Posted September 20, 2020 by Lynx Point Games
#postmortem
This has been my first ranked game jam, and my second game jam overall. For someone who hasn't done nearly as much as they'd like to with game development, I think I did alright aside from the lack of organization that occurred. Both jams so far have been learning experiences showing me a taste of the game developer life... and boy, what a busy life that is! I was working on this on and off for at least six hours each day, putting my best effort in. My goal coming in as a newbie is to get at least one Top 10 ranking; I know I have a slim shot at winning since I'm going up against a ton of seasoned veterans with amazing games (that I should try once I'm not so busy!)
What Went Right: I finished the game, which I cannot say often. Being able to submit something and show my creativity is always a treat, even if my game is far from perfect. I'd say there's only about one graphical glitch left involving dynamic masking after I wrapped up - about three fewer glitches than I was expecting. I managed to not get too ambitious as well, keeping things simple while adding fun tidbits of features that spiced up the game just enough. I had an idea for little bottlecap guys that stole the pipes on the pipeline that I was tempted to throw in without knowing what I'd have to do, but perhaps that's for after the jam, if you guys want a followup update!
What Went Wrong: Oh god, the organization. My code tends to be quite spaghetti-like in composure, though it has improved from the days of old. I had the issue of doing before thinking, putting down code without thinking of how to go about it. If I didn't do this, I think I would've gotten a little more done and felt a little less foolish. If anyone has strategies for keeping code clean, I'd love to hear. Please comment below.
My Favorite Part: Making the soda guys. The palette restriction was barely a punishment, as it offered some really nice black and white alternatives as well as all the colors of the rainbow. I was able to pull off the style I wanted with relative ease and not worry about how I was going to display my funny little robots. I do well with making simple geometric creatures, so that combined with the irony of having soda-themed robots made these baddies fun to work with. If I had more time, I would've added a soda can guy too!
I hope that you enjoyed my game. Either way, I'm excited to see whatever feedback you all have. Showing my friend my game and receiving a great amount of constructive criticism was very helpful for making the final(ish) product, so the more I get, the better this game can be beyond the game jam.
- Retro, aka Lynx Point Games