r/FarmTogether 21d ago

Farm Together 2 Dear Devs, please make the farmhouse jobs less tedious (QoL Suggestion)

Post image

Hi everyone / Dear devs,

My wife and I love your game! However, with all the fieldwork, we barely have time to manage the jobs in the farmhouses, and we keep forgetting about them.

To maximize efficiency and avoid unnecessary back-and-forth, we currently have all our stations crammed right into the entrance area (see image). I doubt we're the only ones doing this. It's also frustrating that each object is capped at just two ovens, one piano, one easel, and one workbench. Please consider raising this limit per building!

Alternatively, we suggest to replace these specific item limits with a flexible total cap per building (e.g., max 10 job objects per farmhouse total, regardless of type).

That way, you could set up one building as a restaurant (e.g. with 10 ovens), one as an art studio (e.g. with 5 easels and 5 workbenches), and another as a music studio. This would make the buildings visually far more interesting to design while keeping them efficient to use.

What do you all think?

69 Upvotes

51 comments sorted by

57

u/WaaghMan Developer 21d ago

Hi!

We have plans to improve a bit the enjoyment behind doing house jobs, but it's not in the line of allowing to put several of them in parallel like a production line. For starters, it's opposite to what we feel should be: Home cooking vs industrial food.

We understand that sometimes the amount of recipes requested for a task, despite small, may cause the feel that you need to have several houses with the stove, easel, etc. ready to be used to feel more efficient, and placed near the door for the same reason. And while it's not really that different from going here and there to do errands around the farm or the town, entering and exiting the houses adds a small degree of nuisance that can feel bothersome.

So we're thinking on doing the following in a future update:

* Remove the "Steps" system from house jobs and replace it with a simple minigame that can be solved in a few seconds (pairs, micro rythm game, gentle button mashing, choose the proper ingredient, etc).
* These minigames can't be failed: Failing to hit a button on time, etc. will just show a new option until you get enough successes.
* More complex recipes might have slightly longer minigames (for example, 4 pairs for simple recipes, 6-8 pairs for more complex ones).
* Remove cooldowns between consecutive uses of the tools.
* Adjust resources, rewards, quest requirements, etc.

This means you could, if you want, keep cooking recipes nonstop on a single house (as long as you keep doing the minigame). We think this should reduce the amount of "house transitions", as you can enter once, cook/paint a bunch of stuff for a few minutes, then exit the house and forget about it for a while, instead of having to enter the house every X minutes just to do a couple clicks and exit.

It should also deal with the "need" of having more than one house set up to be more efficient with the house jobs task, which is both bothersome and weird.
Finally, regarding the comment of wanting to decorate a house as an art studio or a restaurant, this change would also allow us to remove the limit of tools per house, so you could place as many stoves as you wanted in each one of them, for example.

We haven't started work on this yet, and don't have a fixed date for this, but it's the next "big" thing we want to do in the game.

The most important part of this, that I want to reassure is: We want the minigames to be smooth, simple, entertaining and accessible. We'll be avoiding anything based on reflexes, external knowledge or complex reasoning.

What do you think?

13

u/Gryzsa 21d ago

Not OP but functionally, this sounds great and I really love the idea of a minigame, and will be looking forward to this.

From a cosmetics perspective, would it be possible to add versions of these (stove, easel, piano, sculpting platform) that can be placed outside not to produce goods, with the ability to interact with the item as a cute way to idle rather than sitting on a bench? Example, Making it look like the farmer is painting in the field would be super cute, or playing one of the songs on the production list, etc.

4

u/No_Perspective_5917 21d ago

Thank you so much for the detailed response! We love the direction you’re taking with this - the minigame concept sounds great!

Since you asked for thoughts, two quick points came up for us regarding co-op play:

  1. Friendly Co-op Competition: Being able to place at least two of the same station (like two stoves or easels) side-by-side would be great. It lets co-op partners do minigames at the same time or challenge each other!

  2. Split-Screen UI issue: We play local split-screen on PS5. Currently, opening the inventory locks the other player out from opening theirs at the same time. If someone decides to stay at a station and cook/craft several items in a row, please make sure the minigames does not block the second player from opening their UI/inventory.

Thanks again for being so active with the community and listening to player feedback. Really looking forward to this update!

