In Heartopia, everything revolves around shiny coins. This guide shows you how to make a lot of money and gold fast.
If you want to truly thrive in Heartopia, there is one thing you absolutely need: Gold. Without those shiny coins, nothing works in this cozy life sim. Expanding your house, buying new furniture, or wearing the most stylish outfits all costs money. The problem is that especially early on, many income sources are not obvious. With this guide, we walk you through step by step how to fill your pockets without endless grinding.
Why Gold Is So Important in Heartopia
Gold is essentially the lifeblood of your adventure in Heartopia. You need it for almost everything: buying furniture, upgrading tools, expanding your home, and unlocking new features. Without enough gold, many of the game’s most enjoyable aspects remain out of reach. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to earn money. Some are obvious, others are well hidden. We cover them all.
- Note: Many items, such as cute outfits, are optional but make the game even more enjoyable.
First Steps: Building Your Starting Capital
During your first days in the game, you will be showered with quests that reward you with plenty of gold. Be careful though, this rain of money will eventually stop. Once the tutorial is over, you need to take matters into your own hands.
Even during the tutorial, you will unlock the most important hobbies that later become your main income sources. Fishing is the first hobby you unlock, followed by gardening. Both are essential for making money. Use the early phase to learn the mechanics and build up a small stock of resources.
Fishing: The Underrated Money Maker
Fishing is not only relaxing, it is also one of the best ways to earn money fast. You get your fishing rod during the tutorial and can then fish in any body of water in Heartopia. Depending on location, time of day, and weather, you will catch different fish. Some of them are extremely valuable.
A particularly strong early-game strategy is the so-called Crucian Carp method. Head to Spring Lake and focus on catching Crucian Carp. These fish are available all day long, and your catch rate increases even further during rain. The key is not to sell the raw fish. Instead, cook them into Fried Crucian Carp. While a raw fish sells for around 80 gold, the cooked dish sells for a massive 350 gold.
- Note: Always bring enough repair kits and bait so you can stay out fishing as long as possible.
For advanced players, there is an even better trick. During rainbow weather, head to Starlight Sea and fish using premium bait. The Rainbow Fish you catch there sell for 5,000 gold each. Just 30 minutes of fishing can net you over 20,000 gold.
Gardening: Plant, Harvest, Sell
You unlock gardening when you meet Blanc during the tutorial. He also gives you a watering can, which you need to grow plants. Farming fruits and vegetables is another reliable income source that becomes more profitable over time.
- Tip: You can find all available hobbies in our Hobby Guide, including where to unlock them.
Keep in mind that plants do not grow instantly. Tomatoes, for example, take 15 minutes. That may sound long, but you can use the time efficiently. Go fishing, complete quests, or explore the city. When you return, your crops will be ready.
A great strategy is the corn-strawberry rotation. Corn takes 12 hours to grow, strawberries only 6 hours. Plant corn before going to bed, harvest it in the morning, then plant strawberries. After 6 hours, harvest and replant them. With this method, you can earn over 100,000 gold per day.
- Tip: Process your crops into dishes instead of selling them raw. Corn becomes corn soup, strawberries become strawberry jam. The profit margin is much higher.
Cooking: Where the Real Money Is Made
Cooking is the key to serious wealth in Heartopia. Some of the most profitable dishes include Ratatouille early on, as well as Fish and Chips, Cheesecake, Seafood Pizza, Corn Soup, Carrot Cake, and Meat Sauce Pasta. You unlock new recipes by leveling up your cooking hobby.
Important tip: Use one-star ingredients whenever possible. They offer higher profit margins. Ingredients with two or more stars are better sold directly, as cooking profits scale less efficiently with higher-quality ingredients.
For your kitchen setup, three cooking pots are ideal. This offers the best balance between efficiency and clarity. Four pots are usually too cramped and often lead to cooking mistakes.
Free Money: Jam and Latte
There are methods that let you earn money with almost no investment. The easiest one is jam production. Collect wild fruits like apples and oranges from trees around the city. This costs nothing. Turn them into apple jam or orange jam and sell them.
Another side method is the latte trick. Buy milk and coffee at the material shop in the city center for a total of 80 gold. Turn them into a latte and sell it for 200 gold. Combined with fishing, this can earn you over 20,000 gold per day.
Completing Requests: Fast Money on the Side
The residents of Heartopia regularly ask you for small favors. You can find these requests via the calendar icon in the top-left corner of your screen. The rewards are often surprisingly good, especially early in the game.
Pay special attention to urgent requests marked with a fire icon. These offer 50 percent higher rewards than normal tasks. Prioritize them while your crops are growing.
Pets: Passive Income While You Sleep
Once you can adopt pets, choose an orange cat or a Golden Retriever. Feed them three times a day, and they will bring you money bags containing between 100 and 500 gold. Sometimes they even bring rare feathers, which you can sell to the collector for 2,000 gold. This is essentially free bonus money that adds up over time.
Where to Sell Your Goods
Your main buyer is Albert Junior. He constantly moves around the city, usually walking in circles. You can always find him on your map. If he is too far away, you can take the bus for 200 gold.
Besides Albert, there are other buyers for specific items. Bird photos are best sold to the NPC known as the rich kid. Rare collectibles like feathers go to the collector in town. Glowing flowers are bought by the museum curator.
Heartopia Gold: Common Mistakes to Avoid
Especially early on, many players make mistakes that cost them real money. Never sell raw ore. Iron ore sells for only 20 to 50 gold, but if you process it into iron bars at the woodworking station, the price triples in just two minutes.
Do not fish randomly. With a beginner fishing rod, you usually catch common fish worth less than 100 gold. Instead, fish at specific locations and times.
Advanced Strategies for Pros
Once you unlock the city market and weather forecast, new opportunities open up. One of them is festival flipping. About three days before a festival like the Cherry Blossom Festival, buy relevant items such as cherry blossom saplings for 1,000 gold each. On the festival day, prices rise to over 3,000 gold. Buy ten saplings and sell them for a 20,000 gold profit.
Furniture flipping on the second-hand market works similarly. Look for damaged sofas for 500 gold, repair them with repair glue for 100 gold, and resell them for 2,000 gold. Ten pieces of furniture per day can earn you 14,000 gold.
A secret tip is the night merchant. After 10 p.m., a wandering trader appears in the town square, selling mystery seeds for 1,000 gold. These have a high chance of growing into glowing flowers, which the museum buys for 5,000 gold.
Redeem Codes: Free Money and More
Heartopia regularly offers redeem codes that grant free rewards. These codes are usually shared via the game’s official social media channels. To redeem them, open the game settings and look for the redeem code option.
The rewards range from gold and materials to exclusive items. It is worth checking for new codes regularly, as they are often only available for a limited time.
