devlog 2 - everything is on fire (but like. in a fun way???)
(the first devlog, if you don't know what this is!)
(patch note codename: i put a bandaid on the void and called it art.) (08.30.25)
you know where you’re like, “oh, this’ll be a tiny update, just a little tweak, shouldn’t break anything,” and then 7 hours later you’re knee-deep in plugin spaghetti, your menu screen is an endless black void for some fucking reason, and you’re questioning your life choices? yeah. that’s been my entire week. awesome and cool.
i thought it would be cool to have the Settings Person (my little softspoken, curious menu mascot) notice if you haven’t visited them in a while. just a tiny “hey, i’m still here :)” vibe. you know. gentle, charming, unobtrusive. they're supposed to be your little companion, it'd be weird if they didn't notice it!!!
instead, the moment i added it, the entire pause menu imploded. like, i hit the button and BAM — blank screen. no menu, no game, just… void. or sometimes it would just not even do that, but instead just softlock you in the fucking menu. they pouted so hard they literally broke my game???
and for a split second, i honestly thought: “wow. that’s actually kind of thematic. maybe i should keep it?”
(i didn’t. but i did spend five whole hours tracing a recursive variable loop i accidentally wrote. apparently, i told the game to open the SP menu, which told the game to open the SP menu, which told the game to open the SP menu, until reality itself gave up. love that for me.)
on top off that, the Settings Person is SUPPOSED to rip your name from your computer. (yes this sounds like malware yes this is intentional NO they are not actually malware or malicious and YES there is a privacy feature to turn off their ability to do this.) problem: it was taking the computer's nickname instead which is, believe it or not: not your name.
apparently the fix for this was making yellow equal 0. i genuinely do not know how it works, all i know is that FFFF00 = 000 and now they can steal your name from powershell.
also, unrelated, but Leto? my protagonist? the guy you're suppoed to have a heartfelt attachment to the way he moves around??? he moonwalks now. i didn’t code that. he just does. he slides across the ground with this dead-eyed stare like, “yes, i am trapped in an eternal timeloop, but at least i have STYLE.” i tried to fix it three times. i failed. i’m leaving it. it’s canon now. he canonically moonwalks and im done LMAO
look, here’s the thing: this whole process is a disaster, but also? kind of magical. like, when i finally got the Settings Person working properly, and they reacted exactly how i wanted, and the menu didn’t explode, i just sat there at 2am grinning like an idiot. because for a moment, it felt like my game was alive and actually listening to me.
so yeah. everything’s on fire. but like… in a fun way.
thanks for making it this far. if you want, you can help me clear the $100 dollar fee steam requires to open a steam page by donating here.