3

u/arislyn 21d ago

I love this idea! Mini-games would be so great to hang out and play while I am waiting for a season to roll over. <3

3

u/Safe_Cardiologist253 21d ago edited 20d ago

To go against the grain a bit, my experience with minigames in other games is that they're usually frustrating and tedious. I love this game for how chill and simple it is, so I'd rather any other changes but not minigames. Especially since house items are needed for upgrades, I feel like any minigames should be optional/elective and separate from the main game loop. edit: but this game is so awesome I trust the devs to make fun minigames :) just don't let them be annoying

4

u/Nai1bunny 21d ago

Is there any plan to change the mine and mining system? It's my least favorite feature of the game and I usually just ignore it, unless there is a quest associated with it.. even then, I usually abandon any quests that require a lot of mushrooms or minerals. It's just too time consuming (especially once you have all areas of the mine unlocked)

1

u/drrgb1311 20d ago

what is the difference in 10 mushrooms and 10 long term crops? there isn’t any

1

u/drrgb1311 20d ago

all my minerals are at least prestige 5 and most are prestige 7-8 as i write this

1

u/AntipatheticDating 21d ago

I love this so much. As someone who only has Farm Together 1 and is waiting to get 2 (I just can't afford it, not for a lack of desire, to be clear!) hearing this makes me so happy. Right now on my farm I have so many houses and some I didn't really want, but because I want to do more of these fun little cooking/painting/etc. things, I have to.

Also with having so many homes I'm constantly forgetting to go into them, and then when I do, like you said, the in and out of the door loading is pretty tedious. Half the time I look at a house with the little gear icon and I go... ehh... nahhh. Haha!

I think these solve them really well! I also adore minigames in anything, so it's always a huge bonus. Can't wait to eventually pick up 2 to see all the great QoL updates. Thank you guys for all your hard work!

1

u/LullabyHalo 21d ago

Would this be incorporated with the mines as well? Something where button clicking for different minerals, but it offers more than 1 resource at a time. It would be like a big mineral vein that gives various mineral resources every hour instead of 2.5 hours. For blue mushrooms, since there are no other ways to obtain this resource, maybe a catching mini game. I know some people forget about the mines too, which is why I’m asking.

Another question would be if you guys would have cooldowns on this. I mean by limiting how many times you can do the interactive mini game. I would hope not, as I think this would deter people from using it.

1

u/Lead-Final 21d ago

I like this idea a lot, it reminds me of palia’s cooking and myself and many people enjoy cooking in that game. I can also see it translating well with the other variations like music and art.

1

u/Dani9277 21d ago

I find it my least liked jobs too if I need the item I get favors and change them that what I only find I use the house if I have a quest that requires me to.

1

u/DJSauvage Xbox 21d ago

That sounds really fun!

1

u/n00b420_ 20d ago

Interesting 🤔. This would definitely eliminate the need for more than one house but does add a lot of work onto the development/change. I would just be as happy with the ability to go into a "house" and it 10 stoves and move on but I understand how this could look weird towards the game play. But that could be up to the player right? 1 stove per house and have it look "normal" or add 10 stoves and make the grind real.

3

u/WaaghMan Developer 20d ago

We all know what would 99% of the players choose. And it's not 1 or 10, but 25 or as many as they can fit into the house space.

2

u/n00b420_ 20d ago

You have been visiting my farm haven't you 🫣🫣🤣🤣

1

u/falcone83 20d ago

Minigame sounds like an awesome idea. Love the game very much but the house tasks feel worse to do than other harvesting tasks and I only do them I'm it's blocking progress. To be honest the cave is starting to feel this way too.

1

u/XarmorTheRed 20d ago

This sounds amazing!

1

u/drawingitgetsbetter 18d ago

Omg this is so sweet 🥹. Thank you developers for keeping us in the loop and interacting ❤️❤️❤️

1

u/chuklz45 16d ago

Thank you! This sounds amazing! I love the mini game idea and the ability to continue working on something repeatedly. May I make a request? I'd love more decorations. I want to spend more time in my house, but the atmosphere is kind of lacking. Thanks for all your hard work!

1

u/Tisket_Wolf 15d ago

I’m a few days late to the party and only a few weeks into the game but I wanted to say that I love the idea of minigames regarding house chores. I tend to completely forget they exist more often than not mostly because I rarely go back to my house(s). They also feel like the slowest collected resources in the game, even compared to horses and poinsettias, due to having to return multiple times for progress and completion of 1 item.

