Devlog #2: Welcome to the "Birthplace" - A Living Character Creator

Hey everyone! Back to Thawing Valley's Devlog #2 is finally here!

For the past few weeks, we've focused all our energy on a crucial system: the character's "birthplace" — our multi-page character creator (PlayerSetup.tscn).

We wanted it to be more than just a function, but rather like flipping through a book about yourself, opening the first chapter of your story in the valley.

The Appearance (Page 1) functionality is now locked in. We plan to gradually add more clothing and appearance options in the future!

Core Interaction

The core of this creator is making the UI "smarter." On the Questionnaire (Page 2), you can freely choose your "family" or festival invitees.

Of course, we didn't forget our lone wolf players!

If you choose not to invite anyone... the system will "read" your choice and give you special feedback. We hope to make the interaction feel warmer through these small details.

Flavor & Immersion: Your Uniqueness

We've added many "flavor" questions, hoping to cater to everyone's uniqueness.

Maybe you prefer fishing late at night instead of farming at dawn? (Pictured: the Body Clock icons).

By the way, we wish you enjoy fishing!

Let us know your birthday. Maybe someone in the valley will secretly send you a gift!

Still Exploring Art...

Besides code, I'm also working hard to improve the game's art style!

Although I'm not ready to show it off, I wanted to share two recent practice drawings. They won't necessarily be in the final game, but I hope to see my own progress!

Tech & Polish

Of course, this sprint also involved a lot of bug fixes and under-the-hood optimization.

We refactored the UI layout, completely resolved the camera current property override issue during F6 previews (previously known as the "camera offset bug"), and optimized the scene tree's rendering order to fix a layering issue where buttons under the NinePatchRect (book background) couldn't be clicked.

While this is all work the player won't see, it's the foundation for a smooth-running system.

Next Steps: Tilling!

With the core features of the character creator locked in, we can finally step into the valley and start building the real game loop!

The goal for our next sprint (Devlog #3) is:
To let the player swing a hoe and plant the first seed!

Thanks for following along, and see you next time!