About Bunny Speech I'm so happy you like the new bunny speech feature~ I've improved the speech UI again. Maybe I'll polish it a little more in the future if I have time. I hope future players can open the game, spend around two happy hours here—about the length of a movie—and oc
About Bunny Speech
I'm so happy you like the new bunny speech feature~
I've improved the speech UI again. Maybe I'll polish it a little more in the future if I have time.
I hope future players can open the game, spend around two happy hours here—about the length of a movie—and occasionally remember the cute little bunnies afterward.
Some Thoughts About Game Design
A few days ago, I saw someone comment on an indie game:
"The developer cared too much about self-expression, and forgot to make the game fun."
I stared at that for quite a while. It made a lot of sense.
And I realized I may have made the same mistake.
Of course, noticing a problem doesn't mean I suddenly know how to solve it. Game design has always been difficult.
Recently, I've been thinking about the whole game again. I'm a little worried that I've focused too much on expressing myself and not enough on how players actually feel.
Some Recent Resting Thoughts
Recently, I've spent a lot of time lying down, scrolling endlessly through the internet, moving from one page to another.
December is getting closer, and I'm slowly accepting that this game may simply be a dead end.
The rational part of my brain no longer has much energy for repetitive work that feels meaningless: animations, props, dragging parameters around...
Before, I could tell myself, "Maybe the game will become more fun someday."
Now I understand that working harder may not change anything. The rational part of my brain is tired and doesn't really want to keep walking.
(No need to worry about me! I'm just normally sad. I'm simply pretty good at expressing it~~)
So this update was originally supposed to say:
"I'm sad. I'll update again after I feel better."
But unfortunately, another part of my brain is still trying very hard, even though we're clearly at a dead end.
A little annoying, honestly.
That overly hardworking brain dragged itself up and made Wheat's food shop.
So yes. I'm developing while being sad.
Why work so hard when I'm too sad to get out of bed?
Because a sale is coming soon, and sometimes new players arrive during sales.
My hardworking brain always thinks:
"Maybe one more feature can save it."
"Maybe new players will feel differently."
"Maybe the feedback will be different this time."
At this point, I'm a little too tired to argue with it.
So I guess I'll just let it work as hard as it wants.
Maybe by December, even my stubborn brain will finally accept reality. Then I'll rest for a while and start thinking about something else.
It's kind of funny. Since I started making indie games, people have occasionally told me to try doing something else.
My first reaction is always:
"I've already tried telling myself that. It didn't work."
Maybe after suffering enough, my brain will finally find its way somewhere else.
At least this new area turned out quite pretty.
Leaves falling from the trees look lovely.
I like eating under big trees, so I think the little bunnies probably do too.
What's Next
Next, I won't be writing more stories or designing more props.
Instead, I'm going to write a knowledge base for the entire game.
All the notes about its logic and design.
Because my overly hardworking brain says:
"What if we want to update the game again someday?"
If I don't write everything down now, I'll probably forget how the code, animations, VFX, shaders, and all those parameters work.
Maybe one day I won't even remember how to open the game anymore.
So... alright.
I'll write it all down next.
That's everything for this update~
Thank you for continuing to interact with me and the game.
The game is slowly moving toward its final curtain, but it's been wonderful knowing that there are players and friends in different parts of the world who spent time with my little game.
It feels a little like a long goodbye. December is getting closer, and I’ve been feeling a little sad. I was planning to write more story content. But while writing, I suddenly realized... The game really is going to end. Once I stop updating certain parts of the game, they may s
It feels a little like a long goodbye.
December is getting closer, and I’ve been feeling a little sad.
I was planning to write more story content. But while writing, I suddenly realized...
The game really is going to end.
Once I stop updating certain parts of the game, they may stay that way forever.
So I went back to check some of the item systems and their gameplay logic.
And I discovered that these three things were barely being used at all:
Wheat (Flour)
Flower Tea (Tea Leaves)
Grapes
So I quickly started designing some uses for them, so the little bunnies could finally enjoy the things they grow themselves.
So you probably thought this was going to be an update about new items, right?
Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what my own brain is going to decide to work on next.
Halfway through designing the items, I suddenly remembered another feature that I had started a long time ago but never finished:
Making the little bunnies talk.
And I decided to finish that first.
There are already plenty of farming games with perfectly designed item systems and mathematical logic.
But if my bunnies don't learn to talk now...
they may never get the chance to talk.
So I started working on the talking feature instead, rewriting and adjusting their dialogue again and again.
It's not perfect yet—this is more like the first simple, usable version.
But I decided to release it first and see what everyone thinks.
So, the new feature in this update is:
🐰 The Little Bunnies Can Talk!
Normally, when you see a message icon above a bunny's head, move the camera closer to hear what the bunny is saying.
You can also click directly on a bunny to see what that particular bunny is thinking.
I wrote these lines in a bit of a rush over the past few days, so they may be improved and expanded in future updates.
A small update focused on UI improvements and making the little train more useful. If you've already played the game, you don't need to open it just for this update. There aren't any other major new features. 1. Better UI Thank you to the helpful players who gave me feedback! It
A small update focused on UI improvements and making the little train more useful.
If you've already played the game, you don't need to open it just for this update. There aren't any other major new features.
1. Better UI
Thank you to the helpful players who gave me feedback! It was super helpful!
I reorganized the categories and added gameplay tips directly into them, so hopefully the UI is a little friendlier for new players now.
I'm very lucky to have such helpful players.
Please take a look at the new version, and if you have any other thoughts, leave me a message. I'll keep improving it!
2. More Things to Do with the Little Train
Bunnies can now ride the train around the island by themselves.
The train can also be used to transport items!
3. Letter Delivery Has Changed
Letters are now delivered roughly once every 3 minutes.
Once the game is complete, all letters will be unlocked on the final page of the story.
So if you make it all the way to the ending, you can read every letter. If you accidentally missed a few along the way, don't worry!
4. The Ending
The ending is written.
It will be made with text and hand-drawn illustrations, and it will be quite different from the stories before it.
This also means I don't have to worry about bugs and testing for the ending quite as much. I can simply focus on writing one ending.
The ending is very important, so I've decided on the ending first. Then I'll design the story right before it.
I treat you guys like friends, so I like talking about everything with you.
But I also keep reminding myself:
Players only get one first experience. Don't ruin it.
So I'm going to keep updating the story in chronological order, and release the ending last.
Recently, I finally went outside for a walk. I hadn't really gone out in a long time.
I heard some children playing somewhere in the distance.
And suddenly I realized—
children being noisy are actually in stereo.
They're running around in different directions, so their voices are coming from everywhere.
I think I've been sitting in front of my computer for too long. I almost forgot such a simple thing.
After finishing the ending, I felt a little sentimental.
I was watching the sunset by the road, and it felt a lot like the final scene of a movie.
I'll keep rewriting the ending again and again.
And even after the game is released, if you don't like it, I'll change it again.
Anyway, I'll try my best to leave no regrets.
5. What's Next?
Before the ending, I still want to make one slightly more complicated story.
I estimate it will take about a month if everything goes smoothly...
assuming the bugs don't beat me into the ground first.
✦ Stories & Letters Reworked the old stories and added some new illustrations to the storybook. Reorganized the order of the letters and added several new Bunny letters. Some new letters were also added into the old timeline, so remember to go back and check the old letters!
✦ Stories & Letters
Reworked the old stories and added some new illustrations to the storybook.
Reorganized the order of the letters and added several new Bunny letters.
Some new letters were also added into the old timeline, so remember to go back and check the old letters!
There are now 49 letters in total.
Added a new story — with a little wooden train!
I really love how the train turned out.
✦ Reworking the Old Stories
Before writing the new story, I went back and carefully reorganized all the old stories.
I fixed the story logic, rearranged the letters, changed some of their content, and added new illustrations.
At the end of each story, there is now a little Bunny Diary.
Since there aren't too many stories yet, it was still relatively easy to go through everything. I read the storybook over and over again to make sure there were no unnecessary repetitions and that everything made sense.
✦ A New Way of Telling the Story
I really like how the letters have turned out this time. They have become an important part of the storytelling.
Funny enough, I actually removed the letter-writing feature before because I thought nobody would read it.
Luckily, some lovely players told me right away that they liked it, so I brought it back.
Then I started drawing the little handwritten pictures again... and somehow, the letters slowly became part of the story itself.
Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave feedback.
Your feedback has helped me more than you probably realize.
✦ Bug Fixes & Improvements
I fixed... a lot of bugs.
There were so many that after fixing them, I honestly forgot where to start talking about them.
Some missing translations have been fixed, and some interactions have been improved, such as camera dragging.
There were also some code bugs, animation issues, and a few bugs caused by me rebuilding the storybook system.
✦ Trying to Finish the Game
I said before that I wanted to finish the game by December this year.
Then I realized...
There are still SO MANY things to draw.
So I went back and recalculated the image sizes. By using smaller sizes where possible, I have a lot more room for mistakes, and I can draw things much faster.
Do you know that famous design triangle?
Cheap. Fast. High quality. Pick two.
Well...
I'm currently trying to do all three before December.
I'm basically cheering myself on every day:
Come on! You can do it! This might be your last game. Don't leave anything behind. Keep going!
So I'm still trying to squeeze in as much content as I can.
I just hope that when I finally finish, I won't have too many regrets.
✦ Back to a Linear Story
The storybook is now back to a linear story structure, so you can no longer skip directly between chapters.
The chapter-jumping system made the code much more complicated than I expected, and I couldn't maintain it well.
More importantly, the stories now have a stronger chronological flow. If you jump straight to a later chapter, some parts simply won't make sense.
So... back to reading from the beginning!
✦ The New Story
I designed several versions of the little wooden train for the new story.
In the end, I found that the simplest one looked the best.
