Back again with a new update! Last update, the core mechanics around leaves and sunlight had been reworked to be more predictable. It's definitely been an improvement that's made it easier to expand the mechanics.

This update includes a few new mechanics, which look a bit rough, but the game play is there. I've also reworked an existing level that integrates these new mechanics to get a feel for how they affect the gameplay.

• New Level, Branching Burrow RE
  • Branching Burrow but with barriers and insects added.
• Young Leaves
  • When leaves start growing off a branch, they are  now considered 'young' until their growth is complete.
  • Currently, leaves will flash white when they complete growth.
  • While leaves are 'young', they are vulnerable to hazards and enemies.
  • Note: Since you can't really move your sapling to avoid hazards, persistent vulnerability didn't seem to make much sense. I landed on this idea to add a window of vulnerability around new growth the player is presently engaged with.
• Barriers
  • Destructible objects that block your sapling's path.
  • When a stem or branch grows into a barrier, damage is done to the barrier but your stem/branch is also destroyed.
  • Inflicting enough damage to the barrier will destroy it, opening up said path.
  • Note: This was an early idea that felt like a solid addition. Even placed somewhat randomly in a level, they force the player to think about their route differently than what the level bounds provides. It's less binary than picking which direction to take.
• Insects
  • Currently static, non-patrolling enemies that eat young sapling leaves.
  • If a young leaf enters an insects aggro range, the insect will attack and eat the leaf on contact.
  • If a leaf is eaten, the sapling also loses energy.
  • Note: This also felt like a solid addition that introduces more interesting decision making.. The timings between how fast an insect can eat a leaf versus how long a leaf takes to grow still need some work but the gist is there. My hope is that adding patrolling path's and variable aggro range will make the encounters even more interesting and difficult to parse.
• Post-processing: xBRZ shader applied to viewport.
  • Note: Been playing some @sokpop games recently and saw they were using pixel upscaling shaders in a few of their games and thought the result looked really compelling. Decided to give it a whirl and felt attached to it immediately.  For Sapling especially, it lends a more organic feel to the aesthetic.
• Gameplay adjusment: All sapling growth slowed down
  • Note: Adding the young leaves mechanic meant slowing down the growth of the leaves enough to allow the player to process the  mechanic. As a result, the growth speed of stems and branches felt incongruent with that of the leaves, so I slowed those down as well by a smaller factor. As a whole, it definitely feels slower paced, not convinced it's better or worse, just different and assuredly not final.

I'm way behind schedule at this point which isn't terribly surprising. Turns out working full-time and keeping up with life doesn't leave a lot of room for passion projects. But there's definitely enough time, just got to keep at it.

As a part of keeping this project a priority, I'll be pushing forward the transition to mobile. I'm hoping this will be crucial to maintaining a development pace if I'm more easily able to engage with the project I'm working on. I'll still be supporting desktop as well but my focus will center around the mobile experience, including reworking the window orientation from landscape to portrait.

Beyond that, hopefully the next update will include an additional mechanic and a new level perhaps.

Thanks for playing!