Photo mode: developed photo with Stars achieved panel

About this game

Developer: Free Lives, Clockwork Acorn · Publisher: Devolver Digital · Platform: PC (Steam) · Art style: Painterly illustration · Screen type: HUD & Gameplay UI

More Terra Nil screens in the Gallery

What to study

This is the payoff of the viewfinder keeper: the ten ecology goals that were a live checklist while framing the shot become a scored results panel once the photo develops, with three gold stars earned and seven still outlined, and the developed polaroid itself asks for a caption, so the photo mode doubles as the game's journal. The elephant photo, timestamped in the game's own caption strip, shows the restored wetland the goals measure, and the unachieved rows (Springboks, Lions, Hornbills, Crocodiles, Zebras still ideally unhappy) read as the next restoration targets, not as a failure screen. Disclosure: a translucent star shape peeks from behind the panel's right edge, a frame of the star-award animation, covering no row text. Frame at about 52 seconds in the Heatwave trailer (Steam), manual extraction manual-heatwave-photo-result-52.png at 52.0s, inspected at full resolution (1920x1080); the ten goal rows, three gold stars, caption prompt, and timestamp legible.

Patterns

How the screen is arranged.

checklist-panel star-rating overlay-panel

Components

Parts on screen.

Photograph List Window

Screen inventory

• the developed polaroid, full frame: three elephants at a water's edge with small birds on their backs, timestamped 6/5/2025 11:56:42 AM, with an '[Enter caption here]' prompt and pencil icon below the photo, so the photo is a journal entry the player annotates, not a plain screenshot
• the 'Stars achieved:' panel beside the photo: ten goal rows (Multiple animal species, High plant biodiversity, Ideal vegetation, Multiple climate goals, Ideally happy Elephants, Ideally happy Springboks, Ideally happy Lions, Ideally happy Hornbills, Ideally happy Crocodiles, Ideally happy Zebras), with three gold stars earned (Ideal vegetation, Multiple climate goals, Ideally happy Elephants) and seven outlined stars still to earn
• the payoff of keeper 4's viewfinder: the same ten-goal checklist, now scored after the shot instead of live during framing
• disclosed animation artifact: a translucent star shape peeks from behind the panel's right edge, a frame of the star-award animation, covering no row text or star icon

Top 3 colors

#1f2c1c 28%#634f2f 24%#404f47 13%

Top three palette colors by share. The remaining colors make up the rest.

Source and credit

© Free Lives, Clockwork Acorn / Devolver Digital, Terra Nil screenshot: Steam trailers (Heatwave, A Beginner's Guide to Ecosystem Restoration), Devolver Digital, shown for design study and commentary. PlayCraft is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Devolver Digital.

Source tier 2 (publisher-released) · screenshot: Steam store page · Steam page

Source details

Fetched 2026-10-29. verified 2026-10-29: manual frame inspected visually at full resolution (1920x1080); real game UI (developed elephant polaroid with timestamp and caption prompt, Stars achieved panel with ten goal rows and three gold stars) confirmed visible and legible; judged first-hand at full resolution in the 2026-10-29 idle pickup; animation artifact at the panel edge disclosed in the study note and elements, covering no UI element

no published policy found (checked 2026-10-27); fair-use study use, takedown honored within 48h

Rights holders: see Copyright & takedown.