Maybe if the Bunnies really built a train, they would make something simple like this.
Bunnies like simple things.
I also designed several versions of the Bunny's tall drum hat.
This one was definitely the cutest.
I spent a lot of time fighting with bugs, animations, character outfits, and... complete despair.
But somehow, I finally made it!
And I especially like some of the new letters in this update.
✦ A Little Update Behind the Update
I was supposed to release the update yesterday.
Then I found a new bug. So... I kept fixing bugs until now.
And today, my iPad Pencil suddenly stopped working.
At first, I thought I had somehow drawn the tip to death, but that wasn't the problem. Restarting didn't help either. Another bug. Another piece of hardware breaking.
I probably should have been sitting here crying my heart out.
But then...
I remembered how much I love reading stories. I thought about all the other creators whose stories I've enjoyed, and how they worked and worked on their games, rendered so much that they broke their computers, and somehow kept going anyway.
It seems to be a very common sad story for creators.
Maybe I've simply been drawing too much lately, and that's why the hardware finally gave up.
I've also been rushing to finish everything, and this update involved some pretty big changes, so... that's probably why there are so many bugs too.
Anyway, I'm still here, patting myself on the head and trying to convince myself to keep developing.
Come on, come on! Just a few more months. Get through this, then we can lie down and rest!
✦ Please Tell Me If You Find Anything Strange!
After going through everything so many times, I think I've become a little too familiar with the story.
I'm so tired that sometimes I don't even remember what I've already talked about, and accidentally explain the same thing twice.
So if you notice:
Repeated story content
Repeated letters
Story logic that doesn't make sense
Animations that look wrong
An animation that doesn't match the object
Anything else that feels strange
Please tell me!
After staring at the same story so many times, I sometimes just can't see the problems anymore.
Thank you for playing, reading all the letters, and sending me your feedback.
★ Visual Improvements 1. Improved Bunny and Pig firework effects. 2. Added a beautiful new firework night. 3. Added a lovely outer ring around the island during the daytime. ★ Feature Improvements 1. The Storybook now has an index, so you can jump directly to any chapter. 2. Time
★ Visual Improvements
1. Improved Bunny and Pig firework effects.
2. Added a beautiful new firework night.
3. Added a lovely outer ring around the island during the daytime.
★ Feature Improvements
1. The Storybook now has an index, so you can jump directly to any chapter.
2. Time Slowdown can now be set to slower speeds such as 0.2x and 0.3x.
This update only contains visual and feature changes. There is no new story or new letters. Existing players don't need to open the game for this update.
I originally planned to finish the new story for this update, but I wasn't happy with the wooden block character story I was working on, so I cancelled it and will remake it.
The Rest Is Just Casual Chatting~~
★ New Players
There are still very few new players, and most of them only play for a short time.
At first, looking at the data made me a little sad. Some new players closed the game within ten minutes. Most others left after around 30–40 minutes, which is still quite short.
Based on achievement statistics, about half of the new players have no interest in the Storybook at all. They only play the idle-game portion.
So I deleted the Storybook.
Nobody plays it anyway, so I won't update it anymore.
Hahahaha... Just kidding. ( ´▽` )ﾉ
It's okay if not many people play it. It feels a little like making a special story just for a small group of people. That's kind of a special experience too.
Data can also mean very different things depending on how you look at it. The sample size is so small that tiny differences can look enormous. For example, one player becoming two players means a 100% increase.
I feel that the players attracted by sales may not be the type of players this game is really meant for. I probably won't discount it as heavily next time.
The good news is that after adding the Storybook, the overall playtime of existing players has increased. My guess is that if the game reaches the right kind of players, they can have a really happy time with it.
★ Changes to Unlocks
It turns out that some players don't read the Storybook, while I really wanted to show off some of the visual effects I made.
So I changed some things that previously required story progress to unlock. They are now unlocked directly.
★ The Island's Outer Ring
I also added a new visual effect: during the daytime, there is now a ring of cubes around the outside of the island. If you look down, you can see it.
I thought about several different versions. Maybe the Earth could be visible below, or maybe I could add more land around the island with trees and distant scenery.
But none of those looked quite right. They didn't fit the current art style.
After trying several things, I came up with the cube edge.
It looks cute, and it also means the little bunnies who are afraid of heights don't have to worry about falling into the endless void when they look down.
The cube shader turned out pretty cute too, with flowers, circles, and little squares.
★ The Wooden Block Character Story Was Cancelled
I originally wanted to invite the wooden block character to the island.
I tried several versions, but the story never felt like it belonged on the island, so I decided to drop it.
It's a little sad, considering all the animation work and the wooden shader I spent so much time making...
The new firework scene was originally supposed to happen when the wooden block character left. I even drew some related illustrations.
But the whole thing really didn't fit, so I had to let it go.
I've read about directors who filmed huge amounts of material and then cut almost all of it during the later stages of production. It always sounded like such a waste.
Now I understand why.
Sometimes you only realize after finishing something that it doesn't fit the overall work. Something can be locally great without being right for the whole picture.
★ Fireworks
I spent a lot of time making the fireworks.
The fireworks spiral upward as they launch, which looks really pretty. I happily watched them for a long time. The falling sparks from the new fireworks can also reflect on the water. It looks beautiful.
You know... these are some pretty strange creative priorities.
Normally, I should probably hurry up and write the next chapter so the game has more content.
I don't know what my brain is doing. Sometimes I want to draw. Sometimes I suddenly become completely obsessed with designing fireworks. Sometimes I only want to write stories.
So... I just work on whatever I feel like working on. No plan whatsoever.
★ Creating
I really love creating things because reality can be painful and boring.
Daily chores have very little beauty in them, and endless pointless communication can be both boring and frustrating. Creating is different.
When I draw something while I'm happy, I can look at it again when I'm unhappy and think, Oh... this is nice. That world is beautiful. That's probably why I love creating things.
I hope I can eventually support myself through art, so I can keep creating forever.
★ One Last Question
I have two little questions. Please answer with your first reaction—that would be incredibly helpful.
1. Of the visitors who have come to the island, is there one you remember particularly well? It's completely fine to say you don't remember anyone. That answer is helpful too.
2. Is there one or two bunny letters that you still remember?
Anything that comes to mind is welcome.
I'm trying to figure out what I should write more of next.
A Note for New Players If you decide to pick up the game, I really hope you'll have a chance to launch it and give it a try. The game is now in its final stage of development, and I'm always worried that I may have overlooked bugs or rough edges before finishing it. Since everyth
A Note for New Players
If you decide to pick up the game, I really hope you'll have a chance to launch it and give it a try.
The game is now in its final stage of development, and I'm always worried that I may have overlooked bugs or rough edges before finishing it.
Since everything is new to first-time players—including the gameplay and UI—your feedback is incredibly valuable. You see the game with completely fresh eyes, and that perspective helps me improve it more than you might imagine.
Thank you so much~~ 💛
Just Chatting:
The number of players who have launched the game so far: 525.
I'm really excited to welcome new players and see how they respond to the recent Storybook changes. To be honest, I'm a little nervous—I don't know if I've taken it in the right direction, and I'm hoping the new feedback will help guide future improvements.
I'm currently rebuilding the Storybook system. My plan is to release that update after the sale ends... assuming a giant bug doesn't knock me down first. 😄
Added a new feature: Photo Mode . I also fixed several bugs that could occur when switching the bunnies’ behavior trees. 1. Thank You to the Players Thank you so much to the players who always open the game and test each update right away. You are the first people to see the impe
Added a new feature: Photo Mode. I also fixed several bugs that could occur when switching the bunnies’ behavior trees.
1. Thank You to the Players
Thank you so much to the players who always open the game and test each update right away.
You are the first people to see the imperfect version and give me suggestions. Because of your feedback, the visuals become much better for everyone who plays afterward.
I am truly grateful~ Your feedback is incredibly helpful!
2. More Bugs Fixed
I finally fixed several bugs in the bunny-and-monster training story.
Maybe nobody noticed them… because when I could not fix the problem, I simply forced the system to keep producing the correct result.
Hahahaha… What a tragic solution.
In the end, it turned out to be a logic mistake. I was using a third-party plugin and thought one of its nodes followed Logic A, but it actually followed Logic B.
Fortunately, I finally figured out what was wrong!
3. Drawing
Sometimes, when I flip through the storybook, I can clearly see that the later illustrations are better than the ones on the first page.
It shows that continued practice really does help.
My improvement is still limited, though. I love drawing, but I am not especially talented at it. This is not a sad statement, so please do not comfort me! I have met many genuinely gifted artists, and I am simply making an observation.
Still, I really love drawing bunnies and little pig. Drawing is so much fun.
The redesigned startup screen also looks beautiful. I am very happy with it, and I sometimes open the game just to look at it again and again~
4. New Photo Mode
I added Photo Mode because I recently began updating the screenshots and artwork on the Steam store page and realized how inconvenient taking good screenshots was.
But if I do not take proper screenshots and make an effort to promote the game, nobody will discover or buy it—so I decided to make a dedicated Photo Mode.
While updating the store page, I looked back at my older screenshots. At the time, I submitted each one happily and thought it looked absolutely perfect~
Now, however, they all look a little rough, with plenty of room for improvement.
As I continued developing Photo Mode, I discovered that taking pictures of the little bunnies is genuinely fun!
So I added an option to make the bunnies look at the camera. I also added a news-broadcast mode, which is very fun too.
Please leave me a message if you find any bugs or have other ideas～～
A Quick Recap for New Players This game has been in development for several years. The player base has always been very small, and constantly fighting bugs has become exhausting, so I have decided to begin wrapping up development. Even though I am wrapping things up, the game pro
A Quick Recap for New Players
This game has been in development for several years. The player base has always been very small, and constantly fighting bugs has become exhausting, so I have decided to begin wrapping up development.
