Small Living World 2 - Dev Diary #3

Welcome to Dev Diary number tree ( little pun here, it sounds cool ).

Ok, next thing, we need to revamp the store screenshots to truly showcase the game’s quality, something the current ones just don’t capture.

But something held me back: the look of the trees at maturity. Their branch layout felt strange and unbalanced, so I need to rework them first.

And while at it, why not tackle another issue? Right now, all plants share the same animation — they sway slowly from left to right. It works fine for flowers and small plants, but for trees, it just doesn’t feel right ( as an indie dev, you need to optimize your work ).

So I created a new shader just for tall trees, making their outer leaves sway in the breeze individually. It took a few iterations, but the end result looks great.

before: Steam post image A fter: Steam post image

Now it’s back to reworking the screenshots. Turns out it’s a bigger job than expected, but it will be worth it.