Sky Log #21: A Moth's Guide Part 1
After writing so many entries, I have only begun to realize that I missed out on writing the basics for Sky: Children of Light.
It's a bit laughable because until now, we still have newborns every now and then. Certainly writing a few basics would serve well for them should they ever find this diary, no matter how unlikely. Therefore, in this part, I have written down our purpose as children of light, the realms, making friends and the seasons and events.
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Firstly, our life begins with a story.
A story that explains the purpose of our existence. It has been ingrained within us that we have to find the fallen stars and restore them to the sky while helping our fallen spirits and elders. This story will only be shown once so be sure to treasure it.
As a Sky child, we do not have any concept of gender or race. We all look the same at first but as you progress and experience more of this world, you will pick up some things that make you different from others. Examples could be the hairstyles, the outfits, the capes and even the items. The items could be instruments or props.
An interesting thing to note is that we are born with different heights!
Of course, you will get spells and potions that can permanently or temporarily change your height. I will explain more in the future so let's focus on the basics.
Within this world, you will find imprints of Sky children; the ones who are shining and gold in colour. They are called winged lights but many times, I would like to call them the shiny bois. They will help increase your wing strength or wedge, allowing you to fly longer and higher.
To increase your wedge, you will need to get a fixed number of winged lights before gaining an additional wedge. Unless you lose your winged lights in an accident or went through Eden, you only need to collect them once. Also, you can get more shiny bois by unlocking a special branch through the constellation spirits that require special candles called Eden candles. This will give you one additional wing buff. The maximum number of wedges you can gain through these will be seven and this is sufficient enough for you to go anywhere in the world.
Apart from the shiny bois, you would also find the fallen realm spirits scattered throughout the world. Upon finding them, they will show you a part of their life and teach you an expression. These expressions, similar to basic body language and sign language, will help you communicate with other Sky children.
Every realm has its own constellations. Each point in the constellation will be a fallen spirit that you have saved, whom you can unlock emotes to obtain higher levels of expression or take other cosmetics like hairstyles, pants or props and instruments.
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Secondly, the Sky world has a total of 7 unique realms.
There are portals in your home space to them but they would not be available until you have explored all the realms in chronological order once. So, they would first appear as oddly placed stepping stones with only the Isle of Dawn available on your left. Following that, it would be Daylight Prairie, Hidden Forest, Valley of Triumph, Golden Wasteland, Vault of Knowledge and lastly, Eye of Eden.
Within those realms, you will find the shiny bois and fallen spirits. At the end of the realm, there will be a temple where you will awaken the realm's fallen spirit of the elder. They will also show you their constellation with all the spirits that you have found in their realm. This excludes season spirits which I will explain under "Seasons and Events". Always be sure to meditate at the temple again if you found new realm spirits.
There will have special barriers that will only allow you entry when you saved a fixed number of fallen spirits from a realm. Some doors also require you to work with others to open them. In special cases like Prairie's 8-person puzzle, you will summon a special guest with seven other children. Also, there is a very special barrier in Vault that allows entry to a secret area. This barrier requires a very special cape that can only be bought with real-life money in the secret area or is gifted by thatgamecompany(TGC) as a thank-you gift. You CANNOT buy this cape with candles or hearts. Therefore, you will need friends who have this special cape to bring you in.
The portal for Eden is very special. It would not be like the other realms but located at a huge, mountain-like structure right next to Vault's portal. You cannot enter unless you have 20 winged lights. While I cannot say much in order not to destroy your authentic experience of Sky, be sure to be very prepared should you decide to go through those doors.
Prepare your mind and heart for the journey ahead is not an easy one. It is also good if you have an experienced friend to lead you. But if you regret going in the middle of your journey in Eden, you can head home unless you have crossed the point of no return. Experiencing Eden will be tough but I can assure you that it will be worth it in the end.
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Thirdly, while it is possible to live in Sky alone, it is highly recommended that you find and befriend other children since some places require the help of friends. There are a lot of perks to having friends in Sky.
The very first thing is that holding hands with them or standing near them gradually recharges your light as you lead them across the maps. An instant recharge involves both of you doing a friendship action like a high-five or a hug. Even a honk works. You can deep honk to help strangers recharge light but take note that honk recharge does not work during flying.