Even though I am wrapping things up, the game probably will not be finished until November or December. I will continue fixing bugs and do my best to complete the remaining stories.
If you find any bugs or have suggestions about the story, please let me know. Your feedback would be incredibly helpful~
1. Thank You for Your Feedback
Sometimes I feel a little discouraged, but then I see an enthusiastic response from a player and cheer myself up: “Keep going! Someone likes what you made!”
When I work on the art and remember that someone will look at it carefully, it makes me very happy.
I also love seeing players share screenshots. I never know exactly how the game looks on other people’s devices, and I worry that I may have missed something in the artwork, so I always study those screenshots for a long time.
I hope this update still brings you some pleasant surprises~ It includes a new story, new letters, and UI changes. Feedback is always welcome. It would help me so much~
2. The Monster Story
I made some special visual effects for the new story, and they look really beautiful. I am very proud of them!
The matrix-style text effect took quite a bit of work. The text also blurs and changes over time, which was fun to make.
I am always worried about becoming too absorbed in my own ideas and spending time on features that players do not actually want, so I am currently prioritizing story content.
However, if you really like the matrix text effect, I could also create a nighttime version and add it to the existing day-and-night options.
After defeating the monster, the little bunny can be upgraded with a flower trail that appears while walking. This option will appear separately in the bunny’s work panel.
If you encounter any bugs, please tell me～～ I truly have no idea those bugs exist until someone reports them…
3. Steam Achievements Are Here
Several players asked about achievements before, but I always said no because the game’s Steam data was not strong enough, and its store page shows:
Profile Features Limited
This game is not currently eligible to appear in certain showcases on your Steam profile, and does not contribute to global achievement or game collector counts.
I mistakenly thought this meant players would not be able to see the achievements at all.
I only recently learned that achievements still work normally, and that only certain profile features and displays are restricted.
Since several people asked for them, I decided to add them. I actually enjoyed working on this feature and even drew special achievement icons!
Whenever you load a save, the game will read your current progress and update your Steam achievements. This means existing players should not need to unlock everything again.
4. Steam Cloud Saves Are Here Too
Thank you to the player who suggested this!
This is my first game, so I did not have much experience. I assumed cloud saving was a complicated feature that required buying and maintaining a server.
I did not realize that Steam already provides the necessary tools and that it could be configured directly through Steam. I am very glad someone mentioned it. That suggestion was genuinely helpful—thank you!
I also never considered adding cloud saves because the player count was so small. Looking at the data, it seemed as though most people played once and then left.
I did not realize that anyone might want to continue playing on another computer…
♪( ´θ｀)ノ I’m so happy!! Someone really likes the game～～～
The game now uses Steam Cloud storage, which Steam provides for free. Amazing!
However, if a save file is lost, I cannot personally restore it. Please make sure that your corresponding Steam achievements and progress statistics have been recorded.
In case a save is lost, I have also added a button that reads your Steam achievements and tracked progress, converts them back into game data, and imports the unlocked content into your current game.
It cannot restore everything, but it may reduce the loss by restoring things such as storybook and bunny-letter progress.
5. Startup Screen and Help Menu Changes
I updated the startup screen and the game’s help pages. I am also preparing to adjust the game’s price in a future update.
Changing old UI is incredibly tedious. I have to modify everything little by little, and after working on it for a while, I suddenly became overwhelmed and exhausted. For a moment, I impulsively wanted to raise the game’s price.
When I first began developing the game, I was very ambitious. I thought it would grow like other successful games: I would gradually add more features and gradually increase the price. Instead, I spent years fighting bugs.
There were so many bugs that I did not feel comfortable raising the price.
I then noticed that the next sale period was approaching. Steam does not allow price changes within 30 days of a discount, and sales are currently the only time people tend to buy my game.
So I will wait until after the sale before increasing the price.
Players who are still considering the game do not need to worry. You can still wait for a sale before buying it.
6. Thoughts About the Storybook and Gameplay
I added several more pages to the storybook.
With its current structure, the storybook can only support around 40 pages. I really want to rebuild the entire system, but the rational part of me says I should prioritize creating new content instead.
Here are the rational reasons not to rebuild it:
The game has only sold a few hundred copies. It has not even reached the roughly 1,000-copy mark that I personally consider a basic level of success, so a major reconstruction may not be worthwhile.
My development time is limited, so creating new content should come first.
Rebuilding the code could cause players to lose their unlocked storybook progress, and it might introduce new bugs.
Based on player feedback, people seem to enjoy the letters written by the bunnies. The storybook plots may be too scattered, and nobody appears to be closely following the overall story, so rebuilding it may not be worthwhile.
It is easy to become absorbed in creating something personally meaningful and spend a huge amount of time on a feature that players are not actually interested in.
Still, I really want to change the storybook.
A redesigned storybook could let new players freely choose a chapter instead of being required to begin with the first story. Players could start with whichever story interested them.
I am very conflicted.
I am afraid I will not be able to stop myself and will begin rebuilding everything again…
Even AI disagrees with rebuilding it. AI thinks I should prioritize creating the parts that players are interested in. Rebuilding the storybook would not necessarily make the game more fun.
Perhaps I should give players something interactive to do when visitors arrive on the island. That might be more interesting than simply reading dialogue.
Unfortunately, I cannot think of a suitable interaction.
The monster story had the same problem. I had plenty of ideas for the visual effects, and writing the story was not difficult—but as soon as I reached the interactive gameplay section, I had no ideas at all…
The game used to get stuck when quitting, but it’s fixed now! This was caused by the behavior tree refactor on June 17. Many thanks to the kind player who reported this bug ♪( ´θ｀)ノ Also fixed: Null issues that could happen when bunnies were playing together, chasing each other,
The game used to get stuck when quitting, but it’s fixed now!
This was caused by the behavior tree refactor on June 17. Many thanks to the kind player who reported this bug ♪( ´θ｀)ノ
Also fixed: Null issues that could happen when bunnies were playing together, chasing each other, running together, or raising the flag.
I also changed the UI button sounds to something much nicer.
If you run into any bugs, please leave a comment and let me know～～ It would be super, super helpful～～ Thank you so much～～
New Update: Flag Ceremony, More Hand-Drawn Letters, and Bug Fixes! ✨ New Features Bunny Island now has its own flag! Bunnies also hold a flag-raising ceremony every 5 days. More Bunny Houses! They now come in different colors too. Added several more hand-drawn Bunny letters. Fixe
New Update: Flag Ceremony, More Hand-Drawn Letters, and Bug Fixes!
✨ New Features
Bunny Island now has its own flag! Bunnies also hold a flag-raising ceremony every 5 days.
More Bunny Houses! They now come in different colors too.
Added several more hand-drawn Bunny letters.
Fixed the group activity null bug.
🌸 A Note for New Players
It’s sale time again!
If you decide to buy the game, I really hope you’ll give it a try.
The game is now in its final stage of development, so I’m especially worried about bugs or things I’ve overlooked.
New players are incredibly helpful because everything is fresh to you—the gameplay, the UI, everything.
If you have any feedback, whether you loved something or found something confusing, it would help me a lot.
Thank you~~ Thank you~~ ♪( ´θ｀)ノ
🏳️ This Update
1. Bunny Island Flag
Bunny Island finally has its own flag!
You can place the flag from the Play menu.
The game now also shows the total number of island days, and every 5 days the Bunnies hold a little flag-raising ceremony.
I even wrote the flag shader myself, so the flag always faces the camera.
2. More Bunny Houses
They also have randomly generated colors.
And yes… I wrote this color shader too. ✨
3. More Bunny Letters
Sending Bunny letters now only costs 1 Wood.
A very tiny cost.
Because I really, really want everyone to see the pictures I drew. 🐰
4. Bug Fixes
This part took much longer than I expected.
I never imagined fighting null references could be so dramatic.
💌 Thank You for Reading My Long Posts
After writing these long updates, I always worry that I’m talking too much.
Then I read your comments and realize many of you happily read the whole thing.
That makes me very happy.
Now I can keep writing long posts without worrying so much.
I usually publish updates before going to bed.
When I wake up, your comments are already there.
It’s much healthier than refreshing Steam every few minutes, nervously wondering what everyone thinks.
Sometimes I see big games announce updates and instantly receive dozens of comments.
I can’t help feeling a little jealous.
Still, it’s much easier than hundreds of years ago, when writers had to finish an entire book before anyone could read it and give feedback.
🐞 About Bugs
I’ve been fixing bugs like crazy recently.
I wanted everything finished before the sale started yesterday…
But no matter how late I stayed up, I couldn’t finish.
The culprit was another null bug.
Deleting objects or deleting Bunnies could leave null references behind.
After fighting it for days, I realized staying up all night wasn’t helping.
A tired brain just creates more silly logic mistakes.
So I ended up both exhausted and unproductive.
Eventually I told myself:
“Slow down. Fix it properly.”
Then I tried to comfort myself:
“It’s okay… probably nobody will buy the game during the sale anyway…”
And today…
Someone actually bought it.
AAAAAAAH!!
I immediately panicked and rushed back to fixing bugs.
I was so afraid the only new player would launch the game, hit a bug immediately, and never come back.
Then I tried encouraging myself:
“It’s okay. You’re an artist. Your code doesn’t have to be perfect.”
But… the game was crashing!!
Maybe I should have become an illustrator instead!!
…although AI has made that much harder too.
So I kept screaming internally, fixing bugs, and drinking way too much tea and coffee.
Thankfully…
I finally fixed it today.
I’ve tested everything.
Really.
It works.
(At least… I hope it does. 😅)
If you find any bugs, please let me know.
I’ll keep fighting them.
🌱 Creative Regrets & Business Regrets
Recently I’ve been reading advice from other indie developers.
Things like:“Build thousands of wishlists before launching.”
