Butterflies
Place flowers beside a mature, watered kitchen garden. As butterflies gather, they help its food production.
The field guide
Your first
little community.
Start beside the river already there. One home, one garden and a path between them will teach you more than reshaping the whole valley at once.
01 / First visit
Begin with one corner.
Meet the valley
Move · Shape → Observe
Begin in Stillwater Reach. Choose Move to look around, then Shape → Observe to inspect the bank and water depth. You can begin beside the river already there.
Look for: Find a dry patch close to water, with room around it.
Make room for water
Shape → Dig / Add water / Drain
Dig a shallow hollow or channel. Add water with the brush, then choose Settle water. Raise or Terrace makes a dry bank; Smooth softens rough ground. A spring refills toward its own water level when the water settles.
Look for: Look for a dry building site and a wet edge nearby. Extra springs do not create an endless rising lake.
Plant a living home
Grow → Jotunfræ
Jotunfræ is the living seed that becomes a home. Choose it, find a clear footprint on dry ground, and place it. It grows through several visible stages; its surroundings influence its architecture.
Look for: A seed begins taking root. Select it to see what helps it grow.
Add food and a workshop
Grow → Kitchen garden / Stone workshop
Place a kitchen garden within reach of water and a stone workshop on dry ground. The garden supports residents; the workshop provides tools and stores gathered materials. The stone workshop is a building, not a stone to plant.
Look for: Your home has the beginnings of a community around it.
Connect the places
Grow or Garden → Lay paths
Brush paths between the home, kitchen garden and workshop. For a crossing, choose a Willow bridge with both ends on dry banks and add approach paths. Select a place or open Shared stores to see what is connected.
Look for: Neighbors have usable routes. Water across a path can interrupt them.
Give it time, then follow your curiosity
Rest a while · Garden
Rest a while advances two minutes of growth across unpaused communities. You can also let time pass normally. In Garden, open The returning water garden for its four chapters, or the seedkeeper’s satchel for new plantings.
Look for: Watch the growing places, residents and habitats respond. Pause whenever you like.
02 / The rules of this little world
Conditions matter. Connections matter.
- Build on suitable ground. Homes and gardens need dry space and a gentle enough slope. The placement preview and selected building explain what is missing.
- Make water useful. Water supports growth nearby. Too much over a building site or route can get in the way. Springs have a set water level; Settle water redistributes it after your edits.
- Give neighbors a route. A beautiful bridge still needs paths to both ends. Workers, a reachable workshop and available storage make deliveries possible.
- Spend light, then let it gather. The light counter pays for buildings and garden pieces. Light returns over time; Rest a while also replenishes it. Paths and landscape brushes do not cost light.
- Change your mind. Undo recent edits, rotate pieces, restyle a planting or remove it. Removal returns three quarters of its light cost. Earned discoveries and expedition milestones stay with you.
- Choose your pace. Pause a community or let it grow. The restoration chapters are invitations; there is no combat, ranking or punishment for missing a day.
| Piece | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Jotunfræ · living home | 24 light | Grows from seed into a home. Nearby water and a dry site help it flourish; a mature home supports three neighbors. |
| Kitchen garden | 10 light | Provides food when mature, watered and reachable. One garden can support six neighbors. |
| Stone workshop | 16 light | Produces tools and stores shared materials. Connect it to homes and gardens so neighbors can deliver supplies. |
| Hall of the Returning | 36 light | Grows into the community’s conservatory. Leave space for its larger footprint. |
| Willow bridge | 8 light | Crosses water between dry banks. Choose a span and connect paths to both ends. |
| Garden details | 2–5 light | Benches and planted borders cost 2 light; a Living archway costs 5. Arrange, rotate or restyle them to make the place your own. |
The selected piece’s panel is your best guide to its current needs. Growth happens in stages, so a planted seed will not look like a finished home immediately.
03 / Finding your hands
Move, shape, grow.
