Greetings, Adventurers! This update brings you the rest of the Season of the Nine-Colored Deer, the return of Sky’s most floriferous event, some quality of life changes for Eye of Eden, and hefty list of other fixes and improvements.

 

Season of the Nine-Colored Deer Continues

The story continues to unfold in the Crescent Oasis area as the 4th and 5th Seasonal Quests become available in this patch. Follow the final chapters as the consequences of the Spirits’ choices ripple through Crescent Oasis, and your Sky child is called upon to set things right.

Once you complete the 5th quest, a new location in Crescent Oasis opens to you. This tranquil, peaceful glade is perfect for relaxing, composing just the right photograph, or—if you have the Radiance of the Nine-Colored Deer cape—you and your friends can enjoy the company of the Season’s legendary creature when it periodically enters the space.

Season of the Nine-Colored Deer can be played until 23:59 March 31st PDT (UTC -7; all times Pacific). Once the Season ends, please note that some features of the collaboration will change. The Nine-Colored Deer’s appearance will be updated, and all collaboration items—the Gift of the Nine-Colored Deer, Radiance of the Nine-Colored Deer, and the deer-themed mask in the Season Guide’s Friendship Tree—will no longer be available; these are not currently scheduled to return at a later date. However, the themed hair accessory as well as all the Seasonal Quests will remain permanently available to all players.

 

Days of Bloom

After the storms and the rains, the flowers return at last. Over three weeks from 00:00 March 25th through 23:59 April 14th, Prairie Peaks is the heart of this year’s Days of Bloom, gradually transforming as seasonal storms make way for a landscape of vivid blossoms. Each week the scenery unfolds in different stages:

  • 1st Week: Rainstorms arrive in Prairie Peaks, and Social Light appears on the river.
  • 2nd Week: Rainstorms end, more flowers begin to grow as the water from the rains fill the river (and add more Social Light).
  • 3rd Week: The river returns to its regular level as Prairie Peaks reaches, well, peak bloom.

Keep an eye out for visiting creatures arriving with the rains. And you can even become a creature yourself! From the 2nd week, a meditation circle near the event guide in Prairie Peaks allows you to transform into a jellyfish to see and join hundreds of other Sky kids soaring above the meadows and between the mountain tops in jellyfish form.

 

Five event currency can be found each day—and where they’re found will be affected by the weather early in the event.

  • 1st Week: 3 if you’re daring enough to stand where lightning has been known to strike, 1 after interacting with the event guide Spirit, and 1 placed in the area.
  • 2nd-3rd Week: 4 placed in the area, 1 from the event guide Spirit.

During Sky’s annual celebration of nature’s transient beauty, you can see returning favorites from previous years—tranquil trees return to Home and the Hidden Forest social space, and the Season of Lightseeker’s Spirits will be in Forgotten Ark to welcome the wildflowers (and migrating butterflies!) that will turn the desert sands in a rainbow of colors.

Don’t forget, once the butterflies arrive in Forgotten Ark, there will be a meditation circle there too if you want to join the butterfly migration with Sky kids from across the servers, too.

 

As for new items—there’s a variety to choose from, following the theme for this year’s event:

  • Bloom Arum Petal Cape: 48 event currency
  • Bloom Spiky Sprig Hair: 24 event currency
  • Bloom Arum Petal Hair: 25 Hearts
  • Bloom Lilypad Umbrella: $14.99 (all prices USD)

 

If you’re hoping for a cosmetic or prop or two from previous years, they’ll be back too:

  • Pink Bloom Cape: 70 Candles
  • Bloom Butterfly Fountain: 80 Candles
    • Place this item close to butterflies, and it might attract one or two for a short visit.
  • Purple Bloom Cape: 105 Candles
  • Red Bloom Cape: 110 Candles
  • Pink Bloom Hair: 20 Hearts
  • Bloom Gardening Tunic: $9.99
  • Pink Bloom Tea Set: $19.99 (includes 35 regular Candles)
    • Chat becomes available once a Sky child has finished their cup of tea.
  • Purple Bloom Tea Set: $19.99 (includes 35 regular Candles)
  • Bloom Picnic Basket: $19.99
    • The Picnic Basket functions as a chat table and comes with a Gift Season Pass to give to friends. If using this item near butterflies, it just might attract a fluttering visitor.

Days of Bloom items can be found from the event guide Spirit, in the event shop in Aviary Village, or in the in-game purchase menu. Don’t forget, free spells to try on both IGC (in-game currency) and IAP items are available from the Aviary Village spell shop (and from a bundle that the event guide keeps close by in Prairie Peaks). Days of Bloom content is available to all players who have at least started the 4th Aviary Village quest.

 

 

Spring Camping: A Cozy Gathering in Daylight Prairie

Join Spirits from Season of Assembly on a short, relaxing camping trip in the realms. From 00:00 March 4th PST (UTC -8) until 23:59 March 10th PDT (UTC -7), head over to the space in Daylight Prairie above the eight-player door to see them and make a campsite of your own!

