For better or worse, the last couple months have been a slow and steady trudge of UI and presentation-type work coupled with some personal struggles trying to find good time to work on the game.
Continuing to Find a Style
I'm still working my way toward a cohesive style and ended up putting together a nice style guide for myself a few months ago. Some key features:
Colors from the palette will have more defined roles like blue for UI, yellow for rewards, magenta for metaprogression
Font will be italic Julia Mono unless there's a stylistic need for something else
Bloom and Scanlines for visual identity
Snappy tweens and animations used liberally
The initial implementations of the style guide have been good so far! The main game screen is looking a lot more polished than previously. Unfortunately, I think the 'good buttons' will be going away in favor of something a little easier to animate.
Title Screen Wonder & Woes
I debated whether to include a title screen at all. Cogmind and Haque have both been big influences for me. Cogmind has a really cool opening sequence that drops you right into a game without a title screen at all while Haque has a very simple and stylized title screen. In the end, I chose to use turnip_juice's capsule art as the title screen artwork as well, with a couple added flourishes...
Parallax elements follow the mouse
Particle effects
A pulsing light on the lantern
Together, they give life and movement into the title screen in a way that isn't too distracting and still vibes.
https://nuzcraft.com/blog/20260709-slow-roll-ui/048_wip_title_vid.mp4
Buttons and Tweens
I found this video by Mr. Eliptik to be really enlightening, and I've been trying to dig into some of the juice that tweens can provide. You can see a bit of it in the buttons on the title screen. Unfortunately, I will probably get rid of the 'good buttons' in favor of something that's going to be a little easier to animate and customize.
Other Little Things
Some side effects of my work on the title screen include some work on the credits and settings menus. I added some audio buses and options to toggle the scanline and bloom shaders. I'm also starting to poke at controller support, which is a lot less daunting with a simpler screen.
Where is this even going?
I want to redo the screenshots and trailer on the steam page. Wishlist velocity is really low, and part of that is the steam page not showing enough of what the game has to offer. Updated UI comes first, then we can show off unlocks and achievements, then work on new maps. There's a lot of polish that I want to put together to help people see something interesting and fun (if unfair).
Where can I find the time?
I'm working on a personal schedule. I've got a lot on my plate, and a bunch of things I want to do in my spare time. Develop Unfair Dungeon. Play Monster Hunter. Read books. Do research. Walk the dog. Exercise. Get enough sleep. Write blogposts. There's not enough time, and I'm trying to find ways to make progress on all my things all at once. Not sure if it will be successful yet.
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