Click inside the game box above to play. A controller is highly recommended.

Signum Story is a heartfelt reimagining of the classic Harvest Moon (SNES) formula, blending nostalgic farming and life-simulation gameplay with innovative features and expanded mechanics. Designed to offer a mix of comfort and challenge, the game introduces fresh ideas while staying true to the essence of the genre.

Gameplay

Patch Notes

Signum Story Beta 1.5 Patch Notes

Web Version Improvements • Added web version to the browser. Controller use is highly recommended. • Removed fullscreen mode, window mode, and the ability to exit the game (since the game remains open in the browser tab). Don’t forget to save before closing the tab.

Bug Fixes • Fixed item descriptions for seed bags. Crops are now correctly noted as plantable in all seasons except winter. • Fixed death event to correctly send the player to the upgraded house if applicable. • Removed incorrect narration that stated, “The mayor seems a little tipsy” at the start of all mayor-related dialogue.

Bug Fixes • Fixed a bug where the pet store would not notify players when they lack sufficient gold to adopt a pet.

Audio Updates • Added specific background music for the pub to create a unique atmosphere.

Pub Improvements • Removed Jack from the pub. • Removed chairs and had all characters stand at the table. • All relationship characters will now stay in the pub regardless of relationship level. • Characters will ask the player if they want to join them for a few drinks, replacing normal dialogue interactions. • Every night, a random event can occur in the pub before friends leave for the night. • Players will gain relationship points with everyone when hanging out at the pub.

Signum Story Beta 1.4 Patch Notes

Sound Improvements • Removed main title music to just be silence outside of BGS sounds. • Removed extra “splash” noise from refilling water. • Bug: Music was playing in wrong places, edited script to be more precise when to play or mute music. • Music Bug: The church music is trying to battle over the background music. Added new trigger to determine if you’re in the church, to play appropriate music.

Tutorial and Mechanics • Tutorial: An optional tutorial can be done by the Mayor, who is also the bartender and Ruby’s father. He will show you the ropes in town and follow you if you choose. • Anti-Lag System: Experimenting with a new system as a gatekeeper for scripts to optimize CPU load and reduce lag. • New Mechanic: Added GOALS to your ledger found in your room, showing progress for various tasks. • Upgrade House: Speak to the Mayor at the restaurant to purchase a deed to upgrade your house. • Have a Child System: Once married and with an upgraded house, your wife will give you news of a pregnancy. There are 8 different children depending on your spouse, with a 60-day pregnancy cycle.

Visual Improvements • Now, when exiting your house, crops don’t instantly grow in front of you. Instead, there’s a short fade-out and fade-in for immersion. • The screen only fades if a certain daily switch is active to show crop growth. • Bug: New transition to the farm caused the screen to not fade back in, so it has been temporarily removed.

Map and Quality of Life Updates • Map Improvement: On the farm, a tree was moved over by one tile to provide extra space for refilling the water well. • Water Can: Can now be refilled anytime, not just when empty. • Northern Map Water: Updated the lake to match the new water refill mechanics. • Quality of Life: Lowered Gold Tool prices from 1,000G down to 200G. • Quality of Life: Lowered cow prices from 500G to 150G and chicken prices from 150G to 75G.

Stamina Fixes • Stop the watering can from taking stamina when empty or refilling. • Using the milking tool no longer drains stamina rapidly when pressing unintended buttons.

Bug Fixes • Bug: Seed of tomatoes didn’t vanish after use due to incorrect item mapping (listed as potatoes). • Bug: Seed bags weren’t vanishing from inventory when empty. • Bug: After picking corn with the gold sprinkler, tools couldn’t be used. This was due to an outdated “Hands Full” mechanic, which was removed. • Bug: Players couldn’t pick up forage due to the same Hands Full issue. Forced the Hands Full switch to remain off. • Bug: Items from Nature’s Remedy weren’t going to inventory. Fixed store settings. • Bug: Crops weren’t going into inventory due to a disabled script, which was re-enabled. • Bug: In combat, players weren’t eating mushrooms or berries due to incorrect common events. • Bug: After marriage, spouses would vanish after giving a gift due to incorrect script deletions. • Bug: During the wedding event, the player could still move while transparent. • Bug: After marriage, partner dialogue would stop due to unnecessary conditions.

