Lucas and The House of Lost Souls

Post Jam Thoughts:

Definitely over scoped for this jam. Creating a story is harder than it seems. Didn’t end up getting the level of polish I would have liked for the story and puzzles.

Things that went well

• Programming game systems did not take long since I kept things within my knowledge.
• I’m fairly happy with the art considering I’m not an artist. Trying to keep things abstract and gamey helped a lot.
• The idea of the game is okay, but could use more details as you can only do so much with one room.

Things that did not go well

• I was trying to take inspiration from the game FAITH by imitating the rotoscoped style of it’s death cutscenes. I however did not anticipate how hard it is to rotoscope by hand, so I scrapped that idea but it took a chunk out of my time.
• I am not happy with the story telling. I planed to have more notes and things scattered around to give clues to what was happened in the house, but I ran out of time and energy.
• I ended up working on art assets that I never used in the final export due to time and energy getting low which sucks since that wasted time and lowered my energy.

Things to take note for next time

• Have your art pipeline tested and ready, otherwise look to simplify everything.
• Story board early and do it before touching any code or art as it influences a lot of what you have to make.
• You can do a lot in 2 days if you make things super simple. Find things that you can abstract and make gamey.

Things to take note for game jams

• Although polish isn't expected, it helps you stand out by a large amount from most other entries
• In Ludum Dare, the amount of reviews you're gonna get is proportional to the number of good comments you leave & any social media presence you have. I had not thought about how much a following or viral post helps in getting people to look at your games. It's a must have in todays internet connected world. I'm still trying to figure out how to build an audience and it seems to me that it just takes a lot of consistency and patience.
• Be creative but don't feel the need to reinvent the wheel. Game jams are a place to practice and get a little bit of feed back. 
• Learn to be patient and kind to yourself. Every one sucks when they first start so don't hesitate to start sucking. 

I'll probably upload a small update to tweak things to reduce the amount of aimlessly wandering around after the voting period ends. Overall I'm okay with the end result. I think I like atmospheric games so I may stick to this style.