You can play my entry here
Now since the results are in, I think its good time to put down some notes and reflect how the development process went.
The
idea: This popped into my head from a discussion we had couple
of days before the jam with my girlfriend. We were discussing how young
babies see and understand the world around them. I had read somewhere
how babies don't yet realize that an object that is hidden can still
exists in this world. That's why peek-a-boo is so much fun for them. The
person hiding behind hands ceases to exist in babies' mind. Their world
is literally what they see at the time.
I wanted to make a game where this was actually how the world worked. So basically things that are not visible don't exist at all. Even if our grown up mind says they should still be there. From game mechanic's point of view I just had to figure out a way to hide and show alternative worlds to the player. This is where the "line of sight" mechanics came in.
I wanted to make a game where this was actually how the world worked. So basically things that are not visible don't exist at all. Even if our grown up mind says they should still be there. From game mechanic's point of view I just had to figure out a way to hide and show alternative worlds to the player. This is where the "line of sight" mechanics came in.
What
went right
-
Decision to change the initial concept. I was originally making
a puzzle game with 5-10 levels where you'd have to get the ball from
start to goal using those “dimensional light beams”. I've found
out that I personally enjoy playing these types of games but actually
making them is not really my cup of tea. So I made a decision after
about 8 hours of work that I want to do something else. I wanted the
game to be more of an experience rather than a puzzle.
-
Time management! After last year's hectic ending I felt like I
had almost too much time this year! I was actually pretty much done
with the game about 8 hours before the deadline. This meant that I
had 8 extra hours to polish the graphics, sounds and levels. That's a
luxury in a jam like this! Overall the game took about 36 hours of
work.
-
The game has sounds! (which were not slapped on as an
afterthought) I'm no sound engineer so this was all new and exciting
to me. In fact I can't really say I've ever recorded a sound to be
used anywhere before. Last year sounds was the main thing that I had
to save time from. I just slapped together something 30 mins before
the finish line. This time I had the pleasure to do some actual
recording and manipulate them into somewhat surreal or even spooky
sound scheme.
What
could have gone better
-
Play testing! In such a short time frame there is no room to test
the game on outside people. You could send a build to your friend
(which I did) but you can't see how they are actually playing the
game! This lead to the next point which was the main issue the game
has.
-
Control scheme :( Those teleports can be tricky to control. This
is because I didn't anticipate how people would play the game. I
designed them to work so that the player would only beam a small
portion of a level just to get past a smaller obstacle in the winter
world. However I found out afterwards that pretty much everyone used
them to turn the whole screen into another world. This can make the
game considerably more difficult to play because you can't see what
is going on on the other worlds.
-
Failed initial concept. Some hours were wasted during the first
puzzle game iterations that I mentioned earlier. It could have been a
fun game too but it just didn't feel like a game I wanted to make. It
was a right decision to scrap it though.
-
More particle effects and movement. Especially the lava / hot
world didn't get the visual look I was after. This was due to a
limitation to the way I ended up rendering the teleports. Lava level
could not have any normal particles because of those limitations.
- Minor issues
here and there. This was
nothing critical. Just some nasty spots where you could get stuck and
some stupid spelling mistakes.
Really innovative game and great for the theme too. I couldnt vote as I didnt enter but I really enjoyed this. Very clever.
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