During their week-long camping trip, they’ll bring a fire that shares Social Light with everyone, as well as a special Shared Spaces shrine that offers a range of items for everyone to use—including a couple of new pieces that could build something a little sturdier than just a tent. Head over with friends or find new ones there, and you might also catch a glimpse of a mysterious creature who sometimes can be spotted in the area, too.

Scaredy Cadet will be in Aviary Village to greet everyone and offer a teleport option to the campsite, so be sure to stop by and say hello!

Speaking of Spirits who will be paying a special visit—

 

Spirits Return for a Group Visit

For two weeks from 00:00 March 4th PST until 23:59 March 17th PDT, four Spirits from several past Seasons are also heading to the area of Daylight Prairie where the Spring Camping will be. And like Spring Camping, there will be an option to teleport to their location directly from the event shop in Aviary Village.

Each will offer the items they brought when they first appeared as a Seasonal Spirit. Some of them you might have seen before as Traveling Spirits, but others will be back in the realms for the first time since their original Season. Keep an eye on our announcement channels as their arrival approaches!

 

Improvements for Eye of Eden

Based on game data and player feedback, we’re introducing some changes that are aimed at improving the gameplay experience for how avatars generally respond to damage, jumping controls, and wind effects. These will be visible mostly in Eye of Eden, particularly in the center of the storm, but they may also appear in other parts of the game where your avatar can experience damage, be affected by wind, etc.

Here are some of the details about the more prominent changes (spoilers ahead!)—

  • Avatar takes more damage before movement is affected.
  • Quicker avatar movement at different stages of damage.
  • Improved controls when running and jumping, especially in wind, and now the game more precisely calculates players’ intended movements during jumps.
  • If a player runs out of Winged Light in Eden in the center of the storm before others do, they’ll wait for less time to ascend with other players in the room who haven't lost all their Winged Light.
  • When one player's avatar is injured and fallen, other players who approach them can heal them more quickly.
  • After a player loses all their Winged Light in Eye of Eden, they’ll once again be able to call and use expressions as they wait for others to give their Winged Light to the statues.
  • Rock shelters more effectively protect Sky kids.
  • The prompt to deposit Winged Light is prioritized over all other prompts, to make that aspect of gameplay smoother.
  • Lost Winged Light don’t fall behind invisible walls where you can’t reach them.
  • Adjustments for strafing/changing direction in the air after jumping.

We’re continuing to finetune some of these changes in upcoming patches, particularly for areas outside of Eye of Eden where they may also be felt, like the Trial of Air. More updates related to Eye of Eden are mentioned in the “Improvements and Bug Fixes” section below!

 

Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time will take effect at 2:00 am Pacific Time on Sunday March 10th, moving clocks ahead an hour. Time notation for events in Sky will change from UTC -8 to UTC -7. If you are in a region that does not observe this time change, after March 11th daily reset will occur an hour earlier for you.

Note that due to technical limitations affecting the servers, after reset on March 11th, the clusters of Season Candles and Treasure Candles from March 10th will remain in their level for one additional hour while the clusters of Season and Treasure Candles for the 11th spawn in their respective level. The total number of Season and Treasure Candles available in the game returns to normal at 1:00 am March 11th PDT. We appreciate your understanding.

 

Improvements and Bug Fixes in this update include:

Highlights

  • [Android] In-game recordings can be made without the UI.
  • Seasonal Candles are available in Home again, and the missing regular Candles that used to be there are no longer missing.
  • Shader updates and improvements which, among other things, should make bright white a little bit less bright.
  • Adjusted controls to make it easier to turn in the air after sliding and jumping, while also keeping smooth movement (especially when going fast).
  • Increased the size of the light "orbs" to be better visible as players reach the daily max collectable Candles.
  • Candles are in front of the Aviary Village realm doors to indicate where Treasure Candles are located that day.
  • Added recharge effect for constellation pad and friendship statue in Aviary Village.
  • To resolve technical issues with Traveling Spirits appearing in different locations for different players, they'll now appear in Aviary Village for all players.
  • Separated the Peeking Postman’s outfit into outfit and shoes. If a player already had this outfit, the shoes should now display separately in their own tab of the outfit closet.
  • Fixed bug that caused music sheets from the Days of Love and Season of the Nine-Colored Deer to keep the music scale of any previously played music sheet.
  • Sky kids took diving lessons, and now they can do different types of dives when they jump into water.

Want to know more about some other fixes in this patch? Find further details below!

 

Season

  • Princess and Herb Gatherer memory quest fragments won't cause each other trouble if each is activated by different players at once.
  • Resolved a small visual error that could make it appear that the Seasonal Candle meter didn't fill up before forging a candle.
  • Fixed timer missing from Spirit memory quests in Crescent Oasis.
  • Polish for Feudal Lord's cloak to flow better when running in chibi mode.
  • Adjusted Herb Gatherer's prop position on the player's back, reduced potential clipping with hats.
  • Fixed Herb Gatherer pants clipping issues.
  • Updated whistle sound effect from the Herb Gatherer’s expressions to be audible from farther away.
  • Updated title card for the palace.
  • Improvements for the first Seasonal Quest.
  • Fix to prevent players from getting stuck in the palace ceiling.
  • Fixed Season deer antlers and deer cape not glowing properly in certain parts of Eden.
  • Various other bug fixes for the first and second Seasonal Quests.

