Section 01
Play it cold
Don't ask me anything before or during. If you get stuck that's the most useful thing that can happen; note where it was, then keep going or stop. Your call.
Stage 1
Spring
8 turns
Stage 2
Summer
8 turns
Stage 3
Fall
8 turns
Section 02
The rules in one breath
- 01Eight energy a turn. Cards cost energy. Unspent energy doesn't carry over.
- 02Every season has two requirements: harvest a number of crops, and hit one side objective; volume, preservation, or value. Miss either and the run ends.
- 03Ground goes wild → cleared → tilled → planted. The hoe walks it forward, the watering can grows what's on it, the scythe takes it off.
- 04Crops only grow on turns they're watered. Unwatered isn't fatal, just stalled.
- 05Overnight, things happen to your field. Some of them are bad.
Section 03
Controls
You don't need this in front of you; the pause menu's Guide tab has a How to play page and the full key list.
Section 04
What makes it hard
Fall is a challenge for FARMATRON.
"Grow more" answers most of this game. Plant harder, harvest more, hit the number. But every season pairs its harvest count with a second objective, and some of them ask you to preserve instead — lose no more than a few crops. Growing more doesn't help you lose less. Your deck might not support that.
If that's where it falls apart for you, that's the part I want to hear about. How it felt, not just that it happened.
Year 1 is what I'm asking for. This build doesn't stop there; if you're still enjoying it after Fall, keep going into Year 2.
Section 05
What to report
In rough order of how much it helps me.
- 01The first moment you were confused. Where you were, and what you thought was true that wasn't.
- 02The first place you got properly stuck.
- 03Anything you tried to click that didn't respond. Including things that aren't buttons but look like they should be.
- 04How losing felt. Cheated, fair, boring, sudden?
- 05Anything you did on purpose that the game didn't seem to notice.
Half-formed reactions mid-run beat a tidy write-up afterwards; I'd rather have "wait, why did that die" in the moment than a summary that's forgotten it.
Section 06
Sending run logs
Every run writes a log. When you're done, attach the newest two files to your report; a run_*.jsonl and its matching run_*.summary.json.
macOS
~/Library/Application Support/Godot/app_userdata/grow-tend-reap/runs/In Finder: Cmd Shift G, paste, Enter.
Windows
%APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\grow-tend-reap\runs\In Explorer: paste into the address bar, Enter.
These files are also your progress. Score, the almanac, trophies, and the other two farms all come out of them; the game reads your finished runs rather than keeping a separate save. Don't clear that folder unless you mean to start over.
They're also how I see what actually happened. A log tells me where difficulty spiked, which cards you never played, and what you tried that didn't work — patterns I can't get from watching one person play once. Plain text; open one if you're curious. Nothing personal in there, just what happened on the farm.
Section 07
If something goes wrong
Esc → the Debug page:
- Reset to first boot — wipes saves and cutscene history, start over clean.
- Cutscenes seen — uncheck one to watch it again.
- Unlock all characters — Bean and Tilly normally unlock by finishing a run; flip this on if you want to see the other two farms. Takes hold when you quit back to the neighborhood.
Section 08
Send a report
Straight to me. No account needed, and you can attach your run logs right here. Prefer to talk it out? discord.gg/dwZ8FxFUW3 — one thread for the whole playtest, post as you go.