Game Jam evaluation

EVALUATION:

I really enjoyed the jam. It was rough at times, and there were definitely moments when I felt lost and confused but it all came together in a way that I didn’t expect. I, in fact, so rate the whole “jam” concept that I will try it with other fields soon. I’ll do another one fairly soon (maybe Thursday-Friday this week) that is another game jam, and then move into making apps and songs (maybe whole EPs - I like the idea of having to make a whole 4 tracks in a very short space of time).

One thing I noticed is that my technician would often overpower my manager, to borrow from E-myth terminology and it was often much easier to plough forward doing the same thing, even if stepping back for a moment and thinking about the best way to do it would have been optimal. I’ve noticed that’s a weakness I have in general; once I decide to do something I just tear into it, but I think in some cases it would be beneficial to take a step back. I think I’ll have to get into the habit (and I’ll need to remind myself to do this often) is that if I’m struggling, just step away for a moment and have a quick think, to see if there’s a better way to approach it.

I also kind of just let the schedule fly out of the window early on: this was mostly OK because I spent ages getting the core loop down and didn’t really have time to do much design work or ANY polish. In future, however, making a schedule and trying to stick to it would be advisable, and if you do have to throw out a schedule, set fixed times for working on given tasks, which are not ironclad and can be ignored if needs be, but it helps you focus on not trying to get something perfect and wasting time. In my case, spending over half an hour searching for a good electric guitar soundfont was not a productive use of my time XD

I had SO MUCH FUN doing the music. I’m actually extremely proud with how the song came out! I just went with my first instinct and used a basic backbeat, nothing fancy. I’ll have to lower my expectations in the future cos I doubt every song I do will turn out as good as that one, but as far as making music goes - make it quick, go with your gut and don’t get bogged down in making it perfect.

Make an MVP first. I procrastinated on making a menu/win state/lose state screen for aggggesss and that was a mistake - it meant that game was a lot less designed and polished than it could have been. It’s also good to try new things, but if you’re doing something you’re not comfortable with, do it first, or when you’re freshest and have the most to give making the logic, cos I was really tired when I was going to make the logic for the game and I just felt so overwhelmed by the smallest things.

Spending time to brainstorm ideas was a good idea, though I wish I’d spent more time actually thinking about all the mechanics and the systems - I was itching to get started and this meant I was having to make a lot of decisions when I was tired about how the game would work and it would have been better to think through all of that on paper first, so I at least had a guideline to follow.

TAKEAWAYS:

• If I’m struggling with something or feel like I’m not doing what I should just step away for a moment and think about if what I’m doing right now is the best use of my time.
• Make a schedule of your time and try to stick to it
• Make the MVP first - a working game with menus/win state/lose state etc.
• Set fixed times for working on specific things or specific tasks to make sure you don’t get bogged down
• Go with your gut and follow your instinct
• Have a comprehensive list of all the things you need to do and work through them in a set order, don’t do what I did and just work through things as they occur to you, cos when you get tired it will fail you
• A great testing method is just to keep the game running for a while and see if anything goes wrong.
• Building the project, uploading it to itch and re-downloading it was a pain, but it made me see things from a user’s perspective and was good for working out errors
• If you’re doing something you’ve not done before or you’re not comfortable with, make sure you do it first after planning when you’re fresh.
• Plan everything out on paper first, so you can foresee and avoid future pitfalls.

NOTES MADE WHILE JAMMING

Idea:

Just one more chocolate bar…

Premise:

You’ve just had a chocolate bar, but you want another one! Try and focus your mind on something else…

You have to move your “field of focus” around the screen to stay away from encroaching thoughts of treats and focus on other things. You move your focus around with the directional keys and when you hover over a treat your “willpower” at the bottom lowers. You have to make it past the window of time of maximum temptation or… you will eat your words.

TODO:

• Fill out the TreatSpawner script, which will act as the game master:
• Create difficulty levels that scale with time
• Keeps track of how many treats are on the screen
• The time
• The amount of willpower left
• Make a face sprite with different expressions for each level of temptation and impact
• Make a script for different treats that home in and slowly move towards your position if you come close enough
• Design more layers
• Make some tense music
• Think about how to convey it’s in the player’s mind
• Make a menu, title screen and quit function.
• Polish
• DONE