"Hidden In Flesh" Devlog #5: The Mid-Way Slump

A Disappointing Two Weeks

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten much done in the past two weeks. The first week was largely occupied by a mandatory game jam at college. The second week was reading week, and while I'd hoped to get a lot of work done, for whatever reason I felt extremely tired and depressed all week. I didn't want to do anything other than sleep. It's not so much that I am bored by my game, but more so that I didn't want to do anything at all, even things I usually find enjoyable.

Woe is me. Anyhow, here's what I got done:

Finished Game Mechanics

I finished most of the mechanics of the main game loop (as shown in my previous game devlog). I think for now it would be good for me to move on and make the actual game assets- as there's not much point in creating cool exciting mechanics for my game if the characters and environment of my game don't exist.

Started Designing UI/ HUD

I also started designing the UI icons/ HUD for my game. I pulled together a list of inspirations:

World Of Demons

I really like these menus from "World Of Demons":

I also really like this Dialogue box from "World Of Demons":

Okami

I also like the Dialogue box from Okami:

And these loading Menus:

Interaction Icons

I also really like these interaction icons:

From "Another Code Recollection"-

And I also really like the simple style of interaction icons that "Alba A Wildlife Adventure" has!

Time and Timer

I also think the top of the screen should have icons depicting the day and night cycle- the icon will be a sun during the daytime, and moon during the night. During the day, there will also be a timer showing the player how much time they have left to explore the temple. 

I really like how "Ancestors the Humankind Odyssey" did their day cycle UI:

Time and Timer

I started looking for some potential icons on Canva:

Started Drawing 2D Art

In addition to working on the UI, I started working on the game poster. I haven't finished it yet, unfortunately, but here is what I have so far:

The idea was for the half of the woman's face to be normal and half to have the skin ripped off. I think this poster will go nicely with the name of the game, "Hidden In Flesh', and also tell potential future players what the game might be about.

I also started working on an icon/ logo for my Youtube account / personal business. However, I haven't finished that either.

I also created Youtube Thumbnails for all my old devlogs and reuploaded them to my new official channel.

Progress in Houdini

Future Goals

I think for now, I will focus more on getting the assets and the characters into my game so I can at least have something showable for the "Level Up" event. Since I'm going through a slump, I will focus on accomplishing simple, basic tasks that don't require a lot of energy. I will finish the UIs and import them into the game. I can also start going through the assets packs I own on Fab and start surfacing props and and foliage that I can use in my game.