Harvesting

## Summary

**Harvesting** is a crucial gameplay element in Merge Magic!.

Most of the main merge chains can be harvested from some level for various products. In order to initiate a harvest, the player needs to double-tap the wanted object or drag a Creature to that object. An ongoing harvest may be halted at any point before the completion of the harvest by tapping either the object being harvested or the Creature doing the harvesting.

Several objects can be harvested by more than one Creature at the same time. Depending on the max amount of possible Creatures harvesting the object, tapping the object that max amount doubled, will result with the max amount of Creatures harvesting the object.

## Creatures Behavior During Harvest

Once an item has been harvested, one unit of stamina will be spent from the Creature's current stamina pool, and a miniaturized version of the item harvested from the object will appear over the Creature's head. If a Creature does not have enough stamina and is asked to harvest an object, a "Too Tired!" message appears above the Creature. If no Creatures are available when tapping a harvestable object, a "(No Creatures Available)" message will appear above the object.

While carrying an item, a creature's movement speed is halved. A creature carrying a harvested item will attempt to drop the item near a group of similar items, and will only select a different destination if there is no space nearby. If multiple groups of similar items are available, the creature will choose a random destination among the available groups. Should there be no items available matching the harvested one, the creature will drop the item in a random location (often near the object it was harvested from).

In case another item appears in the spot the creature initially chose as the destination for its carried item, the creature will hover for a second before selecting a new location to put down its carried item. If the garden or level is currently at max capacity, the creature will carry the item indefinitely until an open spot becomes available. If the garden or level is full and the creature holding an item is either dragged to a harvestable object, called by double tapping that object or tapping the creature, the item it held will revert to a Loot Orb, which can then be tapped by the player once there is sufficient space in the garden or level. This trick may be used to stack up a large number of Loot Orbs of 1x1 sized items.

Creatures left idle may autonomously harvest objects. If the creature in question has been directed by the player to harvest from a particular object, it will continually attempt to harvest from the same object (type + level) when possible while working autonomously (however, this does not include objects that are destroyed upon harvest). Should all objects of that type be inaccessible, or if the creature has not before been directed to an object by the player, the creature will pick a random, available object to harvest from. Note that exiting your Garden or having a creature run out of stamina will cause it to revert to this randomized behaviour.

## Harvest Speed

Different objects have different harvesting times. Higher level objects will usually require more time to be harvested, though it is not always the case and can depend on the possible outcomes of the harvest.

Blessed Trees deviate a bit in that the higher level of the two trees which gives the same blessing orb will be harvested faster than the lower (e.g. a Blessed Flower and a Blessed Bloom can both be harvested for a Minor Blessing, but the Blessed Bloom will be harvested considerably faster than the Blessed Flower), but overall it still fits the rule that higher levels result in longer harvest time.

## Harvest Cool-down

While most objects can be harvested at will, some objects have a harvesting cool-down and can only be harvested again once several minutes have passed.