“Join Steam Next Fest first.”
“The algorithm favors games with more wishlists.”
I checked mine today. After all this time… I have just over 800 wishlists. Not many.
When I launched the game, I didn’t even know Steam had Next Fest. I simply released the game and completely missed that free exposure. Experience always comes afterward.
If I could start over, I’d definitely make smarter decisions. But passion only happens once.
Honestly… If I really had another chance… I probably wouldn’t spend four years making this game.
I’d make something else. Anything.
Indie game development is incredibly difficult. Still, compared to projects with huge teams and massive budgets, at least the only thing I invested was my own time.
⚙️ Unity
I’m currently using Unity 6000.4.6f1. I tried upgrading to 6000.5.0f1, but several third-party plugins stopped working and the entire project refused to open. So I rolled everything back. Since the game is already entering its final stage, this isn’t a huge problem anymore. It just feels a little bittersweet.
Maybe someday I won’t even be able to open this project again.
So I hope I can leave it in a stable state with as few bugs as possible.
🌼 Looking Forward
I’ve thought about not making another game after this one. Maybe I’d just write stories and draw pictures. But AI has changed both writing and illustration too. It’s a little scary. Then again, everyone is facing the same technological changes together. We’ll all eventually find new ways forward.
Recently I’ve been thinking about what I want to finish before this project ends. Financially, this game will probably never be a success. That’s okay. I just don’t want creative regrets. I want Bunny’s story to be complete. I’ll take a short break, then continue thinking about where the story should go next.
✨ New Features A new visitor can now arrive! Unlock them through the Storybook. Bunnies can go jogging and exercise together~ More Bunny letters added! Now 35 letters in total (+17 new ones). Some letters now include Bunny’s travel stories. Letter order has been adjusted — some n
✨ New Features
A new visitor can now arrive!
Unlock them through the Storybook.
Bunnies can go jogging and exercise together~
More Bunny letters added!
Now 35 letters in total (+17 new ones).
Some letters now include Bunny’s travel stories. Letter order has been adjusted — some new letters may appear in the history. Use the scroll bar to browse.
🌿 Update Notes
A new update is finally here~ New hand-drawn art, new story content, and a very long dev diary too~
I hope you’re still quietly looking forward to updates ( ´▽` )ﾉ
🎨 Illustrations
Drawing is really fun, although a bit tiring.
Some cutscenes, if made in 3D animation, would take a lot of time and be more complex. So I switched them into illustrations — much faster.
I’ve now drawn more than 30 letters. I used to worry I wouldn’t have enough inspiration or couldn’t complete them, but now this part is finally done.
Whenever coding or animation work gets stuck, I switch to drawing. It feels like when you’re stuck in boring situations (boring classes, boring meetings), creativity suddenly explodes and you just start drawing a lot.
I draw slowly, but I’m starting to like it. It’s very interesting to turn all the Bunny and Little Pig stories in my head into drawings.
My linework is not very good, so I need to revise many times… it takes a lot of time.
I remember my professor used to say: “Don’t redraw lines again and again, just draw it correctly in one stroke.”
But what he didn’t realize is… I simply don’t have that ability yet, not that I don’t want to.
In other subjects, practice improves skills. But drawing… it’s still very hard for me. Even after trying, it’s still just average compared to others.
But with AI now, this suddenly feels less important. Even if the linework isn’t perfect, people don’t criticize it anymore — because it’s human-made art.
If I draw more often, it does improve a little bit.
If you compare the first letters with the later ones (especially after letter 30), the difference is quite noticeable. I even can’t resist going back to edit older images… even though I know it’s not necessary… but I still do it.
The Bunny travel scene (driving a car) is very cute. I stared at it for a long time happily.
Then suddenly I thought: “Oh no! I forgot to draw a seatbelt!”
I immediately jumped up to fix it.
My rational brain was screaming: “This is unnecessary! It’s just a picture! Just let Bunny drive slowly!”
But another part of my brain was screaming louder: “No!! Bunny is traveling outside Bunny Island, it is dangerous! MUST wear seatbelt!!”
So I ended up fixing it anyway.
Logically it’s unnecessary, but I always worry something might happen to Bunny.
One time while drawing, my Apple Pencil stopped working. I panicked and restarted the iPad — still not working. The pencil had battery. My first reaction was: “Did I break my iPad? Do I need a new one?”
A few minutes later I realized: Maybe the pen tip is loose or broken.
I had bought many spare tips before. In the past, when I used Wacom, I also broke tips frequently because I pressed too hard. Then I discovered the real issue: After drawing for too long, the tip just became loose. I tightened it… and everything worked again.
Because I hadn’t drawn for so long, I forgot even these basic things.
I don’t know if my drawing improved, or if technology improved… but I haven’t broken a pencil tip in a long time. The spare tips are still unused.
If my art could support me financially, I would happily draw every day.
Sometimes I could reuse previous drawings by cutting them, but I still redraw everything.
Because each scene is different — Bunny and Little Pig have different emotions in each moment.
It’s like acting: you can’t just copy-paste the same performance. The audience can feel it’s wrong.
🎮 Game Design Thoughts
(Dev design discussion — if you like this kind of thinking)
Like all fairy-tale settings, Bunny helps others.
The simplest version is helping hungry characters. You just assign different numbers of people as gameplay challenges, and Bunny prepares food.
A slightly more complicated version is helping sad characters. But this can easily create new problems: sadness can make players feel sad too.
In my previous psychological-themed game, the most common refund reason was: “The game makes me feel sad.”
For happy players, psychological trauma topics can feel too heavy.
That old project is already fixed in structure, so I can’t redesign it now.
So I’m very careful this time, trying not to repeat the same mistake.
If the game is about helping sad people (more story-driven than gameplay), I need to rethink it repeatedly and refine the theme carefully, so it becomes healing instead of depressing.
I’m working hard on this. If anything feels a bit sad, please tell me — I’ll try to improve it.
I want the story to be healing, not painful.
🛠 Bugs & Development
While implementing Bunny jogging, everything went surprisingly smooth… I even thought “wow, this is too smooth, something must go wrong.”
And of course, it did:
IndexOutOfRangeException: NewLength 8 is out of range of '7' Capacity
I couldn’t add more nodes to the behavior tree anymore.
So I had to fully refactor this system.
I changed it into multiple behavior trees and controlled subtrees via C# code.
I suspect there are better solutions, but I don’t have time — art also takes a lot of work.
So I went with the simplest workable solution and refactored again.
While debugging, I asked AI for help… but several AIs just gave nonsense answers.
I had to keep repeating:
Me: “That’s not what I meant…” AI: nonsense Me: “No, I didn’t mean that…” AI: more nonsense AI: writes broken code Me: “This doesn’t run…” Me: “Still doesn’t run…” Me: “Still broken…”
Then I realized: This plugin is quite new (maybe ~1 year old), so there’s not much discussion online.
And with AI, fewer people share solutions publicly.
So I had to guess step by step.
That part was really frustrating — because I couldn’t find answers anywhere.
But finally, I solved it.
And then suddenly… the whole project stopped running.
That was terrifying…
After fixing it, of course… another bug appeared... This time it was my own bug.
So I kept fighting it.
But I also thought: maybe this is my last game… so even fighting bugs feels a little sad.
But I still won.
🧱 Things I Don’t Like
There are many things I don’t like in development.
Testing code is one. But the worst is modeling and animation rigging.
Weight painting, adjustments… all very repetitive and annoying.
Unlike code, you can’t easily search solutions online.
I once read a tip online: If you hate showering, just walk into the bathroom and immediately put shampoo on your head before your brain reacts.
Basically trick your brain into starting. I feel this works.
So I do the same: When I’m too tired, I just quickly rig something before I can resist… then shut down and sleep. At least it becomes “done enough.”
I don’t think I finished this game out of pure passion — it’s too hard and boring for that.
It feels like my brain and laziness are constantly fighting, using strange tricks to keep me going.
Thank you, brain… but please don’t work so hard next time.
If you like this trick:
When something feels scary or hard, just start very small. Write steps 1, 2, 3 first. Doesn’t matter if it’s correct.
Or make a very bad first version — even a 5-minute version is fine.
Once your brain accepts “this is already started,” the next attempt becomes much easier.
💰 Future Discount
A discount period is coming again.
Because of pricing rules, I adjusted it to the lowest allowed price range.
(Important note: after converting currencies, all regional prices must stay above minimum limits, so discount ratios vary.)
I don’t make it free because: I’ve seen some developers make games free, then receive negative reviews and get too emotionally affected to continue development.
I think it takes about 20 positive comments to balance 1 negative one.
So early-stage pricing helps protect motivation.
At the beginning, the game was still unclear in direction — sometimes farming, sometimes idle, sometimes story-driven.
Now I’m slowly finishing it.
I hope more players can join, give feedback, and help improve it before final release.
I want the story to have no regrets.
📊 Player Data
I previously misunderstood the data.
I thought percentages added up to 150%, but it was actually funnel retention data.
For example: 64% played at least 10 minutes 42% played at least 30 minutes (the latter includes the former)
I only learned this after the game has been out for a long time…
But I’m very happy to see new positive reviews.
Even better — players continue playing after leaving a review.
That means the game is becoming playable.
Older players often stopped quickly because early version wasn’t good enough.
I hope in the final version, players will come back and feel surprised that it has become a real game.
🌙 Closing
I’m slowly finishing the game now.
About Steam achievements: Since the game data is not yet strong enough, achievements would not be displayed properly, so I decided not to add them.
There are still a few months of finishing work left.
I recently looked at old art and old projects.
My drawing skills were very bad back then, but I’m glad I later moved toward 3D.
Even so, I found fragments of Bunny and monster stories I used to draw.
I really like those story fragments.
So I plan to finish those remaining pieces.
