I once read somewhere, the Greek made the constellations because they felt they were the actual gods looking at them; that idea stuck with me for years and I always wanted to make a game where you could feel the weight of gods looking over you from above.

I actually thought I had made something similar with Glade of Tranquility, but upon inspecting it, and even digging into the project, it seems I recalled that over the last minute, probably because it did connect with anything on the narrative and didn’t want to leave a random thing there.

I’m doing this with Claude, it’s interesting how the actual game emerges from a very broad idea wihtout a clear direction the challenge is steering it into a fun game.

October 9 – Inception

The project began as a hide-and-seek stealth game about retrieving artifacts while avoiding the gaze of the gods. Although the initial gameplay wasn’t particularly fun, it established the atmospheric foundation that would carry into later iterations.

The concept evolved into finding wisps in a forest, then into a first-person maze where the gods’ gaze became an indicator for hidden relics. When the maze proved too frustrating, the world opened up again, with natural obstacles such as rivers shaping exploration.

By the end of the day, the beginnings of a quieter, more exploratory experience were taking shape, but I still didn’t have a clear idea where this would go.

October 10 — Day 2: From Minigame to Grand Adventure

The project took a major conceptual turn toward a narrative-driven adventure set across Greek islands. Rather than an arcade-style challenge, the game would ask players to discover what the gods wanted before the world ended in three days, drawing inspiration from Majora’s Mask.

The world itself underwent a significant reimagining. Artificial river barriers and surrounding mountains gave way to an island setting bordered by the sea, with dense forests serving as passable but visually substantial terrain. Forest traversal was simplified to avoid unnecessary frustration, removing movement penalties, bushes, and wolves in favor of denser vegetation. Terrain noise was introduced to create more natural hills, while lighting and visual consistency became ongoing areas of investigation.

October 11 — Day 3: Building a Convincing World

Much of the day focused on transforming the environment from a functional prototype into a believable world worth exploring. Grass, tree trunks, olive trees, houses, stone floors, and wooden materials received attention, while rendering distances and level-of-detail transitions were adjusted to reduce distracting pop-in and floating treetops. The goal was to preserve the low-poly aesthetic without making the environment feel unfinished.

The landscape also became richer and more coherent. Empty plains and barren mountains were filled with shrubs, isolated trees, and varied boulders, while vegetation placement was decoupled from elevation to allow forests to grow naturally across hillsides. The island layout was redesigned around a large island and a smaller neighboring island, with progression between them tied to exploration. A teleporter replaced the earlier climbing-gear mountain barrier.

Additional work improved hill geometry, cliff surfaces, house details, and environmental materials. A winding dirt road connecting the first two cities was added to guide early exploration, with subsequent adjustments planned to flatten a steep section and make the road surface more distinct from the surrounding grass.

October 12 — Day 4: Preparing for Long-Term Development

With the prototype’s core environment and layout taking shape, development shifted toward maintainability. The codebase was refactored into separate JavaScript or TypeScript modules, making the project easier to extend and reducing the friction of future development. Developer documentation and a proper README were also included as part of the effort to establish a more sustainable foundation for the project.

October 13 — Day 5: Refining the Villages

Attention turned to small but noticeable environmental issues that could undermine the world’s believability. Village houses were adjusted to sit more naturally on the terrain, addressing partially floating structures by placing them on flatter ground and embedding their foundations more appropriately. Interior and architectural details also received attention, including a problem where a stone band obstructed house doorways.

The focus was shifting from broad world generation toward the finer details that make the environment feel intentionally built rather than procedurally assembled.