Week 1 Goal: Try to get as many low-hanging fruit tasks done as I can.

Tasks completed: 30/54

Summary: Got a lot done, but also underestimated how much time a proper options menu and some key UX improvements would take. Definitely a successful week overall, one step closer to release!

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Day 1

• itch.io build
• Limb Directory menu The Limb Directory menu is a super cool dev tool and should make it in the final game eventually. It allows me to quickly debug all limbs by selecting from a menu rather than hoping to reroll into it or manually assigning shop data.

Day 2

• Pause Menu Remake
• Video Settings: Resolution dropdown
• Gameplay Settings (save data resets)
• Audio Menu
• Credits Menu A proper settings menu has been on my list for a long time. Without these settings, many users can use it as an excuse to leave a negative review. It’s also just generally good to give people more options and I hope to add more accessibility options in the future.

Day 3

• Video Settings: FPS and VSync
• Key Rebinding Menu Started I’ve never implemented key rebinding in a project before, so I wasn’t sure how long it would take. I spent most of an afternoon trying to get it to work, but then didnt end up getting everything functional until Day 4.

Day 4

• Key Rebinding Finished
• Options Menu done!
• New Aim reticle and return target The options menu is in a place where I’m pretty happy with it right now. It still needs some work, but I wanted to start moving on to some of the goals I had for this week around “Low Hanging Fruit” and Tutorial UX. So, I remade the aiming and return reticles today to give them greater contrast with the play field. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about it, but its a step in the right direction of prioritizing gameplay legibility over stylistic interpretation.

Day 5

• Tutorial for merging/upgrading limbs
• Drop Shadows for Round 1 tutorials
• Limb Removal tutorial fix Today I added a long-requested feature by playtesters - a quick tutorial on how to merge limbs to upgrade them. I thought I could get away with a gentle nudge here (matching sparkles on both items), but only very savvy auto-battler players were making this logical leap.

Day 6

• YOINK Screen Rework - Preview & Sell
• Fix display text on Enemy Preview
• Reroll animation
• Lots of Tooltip Text Fixes I got so much done today! Reworked a bunch of UX on the YOINK screen to make that process more intuitive. I also managed to knock out 8-10 small text inconsistencies in the limbs, types, and tooltips.

Overall, I’m very happy with progress this week. I’ve fallen out of the practice of hour counting, but it feels good right now to just focus on carving out time in my schedule to work on the game. It feels like there is still a lot to do on TORSO TENNIS, but I am feeling a tremendous sense of momentum carrying me forward towards finishing this project!

Next week is an exciting one: I’m going to be adding as many perma-boost tattoos as I can to the game. I really hope that we can take the gameplay in a directions that allows for more devastating combos.

Wishlist TORSO TENNIS on Steam