming worries on the players mind, the game would become a much more enjoyable experience.