Jack of Cards Updates • Jack of Cards: To prevent save scumming, max bet reduced to 5G.

Marriage Updates • Bug: Lover status wasn’t triggering the engagement event due to characters being mapped incorrectly. Fixed for Celestia, Flora, Lyra, Savory, Willow, Grace, Ruby, and Helga. • Marriage Change: Partner now appears in your house only after the wedding. • Wedding Ring: The engagement ring is replaced by the wedding ring after marriage. • Wife: Removed all instances of the wife from their original locations post-marriage.

HUD and Items • HUD: Updated the optional on-screen HUD to show the Register amount of Gold. • Items: Added unique engagement ring descriptions tailored to each character.

Jack Improvements • Jack now stays at night to prevent him from vanishing mid-gameplay.

Animal Updates • Bug: Gold tools no longer cause unexpected issues during use. • Added a system to track and display animal and pet purchases, as well as gold tool purchases.

Signum Story Beta 1.3 Patch Notes

Monster Changes • Added a 2nd slime in the western forest, static in all 4 seasons. • Enemies now have a chance to drop Gold. Gold amount varies based on monster type, with progressively harder monsters dropping more: Green Slime, Rat, Spider, Scorpion, Worm, Snake, Wasp, and Bat.

Map Changes • Southern map now has resources to harvest, previously only had enemies. • Removed sign in front of the cave for easier access. • Added a new Cave in the southern mountain forest expansion. • Made walking into the cave more immersive with new map tiles and transparency effects. • Exiting the cave now shows the player walking on the steps during the transition. • Converted the farm map into one unified map using parallax changes and switches for seasonal transitions, ensuring crop growth continuity. • Expanded the northern section of the farm with a large open space for farming. • Updated the greenhouse with a new water animation when crops are properly watered.

New Maps • Added a new map south of the mountain featuring a hot spring for stamina recovery, enemies, and foraging. • Added a cave underneath the Tool Shed. • Added a map behind the Tool Shed for the greenhouse. • Added four festival maps, one for each season.

Character and Event Changes • The Human Statue now resets his pose every time you talk to him. • Added a new event inside the Tool Shed involving a Goblin retreating underground. • New quest from the Goblin to find the missing Tool Shed key. • Added a placeholder Wedding Event, scheduled for the Sunday following engagement.

Combat Changes • Added the option to eat wild berries or mushrooms during battle, restoring 1 or 2 hearts, respectively. • Golden Axe owners now deal x2 damage in combat, even if not equipped. Player animation reflects holding the axe when striking. • New battle animations for taking damage and celebrating victories. • Fixed bug with enemy hearts displaying incorrectly in battle and adjusted enemy levels for added challenge. • After winning a battle, Ace no longer vanishes but stands in a victory pose. • Added a double-down and triple-down axe swing animation during combat.

Crop System and Watering Changes • The greenhouse now allows year-round crop growth, but crops don’t receive rainwater inside. • Filling up the Water Can at a well or pond now uses the same button as watering crops. • Watering a tile briefly changes its color to show it was successfully watered.

Shop and Resource Changes • The new mountain pond map now features a shop that sells herbs, wild berries, and mushrooms at high prices to prevent resale profits. • Item description for the Golden Axe updated to reflect its new purpose (cutting tree stumps and dealing double combat damage).

HUD and Menu Changes • Added a HUD to display the player’s current wager and gold amount when playing BlackJack. • Main menu options now allow toggling a HUD displaying the current date, HP, Stamina, Gold, and time. • Prevented the ability to open the main menu during battle, but players can access their inventory through the battle menu to use items.

BlackJack Changes • BlackJack tournament at festivals allows players to bet and win money. • Players can wager money when dueling Jack, adding more stakes to gameplay.

