I took a little time out on Sunday to go to a coffee shop, armed with a new sketchpad and pens - and had a relaxing couple of hours reading a magazine and drawing.

I don't often take time to do things like that; it's difficult to give yourself a break or take a step back when you feel there is so much to do, but it's often worth it.

After a few sketches I had a little inspiration, and I had a couple of ideas down on paper that I liked. I've shared one of the sketches below - it might not look like much but it was the genesis of a nice little idea I think. I then spent a bit of time yesterday I realising some of it in-game. You can see that my sketches are pretty loose, as a sole dev it's just about exploring my own ideas, and not getting quality artwork – these are just triggers for my imagination.

A quick sketch

On a bit of an impulse, I've decided to add a fun dialogue system where characters from the game can pop-up and chat to you. Currently this is just to contribute to the 'atmosphere', but who knows where it may go.

I love the compliments-deer, so he is a natural candidate for quality interruptions.

After a quick session today, I got the basics down!

First go! [high res]

I quite liked it, but felt it looked a little static and rigid... let's add some more fluidity..

This is better! [high res]

So, now I've built a neat little animation that I can plug some text events into. Expect to see this in-game in some way – At the moment, I've not yet decided how – but I think it looks fun!