Tips for getting started in Cozy Grove

Messing with your clock/calendar

• If you're going to mess with your clock/calendar trying to advance faster than intended, please see this FAQ on how to do it safely, and please *don't* email Support if your save gets goofed up. I'm sorry, but we're a small company and don't have the manpower to fix it; you will have to get yourself unstuck or start over.

Moving and interacting with the world

• Please see this page

How do I save the game?

• By default, the game saves automatically every 5 minutes or so, or within a minute if a major event has occurred.
  • Unless you're in the middle of doing something where the game shouldn't save, in which case the game will save when you've finished doing that thing.
  • As of version 2.3.0 there is an option to adjust the frequency with which auto-saving occurs. It is recommended that you let the game auto-save as frequently as possible (which is the default setting of 5 minutes), but this option exists for the few folks who have a bad experience each time an auto-save occurs and would prefer to go longer between auto-saves.
• You can force the game to save immediately by opening the game's Options Menu and clicking either the "Save and Continue" button or the "Save and return to Main Menu" button.
• The game may try to save at other points, too.

The island

• The island starts out quite small, but it will become much bigger over the course of the game. 
• The primary means of expanding the island is feeding Spirit Logs to Flamey.
• The island's layout is somewhat random and changes every day. Such-and-such landmark may be in a different place for you than it is on your friend's island, or you may not even have that landmark at all today!
  • But it's also somewhat similar. E.g., Seagull Bear always lives on a beach somewhere to the west of Flamey, even though the shape of the beach and Seagull Bear's location may be different from game to game.
• The ground is not a good storage place for stuff that doesn't fit in your backpack! It's safe to put pets and decorations on the ground and leave them there forever (they might be moved, but they won't be completely destroyed), but this is not the case for other items.
  • In addition possibly disappearing if you leave them lying around for a long time, shells that you leave lying around can prevent new shells from spawning. This may change in the future, but for now you may want to keep them off the ground until you're sure that no more shells will spawn for the day.

Flamey

• You're going to be interacting with Flamey a lot. You'll talk to Flamey to do a number of things (note that not all of these will be available at the start of the game), including:
  • Feed Spirit Logs to Flamey. This is the primary means of advancing the game.
  • Access your Storage, which is similar to your Backpack but less convenient since you can only access Storage while talking to Flamey, whereas the Backpack is always with you.
  • Access the Closet, which is where your clothing items are primarily stored.
  • Burn things, which converts some items into a different type of resource (e.g., if you burn a Chestnut, you may get some Toasted Nut Flour).

Progression of time

• A new day begins at 5am (not midnight like in real life!) according to your device/computer.
• If you're going to mess with your clock/calendar trying to advance faster than intended, please see this FAQ on how to do it safely, and please *don't* email Support if your save gets goofed up. I'm sorry, but we're a small company and don't have the manpower to fix it; you will have to get yourself unstuck or start over.
• See this page for a more detailed explanation of how time works.
• Not all types of fish, shells, nuts, etc., are available at all times of the year. Play in different months to collect as many as possible!

Finding hidden objects

• Well you could simply search every square inch of the island (including behind every bush and tree) every time. But that's probably not the most efficient approach, especially not as the island grows.
• See this page for some more advanced approaches.

Fishing

• Wait for the fish to bite hard before reeling in the bobber. Don't be fooled by the fish inspecting the bobber or nibbling at the bobber.
  • Specifically, the signal you're looking for is when the bobber drops below the water.
• When the fish does bite hard, quickly click/tap/press the button to reel in the fish. If you wait too long, you'll miss.
• Differently shaped fish shadows mean different types of fish.
• Not all types of fish are available at all times of the year. Play in different months to collect as many as possible!
• Eventually, as the days go by, "more slippery" fish will begin appearing in the waters. These fish do not necessarily appear different in the water, but they can only be caught if you toss your lure directly in front of them. The fish will escape if you toss the lure too far to the side or behind them.

Happiness

• Pets, Flowers, Nut Trees, and Fruit Trees have Happiness Meters. These are generally 3 empty heart or leaf icons that become filled as the object's happiness increases.
• A particular Pet/Flower/Tree is more likely to give better rewards the happier it is when harvested, so you ideally want to make their happiness meters as full as possible.
  • There is still randomness involved in most cases, so you're not guaranteed to get better rewards. But the randomness should be tilted more in your favor as the happiness level increases.
• Happiness is mostly affected by the attributes of nearby objects. E.g., a particular flower may like lamps, in which case you might try to place it near several lamps.
• Petting a pet will temporarily increase its happiness by half a heart. If it seems that this effect has worn off, pet it again!
  • Cats are an exception because their happiness meter is split up into 9 heart instead of 3, and we divided cat hearts up in a fancy manner such that 1 cat heart isn't necessarily 1/3rd of another animal's heart. E.g., when you pet a cat that starts with 0 hearts, you'll get what looks like a full heart, but if you pet a cat that starts with 6.7 hearts, you won't even get to 7.5 hearts. But, despite what the cat's heart meter may show visually, the programmers assure me that behind the scenes the cats actually get the equivalent happiness boost from being petted.

Pets

• As mentioned in the Happiness section, petting a pet is a beneficial thing.
• Pets will occasionally become hungry. When a pet is hungry, a bubble over its head will denote what kind of food it would like to eat. If you throw the desired food to the pet, the pet will eat it and become harvestable. Interact with the pet and use the Harvest button to obtain a reward.
• It is not beneficial to attempt to feed pets when they're not hungry, or to feed them something they're not hungry for. Just wait for them to ask for something and then feed them that exact thing.
• Young ("Tier 1") pets can eventually become Adult ("Tier 2") pets, and Adult pets can eventually become Mature ("Tier 3") pets. You'll want some of each as the different maturities produce different resources.