 

Additional Changes Related to Eye of Eden

  • Improved environment indicators for wind.
  • A few small tweaks to make it easier for chibis to climb the mountain.
  • Adjusted some sheltered areas in the center of the storm to accommodate larger groups.
  • Resolved animation bugs related to final moments in the area.
  • Flames properly reflect wind direction.
  • Animation for darkness particles better reflect wind.

 

Audio & Appearance

  • Audible portal ambience at the end of Vault of Knowledge.
  • Sound effects updates for bridges in front of the Hidden Forest temple.
  • Fixed joint alignment for fingers so that fists animate/ball up properly for "courageous" stance when wearing certain outfits, so that avatars can better show their resolve when facing down challengers like Dark Dragons.
  • Polish for various outfits like Seasons of Flight, Remembrance, and Passage outfits so that the arms and fingers better match avatar joints.
  • Polish for Season of Belonging outfit.
  • When other players watch you use your super cool snowboard, now they see it on your feet the same as you do.
  • Snowboard doesn't appear to sink or float depending on the avatar's height.
  • A Spirit in the Pleading Child's memory quest has hair again.
  • Praying Acolyte Spirit appears properly in the last step of their memory quest.
  • Traveling Spirit countdown UI displays properly.
  • Rendering and texture/terrain improvements in various areas of Starlight Desert.
  • Improved graphic effects for raindrops on Dark Plants for devices with older or less powerful hardware.
  • Candle flames don’t appear to float to the side in extreme wind.
  • Raised season constellation height in Aviary to account for overlap with the gate to Eden.
  • Disabled constellation images rendering when the player is near the level gates.
  • Fixed clipping during hug in an area of Eye of Eden.
  • We reminded the birds in Home that flying is a thing you do through the air, not the ground, so they don’t fly through the terrain in Home anymore.
  • Polish to HUD menu spacing.
  • Improvements for boat animations.
  • Tweaks to visuals in the Graveyard and Battlefield areas of Golden Wasteland.
  • NPC nod animation improvements.
  • Restored the vignette effect on the Feast Goggles.
  • Improved response for a note delay heard with the Days of Fortune Drum.
  • Fixed pink textures in Aviary Village.

 

General Updates and Improvements:

  • In cutscenes where the player doesn’t have control over their avatar, added protection to prevent them from losing Winged Light.
  • Polish for a change that, if a player happens to lose a Winged Light during a cutscene, others around them can pick up their WL for them
  • Update to hair tousle emote. With level 1, the initiating player does the tousle, and with level 2, the initiating player gets their hair tousled by their friend.
  • Going to a workshop in Aviary Village no longer overwrites a return shrine checkpoint.
  • Polish to the start countdown of the Course Creation prop so players in the race will start at the same time.
  • When a Course Creation prop is part of a Shared Memory recording, its meditation circle no longer appears when the recording is played.
  • Added more time to the Season of Dreams downhill sliding quest.
  • The camera and cog menu buttons are tappable while the emote expression menu is open.
  • Workshops now have a day/night cycle after completing the 3rd Aviary Village quest.
  • Environment polish for the event shop in Aviary Village, and grass doesn't clip with walls of the mask workshop.
  • New tunnel connects the event and outfit workshops in Aviary Village.
  • Tweaks to the Aviary Village fireworks show.
  • Matchmaking enabled in Aviary Village at the end of bell success timeline instead of beginning to prevent players who have finished watching the cutscene from trying to talk to players who are still watching it, resulting in feeling ignored.
  • Update that should resolve a bug that prevented the STAR feature of relationship pins from being usable by the user’s acquaintances.
  • Purple Bloom Table has no collision until a player interacts with it, to prevent griefing.
  • Players who are already holding hands with someone cannot also then offer cradle carry to another player.
  • Fixed the ability to activate meditation circles using the sit button.
  • Meditation pads show hint text instead of confirmation menus.
  • Since a player can't automatically join you when you sit at a meditation pad while you're carrying them, etc., all "carry" type interactions now disconnect when you try to meditate.
  • Fixed a weird piggyback bug where, if a player was being carried and then used the constellation to teleport to a friend in a different area, they would show up as being carried by their friend in piggyback mode.
  • For players choosing to not continue into Eden after completing the Vault of Knowledge, the portal to return to the realms will correctly show the return point you have chosen and send you to that point.
  • Chat bench in the Nintendo area works properly.
  • Default quest giver NPC doesn't suddenly appear to new players after reaching Hidden Forest for the first time.
  • Improvements for new player experience.
  • Tweaks and fixes for Spanish localization.

 

Please refer to this page for known issues ongoing or introduced with this patch: Known Issues Patch 0.24.5.

 

As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback, and encourage you to join the community discussion on our official Discord server at discord.gg/thatskygame!