Self Help App: ALPHA and BETA build
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Hello! It’s been quite a while since I last wrote (more than a month… shame on me) and a lot has happened since. I mentioned last time that I was close to finishing an ALPHA version of my self help app, which I did! I should have posted about that here, but I completely forgot. If you’re interested, you can find the build and the survey to go with it over here. However! Since it’s been a while since I finished the ALPHA version, I have now gotten so far that I’ve actually finished a BETA version as well! You can find the build and the survey to go with it over here! So what have I done when it comes to developing the app? Well, the alpha build had a library with a lot of information about depression, anxiety and mindfulness. It also has a mood test and a simple breathing exercise. Here’s a screenshot from the ALPHA build:
It’s looking a bit barren, to be honest. For the BETA version, I have added two new rooms: the garden and the store. When the player visits the garden, it makes a flower bloom and gives them a reward in the form of gems. These gems can then be used in the store to upgrade and unlock new parts of the treehouse. I have also added another relaxation exercise to the pillow fort, updated the mood test with more options, divided the library into more categories and generally just made things look prettier. Here’s a screenshot:
Looks a bit more fun, doesn’t it? The biggest issue I still have is the results from the mood test. That feature is currently unavailable because I simply couldn’t figure out how to make it work. I think I either need to do a lot of research or get some help from an actual programmer. In a way, I would also like to remake almost all of the art. The art that I have is more or less taken from the original concept art I made way back in April this year, and what you see above is basically just copy-pasting-reusing-frankensteining that concept art. I mean, it kind of works, but I’m not entirely pleased with it. I also need a lot more animations in the app. I currently only have a few which I really just put in to test the animation function in Fungus. The entire app is very static at the moment, and animations would bring more life to it and make it clearer what you can and can’t interact with. Overall, I’m fairly pleased with what I have managed to make, but I do still feel like I could have made more with the time I had. I’m probably going to stop development for the time being, as I have other things taking up my time. Hopefully I’ll get around to finishing this project sometime during spring or summer next year!  |
