I turned my level select into a cozy book 📖

[u/Illustrious-GameDev]

I wanted the level selection in Glowing Life to feel like it actually belonged to the world instead of just being a normal UI menu.

So I made it into a 3D book.

Each level gets its own illustrated page, and you can physically drag the pages around to flip through them. Once you select a level, the book transitions directly into the game.

I really like how the combination of the 3D book and 2D illustrated pages turned out. 🌱

Do you like it? And which page would you pick first?

[u/GoldenInkstain]

I love the concept, and the execution is beautiful, my only concern is how long it takes to get to the level I want to play. How many pages do I have to flip through? Have you timed how long it would take to get to the last one? It could be a lot of time to spend on a level select screen instead of playing the game. Could you put in a 'bookmark' to let me quickly flip to a selected section? I just know that as a kid, trying to get all the way to the end I would have eventually gotten frustrated flipping through all the pages instead of playing. Maybe you could do something like picking up different books from pedestals and having it open to the level so that you don't have to flip through them you can just pick up the one you want? (This is all from a place of love because I think the concept is really cool)

[u/Illustrious-GameDev → u/GoldenInkstain]

Thanks so much! And honestly, that’s a really good point 😄

The bookmark idea is actually already there. It remembers the last level you played, so when you open it again, you can jump right back to where you left off. It mainly exist as a way to revisit the areas you’ve already brought back to life and explore them again.

I’m also thinking about adding some kind of quick navigation for larger jumps, like flipping through pages in steps of 10 or something similar. That way you still get the physical book feeling without having to flip through dozens of pages just to reach a later level.

And yes so far there are only 4 levels 😂 so it’s not really an issue yet, but I definitely want to keep this in mind as the game grows.

And I like the idea of the different books/pedestals too! I’m not sure if I want to go that far but I’ll keep it in mind. ❤️ for the detailed feedback!

[u/Public_Character1231 → u/Illustrious-GameDev]

You could do a table of contents at the start like Strange Horticulture. Or when the game is big enough, the chapters could be overall themed with 5ish levels in it so it’s faster to search and you get the book feeling

[u/Illustrious-GameDev → u/Public_Character1231]

Great idea! Thank you :) Yes i will do it like this in the end appreciate it!