Day 1! Day 2...

Hi everyone, I'm Nicole, this is my second Game Jam! Admittedly, I would've liked to have started earlier, but due to the wonders of Australian weather, it was 45C (113F...) yesterday, and my laptop would probably have overheated and exploded in the heat. But with cooler weather, I'm super excited to actually get started on work. I'm not able to work on this as much as I'd like due to schooling and work, but I'm hoping to have something playable by the end of the jam!

Concept

SO, while it doesn't fully relate to the optional theme of memories, I've got really fond memories of watching one of my close friends playing the Metal Slug games. Because of those memories, I wanna make something that she'd enjoy playing, while still making something that isn't just a Metal Slug ripoff. Actual plot or design wise, I've a vague idea of dumb futuristic garbage for the story and art design, but gameplay-wise, I really wanna make a super fast paced arcade style shooter. Considering time restraints, I'll probably only be able to knock out one level, but I hope that one level is really fun to play. I also want to heavily rely on a dashing mechanic (hence the dash in the title) and do some over the top dumb stuff with the design (hence the super in the title).

Gameplay

I want the gameplay to basically be a weird melding of bullet hell style gameplay, Metal Slug's autoscrolling and general feel, and MegaMan style platforming around stages. It's... A kinda weird combination, but on top of being interestingish, it shouldn't be too hard to make (outside of coding bullet patterns). The real challenge will come from creating the art, which I wanna challenge myself with.

Here's a picture of the most barebones gameplay test ever (excuse the framerate of my gif recording and the cursor...), with a walljump, dash and while not pictured, 8 directional shooting all implemented. I whipped it together using all the knowledge I've gotten from tonnes of abandoned prototypes while I learned to make GameMaker; it's basically the dish you make when you're out of good food so you throw whatever random garbage is in the fridge into a blender and hope it turns out OK.

I wanted to put together a small gameplay prototype before doing any concept art, so concept art will be next on the agenda. Thank you for reading!

Ugh I looove metal slug, and this sounds really interesting!! The wall jump and double jumps look really smooth, I'm excited to see how it'll turn out!

Sounds awesome! I will look forward to your entry for the jam. I am a really big fan of MegaMan's platforming mechanics, good to see that's given you some inspiration.

this prototype looks awesome so far! it looks like you've already nailed a lot of basic mechanics. i'm excited to see the art direction you take with this!

Ah jeesh, so uh... crap

Day 4(5???): Unexpected Final Day??

So uh bad news to the negative two people actually interested in this, but due to a mixture of unexpected real life garbage, I'm not going to have time to finish this within the constraints of the jam? I'll not have access to my computer for like the next two weeks... It sucks to have to call it quits so early, but if anything this makes me motivated to lock in my schedule and hardcore dedicate myself to the Summer 2018 Jam! Who knows, maybe I'll revisit this concept? 

When I get the chance, I'll post all the concept art I've done plus a lot of the code, so at least the work I've done goes to some use. I'll also still be looking at everyone else's entries, I can't wait to see what everyone else does! Good luck to everyone else, and thank you to the Jam hosts for making such a good Jam, I hope I actually get to participate fully in the next Jam ;-;

aww no worries! life happens :9 it's awesome that you could join us and give it a shot while you had the opportunity! in game dev all of the prototypes and work you've done adds up and makes your next project ever so slightly easier. i really hope you can join us for next jam and thanks again for being a part of the community!