Even if the game is not perfect, at least Bunny and Little Pig’s story will be complete.
I often misjudge things.
For example, I once removed the Bunny letter system completely, but players asked for it back — so I added it again. I’m still unsure how players will feel about visitor interactions — whether they enjoy them or find them boring.
Thank you for playing my game.
Any feedback is very welcome — especially bugs.
I will continue working on the next story, and maybe add new mechanics too.
I rewrote some dialogue, improved the help pages, and added a few more letters. There are now 18 letters in total. Drawing them has actually been really fun. The letter in the screenshot is one of the new ones from this update. I think it turned out pretty cute. 1. Added several
I rewrote some dialogue, improved the help pages, and added a few more letters. There are now 18 letters in total. Drawing them has actually been really fun.
The letter in the screenshot is one of the new ones from this update. I think it turned out pretty cute.
1. Added several new letters
2. Improved the player help section
3. Updated the dialogue in the first story and added wrong-answer options
Next, I’m planning to work on the next story.
Updating the dialogue
Rewriting the dialogue has been surprisingly fun. It feels like an iteration process.
Version 1:
Visitors arrived, but the dialogue felt a bit stiff.
The bunny spoke very seriously and used academic terms.
Version 2:
I rewrote the lines to remove overly technical words and made them more casual and cute.
Version 3:
I added wrong answers to tempt players into picking the wrong option.
Of course, this is still a very low-pressure game, so even if players choose wrong, the story eventually guides them back onto the correct path.
Another bug appeared
I ran into another bug while switching languages.
A few lines of dialogue refused to update properly. Since the issue came from a third-party plugin, I tried all kinds of fixes and still couldn’t solve it.
At one point I felt pretty discouraged.
I thought: “There aren’t even many players… maybe I should just leave it. It’s only a few lines of dialogue.”
But in the end, I still emailed the plugin developer for help.
To my surprise, they replied very quickly.
They were professional, kind, and immediately pointed me toward the right solution. After exchanging a few emails, the issue was finally fixed.
That felt really nice.
A lot of reliable developers are like that — they solve problems quickly and seriously. It reminded me that many people are also working in tiny teams, trying their best to make good things.
Waiting for feedback
I spent a while anxiously waiting for the sale period and hoping for feedback.
But many people buy the game without opening it.
Sometimes new players launch the game, but there still no comments.
I checked the player statistics, but since there are so few new players, the overall numbers barely changed.
Recently I watched some TV dramas that were genuinely terrible — the kind nobody watches.
In the past I would have complained about bad writing or weak stories.
Now I just think:
“Ah… this is kind of like my game. Nobody is playing it.”
Every creator starts with confidence, but that still doesn’t guarantee the final work will turn out great.
Improving the tutorial
I showed my player data to AI.
I expected it to suggest improving the gameplay itself, because I always assume the game just isn’t fun enough.
Instead, the AI suggested improving the onboarding and help sections.
It guessed that many players simply don’t understand how to play, which might explain why 64% of players quit within 10 minutes.
So I spent time redesigning the help pages again.
But because the player count is still very small, it will probably take a long time before I can see whether the data changes.
These are the old statistics.
Maybe it’ll take a very long time before enough new players arrive to meaningfully change them.
Lifetime users measured: 507
Average time played: 1 hour 35 minutes
Median time played: 20 minutes
Time played range: 3 minutes – 1 hour 45 minutes (one standard deviation)
Minimum playtime — Percentage of users:
10 minutes — 64%
30 minutes — 42%
1 hour — 27% (below average compared to other Steam games)
The game is currently at one of its biggest discounts ever. Recently I added a new Story system — it's a pretty major update, and I'd really love to hear what you think after trying it. I know many discounted games end up sitting quietly in our Steam libraries forever… But if you
The game is currently at one of its biggest discounts ever.
Recently I added a new Story system — it's a pretty major update, and I'd really love to hear what you think after trying it.
I know many discounted games end up sitting quietly in our Steam libraries forever…
But if you do give it a try, any feedback, suggestions, or even complaints would genuinely help shape future updates.
New Features 1. Lots of new hand-drawn art + visitors arriving on the island I added a lot of hand-drawn illustrations. Visitors can now come to the island, so if you have time, please open the game and check it out! Right now, a child visitor can appear. I’ll be reading everyone
1. Lots of new hand-drawn art + visitors arriving on the island
I added a lot of hand-drawn illustrations. Visitors can now come to the island, so if you have time, please open the game and check it out!
Right now, a child visitor can appear. I’ll be reading everyone’s feedback to decide future story developments, and whether other visitors will arrive later on.
Bunny also makes tasty grilled skewers for the child visitor.
I hand-drew many new illustrations for the storybook section too. How does the hand-drawn style feel? Does anything need improvement?
2. The mailbox is back
The mailbox feature has returned, now with new artwork I drew myself. There are already more than ten illustrations, and I’ll keep adding more when I have time.
You can now click the mailbox anytime to read old letters directly, instead of waiting for new mail to arrive.
Bug Fixes
Added well water support, fixed mailbox letter ordering, fixed rabbits lining up in shops, and more…
I often say in previous updates that “there isn’t much new, no need to reopen the game.” But this time, it’s a major update.
If you have time, please try opening the game and give me feedback. It would help me a lot. Thank you in advance~
(And if you’re shy, or bad at refusing requests, please don’t feel pressured. It’s completely okay. As an introverted and shy person myself, I really understand the pressure of seeing someone ask for feedback. So if it’s inconvenient, truly don’t worry about it~~)
During the next sale period, I’m planning to try a very deep discount to attract new players, then see how the new-player data performs. (Currently the data isn’t great — the median playtime is only around 20 minutes.)
Please give me feedback if you can~ It would really help~~
The Rest Is Just Casual Chatting~~
Recently I’ve been watching TV dramas where you have to wait several days for the next few episodes. Before every update, I always try guessing what happens next.
Another month has passed since the previous update. Maybe some of you also imagined what this update would be like. I wonder whether this update met your expectations? (o^^o)
Personally, I really like it. But to avoid my own self-obsession affecting my judgment, please give me honest feedback~~
1) Completely redrawn mailbox letters
The mailbox letter screens were all redrawn by hand, and the text was rewritten too.
The mailbox feature is finally back. There are fewer letters than before for now, but I’ll draw more artwork and write more letters later.
I stayed up late for many nights working on this, so if anything looks off, please tell me. It’s relatively easy to revise things right now. If possible, mention exactly which letter and what part looks wrong, and I’ll fix it.
After removing the Van Gogh-related content, I was surprised to discover that people really liked those letters. So I decided to redraw them myself.
There used to be around 30 letters, which meant 30 illustrations. My original plan was to finish all the mailbox art first, then work on the child visitor feature.
Back then, even using AI to generate Van Gogh-style images took forever — endlessly retrying prompts and rerolling results. And I draw extremely slowly…
Maybe after finishing all this artwork, I’ll stop complaining that coding is hard…
At least with programming, once I understand the solution, I can usually implement it relatively quickly. Drawing isn’t like that.
But after drawing for several days, I suddenly realized something:
This is part of the overall story.
Bunny and Pig are real to me. They’re living their lives, writing letters to each other. That process became genuinely fun.
This is what I originally wanted to create — a story about Bunny and Pig.
Suddenly it stopped feeling like “I have to draw.” Instead, I was writing little stories and creating scenes between these characters. The process became enjoyable.
Especially some illustrations that can probably mess with players a little — I’d suddenly remember them at midnight and start happily kicking my legs in bed~
People are least bothered by hard work when they’re doing something mischievous. ⊂((・x・))⊃
About paying tribute to idols vs. expressing yourself
Recently I’ve been reading a book about fan psychology. It talked about how fans sometimes become so focused on talking about their idols that they neglect their own self-expression.
I really do love Van Gogh, and I genuinely wanted to recreate the feeling of Starry Night through effects and visuals.
But in the end, those things were ways of paying tribute to someone else — not expressing myself.
After switching to my own drawings, Bunny’s voice feels much more authentic too.
Bugs Fixed This Time
Whenever I see bug reports or suggestions, my first reaction is always panic. I’m constantly afraid the issue will be beyond my ability to solve.
In actual game development, there are many systems I couldn’t truly implement properly, so I kept moving forward using workaround solutions instead. (Impostor Syndrome.)
Luckily, so far the problems have still been within my abilities.
I often encourage myself by saying: “Don’t get discouraged. Maybe this really is an interesting game. Don’t underestimate yourself.”
1) Unable to place wells
Several years ago, someone reported a bug where wells couldn’t be placed. I never understood it because it never happened on my own computer.
This time, I FINALLY discovered the issue. And fixed it.
Absolute shock!! Screaming!!
Because the playerbase is small, bugs are hard to discover. And if wells couldn’t be placed, the game basically became unplayable — but I had absolutely no idea this problem existed.
No matter how I tested it myself, I never encountered it… until years later.
Thankfully it’s fixed now.
2) Letter bugs + Bunny queueing bug
I tried fixing the Bunny queueing code and ended up refactoring part of the system again.
I thought it would take 1–2 days, maybe 3 at most. Instead, almost an entire week disappeared.
But eventually I fixed it. I sat there happily watching it run, almost tearing up from relief.
This feature was honestly slightly beyond my current skill level, and it’s such a tiny feature that it probably wasn’t worth spending that much time on.
Still, I was really happy after finally getting it working.
Then I slightly adjusted a parameter in a plugin…
…and the entire game completely broke.
And somehow I hadn’t committed my progress to git.
So I had to rollback everything and rewrite it all from scratch.
I seriously wanted to cry.
It felt like a terrible dilemma:
either upgrade to the newest plugin version and pay a monthly fee,
or keep using the old unstable bug-ridden version where one crash could make the entire game unplayable.
Unless I completely rewrite that whole system myself — but I no longer have enough time.
