Added a day and night cycle, saves, and fruit
A 24-minute sky cycle, fruit-bearing deadwood, persistent saves, and gentler movement made the lake feel less like a test room.
A world starts to feel permanent when it keeps going after the most obvious mechanic is working. Willowglass now runs through a full day and night in 24 real minutes, with a small sun-and-moon clock that makes the change readable without turning the sky into a menu.
The dead trees gained a small crop of golden fruit. Some hangs from reachable branches, some falls to the ground, and each piece belongs to the same hunger system as insects and fish. Fruit state is saved, so eating something is a change to the world rather than a visual reset on the next load.
“Persistence turns a successful test into a place I can return to.”
Progress now autosaves every 30 seconds and on page exit. Health, hunger, location, flight or water state, climbing support, eaten food, fish positions, and the world clock all return. Invalid branch geometry falls back to a collision-clear position instead of trapping a save inside a changed tree.
Small-step movement and camera work were tuned at the same time. Short taps now produce short steps, stopping is prompt, and the cursor separates looking from steering more clearly. Those details are less dramatic than a new creature, but they are what let the lake become somewhere to inhabit.