By Mira Chen — I have sunk about 340 hours into Heartopia across two accounts, and I still remember the exact moment I realized I had been unlocking hobbies in completely the wrong order. I burned through two hobby tickets on Bird Watching and Bug Catching before touching Cooking. That mistake probably cost me 15,000 gold in wasted early-game income. Do not make the same mistake I did.
[IMG: Massimo outside his cafe — white apron, east side of Town Square. Do not show up after 8 PM like I did.]
What “DG Level 5” Actually Means
The game tells you to reach Development Grade 5. What it does not tell you: you need roughly 18 Contribution Medals to get there.
I counted. Twice. The first time I almost gave up because the grind felt endless.
Here is the actual breakdown nobody shared with me:
- Easy Requests (80% of your daily board): Deliver an item, talk to a specific NPC, catch one common fish. These give 1 Medal each and take 2-3 minutes.
- Medium Requests (maybe 2 per day): Catch a specific fish type, cook a specific dish, decorate with a certain furniture piece. These give 2 Medals and take 5-8 minutes.
- Hard Requests (rare, maybe 1 per day): Catch a rare fish during specific weather, produce a high-star dish. These give 3 Medals but you will not always have the conditions to complete them.
On my second playthrough, I reached DG 5 in three days by grinding every single board request, including the annoying ones I skipped the first time around.
[IMG: Request board, left of the fountain. Looks boring. Grind this thing for 3 days straight and you hit DG 5.]
The Hobby Unlock Order I Recommend After Testing Both Routes
I have done the unlock order both ways. Here is the order that actually works, with the real numbers behind each choice.
1. Cooking (Unlocked at Massimo’s Cafe, Town Square)
Massimo runs the cafe on the east side of Town Square, right next to the residential street entrance. He is there from 8 AM to 8 PM daily. Talk to him after hitting DG 5 and he will hand you your first stove and the starter recipes.
Why first? Because every fish you catch and every crop you harvest from this point forward can be cooked and sold for 3-5x the raw price. I tested this on my second account.
Cooking first: 8,400 gold by day 5. Cooking fourth: about 2,100 gold. That is a clean 4x difference. Not subtle. Painful, actually, when I realized how much gold I had left on the table.
The one downside: you need to be good at the QTE heat-regulation mini-game. I missed the timing constantly for the first two days. My kitchen was a graveyard of Bizarre Food. That is normal. You will get the rhythm by day three.
2. Gardening (Blanc’s Shop, north of the town gardens)
Blanc runs a small seed shop just north of the community garden area, past the fountain and up the stone path. Shop hours are 9 AM to 6 PM, closed Wednesdays. Yes, he closes on Wednesdays.
Gardening fuels your cooking. Without it, you are buying ingredients from Massimo at a premium. Start with just 4 strawberry plots and 2 potato plots. That is 560 gold in seeds. You will make it back in one harvest cycle. The real mistake beginners make is buying 10 different seed types and spreading too thin. Pick two, master them, expand later.
[IMG: Blanc’s shop window — grab the strawberry packets, skip the rest. He closes Wednesdays because of course he does.]
3. Fishing (Talk to Pete at the River Dock)
Pete is at the main river dock, directly south of the town bridge. He is an older character in a fishing vest, there from 6 AM to 6 PM. You probably walked past him ten times already.
Fishing is your rainy-day moneymaker. Clear days? Meh, decent. Rainy days? Drop everything. It is basically a gold printer.
The basic rod catches about one fish every 6-8 seconds in the river — roughly 30-40 fish per in-game hour if you lock in and focus. Cook the lot and your daily budget is sorted. Easy clap.
I wasted two rainy days on my first account doing Resident Requests because I did not know rain unlocked rare fish. Do not do that.
4. Bug Catching (Luna, northeast forest clearing)
Luna is in a small clearing in the northeastern forest, follow the dirt path past the old oak tree. She is there during daylight hours only. She will give you your starter net and a short catching tutorial.
Bug catching is a nice complement to sunny days. The money is not as good as fishing during rain, but rare beetles and butterflies sell surprisingly well. I unlocked this fourth because it does not directly feed into your main income loop, but it is excellent for collection progress and seasonal event participation.
5. Cat Raising (Ms. Whiskers’ Shelter, behind the residential area)
This shelter is tucked behind the main residential street, down a small alley with a cat sign hanging above the door. You need a cat bed, food bowl, and litter box before you can adopt. I made the mistake of adopting before crafting these and the cat was visibly unhappy for two days. The game shows you the cat sulking in the corner. It is actually kind of sad.
If you feed a cat premium food (crafted from rare fish like Salmon), bond gain is roughly +25 per feeding. With store-bought food it is closer to +10. The difference means hitting Bond Level 4 about 12 days faster. At Bond 4, your cat starts bringing daily gifts including rare mushrooms and small gold amounts. That is pure passive income from that point on.
6. Bird Watching (Professor Finch, university observatory, far north)
Professor Finch is at the observatory on the hill in the far north of the map, beyond the university campus. He is there from 5 AM to 2 PM — early hours only. I walked there at 4 PM the first time and the building was locked. Had to come back the next morning.
Bird watching is the most relaxing hobby and the least profitable. I would only prioritize this if you genuinely enjoy the collection aspect. Financially, it contributes almost nothing compared to the other five hobbies. This is not a complaint — it is just how the game is balanced.
Where Things Went Wrong for Me (So They Do Not for You)
- I bought a hobby ticket from the premium shop before I realized you get enough free tickets from DG milestones. Wasted about $3 worth of premium currency. The game gives you sufficient tickets through normal progression.
- I unlocked Cat Raising second on my first account because I wanted a cat. Cute, but terrible for gold efficiency. The cat sat in my house doing nothing for two weeks while I was broke.
- I missed that Massimo closes his cafe at 8 PM. Showed up at 9 PM after grinding requests all day. Had to wait until the next morning to unlock Cooking. Check NPC schedules before you commit to a grind session.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I unlock hobbies in any order? Yes, but Cooking first saves you around 7,200 gold in your first week on a fresh account. (I tested both orders, and the gap widens every day you delay it.)
How many hobbies can I unlock at DG 5? You start with 2 Hobby Expansion Tickets at DG 5. More tickets come at DG 8, 12, and 15. By endgame you will have unlocked all six.
Is Cat Raising worth unlocking early? Only if you have the crafted cat furniture ready and can afford premium food. Otherwise it is a money sink with delayed returns.
What if I already picked a bad unlock order? It is not permanent. Just means you earn gold slower for a while. You will eventually unlock everything. I did it the hard way on my first account and still reached endgame.
Are there seasonal restrictions on unlocking? No. All six hobby NPCs are available year-round. But Bird Watching is significantly easier to level during Spring and Autumn migration seasons.
About the author: Mira has logged over 340 hours in Heartopia since launch, tested every hobby unlock order across two accounts, and maintains a small Discord server for Heartopia players. Come say hi and ask questions — discord.gg/heartopia-players (community-run, free to join).