Back when I started this project, I didn’t have enough development experience. Now I understand this plugin was a massive trap and I should never have used it.
But it’s too late to back out and rewrite everything myself. I don’t have enough time or energy anymore.
I went to Reddit and saw other developers angrily complaining about the same plugin.
Sigh.
Indie developer stories are all kind of similar. Development is full of obstacles, setbacks, and betrayals. And even after surviving all that, there’s still no guarantee you’ll make a good game.
(No need to comfort me here — almost every developer encounters traps like this. It’s a very common kind of suffering.)
A few days later:
I figured out a new workaround for the plugin bug, rewrote everything again…
…and actually fixed it.
Bunny lining up~ Bunny happy~ I stared at the screen, and I was happy too~
A few days later:
I finished the storybook NPC startup section and testing worked perfectly.
I was about to reuse code from another old project…
…and discovered that old project suddenly wouldn’t open anymore.
Just completely dead. Wouldn’t launch at all.
Hahahaha…
When people become truly desperate, they sometimes start laughing instead.
Luckily, I already knew many game developers go through things like this. I’ve even heard stories of developers losing entire projects permanently.
I know I’m not the worst case.
But I still sat there bitterly laughing for a long time.
“Hahahahahaha… this is so tragic…”
Eventually, upgrading Unity to the newest version fixed it.
3) About Ending the Game
Last time I mentioned eventually ending the game, but please don’t feel too sad about it.
It won’t end this week or this month. I still need to finish the major features first.
We’ll slowly bring this game to its conclusion together through our interactions. Your opinions and feedback will become part of the game permanently.
Right now, the storybook system was implemented in the simplest possible way — not the most efficient way. Depending on feedback, if the storybook becomes very large later on, I may refactor it.
Maybe because I know the game is approaching its ending, I’ve started looking at bugs and technical problems with a strange sadness.
That plugin I mentioned earlier keeps getting more unstable. Sometimes simply clicking to edit something can freeze the entire project permanently.
I’ve had to keep multiple backup copies, manually delete corrupted files from local folders, and use all kinds of weird tricks just to avoid triggering plugin bugs.
But strangely, when I think: “Once this game is finished, I’ll never have to deal with these problems again…”
…I also feel a weird sadness.
I used to hate bugs.
Now it feels like the final episode of a TV series, sadly saying goodbye to the villain. Once the story ends, the villain disappears too.
(Please don’t get overly emotional because of my writing style~~ Everyone feels a little sad when ending a long-term project~~ Awoooo~~)
Creating NPC content has been much slower than I expected.
Especially drawing.
When I’m in “art mode,” I can spend forever on a single image, revising it repeatedly.
Then my rational brain starts screaming: “This isn’t worth it! It’s just a PNG image! You should go back to coding!”
But the artistic side of my brain gets upset. The artistic brain hates compromise.
So I keep having to find ways to emotionally bribe my own brain into being happy enough to continue development.
Recently I’ve been watching romance dramas. Real life has been too miserable lately — I absolutely don’t want realistic stories anymore. I just want happy stories.
Stories where two protagonists each have their own struggles, accidentally meet each other, support one another, solve each other’s life problems together, and eventually reach a happy ending.
I finally survived the painful development phase and prepared to upload the build first, then refine things later based on feedback.
And then…
…the Unity exported build wouldn’t launch.
Hahahahaha…
So tragic.
I KNEW some disaster was waiting for me. I just didn’t expect it to be “the game literally won’t open.”
There weren’t even error messages, so I couldn’t understand what was wrong.
It worked perfectly inside the editor.
Why was I ever so confident that I could smoothly develop a game as a beginner…?
(The real problem was my lack of coding ability, and underestimating how difficult game development actually is. Very common beginner mistakes.)
Thankfully I eventually found the cause: a checkbox setting in a plugin had been set incorrectly.
Because of that setting, the editor displayed errors but still ran fine. After I changed it, the editor stopped showing errors…
…but the exported build completely stopped working.
That plugin is far beyond my level of understanding. I still don’t know why it behaves that way.
Anyway, after switching the checkbox back, the exported game finally worked again.
There are probably still some bugs left.
But I’m planning to rest for a few days before continuing.
There are also a few animations I didn’t finish in time, so I skipped them for now.
I want to see player feedback first, then decide what to polish further.
That’s about it.
I hope you enjoy the new features. The changes are pretty large, and I’m honestly terrified that I introduced bugs I still haven’t discovered.
New Features One-click island reset tools You can now remove all buildings (store them) with one click, or remove all plants with one click. This makes it much easier to redesign the whole island. Storybook added There is now a story tab. The first button in the bottom tab opens
You can now remove all buildings (store them) with one click, or remove all plants with one click.
This makes it much easier to redesign the whole island.
Storybook added
There is now a story tab. The first button in the bottom tab opens it.
It contains many newly drawn hand-drawn illustrations.
Help page added
A help page has been added for new players to understand how the game works.
You can find it at the last button in the bottom tab.
All AI artwork removed
Previously the Van Gogh-style 2D paintings used AI-generated assets.
I have now replaced all of them. There are no AI assets in the game anymore.
New visitor buildings
A visitor treehouse for sleeping and a Bunny barbecue stand have been added.
However, Bunnies do not barbecue yet — that code has not been written yet.
The Unnecessarily Long Dev Diary That You Really Don’t Need To Read
1. Fixing bugs…
Right after publishing a bug-fix update, I happily went to sleep. Today I played the game myself and discovered a new bug. A very serious bug that could stop the game from continuing.
My blood instantly ran cold…
Even though outside the sun was shining and there was a heat warning.I remembered something my professor once said: "Never suddenly change your answer right before handing in your exam."
Sometimes code was working, and then you suddenly modify something without testing… and everything breaks.
If the code runs, you at least get the minimum score.
If it doesn’t run, you get zero.
Back in school, the professor also said that if your project had a null reference, the whole project got zero. Everyone complained it was too strict. But this time… my bug was also a null error.
And yes — it made the game unable to run.
So… the professor was right. Null is a very serious error.
I started panicking again and regretting everything.
I kept telling myself: “Luckily there are almost no players. Daily active users is maybe one person.”
But I was still nervous. What if someone recommended the game to a friend… and their friend installed it and couldn’t play because of a bug?
Null checks should be basic common sense. In this game, items can be added and removed constantly,
so references easily become null. But somehow I always forget.
Anyway, it’s fixed now and re-uploaded.
One day later
I was happy for a few hours. Then I discovered another bug. If the player sets Bunny work hours to the lowest setting, Bunnies would never go play, because the time accumulation logic was written incorrectly.
I jumped up in shock and started hunting for the cause. Typos in normal writing are fine. But typos in code can be painful.
Some places that should have been:
yield return new WaitForSeconds(3f);
I accidentally wrote:
yield return 3;
The game still ran, so I didn’t notice until today.
A few days later
I thought all bugs were fixed. I happily prepared to drink something… Then I discovered a save notification bug. I was completely stunned. And worse — I had no idea how to fix it. It was beyond what I could understand.
Even asking AI wasn’t very helpful. AI can solve common mistakes experienced engineers make. But my code is written in very non-standard ways, and the mistakes are often… unusual.
I stared at the code for a long time. Couldn’t find the problem.
Then I lay on the floor for a while in despair. Even my drink didn’t taste good anymore.
Eventually I decided: If I can’t find it, I’ll rewrite the entire function.
If the rewritten version still has the same bug, then it’s beyond my ability and I’ll just apologize to players. Luckily, rewriting fixed it.
When coding skill is low, it’s easy to make reference mistakes or logic errors without realizing it. Fortunately it’s fixed now.
A broken save system might be the most frustrating bug of all.
A few days later again
I was enjoying drawing. Then suddenly I discovered another bug in saving and deleting items
that appears when dragging items rapidly. I jumped up and fixed it.
The process was so painful that I don’t want to remember it.
Now I understand why so many documentaries show filmmakers solving unexpected problems during production.
You walk toward the stars, but the ground is full of mud and thorns.
2. Help page added
Players suggested adding a tutorial long ago. The reason I didn’t add one earlier was simple: I didn’t know what the final game would become. The early version on Steam was not the gameplay I actually wanted.
Since the mechanics kept changing, any tutorial I wrote would quickly become outdated. Now the game is slowly approaching completion, so it’s finally time to add tutorials.
Please let me know if anything in the help page should be improved.
3. Removed the mailbox and some assets
Although Van Gogh’s works are in the public domain, I understand that many people dislike AI art. AI has already discouraged many artists from creating. So I removed all Van Gogh AI assets.
When AI first appeared a few years ago, people were excited to see their favorite artists “come back to life”. But later we realized it could harm the creator ecosystem.
Creating something original takes a long time. Copying takes seconds. That makes life harder for artists.
Maybe new systems will appear in the future to protect creators. But since I plan to finish the game soon, and I may not maintain it long term, I decided to remove that part entirely.
The Van Gogh gallery has now become Pig’s Gallery, displaying some of my own drawings. The mailbox system was originally tied to the Van Gogh paintings and letters. Without the paintings, the letters no longer made sense. So I removed the mailbox as well.
(update: Thanks for the nice feedback! I will add the mailbox back in the future, and I will include some of my drawings in the bunnies’ letters.)
I also removed the Pig character model for now. Pig may remain a character who is mentioned in the story, but does not appear directly. Pig still has a home and a spaceship, but Pig might not appear physically.
Early players have witnessed a lot of additions and removals during development. It’s quite an interesting journey.
4. I started working on the story
The hand-drawn parts are really fun. My drawing skills aren’t great — my lines shake and wobble. But drawing makes me happy. And that’s enough.
I haven’t drawn for a very long time. My iPad and Apple Pencil are old now. My acrylic paints and brushes have been sitting dusty on the shelf. Fortunately I chose a 3D development path, right?
