Taking a Step Back to Plan Ahead

Hey everyone! Today's development took an interesting turn - instead of diving straight into code, I spent some time planning out where Mystic Valley is actually heading.

The Reality Check 📋

So I sat down and created both a 3-month roadmap and a 6-month timeline. Looking at everything I've built over the past 7 weeks (has it really been that long?), I realized I needed to be realistic about what's achievable.

The 3-month plan would get me to a basic playable loop by October - plant, grow, harvest, sell. The 6-month timeline? That's more realistic for an actual alpha release with enough content for others to enjoy. Sometimes being honest with yourself about scope is the hardest part.

Building the Official Site 🌐

After planning, I switched gears completely and started building an official website for Mystic Valley! Nothing fancy - just a clean place where people can find development updates, and see what the game is about. Used some simple HTML and CSS, kept it magical-themed with purples and golds to match the game's aesthetic.

It feels more "real" now, having an actual website. Like the game exists beyond just my Unity project folder.

MysticValley.games

Today's Main Task: Save/Load System 💾

Now for the technical stuff! After the planning and website work, I finally started implementing something crucial - a save/load system. Because what's the point of a farming game if you can't save your progress?

I went with a JSON-based save system for a few reasons:

• It's human-readable (great for debugging when things go wrong)
• Easy to expand as I add more features
• Can be modded by players later if they want
• Works outside Unity for potential cloud saves someday

The Implementation Details 🔧

Created a modular system where each game component can save its own data:

• Player data: Position, health, mana, magic school levels
• Time system: Current day, season, year
• Inventory: All those items I've been creating (when the sprites actually show up... when I decide to actually tackle that bug)
• World state: Which soil is tilled, crop growth stages
• Magic system: Unlocked spells, hotkey bindings

The system has 3 save slots, auto-saves every 5 minutes, and quick save/load with F5/F9. Had to fix some Unity 6 compatibility issues (FindObjectsOfType is deprecated now...) still in testing phase.

The Funny Part 😅

The save system is actually saving my SimpleInventory right now since my fancy new inventory system is... still not showing sprites. So technically I built a save system for a half-broken inventory. But hey, progress is progress! and at least I did stuff today instead of getting mentally stuck on the items.

What's Next

Tomorrow I really need to fix those inventory sprites. It's becoming a running joke at this point - items go in but refuse to be seen. After that, finish creating the remaining items and get that Crumble spell to actually affect the soil visually.

But having a save system feels like a milestone still. The game can now remember things, persist between sessions. That's pretty magical in its own way.

Question for Fellow Devs

How do you balance planning vs doing? Today I spent time on roadmaps, website building, and then actual feature implementation. Sometimes I wonder if I'm procrastinating by planning, or if the planning helps avoid wasted work. What's your approach to solo dev project management?

Still learning, still building, still having fun despite the frustrating bits!