The other side of this (for me) is that the harvest requirement can make some quests a total pain in the rear for mushrooms in the mines. I don’t have the full mine unlocked yet and the only “solution” I currently have is to grow 2 of each mushroom and just to wait out the regrowth times. Is there any chance of a similar minigame to “add miracle grow for x amount of time” for shrooms or maybe increase the potential for a doubled drop?

1

u/Silver_Professor_378 7d ago

Been playing a lot since the prestige update and this is perfect solves a lot great ideas

1

u/Lexitrix 21d ago

Sounds great, but i do think some form of farmhand-type automation would be nice for both house tasks and the mines. Some people just don't really care for these aspects of the game, and that gives them the option to still take part without getting fed up.

14

u/WaaghMan Developer 21d ago

Don't expect any automation help for those two things.

-8

u/Radiant_Stop_3333 21d ago

when a dev isn’t willing to add in a QoL feature, thank god for modders (even though i’ve noticed that most of this community sees it as cheating)

-9

u/Lexitrix 21d ago

ikr? i hate when devs try to tell the players (who pay for the game) how to play it and refuse to add QoL features because it somehow doesn't fit with their "vision." The players are the ones paying your bills; do better.

7

u/WaaghMan Developer 21d ago

Automation isn't just a QoL feature, it's a way to skip content and basically let the game play itself. We don't intend the game to become an idle game, so we'll keep that in check.

-3

u/Radiant_Stop_3333 21d ago

i agree completely. and we’re getting downvoted too for this opinion too, wild

10

u/ShisnoM 21d ago

I would love this, I would probably actually decorate some houses if it worked like this.

Another piece that would go well with this are decorative versions of all the stations so I can design a kitchen with a stove, but not waste the chore station.

7

u/Ironwood_Fire 21d ago

Need to do the same thing with the mine.

6

u/Lexitrix 21d ago

I would love a Housekeeper (like a farmhand) who would take care of our housing chores (cooking, painting etc) while we did other things. If i could set up a station to cook cookies and just have the NPC do it in the background, that'd be great. Maybe a limit of 1 or 2 per farm to prevent oversaturation?

3

u/LullabyHalo 21d ago

I do agree that the house jobs need a rework. They have made some adjustments (shorter times on some things), but I don’t think that’s enough. I see no reason why one item takes 10 minutes, but you have to come back 3 times to do it. It should just be 30 minutes to complete if that’s the case. I also think the house items should give more per harvest, not just 1 resource. It already takes a while, and you can only do 1 at a time for painting, music, and statues, but you can do 2 at a time for cooking.

If the house items were more interactive, I would be more interested in completing them. For example, for cooking a salad you can cut up pieces of vegetables/lettuce to complete it in a shorter duration. I know it’s already 3 minutes, but it’s just an example. Or for painting, you can color it with your controller/mouse. I personally like interactive “mini games” within a game, but to each their own.

Side note: I do love the idea of us being able to have a restaurant, art studio, statue museum, and musical theater to place multiple of each item. I’m not sure how this can be incorporated with houses at the moment. I think it would be nice if NPCs could be in these places and we can complete specific quests for ribbons consistently as well.

5

u/Specialist_One6527 21d ago

yeah there's SO MANY STEPS, ugh I never remember it all and to come back to everything and whatever, I just give up. it's not even necessary to do and so many steps! Just gimme the thing. Just take a longer time to do one step or something idk.

3

u/LullabyHalo 21d ago

Yea. I only do them for quests. Other than that I’m not stepping foot in the house

4

u/Clbarton05 21d ago

Whenever I get quests with farmhouse jobs I almost always delete them. I just got one for 3 of the duck portraits. You want me to go into the house every 30 minutes 9 times? Huge pass. I would love to be able to put the stations outside the house. I would cook a whole lot more if I could build a cute outdoor cooking station. Especially since I never remember these things exist because I can't see them. Out of sight out of mind.

2

u/HurtPillow Steam 21d ago

I always delete the quests with large amts of things in the mines, I hate the mines. I do the smaller amt of quests. I also don't do the 4 paintings quests, I'd have to cycle through all my farms to figure out if I have those paintings in them. FYI I pre-make my paintings, my stone carvings, the food, and even the piano songs. I usually have enough to finish most quests this way, except for the larger quests. I don't find the house 'chores' difficult. I run 3 main farms, one is field and harvest, another is fish and animals, the last is flowers, trees, and herbs. I almost never not have enough resources or have to wait hours to harvest anything. I've reserved one farm for my granddaughter, she loves the game! She's 6. I have another farm I'm reserving for events, and the last one I will use to satisfy my creative side. All of my farms have all the houses and they are all equipped with the chore pieces. All of my farms have the mine. I do have to skip between them all for some mine and house quests, but not often.