Sometimes I look at beautiful 2D indie games and feel very jealous. I can’t draw perfect lines. But drawing is still fun. There’s something called art therapy — you draw without worrying about whether it’s good or bad. It helps you relax.
Maybe if I keep drawing again,my drawings will slowly improve. If that happens, later illustrations in the game may look better than the early ones. That means the art style might be a bit inconsistent. But… That’s human. Humans are not perfect.
5. The game is slowly reaching the end
Honestly, I’m lucky. Even though I was exploring blindly, the game somehow came together and runs. But it’s very exhausting. The emotional roller coaster of fixing bugs every day is scary.
I remember my professor once saying:If you try very hard and things still don’t work,you might consider another career.There are many interesting jobs in the world.
If no matter what I do I cannot defeat bugs…maybe I shouldn’t push myself too hard. Life shouldn’t only about fighting bugs. It should also have poetry and distant fields.
So I decided to slowly finish this game. There will be a small story at the end. After learning the Bunny Island skills, the story will conclude.
The game industry losing me is like a fish losing its bicycle. ⊂((・x・))⊃
But this is the first game I’ve ever made, and maybe also the last. So I will finish it properly.
Please don’t worry too much about me.
The most positive part is simple: I wanted to make a game. And I actually made one. Real players played it. That alone is already a very good ending.
Many indie games are abandoned or never find players. So please don’t comfort me too much.
Before, fixing a serious bug could take 3–5 days, sometimes a week. Now I can usually fix them within a few hours. When I see a bug now, I can roughly guess where the problem is, reproduce it, and fix it.
So after being beaten by bugs repeatedly… my coding skills improved a little.
Another reason
A Unity plugin I bought recently announced it will change from one-time purchase to monthly subscription. If I stop paying monthly, the project may eventually stop opening. That surprised my poor wallet. Rewriting that part of the code would be an enormous workload. So I decided not to upgrade the plugin, use the old version, and finish the game before the plugin stops working.
I really love Blender. It’s a free 3D software that anyone can use, even poor developers like me. I never have to worry about losing access to my own work.
I told you that I am preparing to finish the game because chatting with you sometimes feels like talking with unseen friends.
When I was a child, I hated when a friend suddenly transferred schools without saying goodbye.
Of course… maybe the story will still surprise us. Maybe the game will suddenly become popular,
earn money, and I can buy plugins and keep making games.
So don’t worry. In the end, the work itself will decide the ending.
6. Bunny Barbecue Stand & Visitor Treehouse
The Bunny barbecue stand and the visitor treehouse look pretty nice, right?
To add visitor NPCs, I need to:
write a lot of code
build character meshes
rig skeletons
create animations
It’s a lot of tedious work. But I like watching Bunnies grilling barbecue. Bunny barbecue must taste great.
So I told myself: “Imagine Bunnies grilling food for little visitors. That will be fun.” So I built the barbecue stand first, and the visitor characters later.
That makes the development process more enjoyable.
The process includes modeling, rigging, animation, coding, save system changes…a lot of repetitive work.
During this time my brain keeps arguing with itself:
One part says: Nobody is playing anyway. Just lie down and scroll your phone.
Another part says: Keep developing. If you don’t write it, nobody will. There will be no bunnies.
Another part says: Just finish this one last project.
Right now the part that wants to finish the game is winning. But I am very tired. Originally I wanted to finish the visitor characters before releasing this update. But I was too tired. So I released this update halfway through development.
Visitor modeling, animation, and code are currently in progress.
1) Thank you for your messages I’m really happy that you enjoy what I write. Sometimes I imagine a timeline where I make a living just by writing. I saw many of you like the Bunny chasing game. I even read your comments a few times, and once again before sleep. It made me very ha
1) Thank you for your messages
I’m really happy that you enjoy what I write. Sometimes I imagine a timeline where I make a living just by writing.
I saw many of you like the Bunny chasing game. I even read your comments a few times, and once again before sleep. It made me very happy.
When a developer’s effort is seen and loved by players, it creates a very good positive cycle. But this kind of ideal situation is actually rare. Making a fun game is really hard.
Looking back at my notes, I actually made many other features. Some took months of effort, and in the end they were removed… and no one noticed at all.
This happens to many developers. Some teams work very hard, but no one plays their games. In despair, they switch to making certain popular types of games — where demand is fixed and income is predictable. But it becomes no different from a regular job. And after a while, the team breaks up, because it becomes boring work.
During this long period of uncertainty, I also made a demo for a third game. The gameplay direction is more mature, though not my favorite. Maybe during long development and iteration, I can turn it into something I truly like.
For now, I still enjoy watching Bunnies farm. But whenever development feels hopeless, I go work on the third game demo. Of course, I hope I won’t need it.
In art schools, students are required to study art history and learn about other artists’ lives. Maybe schools know that pursuing art can feel very hopeless. At those moments, you remember those artists — and realize they once felt the same. It makes you feel less alone.
2) Bug fixes
Fixed item deletion/storage count issues
Fixed Bunnies overlapping while walking
Fixed Bunnies sleeping outdoors incorrectly
Fixed some misleading UI text
Improved how Bunnies are added (now faster, but may briefly lag)
Small bugs getting fixed is actually good news — it means the project is becoming more stable.
I used to love reading novels — small, interesting stories where tiny details reveal moments of someone else’s life.
Years ago, I read a novel written by an emergency room doctor. He said you must ask patients many questions. After serious injury, patients often don’t realize how severe their condition is, or that they may be bleeding internally.
You must keep asking, because small details can be life-threatening. Only when patients start mentioning trivial issues, like minor skin wounds, does it mean they are getting better.
Similarly, only after major problems in a game are solved do developers have the energy to fix small bugs. That’s why I only noticed and fixed these small bugs recently — which is actually good news. It means the code is becoming clearer.
3) A small scare
After fixing everything, I was happily preparing to release — then suddenly the frame rate dropped to 40 FPS. It felt like all the blood drained from my body…
It looked like a plugin issue, which was very discouraging.
Like a squirrel in deep winter, discovering all its stored food has been taken by humans.
But after restarting Unity, everything went back to normal. On my computer, with 160 Bunnies and 15x time speed, the frame rate is over 140 FPS.
I don’t understand why it broke, and I don’t understand why it suddenly fixed itself…
I’m mainly an artist. I struggle through coding (I can’t afford a professional engineer). When the environment breaks, it’s beyond what I can solve. I can only feel like that helpless squirrel — lost and frustrated.
1. Even if the island has nothing on it, the Bunnies can still have fun. They may run around and chase each other to play. It took me about two months to finally figure out how to make this work. 2. Time can now be accelerated up to 15× . 3. The Bunny mail system is back. 4. More
1. Even if the island has nothing on it, the Bunnies can still have fun. They may run around and chase each other to play. It took me about two months to finally figure out how to make this work.
2. Time can now be accelerated up to 15×.
3. The Bunny mail system is back.
4. More beautiful background music has been added.
5. The Add/Del Bunny option has been moved to the Bunny job selection panel.
The biggest change in this update is the Bunny chase game system, which took a very, very long time to rebuild.
I really didn’t expect this change to take almost two months. In the past, most features had very clear requirements. But for the group chase game, it took a long time just to clearly describe how each part should work. After many attempts, I slowly found the right approach.
Right now the game looks simple:
Bunnies chase → one Bunny catches another → they switch roles → and keep playing.
Last update added the Pig’s house, so you probably thought the Pig would come back in this update.
Haha… I thought so too.
But I couldn’t figure out a good design for the Pig. I tried many ideas, but nothing felt better than the old version. In the past I already rebuilt the Pig several times: code, model, animation, and behavior tree. If the new Pig ends up the same as before, the rebuild would feel meaningless.
Maybe after rebuilding it so many times, I’m a bit tired of it.
Unless I come up with a new and more interesting idea, I don’t really have the motivation to remake the same feature again.
Content warning: some sad developer thoughts ahead
Recently some unpleasant things happened in my life, and I became very anxious. When that happens, I can’t focus well.
If I can’t focus:
• I can’t write code (the code keeps breaking)
• I can’t model (no inspiration)
• I can’t animate (animations look cuter when I’m happy)
So every step becomes slow and full of mistakes. Sometimes I just sit there staring at the screen.
It made me think about artists who collapse after big setbacks. When people are deeply absorbed in creating, their social circle often becomes very small. Sometimes they end up very lonely.
Some psychology books I read during my last game project helped a bit.
I try simple things to fight anxiety:
walking, reading fun novels, eating snacks, and keeping daily life normal. Drinking water, eating meals, sleeping, and taking walks all help stabilize emotions.
I also read many biographies of artists and directors. When they weren’t recognized, they felt very similar emotions. Of course this doesn’t mean my game will someday become great. Only a few works in history are recognized later. That pattern hasn’t changed for centuries.
I almost skipped writing this part, but if I removed it all, future readers might think only code caused the pain. Maybe these small notes can help someone avoid falling into the same deep pit.
A few development diary notes
A few days later…
One day I refreshed Steam and saw a new positive review! I was so happy and read it very carefully.
The game seems a little more fun than when it first launched. When a game has very few players, it can take a very long time to get a review. So I’m really grateful that the Steam algorithm still helped someone discover it.
Reading the review carefully, I noticed something interesting:
Some players open the game and simply watch the Bunnies.
That gave me an idea.
If the island has nothing to do, the Bunnies could play together. Then even if players just stare at the screen, there would still be cute animations to watch.
But this feature turned out to be much harder than I expected.
Previously, Bunnies followed simple linear tasks:
walk → fetch water → walk → water plants.
But a group chase game is dynamic. Multiple Bunnies must enter the play state together, end together, and switch roles when one Bunny catches another. After the game ends, they return to normal life: work, sleep, etc.
