The game starts off in what appears to be a garden, with various standing items that provide scale; Sprouts are tiny creatures. The Sprouts themselves are cute little beady-eyed critters that vaguely resemble Pikmin, in that they each have a flower growing out of the tops of their heads. You begin the game with a small number of them, each one identifiable by name, which will display when you hover the cursor over them individually. In addition to their names, you'll also get a summary of what they're currently thinking, which will be helpful when you're managing them in earnest. Just know that they don't start out as locked into any particular roles; they're each as capable as the other.

Hovering over them also shows a number of bars to the bottom right of the interface, which displays a set of attributes: Full, Awake, Curious, Motivated. Each of these states expresses their ability to perform the various tasks you'll set them on during the course of the game.

Basic gameplay revolves around picking up a Sprout and dropping it on various items in the game world. Items will randomly appear, and each one does different things to a Sprout. If a Sprout is dropped on a flower, it will either increase their Full meter, meaning you've just fed it; or their Curious meter will fill a little. I wasn't immediately able to discern what effect Curiosity has on gameplay, but presumably it comes into play at some point. If a Sprout is dropped on a stone, it may fill a bit of its Motivation meter, meaning that it's more likely for that Sprout to continue working on a task for longer periods of time than a bored Sprout would. If their Motivation doesn't increase, the Sprout might offer the stone to you in tribute. More on this in a bit. Weeds will also appear, and dropping a Sprout on one will make it disappear, and increase that Sprout's Motivation a little. There is also a small ball that a Sprout will play with that helps with their Motivation level.

The Full meter refers to the hunger of a Sprout. If you let it dwindle down too far, the Sprout will become weak and unable to work. To feed a sprout, drop it on a flower as mentioned above, or drop it onto the Flower Garden, where it will stay until its eaten its fill.