Art Polish & Devlog Shift

A quieter week on the development front, but a satisfying one—I’ve been focusing on improving the desert background art and refining the overall visual tone of the game.

🏜 Desert Art Rework

Most of my time this week went into pixel-pushing. I took a second pass at the desert environment, dialing in the style to be more readable, efficient, and just plain nicer to look at. The updated background strikes a better balance between clarity and atmosphere, and I think it’s getting closer to the visual identity I want for the game.

🗓 A Quick Note on Devlog Frequency

I’ll now be switching to monthly devlogs, posted at the end of each month. Writing these weekly updates has helped me stay accountable and document the journey—but with limited engagement and visibility so far, the weekly format doesn’t feel like the best use of time.

Moving to a monthly cadence should give me more space to show meaningful progress and keep things more digestible for anyone following along. If you’ve been reading—thank you—and I hope you’ll stick around for the next chapter.

🔭 On the Radar

Here are a few of the features I’m planning to tackle in the coming months:

• 🥾 Animated player sprite (finally time for the hiker to move like a hiker)

• 🛣 A scrolling road that leads to trail towns—players can hitchhike or walk (at a higher energy cost)

• 🏘 First trail town, including:

  • Post office (for mail drops)

  • Diner (for refueling)

  • Motel (for a proper night’s rest)

• 🎬 An intro cutscene to set the tone and premise

That’s it for this week. See you at the end of the month!

— Derek