Jump Logs: Customisation (#6) | September 2026

Hello! This is the sixth Jump Log and, like last time, sorry for this one being somewhat late! Before I get into this month's topic, I want to briefly talk about where I am with the development of Dimension Jumper.

Unfortunately, I've taken a bit of a break from development recently while I worked towards earning my PSPO I certification and updating my CV. On top of that, my other project, Terrifying Tales: Watcher's Point, is starting to reach the end of its development, so that has been taking up some of my development time too. Finally, I spent the latter part of August and early September working on the logos for my online name, Self-Made Games, with the intention of using the new branding to eventually help sell Dimension Jumper under a more established name.

So, with that list of excuses out of the way, I'm going to keep this month's blog post relatively short! I'm hoping to pick development back up properly soon and, once I do, I'd like to have a stable enough build to start showing off some new screenshots of the game.

With that said, I wanted to talk a little about customisation—what it means to me in video games and what you can expect from Dimension Jumper when it comes to making the game your own.

Why Customisation Matters to Me

Customisation in video games has been really significant to me ever since I played one of my first and favourite games, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The fact that you could choose a race and sculpt a character to your liking was something that really stuck with me. There's something quite special about being able to put your own stamp on a character when you're going to spend so much time playing a game.

Figure 1 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Character Customisation [Video Game]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think customisation needs to be an option in every game, but I do feel like it can help establish a stronger connection between player and game.

Then there was Halo 3, which took character customisation in a slightly different direction. Instead of simply choosing how your character looked from the beginning, you had to actually play the game and complete certain challenges to earn new armour. I remember getting my brother to help me with this because I was absolutely rubbish at the game. Suffice to say, all that playing and my love for customisation is something I wanted to bring into Dimension Jumper quite early in development.

There was also another reason for this: Sorcery, to my knowledge, never really had anything like it. You couldn't change the colour of the borders around the screen, and you certainly couldn't change the wizard character you were playing as. So, with Dimension Jumper, I wanted to take the opportunity to add something that I felt was missing from the original experience.

Making Dimension Jumper Your Own

My current plan is for players to be able to customise both the border colours of the game and the character they play as.

The characters will come from a fixed set of designs that I've created, alongside characters from a character pack I purchased from the Unity Asset Store.

I've also considered eventually giving players a colour picker so they could choose whatever border colour they want. At the moment though, I'm being a little more careful with this. The border colour and text colour are currently linked, and I'd rather avoid giving players the ability to create colour combinations that could clash or make the UI difficult to read.

So for now, I'm leaning towards having a selection of predefined themes that I can make sure work nicely together.

Earning Your Style

Much like Halo 3, I think there could be something really satisfying about having players earn some of these themes and characters through their progression.

One idea is to unlock them based on the scores players achieve in levels, while another is to tie them into the overall progression of the game's narrative. This part is still very much up in the air, but I like the idea that some of the more interesting customisation options aren't simply handed to the player from the beginning.

At the same time, I do want to have some more generic themes available from the outset so players can personalise their experience straight away. I don't want someone to spend hours playing Dimension Jumper while being forced to use the same blue borders and the same blue spaceman!

What's Next?

And that's about as far as the customisation designs have gone for now. Who knows what might change further down the line, and as always, I'm open to player feedback and seeing what people would actually like to have available.

This has been a surprisingly special part of the development process for me, though. After spending so much time looking at the same blue borders and playing as the same blue spaceman, being able to finally give players a bit more choice has been really satisfying. Thanks for reading as always, and here’s to the next one!