The Ushi No Tane websites specialize in information, FAQs, and guides about the Nintendo console versions of the Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Legend of the River King video games. These game genres are created and published in Japan by Marvelous (JP). In other regions, you'll find Natsume, XSeed Games/Marvelous (USA), Marvelous (EU), and Rising Star involved in the series' release.

The latest version of the mainstream farming series that have been released in various regions of the world are:

• Japan: Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (January 2023)
• North America: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (September 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (October 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)

The latest version of River King, in all regions of the world, is River King: Mystic Valley (JP 2007, NA 2008, EU 2009).

Since 2000, Ushi no Tane has been run by a grouchy old lady who happens to be fond of video game agriculture along with two feline helpers: Intern Captain Bootu and Intern Hondo Mewnaka. The website is not officially affiliated, sponsored, endorsed, or employed by the developers of Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, or River King. This is simply a fan site.

Latest Farming Video Game News

Happy Farm'n Friday! Our first CSA box didn't disappoint, though we have yet to use everything the farmers shared. We got purple flowering broccoli, lettuce, spinach, radish, chard, and nasturtium blooms. I never considered a nasturtium edible, but surprisingly, it's a tasty treat! The flower tastes sweet and then gets spicy like arugula. As for the chard, blah, that was added to curry along with carrots and bell pepper.

This week, we'll be getting cauliflower, Hakurei Turnips (?), leeks, kale, and a few other things. The farmer recommends eating the turnip raw... hmm... that could be interesting.

I started moving the coleus outdoors to get used to the outdoor temperatures this week but didn't consider the overly sunny days. Some of the seedlings got sunburned :( Thankfully, they're not dead, but their outer leaves look crispy. This weekend will be a small spike in temperature (mid-80°s), so I must be extra diligent with tender outdoor plants. Today, it almost reached 90°! I've lost plants to this annual weather event, so we've to keep our carrots and potatoes well watered.

Indie Game Updates

An update for Coral Island will start its beta review on May 20. The 1.1 version of the game will bring in merfolk marriage, underwater farming and ranching, improvements to the decorating functionality, and populating the library with books based on player progress. Hopefully soon the 1.1 version will be added to the full game.

The closed alpha for Tales of Seikyu will begin on May 27, with surveys being sent next week to crowdfund campaign supporters who opted to participate in the early dev build. As it's a closed alpha release, participants will be asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement and report any discovered bugs with the game.

Squarehusky revealed their afterlife farming game Everafter Falls will be published by Akupara Games on June 20 on PC (Steam, EGS, GoG), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and XBox. This game has been in the making for many years, with a successful Kickstarter in December 2020. Supporters should receive their console keys early next month. A demo is available on Steam if you want to check it out:

• Everafter Falls | Steam Store

Wholesome Direct

This year's Wholesome Games' Wholesome Direct is scheduled for Saturday, June 8, at 9:00 am Pacific Time and will be broadcast on YouTube and Twitch. This online showcase will feature over 70 cozy video games, including fun farming games. Previous Wholesome Direct participants include Snacko, Moonstone Island, Loftia, Orange Season, SoS: AWL (though not an indie game), and Fields of Mistria. There are non-farming games, too, but I tune in just for the farming stuff.

• Wholesome Direct 2024

Lucid Tales confirmed that their skyship farming game Sally will be included in the Wholesome Games showcase.

Marv Indie Publication

This week, mega-media company Marvelous announced they would publish the vampire-themed farming game Moonlight Peaks in all regions in 2026. The exact date will be revealed later, but our farm'n game publisher aims to release the game simultaneously across all regions (NA, EU, Oceania, JP). The current platform is Steam, though a Nintendo Switch version may be released later.

Developed by Little Chicken Game Company, Moonlight is placed in a spooky world where the heroine is the child of the infamous Count Dracula. The town of Moonlight Peaks was founded by three mythical families (vampires, witches, and werewolves), with four families joining the population over time. As a vampire family member, the protagonist is determined to show Dad that even nightwalkers can lead a compassionate life.

Players will farm, of course, and care for strange farm... animals... like walking golems and piggoats. There's bug collecting (including weird floating skulls to catch), fishing, crafting, decorating, and potion crafting. You can even transform into a bat to move around faster. Even the shipping bin has eyes! Ooooo spooooky...

Romance is also available and not restricted to vampire family members. Mermaids, humans, witches, werewolves, and others can be wooed. Eventually, marriage may be the end goal, but according to Chicken Little, children are not currently a planned feature.

A demo on Steam gives you 30 days and 5 quests to complete. The demo content will not transfer to the full release; it's just for trying things out.

• Moonlight Peaks | Steam Store
• Moonlight Peaks | Official Website and Newsletter

Marv Fiscal Year Report

March 31 is the end of Marvelous of Japan's corporate fiscal year, and the corporation released its fiscal reports today (technically, yesterday in Japan).

• Digital sales from three new IP-based games were lower than expected, reducing the amount of expected income. There was a 109% increase in sales over the fiscal year 2022-2023, but net profit was about 40% less (474 million yen) than the prior fiscal year (779 million yen). Ouch. Overseas sales of SoS:AWL (June 2023) and existing online/mobile games helped to keep their games division profitable. You're welcome, Marvelous; now give us back the missing rival marriage systems! I assume the three games in question were Loop 8 (June 2023), Silent Hope (October 2023), and Fashion Dreamer (Nov 2023), but Marvelous' report doesn't specify which three games weren't profitable.
• The company's goal is to have a super-duper high-profit year in 2027, the company's 30th anniversary. They intend to achieve this by expanding their overseas market, growing their online segment, and promoting the development of their internal IPs across franchises. This means expanding existing IPs across different platforms, such as online, spin-offs, merchandise, anime, and more. Marvelous uses SoS, RF, and their two in-development series, Project Magia and Project Life RPG, as possible examples.
• The overseas market for consumer games was 60% of sales during the past fiscal year. Marv plans to expand this to 80% by releasing additional titles overseas.
• Because there have been changes in user tastes and increases in development costs, it has become more difficult for the company to estimate whether a project will be profitable enough to recover the amount spent during development. Moving forward, the company has recalculated costs for their in-development projects on an as-they-occur basis rather than forecasting them into future fiscal years.
• For fiscal year 25 (2024-2025), Marv expects most of their profit to come from the later half of the year due to the expected release of major (and unnamed) consumer titles. The report noted this year's digital releases include a mobile game (based on the Bikkuriman series), a PS/NSW game (Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus), and a Steam/NSW remake of a 1984 visual novel game (Hokkaido Chain Murders). The two other unnamed games are noted to be released in the second half of the fiscal year (Oct 2024 to March 2025) and are 1) a brand-new game and 2) a game from an existing series. Hmmm...
• For the boring stuff, there was one new external board member candidate to bring to a vote by shareholders - Ryu Takahashi, who comes from Animate Co. Ltd., a retailer of anime and video game goods. External board member Shinji Hatano will be retiring from Marvelous' board after the 27th meeting of the shareholders. Hanato became an external director in 2019 and was previously a special director at Nintendo. (Note: external/outside board members bring an unbiased voice to a company versus an internal board member who is an employee of the company.)

Until next time!

-Cher
(Wait a second summertime, I am still enjoying spring!)

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