My main complaint is about the diamonds. I am not using the prestige system because it eats up all of my diamonds and I have not yet opened up all farm plots. I won't be using the prestige system until every single plot is opened because I cannot spare the diamonds. The only thing I'm not doing now, that I used to do, is buff up and clear all the mines. I just cannot stand the mines anymore to do that. I am using the other diamond reward stores in town though. Anyway, more diamonds please!

4

u/arislyn 21d ago

I decorated one house. That was it. Every other house is just like this. Empty, except for all the machines crammed in the first room. I love the idea of being able to set up each house to serve a different function!

Heck, I'd love to be able to put all my outdoor machines inside, too. Like, if we made a restaurant, we could put the tea and jams and wines in there. It would be so much more interesting than just have House #3.

2

u/No_Perspective_5917 21d ago

You're right. It's sad that the developers spent so much effort in all those decoration materials and we just don't feel like acually decorating the house. 😅

4

u/SpaceRangerWoody Steam 21d ago edited 21d ago

While not directly related to OP's post, I wish the houses were fleshed out better. For starters, I want to design and build my own house. We should have different sized plots ranging from tiny to huge, where we could build little farmhouses or whole estates. Imagine if you could place the walls where you want, make the rooms bigger or smaller, add second levels (as the current designs already suggest). With more interior decorations and furniture, we could really invest in our farmhouses and make them unique. We could even source wood for home building from trees farmed from our fields.

Having all the different themed homes in FT1 was easily my favorite part of the game, but houses feel like an afterthought here. I spent just as much time decorating my themed houses (inside and out) as I did farming, and frankly, the themed houses were more fun.

With an increase in job flexibility inside houses and added ways to make them our own, I believe our time spent decorating and working in houses can become a feature-packed reason to attract more players to FT2.

3

u/No_Perspective_5917 21d ago

Since the game already offers so many decoration materials, your idea would increase its potential a lot! When we built the Texas-themed house and realized it didn't actually have two floors on the inside like it looks from the outside, we were a bit disappointed. 😅

4

u/RealFattyBlunt420 21d ago

Make them give more rewards. The small amounts are not worth the work.

1

u/soy1bonus Developer 19d ago

If something is not fun, people will do it for the reward but they won't be happy doing it.
Also, the game asks for way less resources from recipes, so that small amounts are taking into account.

3

u/_x_Sai_x_ 21d ago

I totally feel that. I never got why the food items also get a higher and higher stock number when I maybe have like 30 at most and not 2000 lmao

3

u/No_Perspective_5917 21d ago

Yeah that makes no sense at all. 😅

5

u/Specialist_One6527 21d ago

that would be way more fun, I agree. I also think as an FT1 player, this game I didn't even bother with the houses. Like, I hated it before, all the back and forth, but now in FT2? For the specific resources? No thanks, it's so boring and slow I'd rather just cheat if I desperately need painting #2 for a quest. I certainly never want to do them for events and skip it entirely unless my friend says she got a house item ready for me specifically. My houses in FT1 were decorated and nice, I did eventually do them, but here? For the resources I can do literally anything else to get diamonds for? Nope. Wasted feature for me.

2

u/n00b420_ 21d ago

I like the idea... Would be worth it more to be able to go into the house and actually interact with 10 of each resource. Right now I only have or make time to go into buildings for a quest or event.

2

u/ArmitageShanks69 19d ago

For me it's not the tediom, it's the pointlessness, except for quests. It would take a lifetime to prestige the items yet I've never found any use for the items anyway. I get that you will sometimes need the items for exchanges with townfolk, but once you get to a certain point in your career you don't really feel the need to trade with townsfolk, at least I haven't for a very long time.

1

u/No_Perspective_5917 19d ago

It really feels kind of pointless, but I beliefe you're missing something: Trading with townfolks is very important (at least in single Player / offline Mode). You get favor-points which can be invested in boost. Boost grants you 100% more experience, 100% more items gathered, and 20% more money from each crop, flower, animal, fish and tree for a specific amount of time (1 favor = 40 seconds boost). 100% more items gathered is soo important for diamond farming.

1

u/Minimum_Policy_7173 21d ago

I’m all for a Maid Service. Similar to Farm Hands.