Hey. They changed up how devlogs work a little bit, so I'm not sure how to make headers anymore. That's fun.

The Fridge and the Options Menu

Huh. Guess I figured that out as I was making this log. Cool. Things work out, I guess.

But anyway, as you may have known from my updates these last few weeks, I've been working on the game and this log for quite a while now. You may be wondering why it took so long. Well, here you go:

Yeah, I made an update video to show you what I've been working on. The video is kind of a summary of everything I've talked about so far plus the new things I've added. I had to reupload it because the sound was so low, not that you may have noticed. I'm not making another update video for the game. It just takes too long to film and edit and I'd rather be using that time to actually make the game. Still, I hope you enjoyed it if you did watch it.

Now, I could leave it at that and say the log is done, but I want to get more into detail about the Options Menu and the new item in Ehh's house: the Fridge.

The Options Menu

So yeah, I made an options menu for the game. Honestly, I could have probably got away with not making one at all because the game isn't too complicated, but I thought people might need to tweak some stuff if it came up. I was really excited about making an options menu for the game; maybe a little more excited than a person should be. I showed my wife my awesome new options menu and she was like, "Okay, that's cool" and I was like, "I don't think you understand the impact this is having on my soul!"

So here's what the menu looks like:

It appears right over the title screen. When it appears, all the pigs in the background stop moving, and when you exit it, they start to move again. I thought that was just a neat little touch to add, but my wife said it might actually be beneficial because it allows the player to focus on the options. I never intended that to be the purpose, but I do agree with her and I'm going to take full credit for thinking up that functionality the first time.

Window Options

The first set of options is the Window Options. These let you change the window size, obviously. The default is full screen. Generally, full screen is 1920 x 1080 resolution unless you have a computer that has a different default resolution. Either way, the full screen option will make the game appear full screen on your computer. The two other window options are 1280 x 720 and 640 x 360. I thought to include these in case you don't like playing games in full screen or if you like playing games and doing other things at the same time.

Transition Cutscenes

"What are transition cutscenes?", you may ask. In the game there will be certain objects you interact with that transition the game into a different style of play or that have different gameplay mechanics. For example, the new fridge that I will talk to you about after this.

This option basically lets you toggle those transitions on and off. I think the cutscenes are really cool, but they may get tiring after a while for some players. Toggling them off will just replace the cutscene with a simple fade in and fade out from black. I haven't actually implemented that specific feature yet, but it shouldn't be too hard to handle.

The Fridge

Now I'll talk about something a little more fascinating: the fridge in Ehh's house. Here's what it looks like:

Simple, yet complex, for once you open the fridge you will enter a completely new world which no one has discovered before. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but it still is cool.

Like I was saying previously, when you interact with the fridge a transition cutscene will happen. It's hard to describe how the transition looks, so if you want to know exactly what that's like then I'd recommend watching the video I put above and skipping to 2:55. In the fridge, you'll find yourself doing something other than wondering around and checking out stuff. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

This is an example of the food you'll find in the fridge on Day 1 of the game: an apple, some bread, and a carrot. While you are hovering over a specific item, that item will be surrounded by a blue outline and hover up and down just so you know which one you are currently on. I also plan to have names for each food item, which will appear...somewhere. I haven't completely figured that out yet.

What I plan to do with this fridge mechanic is make it so you can combine some of the food items to make something new. Whether you combine food or not, you can only take one item from the fridge with you that day. That food item you take will help you with another part of the game that I plan to make during the Dream cycles when you go to sleep using the bed. Food items may also be used to solve puzzles during the Day cycle as well. I will also make it so you can unmix items or return to the fridge to take a different item, just so you don't accidentally take the wrong item when you do have to solve a puzzle.

Some Other Stuff You May Have Noticed

Here I'll describe some other miscellaneous stuff you may have noticed that have changed.

The Table

If you watched the video (or even if you didn't, because I'm about to explain it anyway), you may have noticed some changes to things. First of all, the table looks like this now:

There are two reasons for this.

First, there was a bug where you couldn't get on the chair to use the drawing area from the right side. Making the table like this makes it so you can't even approach the chair from the right side if it's by the drawing area. Yeah, I solved the problem by changing something else rather than actually fixing problem. Such is the life of a game developer.

The second reason was because it allows me to display the Golden Items that you may get by solving puzzles and doing other achievements in the game. The Golden Items will sit on the bottom of the curved ends of the table as you get them. This allows you to literally see the achievements you are getting in the game.

The Computer

Or the lack thereof in this context. You may have noticed it is missing from the house. That is because I'm working on Day 1 of the game right now and this particular day doesn't have the computer. So yeah, the computer still exists, but you won't be able to use it on Day 1.

Hey Did You Notice When The Fridge Transition Happens-

Yeah, yeah, I noticed it. In the video, when the transition cutscene for the fridge happens, the image changes for a split-second to show the computer back on the table. This is because I originally made this transition cutscene when the computer was still going to be accessible from Day 1. I just forgot to change it then. But yeah, you don't have to worry about that. I already changed it so the computer isn't in that cutscene anymore.

In Conclusion...

I suddenly understand why so many people who make things have a hard time keeping a consistent upload schedule. You never know when life is going to happen and make it so you have to worry about a million other things. I'll try to keep to a consistent weekly or biweekly schedule, but it may not always happen. I'll try to keep you updated on how things are going if I haven't posted in a while, though. I hope the wait was worth it.

Thanks for reading,

Joshua