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STILLFRAME – v0.53 Changelog

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Summary

Version 0.53 focuses heavily on stability, UI correctness, pause/death handling, and foundational menu systems, while clearly identifying key survival clarity and time-system issues to be addressed next. The groundwork for onboarding and tutorialization has officially begun.
Would be great to have initial feedback as lot work already several assets done by hand and would be great to know what you guys think.
Hugs and Enjoy.

Core Fixes & Improvements

• Survival Mode Toggle
• Fixed issues where Survival Mode enable/disable was not functioning correctly.
• Pause & Death Handling
• Fixed a critical bug where pressing ESC after death caused the game to continue running in the background and prevented restarting.
• Added Death Screen Detection to fully halt gameplay on death.
• Restart button on the Death Screen is now properly centered
• HUD & Debug
• Fixed missing T and Y debug health indicators.
• Corrected deer age alignment when the game is paused.
• HUD toggle (TAB) is now correctly reflected in:
  • Pause Menu
  • Survival Mode ON/OFF state
• Menus & UI
• Added a Main Menu Scene
• Normal Game Mode plays by default
• Survival Mode disabled
• Camera properly set up:
• Updated menu typography to Pixel Art lettering YAY some work on AESPRITE.
• Fixed temperature display:
  • Body temperature now displays Celsius only (removed Celsius/Fahrenheit dual display).
• Resolved issues with the degree (°) symbol not displaying correctly.
• Input
• Added Left Shift as the Run key.

Data & Persistence

• Highscore System
• CSV file interaction has been fully disabled from the player side.
• The game now:
  • Saves highscores internally
  • Displays highscores and progress only
  • No longer exposes or allows interaction with save files

Gameplay Issues Identified (Pending / In Progress)

• Game always starts in Winter, even after restarting multiple sessions.
• Time progression moves too fast.
• Players currently have:
  • No clear indication of where to find water
  • No guidance on what food is available or where to find it
• No map or navigation aid pointing to water sources.
• Death screen shows incorrect statistics:
  • Real Time accumulates across multiple runs instead of resetting per session.
  • Real Time should pause when the game is paused.
  • Game Time should reflect accelerated in-game time (e.g., days/hours passing faster).
  • Final deer age should be based on Game Time lived, not real time.
• Cause of death is always reported as Environmental Damage, even when death is caused by:
  • Hunger
  • Thirst (This requires correction.)
• Death animations are not yet implemented:
  • Deer death animations need to be created
  • Rigged into the animation state machine
  • Linked to the death function
• Visual polish needed for:
  • Death Menu
  • Pause Menu

Initial Level Design & Tutorial Onboarding

• Level 1 – POV Tutorial
• Development started
• Designed to introduce:
  • Core mechanics
  • Basic survival rules
  • Player goals and decision-making
• Intended to clearly teach:
  • How to survive
  • Where to go
  • What to look for initialy

STILLFRAME – Devlog v0.52
Survival System, Statistics & Dynamic Weather Update

This is a major update for STILLFRAME, my deer survival game.
Version v0.52 introduces a full survival death system, persistent statistics tracking, and dynamic weather randomization that makes every run feel different.

WHAT’S NEW IN v0.52

DEATH SCREEN SYSTEM
A complete death screen system has been added, detecting five different causes of death:

• Starvation

• Dehydration

• Hypothermia

• Hyperthermia

• Environmental damage (fallback)

The death screen displays your final stats, cause of death, recent runs, and all-time records.
The game pauses automatically on death, input is disabled, and you can instantly restart without reloading the game manually.

STATISTICS & ACHIEVEMENT TRACKING
All runs are now saved using a persistent CSV-based system. The game tracks high scores across every session, including:

• Longest survival time (in-game)

• Longest real-world play time

• Longest distance travelled

• Most food eaten

• Most water consumed

• Oldest deer age

• Total games played

When you beat a personal best, the game notifies you with a “NEW RECORD!” message.
The system is structured for future Steam achievement integration.

DYNAMIC WEATHER RANDOMIZATION
Every session now starts with fully randomized conditions:

• Random season (Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn)

• Random time of day (sunrise, noon, sunset, night)

• Over 20 weather patterns including clear skies, clouds, storms, snow, and fog

• Season-appropriate ambient effects like birds in spring, falling leaves in autumn, and blowing snow in winter

No more starting every run in winter — each restart feels like a new adventure.

BUG FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS

DISTANCE TRACKING FIX
The distance counter issue showing 0.00 km has finally been fixed.
The stats manager was attached to a non-moving parent object.
It has now been moved to the actual player transform, resulting in accurate distance tracking.

PAUSE & INPUT HANDLING

• Game pauses correctly on death

• Stats stop updating during death state

• Camera freezes on death

• Player input is disabled to prevent unintended actions

PLANNED FEATURES
These are ideas currently being considered:

• Predator animals

• Crafting and shelter systems

• Expanded day/night survival mechanics

• Potential multiplayer co-op

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
If you have experience with real-world deer behavior or physiology (wildlife research, conservation, field observation), I’d love your input.
Accurate survival limits, movement patterns, seasonal behavior, diet, and environmental tolerance are very important to this project.

Your feedback could directly influence future mechanics and help make STILLFRAME as realistic as possible.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support ❤️