Until now the sun on a lawn never moved. You finished a job and the grass just grew back in broad daylight. That has changed.

A day per lawn

From 75 percent on the progress bar, the light slowly turns warmer. By 99 percent it is early evening: golden, not dark. When you complete the lawn, night falls. The grass grows back during the darkest part, and then the sun comes up with a warm glow before plain daylight returns. It feels like a night has passed and it is time to start again. The HUD itself is never darkened, so you can always read your numbers.

Early evening light over an almost finished backyard

Night falls as the lawn is completed

Morning again, and the grass is back

Painted ground

The last batch of hand-painted ground textures is in. Gravel paths, paving, flower beds, fine grass, wheat, corn, sunflowers, soil, running tracks and water all have their own painting now. The water keeps its moving ripples and shore foam on top. The space maps got the biggest change: the Moon has dusty craters, Mars is red rock, and the Orbital Greenhouse and Galactic Lawn float in a real starfield instead of flat dark blue. In the Vineyard every row now shows exactly one line of vines.

Dusty craters on the Moon Lawn

Painted gravel paths in the Palace Gardens

Roofs you can see through

Tree crowns already turned see-through when you mowed underneath them. Gazebo roofs, parasols, tents, rose arches and the water tower now do the same, so your mower never disappears under a roof again.

All of this is in the current playtest build.