Hey, fellow Scouts! We're super pleased to announce that our first major update to Cozy Grove is now live! There's a ton of new features, activities and content in this update: [previewyoutube=yVL4dRaaoH8;leftthumb][/previewyoutube] [h2][b]New feature: Critter-catching[/b][/h2] Warm weather always brings the critters out, right? Summer felt like the perfect time to introduce critter-catching to Cozy Grove. A whole assortment of crawling and flying critters (with seasonal variation, of course) will now populate the item. You can buy a net from Mr. Kit to catch them – like the fishing rod, it will never break, and like fish, critters will spawn semi-continuously. Mr. Kit is fond of critters and will pay a reasonable amount for any that you catch, and some of the bears will express interest in critters from time to time as well. And of course, they’re collectible! Different critters behave differently, and rarer critters are somewhat harder to catch. Happy hunting! [h2][b]New feature: animal naming![/b][/h2] [img]https://i2.wp.com/spryfox.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/AnimalNaming-1.png?w=869&ssl=1[/img] So many of you have told us that you adore your spirit animals… so we decided to let you name them! No longer will your dear deer “Squishy-Poo” run around nameless and forelorn. [h2][b]New content: decorations and clothing[/b][/h2] There’s a bunch of new decorations (like the shell-based set, above) and hairstyles and clothing (see below) that we’ve tucked into various parts of the game. You’re just seeing a small subset here! Some of this will show up randomly, like most of the current decorations and clothing in Cozy Grove. Some is tied exclusively to certain events and/or bears that we’ll tell you more about in the future! [h2][b]New content: photo standees[/b][/h2] [img]https://i0.wp.com/spryfox.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Photobooth_Teaser.png?w=548&ssl=1[/img] We’ve noticed a bunch of you in Discord, Reddit and Twitter sharing screenshots of yourself standing behind Maker Bear’s photo standee, so we added a bunch more to his biome. Every time it regenerates, one will randomly be selected. [h2][b]New event NPC: Ms. Carouse[/b][/h2] [img]https://i0.wp.com/spryfox.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/festive_summer.gif?resize=416%2C378&ssl=1[/img] Starting sometime in early July, you’ll have the opportunity to interact with this delightful new spirit, Ms. Carouse! Who is she? What does she need or want from you? What new things does she bring to the game? We’re… not going to tell you that right now. 😉 You'll see for yourself soon enough! [h2][b]New feature: hug a bear[/b][/h2] [img]https://i1.wp.com/spryfox.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/LanternHug.gif?resize=360%2C340&ssl=1[/img] This is completely gratuitous. It’s never mechanically required of you and it doesn’t give tangible rewards. Do it because you want to. <3 [h2][b]New feature: Stone Skipping![/b][/h2] Every day, a limited number of mysterious, open-mouthed clamshells will reveal themselves beyond the shore. Find yourself a nice, flat skipping stone, toss it across the water into the clam, and rewards await you! Amazingly, these clams are as appreciative of a skillful, many-skip stone toss as we humans, and will more generously reward scouts who manage to sneak in a few extra skips before hitting their target. Different-colored clams give different rewards; some give quartz, some cough up driftwood, and some will reward you with both of those things simultaneously. And on very rare occasion, even better rewards may emerge for a particularly generous clam. For those of you who’ve unlocked a certain beach-loving character, you’ll be pleased to note that her recurring quest will no longer involve finding skipping stones, and will instead involve actually skipping stones. 😀 [h2][b]New event NPC: Darla O’Hare[/b][/h2] [img]https://i0.wp.com/spryfox.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/fashionista_mirror.gif?resize=390%2C284&ssl=1[/img] Darla, like dear old Pandam, will be gracing Cozy Grove with her presence one day every week (Saturday, in her case.) And we do mean “gracing”… she’s got a very healthy ego and she’s not afraid to show it. Fortunately, she’s also quite friendly, and the source of some pretty cool new features and content! Darla is willing to sell you second hand items from her rather extensive clothing collection. This includes, but is not limited to, *wigs*, which are effectively hairstyles that you can keep forever in your closet and swap into whenever you want. If you let her, Darla will challenge you to dress up in a specific outfit for her (this can always be accomplished with clothing you already own and/or is currently available in stores that same day.) Completing Darla’s challenge will result in her awarding you with a unique clothing item that is not available anywhere else in the game! We’ve added a whole bunch of new clothing outfits just for this purpose. [h2][b]New content: more “decoy” item sets[/b][/h2] We’ve had the ability to make you search for a specific item from a set of similar-looking items for a while now, but we haven’t made much use of it. In the Summer Update, we’ll be adding several new sets of decoy items to various quests. Harvesting a decoy (instead of the true item you’re supposed to find) can cause a “bag bug” to hop into your backpack. You can get rid of those pests by tossing them into the water (or Flamey, if you’re feeling harsh.) [h2]New content: treasure maps and lost lore![/h2] It is now possible to find rare bits of “treasure maps” and “lost lore”. Once you’ve found all the pieces, you can assemble them for an especially large rewards! [h2][b]New feature: shell model collecting![/b][/h2] Here’s a fact: one of our Bears loves shell collecting, and many of you Scouts also love the idea of collecting and decorating your island with shells. But up until now, you haven’t been able to do that, because decorating your island with old shells causes new shells to stop spawning. Fortunately, we’ve got a solution for you! The aforementioned shell-loving-bear will now able to take your shells and convert them into “shell models.” These models look identical to the originals – they’re just a bit larger – and you can use them to decorate the island as you see fit. [h2][b]New content: more background music![/b][/h2] We’ll be adding two new songs to the Cozy Grove soundtrack, brought to you by the same lovely composers who created the original music! We hope you love them.