Leaf it Alone

Hello everyone! 👋We're already halfway through July, and honestly? Seeing how many of you are counting down the days for the update has been incredible. Quick clarification before we dive in though: this is a devlog, not the update itself! But... mark your calendars, because after a long wait, we can officially confirm the release date is October 30th, 2026 - Leaf it Alone's 1st anniversary. Circle it, count down to it, we're just as hyped as you are! 😎 We've been sitting on this date for a while, and it feels good to finally say it out loud. October 30th isn't just a release day for us - it's the day this whole thing started. And it feels worth saying there's no publisher nor any big corporation behind Leaf it Alone. It's just us, a small team that only formed last year! Getting to hand you a free update on our own anniversary means more to us than we can really put into words 🎉 More Than Just LeavesThe Castle map is shaping up to be a little bit different from what you're used to. Alongside the usual leaf collecting, we're adding a handful of small activities scattered around the map. Think of them as little breathers - moments where you can put the rake down for a minute and do something else, before going back to clean up more leaves.We're not ready to show off everything yet (some of it we'd rather you discover in-game), but here's a peek at two activities we can talk about right now!OptimizationFollowing up the passive simulation performance enhancements from the first devlog, we took our time to inspect what could be improved when interacting with a large number of leaves simultaneously. To our surprise, quite a lot! It's difficult to provide consistent framerate comparisons, due to the nature of what's being optimized, but blowing all Greenhouse leaves through the Maze to its inlet doesn't scare us to death anymore! At least with the minimum hardware requirements being met 😅 It's important to provide this, not only because it will enable more people to fully...

Hello everyone! 👋June is here, and so are we, as promised! 😄 Today we're pulling back the curtain on something a lot of you have been requesting for a while, which is the NEW GAME+. We saw it come up a lot in reviews and discussions, so we're happy to confirm that it will be a part of the 1.1 Update.Story & Custom ModesGoing forward, the game will offer two distinct ways to play: Story and Custom.Story Mode stays the same as the classic Leaf it Alone experience, where maps are played one after another in sequence.Custom Mode, on the other hand, lets you start a fresh run on your own terms, with a set of options to configure. It unlocks once you've completed a given map in Story Mode.What Can You Actually Customize?Quite a bit! Before starting your run, you'll be able to configure the following:set your starting moneyadjust the income multiplierchoose which tools you begin withunlock all tool upgradesand even grant access to all areas, along with their associated cleaning rewardsThe goal is to let you jump straight into the parts you enjoy the most - whether that's experimenting with different setups or simply skipping the early game grind. We're also keeping the door open to adding more options down the line if something fits naturally!Progression and Achievement RulesOne important note is that Custom Mode won't unlock achievements. We want to keep things fair for everyone who has put in the effort to earn them the normal way, and modifying your starting conditions means the playing field just isn't the same. That said, there's an exception worth mentioning...Speedrun-Friendly ImprovementsIf you start a Custom run with all settings at default, achievements still unlock and your runs still count on the leaderboard! This is handled through the Ranked toggle, which enforces the default ruleset. But what does Custom Mode actually offer in that case? Some handy improvements nonetheless:cutscenes will be skipped automaticallyyou can choose which map to playand you can res...

Hello everyone! 👋We would like to share some partial progress from the upcoming Update 1.1, since it has gathered an immense amount of interest, which we're sincerely grateful for as the whole team! To answer the first unasked (yet) question, the release date of the update is still unknown, but we're constantly working on it. Starting with this devlog, we want to keep you guys better informed about what's happening behind the scenes on a more regular basis. 😅The update will not provide just the promised 2 new maps. It will come with lots of quality-of-life features, interface improvements, performance optimizations and more! The current live version of Leaf it Alone is pretty stable, with just occasional hiccups, but can still be a struggle for lower-end setups. That's also an area, that we're taking a look into.New MapSince we know you're eager to see the new maps, here's a little sneak peek about one of them. We don't want to spoil everything just yet, but suggestions and guesses are more than welcome in the comments!Input RebindingIt's one of the features that were supposed to be there in the 1.0 version of Leaf it Alone, but we started to run out of time before the planned mid-autumn game release. It's long overdue, and we're excited to finally get it in your hands!Game TimerAnother such feature is an in-game timer. This will be disabled by default in the settings, since the game's main theme is still being relaxing. Although, it will be there for those who enjoy going faster and faster, yet are not as invested to use LiveSplit, that is already supported by the game.Journal MapThe map is getting some well-deserved attention too! New markers have been added for leaf inlets and trash bins, so navigating each area should feel more intuitive and make planning where to spend your money a lot more thoughtful. On top of that, once you've collected all the leaves in an area, it will now be colored on the map, making it much easier to track your progress at a glance! 😎Si...