To support this, I had to rewrite part of the old Bunny system.
At first, I had no idea how to implement it.
A few days later…
The idea was fun and I really wanted to see it work. But I kept hitting dead ends. Sometimes I even told myself:
“No one is playing anyway… maybe I should stop…”
Then I would sigh and think:
“But Bunnies are really cute, right?
Bunnies running around playing together would be even cuter…”
A few days later…
After many attempts, I finally found a possible implementation approach. It was extremely difficult.
During breaks I started reading horror novels (I never used to read them). When the protagonist meets a scary ghost, I just sigh and think:
“Honestly… my bugs are scarier.”
And when code simply refuses to work, that’s even more frightening than bugs. There’s no direction at all.
A few days later…
I thought the nightmare was over and I could finally release the update happily!
But like in a horror story, the monster suddenly appears again.
When one Bunny catches another, they should perform animations together: one surprised, one happy, then they switch roles.
But instead the Bunnies paused awkwardly. One waited, the other reacted late. It looked like the slow DMV sloths in Zootopia. Not good at all. So I had to rewrite it again.
The good news was that I already understood the logic.
The bad news was rewriting the same feature again felt like Sisyphus pushing a rock uphill.
A few days later…
I thought I fixed it, but then discovered a third-party plugin delay that couldn’t be solved.
So… I had to rewrite it again.
Rock up the hill. Again.
Luckily modern times have AI, so I can endlessly ask questions and discuss solutions.
A few days later…
That plugin actually has a reproducible bug. But I didn’t report it to the company.
Individual developers usually love hearing about bugs and fix them quickly. But companies often respond with “works fine here”.
So I just learned how to avoid triggering the bug.
This is also why I don’t want to change game engines.
A new engine means new tools, new plugins, and new unknown bugs. I’d rather stay in a familiar environment with familiar bugs.
A few days later…
Eventually the code finally worked.
I was so surprised I went outside for a walk just to calm down. I thought it might be an illusion. But when I came back and tested again—everything worked.
Seeing a group of Bunnies running around chasing each other looked so cute that I almost forgot all the previous suffering.
Bunnies are really adorable!!
I was going to release the update immediately. But after watching them run around for a while, I thought:
“Maybe I can add a little more to make it even funnier…”
A few days later…
I looked back at my git commit messages. They were quite funny:
• Fixed now.
• This time definitely fixed.
• Probably fixed.
• Should be fixed.
• Maybe fixed?
• Let’s try again.
• Save first… just in case.
Even though I kept rewriting parts, I wasn’t desperate anymore. Once the overall logic worked, I knew the problem could eventually be solved.
A few days later…
Everything is finally fixed and tested. The update can be released!
I want Bunny Island to feel like a peaceful little paradise. No scary things, just happy Bunnies growing vegetables and playing together. Maybe tired humans can feel a little warmth when they meet these cute Bunnies.
I also changed the food logic. If a Bunny gets hungry but there is no food, the system simply fills the food value. If Bunny Island existed, hardworking Bunnies growing plants would never starve.
Bunnies are the kindest animals in the world.
Time can now be accelerated to 15×. During testing I sometimes ran the game at extremely high speed and watched flowers bloom and trees grow. It was surprisingly fun, so I hope you enjoy it too.
That’s about it!
There were many difficulties and moments of despair along the way, but thankfully everything worked out in the end.
Bunnies running around playing together are really cute, right?
Pig’s house is back. Pig herself is not—yet. She’ll need a bit more time while I rewrite her AI. The new Pig house is back in the world, and I really like it. If you remember the old model, this one feels much more like a home . I can easily imagine Pig living inside, hopping aro
Pig herself is not—yet. She’ll need a bit more time while I rewrite her AI.
The new Pig house is back in the world, and I really like it.
If you remember the old model, this one feels much more like a home. I can easily imagine Pig living inside, hopping around happily, with Bunnies coming over to visit and play.
⸻
About Art
Making my own 3D models is slow, but important buildings need to be original.
I looked through asset stores, and while those models are fine as background props, they all share familiar styles. Once a character has personality and preferences, their environment needs to reflect that.
Bunny houses are square and practical—bunnies choose the safest way to build.
Pig’s house is different. It’s unique. I tried many designs before settling on this one. I can imagine Pig bouncing happily inside her home.
Her house, like Pig herself, is free-spirited. The curves are irregular. She loves flowering fruit trees, so her home blends into the trees. From inside, she can watch the big tree bloom.
Creation means walking through every possible direction.
I often don’t know what I want—only what I don’t want—until I explore enough paths and see real results. Sometimes inspiration doesn’t come at all, and all I can do is wait.
3D modeling is still troublesome and requires many revisions. Sometimes broken data forces me to redo everything. But for me, it’s still easier than traditional art.
When I studied art, anything that required hands-on drawing was extremely difficult for me, no matter how hard I tried. Pencil, watercolor, acrylic—there’s no Ctrl+Z. You need precise muscle control, and even colors must be mixed by hand.
Later I switched to drawing on iPad with Procreate, but even then I relied heavily on undo. Simple drawings still needed many revisions.
I redrew things obsessively, over and over, and still couldn’t match my classmates. For a long time, that felt hopeless.
When I moved to coding and 3D modeling, something changed.
If I couldn’t do something, I practiced a few more times. If the result wasn’t good, I adjusted parameters and tried again. Eventually, it worked. That reduced a lot of my insecurity and frustration.
⸻
About Code
Some features take a huge amount of thinking to design.
Then, after finally implementing them, I realize they slow the game down too much—and I delete them.
For example, I once tried to determine whether an object was on the island using Raycasts. I worried it might be inefficient, especially with many grid cells. I considered precomputing all grid keys and storing them in a hash set—around sixty thousand keys.
I thought about this for a very long time. Eventually, I figured out how to collect all the data.
Before I could proudly show it off, I realized it caused noticeable stuttering and performance drops.
So I deleted it.
From happiness to disappointment, instantly.
The optimistic takeaway: next time, I should remember not to do this.
This is part of learning programming. A mature engineer would know not to go down that path.
I only learn after falling into the pit.
⸻
Recently I noticed Blender has upgraded to version 5. It’s much better now.
Features I once wished for are suddenly available.
It feels like the whole world is moving forward at full speed:
(“沉舟侧畔千帆过 病树前头万木春”)
“Beside a sunken ship, a thousand sails pass by;
before a withered tree, ten thousand trees bloom.”
Big changes first. The island has multiplied. There are now three islands . The wandering chickens are back. They are once again doing what they do best: wandering everywhere. Adding bunnies has been moved to the debug settings in the top-right corner. For now, it’s still simple—
Big changes first.
The island has multiplied.
There are now three islands.
The wandering chickens are back. They are once again doing what they do best: wandering everywhere.
Adding bunnies has been moved to the debug settings in the top-right corner. For now, it’s still simple—just drag and add bunnies freely.
Small Fixes
• When placing items, the game now shows whether the placement area is fully on the island.
• Bunny driving is back. Yes, they can drive again.
• And many other small bugs were fixed. They were important, but not very interesting, so I’ll skip the details.
There used to be a bug where the game only checked whether your mouse was on the island, not whether the entirebuilding was. This allowed buildings to float partially off the island.
I worried about this for a long time. I was afraid players would intentionally build floating doors over water, making it impossible for bunnies to reach their destinations.
But it turns out players mostly just… played normally.
Player behavior is part of game design too. That realization was strangely comforting.
The bug is fixed now, and I can finally relax.
Some bugs still had no clear solution, so I added more visual effects and data visualization to help debug them. The debug page now has more and more VFX ⊂((・x・))⊃
But thanks to patient fixing, repeated thinking, and your encouraging comments, my coding skills seem to be improving—slowly, but surely.
When the game first launched, someone asked if there would ever be more islands. I said no.
Back then, adding more bunnies would severely hurt performance.
Now, that’s changed.
I can finally add more islands and more bunnies.
Even with three islands and around 200 bunnies active at once, performance is still stable. On my machine, it’s about 150 FPS.
I had honestly run out of ideas for big features—but with hundreds of characters, new interactions suddenly feel possible again.
I rewrote the VFX for grapes and mushrooms. They used to be shader-based; now they’re done with VFX. I think the way the grape vines grow upward looks pretty nice. I watched it many times. Also fixed some bugs that were completely unexpected. After the previous version was releas
I rewrote the VFX for grapes and mushrooms. They used to be shader-based; now they’re done with VFX. I think the way the grape vines grow upward looks pretty nice. I watched it many times.
Also fixed some bugs that were completely unexpected.
After the previous version was released, I discovered that the old shader animations had stopped working. No errors, no warnings—they just didn’t play at all. This affected the mushroom and grape effects.
I tried to fix it, but since there were absolutely no error messages, and the shader effects worked perfectly inside the Unity editor (they only failed in the exported build), I couldn’t track down the cause. I don’t know whether it was due to a Unity upgrade, Entity Graphics, a Windows update, or GPU hardware differences… so I eventually had to give up on that approach.
I switched to VFX instead and rewrote the effects for both mushrooms and grapes. The new effects look pretty good too.
Every time I think I’ve finally said goodbye to bugs, a brand-new, completely unexpected one jumps out and beats me up. Loudly.
While fixing bugs, I also discovered issues in my older code (written when my skills were much worse). I couldn’t resist the urge to rewrite parts of it—even though it technically worked. I know the more efficient approach is “if it runs, don’t touch it; finish the big features first.” Getting stuck in details slows everything down. And yet… I just couldn’t stop myself.
With ECS, some errors don’t show any error messages at all. The system simply skips execution. That leaves me guessing what might have gone wrong.
Honestly, I miss the days when errors filled the screen in red—at least then I knew which direction the problem was in. Now I can only make small guesses and fix things one step at a time.
