Devlog - Creative Slumps and Creeping Shadows

Another month has passed, and I’ve been keeping busy. March was a bit tough, though—I hit a slump while working on a new area, and it reminded me just how difficult making games can be 😅

Sometimes you just know that something’s off—maybe a bit of story, a piece of gameplay, or part of a level—but you can’t quite tell what it is. This time, the problem was the monster. The creepy shadowy figure you might remember from the demo.

I’ve had a lot of ideas for this entity since the beginning, and I’ve been working on a new encounter with it. But something didn’t feel right. I couldn’t figure out why, and that kind of stalled everything. Since so many parts of the game depend on each other, progress came to a halt.

So what do you do in a situation like that? Honestly, I don’t think there’s one right answer. This time, I decided to take a few weeks off and let the issue simmer in the back of my mind while I focused on other things.

For me, creative blocks sometimes lift when I watch movies, play a new game, or read a book. It’s like your brain stays quietly stuck on the problem, and then—while you're thinking about something else—an idea suddenly clicks.

The tricky part, though: the longer the break, the harder it gets to come back. This time, getting back into Solace Creek after a few weeks was really difficult. But I pushed through, and now I feel like I’ve made it past the rough patch.

I don't have something from the mentioned encounter, but a screenshot (see above) new room I've been working on for the demo level: A sort of Psych-Evaluation room. I felt inspired by some psychology tests, there are plenty of tests like the well-known Rorschach-Test with the colorful paint splats, where not only the answer the patient gives matters but also their reaction to the question. Inspired by that I created this room with interesting questions such as "Is the voice in your head yours?" which kinda creep me out tbh 😅

Recently while working on new stuff I've been going back a lot to the demo area and including new stuff. I can't wait to show you all more.

As always, thank you for your support!