One of the coziest games in the cozy gaming genre is currently getting a sequel in Early Access. Slime Rancher 2 continues the foundations of the original game and expands on them with even more customization and ways to make your ranch more dynamic. The game’s latest update, Add to Cart Prontomart, released in late May, includes a ton of new features towards that end.
Game Rant spoke with Pearl Ko, Senior User Experience Designer on Slime Rancher 2, about his thoughts on the latest update and the overall state of the game. The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Related: Slime Rancher 2 Developer Discusses How ‘Add to Cart Prontomart’ Update Honors Pride Month
In an interview with Game Rant, UX designer Pearl Ko talks about how Slime Rancher 2’s new Pride Flag gadget celebrates Pride Month.
Launcher Experience
Q: Please introduce yourself.
Ko: My name is Pearl Ko and I am a Senior UX Designer at Monomi Park.
Q: What accessibility features does Slime Rancher 2 currently have and are there more accessibility features planned for the future?
Ko: Right now, we have a few things in place. We have key bindings, which is the ability to remap some keys and buttons while you’re interacting in-game. We also have some things to assist with movement and actions. We have the ability to toggle on/off sprint actions and vacuum usage in-game. So, some movement-related things are already in place. In terms of future accessibility, features, and settings, nothing is set in stone yet, but we’re keeping an eye on what we can do for future releases.
Q: How does the user experience of Slime Rancher 2 compare to the user experience of Slime Rancher 1 so far?
Ko: I’m not that familiar with Slime Rancher 1. I’ve played a bit of it, but I wasn’t involved in the development. UI-wise, I think probably the biggest change is to make things clearer and more minimalistic, and easier to understand at a glance. I know the first game had a much lighter UI style, but this time it’s been tweaked a bit to fit the overall feel of Slime Rancher. Things should feel more cohesive. Artistic style-wise, it should feel like it’s part of the overall vision.
Personalization is on sale at Prontomart
Q: What do you think was the main purpose of the recent update?
Ko: I think the main purpose of Add to Cart Prontomart was to give players a way to spend their hard-earned Newbucks and have some fun. Newbucks are the currency used in the game. As you know, there was no shop in Slime Rancher 2 before, but now players have a way to use their earned resources to customize their ranch and world to their heart’s content. So that was the main purpose of the update.
Q: What made this update in particular a priority for the studio?
Ko: This update ties in closely with our last update, “Gadgets My Way.” In the last update, we added the ability for players to place gadgets. Gadgets are structures that players can build in the game. Gadgets can be placed anywhere, whereas previously in Slime Rancher 1, gadgets could only be placed in designated areas, including decorations. So after the last update, basically the entire world is now available for players to place gadgets anywhere. So this update is really focused on giving players even more stuff, allowing them to buy and create different things, so they can further decorate and customize their experience.
In a statement, the team at Monomi Park added: “We’ve always wanted to give players more freedom to express themselves in Slime Rancher, but previous constraints limited gadget placement to certain predefined locations. With an overhaul of the gadget system, players can now place gadgets almost anywhere they want, making the game world more personal and fun to revisit as we experiment, decorate, and add more content. Our recent update featuring Prontomart provides a way to continually introduce new gadgets, expanding players’ options for personalizing their ranch and the world around them.”
Q: Gadget variations are an important part of customization.
Ko: Players will be able to purchase variants to replace the default look of gadgets they’ve already created in the game. This is very simple, once you’ve placed a gadget somewhere in the world, you simply navigate to it in gadget mode and hit the change variant button to switch to any variant you own for that gadget.
Make your farm unique with gadgets
Q: The toys, gadgets and cosmetics throughout Slime Rancher 2, and in this update in particular, give the game a more dynamic and personal feel than its predecessor. Why did you place so much emphasis on this?
Ko: I think part of that is because we wanted to make the game more immersive for players in discovery. You can catch slimes and take care of them and collect them, but we also wanted players to just have fun and take the time to customize their experience. I think part of that is because we wanted players to gather more resources and participate more in the crafting loop, which is a big part of the Slime Rancher experience. That’s my take.
Q: How did you decide on the list of new gadgets to add in this update?
Ko: Oh, that’s another really good question. I’m not personally involved, so I can only answer from what I’ve seen. But I do know that a lot of it is inspired by gadgets that are themed around different areas and biomes that we already have, so some of the new content is beach themed. One of my favorite gadgets in this update is the Clam Throne. It’s like a chair that you can plug slime into. But it was just something that came up as a result of brainstorming about what else we could add to this beach-inspired gadget set.
Q: Of all the new gadgets, is the Crumb Throne your favorite?
Ko: Definitely one of my favorites. And the Pride flag too.
Q: Can you talk a bit about why the Pride Flag is important to Slime Rancher 2?
Ko: Well, I can’t speak for the whole studio. But personally, I feel like the game is very inviting. It’s very open to stories and stories that you can just dive into as a player without dealing with a narrative that’s so perfectly constructed that you can’t immerse yourself in. The world itself is not completely safe, but I think it feels very calm and cozy and there’s a lot of sense of exploration. And I think that goes hand in hand with thinking about inclusivity. Yeah, but that’s just my personal opinion and I can’t answer on behalf of other people at the studio.
“We are an inclusive studio and support everyone in our community,” the Monomi Park team added in a statement.
New places to see
Q: Can you talk a bit about the design of the excavation site and how it was made to stand out?
Ko: It kind of reminds me of fossils, which is really cool. I’m from Los Angeles, so I grew up nearby and went to the La Brea Tar Pits, so it reminds me of prehistoric times when slime was roaming everywhere and there were all different sizes. So maybe there were giant slimes and really cool, weird slimes that we don’t see today.
In a statement, the Monomi Park team added: “With the dig site, we wanted to create a space that would highlight the new gadget system and encourage players to really embrace its potential. We settled on the theme of an archaeological dig site as it fit with the idea of discovering new objects. We’ve taken this idea a step further and sprinkled the expansion area with free decorations that players can ‘clean up’. Not only does this help free up space, but as a reward for your efforts, you’ll get new decorations that can be used anywhere throughout the new gadget overhaul.”
Q: If our readers haven’t gotten the patch yet, what would you recommend they use the New Bucks for first?
Ko: Oh, that’s a tough one. Yeah, I think there are a lot of things you can buy and enjoy. I think the toys are definitely a good expense. They’re very cute. They feel very nice to touch. They’re not strictly gadgets, they’re objects for slime. Slime can interact with the toys just like any other physical object in the world. It’s designed for slime, so you can make slime feel good. You’ll see slime bouncing around with the toys. It’s very cute. I think it creates a very fun visual effect for players.
There are a lot of gadgets that are really fun and functional. For example, there’s a really cute fan. It’s a stand-up fan like you would have in the real world, but they’re themed with different colors. One of them is a tar-themed, black and multicolored creature-like fan, and this fan is designed to look like tar, and I think it’s really cute. But there are also gadgets like this that allow you to manipulate objects in the environment. So this fan can push objects or move objects. I’ve seen players build these gadgets to move resources around or create new assembly lines. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun for players to continue to explore that. I think there’s probably a lot of fun to be had there.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
Ko: I hope players will continue to visit Prontomart, explore the store and find secrets. I think players will be interested in what they discover when they visit the store at different times, for example, during the day or at night. Yes, some of the discoveries may be a little different than they expected. I think those discoveries will be fun.
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Slime Rancher 2
In Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher 2, Beatrix Lebeau runs a ranch in a colorful world filled with the eponymous slime. To make money, Beatrix must grow and sell slime plants.