Festival and Seasonal Events • Festivals occur on the final Saturday of each season. Players receive a prompt when leaving their farm to join the festival or tend to the farm first. • Placeholder festivals programmed with shops, BlackJack, and NPC interactions, with future updates planned. • Added seasonal events in the Town Square for the final Saturday of each season. • Ace’s calendar now displays the dates of festival events and countdowns to them. • TV broadcasts announce when festivals are happening. • Disabled weather effects on festival days to improve atmosphere.

Bug Fixes • Fixed Peddler Balloon icon appearing in incorrect locations in other seasons. • Fixed a bug where rain SFX continued during festivals despite weather effects being disabled. • Cleaned up unused project files.

New Events and Animations • New animation for jumping into the Hot Spring pool. • Adjusted Hot Spring jump animation to be faster and more natural. • Cleaned up the victory celebration animation by preventing character duplication when transitioning.

Mechanics Changes • Tools automatically return to the shed when knocked out after battle. • Entering the Tool Shed no longer removes the current tool unless swapping it with another. • Walking into the Tool Shed triggers the Goblin event to start the Tool Shed key quest.

Power Berry Update • Moved the Power Berry from the farm to the Spring Festival, now sold by the Peddler.

Sprite Work and Clean-Up • Cleaned up props like tree trunks and boulders to improve the landscape appearance. • Cleaned up unused project files and leftover assets from previous versions.

Tool Changes • Using the Axe now consumes stamina again due to combat mode switching from hack-and-slash to BlackJack.

Wedding System • Players will get married in a church ceremony on the Sunday following their engagement.

Signum Story Beta 1.2 Patch Notes

Combat and Monster System Updates • BlackJack Combat System: Reintroduced the BlackJack system in its reworked form for combat scenarios. • Updated enemy AI to follow specific waypoints, requiring the player to dodge them strategically. • Added region movement restrictions and collision updates to improve enemy behavior on parallax maps. • 8 new monster types: Green Slime, Rat, Spider, Scorpion, Worm, Snake, Wasp, and Bat. • Monsters remain dead until the next day. • Added heart indicators for both enemies and players during combat to track remaining health.

Battle System Improvements • BlackJack Combat Updates: • Added Double Down: Draw one additional card before standing, with the potential for double damage or receiving double damage. • Added Triple Down: Draw two additional cards before standing, with the potential for triple damage or receiving triple damage.

Map Updates • Southern Forest Map: • Accessed by breaking a boulder and tree stump using gold tools. • This new area contains more daily foraging opportunities, guarded by stronger monsters requiring strategic combat. • Players will need to utilize Double Down and Triple Down mechanics to survive. • The forest will eventually connect to additional areas.

Bug Fixes • Fixed an issue where pets finding items couldn’t properly send them to the store due to a script error. Applied a new script, tested, and confirmed working. • Corrected a bug where only one class lecture was triggering out of the 13 available. The problem was traced to the dice roll being improperly set to 1. • Resolved an issue where gathering a pet inside the house caused it to spawn randomly on the map. Added a script to sync the pet’s position with the player. • Fixed a combat bug where enemy cards were carrying over to the next hand instead of properly resetting. The issue was due to image switches not being turned off, now fixed.

New Features and Gameplay Mechanics • Make A Wish Pond: Located in the western forest, allowing players to throw in coins and make wishes with mysterious outcomes. • Pet System Rework: • Added 8 adoptable pets (4 dogs and 4 cats) with default names: Buddy, Mocha, Peanut, Sunny, Mittens, Cleo, Whiskers, and Neko. • Pets now stay in the house unless commanded to follow you around town. They alert players to dig sites and return home upon entering the house. • Players can only have one pet following them at a time. • Pets now have a relationship system, gaining affection by interacting with their favorite items and affecting how quickly they find treasure. • Introduced pet shop owner (new NPC) who manages pet adoption. • Created a treasure-digging system where pets can find treasure outside once per day. • Pets can be purchased at the pet store and named during adoption. • Fixed a major bug involving pets appearing incorrectly on map transitions by creating a new plugin script. • Added custom dialogue for the pet shop owner when adopting specific pets.

