UI Update

Funny story behind this UI update. I noticed that sometimes my screenshots on Twitter would look somewhat grainy. It’d look ok on other social media, so I somewhat bypassed it. However, I also felt that my screen width in the game was off, but I was confused as I set the 16:9 ratio correctly…right?

I thought it was best to ward off my suspicions and check my window dimensions in Godot. I checked what I had and it was 312:216. I’ll save you the math, that is not 16:9. I fell into a bit of a cold sweat as I thought about having to redo all 30 levels I developed, in addition to breaking up the bite-sized level constraints I was really enjoying.

This brought up an opportunity for me. I had no UI to speak of. V-Hunter’s health and items were haphazardly placed on the top of the game screen, which was functional, but not necessarily the best. For some reason, I thought of Metal Gear Solid Babel for the Game Boy Color.

In addition to being some of my favorite minimalist pixel art, I loved the utility of the UI on the side. This was my inspiration for the new UI. While it’s pretty basic in its current form, there’s room to add additional stats or maybe even a flavorful backdrop.

I also think it was a successful change as my tweet with the new UI screenshot (not even a GIF) garnered the most likes so far. Plus the image doesn’t seem fuzzy. Overall, I’m taking it as a win!

Saga 2 Completed

Another achievement was completing Saga 2, Dusty’s Domain!

This is a Desert themed Saga and adds some new enemies along with new items. I think my favorite new item is the dynamite!

Saga 2 also brings along our first Saga boss, Dusty! He’s a strong dusty boy and it’s going to take a lot of firepower to take him down!

Next Steps

Chugging along on V-Hunter! Glad to have Saga 2 completed. Just have Sagas 3-5 to complete….just.

While I’m working on the Sagas, I’m planning on adding some juice factor via screen shake, idle animations, and maybe some lighting, among many others in my backlog.

I also made my first video dev log if that’s something you’d like to check out! (Be aware, this is before my UI crisis!) I’m planning on doing one of these per month as it’s a format I like to consume myself.

If you like V-Hunter Puzzler Dx so far please follow me here on itch or elsewhere on my linktree!