3 JAMS DONE, WE'RE IN THE THICK OF IT

Forward Rambling

Oh man, 3 games done, I’m in the THICK OF IT. AAHHHHHH. It's so weird that I click on my dashboard and it’s not blank, like who did that? I don’t remember making those. I started to see myself get fairly comfortable with Godot and the development process. I didn’t really have any issues with the engine. There was also one major bug (I still have no idea what caused it lol) I made a workaround for. I also felt comfortable learning new things (music and animation blendshapes). 

Goals and Moving Forward

I’d like to look back on what I've made so far.

1. Phase Jam #4 April Fools

I made Paper Pusher Simulator where you have to examine runes and make sure they’re up to code. Inspired by That’s not my Neighbor. Scored #2 Overall.

1. Phase Jam #5 Conventions

I made Slay the Sakana, a card game where you battle other Phase Connect fans to win your oshi’s love. Inspired by Slay the Spire. 

Scored #4 Overall.

1. Phase Jam #6 Halloween

I made Eimi in Wonderland, a rougelike shooter where you battle demons in a maze to attend Runie’s Halloween Bash. Inspired by Realm of the Mad God and Binding of Issac. Scored #5 Overall.

1. Bonus

I made Would You Love Me? as preparation for Phase Jam #5. It’s a worm clone with additional mechanics where the Alias talents were turned into worms.

It’s crazy to list out 4 actual games that (mostly) work. It's nice to see that I’ve been performing pretty consistently at the game jams. Even though the games I’ve made so far have scored around the same, I really see the improvement. In terms of making a game, playing it, enjoying it, and being happy with it afterward, Eimi in Wonderland is the best by far. Mostly because it’s a rougelike shooter, BESIDES THAT POINT, it’s a step up from my previous games because I don’t feel nearly as cringe showing it to friends that don’t know what vtubers and or Phase Connect is. 

One thing I’ve been thinking about is my goals for game jams. With Eimi in Wonderland, I really put all the time I had into it and it’s hard for me to see myself making games much better or larger going forward (I’ll probably surprise myself, I did this time). For these games jams my goals were:

1. Finish a game
2. Perform well

“Performing well” is vague and I think I’ve accomplished it. Going forward I’ll try to give myself my own challenges that push me where I think I need to be pushed. For example, with this jam I had a vague spooky idea, but my goal was to make a game I would enjoy and be proud of. When the themes came out, I thought “Yeah, my game takes place in a forest during Halloween”, and otherwise ignored the theme. For the best to be honest.

Art

The art in this game is heavily inspired by Realm of the Mad God. The sprites are very similar. The sprites are just a tad taller, the legs are closer, and the weapons are bigger. Even though I reference the sprite sheets from an existing game, it was a nice challenge to have to consider every pixel. For example, when I draw Eimi, I think she a collar, bow, shirt, exposed midriff, and skirt. In this style, I compacted it to the bow is one pixel, shirt is a pixel on each side, and a skirt with an off color so you know it’s different. Trying anything else doesn’t really work. I tried.

Looking back on this and past projects, I've started to see myself grow a bit as an artist. All the games I’ve made so far have different styles, and it’s nice to see myself being capable of challenging myself when it comes to drawing.

Working with People and Music

Maze was an amazing help on this project. The music is cracked. Royalty free music and sounds are allowed for these game jams. I wouldn’t be surprised if players assumed I used royalty free music because it is indistinguishable from professional produced music. Maze is a long time friend of mine and one day I saw him creating music in voice chat. There were some discussions about game development and I asked him if he would make a song for an upcoming game jam. He cranked out an amazing track in 1 hour. I later asked for an alternate version of the track for bosses. He said it would be easier to make another song, so he made another couple of bangers and we ended up with a track for each level.

Maze really nailed the vibe. I just asked for “quaint spooky background with some intense parts” and it turned out great. I might be projecting by listening to the tracks while panic coding and testing, but the tracks also had a bit of delirium that worked well with the idea of you being stuck in a maze. 10/10, would music with again.

Scoping

As tradition, I trimmed the scope a ton for this project and this around, it really helped the game find its footing. The original idea was Realm of the Mad God meets Hades. The player would have a dash, ability, and ultimate for each of the 5 Euphoria talents and moves between rooms fighting bosses. Once I got playing I pretty quickly trimmed that. The rooms I made were fairly small and dashes wouldn’t really help much. Enemies are also killed fairly quickly without abilities, so I reduced it down to one ability. Anything more would really bloat the game. I understand why Realm of the Mad God characters only have 1 ability.  

One thing I might want to scope more is allowing time for testing and showing my games to people. After release, I showed the game to a friend and they couldn’t tell if I was hitting an enemy or not. No one else really commented on it since I think the first level is good at communicating what the players range is, but either way is something to consider and incorporate into the development cycle. Realm of the Mad God uses health bars when an enemy is hit and having enemies change color seems a bit extra to me. I think a “shatter” effect on the sword projectile would work well at communicating range while maintaining the games aesthetic. It would also be much easier to code.

The vibe is also why there’s no minimap (Totally didn’t scope it out).

Gratitude

3 jams in, I am so glad I started these game jams. I really needed a hobby and or outlet. I like how I already know the characters going into a jam. It takes the stress away of designing a character and trying to give them some sort of personality in a short period of time. I seldom give work or projects above 80 percent of what I’ve got and it’s nice to give something my all every once in a while. Also thank yall for making these 10 days so I can actually make something decent.