Crops and Foraging Improvements • Added water balloon animation over crops that need watering. • Created a common event to display the water animation on a timed cycle for better visuals. • Seasonal forage and resource spawns added to the Mountain West.

Narrative and World Interaction Updates • Improved TV narration with weather reports that include more randomized responses based on day, season, and weather, with added humor and wit. • When passing out in battle, the player now loses 10% of their total Gold, with a message showing the exact amount lost. • All relationship characters now gather at the pub during the night. • Ruby now visits the Pub at night instead of staying in her bedroom.

Map and Location Changes • Changed school to daytime hours only. Players can stay inside until they leave, but they cannot return until the next day. • Added pet shop to the church area map for all 4 seasons, including an interior shop design. • Updated Mountain Map to include boulders, rocks, and stumps that stay gone once cleared, opening passageways to new areas. • Relocated signpost at the cave entrance to provide room for the new western map area. • Added the new Mountain West area hidden behind breakable stones, featuring seasonal forage and daily monster-guarded resources.

Website and UI Improvements • Fixed email link when clicking support. • Added FAQ covering controls and general help with anchors for easier navigation. • Added screenshots and finalized website appearance template.

Performance and Optimization • Reduced weather system lag by optimizing its logic for better CPU performance. • Enhanced overall game performance by rewriting outdated scripts related to animations and real-time screen tints. • Performance improved noticeably on the Mac version, though minor stutters persist and will be addressed in future updates.

Graphical and Visual Enhancements • Added seasonal and day/night cycle parallax changes for the mountain top and battleground maps. • Designed a dedicated battleground map instead of relying solely on parallax backgrounds.

New Characters • Introduced a secret character located on the Mountain Top, accessible under specific conditions. • Added Jack, the Master of BlackJack, who can be found in the town square during the day and at the pub at night. Players can challenge him to BlackJack duels and receive advice on improving their gameplay.

Miscellaneous Improvements • Daily randomized letters can now be received via the mailbox from various townspeople, each with unique responses. • Weather conditions now affect NPC behaviors, with most characters retreating indoors during rain, and background music disabled.

Pet Item Reward Bug: • Issue: When a pet finds an item, the reward wasn’t being properly received or sent to the store. • Fix: Applied a new script to ensure rewards are correctly registered and delivered. Needs further testing. • Status: Working fine after initial tests.

Class Lecture Trigger Bug: • Issue: Only one class lecture was triggering out of the 13 programmed lectures. • Cause: The dice roll determining the lecture was only set to 1, limiting randomization. • Fix: Adjusted the dice roll logic to allow all 13 lectures to trigger correctly.

Pet Spawning Position Bug: • Issue: Gathering a pet inside the house would cause it to spawn randomly on the map. • Fix: Added a script to sync the pet’s position to the player when transitioning between areas.

Signum Story Beta 1.1 Patch Notes

General Updates • The official Signum Story website, signumstory-com.preview-domain.com, has launched! • Temporarily removed the dog adoption event for a future rework. • Temporarily removed NPCs from Town Square until a future update. • Removed the ability to dig up gold at the Crossroads.

Performance and Optimization • Major lag reduction by optimizing scripts to reduce CPU load. • Resolved lag issues with the crop system by adjusting how the watering switch functions.

Music and Sound Updates • Replaced Stranger Things ambient music with an original soundtrack using licensed sound samples. • Randomized background music now changes for each season. • Added organ BGM that plays during church sermons.

Tool and Farm Improvements • Tool Shed Mechanics: Automatically stores tools and seed bags when entering, and players can select what they need before leaving. • Gold Tools Buffs: • Gold Hammer: No longer has AoE but can smash large rocks in one hit. • Gold Axe: Can chop down large tree stumps in one hit. • Added wood piles that can be chopped for extra lumber. • Smashing rocks now collects stone, and chopping wood piles collects wood. • Wild grass now stores animal feed, and grass seeds grow into harvestable grass without regenerating. • Once cleared, wild grass and rocks no longer respawn. • Crop Growth Adjustments: • Turnips: 2 days (including planting day). • Grass: 2 days. • All other crops: 4 days. • Added additional growth stages for tomatoes and corn.

