History VideoGame / SlimeRancher

* AllThereInTheManual: Reading the slimepedia gives you info about the slimes behaviors, favorite foods, and information on what their plorts are used for.

It's the first project by indie studio [[http://monomipark.com/ Monomi Park]] and was released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and UsefulNotes/XboxOne on August 1, 2017 after spending some time in Steam's Early Access and Xbox One's "Game Preview" programs. A UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 version was released on August 21, 2018, and a UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch port, known as the ''[[{{Pun}} plortable]] edition'', was released on August 11, 2021.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slimrancher.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: The word "{{Moe}} Blob" has never been more appropriate.]]

* VisualPun: The drones in the Automatic Update are designed to look like cute little bees, with flowers for stations no less. Unlike real drone bees, the drones in the update are designed to be useful and, well, [[JustForPun busy bees]].

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Every type of slime, with the exceptions of Pink (eats anything and has no favorite), Puddle (doesn't eat, only drinks water), Fire Slimes (only eats ash from burning food in an Incinerator), Saber Slimes (preferred food is "unknown" and presumed extinct), and Quicksilver Slimes (can only be "fed" by being shot with electricity) have a favorite food. When fed their favorite food, slimes produce twice the amount of plorts they normally would. Largo slimes have two favorite foods based on what two slimes they're made of, and produce double of both types of plort when fed either of their favorites. Favorites of Gordo slimes count as two food items(so a Gordo fed only their favorite will pop after 25 food items instead of 50), and using a slime's favorite food on a Gordo snare will more often than not result in a Gordo of the slime that favors that food, with master snares guaranteeing that slime.

** There are also some references to VideoGame/{{Spiral knights}} which a few Monomi Park devs have worked on previously.

* ItemCrafting: The Slime Science system allows you to make various contraptions that are placable at certain points around the world. They range from useful item collectors for other slime science projects, to various helpful machines such as a turret that shoots water and a item transporter, to novelties like a basketball hoop. The challenge comes in the fact that these things require a lot of money to buy the blueprints for and a lot of various resources like Plorts and miscellaneous items from the aforementioned collectors and around the world to make them. This along with the cost of buying the Lab area the crafting station is placed in makes this a late-game project, unlike other crafting systems.

* CallARabbitASmeerp: Chickens are called "Hen-Hens" and roosters are called "Roostros". Even chicks are called "Chickadoos". This may be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as you ''are'' on an alien planet, so these might be completely different from Earth chickens.
** Hen-Hen's are stated to have this double name since they were bred to be twice as tasty as regular hens.

** [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the version 0.4.0 trailer, where a pink slime falls on the #1 slime stage, only to get pushed out and replaced by a Tabby Slime.

* DarkReprise: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]], the [[https://youtu.be/tNc9Thlo8Jk trailer]] for the 'Slime Science' update used a lighter, upbeat version of the Tarr theme "Those Awful Ravenous Rainbows", fittingly titled "Less Awful Ravenous Rainbows".

* SingleProductPlanet: Your employers take you to the Far, Far Range, an Exotic/Farm variety of the trope that features plenty of slimes that you're meant to catch and feed in order to obtain their [[SolidGoldPoop plorts]], which are stated to be used for [[MundaneUtility so many utilities, resources, and other needs]] for the human populace. The Far, Far Range does contain many more wonders than just slimes, including crystals, ancient ruins and flora, lemons that can somehow phase through reality, and portals, including one to a desert full of natural glass structures and wells of ancient water, your employers only care about one thing: The plorts. For that reason, plorts are the sole resource you can directly sell for money.

*** Another belongs to the slime science item [[http://slimerancher.wikia.com/wiki/Royal_Jelly Royal Jelly]]. It's a rare item used for some teleportation tech, with the short description "The [[http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Royal_Jelly king]] of all [[BossFight jellies]]... that is, until you meet [[BonusBoss the]] [[http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Ice_Queen queen]]."

* ExpansionPackWorld: The Wilds, Nimble Valley, and the Slimeulation, which are separate from the main Far, Far Range and each host a sidequest for an NPC with unique resources and rewards.

* TheArtifact: The Meteor Slime was deprecated from the game because it "wasn't working" with the theme of the Glass Desert being released in v0.6.0. However, code of the Meteor Slime exists within the game's files, hinting that it might be a type of [[GravityMaster gravity manipulator]].

* FantasticFruitsAndVegetables: Applies to pretty much all the fruits and vegetables in the Far, Far Range (except for the carrots). Heart-shaped beets, pears with spikes, mint-flavored mangoes, metallic parsnips, lemons that exist partly out of phase with our reality...