Disney Dreamlight Valley gets the small things right, even the patch notes

Disney Dreamlight ValleyGameloft still has a lot to do on this game. It is currently an early access title. But the studio’s got a sense of humor about Disney Dreamlight Valley’s bugs — and that makes reading the patch notes, at times, similarly delightful to playing the game.

Gameloft’s Oct. 19 patch notes, which also detail the coming of The Lion King’s Scar, are a perfect demonstration of this. It’s a similar effect as reading The Sims’ patch notes, like the “toddlers can no longer get fleas” sort of thing. It’s just all based around beloved Disney characters, which adds another element of goofiness. You can take this example: Disney Dreamlight Valley’s Donald Duck is known for throwing a very lengthy tantrum — it’s so long that it feels like he’s never NotA tantrum. But now that’s changed: “Donald Duck has Finally found his land-legs, reducing how long his tantrums last,” Gameloft wrote.

Another bug was that characters were prone to commenting on wrong times of day. For me it was because characters assumed it was morning so they commented regardless. Gameloft’s fixed that, and everyone should appropriately respond to time of day and weather. Everyone except Goofy, of course — “Goofy, however will continue to misjudge the weather,” Gameloft wrote.

Gameloft seems to be putting humor and transparency first. Through these bug-tracking Trello boards and patch notes, Gameloft is able to communicate with its users. There are so many tiny things that have been adjusted to make the game smoother to play, like resource spawn rates and making it so the water-based characters are easier to talk to (it used to often feel like they’ were just too far out to reach, and now that’s changed). And then there’s the silly stuff, like Gameloft fixing an issue with Mickey’s creepy eyes and a bug that shrunk players’ legs in certain clothes.

The complete patch notes can be found on the Disney Dreamlight Valley site.