Shops and Economy Overhaul • Seed Shop: Displays growth times for each crop. • Animal Shop: Displays prices of animals. • Limited Store Stock: Seed Store, Peddler, and Animal Store now sell one item per day to prevent abuse of bulk buying.

Combat and Exploration Changes • Combat is randomized to prevent immediate enemy attacks. Enemies now have a 20% chance to attack per second. • Monsters no longer drop loot but instead guard it on the ground. • Loot and monsters respawn daily. • Players must fight through caves, with better loot guarded at deeper levels. • Getting knocked out results in skipped daytime hours but still allows class attendance.

Sales and Cash Management • Items are no longer sold immediately—sales are determined at the end of the day. • Added a morning sales report that summarizes how many items were sold overnight and the total earnings.

School System Enhancements • Expanded the variety of classroom lectures. • Quiz system now rewards players with random items, including a rare chance for a Power Berry.

Church System Changes • Standing next to a girl before a sermon increases relationships and triggers the event instead of speaking to the priest. • Relocated the Power Berry previously found in the Church.

Map and Exploration Updates • Southern Forest expansion is now blocked by a large boulder requiring a gold hammer to break. • Western Forest near the cave is blocked by a tree stump requiring an axe to clear.

Marriage System • After getting married, your chosen wife will appear in your house and gift you a Power Berry.

Signum Story Beta 1.0 Patch Notes

General Updates • A dog appears at your front door on Day 1, seeking a home. An NPC explains the dog was found homeless, and you get to name it.

Tool and Farm Improvements • Using your hoe, you can hunt for treasure outside the farm map. This action tills the tile, which resets the next day, allowing repeated treasure hunts. • The most common reward from treasure hunting is finding a bit of gold. • Added Power Berry system to permanently increase stamina: • #1: Mountain Top Edge • #2: Randomly sold at Peddler • #3: Found in Caves Exit • #4: Sold at Seed Store • #5: Found in the classroom • #6: Hidden under a tree near the Tool Shed • #7: Found in the back of the Church on Sundays • #8: Random chance to spawn during breakfast

Heart System Improvements • Players start with 3 hearts, and enemies take 1 heart per hit. • Hearts can be found and consumed, allowing a maximum of 10 hearts.

School System Improvements • Programmed a randomized lecture system with classmates, available Monday to Friday once per day. • Answering quiz questions correctly grants random rewards, including a chance for a Power Berry.

Combat and Exploration Changes • Monsters no longer drop loot but instead guard it on the ground. • Monsters and loot respawn daily. • Players must fight their way through caves, with loot improving at deeper levels: • 1st Cave: Berries • 2nd Cave: Mushrooms • 3rd Cave: Yellow and purple flowers • Combat is reworked to a “Diablo-style” system where players can spam attacks while standing near monsters. • Getting knocked out sends players home, losing daytime hours but still allowing class attendance.

Relationship and NPC System • Added 8 romanceable female NPCs, each with a unique favorite item to build relationships. • Relationships are tracked using MP, with dynamic relationship status displayed in the options menu. • NPC dialogue changes based on relationship status, with generic seasonal conversations for non-romanceable NPCs.

Mail and Notifications • Added a scripted mail system to deliver key items and letters. • Players receive alerts when new mail is available.

Restaurant and Pub System • Restaurant: Players can buy meals that fully restore stamina. Meals are randomized, and the restaurant is only open during the daytime. • Pub/Bar: Players can socialize with patrons at night but cannot buy drinks due to being underage.

Peddler System • A haggler in the market sells one expensive item per day, including out-of-season seeds and other resources.

Church and Weekly Schedule • Stores and schools close on Sundays, and everyone gathers at the church for a unique sermon based on Christian beliefs.

Store Inventory Overhaul • Prevented abuse of bulk buying by limiting stores to selling one item per day. • Seed Store, Peddler, and Animal Store follow the limited stock rule.

Animals and Farm Updates • Animals no longer die. • Chicken and cow sounds are programmed to play more frequently with spatial audio effects based on the number of animals present.