Tools

• Tools let you harvest certain types of resources. E.g., Rocks can be harvested with a Pickaxe, but not with a Machete.
• Tools can eventually be leveled up with the help of the bears. Basic ("Tier 1"), Pro ("Tier 2"), and Master ("Tier 3"). This will enable you to harvest more challenging resource spots.
• Tools have limited durability and will eventually break after a number of uses. If your tool breaks, take it to Maker Bear and tell him that you want to repair the tool.
• This page explains how to use the Dowsing Rod tool.

Color

• Bringing color to the island is important. Plants and pets can't be harvested if they are uncolored.
• At the beginning of a game day, the area around each bear that needs help will start out uncolored. The area will become colored if you succeed in helping the bear out. The area will only be colored temporarily, since in a few days the bear will need additional help from you and the area will become uncolored again at that time, but it is worth doing nonetheless.
• Lamp items can be used to extend a colored area a little farther. You can (and should) daisy chain lamps to bring color to far-away areas.
• In your travels you'll eventually encounter some large, unpowered lamps. These "major lamps" will color large areas of the map, if you can somehow spread light and color to them in order to "activate" them. The major lamps also happen to be near some sectioned-off areas that can act as new havens for your pets and decorations.

Economy

• Earning merit badges will give you various rewards such as Quartz or Coins—check the Badges screen after receiving a new badge.
  • Earning rewards via a particular badge isn't repeatable, but early in the game badges are a great source of income. Eventually you'll want to find other ways of earning Quartz and Coins.
• Likewise, donating things to your Collections (once Seagull Bear introduces Collections to you) is a great way to get resources early in the game, but it's not repeatable.
• Planting trees, bushes and flowers, and making them happy, is a very important source of resources.
• Acquiring pets, making them happy, and feeding them is also a very important source of resources. It is worth having a bunch of pets, don't stop at just one.
• Some players have had trouble figuring out how to harvest Ore. Here's a guide.
• There are limits to how many Shells, Leaf Piles, Dirt Mounds, and Shrubberies can exist on the island at any given time. Harvest them so more can spawn! (Note that the respawning isn't immediate.)
  
  • The limit only considers shells on the ground—they don't count against the limit if they're in your backpack or your storage. Note that on the ground inside your tent still counts as being on the ground.
  • This is one of the reasons we advise against decorating your campsite with shells—as pretty as they are, they may be prohibiting new shells from spawning.
• Likewise, there are only certain amounts of Shells, Leaf Piles, Dirt Mounds, and Shrubberies to harvest each day. If you have harvested a bunch (the limits are generous—we're not talking just 5 or 6) and they seem to have stopped respawning, maybe you've hit the daily limit. Tomorrow you should be able to harvest more!
  • Even though the daily limit resets at 5am, the respawn cooldown timers still exist. I.e., don't expect to hit the daily limit at 4:59am and expect to see everything instantly respawned at 5:01am. But over the course of the ensuing day, you should observe that things are spawning again.
• Suggestion: when possible, wait until you get all of your quests for the day before selling, burning, or otherwise transforming your resources. You might realize that you needed them for a quest!

Some things you won't be able to do on Day 1

These will unlock eventually (in some cases you can unlock them as early as Day 2), but on Day 1 you won't be able to do these things you may have heard of:

• Get the Pro Shovel or the Master Shovel
• Get the Machete and Dowsing Rod
• Craft food (you have to meet a certain bear in order to do this)
  • This is different from Burning food (and other items). Burning is done at Flamey and can be unlocked on Day 1.
• Feed your first bird a Bagel. There's a quest you can do on Day 1 that will reward you with some Bagels, but the Bagels will arrive in mail the next day. There shouldn't be a way to get Bagels any faster than that.

Playing the same save file across multiple devices/computers

• There is currently no cross-platform cloud saving.
• Apple Arcade devices/computers can do it via iCloud, but only with other Apple Arcade devices/computers. Please see this page for some steps that will reduce the chance of losing progress in the file sync.
• Steam users can do it via Steam Cloud, but only with other computers running Steam.
• Epic Games Store users can do it via EGS cloud saves, but only with other computers running EGS.
• If you manually transfer a save file from one platform to another, it should work, but basically there isn't an automatic transfer process unless the devices/computers involved are both using the same platform.

Tips from the loading screen

• Speak with Ranger Charlotte if you're stuck seeking a hidden item.
• Resources regrow over time. If you can't find more fish, ore, etc., come back another time.
• Some resources, like some fruit-bearing trees, can only be harvested when they are colored.
• Your campfire, Flamey, can burn many items, converting them into other useful ingredients!
• Animals and harvestable plants have preferences! Put decorations that they like nearby them.
• Some spirits want items that take several days to acquire. Be patient and follow up with them.
• Every spirit is struggling with something, but it may take them a while to open up about it.
• You can upgrade Mr. Kit's store to gain access to a wider variety of goods.
• Imps and animals desire items sometimes. Try throwing them whatever they want.
• Young and mature animals provide different types of essence. It's good to have both!
• There are ways to run instead of walk.

More strategies for playing well?

• As the game's developers we don't want to give away all of the inner workings of the game. However, the kind folks in the Cozy Grove Discord server are probably happy to share what they know/theorize.