Introduction

Hi all, I'm Emma. Welcome to my first devlog! I thought it would be worth documenting my experience through the project. While this is not my first gamejam, it is my first solo attempt. I'd like something to look back over at the end, and it'll facilitate my own growth to have a list of things that happened along the way. This first log is going to cover basic start-of-project items:  project scope planning, what challenges I expect to face, preparations, and what tools I plan to use. BTW, I aim to make a 2D platformer that follows the cycles theme for this jam!

Project Scope

Because I have responsibilities going on outside the jam, I want to be very minimal in what I expect of myself. I also do not want to end up with crunch time (this jam promotes a healthy approach to development and I don't enjoy crunch time anyways). Beginning on Day Two also gives me a time defecit. 

Things I want my game to have, at minimum, when I turn-in at the end:

1. Five "rooms" - think like PICO-8 Celeste in terms of how much a "room" has in it.
2. Very simple audio elements - a track that plays during gameplay, and sound effects when things happen.
3. Very simple visual assets - enough to tell what the character is and determine a setting.
4. A way to restart the game once it has been completed.
5. Gameplay that feels at least         a little fun.

I'm aiming for small but doable here. If I put in 5 hours this weekend + 4 hours total this upcoming week + 8 hours the next weekend, I hope to have the basic gameplay situated and can start with the assets. Audio elements I either plan to make myself (chip noises) or use free assets for. Visual elements will take time, but I don't mind if it looks a little barebones. The extra allotted time (4+ hours during the next week) are wiggle room, in case anything bad happens (bugs) or I want to go the extra mile on anything.

In total, I plan to spend 22 hours on this. I could go up in flames and only meet some of my goals, but I'm aiming for "completed" rather than perfection. I'd rather not burnout early. This schedule seems healthy and doable for me, and has a time buffer!

With that last point, because I expect so much of this jam to just be learning, I'm aware that my time to prototype is... a little limited  🤏. I will do what early iterating I can, but eventually I'll need to go forward with a concept (I need time to learn how to implement my chosen idea). I've been iterating in my head, maybe that will count towards something...?

Items to consider if I get through my minimums and have time:

1. More levels, if I still have ideas for how to eke interesting gameplay out of the player's abilities.
2. Visual polish. I wouldn't be opposed something small like particle effects.
3. A menu, or other text-based windows to navigate, like an introduction.
4. Additional audio elements (ambient sounds, etc.)

What Challenges do I Expect?

I expect collision and general organization of the game elements to be my largest foe. Collision relies on getting two different objects to interact... and successfully detecting it when it happens, which involves collision shapes and a bunch of "stuff" that is idiosyncratic to gamedev. My dayjob is actually as a programmer, so my biggest hurdle is how the pieces should fit together and communicate information. This ALSO relies on me understanding my chosen game engine, and revisiting stuff like vector math.

Also, graphics. I will try to the best of my ability to make some simple pixel art. I am actually a hobby artist in my free time, but the sizing of assets for pixel games (again, math) is a hurdle I'll have to cross. Using free assets is an option, but I want this to be a chance to learn.

Otherwise, I'm a cowpoke riding the horse named Time and it's going to try throwing me off. Yeehaw.

Preparations in Advance

I knew what my general challenges would be coming in. Here's a bullet list of stuff I did.

• Read sections I - II of http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/contents.html
• Opened my game engine, revisited the docs, played around a bit with collision again so it's fresh in my mind.
• Looked through some of the publicly shared Celeste movement code. It was hugely helpful to have a code structure right in front of me to help visualize what my own code might look like.
• I've been drawing landscapes recently. That counts, right?

Tools

Godot version 3.5.0, Beepbox and possibly Audacity, and Aesprite. Paper and pencil as well. I'll document any other tools I end up using.

Sign-off

Thank you for reading! I look forward to checking out other peoples' devlogs, either during or after the jam. Happy coding everyone!

Author's notes

• Time spent writing devlogs is not included in the time estimate. This is blogger's delight.
• Why doesn't itch have font options for these devlogs... I want serif!!

Good Luck - it seems you have a nice developed plan and I am excited to play your game.