You guys also can trade gifts in the form of a heart. Only one heart can be given in a day. You only require three candles to give a heart to a friend and your friend will reciprocate. However, please make sure that the both of you reach an agreement about exchanging gifts. This is because you can send a heart through the constellations or in person. The first option forces your friend to accept it while the latter one allows them the option to accept or refuse the gift.
Another perk would be that you guys can play a music sheet together. Just make sure you have an instrument at hand when your friend starts a music sheet.
Upon friending a kid, you will realize that there is a friendship tree that automatically appears. Every level that you unlock with candles and Eden candles will allow you to perform different friendship actions. And once you unlock it high enough, you guys can even piggyback, ask for head pats and play fight! Of course, the higher up the friendship tree you unlock, the more candles you need to unlock them.
Some of you may be curious about warp.
It is located at the higher levels of the friendship tree. No matter where your friend is and how far they are from your spawn/teleport point, with one honk, you will find yourself attached to them.
Of course, communication is important. And you will find that you will be able to unlock chat in the friendship tree. If you have found conversations around Sky consisting of only dots, that is because the chat is only available between friends and at the chat props. Free chat props in the appearance of benches or chairs can be found within the realms of Sky. However, they have a limit to how much you can talk with a stranger since they are powered by a candle that will burn down as you talk.
Fortunately, there is a chat prop that you can purchase with hearts from a Vault spirit. This chat prop is a wooden table with 4 chairs. It has no time limit and allows up to 4 people to talk. If you have found other tables with decorations or chairs, these props are obtainable through events which I will talk about more at "Seasons and Events".
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Lastly, we also have Seasons and Events appearing in Sky.
A new season appears every few months, bringing in a quest giver and new seasonal spirits that are different from realm spirits. Seasonal spirits will not be added to the realms' constellations and exist in the season constellations. They also bring with them new props and outfits. Some props are useful such as the umbrella that shelters you from the rain in Hidden Forest while others serve as decorative props such as the pillow given in Season of Sanctuary.
Within a year, a total of 4 seasons will come. Once the season has come to an end, they will not come back again. Therefore, every season is unique.
Also, you cannot use normal candles to buy cosmetics brought by season spirits. You can only use season candles that are earned through missions and from the realms where the missions are held during the season. A total of 4 missions will be given by the quest giver at different realms, except Eden, every day.
Approximately every 2 weeks, you will get a story-like season quest by the quest giver to help them progress the season. Every completion of a season quest will give you one normal heart. More information about season candles and hearts will be explained in the next guide under "Currencies". Fortunately, even if you miss a season, you can still complete the quests by finding the quest giver at new areas where the seasons are held. Unfortunately, the first few seasons are not held at a specific new area so it is not possible to complete the quests.
What about ultimate gifts?
Those come with the season and can only be obtained by completing the season constellations. You buy them from the quest givers. However, ultimate gifts are available for players who purchased the in-app-purchase(IAP) adventure pass that is payable with real-life money. It cannot be obtained by other means.
The seasonal spirits can come back as travelling spirits after resting for a season. A travelling spirit will come every 2 weeks and there is no order.
However, if you want my advice, if a travelling spirit comes, it will take about a year before they come back again. And if it is a new spirit that you have not bought cosmetics from when they are a season spirit, you will need to save about 200 candles, 20 hearts and 2 Eden candles. Every new travelling spirit gives you one additional wing buff. So, it would not be a surprise to see players with more than 7 wedges on their wings.
Next are events.
As Sky progress, we get new events. We also get yearly ones like "Days of Mischief" to celebrate Halloween and "Days of Feast" to celebrate Christmas. We will get an event spirit who will sell special cosmetics and spells that cannot be sold at the Sleepy Traveling Merchant's boat. Cosmetics include capes, hairstyles, pants and even props like chat tables. They will cost a considerable amount of candles and hearts. Some event cosmetics may not be purchasable with candles and hearts but instead real-life money.
When events are held, a secret area in Vault will be open to the public. You will have a robot in the special cape who can bring you through the barrier when you start conversing with them.
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Well, that's it for part 1.
It may be a lot to take in but you will get the hang of it as you experience Sky. Hopefully, this guide has sufficiently taken you through the basics of the basics in Sky. I know I have not covered everything such as currencies and the creatures in the realms, we will cover them in the next entry guide.
References:
Here is thatgamecompany's (TGC) official traveler's guide video! I draw some inspiration from it to think up new points in the guide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0XBmzddf40