Troves & Recipes

Troves are the game layer that brings Upland together. At their core, Troves connect gameplay to location. Exploring the map, interacting with assets, caring for plants, visiting neighborhoods, using structures, and participating in activities can all become ways to earn Troves and progress through the world. Instead of each system standing on its own, Troves create a shared layer where player actions, location, and decisions begin to connect.

Troves are designed around a simple but powerful idea: almost anything in Upland can become an output, and almost any output can become an input somewhere else. Properties, structures, map assets, Block Explorers, vehicles, plants, neighborhoods, service structures, and activities can all output Troves. Players can then bring those Troves to specific locations like service structures, input them into recipes, and unlock rewards such as rare Troves, Uppies, SPARKLET, UPX, STEM, yield and more.

For example, a player might collect Troves by caring for plants across Upland or by discovering them through structures and activities around the map. In the future, other systems like fishing, farming, trade routes, racing, treasure hunting and more will also connect into Troves, giving players different ways to gain rewards based on how they choose to play.

Those Troves can then be used in recipes at service structures. A bakery might turn wheat and milk into bread. A workshop might turn resource Troves into crafted goods. A kitchen, shop, or other service structure might require different combinations of Troves to produce new outputs, rare Troves, SPARKLET, STEM, UPX, or other rewards.

This is where the systems start to reinforce each other. A player may own a property, build on it, decorate it, plant on it, and help make the surrounding neighborhood more active. Those assets can output Troves. Those Troves can then become inputs at service structures, where recipes turn them into new rewards and progression opportunities.

Recipes

Uppies are one important path within this larger system. As players explore Upland, they may encounter Uppies across the map who request specific Troves that can only be obtained through certain recipe outputs. To fulfill those requests, players will need to gather the right Troves, bring them to the right service structures, and run the recipes that produce what the Uppie is looking for.

Fulfilling those requests can help players to befriend Uppies. Once befriended, Uppies can be employed at service structures to help level those structures up. Higher-level service structures can unlock better recipes, create more useful outputs, and make that location more powerful within the broader Troves loop.

Watch

Example recipe

Wheat Trove + Milk Trove → at a Bakery service structure → Bread Trove. An Uppie nearby has requested Bread. Deliver it. The Uppie befriends you. You can now mint that Uppie at Level 1.

Recap: The loop

  1. Collect Troves through gameplay (your structures, your plants, your fishing trips).
  2. Combine Troves through Recipes at service structures.
  3. Fulfill Uppie requests.
  4. Mint the Uppie.
  5. Eventually, merge two same-level Uppies to level up. Repeat.

Strategy

  • The more developed your neighborhood, the more Trove variety you can produce.
  • Multiple service structures in one city mean you can complete more Recipes without long sends.
  • Specialists who produce one Trove type at scale can trade with neighbors who produce a different type.

Five categories

  • Care. Items that maintain plants, animals, and other living elements.
  • Resource. Raw materials. STEM-bearing plants produce these.
  • Social. Items tied to community interaction (petting, visits, gatherings).
  • Utility. Tools and components that feed into other Recipes.
  • Valuables. Higher-rarity items are sometimes tradable.

Where Troves come from

  • Service structures (cafés, fire stations, supermarkets).
  • Plants (every plant produces something).
  • Fishing (different waters, different fish).
  • Farming crops.
  • Animals (cows produce milk, sheep produce wool, chickens produce eggs).
  • Trade Routes (when cargo moves between neighborhoods).
  • Petting plants in your neighbors' gardens (the social system).

Most Troves are account-bound. A few specific types are tradable, adding an economic strategy layer for active producers.