Citrus & Stone Wishlist
All posts

2 min read

Devlog: the sea follows the weather

Calm days, storms and the rainbow after. How the water in Citrus & Stone reacts to the wind, the rain and the time of day.

  • Devlog
A rainbow over the sea off the island's west beach after a storm, with dark gust patches on the water.

A lot of Citrus & Stone happens at the waterline. You fish from the beach, the boat you're fixing sits in the shallows, and the camp is never far from the sound of the waves. So I wanted the sea to feel alive, and to change with the weather instead of looking the same every day.

A storm rolling in over the west beach.

Calm days

On a still day the sea goes glassy. There are fewer ripples, the reflections get clearer, and the waves only just reach up the sand. A band of glitter runs across the water toward the sun, and it turns golden in the evening when the sun is low. At night it's a thinner, silver path toward the moon.

Clear turquoise water off the beach, with fish shadows near Tony's line
A calm afternoon.

When the weather turns

When the wind picks up or it starts to rain, the sea follows. The water darkens and whitecaps break further out. Waves reach up to 30% further up the beach and leave lacy foam behind them. Gusts of wind show up as dark, rough patches that drift across the water in the direction the wind is blowing.

Waves pushing foam high up the sand as a storm builds
The surf builds before the rain.

Rain

Rain rings dot the water, more of them the harder it rains, and the light goes grey and soft. Rain also waters your crops, so a stormy morning is one less trip with the bucket. And on the day the Bramble Queen comes, the storm that rolls in has a purple tint to it.

Heavy rain over the sea and the beach, with the light gone grey
A downpour on the west beach.

After the rain

When it clears up, the island stays wet for a while. Puddles fill the hollows in the grass and dirt, biggest first, and slowly dry up again. They dry fastest in the midday sun and splash when you walk through them. When the sun comes back out on the wet beach, wisps of mist rise off the warm sand and drift away on the wind.

And sometimes, as a daytime shower passes, a rainbow stands over the sea.

Why bother

None of this changes the rules: the mushrooms still come at six. But a fishing trip in the rain feels different from one on a glassy evening, and I think that's a lot of what makes a place feel like somewhere you live rather than a map.

Wishlist Citrus & Stone

Wishlisting on Steam is the best way to support the game. Steam tells you the moment it comes out, and every wishlist helps more people find it.

Wishlist on Steam

Share

X Bluesky Reddit