O2A2 2022 Postmortem - Jamming while traveling

2023-05-01 Edit: I have since replaced the AI-generated art with my own, but I want to keep this postmortem for posterity.

This year's O2A2 jam happened to be during my summer vacation when I was to visit my family in Finland, so I had to prepare for a travel edition of the jam. My tools were an old Microsoft Surface for programming and image editing, and a new iPad Pro for drawing. I also took my worn but trusty Bluetooth headphones with me for audio editing.

I had originally planned on going solo again, but I was worried about making the art assets with the limited tools, so I teamed up with Editor, who makes AI art. We got permission to generate a bunch of images for the jam beforehand, which I then edited during the jam.

I figured I could monitor my progress better by making a Trello board for ALL the tasks needed for the jam. I also made a vague schedule on Google Sheets, but I didn't end up using it because my IRL schedule varied day-to-day so much.

Trello, or task lists

I wanted to experiment with priority lists and used Trello to see how I spent my time during the jam, so I could make note of it for future jams. Here are the lists I made:

• Nice-To-Have (NTH): non-essential assets 
• MVP-assets: essential assets (Minimum Viable Product)
• In Progress: what I've started to work on, but have not finished yet
• Done: finished assets
• Links and notes: useful links related to jam
• Scrapped: features that I decided not to use

I dragged all the non-essential cards on the NTH list and left only the bare essentials on the MVP list. This turned out to be handy during the jam when I was in a hurry and didn't remember what needed to be done next. The best thing is, I can now check what I did, and when.

The Timeline

In my time zone, the jam started on Sunday 24th at 6 a.m. but ended on Sunday 31st at 7 a.m. due to Finland's different time zone. I finished my jam on Sunday around 2 a.m., almost five hours before the deadline, so I didn't really benefit from the extension. As it happens, my journey started also early in the morning, so I could start the jam flying! ✈️

What I did during the weeks before the jam ("prep"):

• Downloaded potential audio assets
• Installed Audacity on Surface
• Installed and tested Ren'Py on Surface
• Checked how to make a web build
• Wrote the story outline and figured out the branching
• Generated a bunch of AI art
• Made a list of the tasks in Trello and organized them by priority (MVP and NTH)

What I did during the jam:

Tasks I scrapped during the jam:

• Divide word count between scenes (prep)
• Make prototype for sprite
• List/Download UI art templates (prep)
• Main menu item on-hover art (NTH)
• Menu items BG graphic (scrapped when finished)
• Quit game window art (NTH)
• Load menu art (NTH)

Tasks left unfinished:

• Screenshots of the game for itch page (NTH)
• Test how long the playtime is (NTH)
• Make blurred shadow reflection on the tent with SnowBlossom/animation (NTH)
• Make tinted versions of the sprite for each BG (NTH)

What worked

• Writing. Even though I wrote the story half asleep on the plane, I liked it, and it was finished on schedule
• AI art for BGs. Didn't really have to modify them much, they worked almost out of the box
• Using SnowBlossom for several effects with just one effect graphic
• Trello. I was always on track with the essential assets that needed to be done. It also made it possible to work on some NTH features when I had extra time, or if I couldn't work on some essential feature
• Voice lines. They were fun to make (and record! Muossi was glad for the attention)
  

What didn't work

MVP:

• Sleeping schedule in the beginning. I didn't take a nap after the flight, which backfired, and I was ill for the rest of the day and drowsy the next. Luckily it didn't affect my development much, since I had reserved time off development to recover from travel fatigue.
• Using the Ren'Py Action Editor tool to figure out the tints. I had planned on saving time by adjusting the tints in the Editor and copying the codes, but they didn't work for some reason. I had to adjust the values by hand, which was time-consuming
• Sprite art. Didn't turn out as pretty as I wanted, since I'm not that used to drawing in Procreate
  
• Bush rustling sound effect. I wanted to pan the audio but ran out of time to experiment. And making it sound like it came gradually closer didn't work that well. I should've tested panning before the jam.
  
• Camera. Didn't have time to animate it. I had planned on using it specifically during the chasing scene to make the player character run and stumble in the forest
  

NTH:

• Main menu Snowblossom particle effect. Just couldn't make it work.
• The escape transition, where the player starts to run. I wanted to convey more urgency in the scene, but it's kinda meh
• Menu item background. I finished the graphic, but it looked too distracting as a whole, so I scrapped it.
• Menu fonts. I wanted to use a different font for menu items, but it carried over to the settings, where it didn't work that well. In the end, I went with the simple but readable font
• Voice line quality. There's some background noise in them that I couldn't remove

What did I learn from all this?

Overall I think the travel jam was a success! I finished the game in time with most of the features that I originally wanted. The schedule was relaxed enough that I could spend time with friends and family and visit places I wanted to see. I spent more time jamming during the last half of the week as expected. The jam wouldn't have been possible without careful planning, preparation, and using Trello to keep track of the tasks and their priority. I wouldn't recommend this kind of self-imposed jam challenge to a beginner developer, but it was a fun twist for me.

I think the biggest mistake I made during the jam was with the Ren'Py Action Editor. I should've tested it before the jam started, so I would've noticed that I can't copy the tint values from the editor to the code. That would've saved me maybe a day of jam time, which would've in turn given more time to finish the other assets better (especially the audio). Now that I look at what things were left undone and why, most of them could've been avoided by testing the feature/tool before the jam started.

The greatest success of my jam was using the priority task lists in Trello. While traveling, I had snippets of time to work on the game here and there, so keeping the focus was a challenge. Having made the Trello board beforehand, I could easily pick a task from the list and work on it when I had the time. It also made it possible to see what tasks were in progress, and which I could scrap. Seeing exactly how many items were left on the list gave me ease of mind and I could spend time having fun without worrying if I have enough time to do everything. Surprisingly, it also enabled me to work on some NTH features earlier than I expected.

With this in mind, I'm ready to take on my next jam! ❤️