Choose Move when you want to look around. Shape contains landscape and water brushes; Grow and Garden contain buildings, paths and smaller details.
| Action | Mouse & keyboard | Touch |
|---|---|---|
| Look around | Choose Move, then drag to orbit. Right-drag to pan; scroll to zoom. | Choose Move and drag to orbit. Use two fingers to pan and pinch to zoom. |
| Shape land or water | Choose a Shape brush and drag. Adjust Brush size and Strength. | Choose a brush and drag with one finger. Two fingers navigate instead of painting. |
| Place or inspect | Choose a piece, then click a valid footprint. In Move, click a building, detail or resident to inspect it. | Choose a piece and tap a valid footprint. In Move, tap something to inspect it. |
| Rotate a piece | Use Turn or press R while placing. A selected piece also has a Turn button. | Use the Turn button while placing, or in a selected piece’s panel. |
| Undo / redo | Use the buttons, or Ctrl/Cmd + Z; add Shift to redo. The selected tab chooses the history. | Use Undo and Redo. Shape uses landscape history; Grow and Garden use construction history. |
| Return to navigation | Choose Move or press Escape. On the focused scene, arrow keys pan, +/− zoom and Home returns to the valley view. | Choose Move. Valley, Build and Home offer useful camera positions; +/− changes zoom. |
A landscape undo and a construction undo are different histories. Shape holds eight recent landscape changes; Grow and Garden share twelve construction changes. Keyboard shortcuts apply while you are interacting with the game, not typing in a text field.
04 / Let the place answer
Other lives find a home here.
Dragonflies
Give shallow water a dry bank. A narrow, carefully shaped edge can matter more than a large lake.
Songbirds
A mature home, a watered garden and two thriving plantings nearby make a welcoming habitat.
Open The other residents for the habitat conditions and a way to look at each place. Arrival takes a few quiet minutes.
The seedkeeper’s satchel
In Garden, Maren’s collection explains the conditions for each planting. After a suitable habitat and two minutes of unpaused simulation time, she can offer up to two plants. Learn one and use it again whenever you like for the usual piece cost. The other can return later. Offers wait for you, and each valley has its own collection.
The returning water garden
Its four chapters ask you to compose a garden, gather shared supplies, welcome wildlife, and restore the observatory. The chapter panel shows the next requirements. Repairing it is a reason to stay and enjoy what you made.
When you are ready to look farther
Connect six self-sufficient regions through the planetary journey. Their recovery and living seed passages can lift the protective sky. You can keep tending the world after that moment.
05 / Leave a little room for quiet
Listen. Save your view. Return.
Sound and stillness
Choose Listen to begin the original soundscape. Adjust nature and music separately. Follow this place lets nature sound respond to the scene. Quiet view tucks away the interface; Views keeps up to six camera-and-light compositions per region. A timed session and ending bell are optional.
Save before you leave
Changes save to your game account as you make them. Wait for the saved status. If saving fails, keep the page open and use Retry. Use one editing tab at a time. An internet connection is needed to save and reopen the world.
Eligible progress catches up for at most eight hours while you are away. Paused communities remain paused. There is no missed-day penalty.
Carry only what you choose
The game’s Journey doorway can open the Academy or AutoGeniusOS and let you copy a chosen note. It does not automatically sync game saves, Passport notes, journal entries or sound sessions. The world’s recovery measures describe the fictional landscape.
Need a hand?
In the game, Help explains its tools. Here, the FAQ covers springs, flooding, slow growth, disconnected paths and save problems.
Find a game answer06 / Carry the view with you
Your world in the Compass.
The Academy’s movable Compass has two views: My bearings for finding your way, and My world for the game.
- In the game, choose Compass at the top. Finish any pending change so the report reflects the latest world received.
- Choose Bring to Compass. The Academy opens with a preview of your report.
- Choose Keep in this tab to show it in My world, or leave it behind.
- For a small display beside the closed compass, choose Show a small HUD when closed. Drag the compass up or down to move both. The HUD’s × hides only the small display.
The full report shows valley recovery, neighbors, light, wildlife, learned plantings, the water garden chapter and progress across the six regions. The small HUD keeps recovery, neighbors and light within reach.
Read the capture time. These are carried snapshots. Return to the game and bring a new report to update them. Nothing syncs in the background; the report does not change your save or create a Passport entry. Clear it from My world whenever you like.
If you use Copy report link, open it in the browser where you visit the Academy. Anyone you give that link to can read its game numbers. It carries no personal notes, sign-in details or game save.