Adriano Paonessa | Creative Technologist & Game Engineer

Project Overview

Komorebi Nursery is a 3D management simulator that functions as both a technical showcase of Godot 4.5 and a deeply personal narrative sequel. Players inherit a dilapidated greenhouse where the sunlight struggles to reach the floor, tasked with transforming it into a thriving haven.

In my previous project, Carlivery, I built a world around the "quiet that feels heavier than noise", sending letters to no one to fill the empty spaces of my childhood. Komorebi Nursery represents the years that followed. It is the answer to that silence. It is a game about the courage to stop running, to stay, and to realize that healing isn't about finding what's missing, but nurturing what is already here.

Core Gameplay Features

Cultivation & Connection

Cultivation as Meditation: A complex growth system where success depends on understanding unique plant needs, mirroring the patience required for personal growth.
The Komorebi System: A dynamic lighting mechanic where players manage sun exposure as rays filter through the glass, a visual metaphor for letting the light back in.
Community Warmth: Interactions go beyond transactions; customers seek advice and connection, turning the shop into a space of shared stories.
Seasonal Rhythms: A world that breathes. Seasons dictate not just plant availability, but the emotional palette of the environment.

Mindful Management

Immersive Shop Floor: A unified space where customers walk among the growing flora in real-time, removing the barrier between "work" and "life".
Reactive Environment: Physics-based interactions give weight to actions, accidents happen, pots break, and the challenge lies in fixing them with care.
Pacing Control: Strategic opening hours allow players to balance the demands of commerce with the quiet solitude of restoration.

Technical Implementation

Just as a garden needs a structure to grow wild, this emotional experience is built on a rigid, scalable architecture.

Game Engine & Architecture

Built with Godot 4.5 leveraging the latest GDScript static typing features.
State Machine Architecture: A custom implementation ensuring clean separation of concerns between player movement, gardening actions, and shopkeeping duties.
Resource-based Ecosystem: A data-driven approach allowing for modular content expansion (plants, items, seasonal events) without touching core logic.
Isometric 3D Camera: A smooth tracking system optimized to create a "diorama" feel, grounding the player in the space.

Key Systems Developed

Tactile Interaction: Advanced Raycast system for precision object manipulation, pickup, and placement.
Physics-based Character Controller: Custom movement logic that blends responsive gameplay inputs with a "weighty", cartoonish feel.
Modular Growth System: Visual progression where meshes morph through growth stages based on variable care parameters (water, light, soil quality).
Context-Aware AI: Customer agents utilizing navigation meshes to browse intelligently and react dynamically to the shop's changing layout.

Project Status

Currently in active development. The technical foundation (loops of planting, growing, selling) is stable. The current focus is on polishing the "game feel", ensuring that every interaction transmits the same sincerity found in Carlivery, but with a newfound sense of hope.

Development Philosophy

"The kid behind the car" is now the gardener behind the glass. This project is proof that technical rigor and emotional vulnerability can coexist. The clean code architecture reflects a mind that has found order; the gameplay reflects a heart that has found peace. It balances the logic of management with the poetry of nature, shifting the narrative from missing what we never had to nurturing what we can grow.

Future Roadmap

Cooperative gardening mode
Expanded "Rare Flora" collection
Personalized customer stories
Seasonal festivals and weather events

From sending letters into the void, to growing roots in the light. Experience the joy of nurturing life.

Komorebi Nursery: Where Light Finds a Way