Prototype 3 of 3 · neighbors and a dry year

Olive Canyon

A fictional chaparral finger behind University Heights. Pull ice plant, plant natives, and spend a rain barrel. Florida Canyon and Swan Canyon are the real ones nearby. This is not a city program, and it is not permission to garden in a real preserve.

When: Sunday 7:00 AM
Weather: June gloom
Habitat: −13
Energy: 80 / 80
Barrel: 6 / 8

Goal: habitat 50, and trust from Rosa, Miguel, and Sam.

Looking down the canyon. Bungalow roofs and a jacaranda are the near end, University Heights. The blue barrel is rain water. The wooden table is the Sunday nursery. The bench ends the day. Tan path in the middle, sandstone walls on both sides. Pink mats are ice plant. Tall yellow stalks are mustard. A blue drop on a plant means water it today. Rosa, Miguel, and Sam are fictional.

Loading the canyon.

How to play

Arrows or WASD move. Space does the obvious chore on the patch in front of you: pull ice plant or mustard, plant the selected native, or water. Click a patch to walk there and work it. You start Sunday, so the nursery has two free plants.

Sleep on the bench. A night is when plants grow and mustard spreads onto bare soil next to it. The barrel fills from weather, not from a hose.

Trust

Rosa — a blooming white sage. She watches for hummingbirds.
Miguel — no ice plant on the trail edge. He runs the path. Ice plant is slick.
Sam — habitat 40, which is when the roadrunner shows. Weekends, on the bench.

Plants

Native	Nights	Water	Habitat
White sage	2	most dry days	+8
California buckwheat	2	the day you plant	+6
Deergrass	1	the day you plant	+4
Toyon	3	most dry days	+10
Coast live oak	4	the day you plant	+14

Ice plant is −2. Mustard is −1. A plant that is not finished yet counts for part of its score. White sage is planted and left. It is not a crop.

Weather

June gloom. Soil you water stays wet tomorrow. The barrel gains 2.
Hot and clear. Thirsty plants wait if you skip them. The barrel does not fill.
Santa Ana wind. Same as clear, and the barrel loses a charge to the dry air.
Winter rain. Plants are watered. The barrel gains 6, up to 8.

Same 28-day compression as the backyard. You start in the gray week, with 6 charges. An oak seedling appears at the table once habitat reaches 25.

What just happened

The pink ice plant on the La Jolla bluff, in the second prototype, is this same plant. The backyard is the first.