Hoperay Remake - Devtober Post-mortem

Hello everyone.

October has finished. And with it, Devtober 2022 has come to an end. It was a long time ago that I didn’t enter on a online gamejam by myself. Still, Devtober can’t be considered a gamejam by normal standards, but it was a good experience nonetheless. Now that is over, the rule states that I need to do a Post-mortem for the job done. So I will do it.

First, let’s talk about the context around the game.

Why Did I Take Part Of Devtober?

Hoperay was made on Ludum Dare #23, some months after I entered to game development without prior knowledge. That was 10 years ago. Now, my skills are superior to that time, specially the art. And a few months I was thinking on the last time I made games. As my art portfolio went online, looking for freelance work, I saw that my games are not on par to my current skills, like a weak example of my abilities. So I wanted to change that.

Fortunately, in mid September I found about Devtober, so I decided to take part of it. Using it a way to polish my other skills and a first push to begin working on a remake/remaster of my games. That’s the reason I participated. And Hoperay was picked first for its legacy and its low content requirements.

The concept of the game is as follows: “A prototype spaceship fights against a single formidable foe, for Mankind’s future. One at a time”.

That’s it. The idea remained, but the design around it changed. Or we can say “it evolved”.

What Did I Do Well?

• The design phase went wonders. Before, the game was super simple and not super fun. A spaceship that can move and a static enemy. Both have a health bar and can shoot to each other. That’s it. Nothing more. So I improve it in all directions, giving a powerup mode to the spaceship. But more than that, the enemy got attack patterns and can move, giving the game a fun challenge since the beginning. And that work went fast.
• The game now have a narrative logic. As I said, the game was simple and without reason. Because it doesn’t need it in that moment. But as the game got revisited, that was a flaw to its design. A logic is needed for the game to be improved and scaled. So, all the game got remade around that perspective: “A conscious and sentient energy outside of Earth’s logic”. This will give the structure it needed to be remade… and maybe, scaled.
• GameMaker is an easy engine to use as I remembered. The last time I used GameMaker was in early 2019. Since then, I didn’t touch it and begun checking Unity. Of course, I could have used the latter for the game, but for old times, I decided to use the first one. Fortunately, my account is an old one, before the rebranding and the current subscription system. So I can work with it without problem. And it was easy to remember the interface and workflow. Of course, I had to check the Manual, but it’s also easy to use. So I think GameMaker is still as reliable as I expected.
• The new backlog format I made worked as intended. Yes, you read it right. A backlog. No, I’m not crazy. I like to make new document formats to use in my work. So for this Devtober, I decided to use a backlog I made using Google Sheets, testing its overall functionality. And it works really well, letting me set who will work the task, the starting and end dates and total working hours. And with it, the total hours worked in the project and per person. I can also set wishlist tasks inside it. So I’m happy with it.
• My solving problem skills are good. At least that’s how I perceive it. Solving a code problem with design? Checked. Creating a narrative core to give it flexibility and scale? Checked. What more? xD

What Did I Do Wrong?

• The time spent in the game was too brief. I used a backlog to set tasks, but I didn’t set or calculate the timing beforehand for each task. It’s a backlog, not a project timeline after all. Also, as I have a job, I can’t work all day in the project. Still, I have to admit that I could have used more time available to work in the game.
• Too much time coding the gameplay. I did focused on that to have a playable game, from start to finish. And that I did. But that caused to not have almost anything else at all. Not even the other screens are there. So…yeah… the game is playable, but incomplete.
• I always worked in the game during the night, and that was not fun. I like to sleep. A lot. And when the daily Devtober blog was posted the clock marked 2AM or 3AM. I need to schedule better my gamedev activities.

What Was My Result?

Hoperay ended up unfinished at the end fo the event. Around 75% of the tasks were not started, including UI Design and Graphical Assets. The game is playable, but it’s completely made using basic shapes. That’s how it looks right now:

It’s not decent yet.

So, did I failed Devtober? No. I only changed my approach.

The idea of Devtober is to identify our own work habits on Game dev and how to improve them or fix them. And find a balance to reach a state of disciplined work. So although the game was not uploaded to the game jam, its objective was reached. I found what I need to fix or improve: my time management. So that what I will do to be better.

What's next?

First, the game will still be worked on. One objective I want to reach before this year ends is to finish it. It won’t be at the full scale I can imagine it right now (that will take me like 1.5 to 2 years at full work), but the basic scale to proof its concept. After that, the other games will be remade. Remember that my current goal right now is to have games that can show my skills with pride. And to get some art freelance work.

Second, I’ll keep adding new content to my blog. During October I kept posting new stuff almost daily and I found it fun in its own way. So I will keep doing it, but with less quantity. Fell free to visit it sometimes.

And lastly, but not least, I must define a schedule that works for me. And controlling it to not work too late.

That’s all for now. You will see me in my blog and Twitter. And when the game is almost ready, you will hear me here again.

See you later.